2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

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Adrianslont
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Location: Australia
Languages: English (N), Learning Indonesian and French
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Re: 2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

Postby Adrianslont » Sat Feb 25, 2017 11:39 am

No, didn't go to Taman Leuser - just to Medan, Danau Toba and Berastagi (Gunung Sinabung was spitting ash!) Stopped at Sipiso Piso Air Terjun and Siantar too. We should have planned for more time in Sumatra as it was a highlight of our trip - maybe because we hadn't been there before but also because the countryside was so nice. I would have happily spent a few more days at Lake Toba and maybe gone to Bukit Lawang. We hired a nice guy and his van for the duration so it was pretty comfortable. We talked in about fifty fifty BI and English. Any more would have excluded my wife. He kept trying to teach me Batak words - there is a lot of Batak pride going on there! In fact there seems to be a lot of pride in every Bahasa Daerah. We had similar experiences with Sundanese and Balinese drivers. But the Proud to be Batak T shirts we saw people wearing probably topped everyone else.
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Blue
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Languages: Speaks: English (N)
Studies: Indonesian
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2071
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Re: 2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

Postby Blue » Sun Mar 19, 2017 1:54 am

Sounds like you had a great trip, Adrian. Are there many Indonesian expats where you live? I've encountered several Indonesians taking advantage of the 'work and holiday visa' to Australia. The fact that there are many millions of Indonesians happy to do language exchanges with English speakers is a nice perk of learning this language compared to some others. Practically the whole country is happy to help you.

I actually don't have an update for my reading log. I've put the reading of books on the back burner for now to focus on pretty much every other aspect of the language. Listening has been really frustrating for me, but I've made some good progress in recent days by focusing a lot more on material that I have a very strong understanding of. Watching hours of tv and just understanding what I could isn't good enough. For me at least it needs to be done in conjunction with a lot of intensive listening of highly comprehensible material. Listening to an hour-long news podcast may be boring, but its very beneficial. Just an FYI for Adrian and any lurkers, VOA (Voice of America) produces two 1-hour news podcasts per day. That's a lot of content. Very convenient to listen to while jogging or commuting or whatever. I can only assume they do it for many languages.

I'm about 2/3 through the last Harry Potter book and I continue to knock out another chapter or two sporadically. I'll update again whenever I finish.
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Batur
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Re: 2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

Postby Batur » Wed Jul 19, 2017 4:32 am

Adrianslont, Hi
It seems that you haven't updated your language log for a long time.
How's your Indonesian and Russian going?
Do you consider writing language learning log here again?
:-)
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User avatar
Adrianslont
Blue Belt
Posts: 827
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:39 am
Location: Australia
Languages: English (N), Learning Indonesian and French
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Re: 2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

Postby Adrianslont » Wed Jul 19, 2017 5:47 am

Batur wrote:Adrianslont, Hi
It seems that you haven't updated your language log for a long time.
How's your Indonesian and Russian going?
Do you consider writing language learning log here again?
:-)

Hi Batur - Adrian here. This log actually belongs to member Blue. I just make a lot of posts to it!
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User avatar
Adrianslont
Blue Belt
Posts: 827
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:39 am
Location: Australia
Languages: English (N), Learning Indonesian and French
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Re: 2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

Postby Adrianslont » Wed Jul 19, 2017 6:10 am

Blue wrote:Sounds like you had a great trip, Adrian. Are there many Indonesian expats where you live? I've encountered several Indonesians taking advantage of the 'work and holiday visa' to Australia. The fact that there are many millions of Indonesians happy to do language exchanges with English speakers is a nice perk of learning this language compared to some others. Practically the whole country is happy to help you.

I actually don't have an update for my reading log. I've put the reading of books on the back burner for now to focus on pretty much every other aspect of the language. Listening has been really frustrating for me, but I've made some good progress in recent days by focusing a lot more on material that I have a very strong understanding of. Watching hours of tv and just understanding what I could isn't good enough. For me at least it needs to be done in conjunction with a lot of intensive listening of highly comprehensible material. Listening to an hour-long news podcast may be boring, but its very beneficial. Just an FYI for Adrian and any lurkers, VOA (Voice of America) produces two 1-hour news podcasts per day. That's a lot of content. Very convenient to listen to while jogging or commuting or whatever. I can only assume they do it for many languages.

I'm about 2/3 through the last Harry Potter book and I continue to knock out another chapter or two sporadically. I'll update again whenever I finish.

Hi Blue, I meant to reply to your post in March and then promptly forgot to!

It was a great trip and I have recently had another trip - this time to Central Java and Bali. We stayed mainly in Yogjakarta but had a great road trip around the mountains, staying in Salatiga, Wonosobo and Bandungan. Dieng Plateau was beautiful and interesting, all the countryside was beautiful actually. And it was good to be somewhere cooler and less hectic than Yogyakarta. Still, Yogja is okay, too.

Yes, there are a number of Indonesians living a few kilometres from me in Sydney - students, workers and retirees. I haven't tried at all to make social connections there, I think it's largely my lack of confidence in my language ability. I find it easier to speak when I'm in Indonesia and my Indo is better than the other person's English. And it just feels more natural to use it there.

It sounds like you are continuing to progress. I did know about VOA but I tend to stick with the SBS podcasts because they are easier and usually Oz centric.

I bought some DVDs and books on my recent trip. I read,watched a few and then forced myself to stop because I am going to France soon and need to spend my time studying french. My French is worse than my Indo but it seems much easier to progress with all the cognates you get in french. Indo is harder than many people reckon because of the vocabulary.

Cheers until next instalment.
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