Page 3!
This week has been... not so good (in productivity terms
). But, not every week can be super productive, right? As long as it doesn't become a habit. I was admittedly feeling a little burnt out, and used most of this week to indulge in other hobbies. But, it has been refreshing, and I'm raring to go again. Especially since I'm off to the Netherlands next Thursday! 5 whole days of immersion. I'm a bit more forgiving since well, that will certainly make up for the lull this week.
So, as always, I set myself some goals last week. Here's how they went:
* Reach Unit 13/14 of TY Dutch
*
1 hour listening to Dutch*
2 hours listening to Japanese* Read 10 more pages of また、同じ夢を見ていた
*
Continue to write short paragraphs in Dutch and long paragraphs in JapaneseNot too bad considering I had toned it down this week!
DutchTeach Yourself Dutch: (10/16)
Harry Potter en De Steen der Wijzen chapters: (0/17)
Don't let that progress bar fool you. I'm on Unit 11! I'm actually near the end of it. I think it's been the longest Unit yet. It covers a lot, so it's taken me sometime to digest it all. I've definitely slowed down with TY: Dutch, but I think that's a good thing. Up until Unit 09 I was moving at a steady pace, almost a Unit a day. But, the units have gotten longer and the grammar has gotten harder, so it's taking me a little longer to work through it. One good thing is I've identified my weak points as I've progressed. Namely, the past tense, word order (but this is getting better as I expose myself to native materials), reflexive verbs, separable verbs (apologies if there's an actual name for these sort of verbs!) and vocabulary. But vocabulary will and always will be a thorn in my side
, but I can easily brush up on the past tense, word order, reflexive verbs, 'separable' verbs and no doubt the further grammar points that will elude me
. I've told myself that I'll buy a grammar book as a reward when I finish TY Dutch. I feel that TY Dutch gives you a solid foundation in which to build upon. It gets quite in-depth, and I must say my understanding has went from 0 to being able to get the gist of a sentence even if I'm not entirely sure about all the words or grammar being used. I feel I'll benefit nicely from a grammar book, as I'll be able to re-visit the troubling parts, and learn some new grammar in the process. I'm the kind of person who chooses a grammar book as her bedtime reading
. I honestly find it fascinating.
In my last post, I mentioned how I was practicing speaking with my boyfriend. Well, I'm in a group chat with some friends on WhatsApp; 3 Dutch speakers (including boyfriend) and 2 English speakers (including me). We were joking around and for some reason, the Dutchies mentioned something in Dutch. The other English speaker (our very good friend), joked that we should only speak in English. I saw this as my opportunity to join in on the joke and *gasp* reply in Dutch! I was nervous since I've only ever really used it with my boyfriend. I'm close to the other two Dutch speakers, but we've only ever used English, and only one of them knows that I'm actively studying. So, I replied in Dutch (I'll save you all the trouble of reading the sentence - it was bizarre), to which one of the Dutch speakers replied in Dutch playing along with the joke. I replied again, and this time he caught me out - he replied in dialect!!
I was puzzled to say the least - much to my boyfriends amusement. I replied again ("Ik snap het niet
"), to which our friend laughed. Then, he asked me to record myself saying my initial Dutch sentence. I was so nervous!!!! Again, my boyfriend is the only person I've tried to speak Dutch to... but, I rose to the challenge. I recorded a short voice message of myself saying the sentence the best I could... accent and all
and off I sent it... They're my good friends, and they are Dutch to a fault. Incredibly straight with me. So I knew, if it was bad, they'd make sure I knew it!! We didn't get a reply until the next day. Much to my surprise, I got a "That's actually pretty good!"
I was beaming with pride! My boyfriend tells me every day my pronunciation is improving, and that I shouldn't be shy... but, it's nice to hear it from someone who is not obligated to compliment you
Not that my boyfriend doesn't scold me when I pronounce something wrong...
I know, to the members of this forum, the above exchange might seem like nothing, but to me, someone who has a history of completely avoiding speaking (Japanese... I'm looking at you!), to be speaking and interacting with the language so early on is really exciting! Not to mention I'm actually communicating with it... it makes it all feel that bit more real!
Now... I'm meeting with the Dutch friend next week, as we'll all go for dinner on the weekend. Here's hoping I can remain confident, and practice speaking more - this time in an actual social setting!
One of my goals for this week was "1 hour of Dutch listening"... I did that. I did more than just one hour, to be precise
I can't say exactly how long, but I'm going to assume it was within the realm of 3-4 hours
I listened to the Dutch radio while I worked, and after about an hour, ended up actually enjoying listening to it and totally got carried away! I was listening to a music station, but there was a lot of intervals where the hosts talked, guests called in, news segments etc. I kept re-hearing words (especially in the news segments, as they repeated the main headlines for the day), which got noted down. I'm definitely getting more accustomed to the rhythm and flow. Words are becoming clearer. I find myself repeating the radio jingles through the day. They often play Dutch songs and I found myself (very badly) singing the chorus later. It's a very nice addition to my studies
It has a small impact, but it's nice!
I wrote a small paragraph on Instagram again, plus some small sentences throughout the week on Instagram 'stories', mainly just narrating my day or what I'm doing. Also tried to begin a conversation on the /r/languagelearning subreddit, they have a post there where people post in the languages they're studying. I didn't see a Dutch one so I took the plunge! No replies - not that I'm surprised, it's rare to see Dutch on there - but it felt nice having the confidence to write a small sentence and try to initiate a conversation.
As I'm going to the Netherlands next week and we have some errands to run in the city centre, especially on one day I'll have some time to myself, I'm going to take the time to explore a book store and maybe pick up a book in Dutch. My boyfriend said he has a YA series he wants to recommend to me, so I'll jot the name down and go look for it. I have HP in e-book format, which you would think would be preferable but I find it ... de-motivating? It's harder for me to study from, so I'm thinking I'll pick up HP if they have it. I know there's a particular bookstore in the town over which had most of the HP books, so I might have to stop by there. I'm also considering picking up a Disney DVD or two! As a child, I watched films like Mulan, Pocahontas, Hercules over and over again. The last time I was there, I saw them available for cheap. I think it'd be fun to re-watch them in Dutch
JapaneseMata, onaji yume o miteita: Shin Kanzen Master series: 今週、まずは日本語で書いていきたいと思います!
今週はあまり日本語の勉強できていません。ハロトークというアプリで日本語と英語のグループチャットに入ってみたんですが、人数が多すぎてなかなか会話に入れないのでちょっとやめました。まだグループチャットには入っていますが、何も話せずにこそこそ読んでいる、という感じで。(笑)グループチャットの管理者?が優しい人で、ちょっとお話ししました。ハロトークはよくバグってしまって、少しの間、グループチャットを見れなくなりました。管理者にそれを報告したら、すぐに返事をくれたし、ハロトークスタッフまで問い合わせしてくれました。さすが日本人・・・と思えました(笑)そのチャットにほかの日本人がいるようですが、あまり話してくれません。チャットはほとんど日本語だからだと思いますけどね。英語を勉強したい方より日本語を勉強したい方がいるので仕方ないですね。
This week, I'd like to write in Japanese first!
I didn't get a lot of Japanese study done this week. I joined a Japanese-English group chat on an app called Hello Talk but there is too many people so it is hard to get involved, so I kind of gave up. I'm still apart of the group however I just mainly read quietly without saying anything. The owner of the group is a nice person and we talked a little. Hello Talk often bugs out and for a while I was unable to see the group chat. I reported this to the owner and he replied instantly, and even went as far as talking to the Hello Talk staff. Just what I'd expect of a Japanese person. There are other Japanese people in the group chat, however they don't speak much. I think it's because the chat itself is mainly in Japanese. There are more people who want to learn Japanese than there are English (in the group), so I guess it can't be helped.As I wrote above, really nothing to report on the Japanese front. Still using it at work. Still watching Youtube videos, listening to Japanese music, reading and using Japanese daily. I did actually start subtitling a video
. It's a Let's Play video by a Let's Player (ポッキー) I really enjoy. His video (Outlast 2) was already subtitled in Japanese, so I took it upon myself to translate the Japanese subtitles into English for his (probably small) English audience. It was great translation practice, and I picked up some new words. I also really enjoyed the video
I'm not quite finished but I've done about ~10m of a ~20m video. I plan to continue this and translate his other videos, too
I haven't really read Mata, onaji yume o miteita even though I have literally had it with me at all times. I really don't have an excuse other than - I was focused on other things
Dutch has really taken the front seat, although this week it was mainly if I wasn't studying Dutch, I was doing errands or playing video games with my boyfriend. Everyone deserves a rest week, surely?
I still haven't started on Kanzen Master and I'm actually considering signing up to do the JLPT N2 just to give myself a good solid kick
. I did, however, start a Memrise course for Japanese vocabulary. I also signed up for an iKnow.jp free trial and did the placement test for their Core 6000 course. I got placed in Advanced
. Thanks iKnow.jp, it was the funniest joke I'd heard all week.
How next week is looking...
* IK GA NAAR NEDERLAND JONGENNNNS! (I'm going to the Netherlands guyssss!)
* Finish TY Dutch Unit 11
* Speak a whole bunch of Dutch, eat delicious Dutch food, attend a Dutch family party... essentially, be Dutch for 5 days.
* 2 hours of Japanese listening
* Continue writing small paragraphs in Dutch and long paragraphs in Japanese on various social media
* Glance at my Kanzen Master book
* Come home with a new Dutch book
A little more exciting since well, I'm NL-bound!
It'll be an exciting week! Oh, and naturally, I won't be updating next week. I'll update the week after (June 3rd) -
Tot ziens!
EarthBerry