alaart's log (Chinese, Korean)

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alaart
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Location: Kaoshiung
Languages: DE (N), EN
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A2: KR
A1: ES
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... hp?t=10867
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Re: alaart's log (mainly JP/CN ; 6WC: KR)

Postby alaart » Mon May 11, 2020 7:35 pm

eido wrote:If you ever need help with Korean grammar, I'm happy to assist you!

Korean is my passion.

알랏씨도 지원을 필요하면, 몰어하세요.

한국어 사랑해.


Thanks a lot! So far I have rarely posted questions in any language, I maybe should do so more often. I have been lucky to be in touch with natives, that usually does the trick for me. But of course there is a lot I don't know. I think I have to pay close attention to the things I'm unsure about, so I can ask good questions :)

Korean:
Had language exchanges, and I can't stress enough how great the help has been. I'm still barely talking, but the amazing thing is that both of my exchange partners are fluent in Japanese, so I can just think of how I would say something in Japanese, and get the missing parts by my exchange partner, which is extremely effective for learning grammar patterns. I reviewed most of the phrases and grammar I learned there, and I'm very motivated by it. :)

Chinese:
Had two language exchanges, my Chinese is still rusty but it is returning, and I'm mostly able to converse again, well with some breaks for looking up words in the dictionary.

Japanese:
Online Classes started, and boy are they boring. And it's not only that I'm in the same level as last semester, no - they also have similar content, so I'm repeating material in 3 courses, not great. - but on the other hand, they are easy, and I don't need much time investment, so I can focus on all the other things I want to achieve right now, and continue with Japanese self study too. Since I'm not a big fan of teachers after the beginning stage, this might not be too bad.
I finished the "Attack on Titan" Anime, and started "Stein's Gate", have watched 2 episodes so far. Still not sure, if this is an Anime for me (maybe too Anime-ish with too many female girly characters, that speak weird). Time travel story, a bit difficult - a lot of words I don't know, but I just watched it without pausing too much so far, will see.
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alaart
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Location: Kaoshiung
Languages: DE (N), EN
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... hp?t=10867
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Re: alaart's log (mainly JP/CN ; 6WC: KR)

Postby alaart » Wed May 20, 2020 6:04 am

Korean:
So, progress is going well with Korean. I now am in Lesson 12 in the grammar segment, and I because my language exchange partners were busy, I added a new one this week - so with 3 people, I should always have someone to speak. I still struggle a lot, and need a lot of help forming my sentences, but I can feel it growing together.

But there is a voice in the back of my head telling me to focus on other things in life (I still believe language learning is just my way of avoiding dealing with those things I really have to work on). Come to think of it, it was like this in the other two 6WCs as well - and I stopped studying there around the 22-25th day. So this time the big challenge is to keep going :mrgreen: , hope I can do that.

Japanese:
Lessons and big annoying chunks of homework, not much else as I'm still inside. JLPT exam have been canceled in Japan, but my plan is still to at least finish the nihongo no mori youtube Series on JLPT3 grammar, and that one grammar book I have on JLPT3. That was the preparation I wanted to get for the JLPT3 exam, and I plan to do it regardless.

Chinese:
2 language exchanges.

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So, if I find the time I want to improve the log a bit, since it looks like this will be a long time commitment. I want to create a proper starting post, and maybe list the resources I use, and the interesting posts - and I want to add a sort of timeline. Maybe also some pictures - who knows. I still have more urgent things to do now, but it is on my todo - so I will do it at some point.
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alaart
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Posts: 338
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Location: Kaoshiung
Languages: DE (N), EN
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... hp?t=10867
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Re: alaart's log (mainly JP/CN ; 6WC: KR)

Postby alaart » Thu May 28, 2020 7:47 am

So, it has been another week already.

I created a resource list of everything I could recall using. It's a start, next I want to write a proper starting post. I want to write a bit more open in the blog, but I guess I'm a bit reserved by nature - will see.

I have some health issues, I'm a bit tired sometimes but I keep studying. Currently I always have a ton of homework in Japanese, big time killer. I lost motivation to progress in Japanese much nowadays, but I watched some Anime with my room mate. I had Korean language exchange 1 time, and Chinese language exchange 3 times. I'm making progress in Korean, but it is still rather slow. Here, lets look at this monologue I prepared for language exchange earlier this week:

주말 어땠어요?
저는네 오늘 시간 동안만 잤어요. 아주 피곤해요.
어제 멕시코인의 룸메이트들랑 파티했어요.
Because of that 오늘 저는 한국어 조금 안 말해요
보통 저는 술을 안 마셔요, 하지만 어제 돈이 마셨어. 머리가 아파요
너는 술을 좋아해요?

So that's about where I am right now, If I had to speak I would do in slow motion and look up conjugations in between though - but I'll get there.

Ah, I forgot - I'm nursing my rotten Portuguese a little - watched the first episode of the Netflix Drama "3%".
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alaart
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... hp?t=10867
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Re: alaart's log (mainly JP/CN ; 6WC: KR)

Postby alaart » Tue Jun 02, 2020 12:10 am

LLN.jpg

https://languagelearningwithnetflix.com/ - what a fantastic tool I didn't know about. They have a netflix and a youtube plugin. Also greatly appreciated is their search 'catalogue'. You can search netflix shows in your target language with subtitles, as well as youtube videos. I'll probably use this is a lot, looking forward to it :)

How is it going?
I spent some time on Portuguese, mainly on Netflix, and revived my ability to talk (yes, I lost it again), I then talked with a Brazilian friend from São Paulo.

I had Chinese and Korean language exchange. Unfortunately of my 3 Korean language exchange partners 2 already stopped learning, so I'll try to find 2 new ones.

I did progress in Korean grammar - but I feel I need to spent some time on content now, because the grammar gets more and more obscure, since the stuff from previous lessons isn't solid at all.

A lot of Japanese homework.. they are time consuming. Corona in Japan is on the back foot and people are going out again. I'm looking forward to going out soon too, so that will probably mean less time studying.
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eido
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Re: alaart's log (mainly JP/CN ; 6WC: KR)

Postby eido » Tue Jun 02, 2020 11:45 am

alaart wrote:주말 어땠어요?
저는네 오늘 시간 동안만 잤어요. 아주 피곤해요.
어제 멕시코인의 룸메이트들랑 파티했어요.
Because of that 오늘 저는 한국어 조금 안 말해요
보통 저는 술을 안 마셔요, 하지만 어제 돈이 마셨어. 머리가 아파요
너는 술을 좋아해요?

Let’s see if I can correct this. Don’t shoot me as I am still a learner, too.

주말 어때요?
저는 많이 자 안 뒤서, 피곤해요.
안 잘 잤었는데, 한국어 오늘 안 이야기해요.
보통은 술을 안 마셨는데, 돈이 있어요. 머리가 아파요. 술을 좋아해요?

And that should do it. Let me know if you have any questions.
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Re: alaart's log (mainly JP/CN ; 6WC: KR)

Postby Sayonaroo » Mon Jun 08, 2020 11:36 am

alaart wrote:I have some health issues, I'm a bit tired sometimes but I keep studying. Currently I always have a ton of homework in Japanese, big time killer. I lost motivation to progress in Japanese much nowadays, but I watched some Anime with my room mate. I had Korean language exchange 1 time, and Chinese language exchange 3 times. I'm making progress in Korean, but it is still rather slow. Here, lets look at this monologue I prepared for language exchange earlier this week:

주말 어땠어요?
저는네 오늘 시간 동안만 잤어요. 아주 피곤해요.
어제 멕시코인의 룸메이트들랑 파티했어요.
Because of that 오늘 저는 한국어 조금 안 말해요
보통 저는 술을 안 마셔요, 하지만 어제 돈이 마셨어. 머리가 아파요
너는 술을 좋아해요?


I recommend leaving out the subject whenever possible.
너는 술을 좋아해요? is strange since nuh is informal and the -yo makes it polite. you either have to take out the 너는 or take off the yo to make it into a normal sentence but in this case you'd just take off the subject.
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alaart
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Posts: 338
Joined: Sat Aug 03, 2019 6:58 am
Location: Kaoshiung
Languages: DE (N), EN
B1: NL, JP, PT (BR), ZH
A2: KR
A1: ES
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... hp?t=10867
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6WC Wrap up

Postby alaart » Thu Jun 11, 2020 4:18 pm

Ah yes, thanks you two. like Japanese I should leave out the subjects if clear from context. I will probably keep them around a little as a beginner, if I leave them out my conversation partners understand me even less. In Japanese I rarely use them, so it should come natural to me in Korean as well at some point.

eido wrote:주말 어때요?


주말 어때요? - How is your weekend, right? - in my case I tried to speak about the past weekend, and my language Exchange partner taught me: 주말 어땠어요? - How was your weekend?

eido wrote:저는 많이 자 안 뒤서, 피곤해요.


I don't understand 뒤서 , seems unfamiliar. Is it from 되다? to become? Passive form?

---------------

Ok, 6WC is over. I managed my goal of 5 hours / day, but honestly I wasn't working too hard, it's just that due to Corona all my social life died and I had much more time than usual. I'll keep learning Korean, but probably at a slower pace.
I did not really succeed in having a real Korean conversation without help yet, but also I didn't have many language exchange partners, I guess I will get there in due time.

Next big thing will be learning the Chinese simplified characters and apply for a scholarship, I have zero motivation, but I guess I have to. I will then gradually stop learning Japanese and will focus on Chinese again (I guess so far Chinese has not really come up a lot in this log, besides me writing it in the title - but I studied it very intensively before). There is still a university paper I have to write before my return too :/.

But for now, I don't feel like doing any of that. Once again, I'll try to study less now and go outside, meet people. Do some things besides studying in Japan. Only 3 month remaining. Corona or not, since my old friends didn't last I need to make new friends. There is no university, no events and no good chance to meet people. So I guess I'll have to talk to strangers, this will be very hard for me. Also the Japanese rain season has started, but I went outside anyway - walked through parks a lot - some old people went out too, taking pictures of flowers:
FlowersRain.jpg
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eido
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Re: 6WC Wrap up

Postby eido » Thu Jun 11, 2020 5:42 pm

alaart wrote:주말 어때요? - How is your weekend, right? - in my case I tried to speak about the past weekend, and my language Exchange partner taught me: 주말 어땠어요? - How was your weekend?

I don't understand 뒤서 , seems unfamiliar. Is it from 되다? to become? Passive form?

I think the passive, past tense form she taught you is not correct for the context. It's definitely an actual thing, but I don't think it's appropriate for what you wanted to say and communicate.
For instance, look at the possible word-meanings for that form in the Papago entry.
캡처_01.PNG

They all have different, yet similar meanings. But none of them are quite like, "How was your weekend?" in English. That's why I changed it to present tense. Korean tends to use present tense in places where English uses past because that's just the language's and culture's logic. But you might ask your friend why she did that and see what answer she comes up with.

As for "뒤서," it's the "therefore," or "due to," or "so..." form. The "서" is a little agglutinative bit that gives you the "so." You might be able to remember it because the meaning and the sound are similar.

You can use pronouns all you like, but it might drive your exchange partners up the wall. Try to be more adventurous. The more natural thing to do would be to drop them and do something like this if things get confusing for everyone:

You: 머리가 아파요.
Them: ??
You: *point to yourself* 저는. 니가.
Them: 아. 알겠었십니까?
You: 알아.

That's just a suggestion. You don't have to follow it. It might make things a bit more exciting and challenging, though. Do what you will! The information (power) is in your hands!
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alaart
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Joined: Sat Aug 03, 2019 6:58 am
Location: Kaoshiung
Languages: DE (N), EN
B1: NL, JP, PT (BR), ZH
A2: KR
A1: ES
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... hp?t=10867
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Taking a break

Postby alaart » Sun Jun 28, 2020 4:20 am

I'm taking a break from studying, I stopped all language exchanges, except my newest one - which I might lose if I stopped it now, so I continue. I stopped Anki and memrise, I stopped doing half of my homework from university as well.

I started to go outside and meet with people, but is hard to meet new people, since there are no events, parties etc. and university is still online. I want to make something of my last bit of time in Japan.

But I still use the languages. I did some sightseeing in and around Nagoya and of course I'm speaking Japanese. I did spent some time with a Chinese girl, where we talk exclusively in Chinese, and we will meet again this week. I continued watching the Portuguese Drama "3%" on netflix, I am now halfway through the second season. This morning a Brazilian friend asked me to translate this poem called "Se eu morresse amanha" from Portuguêse to German. I had some difficulties, but together (my Brazilian friend speaks German) we probably got it somehow. Ironically, that question is exactly what I have been teaching in German class yesterday.

I will continue taking it easy on studying for a while.
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alaart
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Trip to 金沢 (Kanazawa)

Postby alaart » Mon Jul 06, 2020 8:05 am

I continued my "non study" period, and even skipped a week of university classes. I traveled with the Chinese girl, so I spoke Chinese the whole week. Since Corona is still a threat in Japan, and the mainstream tourist places should probably best be avoided, we went to 金沢 (Kanazawa) , which is a less known city in the Japanese prefecture of Ishikawa. It is an old castle city which kind of lost its place in the spotlight during Japanese modernization, but still carries a lot of charm.

I attempt to keep my promise of making the blog more interesting, so I'll attach some pictures. The pictures are scaled down, and have reduced quality to keep loading of the thread smooth.
As you can see, there were barely any tourists, that is not only because of Corona, but also because of the rain season.

Kanazwa-Castle: The original castle of the city burned down, so this is a reconstruction which is still unfinished:
金沢城.jpg


The city is mostly famous for its garden, 兼六園]兼六園 (Kenroku-en), which is one of the most famous gardens in Japan. The city also has a lot of other smaller gardens and the nature was a pleasure to see:
日本庭園.jpg

日本庭園 (2).jpg


This is a former pleasure / leisure district and now a tourist area:
茶屋街.jpg


This is a big Japanese villa which is in the Kenroku-Garden, taking pictures is mostly prohibited instead at this very spot. There are other smaller Samurai and Geisha houses around the town to visit and get a good feel for the old Japanese houses.
Villa.jpg
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