JLS log - Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Chinese

[JLS]

I have all my languages on a 10-minute rotation. Over an hour's time I'll spend 10 minutes at least on each one. It never feels like much for any single one, but it does something.

I'm going to go on a rotation as follows:

- 2 weeks - Reading the language
- 2 weeks - Writing in the language
- 2 weeks - Grammatical analysis of a piece of writing

I try to positively advance in each of these sessions.

This isn't meant to be wooden. For example, I'll put more into writing Chinese because the kanji demand such practice

The languages do each get some amount of attention outside of these sessions. I'll listen to Spanish and Chinese throughout the day. Since I'm in seminary I'll get some additional time in Greek and Hebrew. For classes I may scribble out a few sentences or notes in Latin. I'm working on a paper, and I'm writing some of my notes in Latin (the product will be in English).

Although I'm a native English speaker, I feel I should try to improve my English anyways. Perhaps I should add in a routine for English as well.

[JLS]

If I am going to compose in Hebrew, perhaps I should do modern Hebrew. Ancient Hebrew has fewer words compared to other languages, but their semantic range is quite great. With modern Hebrew I'm more likely to get that living aspect that I wouldn't get with ancient; but perhaps the connection is close enough that the ancient will likewise come alive. That, and I can talk to modern Hebrew speakers.

[JLS]

Revival of Spanish
My Spanish had been parked in hiatus for some time. After months of just half hour reading, I feel once again a naturalness in the language. My composition, thinking, and speaking are all at a basic working level. It takes less time to revitalize a language than one expects. I don't pretend to know a lot, but what I do know is becoming a real second nature.

A Beloved Co-Learner
One of the joys of my journey: My wife is learning Spanish as well. We can't converse directly in Spanish, but when I speak to her in Spanish she understands. She teaches Spanish to the children as well, and so the Spanish she picks up is more colloquial than mine. She teaches using popular Spanish children songs and everyday phrases. I fear that my own Spanish may be a somewhat "Anglicized" Spanish, or perhaps Spanish more adept to professional environments.

我的孩子
I speak to my children in Spanish. Some days they seem to like it; others, no. I know they'll catch on if I keep pushing it.

Goal - Love Languages
I still have one problem with Spanish - I can't retain well in this language. I can read a text and understand it without translation, but for it to sink in I must translate it to English in my head. I need it to embed permanently in my mind in Spanish et al "as is" the way it happens for me in English.

A friend was telling me that each person has an emotional language; that is, the language they feel in, or at one time it was the language of their loves and emotions. Some cannot forget a language they haven't spoken in years, because of the emotional associations with it. I feel like I need something like this to happen in my target languages. I need these languages to get down to my own soul and abide there.

[JLS]

I'm curious if anyone else experiences this: Do you find it's hard to access memories encoded in one language when you are practicing another?

For example, there's a massive body of knowledge I've accumulated through the English language. When I am practicing Spanish though, it can be work to retrieve it. I feel like with each language there's a distinct brain with its own separate memories and experiences, and it's difficult to access one "brain" from another. It seems then I need to be cognizant to create crossover between memories in one language and another. Perhaps doing parallel compositions (ie. writing/translating the same sentence written in each target language) may be a way to do this.

Does this happen to you?

[JLS]

There may be a way to overcome the issue in my last post, where I complained that it's hard to get my thoughts embedded in English to transfer over to another language.

One way: feel free to converse with yourself in both the native language and the target language. Better to connect the target language with well-rounded native-language thoughts than leave the target language in a mental vacuum where it cannot settle.

I might also try multi-line method; that is, take one work which I have in multiple languages, and analyze the same sentence in multiple target languages. I might get somewhere on all of them, and each one is going to have a common context. Perhaps this would allow easier cross-over of thought.

Perhaps another: Compose a sentence in the native language, and then compose it in the target languages.

[JLS]

Today I had my most "extensive" conversation yet in Chinese. Granted it was scattered, and all my statements were little more than bite-sized, but when I speak I can make myself understood at a basic level.

I feared as an English speaker having an unintelligible accent, or butchering proper Chinese pronunciation in a way that almost sounds mocking. Quite happy neither is the case.

[jimmy]

Today I had my most "extensive" conversation yet in Chinese. Granted it was scattered, and all my statements were little more than bite-sized, but when I speak I can make myself understood at a basic level.

I feared as an English speaker having an unintelligible accent, or butchering proper Chinese pronunciation in a way that almost sounds mocking. Quite happy neither is the case.

nice to hear, may I ask ;

how did you start to work for chinese? and
whether you have been/gone to china?

and last question: do you understand youku?

[JLS]

Today I had my most "extensive" conversation yet in Chinese. Granted it was scattered, and all my statements were little more than bite-sized, but when I speak I can make myself understood at a basic level.

I feared as an English speaker having an unintelligible accent, or butchering proper Chinese pronunciation in a way that almost sounds mocking. Quite happy neither is the case.

nice to hear, may I ask ;

how did you start to work for chinese? and
whether you have been/gone to china?

and last question: do you understand youku?

Hi Jimmy,

I learned the sounds using free website resources. Tried working with a few "most common" lists. I watch short children videos to establish basic vocabulary. I'll practice writing kanji several times over. I'll do a little self talk. There's a few Chinese natives around me that I can practice with, but I've not done that much. I've done lots of listening, though mostly above my head (probably not best).

Never been to China.

I'm not sure what youku is?

[jimmy]

Today I had my most "extensive" conversation yet in Chinese. Granted it was scattered, and all my statements were little more than bite-sized, but when I speak I can make myself understood at a basic level.

I feared as an English speaker having an unintelligible accent, or butchering proper Chinese pronunciation in a way that almost sounds mocking. Quite happy neither is the case.

nice to hear, may I ask ;

how did you start to work for chinese? and
whether you have been/gone to china?

and last question: do you understand youku?

Hi Jimmy,

I learned the sounds using free website resources. Tried working with a few "most common" lists. I watch short children videos to establish basic vocabulary. I'll practice writing kanji several times over. I'll do a little self talk. There's a few Chinese natives around me that I can practice with, but I've not done that much. I've done lots of listening, though mostly above my head (probably not best).

Never been to China.

I'm not sure what youku is?

mmm, I also tried very less amount of time so. But after thinking that those website makers was american or not chinese natives, I left.
but youku seems original. you should definitely consider to watch/try youku.
simply, it is chinese youtube as of my knowledge.

[JLS]

mmm, I also tried very less amount of time so. But after thinking that those website makers was american or not chinese natives, I left.
but youku seems original. you should definitely consider to watch/try youku.
simply, it is chinese youtube as of my knowledge.

谢谢你!