Japanese Rewrite

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
Bao
Green Belt
Posts: 259
Joined: Sat Nov 28, 2015 6:55 pm
Location: パリ
Languages: German, English
Spanish, French, Japanese
x 420
Contact:

Re: Japanese Rewrite TAC 2016

Postby Bao » Sat Jan 23, 2016 4:45 am

... that sounds so familiar. >_<; What kind of series/books/whatever are you following?
0 x
Megalomanoglot. Bof!

Woodsei
Yellow Belt
Posts: 54
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 5:23 am
Location: United States
Languages: English (N), Arabic (N), Japanese (intermediatish)
x 79

Re: Japanese Rewrite

Postby Woodsei » Mon Mar 06, 2017 2:07 am

Hi there!

It's been quite some time, and I am trying to get into the groove of things. I do not know how many times I have said that, but it feels familiar. Not a good feeling.

Anyway, I am still in grad school, and have a long and heavy road ahead of me. I will be doing a little bit of Japanese, and French, which I will be finally taking up (been meaning to for years), but only a little every day. No grand plans or goals to meet, the only goal is to consistently advance and get better, learn something new everyday, or even just touch up on what is already learned. I feel I operate better that way. Yes, deadlines and short-term goals are very helpful to have from time to time, but just regular consistency without the constant adrenaline charge is, at this point, a very attractive idea :) I do eventually want to be able to function well in both languages, but I'm just not putting a time tag on it. I sort of miss the days some years ago when I was able to spend hours and hours doing nothing but languages :) Every phase has its charm, though :)

Japanese/日本語

N2. Have been stuck at that level for quite a long time owing to the fact that I totally abandoned language learning in the course of work and school. I have been thinking about how to get back into it, and have ultimately decided to do what I like and do best: reading and listening. I will not even jump immediately into a full novel, but short stories, articles, excerpts, an episode of TV or anime (by reading the subtitles/script), etc. Again, I am not charting out a course or planning on tackling various books/texts, etc. I will just ease into it but reading something, anything, not matter how long or short, of the above, and listening to some podcasts as well. The way I see it is what I would typically do when winding down at the end of a day after wrapping up assignments - reading a book and/or listening to or watching something. Only I will do a bit of it in Japanese.

I can't list off the top of my head what resources I will use at the moment, but I will include it each time I update.

French

Total, total beginner here. I did some French back in fifth grade, I think (time flies) and that was about it. I remember I was starting to converse a little at the end of that year, but now, I am only able to remember just a few of the more common things. So I am starting from scratch. Again, just a little everyday. I have a copy of French in Action (videos and book), and I like that it is all French, which is what I need at the moment. It's so much better for myself to immerse fully into a language by listening or watching before attempting to read, as it sort of programs my brain to "hear" the sounds of the word I am reading in my head correctly without warping the pronunciation. But I also like to start with something comprehensible, and that's why I think FIA fits the bill. I am aware it may be advanced for a total beginner like me, but I am banking on time, repeated exposure to the series (though not infinite), and my dormant knowledge somewhat coming back to get me through. I will just be using the videos for now.

I am not sure what else to do at this point, though I am hoping for some input from you all regarding graded or easy native French resources. Anything that has text in the native language and audio that goes along with it. Anything. Short stories, comics, commercials, songs, graded readers, news, cartoons. Yes, cartoons, I am the biggest baby in the world :) I will be approaching this from an extensive listening and reading perspective (although I am not sure how extensive since I will be doing a little everyday, but with time, I am sure it will all add up to positive results). I am aware that I will need to look at grammar, yes, but in due time, and when I need it until I am comfortable enough with the following the language that I would be able to understand the grammar rules and assimilate them better. I just learn better when I try to figure things out on my own before reading a rule for it.

So, yeah, any suggestions would definitely be great!

Anyway, that's about it for today. Really missed being on here. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts :)
3 x
Tadoku: 1 / 1000

whatiftheblog
Orange Belt
Posts: 222
Joined: Sun Oct 02, 2016 3:29 am
Location: France
Languages: English (N), Russian (N), French (C2?), Spanish (~B1)
x 775

Re: Japanese Rewrite

Postby whatiftheblog » Mon Mar 06, 2017 4:47 am

Some of these may seem a tad above your level (although you obviously get an English discount), but check out some MOOCs in French on Coursera and/or EdX. They come with transcripts and you can slow the down the videos if you need to. If you pick a topic you already know well and take a basic course in it, it could be good practice. The individual class videos usually aren't too long, either. Good luck! And good job on going native early! :D
1 x
Books completed: 5 / 20 5 / 20

Woodsei
Yellow Belt
Posts: 54
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 5:23 am
Location: United States
Languages: English (N), Arabic (N), Japanese (intermediatish)
x 79

Re: Japanese Rewrite

Postby Woodsei » Tue Mar 07, 2017 9:27 pm

whatiftheblog wrote:Some of these may seem a tad above your level (although you obviously get an English discount), but check out some MOOCs in French on Coursera and/or EdX. They come with transcripts and you can slow the down the videos if you need to. If you pick a topic you already know well and take a basic course in it, it could be good practice. The individual class videos usually aren't too long, either. Good luck! And good job on going native early! :D


Hi there, whatiftheblog. Welcome!

Thanks for the suggestion. I haven't thought about that for French, and it's good to see there is an option like that. I'm guessing they will be above my level, but I am hoping it will not be like, say, Japanese, which did take some time for me to listen to technical stuff (6 months - 1 year). I'm heading over to Coursera EdX to check, though. I'm pretty sure there were be much science and humanities on there.

Thanks! :)
0 x
Tadoku: 1 / 1000

jeffers
Blue Belt
Posts: 848
Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:12 pm
Location: UK
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Hindi (A2-B1)

Learning: The above, plus French (A2-B1), German (A1), Ancient Greek (?), Sanskrit (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=19785
x 2774
Contact:

Re: Japanese Rewrite

Postby jeffers » Thu Mar 23, 2017 10:14 am

Woodsei wrote:I am not sure what else to do at this point, though I am hoping for some input from you all regarding graded or easy native French resources. Anything that has text in the native language and audio that goes along with it. Anything. Short stories, comics, commercials, songs, graded readers, news, cartoons. Yes, cartoons, I am the biggest baby in the world :) I will be approaching this from an extensive listening and reading perspective (although I am not sure how extensive since I will be doing a little everyday, but with time, I am sure it will all add up to positive results). I am aware that I will need to look at grammar, yes, but in due time, and when I need it until I am comfortable enough with the following the language that I would be able to understand the grammar rules and assimilate them better. I just learn better when I try to figure things out on my own before reading a rule for it.

So, yeah, any suggestions would definitely be great!


I'll just list a few examples of shows and books I found enjoyable:
Cartoons: I saw a few episodes of Les P'tits Diables on TV (French with no subtitles), so I ordered the first season on DVD from Amazon.fr. It's fun to watch, the language is very colloquial, but it's easy to follow what's going on, especially as the story lines tend to be predictable.
TV:
The 2-DVD set, Le Peuple des océans is an excellent way to start watching at a low level. It has no subtitles, but the speech is steady, with a lot of gaps, and very clear. Any documentary is probably a good place to start watching films without subtitles, but these two DVDs are simply gorgeous and worth watching anyway. I bought it in a box set together with Océans.
7 jours sur la planète is an excellent news program. Made for learners, it has very accurate French subtitles.

Easy readers:
Enquête Capitale is an "A1" reader (I would say closer to A2), with very good audio. It is a mystery story involving clues related to important places in Paris, and (rare for a reader), the story is actually engaging! I now find the audio too slow, but it was really good for me to listen to over and over when I was at A1/A2 level.
Advancing your reading/listening:
When you get a bit more advanced, Pas d'Oscar pour l'assassin is a good policier. It's available on Kindle or in paperback, and the audio can be downloaded from the publisher's website. Again, a decent story and well-read.
A few of the easy reader series have Maigret stories. I've probably read and listened to all of the stories available as easy readers, because they are good stories and they come with audio. I've bought, but not yet read, a collection of "fully native" Maigret novels.
Le Petit Nicolas is a must at some point. First of all, the audiobook of the main book is a delight. It is read very fast, but with such engagement that you can enjoy them even if you understand less than 50%!! I listened to these stories several times when I was around A2, and then embarked on reading the book several times. Most of the Nicolas books are available on Kindle now, which means you have a quick access dictionary when needed.

Podcasts:
Podclub.ch has really good podcasts aimed at listeners from A2/B1, but you can start earlier. L'avis de Marie was their French podcast, found at http://www.podclub.ch/sendungen/l-avis-de-marie-f. The episodes are about 12 minutes long, and cover a wide range of interesting topics. The website has transcripts for every episode, and the more recent ones work dynamically, meaning the text is highlighted in sync with the audio. This works well on a tablet. Marie retired, and has been replaced by Balades http://www.podclub.ch/sendungen/balades-f.


"A few" became many, but all of these were things which helped me saturate myself with French. I enjoyed them all, and still turn back to many of them.
4 x
Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (roughly, the perfect is the enemy of the good)

French SC Books: 0 / 5000 (0/5000 pp)
French SC Films: 0 / 9000 (0/9000 mins)

DaveBee
Blue Belt
Posts: 952
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 8:49 pm
Location: UK
Languages: English (native). French (studying).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7466
x 1386

Re: Japanese Rewrite

Postby DaveBee » Thu Mar 23, 2017 10:55 am

French language cartoons, there's lots available on YouTube, Blake et Mortimer is one I used to watch.
Last edited by DaveBee on Mon Apr 03, 2017 1:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1 x

Woodsei
Yellow Belt
Posts: 54
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 5:23 am
Location: United States
Languages: English (N), Arabic (N), Japanese (intermediatish)
x 79

Re: Japanese Rewrite

Postby Woodsei » Thu Mar 23, 2017 1:58 pm

jeffers wrote:
Woodsei wrote:I am not sure what else to do at this point, though I am hoping for some input from you all regarding graded or easy native French resources. Anything that has text in the native language and audio that goes along with it. Anything. Short stories, comics, commercials, songs, graded readers, news, cartoons. Yes, cartoons, I am the biggest baby in the world :) I will be approaching this from an extensive listening and reading perspective (although I am not sure how extensive since I will be doing a little everyday, but with time, I am sure it will all add up to positive results). I am aware that I will need to look at grammar, yes, but in due time, and when I need it until I am comfortable enough with the following the language that I would be able to understand the grammar rules and assimilate them better. I just learn better when I try to figure things out on my own before reading a rule for it.

So, yeah, any suggestions would definitely be great!


I'll just list a few examples of shows and books I found enjoyable:
Cartoons: I saw a few episodes of Les P'tits Diables on TV (French with no subtitles), so I ordered the first season on DVD from Amazon.fr. It's fun to watch, the language is very colloquial, but it's easy to follow what's going on, especially as the story lines tend to be predictable.
TV:
The 2-DVD set, Le Peuple des océans is an excellent way to start watching at a low level. It has no subtitles, but the speech is steady, with a lot of gaps, and very clear. Any documentary is probably a good place to start watching films without subtitles, but these two DVDs are simply gorgeous and worth watching anyway. I bought it in a box set together with Océans.
7 jours sur la planète is an excellent news program. Made for learners, it has very accurate French subtitles.

Easy readers:
Enquête Capitale is an "A1" reader (I would say closer to A2), with very good audio. It is a mystery story involving clues related to important places in Paris, and (rare for a reader), the story is actually engaging! I now find the audio too slow, but it was really good for me to listen to over and over when I was at A1/A2 level.
Advancing your reading/listening:
When you get a bit more advanced, Pas d'Oscar pour l'assassin is a good policier. It's available on Kindle or in paperback, and the audio can be downloaded from the publisher's website. Again, a decent story and well-read.
A few of the easy reader series have Maigret stories. I've probably read and listened to all of the stories available as easy readers, because they are good stories and they come with audio. I've bought, but not yet read, a collection of "fully native" Maigret novels.
Le Petit Nicolas is a must at some point. First of all, the audiobook of the main book is a delight. It is read very fast, but with such engagement that you can enjoy them even if you understand less than 50%!! I listened to these stories several times when I was around A2, and then embarked on reading the book several times. Most of the Nicolas books are available on Kindle now, which means you have a quick access dictionary when needed.

Podcasts:
Podclub.ch has really good podcasts aimed at listeners from A2/B1, but you can start earlier. L'avis de Marie was their French podcast, found at http://www.podclub.ch/sendungen/l-avis-de-marie-f. The episodes are about 12 minutes long, and cover a wide range of interesting topics. The website has transcripts for every episode, and the more recent ones work dynamically, meaning the text is highlighted in sync with the audio. This works well on a tablet. Marie retired, and has been replaced by Balades http://www.podclub.ch/sendungen/balades-f.


"A few" became many, but all of these were things which helped me saturate myself with French. I enjoyed them all, and still turn back to many of them.



Hi Jeffers, and welcome :)

Thank you! I really do appreciate the suggested resources, it's never too much :) You have just saved me some time trying to hunt down alternative resources that could be at a good level to start at. Much appreciated.
0 x
Tadoku: 1 / 1000

Woodsei
Yellow Belt
Posts: 54
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 5:23 am
Location: United States
Languages: English (N), Arabic (N), Japanese (intermediatish)
x 79

Re: Japanese Rewrite

Postby Woodsei » Thu Mar 23, 2017 2:00 pm

DaveBee wrote:French language cartoons, there's lots available on YouTube, Blake et Mortimer is one I used to watch.



This looks really good, and a good start. Thank you!
0 x
Tadoku: 1 / 1000


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests