elka's log - Japanese, English, Spanish - doing the impossible

[elka]

I know nothing about Czech, but I do know German speakers often pronounce the soft th (like than) with a z sound. The sounds actually are pretty similar, only the tongue is a bit further forward for th. And yes, I am sitting at home going zzzzzz tttttttthhhhhhhh zzzzzz tttthhhh right now while trying to pay attention to my mouth shape. My children think I have gone crazy.

I am picturing it just now I suppose if anyone heard me practicing those sounds they would think I am crazy, too

And I am sure you are correct that practice will cure this, and I believe that there is a high probability that it isn't as big of a problem as you think it is. Anyway, best if luck in your improvement, and know that you are most likely better than you believe. From your writing I would think you are a native English speaker.

Thank you so much! I find it a bit hard to believe, though. When I go through my posts sometimes, I always find a couple of mistakes and I can definitely see a lot of room for improvement.

And I enjoy reading your log, so thank you for posting it!

Again, thank you so much

[elka]

Yes, TH in both words is a very typical problem for the Czech natives. "Think" is worse. If you want to very easily mock the typical Czech pronuncation of English, you can start from "I sink". The German Z doesn't solve it. We have the same Z too, and if overdone, use of it in English would sound just as stupid. But "I zink" is less funny than "I sink". The real consonant is somewhere between "S" and "F".

True. I had a programming teacher in grammar school that literally pronounced "then" as "dzen"

I suppose elka is already very good, well beyond the beginner's exercises, just trying to polish everything to perfection. Which is hard. Perhaps Speechling could help? Or repeating closely after natives, one sentence at a time. For example Sherlock might be good material. Or the Queen's speech might be easier and she is by definition the best English speaker in the world. If she makes a mistake, it's not her mistake, it is the whole Commonwealth that's wrong

Thank you for all the suggestions! I looked up Speechling and it looks very interesting. I would feel very uncomfortable with recording myself, though. As for the repeating sentences, that would probably help a lot. I'm gonna look for material on my speaking level

[Cavesa]

Thank you for all the suggestions! I looked up Speechling and it looks very interesting. I would feel very uncomfortable with recording myself, though. As for the repeating sentences, that would probably help a lot. I'm gonna look for material on my speaking level

You're welcome, I'm glad you like them. I'm curious about your progress! And might try to replicate it this summer (not in English though).

Why would you be so uncomfortable? The other person cannot see you and they don't have any real contact with you to know any backstory. They cannot think stuff like "this learner sucks, considering all the years of learning". They hear just one sentence at a time, which also limits how many mistakes you can make at once, so you will overall sound very good. Unless you choose to, it will be just repetitions of the proposed sentences, so the content doesn't make object of any judgement at all. Speechling is one of the least weird self recording tools I know. I felt much more uncomfortable recording myself for the speech recognition software (especially the flawed one on Duolingo, in which I actually had to fake typical English speaker's mistakes in German to be taken for correct )

If listening to your recorded voice is a problem (which feels weird to many people), try to approach it more like listening to a different person. Of course you sound different, because the sound is perceived normally and not through your skull, therefore the individual wavelengths are differently intense and loud. But if you try listen to yourself more like to another person, you are more likely to replace "but this is not me, I can't sound like this monster!" with "well, this stranger has quite a nice voice".

But you're right, even the listening and repeating after a good model will work nicely, if done a lot.

[elka]

So, um, I have been doing a self-imposed challenge and posting about it on Instagram (@elkalanguagenerd). Initially, I called it a read-a-thon but then I couldn't find the time to sit down and read so I am listening to audiobooks instead. I am currently "reading" Moby dick by Herman Melville. It is a fascinating book for sure. The language is challenging, too. I'm in the 9th chapter and I'm really enjoying it.
BTW - I made a list of 30 books I can choose from during this read-a-thon month and since they are all classics, 28 of those audiobooks are on a great site called librivox.org for free. Made my day when I discovered it

Not much else has been happening, though, in terms of language learning. I mean, I cleaned my apartment today if that counts as anything

You know actually, there is something on my mind. I really like watching videos on youtube about minimalism and while I am not a minimalist I do try to simplify things and see the world from the minimalist perspective at times and I wonder if you think it is better to use one textbook at a time when learning a language or is it better to use multiple textbooks? I actually think that using only one at a time is better and I'm gonna leave you with one of my favourite quotes - Never half-a** two things, always whole-a** one thing

[golyplot]

Wow. Moby Dick is a little difficult to read even for the typical native speaker. And from what I've heard, it's very long and boring as well. Good luck!

Have you considered reading some of Edgar Allen Poe's works instead? Same archaic language, but they're generally less boring.

[SCMT]

So, um, I have been doing a self-imposed challenge and posting about it on Instagram (@elkalanguagenerd). Initially, I called it a read-a-thon but then I couldn't find the time to sit down and read so I am listening to audiobooks instead. I am currently "reading" Moby dick by Herman Melville. It is a fascinating book for sure. The language is challenging, too. I'm in the 9th chapter and I'm really enjoying it.
BTW - I made a list of 30 books I can choose from during this read-a-thon month and since they are all classics, 28 of those audiobooks are on a great site called librivox.org for free. Made my day when I discovered it

Not much else has been happening, though, in terms of language learning. I mean, I cleaned my apartment today if that counts as anything

You know actually, there is something on my mind. I really like watching videos on youtube about minimalism and while I am not a minimalist I do try to simplify things and see the world from the minimalist perspective at times and I wonder if you think it is better to use one textbook at a time when learning a language or is it better to use multiple textbooks? I actually think that using only one at a time is better and I'm gonna leave you with one of my favourite quotes - Never half-a** two things, always whole-a** one thing

Many people consider this to be the great American novel. Good luck with it!

[elka]

Wow. Moby Dick is a little difficult to read even for the typical native speaker. And from what I've heard, it's very long and boring as well. Good luck!

Have you considered reading some of Edgar Allen Poe's works instead? Same archaic language, but they're generally less boring.

It is not boring at all If you want to read about 2 men sharing a bed, you should give it a try. Seriously. It is very, uhm....modern book lol.
I actually find Poe's books too terrifying, to be honest. I need something mellow for my infantile crushed soul
Anyways thanks again for reading my blog

[elka]

Today, I don't feel like making jokes about my laziness and mediocrity so just a quick recap of the past couple of days - nafink, nafink and nafink as my fellow Czechmen would say. I mean, I have listened to a couple of hours of Moby dick and studied Japanese for an hour in total. Go elka! Go where though? That is the [kεstjɔ̃]. Yeah, don't know what else to say this week...

[elka]

English - This challenge I've started is not working for me at all. I guess it is because I am not accountable to anyone and no one really sees my progress. That is why I joined the Tadoku challenge. It is starting on 1st of May. Can't wait. Hopefully, I will be more motivated to sit down and read cause I am not motivated to read or listen to anything in English anymore, and it kind of troubles me. I vividly remember listening to something in English for hours, comprehending half of it, and being happy about every word I learned. These days though, I just understand almost everything I hear (podcasts, films, TV shows), and to be honest, I am not really motivated to learn academic words or whatever you want to call them. I used to wish for passing CPE (C2 exam) but I guess it changed and I think I am quite comfortable where I am now with my English passive skills? Active skills are a whole other story, so perhaps I will focus on those in the near future. I am thinking I might take some italki lessons after this Tadoku challenge.

Spanish - These past couple of days I have tried to get plenty of input in Spanish. I listened to songs, saw a couple of videos, and listened to a couple of podcasts. My Spanish is improving for sure and I am always getting the gist of what I read or hear. I also tried Glossika and it didn't work for me.

Japanese - I started studying another textbook - Zero to Hero and I find it kind of fun. Still not able to read hiragana comfortably and I will try to focus on it more this week.

As for some inner thoughts -
When I think of learning a foreign language I picture myself hunching over a boring textbook and cramming words and grammar points but I have realized it doesn't have to be that way. I mean I really admire people who can just study for hours on end and actually finish a textbook, mainly because I always start studying a textbook, then I start studying another textbook and then I realize I have started 10 textbooks and haven't finished any of them. What really works for me is listening to something and learning from it and that is what I need to prioritize.

[elka]

So, umm, yeah. About the Tadoku challenge. I read 99 pages by day 2, then I decided to rest on a Sunday and then the next day, someone logged 401 pages. In Japanese. That was like the 5th of May. Today, the first one has over 1200 pages. After 14 days. In Japaneeeese. Do humans even have the capacity to read that much in such a difficult foreign language? Needless to say, I bailed out. Shameful, I know. Gotta adopt that growth mindset, right? Well, maybe later.

As for Spanish, I have been seeing great progress. I try to listen to an audiobook or a podcast for at least 15 minutes a day. It is usually longer. Also, I downloaded a browser add on that helps you learn languages on Netflix. It is really helping me I think. It is called "Language Learning with Netflix".

As for Japanese, I haven't been studying much, to be honest. I guess you were right golyplot. It is hard to juggle learning 2 languages at the same time. I thought it might work cause I am on an intermediate level in Spanish and on a beginner level in Japanese but somehow I find it hard to juggle learning both languages at the same time. I think I am going to focus on just Spanish for a bit. Then I am thinking French or Italian whilst having Japanese on the back burner with like 15 minutes of study a day. Yeah, I guess this is the plan for the coming months.