Xenops' Log

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Xenops
Brown Belt
Posts: 1444
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 10:33 pm
Location: Boston
Languages: English (N), Danish (A2), Japanese (rusty), Nansha (constructing)
On break: Japanese (approx. N4), Norwegian (A2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16797
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Re: Bergenstesten i 2022 eller 2023

Postby Xenops » Thu Jul 08, 2021 4:16 pm

iguanamon wrote:
Xenops wrote:...So I’m not seeing myself using a lot of TV series for language exposure. In combination with my textbooks and tutor, I will probably study Det Nye Testamentet for my visual/audio feed. I’m actually more familiar with its content than HP. The approximate number of unique words in the Greek New Testament is around 5,000, so the Bokmål translation will give a decent amount of vocab.

I have used the Bible in Haitian Creole, along with the Thru the Bible Chapter Study. Sadly, for Norwegian, there is no transcript that I can find for Norwegian.

I wouldn't start with the New Testament. I think you'll find the Old Testament, especially Genesis and Exodus, to be more approachable for learning and consolidating everyday language... at least I did and do.


I thought of you when I wrote this post. :) Yes, I'm going to have to treat Norwegian like a small language after all.

Ideally I would start with the Old Testament, as narrative is easier to read than religious treatises (which are what Paul's letters are). However, I could not find a modern translation of the OT with matching audio, just the NT. I'll probably start with Mark, as it is more action-based than the other Gospels, and go from there.

One thing learning languages with few resources available has taught me is to be creative when I can't find what I would normally like to have for resources for learning. Searching in the language will help. Look for tales, audio-books, radio plays, youtube videos, podcasts and resources aimed at newcomers to Norway (there has been significant immigration). Peppa Pig is available in Norwegian. If you can get past the snorting, it should help with getting started. Granted, of course it's not as exciting as adult material, but, it can be made to be comprehensible by searching English transcripts or watching the corresponding English version. Try pm'ing BrunUgle. She's had experience helping foreigners learn Norwegian. When you hit a brick wall, try going around it.


I tried an episode or two of Peppa Gris...The art style, and the snorting, was a bit much. ;) Though Mista suggested NRK below, and I found a kid's show I could watch. I've also thought of shadowing dialogue from Home for Christmas on Netflix, it has lots of adult slang I would probably hear. :? :lol:

Mista wrote:For TV, why not check out the free option? At https://tv.nrk.no/, I think all their self produced material is available worldwide


Wow, this looks very promising, thank you! And the kids' show I started has SUBTITLES!! :D


DaveAgain wrote:Norwegian series currently available on UK TV are: These are offered via UK Channel 4/Walter presents. The Walter Presents bit also partners with broadcasters in other countries.

https://variety.com/t/walter-presents/
https://squareeyedworld.wordpress.com/c ... sents-usa/

I've noticed MHz Choice beings cited as a source of European TV by Lingua.


Thank you, I will look into this. :)
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Xenops
Brown Belt
Posts: 1444
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 10:33 pm
Location: Boston
Languages: English (N), Danish (A2), Japanese (rusty), Nansha (constructing)
On break: Japanese (approx. N4), Norwegian (A2)
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Re: Bergenstesten i 2022 eller 2023

Postby Xenops » Sun Aug 01, 2021 3:11 pm

Look what I got in the mail last week! :mrgreen:

Image Image

Image Image

I purchased them off of https://www.bokkilden.no/ on the 8th, and got them on the 27th. The target age group for both series is 9-12. I was surprised how much I could understand, based on my limited Norwegian and the panel clues.

That reminds me...for some reason (and still to this day), I cannot stand Dr. Seuss books, especially when I was learning to read my native language as a kid. Actually, most of the books aimed to teaching kids how to read were all very uninteresting, and I was convinced that "if this is all there is to read, why bother?" Thankfully my sister was into Archie comics, and "read" them as I try from the pictures, I knew I was missing a lot because I couldn't read the dialogue. So that is how I learned to read English. Despite being a slow learner, I caught up quickly: I read an unabridged translation of The Iliad and Alex Haley's Roots before I entered high school...For fun.

For other news, work is getting depressing and stressful--we are closing up shop for the microbiology department. There are only two full-time people left. Though I have an interview presentation on Friday, and I expect to hear from another job, so I hope I can leave this situation soon. Because of these events, I'm taking August off from language studying. As the full Bergenstesten can only be taken in Norway, and with the current world situation, I'm not going to aim for the 2022 date, more so the 2023 date. I also have loans to pay off here in the U.S., so I have a bit of time before I can go anywhere anyway. I considered taking the JLPT 4 this December, but Boston isn't holding it this year. :| I'd have to travel to Philadelphia or NY. I think I need a break during this transition time, and allow me to job hunt and plan without additional stress. I've also been ignoring my drawing and comics for awhile, so I can do that during between job hunting.
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Elsa Maria
Blue Belt
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Re: Bergenstesten i 2022 eller 2023

Postby Elsa Maria » Sun Aug 01, 2021 8:55 pm

Good luck with the job hunt!

I still have not placed an order yet with bokkilden.no, but your experience is very encouraging!

I don't know if you have used the podcast Lære Norsk Nå or not, but you might like this episode (#71): Bergenstesten. There is a free transcript. It is more of a description of the test than a piece about how to succeed at it.


https://laernorsknaa.com/71-bergenstesten/
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Xenops
Brown Belt
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Location: Boston
Languages: English (N), Danish (A2), Japanese (rusty), Nansha (constructing)
On break: Japanese (approx. N4), Norwegian (A2)
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Re: Bergenstesten i 2022 eller 2023

Postby Xenops » Mon Aug 02, 2021 2:03 am

Elsa Maria wrote:Good luck with the job hunt!

I still have not placed an order yet with bokkilden.no, but your experience is very encouraging!

I don't know if you have used the podcast Lære Norsk Nå or not, but you might like this episode (#71): Bergenstesten. There is a free transcript. It is more of a description of the test than a piece about how to succeed at it.


https://laernorsknaa.com/71-bergenstesten/


Tusen takk! I have actually started listening to him, I didn’t know he did one on the test!
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Xenops
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Re: Happily Unemployed

Postby Xenops » Thu Sep 09, 2021 2:16 am

Well, if that’s not a click-baity title, I don’t know what is. ;)

So, some real-life news: my department at the hospital is officially closed, and while the lab manager tried to convince me otherwise...I quit my job. Yes, as mentioned before, I could transfer to another department in the lab, or even somewhere else in the hospital if I desired—but I had no such desire.

Honestly, I am just burnt out with healthcare. I worked as a medical technologist for almost three years at this hospital, and in my department particularly, we tested for COVID. Now, it’s one thing if the work is meaningful, if the work schedule follows some regularity, and you’ll getting support from your coworkers. That’s how I made it last year. But now, these three things are gone. The work in my department now consists of sending specimens to the bigger lab, and answering questions from angry doctors—very little to do with patient care. My work schedule last year was actually pretty consistent—I worked Tuesday through Saturday, a schedule I learned to enjoy. Recently, my schedule is all over the place, and I often don’t know the next week’s schedule until Friday afternoon, if that. Lastly, my coworkers are gone, either retired or moved on to other jobs. The lab manager can offer no support to us plebeian workers, and left us stragglers to fend for ourselves. With these factors, I saw my mental health disintegrate, and for the first time I had panic attacks.

So I took a risk: I quit, without a job lined up...But man, the relief I felt after my last day. I don’t even care that I don’t have a good job lined up—I’m so relieved to be free of that environment. On Labor Day (September 6th), I joined my church group on a fruit-picking expedition—for the first time. Because of work and COVID, I hadn’t spent much time with friends for a long while. That was a fun outing, hopefully just one of many to come.

For the meantime, I start tomorrow at the Star Bucks in a grocery store (a ten-minute walk from my house), while I job hunt for a permanent position. I’m still looking for an entry-level research job, and I’m praying if this is where I’m supposed to look for a job. But I should be okay for a little while—I have some savings, and I expect some cash-out from work earn time.

So, languages: I think I'll still take a break from iTalki tutors, at least until October. Thankfully, with the previous job done, substantial stress has evaporated, my mind is turning to studying again (and drawing comics--but you don't care so much about that). So returned to Duolingo and Memrise for norsk review, and I'm debating whether to continue with my plan to use Japanese for Everyone for now, or return to Genki. Maybe both.

And yes, wanderlust strikes again. :lol: But realistically, the ground has long been fertile for the seed to grow. One of my earliest experiences listening to a foreign language was exposure to Maire (Moya) Brennan's music. She was a member of Clannad, and the sister of Enya. So like everyone else, I was always fascinated by Celtic languages (specifically the Goidelic languages).

For the last couple of years, I seriously considered studying Scottish Gaelic: I actually prefer its orthography and its phonology. However, upon the scarcity of speakers in the U.S., and the steadying decreasing number of speakers, and outlooks such as Scots Gaelic could die out within a decade, study finds, I just can't see myself spending time to study it.

In these times of COVID, I have forgotten the impact of meeting people in person. I happened to see a flyer for Irish lessons, and the instructor promised to only see vaccinated students. Despite him never responding to my email, the affect was permanent: "wait--I can study a Goidelic language, and even find speakers in my local area (Boston)?" So I have been researching materials to study Irish, and I am leaning towards focusing on Munster Irish and using the Teach Yourself 1961 book. I won't study as hard as for norsk and 日本語、but I expect it to make a regular appearance.

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Xenops
Brown Belt
Posts: 1444
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 10:33 pm
Location: Boston
Languages: English (N), Danish (A2), Japanese (rusty), Nansha (constructing)
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Gode nyheter! Jeg fekk jobb!

Postby Xenops » Wed Oct 06, 2021 10:25 pm

Good news! I got a research/molecular lab job!! :D :mrgreen: 8-) It's at a medical school in Boston, and for those of you who are familiar, it is dealing with the Next Generation Sequence process. I'm mighty stoked.

I start on the 18th, so I have two more weeks of my part-time job. I'll probably use some of the time reviewing my genetics materials.

For language news, I have been inspired to work more on norsk than anything else. I've come to a healthier acceptance of myself, and I concluded...I like knowing things, but not the acquisition/studying to know those things. ;) I also saw on Klar Tale that Norway is starting to open their borders to visitors again. So even though I'm not moving anywhere anytime soon, I'm approaching a mental state where I want to work hard on Norwegian and get the beginning/intermediate levels out of the way.

I've been passive with Japanese, but maybe that's okay--if I can get Norwegian "out of the way", maybe then I can dedicate the time I want on it later on.

I haven't touched Irish since my last post. :lol: I feel like it's a language you have to especially love to make progress, and I'm not there. Oddly enough, I still prefer Scottish Gaelic. Maybe later.
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Iversen
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4768
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 7:36 pm
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Languages: Monolingual travels in Danish, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Romanian and (part time) Esperanto
Ahem, not yet: Norwegian, Afrikaans, Platt, Scots, Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Albanian, Greek, Latin, Irish, Indonesian and a few more...
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Re: Bergenstesten i 2023

Postby Iversen » Wed Oct 06, 2021 11:20 pm

Congratulations with your new job. Since I'm interested in the relationships between archeology, genetics and languages I have read about the developments within DNA analysis, and it seems that you have chosen a sector with a golden future - right at the frontline of scientific research. Norway is about to open up for vaccinated people, but I have been told that they ask for an electronic vaccination passport - at least for us here in Europe who can get one. But visitors from other continents may have to wait.

PS I have been to Bergen several times in the past, and contrary to the dire warnings I have mostly have nice weather.
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Xenops
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Re: Bergenstesten i 2023

Postby Xenops » Thu Oct 07, 2021 12:43 am

Iversen wrote:Congratulations with your new job. Since I'm interested in the relationships between archeology, genetics and languages I have read about the developments within DNA analysis, and it seems that you have chosen a sector with a golden future - right at the frontline of scientific research.


Thank you. :D

Norway is about about to open up for vaccinated people, but I have been told that they ask for an electronic vaccination passport - at least for us here in Europe who can get one. But visitors from other continents may have to wait.

PS I have been to Bergen several times in the past, and contrary to the dire warnings I have mostly have nice weather.


Yeah, I figured it will be a while for anyone outside of Europe to visit Norway. ;) I'm still waiting to see if the U.S. will have electronic vaccination records, or if we're stuck with dog-eared pieces of card stock.
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Xenops
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Re: Bergenstesten i 2023

Postby Xenops » Sat Dec 04, 2021 6:29 pm

I guess today is my Llorg-posting day. ;)

So, with the new job, I've had a (vast) change in schedule, which includes an hour commute each way. Thankfully, both ways involve riding the bus, and not the deafening subway, so I have utilized apps:

Duolingo Admittedly, my most consistent Norwegian grammar practice. But in its (and my) defense, I do think it is the best course Duolingo has to offer...At least for now. The pop-culture references are always welcome, and even having to arrange word blocks in the correct grammatical order feels like work. I feel comfortable with word-order inversions because of this app, and I feel motivated to continue.

Memrise For Norwegian, I'm plowing slowly through the Mystery of Nils vocab deck. I started chapter 20 this past week. Eventually I will get back to the actual book, but I admit it's not my favorite. Here's the link to the course: https://app.memrise.com/course/1019941/the-mystery-of-nils/

For Japanese, I'm working on vocab decks from Genki I and II, and just started the Tobira vocab deck as well. I especially like the Genki decks, because it even includes audio for the addtional phrases/vocab at the end of the chapters, which the textbook audio doesn't include (as far as I know). Here are the links for those:

https://app.memrise.com/course/535555/genki-i-genki-1-vocabulary-kanji/

https://app.memrise.com/course/533274/genki-ii-genki-2-vocabulary-kanji/

https://app.memrise.com/course/182440/intermediate-japanese-tobira-with-audio/

Also trying out:

Genki Conjugation I wish Genki offered all of their app offerings on one app--but oh well. I admit one of my weaknesses is conjugating the verbs and adjectives, so this is a nice little practice on the road. I can also reset practices so I can do them again.

Bunpo This is specifically for Japanese grammar, from what I could tell. I liked the grammar explanations of 〜より、〜のほうが, which I previously visited in Genki, and I saw it broken down further in the app. The practice was seamless, much easier to use than Lingodeer, which I find clunky and tedious. I tried a topic I haden't seen before, and I was left confused. Probably the best way to use this app would be to practice topics I have already covered in Genki to reinforce. I'll probably buy the full version by Christmas.

Something I've also realized (which probably the senior members of this board think "well, duh," but it's taken me a while to appreciate this--doing written grammar exercises, especially for Japanese, do not translate into active, spoken skills.

I know, mind-blowing. ;)

What I did find useful previously was to plug sentences with the grammar point into Anki, complete with audio, cloze-style. Hearing it a few times, complete with the cloze, was enough to imprint a grammatical construction in my mind (写真を取ってもいいですか?). So I should make more Anki cards in this style.

Also with Anki, I've figured out a system where I take words that have a kanji in common, cloze out the kanji, and then practice hand-writing these in a notebook. The problem being this requires time sitting at a desk, so I have to fit that in.

I have more to say, but I'm done with writing for now. ;) My job is giving most staff members two weeks off for Christmas (!), so I'll have to see how to spend this time somewhat constructively. I know improving my drawing skills will take a priority during this time, but of course I can't do that 24/7. I'm hoping to start drawing a (short) comic starting in January. I've had a long respite, it's time to get back in the action. 8-)
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Xenops
Brown Belt
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Languages: English (N), Danish (A2), Japanese (rusty), Nansha (constructing)
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Godt Nytt År!

Postby Xenops » Sun Jan 09, 2022 2:18 pm

Happy New Year! :) I will continue with this log for the new year.

First, about my job: along with the bench-work of next generation sequencing, I got introduced to Linux and the shell Bash. So learning Unix codes, and probably Python, will be part of my schedule. Related to this, the university I work for has an extension school, and as a staff member I can take classes for super cheap. So I’m praying about maybe going for a data analysis graduate degree. This would be computer science related to biology, and it might permit me a source of income when I go overseas. The goal is to get an education in a target country, but a marketable skill would be very nice (maybe I can use it at a Norwegian university!)

...Also, the current commute to my job is an hour each way. :( I’m looking to find a home closer to work, but the place I’m interested in has an application process and no availability until the fall. So I might not get as much language-studying done as I would like, at least not until the fall. As such, I’m looking to see how I might best use apps on my commute.

For some developments, I figured how to get Readlang to work on my phone’s browser. :D I admit it’s not real straight-forward. So sometimes while I’m waiting I’ll browse https://www.klartale.no, but last night I started reading https://www.aftenposten.no, which uses real, rather than simplified, Norwegian. While using Readlang a lot, of course.

I logged into the desktop version of Duolingo for the first time in months—I was confused because when I tried to login, it said “there is no account that uses this email”...But on the app it works. I figured out what it really meant is the password is wrong, so I finally used the desktop version again. I also joined the leaderboards...For like two hours, and switched back to my private settings. :lol: Keeping my streak is stress enough, I don’t need to worry about points. I also have like 12 skills that are in the 3rd level, so I need to solidify and clear those.

Speaking of Duolingo, I recently tried the French course...And I can confirm, that it has truly been made terrible. It wasn’t always this bad: it used to be bland practice like “you eat an orange, I eat an orange,” etc. Bland, but still useful practice. Now, at best, you can call it “reading comprehension”, if that. It’s reading sentences and selecting a multiple choice option for the correct answer, while the other answer options aren’t logical. I’m hoping I still have time to finish the Norwegian course before they “improve it” as well.

With the pandemic, I don’t know how realistic it is to plan for a proficiency test, and traveling is probably out of the picture this year. In the U.S. I could theoretically take the written Bergenstesten in NY in October, but this year might be more focusing on computer science development, we’ll see.

I had ambitious ideas about taking a proficiency test for Japanese this year—but I’m realizing my limits for energy and time. So Norwegian might be my language focus this year.

For other news, I am drawing comics again—the next short comic will start posting in February. My website in my signature will be updated soon, as well as my DeviantArt account.

Also FYI, for long responses such as this, I first write in a text document (Word, LibreOffice, etc), and then just copy and paste. ;)
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