Ka upane! (2017)

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Teango
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Ka upane! (2017)

Postby Teango » Sat Jan 28, 2017 9:54 am

2017

Introduction

nzs:
Image
source: http://nzsl.vuw.ac.nz/

haw: Aloha mai kākou a e komo mai i kaʻu puke moʻomanaʻo paʻeʻe e pili ana i kaʻu aʻo mai i nā ʻōlelo i kēia makahiki!

ru: Всем привет и добро пожаловать в мой блог изучения языков в этом году!

en: Hi everyone and welcome to my language learning blog this year!

I'm late to the starting line this year but very excited about the course ahead. As I'm writing this in a stolen moment between changing diapers and beatboxing to amuse my little daughter, I'll be brief. This year I'm cutting back on the number of languages I'll be studying, and would ideally like to reach B1 in New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL), B2 in Hawaiian, and C1 in Russian (on the CEFR scale).

Image NZSL

I'll be learning New Zealand Sign Language from scratch this year. As countless videos demonstrate how infants can learn to communicate with basic signs much earlier than using speech, my wife and I are looking forward to trying this out with our daughter over the coming months. Learning to sign to a low intermediate level would also open the door to a bright new paradigm in language learning for me, and this is an exciting prospect.

Image Hawaiian

I've let my Hawaiian slide a considerable amount and need to reverse this sinking trend. I think it would be fun to read storybooks in Hawaiian with my daughter at some point (they publish some great books in Hawaiian here!), but am still weighing the pros and cons of adding a third language too early on. In the meantime, I owe it to my previous Hawaiian teachers at the University of Hawaiʻi and my adopted spiritual kūpuna to carry on the torch and seek out new waves in this beautiful language. An upper intermediate level would be perfect for my current needs.

Image Russian

I trust 2017 will mark the year when I finally reach an advanced level in Russian!! Who knows, if I say that confidently enough several times and follow it up with some real consistent study, it might even happen. ;) I must confess that English remains the overwhelmingly dominant language at home, and in order to raise little Teangushka in a more balanced bilingual environment, daddy here will need to get serious with his Russian studies in order to break through into the advanced level. This is the language I will focus on most this year.

As always, I extend a warm welcome to anyone who would like to drop by and share some aloha here in this thread, and I wish you all every success and joy in your language studies in 2017...удачи всем!



Image Goals
  • nzs: A0 to B1 (achieved in March 2017, self-assessment) :D
  • haw: B1 to B2 (in progress)
  • ru: B1 to C1 (in progress)


Image Resources
Last edited by Teango on Sun May 23, 2021 5:18 am, edited 72 times in total.
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Re: Ka upane! 2017 (NZSL ☾, Hawaiian ☾, Russian ☉)

Postby Bakunin » Sat Jan 28, 2017 5:49 pm

Teango, how will you go about learning NZSL? Will you be working with native signers? What kind of language learning materials are out there for NZSL? Do you have ideas how to leverage sign language in your learning of spoken languages? I guess you're aware of WAYK and language hunters who employ sign language to get quickly into a new language; is that something you'd like to do?
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Re: Ka upane! 2017 (NZSL ☾, Hawaiian ☾, Russian ☉)

Postby Jar-Ptitsa » Sat Jan 28, 2017 6:00 pm

Hi Teango

It's great that you are leanring sign language. I would like to learn one as well, and I think that eveyrone should learn it so that the deaf poeple aren't isolated.

Why the New Zealand one?
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Re: Ka upane! 2017 (NZSL ☾, Hawaiian ☾, Russian ☉)

Postby Teango » Sat Jan 28, 2017 9:38 pm

@Bakunin
Thanks for dropping by, Bakunin! NZSL has a surprising wealth of excellent resources, and I'll post up some of my favorite links once I've given them a more thorough test-drive. As I'm a complete newbie to the language, I've started reading New Zealand Sign Language: A Reference Grammar to get a head start on the grammar, and will probably learn all the basic baby signs on Sign NZSL with Your Baby later today. I'm also absolutely loving The Online Dictionary of New Zealand Sign Language - it has a clear interface and bags of functionality.

I haven't thought about working with native signers just yet, but it would be great to find some NZSL signers on italki (I had a quick look this morning but came up empty). In the meantime, I'll simply practice with my patient wife and bemused daughter.

I recall you were interested in dabbling in sign languages yourself back on the old forum (I think this was a couple of years back). Did you ever try one of them out, either out of curiosity for the language itself, or as part of language hunting (which I think uses ASL, if I'm not mistaken)? I find the concept of using basic signs to facilitate early language acquisition and learning very interesting.

@vogeltje
Grüezi, Euleküken! I'm glad to see you back posting on the forum again, and you're right...learning sign language is already introducing me to a new perspective from which to view the world, and I'd like to gain more skills to help out and support the deaf community over time. I've chosen New Zealand Sign Language as it's very close to British Sign Language (and I'm a Brit), whilst still remaining somewhat exotic yet familiar with its Polynesian connection. My wife and I would also like to move to New Zealand and maybe even settle down there in the future. Here are some NZSL signs especially for you: bird, owl, and feather (or feathers).
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Re: Ka upane! 2017 (NZSL ☾, Hawaiian ☾, Russian ☉)

Postby Xenops » Sat Jan 28, 2017 11:43 pm

Hello! I'm currently researching into moving to Europe (haven't decided which country yet). Why New Zealand? :D You can mention your attraction to the country rather than the reason for leaving the U.S. if you want (I know Facebook burned me out on political discussions!)
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Re: Ka upane! 2017 (NZSL ☾, Hawaiian ☾, Russian ☉)

Postby Teango » Sun Jan 29, 2017 4:27 am

@Xenops
Thanks for the aloha, and good luck with your possible move to Europe. Which destination has you most excited so far?

So why am I interested in New Zealand...well first of all, I'm a big fan of the outdoors and New Zealand has some stunningly beautiful and varied landscapes. It's somewhat ironic that I was born in Tolkien's inspiration for The Shire and may end up in its eventual filming location. Hang on a minute...does that make me a hobbit in this picture...oh hey, can I be Gandalf instead!? I've also heard that New Zealand is a good place to raise children (although I've been warned off Auckland several times for whatever reason), people are very friendly, and many aspects of the culture are familiar to a Brit (we even have the same face on the back of our money, and I'll be able to use words like "nappy" again!) Finally, having lived in Hawaiʻi for 4-5 years now, I've fallen in love with Polynesian language and culture. So once my PhD is completed and my US visa is up, I'm keen to move to a Polynesian country again and become more involved in the local community. Having learned Hawaiian to a conversational level, I'm looking forward to learning NZSL now and Māori further down the line (i.e., New Zealand's other official languages). I could go on...Flight of the Conchords, All Blacks and Ka Mate, abundant lamb chops and real butter (sorry Vegemite lovers)...but I'll leave it there for now. Don't want to jinx it.
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Re: Ka upane! 2017 (NZSL ☾, Hawaiian ☾, Russian ☉)

Postby Teango » Sun Jan 29, 2017 4:53 am

...ok, just a little bit more then. I also just came across the following interesting snippets whilst surfing the net:

"New Zealand was the first major nation to have universal suffrage. In 1893 it became legal for all male and female citizens of New Zealand to vote."

and

"New Zealand was the first country to have its three top positions of power held simultaneously by women: The Prime Minister (Helen Clark), the Governor General (Dame Silvia Cartwright), and the Chief Justice (Sian Elias)." (source: Top 20 Cool Facts About New Zealand).

Right. I think I'm done for today on this subject. :)
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Re: Ka upane! 2017 (NZSL ☾, Hawaiian ☾, Russian ☉)

Postby Jar-Ptitsa » Sun Jan 29, 2017 5:59 pm

Teango wrote:
@vogeltje
Grüezi, Euleküken! I'm glad to see you back posting on the forum again, and you're right...learning sign language is already introducing me to a new perspective from which to view the world, and I'd like to gain more skills to help out and support the deaf community over time. I've chosen New Zealand Sign Language as it's very close to British Sign Language (and I'm a Brit), whilst still remaining somewhat exotic yet familiar with its Polynesian connection. My wife and I would also like to move to New Zealand and maybe even settle down there in the future. Here are some NZSL signs especially for you: bird, owl, and feather (or feathers).


Thank you :)

Image

Thanks for the link to the signs for bird, owl and feather, they are great!!!!!!!!

Interesting that you want to move to New zealand. It's got beautiful countryside, but it's veyr far away.
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-w- I am Jar-ptitsa and my Hawaiian name is ʻā ʻaia. Please correct my mistakes in all the languages. Thank you very much.
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Re: Ka upane! 2017 (NZSL ☾, Hawaiian ☾, Russian ☉)

Postby Bakunin » Mon Jan 30, 2017 11:43 am

Teango wrote:I haven't thought about working with native signers just yet, but it would be great to find some NZSL signers on italki (I had a quick look this morning but came up empty). In the meantime, I'll simply practice with my patient wife and bemused daughter.

I recall you were interested in dabbling in sign languages yourself back on the old forum (I think this was a couple of years back). Did you ever try one of them out, either out of curiosity for the language itself, or as part of language hunting (which I think uses ASL, if I'm not mistaken)? I find the concept of using basic signs to facilitate early language acquisition and learning very interesting.

Great that there are so many resources. Are they basically big dictionaries, or is there a structured introduction to the language as well, the equivalent of a textbook?

I'd love to learn a sign language but I can't imagine doing this gesture by gesture from videos. As for all languages I need massive exposure to comprehensible input. I would want to start by watching only, for example watching extremely basic little stories or conversations with subtitles or pictures. I haven't seen anything like this on the web for the local languages around here, but maybe I haven't looked hard enough. Every few months or so I'm having a look around the internet... there are always new apps coming out, websites getting polished. Just a few weeks ago I downloaded a shiny new app for a Swiss sign language, but after some playing around it seems to be just a dictionary with multiple choice tests. Unfortunately, I can't work with that.

So, I think I would need to find a native speaker willing to work with me. Language hunting would work as well as other CI approaches I guess, though I would prefer to go through a 'silent period' in the beginning - as with spoken languages.

I also find the idea to use signs to facilitate early language acquisition intriguing. I'm looking forward to reading about your experiences in this log!
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Re: Ka upane! 2017.2 (NZSL ☾, Hawaiian ☾, Russian ☉)

Postby Teango » Tue Feb 21, 2017 1:14 am

Image
source: student.mediarts.net.nz

I've been mainly focused on New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) since my last update, but have included some minor Russian maintenance and a wee soupçon of German and Toki Pona on the side. My baby daughter, in the meantime, has learned to say "hello" (in her own garbled-but-cute-sounding way) and is starting to experiment with the magic of bilabial consonants (she even said "mama" yesterday but has yet to repeat it).

Image NZSL

I'm really enjoying learning NZSL and am impressed with how much I can sign already. Most signs are easy to second-guess and have a habit of sticking in my memory after a single practice. In a sense, they serve as their own natural visual mnemonics. After my first week of study, I could sign at a basic conversational level and carry on continuous 20-30 minute monologues (albeit slowly at this stage). I'm also nearly two thirds of the way through my NZSL grammar primer (p. 204), which helps me appreciate more of the subtleties of sign language in general and get to grips with the unique syntax (e.g., non-manual markers, verbal aspect, scene setting). I even developed my own system of sign writing to accommodate missing images in the NZSL dictionary and to make a basic note of new signs on the fly (I probably spent way too much time on this, but I now have a much deeper appreciation of the morphology of signing).

Out of curiosity, I watched a 7 minute babycare video with no supporting audio or subtitles, first with my wife after a day of studying NZSL, and then a couple of weeks later by myself. On my first viewing, lip-reading quickly took on a more central role, pushing manual signs to my peripheral vision where they could be glanced over to quickly for reference or confirmation. I understood probably 80% of the video and recognized many of the words I'd learned from a baby NZSL website earlier that day (e.g., change, cry, help, prefer, make, fun, baby, bath, red, powder, milk). This was in addition to several signs that were pretty clear from visual context and facial expression. On my second viewing, I relied less on lip-reading and focused more on the signer's hands, whilst also stealing glances over to the main presentation (this takes practice and speedy eyeballs!) I understood more this time (probably about 90%) with several running phrases as opposed to single words. I also picked up many new words that I'd learned during my NZSL dictionary work in the preceding fortnight (e.g., daughter, work, nothing, succeed, what's wrong, bad, morning, help, advice, need, wish, similar, practice, night, bottle, see, if, in the past, 3 weeks, 3am, exhausted, difficult). I've still got a long way to go, but I'm pleased with my progress so far, and can't wait to learn more and expand my repertoire in this fun new language.

Image Hawaiian

My Hawaiian is still grounded and waiting patiently in the airport lounge eating complementary macadamia nuts. It's not a priority for me right at this moment, as I'm more focused on improving my Russian and NZSL which I use on a daily basis with my family.

Image Russian

In the shadow of my sign language studies, I've been maintaining Russian to a lesser extent. This is largely due to me signing up with NZSL rather than Russian for the current 6 Week Challenge. Most of this has been speaking practice, although I also tested my reading level last week and discovered (much to my surprise) that "War and Peace" is easier to read than "Night Watch" (I really didn't see that one coming!)
Last edited by Teango on Fri Jun 15, 2018 7:46 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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