May update.... --------------
NorwegianReading to the kids: 2 hours 12min
Course work: 16 hours 54min
Audio course use: 7 hours 46 min
TV 2 hours
TOTAL: 28 hours 52 min
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SpanishReading to the kids: 1 hour 51 min
Course work: 17 hours 18 min
Audio course use: 9 hours 29min
TOTAL: 28 hours 38min
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FrenchReading to the kids: 9 hours 20min
(+ other activities not recorded) = TOTAL of 10 hours 15min
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DutchReading to the kids: 7 hours 34 minutes
TOTAL: 7hours 34 minutes
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General stuff: My reading to the kids has dropped off. Our eldest has been attending school now for some months, which was a big change for our household and has affected the amount of foreign language reading at home, together with my focus on kayaking, which I don't regret as I really needed to get active.
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General Norwegian and Spanish stuff: I've really picked up the consistent course use in May with slow progress in Norwegian and fast progress in Spanish. With The Mystery of Nils (Norwegian) I'm up to chapter 15 now and with Destinos (Spanish) I'm finishing off lesson 7 and enjoying it thoroughly.
I find that when I do vocabulary work with Spanish I feel ten times faster than in Norwegian purely due to the fact that Spanish pronunciation is completely predictable (stress, all short vowel sounds), while Norwegian pronunciation is unpredictable (slow lookups in Dictionaries to confirm tone and pronunciation where unclear). It's a shame, otherwise I'd be advancing so much quicker in Norwegian, a relatively straightforward language.
Still, the grammar of Norwegian is new, while all the content I'm covering thus far in Spanish is not - I've done it before several times, spread out over two and a half decades.
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A Spanish study side note:I was almost shocked a couple of days back when I was doing some Spanish and given I used to write my answers in language learning textbooks back in the day, I get a picture into my life of two and a half decades back with some of my answers to questions that focus(ed) on me and my personal life - pre university, pre marriage, pre kids, still living at home and so on. For one of the answers I'd noted down from many years ago, I'd written the age of my father. He was nearly my age. Meaning in a few months from now, I will be the same age as he was back when I was writing in those answers! So, it's been 24 and a half years since that reply was written in by myself! WOW! So....
I was a procrastinator in a big way back then but have improved significantly over the years, but boy.... if there were any left in my cells, it almost all vaporised in that moment. Life is too short, get on with the task at hand and don't delay, because before you know it another 25 years will have passed!
Of course now I have a lot more responsability and barely have enough time to scratch myself. However, I'm determined to make consistent progress, perhaps more than ever, but not just with languages. Life is very short - make the most of it, value it, use your time wisely!
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French (and Dutch) general observations: I feel like my French of late has slipped a little with my listening comprehension feeling a little weaker of late... Ah well, I'll definitely come back to fix this at a later date (same with Dutch, but worse, as I never progressed as far as I did with French).
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Pronunciation points from The Mystery of NilsIn the
Mystery of Nils there is a page discussing pronunciation. I'd like to bring this up, but I know it's going to be a little controversial. It goes like this:
The Mystery of Nils wrote:Why Your Norwegian is Still Bad
(Although You Are Reading This Book)
With our new students at Skapago, we nearly always begin by working on pronunciation. Why? Well honestly, because most students' pronunciation is just so bad! But that is okay, because we are a language school, and that is why people come to us, to learn.
However, this does not just apply to beginners. We also have advanced students with a great understanding of vocabulary and grammar, but who have a very strong foreign accent.
Now you might say this depends on where the students come from and that some simply have a very strong accent. You are wrong. The reason why people have bad pronunciation is that they haven't worked sufficiently on it. So why don't students work on pronunciation? And why should they? Let me answer the last question first.
*Misunderstandings are much more frequent because of pronunciation errors than because of grammar mistakes.
*Your listening comprehension depends on your pronunciation. You train your ear to distinguish between sounds which are not familiar to you. For example, in Norwegian it is very important to know the difference between U, Y, and I.
*Native speakers will laugh at you. This last issue is more important than you might think. Scientists have proven that native speakers unconsciously believe that people with a strong foreign accent are less intelligent. Be honest: have you never watched "The Simpsons" and made fun of Apu?
As a learner you feel that native speakers think that way, even if they don't want to - so you will get frustrated. Unknowingly, you are going to think "These arrogant Norwegians! I'm fed up with them!"
And what's the consequence? You do not want to be one of them, you do not wish to talk like them, or to have the correct accent.
So herein lies a vicious cycle: You have bad pronunciation because deep inside your heart you do not want to be Norwegian. Therefore, Norwegians do not treat you as one of them. Therefore, you think they are arrogant. Therefore, you do not want to be like them. Therefore, you have bad pronunciation.
So now you know the reason why people don't work on their pronunciation.
From a few teachers, you might hear that a foreign accent is a question of age. I totally disagree. It is a question of attitude. The way we speak - our pronunciation - is a main component of our personal identity. Many adults have formed such a strong relationship with their first culture that they are afraid of losing their identity when they change their pronunciation, i.e. when they learn a second language. Only if you understand that these are baseless fears will you be able to learn a new language well. And why are the fears baseless? Well, your "new" identity will not replace your "old" identity, but enhance it. As the Czech philosopher and politician Tomas Garrigue Masaryk said, "As many languages you know, as many times you are a human being".
So you see, pronunciation is by far a worse problem than just one of your language issues. It will have an impact on your self-esteem, on your cultural affection towards Norway, and on your relationship with native speakers. But the good news is: you can improve all that by simply improving your pronunciation. So get started right now! You can find tips on
http://www.skapago.eu/nils, and if you have questions, please send an e-mail (
nils@skapago.eu) to Nils.
I agree almost entirely with the above. Although, I've seemingly crossed paths with those who contradict the above statements and I remain unsure on these (ie. some people who have worked hard on their pronunciation and still cannot improve it despite plenty of effort). I feel strongly that identity and fear of loss of identity is it the heart of some language learners' problematic pronunciation and
might be the case here... but someone else more qualified could perhaps draw more resolute conclusions on such matters.
I remember when beginning to learn languages initially in a serious manner, that I had thoughts on my identity and that I decided to throw caution to the wind wanting to be 'one of them' i.e. a Frenchman, Spaniard etc and in learning I would imagine myself as such, going as far as trying to erase any evidence of my native language in the pronunciation of the new language(s). I was not afraid of losing my Australian identity whatsoever, and I do feel that helped me when learning pronunciation.
I know there's been a good deal of mentioning of 'perfect being the enemy of the good' around these parts, and while I initially flatly disagreed, I came round to agreeing, within reason. Here are a couple of examples:
When learning to read extensively, looking up everything (perfectionism) is a potential hinderance, unless of course that is what has been proven to work for you. In which case I'd label your studying method as intensive reading not extensive, at least at the less advanced stages or reading. So here, yes, perfectionism will get in the way of an extensive reading objective.
Another thing that I've noticed is that initially some years back when using language courses I'd look up every single little word, even the ones you could clearly see were superfluous (eg a sign on the outside of a shop in an episode of Destinos). Nowadays, I can see that this sort of thing doesn't really need to draw you away from the general progress of a language course, as such details, not requiring focus in the early stages of learning a language will come later after you've built the foundation and then want to fill in all the gaps. It took years of study to teach me this lesson, to teach me to relax (just a little) knowing what (how much study) was ahead of me and that every single little word didn't matter so much.
Back onto pronunciation however, my personal approach, - and this doesn't have to be how others approach their language learning - is one of constant focus on pronunciation through whatever learning activity I'm doing whether it be writing (and speaking aloud), vocabulary review (and speaking aloud), shadowing and so on. It's akin to my kayaking - while delivering power through each paddle stroke, one must constantly focus on technique to improve efficiency. With language learning, I feel that some people give up on improving their pronunciation because it's too hard - and this could be linked to identity conflict (as quoted above from Nils), or a personality type that just wants to get on with learning the language and doesn't have the patience to focus on pronunciation...
...And that's okay, but for me, perfectionism (or least aiming to be as close to native as I feel I sound through self observation + feedback from others at times) with pronunciation is not the enemy of the good - it's a very worthwhile investment.
Put it this way, when it comes to time investment in pronunciation, I'd rather speak three languages with excellent pronunciation than five with mediocre pronunciation.
Still, if such detailed focus on pronunciation is a source of stress for you and hinders your progress, don't worry about it, some accents after all sound pretty cool, so just keep on learning your way!