tiia's log (FIN, SPA, SWE, EUS)

[tiia]

I'm back home and now updated my country list here.
Sunday I got a short introduction to Hungarian pronounciation rules. It made the words look less confusing. However, I don't recognise a lot of words, probably even less than I did after Bratislava or Prag in Slovak/Czech. Some words I do remember are utca (street), tér (square), tej (milk) and tea (tea ). And szia. In general it was surprisingly easy to get along with English, as I cannot remember a single language related difficulty during the trip.

On the way back two travellers discussed with the conductor that from 10th of December onwards the night train between Budapest and Berlin will be cancelled due to the expenses the Hungarian railway, that is operating the train, has to pay for using some of the German tracks.
At least that's what the other traveller told me. The discussion itself was in Hungarian, so I didn't really understand anything apart from the name of a city. I found some information regarding the issue online, though mostly in Hungarian but there it says clearly that the train will continue only between Budapest and Prague.

[tiia]

I registered for some languages courses at university as it's the last time I can take some courses there. Right now that would be the same Spanish course I didn't continue last semester, and two beginner's courses in new languages, though I will probabaly still drop one of those. (Better sign up and then sign out again than not getting a place.)

So now the new language is: Swedish!

Originally I had planned to make it more a language lottery: signing up for as many beginners courses as possible and look what language I will end up with. But then I thought the most interesting candidates were Swedish and Russian. However, I'm not taking Russian. Two Slavic languages from scratch at the same time and a third language at a beginner's level would be simply too much.

I don't know how far I will take Swedish in total, but at least I should end up being able to finally sing the drinking songs in Swedish, that got to know in Finland, without struggling.


(In case anyone is wondering: Unfortunately they do not offer Dutch nor Slovak at the university.)

[tiia]

The language courses started again. Ok, only Spanish started so far. The Swedish teacher is ill.

The Spanish course is - like last semester - above my actual level. (As far as I remember I mentioned the gap between my last course and this one earlier in this log.) The texts should be sent via Email this time and I hope they're coming soon. I'm really getting a problem with the vocabulary without any preparation. Unfortuantely the only other student that seems to be around my level might want to take a lower level course. All the other ones are a lot better than I am. Nearly all of them have spent a longer period of time in a Spanish speaking country.
I mean I understand quite a lot when they speak, but I cannot speak myself like that and when reading the texts I'm lacking words. I still have to work on the text of last weeks lesson. At least I have time to actually do some work at home.
The situation might me similar to the one I had years ago with Finnish and if I remember correctly, the combination of having time and a course above my level really pushed me forward. Although back then the difficulty was more the lack of verb forms (tenses) and vocabulary than the ability to speak (+vocabulary).*

I thought about using kwordquiz again, as I had been experimenting with it some time ago, but it has a known bug now, which makes it unusable. (You cannot use decks larger than 20 cards. If they're larger, it just ignores everything after card 20.) So for now I'm testing Anki, though I never really got the hang of SRS. Right now I'm using a deck made by someone else, but creating my own deck will be more useful in the long run. The course texts will provide enough unknown words.

Well and I posted in a tandem group on facebook yesterday to get speaking practice. It didn't take a long time until I got some messages and until now it seems that my request really attracted people with whom I might have at least something in common. Let's see how it will work out, when meeting in person.


*I didn't speak better Finnish than I do now with Spanish, but the rest of the course didn't have that much more speaking practice.

[Cavesa]

Don't get too discouraged! Sure, they may have had more experience and practice. But you have the knowhow and willpower to catch up and improve to their level and beyond! Encountering stuff above one's level is always a challenge, it can be frustrating, but it helps so much! A challenge+motivation+time is a miraculous mix. I am looking forward to reading about your progress.

[tiia]

Wow, I even got a reply by a Finn, who's looking for German practice. I mentioned it in my post, but I didn't really expect any Finnish native to message me.
Tomorrow I will meet the first potential Spanish tandem partner. And on Monday another one. I still want to try with a third person, but we haven't agreed on a date/time yet. I hope that in the long run I can at least continue with one of them on a regular basis. I got even two or three more requests, but my week only has 7 days and I prefer not to plan meetings for every single day during the next week. And I still have non-language related friends.

I looked up the unknown words of last weeks Spanish text and I understood a lot more of what is written in the text. Next step: answering the questions about the text again. (We did that orally.) Unfortunately I cannot join the class this week, as it's colliding with another event, that is more a once-in-a-lifetime-thing for me.

[tiia]

Yesterday was I met the first tandem partner and I really spoke Spanish! Though honestly we switched between German and Spanish every few minutes (but that's absolutely ok for me). The whole meeting went around 2.5h and it didn't feel like we ever really ran out of topics. Understanding went well. Of course there were words I didn't know - and words he didn't know in German. (His German is more advanced than my Spanish.) As far as I know he tried to avoid speaking with (too much) dialect and adapted a bit to my level, but nothing to complain about for me. We already agreed what we will be doing the next time, as I prefer the idea of doing more than just sitting at a fixed place. It makes it easier to find topics to talk about.

And today was my first Swedish lesson! Friendly teacher and nice students it seems so far.

[tiia]

Today I met another person to practice Spanish with and that person didn't really want to speak German. (I asked! So we agreed that at least next time there will be also more German than just ordering something at a cafe.) So in the end I had more than 2 hours pretty much entirely in Spanish. The only exception were asking a few single words and explaining one quite complicated issue (in English).
I have no idea what my brain has been doing since the meeting with the other person on thursday, but it felt somehow incredible. I wouldn't even blame the switching with the other person, as already at the very beginning of the meeting my speaking skills were better than before.

Still I ran out of words too often, also I couldn't remember words I actually know (like otoño). There were things I didn't say, because I had no idea how to express them. Keeping the conversation going was more difficult compared with the other person. (But there it was more exceptionally easy to find topics.)

All in all: Thank you, brain. Whatever you've been doing, you've been doing it right.


(I assume a boost of confidence is one of the reasons for the improvement.)

[tiia]

Ok, I think I'd like some input for the following situation. As I wrote I have found these tandem partners through facebook. I met two of them and they were nice and I'd like to continue with them. Originally I accepted a third person, knowing that in the long run it would be great if I end up with one or two. (However, I realised during the last days that even in the short run I won't be able to keep up with three tandems for Spanish.)
I haven't met that third person a single time yet*, though we said we might meet someday at the uni for lunch. That guy turns out to be writing very often (nearly every day), as far as I know just because he's bored. Out of experiences I've made in the past, this is making me uncomfortable. Not because the content of the messages, just because of the frequency. What I learned is, that when the communication style doesn't fit, keeping the contact doesn't make too much sense. So I already decided to turn the contact down.
I feel kind of sorry, because I'm pretty sure he never intented to annoy me or anything alike. Probably he is just a nice person. I didn't tell him yet, that it's too much and I know that I'm quite sensitive when it comes to too frequent messaging. So I just sometimes don't answer the "hi", when don't feel like it. (He doesn't continue sending messages, when I don't reply.) One could argue that I should have told him first and see how he reacts, or that I should try to adapt as it could be just a small personal or cultural difference. But I don't feel like that would be a good idea for me right know. (Plus, there's still the factor time.)

What would you do? How can I tell him politely that I'm not interested in a tandem with him anymore? I turned down a few requests immediately, but this is somehow different.

Especially suggestions, how to tell him in Spanish are even more than welcome, as I want to be sure that I won't be misunderstood.


*It's only a bit more than a week since I wrote the post in the fb group.

[DaveBee]

What would you do? How can I tell him politely that I'm not interested in a tandem with him anymore? I turned down a few requests immediately, but this is somehow different.

Stick as close to the truth as you can. You've already found two tandem partners, and you don't have time for a third. Thanks very much for the offer etc.

[tiia]

I wrote that guy, he has seen it and didn't write anything since then. I somehow expected a short reaction, but well... that's it.

I didn't do the tasks for the last text once again at home. Comparing the answers led to a discussion in class, which was also a goal of the task. It was nice to listen to, though I didn't participate actively.

Last week the students were supposed to search in small groups/pairs for texts online, choose one and use it for further text-based tasks. Groups were decided upon the students' study subject, so that the text should be related to ones studies. As I haven't been there I only got into some group this week. They had chosen this article about the consume of bottled water in Mexico. (Guess why I was suggested to join that group ) So that's the article I'll be working on now.
Next week there will be discussions based on each text.