A Charcuterie of Certainties: Confidence Collated, Mastery in Reach

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eido
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A Charcuterie of Certainties: Confidence Collated, Mastery in Reach

Postby eido » Sat Aug 06, 2022 4:01 pm

Hi. I'm a long-time forum member, if you think a membership starting in 2018 is a decent tenure.

My best language aside from my native English is Spanish, which I speak at a lower advanced level. Though I do continue to practice the days I can so as to reach higher levels.

I'm studying a variety of languages, so just keep an eye out for whichever catches your fancy :)

Have fun~ Leave a comment if you feel so inclined, and I'll be happy to join in the discussion.
Last edited by eido on Wed Oct 11, 2023 10:10 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: Autumn Skies and Pumpkin Pies (Pretty Name, Serious Game)

Postby eido » Sat Aug 06, 2022 10:58 pm

Today I went to the library with family, and I checked out a few Esperanto texts and one Latin book.

Let's start with the last. The Latin book looks promising, because it pulls no punches with translation exercises and explaining grammar. It's part of a 4-year course series, and is published by a reputable university. I'm sure I can get the handle of basic Latin fairly quickly, armed with my two Latin coursebooks. If I'm ever able to locate the advanced books for a decent price (or through inter-library loan), I might consider studying with them. I'll update on this situation as I figure that out.

As for Esperanto, I am borrowing a couple dictionaries and two grammars. Esperanto is a language that has always intrigued me, and I figure it's high time I start to learn it. Hopefully these and another online resource will be enough to quench this thirst. My goal is to go through both the Latin book and the Esperanto grammars (as well as skim the dictionaries) come the due date, and have the information stick well enough to be of use.

However, I've focused my energies on other languages before checking these items out. Mainly, I've tried to get into Russian, brush up on Faroese, grind on Cherokee, and dig into Icelandic. Sprinkle in some daily doses of Korean and Spanish, and you have my language diet.

I have several Faroese titles I bought from an online bookstore, and I began to read a translation of a popular Japanese author in this language. Through guessing and a touch of help from a dictionary, I was able to read the inside flap and the author's biography at the back. Reading the actual text, though, is somewhat more of a beast due to the vocabulary. I'm able to stumble along and get the gist most of the time, with maybe a floor of 70%, but I wish my threshold for the "tolerance of ambiguity" everyone speaks of here were higher.

What limits me is time. There's only so much of it, and I want to read, read, read. But I forget, too, that I'm still a beginner (or something) and my speed will cause the time expenditure to go up. That's why I rely so much on "guessing and checking" in this stage, or so I think. It's a double-edged sword. This way of being challenges your thought processes, but sometimes it may be too much of a challenge. Sometimes with only a few cues, I'm able to get 95% of whole paragraphs. Other times, I'm completely lost. But I won't give up! I just need to find the right balance.

Right now I guess what I'm trying to do is develop reading/listening (i.e. the passive skills) fluency, and I guess I'll go back later to get gussied up with writing/speaking.

Since Korean and Spanish are my two strongest languages, however, I have ability developed in all four skills in both, to varying degrees. And, to a lesser extent, I have skills in other languages properly evolving with my learning process as it progresses, such as is the case with Mandarin.

For now, I have no real way of "mass-learning" all the languages I want to know, despite knowing Spanish well. I still hang on custom plans for each language, with only a fundamental thread shared between them. I hope to improve over time, though.
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Re: Autumn Skies and Pumpkin Pies (Pretty Name, Serious Game)

Postby eido » Sat Aug 13, 2022 4:49 pm

This week I broke into one of the Esperanto grammars and started to review. I learned some new things within the first 60 pages that the basic online courses didn't cover, so that kept me reading on.

Both this week and last, I've been listening to varied Spanish material to improve my listening comprehension. I found a podcast for mothers/mothers-to-be/parents that I liked from the Dominican Republic, and I kept up with listening to my favorite science podcast out of Spain, as well as a radio station I took a liking to--also out of Spain.

I don't know what's more effective for improving your listening skills at this point. It could be that radio is the best thing for you, but YouTube has equally compelling content on its best days.

Oh well, I'll keep trying to find a good mix. I'm sure anything better than nothing. ;)
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Re: Autumn Skies and Pumpkin Pies (Pretty Name, Serious Game)

Postby eido » Fri Sep 23, 2022 6:35 pm

Been a while.

Been working on a few projects, such as fiction writing and finding my place in the world.

Also trying to focus on languages as well.

This has included Latin, Japanese, Polish, Esperanto (and other conlangs), Korean, etc. It's been fun. Spanish has not been on the backburner and in fact I've improved it quite a lot. (Thank you again @iguanamon for recommending Pijama Surf all that time ago!)

Sometimes I feel I only report successes, but I'm the type of person that either quickly forgets minor failures and doesn't make a big deal out of them, or works through them to build an empire. So there's that.

My latest experiment is watching Japanese YouTube without subtitles, and thanks to the visual cues I'm able to gain pretty good comprehension. I'll listen to some podcasts also to see what's up.

I've all but stopped listening to K-pop except the occasional song here and there. I curbed my addiction! Woo. It's not a bad thing to like it, but in my case it was taking over my life, so I had to do something to end the marathon.

It's a slow but sure improvement as I go along with Korean. I understand all the grammar I encounter; as always, it's the vocabulary that proves difficult. That, and outputting all I've input.

During these fall days in the northern hemisphere, I'm really hankering for a trip somewhere. But the truth is, there's nowhere I'd rather be as long as I have languages to keep me company. There is a world accessible from my house with an Internet connection, and I'm so glad I'm fortunate enough to possess that privilege.

Learning is my favorite activity, and I'm proud to say I can never get enough.
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Languages: English (N). Read (only) French and Spanish. Studying Ancient Greek. Studying a bit of Latin. Once studied Old Norse. Dabbled in Catalan, Provençal and Italian.
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Re: Autumn Skies and Pumpkin Pies (Pretty Name, Serious Game)

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Sat Sep 24, 2022 5:38 pm

I have to say, your ability in Spanish and your progress in Japanese are quite impressive. Inspiring as well. :)
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Re: Autumn Skies and Pumpkin Pies (Pretty Name, Serious Game)

Postby eido » Sat Nov 05, 2022 4:25 pm

It's been over a month, and a busy time at that.

I haven't done much studying, but what little studying I have done has been focused and successful for the most part.

Today was my primary study day. I picked Icelandic and Korean to put my attention toward.

What I did was, I searched the Internet for Korean and Icelandic news outlets (since I had success reading in Spanish before when I was actively trying to bump up levels in a dash), and my goal was to pick 2 types of sources so as to diversify my reading and test my comprehension. I had success with this in Icelandic, probably due to all the similar-looking/-sounding vocabulary, but I got bogged down with Korean and only made it halfway through the article I deemed easy. Both "easy" articles were from tabloid sites. The "hard" article in Icelandic was from a major daily paper. I presume if I'd stuck with Korean longer, I'd have chosen something similar for the higher difficulty level.

I understood quite a bit of the Icelandic, much more than I did last month at this time. Korean was a struggle, but it shouldn't have been, because the grammar wasn't abstruse, and the topic was general interest (movies).

What I did to attempt to get the vocabulary to stick in my head longer was read the articles out loud. I only did this for Icelandic, most likely since I haven't spoken it in a while, and probably also because I simply forgot to do it for Korean after intensively "guessing and checking" all the Icelandic for the better part of an hour (maybe more). It likely would help for next time, if, when I attempted this activity, I read aloud, or at least whispered, all the words in the articles or material I'm reading.

Despite what people say about learning styles, I'm someone who tends to be somewhat more of an aural learner, so doing it this way helps.

(I was just reminded that I have a Kindle version of some Icelandic stories, so maybe I should try those as a next endeavor.)

On deck for the upcoming month is Polish, Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese. (So far.)

Thank you for reading my log post! Happy November :)
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Re: It's Ladies' Night, and We're Alright for a "파이팅!"... or Maybe Just Studying

Postby eido » Sun Dec 04, 2022 3:19 pm

Nothing much has happened this month in the way of studying except for some sporadic Japanese work.

Motivation is high but time to commit is low. I either get distracted by unnecessary pursuits, or find myself preparing for an upcoming semester where I'll need to have specialized knowledge that's not in my wheelhouse and which I normally don't have much talent in. However, I have found time to get into other hobbies, and that's been rewarding.

I guess, if I'm being positive (which we should all strive to be), I'm happy I got to do as much as I've been able to do. The holiday season is always a busy one for me, but it's also the time of year I feel the most inspired both creatively and to accomplish tasks that have been sitting around all year long. It's as if I'm a bear waking up from a hibernation mismatched with other people's schedules, and I've finally realized I need to do something in order to make myself feel fulfilled.

There's a real need in my life for language skills, and I've been a bit lax on practice and acquisition because I've been in a mood. Despite getting more done than I have all year and feeling in better spirits, I still feel pressured to continually perform at my most optimal level and think ahead to perfection, which causes a bit of anxiety.

I'm just adapting to more responsibility, and trying to get along, like we all do.

So this next month's goals will serve as a re-centering force toward the beginning of a new year. As all the self-help gurus on the Internet say these days, "You don't need a fresh start to have a Fresh Start." (I type this, and I laugh a bit ironically.) Therefore, I will schedule more lessons on italki to practice my Spanish, as it's atrophying rapidly. It's not enough to have the occasional chat on the Internet; I need some solid time to really get myself back up to scratch. I envy those people who are able to speak two or more languages regularly in daily life, even if some aren't as strong. At least you can maintain your abilities without much toil.

In addition, much studying will take place, if all goes well--not just of new material but reviewing of old material. I want to have the feeling of having accomplished something on a daily basis, but I won't aim for quantity so much as for the quality of what I've done. I'm finding that's really working well, in particular for me, as I'm a person who likes to ponder and consolidate knowledge to the Nth degree, which can be both good and bad ( ;) ) depending on the light you shed on it.

Anyway, that's all for this update. If you celebrate, I wish you all happy holidays and a New Year filled with cheer, warmth, and good tidings! :)
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Re: It's Ladies' Night, and We're Alright for a "파이팅!"... or Maybe Just Studying

Postby eido » Thu Dec 22, 2022 7:03 pm

A SPECIAL BONUS UPDATE
Hi, LLORGers! I usually only update once a month, but as I'm on vacation, I thought I'd give into the temptation to regale you of my exploits the past few weeks.

I've been studying Norwegian, Polish, and Japanese. Most of the studying for the first two has occurred on Duolingo, but I'm prepared to fill in any gaps as necessary with other resources I've collected over the years, such as easy readers or textbooks.

I'm studying Japanese with a course I bought, and I have many texts for this language as well that I can use to aid me when I'm ready.

How is my studying going? Well, that's kind of an open question. All the same, I'm happy to tackle it with vigor.

I understand most of the theory behind each language. I take time to explain the logic of the morphology and syntax in my head as I go, and when I can, I read things aloud.

In Japanese, if I read romanized text in my course, I can usually get up to 95% of what the text is saying. (And these are long passages, perhaps 3-4 pages in length.) I'm still working on developing fluency with the syllabaries, which tends to be what takes the most time for Japanese learners, it seems.

Norwegian and Polish are pretty straightforward to grasp; I don't say this to put Japanese out, for it's also decently easy to understand the underlying patterns and structures in this language, too.

My worst skills are the active ones at this moment, but I guess I'm an advocate of the silent period due to how tongue-tied I can get. (More on that in a moment.)

I hope to move to different languages over the course of my time off, but if I decide to stick with these 3, I'd still be happy because they're beautiful and fun to learn more about.

Unlike some people, my favorite thing about learning a language is learning its grammar, and getting really familiar with its component parts. I'm kind of shy in front of people, so knowing the patterns of how a language works is really helpful when I have to get up in front of a group of native speakers; or heck, maybe even just one. It really improves my confidence. So this stage I'm going through right now with many of the languages I'm trying to master is a key one for my preferences.

See you next update!
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eido
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Re: It's Ladies' Night, and We're Alright for a "파이팅!"... or Maybe Just Studying

Postby eido » Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:11 pm

I spent some time with my family at the end of December and had some vacation from work, so it was a relatively quiet New Year's celebration.

I didn't get much studying done, though. That's bothered me a little, but as I commented in previous posts, there have been other developments in my life that I'm happy for and although language learning has taken a backseat, that's alright with me since I'm deriving enjoyment from new sources and that's causing new areas of my life to grow and change.

I have been writing occasionally in Spanish and Korean, and just today I went over the transcript for an Iyagi from TTMIK and read it silently, then aloud, and then finally listened to the original audio. I'm not making many mistakes in Spanish anymore. The mistakes I do make are mostly careless since I'm trying to write the journal entry so fast and want to communicate my point rather than from ignorance. Korean is still a work-in-progress. I know a lot of information, but applying it is different. My comprehension is pretty good, mostly when I'm reading. When listening and reading along with an accurate transcript, my ability to understand goes up dramatically and it's exciting.

I found out recently about all sorts of conlangs people have created / been creating within the past few years that I had no idea about, and their philosophy is very intriguing, making me want to learn all the conlangs :lol: Conlangers, keep doing what you're doing - there's someone out there who appreciates your work!

There's not been much to report, but no matter what happens to me in life, I'll always be a language learner... since that's where my natural talents and passion lie.
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Re: It's Ladies' Night, and We're Alright for a "파이팅!"... or Maybe Just Studying

Postby eido » Sun Feb 19, 2023 1:55 pm

Now, this upcoming pondering (read: rant) might contain some odd things, considering where my last post left off. But let me give some additional context for that post so you know where I'm coming from.

I've always been interested in writing, ever since I learned I could create my own worlds and impart messages onto people. Learning languages just took it up a notch, taking my natural skills and augmenting them. However, every once in a while, I get tired of my favorite - and probably only - hobby.

I should probably take up crocheting, or pull out my drawing book and sketch. Maybe I should finally learn how to properly maintain my car and geek out on automobiles. Or maybe I could go to Meetup.com and join a local Toastmasters club. But for many years, working hard and plugging away at learning vocabulary and grammar have been the only things I've focused on. As many of you know, I can speak Spanish fairly well; despite this, any other language I try to learn ends in failure.

It's more of a trip around the universe and a taste of different sound/writing systems, ways of learning, etc. than anything else. I've thought many times to myself that Spanish is the only language I'll ever need in my immediate context. I'm just not as motivated as I'd been before to dive deep and produce results. It makes me sad.

But if it's the truth, I guess I'll have to accept it.

I can enjoy the small victories, like understanding snatches of Japanese sentences here or there. Perhaps I'll be able to read a whole paragraph of Korean. But none of this ever truly satisfies me. I want to connect - I want to fit in. I want to understand.

It just seems "not meant to be".

So I don't know how to move forward. I know so many other people struggle harder than me to learn a new language, but I'm really only comparing my own status to my own status. I have vague goals I want to get at, and maybe that's the problem. But it's still frustrating.

Needless to say, I haven't done much this past month in terms of study. Maybe some podcast listening and analysis of dialogues similar to that Michel Thomas guy. Other than that, nada.
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