tiia's log (FIN, SPA, SWE, EUS)
Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2016 11:16 am
Welcome to my log!
Update: I have moved to Finland in 2018! This means also I use Finnish at work now and in lots of other contexts.
Also the list of probably interesting posts below has been updated to help you finding some specific information, if you don't want to search the whole log.
Otherwise I had also started Swedish in 2017/2018.
So here the original first post:
----------------------------------------------------------
So this is my first language log (and my first post in this forum).
I'm learning Finnish and Spanish actively right now. There are a lot of languages I might want to learn one day, the next one probably being Slovak. (I already started learning it, but don't have enough time right now.)
My level of Spanish is around A2 and I hope to get into the next course at my university. After that course I will get an official paper telling I have level B1, which would be really nice. If I don't get into the course, I'll probably look out for a tandem partner. (I might not have time for both.)
But: I'm focussing more on Finnish. I'm learning it for nearly 10 years and also did an exchange in Finland, but I studied mainly in English there. So now I have some degree of fluency, but it feels like I'm kind of stuck at my current level, which I estimate to be around B2. (Yes, one can learn Finnish a lot faster than I did. But that's just how it happend.)
So what do I do for Finnish?
- I have a group of other learners to practice speaking once a week, but I don't really improve anymore. (Basically I'm the person correcting every now and then.) But it's a lot of fun and at least I can speak.
- I read books. Last year my goal was 12, but I only read 8. So this year I'm going for (at least) 6 books. Maybe I will post a list of books I read so far.
- I try to find Finns in my hometown. As a student I usually try to find exchange students, as I find it easier to talk to them. But I also might try the meetings of those Finns again, who live here permanently.
- Writing my first own (short) story with the help of lang-8. So far there are five parts online. It's not supposed to be a very good story, more somthing like a small adventure with many clichees from childrens books. But I had a lot of fun designing the rough outline and it's something I haven't done yet in Finnish. (I only wrote fact based texts until now.)
Within the next 12 months I also have to graduate from university, so I'm not sure how much effort I can put into language learning this year, but we'll see. I'm still quite optimistic about that.
(Note: Maybe writing here will also improve my English writing skills again, as I haven't been writing any longer texts in English after returning from the exchange.)
(Edit: I had forgotten to list the short story.)
---------
List of posts that might be somehow interesting also later on:
- Why I started learning Finnish
- New Year 2017 - ideas (also useful for navigation)
- New Year 2018 (including a comment about using Anki)
- Summer job search 2018 starting more or less here
- Moving out (p.21), next page (p. 22) more about travelling to and arriving in Finland for the summer job There is more about applications and bureaucracy on pages 22 and 23 and maybe 24. Those pages cover quite a long time span, as I haven't written too many posts for around half a year.
- Got a permanent job in Finland
- New Year 2019
- I wrote YKI ylin taso / upper level in Finnish (November 2022)
- I wrote YKI keskitaso / intermediate level in Swedish (April 2023)
- How many countries/cities have you travelled? (List of countries I have been to)
Update: I have moved to Finland in 2018! This means also I use Finnish at work now and in lots of other contexts.
Also the list of probably interesting posts below has been updated to help you finding some specific information, if you don't want to search the whole log.
Otherwise I had also started Swedish in 2017/2018.
So here the original first post:
----------------------------------------------------------
So this is my first language log (and my first post in this forum).
I'm learning Finnish and Spanish actively right now. There are a lot of languages I might want to learn one day, the next one probably being Slovak. (I already started learning it, but don't have enough time right now.)
My level of Spanish is around A2 and I hope to get into the next course at my university. After that course I will get an official paper telling I have level B1, which would be really nice. If I don't get into the course, I'll probably look out for a tandem partner. (I might not have time for both.)
But: I'm focussing more on Finnish. I'm learning it for nearly 10 years and also did an exchange in Finland, but I studied mainly in English there. So now I have some degree of fluency, but it feels like I'm kind of stuck at my current level, which I estimate to be around B2. (Yes, one can learn Finnish a lot faster than I did. But that's just how it happend.)
So what do I do for Finnish?
- I have a group of other learners to practice speaking once a week, but I don't really improve anymore. (Basically I'm the person correcting every now and then.) But it's a lot of fun and at least I can speak.
- I read books. Last year my goal was 12, but I only read 8. So this year I'm going for (at least) 6 books. Maybe I will post a list of books I read so far.
- I try to find Finns in my hometown. As a student I usually try to find exchange students, as I find it easier to talk to them. But I also might try the meetings of those Finns again, who live here permanently.
- Writing my first own (short) story with the help of lang-8. So far there are five parts online. It's not supposed to be a very good story, more somthing like a small adventure with many clichees from childrens books. But I had a lot of fun designing the rough outline and it's something I haven't done yet in Finnish. (I only wrote fact based texts until now.)
Within the next 12 months I also have to graduate from university, so I'm not sure how much effort I can put into language learning this year, but we'll see. I'm still quite optimistic about that.
(Note: Maybe writing here will also improve my English writing skills again, as I haven't been writing any longer texts in English after returning from the exchange.)
(Edit: I had forgotten to list the short story.)
---------
List of posts that might be somehow interesting also later on:
- Why I started learning Finnish
- New Year 2017 - ideas (also useful for navigation)
- New Year 2018 (including a comment about using Anki)
- Summer job search 2018 starting more or less here
- Moving out (p.21), next page (p. 22) more about travelling to and arriving in Finland for the summer job There is more about applications and bureaucracy on pages 22 and 23 and maybe 24. Those pages cover quite a long time span, as I haven't written too many posts for around half a year.
- Got a permanent job in Finland
- New Year 2019
- I wrote YKI ylin taso / upper level in Finnish (November 2022)
- I wrote YKI keskitaso / intermediate level in Swedish (April 2023)
- How many countries/cities have you travelled? (List of countries I have been to)