Japanese, Swedish, and Polyglotism Language Log

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
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Japanese, Swedish, and Polyglotism Language Log

Postby Xelian » Sun Oct 16, 2016 11:35 pm

Hello again, long time no see.
Unfortunately I didn't update my previous "Tobira - Summer Japanese Language Log" after August, but I did continue my learning even so. I have been thinking a lot about Language Learners' Forum, so I'm back and plan to update this language log on my spare time.

Previous language log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2984&p=38960#p38960

Before I begin, I'd like to place a history of my language learning milestones thus far. This is essentially my language learning story, along with a kind of back-up of my HTLAL logs.

Spanish (First exposure)
??/??/02 - Started grade school in New Mexico. Many students spoke Spanish, and we had some hours which were spent learning some basic Spanish, but these were few and far in between. Most of my exposure was from hearing other students talk in Spanish.

Japanese (First exposure)
??/??/06 - Began taking Karate lessons. We learned how to count to 10 in Japanese, some other basic Japanese words, and some Japanese history. This intrigued me even as a young child. I took Karate for about 4 years.

Spanish (Beginner)
08/??/09 - Started school at a really bad middle school. The only thing I really enjoyed was the Spanish class, followed by the art class and then the English class. I had always excelled at English and art, and also did really well in my Spanish class. I had to stop taking Spanish when I moved to my new school, however, as they wouldn't let me take two languages at once.

Swedish (First exposure)
??/??/09? - My friend/neighbor exposed me to the Swedish electronic pop artist, Basshunter. His music is STILL my favorite, to this day.

Japanese (Beginner - Lower Intermediate)
09/07/10 - Began taking Japanese after transferring to a new middle-high school. I decided that I could always learn Spanish later, as I lived in New Mexico at the time, and thought, "Wow, the opportunity to take Japanese is so rare!" and so... I took Japanese here for about three years. I fell in love with the language and culture even further. After school and during the summers, I would study Japanese on my own. I studied kanji and wrote journals on lang-8 the most, and this helped me skip to a higher level Japanese class my second year.
08/??/11 - Skipped to the third level Japanese course. (still very basic Japanese, but higher than the second level).
08/??/12 - Prepared for the Japan trip that was happening at the end of the school year. I studied Japanese really hard in the fourth level Japanese course they offered.
05/22/13 - My first trip to Japan. We stayed for two weeks, and I couldn't have been more ecstatic. We went to Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Okayama, and Tottori.

Korean & Mandarin (First exposure)
09/27/11 - My friends exposed me to K-pop. I decided to start learning Korean after discovering Korean dramas. I mostly watched youtube videos, tried to learn hangul and some basic phrases. I started looking at the "How to Study Korean" website on July 28th, 2013, but didn't get past the first few lessons. I also met someone who spoke Chinese. I got interested in Mandarin after doing some research on the languages in China, and listened to a few Pimsleur tapes.

Japanese (Lower Intermediate - Intermediate)
07/??/13 - Came back from Japan and took a Japanese 111 class at the community college during the summer. The instructor let me skip the first week of the course because I was in Japan. I found this class to be extremely easy. What was important though is that I memorized a good amount of vocabulary from the Genki I book from taking this course.
08/??/13 - I was accepted to a dual credit program, and was taking most of my classes at the community college for high school AND college credit. This unfortunately meant that my Japanese progress was slowed, as my work load got more intense. The college offered up to 2nd year Japanese, but due to lack of interest from students, only classes 111 and 112 were offered while I attended. I took 112 the Fall semester, and completed Genki I.

Bulgarian (First exposure - Beginner)
10/??/13 - Met an American who was half Bulgarian. We became close and I started to learn the language when I learned that his mother was fluent in it. I spent some time with the Bulgarian community around my city. But, the majority of my learning was online and on my own time with the FSI program (starting cyrillic on April 2nd, 2014, UniLang on July 7th, 2014 (completed), and FSI on July 26th, 2014.) I also studied briefly in the summer of 2015 (Bulgarian Language for Foreigners on YouTube). This friend and I have gone our separate ways, but I still have interest in the language (and also it's Russian roots).

American Sign Language (First exposure - Beginner)
08/25/14 - I decided that since I knew I was interested in languages in general that I could take an ASL course. They also cancelled the Mandarin 101 class I was planning to take (due to lack of enrollment from students), so I couldn't start any studies in Mandarin. The ASL course was challenging, and I didn't expect an A, but I got it. I only took sign language for 4 months, but I enjoyed it and would definitely continue at some point.

Big Language Learning Steps
09/07/14: Joined HTLAL as "Techan" and began writing language logs. My first one was a Bulgarian, Japanese, and ASL log, (08/17/14) focusing on "input" and "output" as I called it, which lasted for around 16 weeks.
02/07/15 - This was around the time of my crazy polyglot experience. Main focuses: Japanese-Korean-Mandarin-Bulgarian-ASL-Swedish -- Moderate focuses: Arabic-Armenian-German-Russian -- Barely focused on: Vietnamese-Greek
Here's my silly video I made about learning languages, I MOSTLY talk about my own experiences, Benny Lewis, and Laoshu, but I am discussing, not necessarily agreeing with Benny Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie51nqD_hcw But I believe this video is a big step in my realization of my passion for language learning.
03/19/15 - Accepted to the University of Washington. I had to choose between this college, UC Boulder, and University of Hawaii at Manoa. I chose UW because of it's prestigious East Asian Linguistics & Literatures program.

Korean (Beginner); Japanese (Intermediate to Upper Intermediate)
09/27/15 - Started taking Korean 101. I wasn't able to sign up for Japanese 211 because of testing and registration complications. I wrote a language log on HTLAL titled "Genki II - Autumn 2015". I had to study chapters 13, 14, and 15 on my own for the Japanese 211 final in order to get into Japanese 212, as I wasn't allowed to register for the course. My last post of that language log is as follows: (12/15/15) "Fantastic news --- I passed the final and got into the 212 Japanese class!!! I did it!"
01/04/16 - Started taking Korean 102, but had to drop it a few weeks into the course. I took Japanese 212, with a bit of struggle as I was depressed during this time with little motivation and a severe case of oversleeping (particularly during winter), but I still learned exponentially. We got through chapters 16-19 in 10 weeks.
01/28/17 - Officially majoring in Japanese.
04/??/16 - We went through the entire Genki II book in Japanese 213 (save the last chapter). Here's my language log on it, which is here on LLF: http://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2549

Japanese (Upper Intermediate); Hindi, Tibetan (First exposure)
06/18/16 - Started learning from "Tobira" over the summer. I gained interest in Hindi and Tibetan over the summer, Hindi due to eating out at Indian restaurants a lot, and Tibetan due to going to a meditation event at a Tibetan Buddhism temple. I only started to learn the Hindi alphabet. I am planning to study these two languages at another time. Here's my language log for it, on LLF: http://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2984
NOTE This current language log starts where this (linked) language log ends. What is written as follows was added in after starting this current log.

Japanese (Upper Intermediate); Swedish (Beginner)
09/27/16 - Began the year with Japanese 311. Great teacher, lots of cool materials from Tobira, and no more depression!
09/27/16 - Started taking Swedish 101, due to interest not only in their badass pop music, but also their politics. I hate politics, but whenever I hear about Sweden's politics, I'm pleasantly surprised. I also think it's a really interesting language to learn, as it's a language close to English.
01/03/17 - Started taking Japanese 312. Still with Tobira, starting at chapter 4. Still at an upper intermediate level with Japanese.
01/03/17 - Started taking Swedish 102. Making some big strides in the understanding of basic Swedish.


Japanese (Upper Intermediate); Swedish (Beginner - Lower Intermediate)
02/??/17 - BI/TRILINGUAL DREAMS... I started dreaming Japanese and Swedish A LOT. It's almost like something in my brain clicked and realized that the two were actually languages, strangely enough. I'm not sure if it was the Swedish that triggered the Japanese, or if the Japanese triggered the Swedish, or if just taking the classes everyday in partial immersion was the cause, but I dreamt about hearing and understanding both at around the same time, possibly even in the same night. Though, the Swedish at first wasn't coherent, it was just a bunch of jumbled words that sounded like Swedish. Dreams are really interesting! I think this is the point that I could really tell that my bi/trilingual/polyglotism was actually real. I was very excited when having dreams like this became the norm.
03/27/17 - Started taking Japanese 313. Still with Tobira, starting at chapter 7. Still at an upper intermediate level with Japanese, but definitely coming to a point where I will get to some advanced material (though I won't be considered advanced to many until I can solidify my Japanese with real-life immersion).
03/27/17 - Started Swedish 103. Swedish is finally getting hard. We're getting to some intermediate materials, but I still can't say that I am "intermediate" with Swedish, so I'll settle with "lower intermediate".
05/03/17 - Officially minoring in Swedish.
6/??/17 - Completion of Swedish 103, Japanese 313.
6/14 - 6/28/17 - TRIP TO KYOTO, JAPAN. I practiced Japanese with native speakers everyday for 2 weeks~

Spanish (Beginner - Upper Beginner)
??/??/17 - Interest in Spanish arises
6/??/17 - Japanese (Upper Intermediate); Swedish (Upper Beginner - Lower Intermediate); Spanish (Upper Beginner) - Did some dabbling with these

Arabic (First Exposure - Beginner)
2/09/15 - Interest in Arabic began while I was on my polyglotism rampage in 2015. I studied the alphabet and wrote it all out, but didn't get far with it.
9/04/17 - Interest in Arabic rekindled after taking a DNA test. Working on the alphabet, and working on finding more resources~ Interested in going to a middle eastern store at some point.
(NOTE: I am starting with the classical language but will be moving on to Egyptian Arabic and possibly other dialects too)

Some Summer Dabbling and Planning (Japanese, Swedish, Spanish, Arabic)
6/??/17 - Japanese (Upper Intermediate); Swedish (Upper Beginner - Lower Intermediate); Spanish (Upper Beginner) - Did some dabbling with these
7/01 - 9/04/17 - Not a lot done but some significant Memrise in Spanish and some Japanese dabbling
9/4/17 - Interest in Arabic rekindled (from the beginning of 2015). Also studying some Japanese and Spanish. Created the "speed-memorization technique" but am still refining it at this point.
9/9/17 - Creation of my very own "Bullet Journal for Language Learning" (My inspiration is from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT605QsOSNA) I'll be using it to track my days of language studying, my language goals, and, instead of disorganized posts, write a weekly/monthly summarizing post here.


The Final Stretch - Japanese (Upper Intermediate - Lower Advanced); Swedish (Lower Intermediate – Upper Intermediate)
9/27/17 – Started Japanese 431 (Readings in Modern Japanese Literature) a comparatively worse Japanese class. Also started Swedish 201.
12/20/17 – Completed Japanese 431, Swedish 201.
1/3/18 – Depression slowly became unbearable again. Started Japanese 432 (Readings in Modern Japanese Literature pt 2) which was the absolute worst class I have had in my entire life. I almost didn't pass that one. Also started Japanese 471 (Classical Japanese) which I thoroughly enjoyed, and Swedish 202.
5/9/18 – Completed Japanese 432, 437, and Swedish 202.
5/26/18 – Began Japanese 472 (Classical Japanese pt 2) and Swedish 203. Depression ensued and I finally sought medical help. With the stress of this being my final quarter at University, I was dragging myself through and didn't really enjoy much of anything.
6/5/18 – Completed my first original translation of an excerpt in the Classical Japanese text, 枕草子. Completed Japanese 472 and Swedish 203.
6/9/18 – Officially graduated from UW with a BA in Japanese Linguistics and a Swedish Language and Literature Minor. This language log will be graduating with me.
Here is my next language log:

Dec 2016 & 2017 Resolutions
√-Joining the East Asian Team here on the forum (Japanese B2; Korean A2; Mandarin beginner)
√-Taking Japanese 312; Swedish 102
√-Taking Japanese 313; Swedish 103
√-Studying Korean with a language partner
-Getting down the basics of Mandarin and Spanish

10/16/16:
This year at university I am taking 3rd year Japanese and am using the "Tobira - Gateway to Advanced Japanese" textbook, and also am using the "Power up your Kanji" and "Grammar Power" workbooks alongside it.
I am also taking 1st year Swedish and using the "Rivstart A1-A2 textbok" and "Rivstart A1-A2 övningsbok".

Taking on two languages at once is something a lot of my advisors in school and people around me have discouraged, especially when I tried to take Korean alongside Japanese. Turns out I should have listened to them, as I dropped Korean during the second quarter of my studies. However, I do plan to try again next year, as there were many more factors to why I dropped that class than that it was "confusing" or "challenging".

As for this year, I'm really doing well taking both Japanese and Swedish so far. We are 3 weeks into the quarter, so I can't say that I won't have struggles later, but for now things are looking good. Japanese, being a language I have studied for 7 years now, is something I'm familiar with and am getting better at everyday that I use it. Swedish I have found is very close to English, and so I am learning it quickly and with ease.

In Japanese, we've almost finished the first chapter of Tobira and will be moving on to the second chapter soon. All the hard work learning vocabulary over the summer has definitely paid off; I got to spend the time getting adjusted into my new apartment instead of focusing on learning vocabulary. Although I haven't learned many vocabulary past chapter 2, I am going to try and learn vocabulary before we do the lessons for the chapter, as it is very helpful in understanding the content, on top of getting me ahead in the class.

In Swedish, we've gotten to the 3rd chapter, and are learning numbers finally. We learned basic questions and answers for everyday conversations already, along with other useful vocabulary. (I think that some of the vocabulary in the Rivstart is questionably useful, but it is something at least). I'm also learning useful vocabulary outside of class by watching lyric videos of Swedish music. I am yet to find anyone who speaks Swedish on campus, but I am looking for someone to speak with.

So this language log is essentially just a diary of what I'm doing in class and outside of class to improve my language learning. Some people say that learning languages like Swedish is useless, but I really think that it gives me something useful every time I study a language, no matter how useful/not useful the language is in a career setting.. Any support on this topic?

What I'll be covering this quarter:
Japanese:
-Ch 1-3 in Tobira
-2 writing assignments (We've already completed 1)
-7 vocabulary quizzes (We've already done 2)
-3 kanji quizzes
-2 chapter exams
-2 oral interviews (these are my weakness)

Swedish:
-Ch 1-6 in Rivstart
-6 chapter quizzes (We've done 2 already)
-2 verbal exams
-2 written exams

I will update this language log weekly-ish. Thanks for reading~!
Last edited by Xelian on Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:18 pm, edited 15 times in total.
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: 84 / 1000 Japanese Pages Read

User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
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Re: Japanese and Swedish Language Log

Postby Xelian » Fri Oct 21, 2016 9:08 pm

Hello again, it's time for a language update.

Today I took the first chapter exam in Japanese. I'm slightly disappointed because I feel like I didn't do very well on parts of the test. There was a page which explained that I needed to rephrase the given sentences using grammar from the chapter. This was confusing and difficult for me, as the sentences looked correct as they were, so to change them felt strange. Only two out of maybe four or five sentences were obvious to me. This tells me I may need to take a closer look at grammar points for the next exam beforehand so I can ingrain them and do better. Unfortunately there aren't many exams left, only the second chapter and the final exam remain, and they are all worth a lot of points compared to the other assignments. I ran into this issue last year as well, although I believe it was more specifically questions about particles. I would also do very well on assignments and homework, but the exams would kill me, particularly the oral exams. I suppose in this case I also need to work on my speaking skills.

Kanji, vocabulary, and listening comprehension, as well as questions about grammar points that were very straight forward were a breeze, but is this really enough to be considered "good" at Japanese? I am feeling a little discouraged as this has happened to me all throughout my experience in 2nd year Japanese as well. I thought this year would be easier as I looked over the Tobira text this summer.

My output is lacking, so I suppose I will try to write more frequently, (in fact I will write in my Japanese journal after I am done writing here) and try to attend "kaiwa table", which is a group that focuses on speaking Japanese. The only thing is that I don't usually have time to go to this on top of all of my assignments. Perhaps I can try and get ahead on the assignments... If worse comes to worst, I'll get back on Italki and find some friends on my free time, or find a language partner on campus...

I feel that reading and listening also can influence output, as it shows you the correct way to do something. Thus, I will also be working through a few books in Japanese, and listening to as much material as I can get my hands on. This will be challenging, as I really do have an overload of work I need to complete and which I prioritize.

Progress report:
Japanese:
-1/3 chapters completed in Tobira
-1/2 writing assignments completed
-3/7 vocabulary quizzes
-1/3 kanji quizzes completed
-1/2 chapter exams completed
-2 oral interviews left (these are my weakness)
-1 final exam

As far as Swedish goes, things are good. The teacher goes slowly enough for me, and I learn things quickly. A few days ago, I spoke to some friends outside of class in Swedish, and have been randomly translating Basshunter and Laleh songs in my head, lol.

Progress report:
Swedish:
-3/6 chapters completed in Rivstart
-2/6 chapter quizzes completed (chapter 3 quiz on Monday)
-2 verbal exams left
-2 written exams left

Well, I'll write again later. Thanks for reading!
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: 84 / 1000 Japanese Pages Read

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limey75
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Joined: Wed May 25, 2016 11:30 am
Location: UK
Languages: English (N); intermediate: German, Norwegian, Old English.
Reading: Die Verwandlung, Der alte Mann und das Meer;
Doing courses: Assimil German, Migranorsk (online).
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Re: Japanese and Swedish Language Log

Postby limey75 » Fri Oct 21, 2016 9:30 pm

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De nordiske sprog stod hele livet igennem hans hjerte nærmest, og ligesom de, og særlig islandsk, stedse var det centrale i al hans forskning, således er også hans største fortjenester knyttede til dem...Wikipedia, om Rasmus Christian Rask

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Xenops
Brown Belt
Posts: 1444
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 10:33 pm
Location: Boston
Languages: English (N), Danish (A2), Japanese (rusty), Nansha (constructing)
On break: Japanese (approx. N4), Norwegian (A2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16797
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Re: Japanese and Swedish Language Log

Postby Xenops » Sat Oct 22, 2016 12:18 am

Welcome back! :) Might I encourage you to talk to your instructors? Ask them for advice. They're there for a reason!

One of my instructors talked about "points economy": work on the projects that garner the most points. If your tests are worth more than your homework, maybe spend more time studying for the tests instead. If you have issues with speaking, make conversational practice a priority.

As for kanji, I recommend this approach: https://www.amazon.com/Lets-Learn-Kanji-Introduction-Components/dp/4770020686/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477095450&sr=1-2&keywords=let%27s+learn+kanji
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User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
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Re: Japanese and Swedish Language Log

Postby Xelian » Sun Oct 23, 2016 12:12 am

Xenops wrote:Welcome back! :) Might I encourage you to talk to your instructors? Ask them for advice. They're there for a reason!

One of my instructors talked about "points economy": work on the projects that garner the most points. If your tests are worth more than your homework, maybe spend more time studying for the tests instead. If you have issues with speaking, make conversational practice a priority.

As for kanji, I recommend this approach: https://www.amazon.com/Lets-Learn-Kanji-Introduction-Components/dp/4770020686/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477095450&sr=1-2&keywords=let%27s+learn+kanji


Thanks. Since I can only speak to my instructor in Japanese, it is a little difficult to build up some courage to talk to her. Unfortunately tests like these are worth the most points.

I will try to keep up with my speaking, and studying for the tests is always a priority.

Thanks for the advice~

Edit: Kanji is actually my strongest point in Japanese, I have a method I like to use and that works for me.^^
Last edited by Xelian on Fri Oct 28, 2016 6:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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: 84 / 1000 Japanese Pages Read

User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
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Re: Japanese and Swedish Language Log

Postby Xelian » Fri Oct 28, 2016 2:08 am

Good news!!!!!! I got about 10 points more on the test than I thought I would, and my grade is doing just fine. It is very easy for me to become insecure about something with lots of competitive and motivated people around me. I should work on thinking about my own progress instead of worrying that I'm doing worse than everyone else... And also applaud others for working hard as well. We all are human and each have our individual strengths and weaknesses as students.

Aside from this, at least I am learning a lot in the class. This teacher is a lot less strict than other language teachers I've had at this university. I'd say she is a good balance between understanding and strict. So, I'm not as stressed as I was in the 2nd year Japanese class, and I would also argue I'm learning just as much. I will have to see how hard the oral interviews are before I can say I am good to go for the rest of the quarter... I am planning to practice speaking also, I got in contact with an old friend who I might have a skype call with soon to practice Japanese.

I think during the winter break I will try to get ahead on both vocabulary and grammar points, as it seems that the grammar isn't getting as solidified as I want. It would also be nice to just be sitting in the class for somewhat of a review and just having to turn in the work and doing exams to solidify the info in my mind.

Progress report:
Japanese:
-1/3 chapters completed in Tobira (We've started chapter 2)
-1/2 writing assignments completed
-4/7 vocabulary quizzes
-1/3 kanji quizzes completed
-1/3 chapter exams completed (I think the final exam is just the chapter 3 exam)
-2 oral interviews left (these are my weakness)

Things are still good for Swedish! I had the verbal exam this morning!! I was really scared it would be as hard as the Korean oral exams I took at this university last year, but it was much easier and the pressure to finish within 5 minutes was very lax compared to Korean or Japanese oral exams. I assume this is not only because the teacher is lax but also because there are less students that are being interviewed. This makes it so there is room for extra time if needed, and thus less pressure from the instructor to speak quickly.
We also had a take home midterm; I finished it and it is due tomorrow morning. I didn't really need to use any notes, although it was open-note. I did have to refresh myself on the numbers and the difference between using "vilket" and "vilken". Other than that, things are sticking in my mind!!

Progress report:
Swedish:
-3/6 chapters completed in Rivstart
-3/6 chapter quizzes completed
-1/2 verbal exams left
-1/2 written exams left

ALSO, in preparation for the verbal, I made this video in Swedish!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8HKu30yZkA Watch it if you're interested~!
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: 84 / 1000 Japanese Pages Read

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Elenia
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Posts: 1888
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 1:22 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), Swedish (C1), French (Massively Atrophied) German (lowly beginner, somehow learnt to read)


Finnish?!
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=708
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Re: Japanese and Swedish Language Log

Postby Elenia » Fri Oct 28, 2016 9:08 pm

Xelian wrote:Progress report:
Swedish:
-3/6 chapters completed in Rivstart
-3/6 chapter quizzes completed
-1/2 verbal exams left
-1/2 written exams left

ALSO, in preparation for the verbal, I made this video in Swedish!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8HKu30yZkA Watch it if you're interested~!


Wow, I haven't got the confidence for that. (My confidence died for three years, actually, I've only recently started speaking Swedish!) You're doing really well so far. The main thing I'd say to watch out for now are the pronunciation of 'ä' ('är' should sound more like English 'air' than 'are') - you get it right in 'översättare'.
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User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
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Re: Japanese and Swedish Language Log

Postby Xelian » Sun Oct 30, 2016 10:18 pm

Elenia wrote:
Xelian wrote:Progress report:
Swedish:
-3/6 chapters completed in Rivstart
-3/6 chapter quizzes completed
-1/2 verbal exams left
-1/2 written exams left

ALSO, in preparation for the verbal, I made this video in Swedish!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8HKu30yZkA Watch it if you're interested~!


Wow, I haven't got the confidence for that. (My confidence died for three years, actually, I've only recently started speaking Swedish!) You're doing really well so far. The main thing I'd say to watch out for now are the pronunciation of 'ä' ('är' should sound more like English 'air' than 'are') - you get it right in 'översättare'.


Oh! Thanks so much for the feedback, I'll try harder on pronunciation of är!!

Yeah, putting out language vlogs and such are really hard for me too, especially my Japanese now. I've been wanting to put out another video in Japanese for a while now and haven't been able to do it yet.. I also wanted to make a video introducing myself in Korean, but I never did. Ah, maybe sometime soon!
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User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
x 237

Re: Japanese and Swedish Language Log

Postby Xelian » Mon Oct 31, 2016 8:47 am

I should be sleeping right now but something came across my mind...

Although it might be a tad bit early for New Year's resolutions, I just want to talk briefly about what I'm planning to do in 2017. 17 and 7 have always been really great numbers for me. Lucky for me, and I know many others who like the number. Anyway, I don't expect to learn languages just by luck, and I know that I like to start early on things, so here we go.

I learned from a polyglot youtuber (laoshuu) that it is good to stick to 3-4 focus languages per year. Now this is pretty hard for someone like me, who is interested in many languages. But I realize that I don't have a lot of time as it is with my classes in college, and two of my classes are already language classes, and thus I think it is an okay compromise to focus on 3-4 languages with the time that I have currently and am seeing that I will have in 2017. There is one that might change, but because I may go to Mexico in the near future, I will also be studying Spanish.

Languages of 2017:
Japanese
Swedish
Korean
Mandarin
Spanish

They are in this order for a reason. I am taking Japanese and Swedish until the end of the school year, in June I believe it is. I will be going to Japan right after school gets out for two weeks. Then, in the fall of 2017, I am planning to (but not entirely decided) take Korean 101 again. If not, I will pick up where I left off in 102 during the winter quarter. I will be learning Japanese and Korean into 2018, but that is much in the future.

For now I just wanted to list a general idea of some of the things I will be doing outside the classroom to work on my language skills.

Japanese:
Read Real Japanese - This is something I've wanted to do for a long time but never got around to reading past the first page. I want to implement the Listen-Reading technique with this resource, as it has both English and Japanese texts and also a reading of the Japanese text for 6 stories which I'd say are around upper intermediate level Japanese.
新しい社会 - I picked up a series of textbooks for grade school students in Japan. I have already done the first few pages of the 3-4 level text. It's actually really interesting and cute, and although for younger children it helped me learn a lot of new vocabulary and the short prompts allow me to interact with it. It's basically a milder version of Tobira minus the English and the explanations of grammar points.
Other - I have been doing some work with journalling in Japanese, and have done this on Lang-8 for a long time. However, now that I can write a lot of kanji, it is good practice to journal on paper instead of online. I've also done some work with vlogs on youtube and plan to continue this.
Trip to Japan - I'm going to go to Japan at the end of the school year, so that will be like a reward for finishing my junior year of college and all my studying should be put to good use.

Swedish:
Duolingo - I want to check this out. I've never done Duolingo but I've heard it's great. It should solidify my basic Swedish and such.
FSI - I used FSI for Bulgarian, although I didn't continue with that, I liked it. I tried FSI for Korean and found a lot of it not so useful. I've heard good things about the Swedish FSI so I'll be trying it again, maybe skip the first lesson with all the pronunciations because I've listened to that part before.

Korean:
한국말 하시네요 - This is the textbook I'll be using in class, but before I start Korean again, I will need to review this, especially the part where I got frustrated and dropped the 102 class. This wasn't because it was hard but also because I was taking 2nd year Japanese on top of another class and was depressed.
Pimsleur Korean - I've had this around for a while and want to pick it up again. It'll give me at least something to listen to with Korean. I also have the script I downloaded a while ago. Should be useful!
Other - I really would like to make an introduction video on my youtube channel in Korean. I've wanted to for so long but never could get it together. I've even filmed it before. I just couldn't put it up. I deleted it. I have to do it again haha.

Spanish:
Duolingo - For now I will go through the Duolingo course and see what happens. I lived in New Mexico for most of my life, so I have a LOT of exposure to Spanish, although I could never speak it.
Update: Just tried the first lesson. Very easy. I am super glad however that it made clear that "el, un" are masculine and "la, una" are feminine. This is something I could not pick up from just passive listening alone. So, I've already learned something that I can solidify in my mind and eventually start speaking. I'm going to try and do a lesson per day or when I have time if it isn't too much.

On top of this to soothe my other language lusts, I made a 365 Foreign Songs Challenge playlist, where I am putting up songs everyday for a year. I've been updating it weekly instead of daily because of my busy schedule. I started August 14th of this year for some reason, but here it is if you want to see my favorite songs in other languages: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 8gJP6ZfQCO
So far I've put Swedish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, French, and Bulgarian songs in it. I'm planning to add German this week, but we'll see. ^^ Enjoy~
Last edited by Xelian on Sun Jan 01, 2017 3:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
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: 84 / 1000 Japanese Pages Read

User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
x 237

Re: Japanese and Swedish Language Log

Postby Xelian » Fri Nov 04, 2016 7:03 pm

This week was very busy and stressful. I had a midterm in my other class that is not a language class, and also a lot of assignments from Japanese. We are turning in our draft of the second writing assignment today, and edits should be quick and easy. I'm really proud of my work, I think it's really interesting and cool hahaha.. We were making a "travel guide" to a place we've lived/been to before and I chose Maui, Hawaii. The results are really nostalgic for me because I use to live there and I miss it.
Next week will be a little less busy because we have no classes on Friday.

Anyway, we also completed another vocabulary quiz, and are having the kanji quiz on Tuesday, and one of the oral interviews on either Thursday or Friday :? ... Hopefully I get more information on what we are going to be tested on in today's class.

Progress report:
Japanese:
-1/3 chapters completed in Tobira (We've started chapter 2)
-2/2 writing assignments completed
-5/7 vocabulary quizzes
-1/3 kanji quizzes completed
-1/3 chapter exams completed (I think the final exam is just the chapter 3 exam)
-2 oral interviews left (these are my weakness)

Swedish is good, we've gotten to plural forms and such. We have our chapter 4 quiz on Tuesday.

Progress report:
Swedish:
-3/6 chapters completed in Rivstart
-3/6 chapter quizzes completed
-1/2 verbal exams left
-1/2 written exams left

Moving right along in the quarter~
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