Mastering the 4 Languages: A Language Log

[Bilingual_monoglot]

Ok, so there are a few things to talk about.

First, I received my A level results, and for Tamil I... failed, horribly. Well, that's embarrassing. Given that I now don't meet the language requirements, I am now taking the B syllabus. Don't worry though. It's an easier paper, and has a lower standard, so I don't see it disrupting anything too much.

For Chinese, the aunties who run my school's bookshop have decided that they will basically be my Chinese tutors. For now, my main concern is to keep acquiring some vocabulary, so that I can actually say things and understand things.

Yesterday, I went to the barber shop, where I largely speak only in Malay. For me, I always enjoy speaking in Malay, more so than I do Chinese. In fact, when I use it, it feels like a more natural lingua franca than English. For now, my main thing is to do some extensive reading in Malay, aided by lingq, with a view of completing the beginner material and being able to watch and understand P Ramlee films without subtitles.

[Bilingual_monoglot]

For all the talk on the forum about how COVID has impacted language learning, I find that nothing has really changed for me, except for having to do daily temperature taking for school and my father now working from home because of his cough, and it getting easier to get an MC if you have any flu like symptoms.

Anyway, I have a mid semester break, so more time to learn languages. I decided to focus on immersion for the week because
1) I have a large Netflix backlog of Chinese and Chinese dubbed shows I haven't been able to watch lately
2) I just discovered Star Trek is dubbed in Bahasa, so I have much more available content for immersion

Due to the situation, I have been keeping up with the news, especially in Tamil, though also a little in French, so I get to practice that for the 1st time in a long while.

However, since I also have my regular exams to study for, I haven't really been able to do more than just going through beginner materials on Lingq for Malay, and working my way through Paul Noble inch by inch for Chinese.

[Bilingual_monoglot]

So, after a second wave, a 10 fold increase in the number of cases and Cambridge deciding to to suspend exams, the government finally decided to close schools


on Fridays. Other days it will be as per normal.


So basically, I managed to get some work done language wise, though not as much as I would like. Tamil B is also stupidly easy (I managed to finish my paper in half the allotted time).
Due to the shock of block tests, I have decided to go all in with SRS to get some studying done for my school subjects. As such, I decided I might as well enter some vocab into anki, so now I'm doing that as well.

[Bilingual_monoglot]

So as of last week, Singapore has been on 'circuit breaker' mode, or 'lock down but we're not calling it that so we can still force an election' mode. This means I am now spending all of my time at home, which is both good and bad for my languages. Good because I have been able to continue immersing, but bad because I can't go out and talk with the usual native speakers anymore. I have continued to make progress in both languages, but, and this is especially true fro Chinese, it's hard to feel the progress, because in my immersion, I don't actually understand anymore than I have previously. I guess part of it is that the vocabulary a language course teaches is not necessarily what gets used in the media. But still, it feels a little demotivating.
Also, I find that I have a problem generally with reading. Even in Esperanto, where I can understand most non-technical audio input, reading an article of Libero Folio is just so incredibly painful, even if I use Lingq to help me. I'm not sure how to go about making it easier for me to read. But still, I hope I will be able to report better progress next week.

[Bilingual_monoglot]

Here I am, 1 month later.
Over the past month, I have continued with the Paul Noble Chinese course and immersing in Chinese. However, my Malay had been largely neglected, even though I personally enjoy Malay more. Anyway, with the circuit breaker extended for one more month, I will be trying to work more actively on Malay.

[samothin]

Hi BM,

Hope you are doing fine in the circuit breaker. It's certainly a new era for all of us.

I'm currently facing some problems where I hope you could help sort out. I'm looking for a Tamil-English dictionary and a Tamil grammar book in English.

If it's available online/or exist as an app, it would be great.

Appreciate your help on this matter.

[Bilingual_monoglot]

Hi BM,

Hope you are doing fine in the circuit breaker. It's certainly a new era for all of us.

I'm currently facing some problems where I hope you could help sort out. I'm looking for a Tamil-English dictionary and a Tamil grammar book in English.

If it's available online/or exist as an app, it would be great.

Appreciate your help on this matter.

Thanks, I'm doing alright, homework procrastination notwithstanding. Hopefully you're also doing well in Malaysia.

As for your request, I have found this grammar (http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/tamilweb/book.html) by a professor Harold Schiffman that deals with spoken Tamil. It's fairly academic, so take that how you will. In regards to a dictionary, I have never really found the online dictionaries comprehensive enough for my tastes, but this one (https://ilearntamil.com/tamil-to-english-dictionary/) should be useful for you.

[samothin]

Thanks for the recommendation. They are exactly what I'm looking for Hope I could use them fully soon.

[Bilingual_monoglot]

So hey there guys. So I haven't been able to work on my language, and I had to be away from the forum for a while, and here's why:
First, my grandfather died recently, so we were in a state of mourning, and I didn't quite feel like language learning
Then, there was a scare about whether I had COVID 19 (I didn't thankfully) due to being fairly ill, and I didn't really do anything other than sleeping all day
And then, the government decided to call for elections, and I was occupied with work on that front
Then this week (immediately after elections finished) we had some exams, that I have to study for.
However, I will have a week off once the exams finish tomorrow, so I can star back up on my language activities soon.

[Bilingual_monoglot]

I think this week was quite Lingq heavy for me. First, I have finally finished my b syllabus examinations, so I'm free now. Tamil will now move back into active maintenance (though I might bring it back into more active learning in a few years as I want to move back to India), so now I will be focusing largely on Malay and Chinese, with a little Esperanto in the mix.

I have really been spamming Lingq these past few days, with 2 different shifts (computer and mobile). On my computer, I primarily work through the mini stories for Chinese and Who is she for Malay. On mobile, I either listen to things that I have already done, or work on mini stories in Indonesian as my phone doesn't have Malay text to speech, but has it for Indonesian.

Also, my sister has started asking me for advice on learning Malay, as the people she has to deal tend to speak Malay around her, and she wants to understand what they are saying.