Aokoye's Journey Through German (and other languages?)

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MamaPata
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Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
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Re: Aokoye's Journey Through German (and other languages?)

Postby MamaPata » Tue Oct 25, 2016 7:06 pm

Sound like you are doing a great job - I'm glad you're managing to deal with it all. The Hebrew class sounds really interesting! Do you like the teacher? What kind of topics are you covering? (You have probably said this already, but what is your degree?) I'm looking forward to hearing more about it!
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aokoye
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Re: Aokoye's Journey Through German (and other languages?)

Postby aokoye » Tue Oct 25, 2016 8:21 pm

Thanks Mamapata! I'm an applied linguistics major and a German minor. Right now I'm taking Hebrew 101 and second language acquisition. Next term I'm taking hebrew 102 and I think sociolinguistics which I'm very excited about.

So far in Hebrew our seemingly main focuse (or more accurately, the overarching focus) has been on learning all of the letters. They've been introduced in chunks of three to four a week. We have three or four more I think but I can read them all and write most of them. It's actually a really smart way of doing it given that we have to learn how to write them in cursive and read them in block print. I have a friend who is an applied linguistics major and in my class who took a term of Arabic before giving up on it. She said that in her class they were just given a sheet of all of the letters and told to learn them over the weekend. They had gone over them in class but it was apparently an epic failure (and this was not her first foreign language). We just started on verbs on Friday which is apparently the second hardest thing to learn after prepositions. We've also talked about how to say where we're from, what we study, and a hand full of food and drink terms. Additionally we have talked about masculine and feminine grammatical gender and plurals.

I really like my Hebrew professor which is great. He's Israeli and has been teaching hebrew for some time. I know a number of people who have taken some or all of his classes (three years of Hebrew) and they can't say enough good things about him. He really just wants to see his students succeed and constantly is telling g us to make use of all of the resources avalible to us from his office hours and the fact that we have a Hebrew tutor avalible for free to the surprising amount of scholarship money avalible to Judaiec studies students (he isn't a practicing Jew but most of the class is Jewish and the two people who aren't are in the process of converting or thinking about doing so).
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aokoye
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Re: Aokoye's Journey Through German (and other languages?)

Postby aokoye » Wed Oct 26, 2016 3:27 pm

So I just finished my Hebrew homework that's due today (whether or not it will be collected is a good question) and let me just say, to anyone who is learning Hebrew without a teacher and has any desire at all to write it - make sure to work on your handwriting and make sure a native (or expert) speaker is checking it. I normally do all of my homework in pen but I flat out won't with Hebrew because of all of the erasing I have to do to make sure what I'm writing is legible. Between making sure there's enough space between the words (my main issue - it appears hebrew requires slightly more space than I would give in languages that use a latin alphabet) and making sure that the letters are actually legible.

I have less issues with this than some people in my class (and slightly more than a few others, naimly someone whose husband is Israeli) but on Monday we had a chat, in English, about how the way someone wanted to write a mem sofit was incorrect even though some people (who I have a feeling aren't native speakers) write it like that. The issue is that there are a number of letters in cursive (and in print but we don't write in block print) that look very similar and if you write something even slightly incorrectly it can totally obscure the meaning of the word.

Also - learn script if you want to have any chance at reading what speakers handwrite as opposed to what is typed in books/the computer. I've heard from numerous native speakers and people who know native speakers that trying to get a native Hebrew speaker to write in print is just silly because they don't really know how to do it because everything is handwritten in script. A friend was telling me this past weekend that when she tried to get her sister in law to write something in print the last time she was in Israel the sister in law had to stop and look up how to do so and said sister in law is a native speaker. I also have a friend (who isn't a native speaker but spent a number of years in Israel) who had to unlearn how to write in script when she started teaching Biblical Hebrew at our synagogue's Hebrew school because the kids don't learn how to write in script.
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aokoye
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Re: Aokoye's Journey Through German (and other languages?)

Postby aokoye » Thu Nov 10, 2016 7:54 pm

So given recent major events in the US my desire to focus heavily on German has been seriously renewed. I also need to seriously get around to changing the sex marker on things (I'm trans, FTM more specifically). It costs $111 to do so which is why I'm not jumping on it this week though I have a friend who just said she'd be willing to loan me the money. I have the paperwork I need from my doctory, I just need to to get the money and do it. I dont like accepting loqns that big from friends but i might just go for it. I also need to renew my passport. Thankfully I changed my name 12ish years ago. I need to see if I can change the sex marker on it at the same time I renew it.

In better news, I got the books I ordered this week. One is a cookbook in German some of which I'm probably going to translate for a friend. The other two are Sprachen, Schreiben under Mitreden which I had on PDF and D cehlen mir die Worte which I've been wanting for years. The first is a C1/C2 book that appears to be aimed at helping learners with their writing. It's definitely appropriate for selflearners though. The answers are free on the publishers website or you can pay 7 euro for them on Hueber's website (the publisher is Greek but the worldwide distributor is Hueber). It also has a ton of vocab with good definitions and example sentences, all of it is in German save for a few sentences about the publisher in Greek.

The second on vocabulary focused and aimed at B2-C2 level learners. It's published by Schubert Verlag. It is also appropriate for self learners though the introduction mentions there might be a handful of exercises that are best done with a native speaker avalible for help. It's all about finding different ways to widen your vocabulary which is cool. It recommends that people use it with various reference books. So far I've done the first exercise in the first chapter and it took about 45 min. It seems like a really good book that doesn't dumb down learning while also being creative. I am going to try to spend two weeks on each chaper. I'll post more about it this evening.
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Re: Aokoye's Journey Through German (and other languages?)

Postby Cavesa » Thu Nov 10, 2016 10:31 pm

There are many reasons to love your log.

For example, it nudges me to return to German ASAP so that I can use all that great information included.

And I am extremely curious: could you please post a photo of your Hebrew handwriting? I have googled a bit but found mostly lists of individual letters and a few photos of so different scripts I can't even tell whether they are all in Hebrew.

And I wish you lots of energy to deal with the paperwork. It will end up well in the end, but it surely isn't a pleasant way to spend time and money.
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Re: Aokoye's Journey Through German (and other languages?)

Postby aokoye » Fri Nov 11, 2016 4:30 am

Aw thanks Cavesa, that's really sweet of you. Here is an example of my handwriting in Hebrew. That was homework from the book talking about what I (or other people) do and don't like as well as languages that people speak. Note how some of the straight lines are short, medium, and long (extending past the lines on the paper) - the yud, vav, and nun sofit (final nun). That's an example of needing to make sure you write letters correctly.

Thanks also for the good wishes on the paperwork. I need to text my friend Eva to let her know that I'm going to take her up on her offer. I also just looked up passport stuff and I need to go in in person to change stuff BUT I don't need to have already changed my gender on any other ID from what I can tell. That means I can start the process of both changing my gender marker on my passport and on my state ID (driver's license) at the same time. It's going to be another $110 dollars and then I also need to get passport photos taken and I need to get another copy of my doctor's letter BUT at least I know how to do it and it looks like doing so will automatically renew my passport. for another 10 years.
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Re: Aokoye's Journey Through German (and other languages?)

Postby aokoye » Sun Nov 13, 2016 5:50 pm

I finally bought a German-German dictionary yesterday! I was at Powells with a friend and was like, "oh hmm...well I do need a new dictionary..." I ended up getting the Langenscheidt Power Wörterbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache which was $29.99 new. They had an older (by a few years) used edition of the Langenscheidt Großwörterbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache but it was really overpriced at $55.

I'm very pleased with myself. I also managed to not get the multiple Assimil books that I saw. They have the new edition of the Dutch book and then I also saw part two of Japanese with Ease, the kana writing book, and Writing Japanese with ease. The last two seemed like a waste of money given how many free kana resources there are and given that you could probably by cheaper identical books to Writing Japanese with Ease. It looked identical to a number of books that I've seen published by Tuttle. Apparently had I got a tad farther down the aisle I would have found parts one and two of Chinese with Ease and Powells also apparently has Assimil's Using French at the Burnside location of their store (the bigger store). While they seriously decimated their language sections I keep being surprised by some of what I find there (and the sections are still bigger than most any other general bookstore in the US).

This weekend has been hard for studying languages intensively in some major ways. I had a choir concert on Friday and have one this afternoon and then I am busy on Saturdays - busy enough that language nor school related things tend to happen. Basically this entire weekend has been/will be music. I worked a bit on knowing the Hebrew alphabet in order (it's going to take drilling it into my head, there are some hints but really - drilling it into my head is how this is going to work) but otherwise I think all I did was not language or school related. What I have been doing, at least on Friday and this morning, is watching a lot of German shows. I have probably consumed upwards of 6 hours of German TV shows since late Thursday, between the news and documentary shows. I haven't been keeping track but 6 hours seems like a good if not slightly conservative estimate.

I'm also feeling at a slight loss to do with my new vocab book. Do I want to start it now when I really don't have a lot of time or do I want to work through part of Wörter zur Wahl which would take less time and is easier to carry around because it's a significantly smaller book. Then there's the B2 vocab workbook from Cornelsen which I also like and am kind of leaning towards if only because of the context that is there with the reading. So many choices. What is good is that I'm currently content with the vocab resources I have. I have all of the books that I want now that I have my hands on Da Fehlen mir die Worter. I think my game plan for the next week is work through the first at least two chapters of the Cornelsen workbook and see how it goes. If it's going well I'll keep doing that. It's 17 chapters and I've already done the first half of the first chapter. If I do two chapters a week I could easily have it done by the beginning of January before school starts. If I am able to maintain my focus with the course (doubtful but I'm up for the challenge I think) I will likely be able to do more than two chapters a week which would have the book finished before the new year. About half of the pages in the Cornelsen book would also likely count towards the Super Challenge.

Plans for right now:
Do a small load of laundry
Put the handful of hebrew words that I don't know and that I need to know for the test tomorrow in Anki - then cram (I hate it when I do that)
Work on conjugating verbs in Hebrew
Do a better analysis for my SLA paper which I ended up getting an extension on and is now due Tuesday at noon

When I get home from my concert (whenever that is) it's more Hebrew, maybe start on German vocab stuff, and more SLA.
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aokoye
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Re: Aokoye's Journey Through German (and other languages?)

Postby aokoye » Wed Nov 16, 2016 9:15 pm

I have my second letter for gender stuff (I'll use it for passport stuff) and the form filled out and signed for the DMV from my gynecologist (she takes care of all of my trans related medical care)!

I have Hebrew in about an hour. I think I did bad on the quiz on Monday and I'm trying to cushion the impending blow of finding out my score. I'm also telling myself that it really doesn't matter all that much especially as I don't have a lot of stock in this language. I have no real desire to go to Israel and I won't use it all that much outside of Israel.

German wise, I've finished the first chapter of the Cornelesen workbook and am half way through the second chapter. I need to dig up a notebook so I can start Goldlisting some of the vocab.

I also am listening to and watching a lot of German language news. I might do a Dialang test for listening in a few weeks (when I have time and am not stressed a out school). I thino last time I scored a B2 but I'm not sure. I would be unsurprised if I was C1 or a high B2.

I've also been reading more news in German. It's all I really have the time or energy to read outside the vocab workbook. I also don't have time to read in English outside of school so it's not one of those "just replace what you're doing in English with German" activities. It's also nice because I can read it on my phone when on the streetcar.
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aokoye
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Re: Aokoye's Journey Through German (and other languages?)

Postby aokoye » Thu Nov 17, 2016 11:46 pm

I finished my last major paper for the term and I have a likely false sense of extra time. At least I'm a bit less stressed (in terms of school) for now and I've had time to actually spend time studying German. Yesterday I goldlisted 100 words from the Cornelsen book (the vocab book) and finished the second chapter of the B2 workbook that goes with it. I went to a coffee shop this morning before therapy and finished the third chapter. When I'm working through it I read the text on the left page and then go through the exercises on the ride hand side in my head.

Once I finish goldlisting the Cornelsen book I think I'm going to start on the Using German Vocabulary book which I have a PDF of. I'm opting for that over the other resources I have because it both has vocab lists and exercises that go with the lists. It has at least 10k words which is daunting. I was going to say both daunting and inspiring but for me right now it's just daunting. I realize I know X thousands of words but still. I think it's my habit of getting distracted with materials that makes it daunting that and knowing that I can not maintain a steady study rhythm for more than a month because of my depression and now because of my school schedule. It varies drastically which is why I haven't finished a coursebook that wasn't connected with a class I've taken in probably years.

My goals for tonight are to study Hebrew and goldlist another 100 words.
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aokoye
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Re: Aokoye's Journey Through German (and other languages?)

Postby aokoye » Sat Nov 19, 2016 1:16 am

I got an 89% on my Hebrew quiz which is better than I thought i would do. I was expecting an 80% or something so I'm very pleased with my results. I should still get an A in the class if my oral exam and final go smoothly.

My goals for yesterday where to learn numbers 1-12 in Hebrew and goldlist 100 words in German. I didn't learn any numbers and I goldlisted 50 words. I'm not pleased about the numbers thing and I'm fine with the 50 words. I ended up hanging out with four professors and one of my friends from the applied linguistics department as we went out for pizza and beer/cider after a meeting. I ended up getting home at around 10pm as my friend and I stayed later to chat about linguistics and German and other stuff. I'm also excited because I'm almost positive that I'm going to the American Association of Applied Linguistics conference in March! I need to email them and ask if I can volunteer (and register for a reduced price - or free) but even if I can't I'll likely still go as the price for students is under $200.

This morning I listened to some news in German and then gold listed 50 words. I'm going to try to do another 50 this evening and do at least half a chapter in the workbook.

Also I'm looking for German TV series to watch. Something that isn't Türkish für Änfanger (the really horrible boundaries with the mom made me unable to finish it). I don't tend to like Krimis (which is too bad) and I'm not a fan of science fiction. For reference I did really like Welcome to Sweden (which I realize is not in German) so shows like that would probably be good.
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