Japanese, Swedish, and Polyglotism Language Log

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
x 237

Re: Japanese, Swedish, and Polyglotism Language Log

Postby Xelian » Thu Jun 22, 2017 3:58 am

Elenia wrote:Well done, I'm happy for you!

I hope you enjoy your long summer and your visit to Japan!


Thank you for the support, I am certainly enjoying and learning a lot thus far~!
0 x
: 84 / 1000 Japanese Pages Read

User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
x 237

Re: Japanese, Swedish, and Polyglotism Language Log

Postby Xelian » Thu Jun 22, 2017 4:13 am

I'm currently in Japan, and just wanted to make a quick update.

I've been using my Japanese A LOT more than I anticipated, and am observing natives to learn some simple things that I never could have learned in the classroom. My boyfriend came with me and he knows a very small amount of Japanese (for now) so I've been the one communicating with others for the most part. It gives me needed practice and also just insight into how people talk and act around here.

Since I am planning to live in this area for at least 6 months once I graduate from university (just a plan, not finalized just yet), it's been really useful to be here and learn some of the main areas.

Other than sightseeing and getting a feel for the area, on our downtime we've been studying the new Japanese words that we hear and see.

I also got a Japanese reading sample from my teacher that's similar to what she will be giving out during the school year. I've been slowly working through that. I'll need to learn a lot vocabulary more to keep up to speed with reading a lot of Japanese...

As for second year Swedish, I am yet to contact the teacher, but there are only 3 students enrolled in the class... It's concerning because they might cancel the class. I sure hope not, because my minor depends on it. I'll update you on that when I can. There's an entire summer before the class starts, so people may still enroll.

Anyway, time to get back to Japan adventures!!!
3 x
: 84 / 1000 Japanese Pages Read

User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
x 237

Re: Japanese, Swedish, and Polyglotism Language Log

Postby Xelian » Thu Jul 06, 2017 10:46 pm

Hello again,

We're back from Japan and recovering from jet-lag finally. (It took about a week... haha)

I am really happy I had the opportunity to speak Japanese everyday for 2 weeks. I think it actually helped me improve a lot, even for such a short amount of time. It also encouraged my bilingual dreams, though it feels like my Swedish has been thrown out of my mind for now.

And that's why I'm making this post, actually. I don't want to forget about my other languages! And I still have 3 months left of my summer, so I think that I can easily divide my Japanese-study-time up with my other-language-study-time. I hope it can lead to some productive language learning!

This year's languages are (listed by priority):
Japanese and Swedish
Korean
Spanish and Mandarin

I've just about given up hope and reason to learn Korean, yet I still list it before Spanish and Mandarin. There are a lot of reasons for this. But I am still listing it as this year's language because I plan to keep trying it, at least for this year, if not forever haha.

I am also contemplating of what language I should put alongside it, since the other languages have their "pair". I use to do this, where I would pair up two languages that weren't really closely related, then spend half time learning one, and the other half time the other, then go to the next pair the next day, and so on. So, Korean needs a pair, and I think either Russian or Bulgarian would work out for me if I put them there. Or German. Hmm, I could also alternate the Korean pair until I decide which language I feel like I want to continue with the most. It's decided then. I feel that I should still study some Japanese everyday (or most days), so I think I will make Japanese first priority.

Other than this, I just wanted to mention that I have been reading books in Japanese and I think I'll be replacing the "Japanese News Articles" bar with "Japanese Book Pages". I would probably count about 4 articles as 1 page, because it doesn't take nearly as much effort to read those news articles (complete with furigana and less challenging grammar).

See estimated schedule for the next 3 months in the next post...
0 x
: 84 / 1000 Japanese Pages Read

User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
x 237

Re: Japanese, Swedish, and Polyglotism Language Log

Postby Xelian » Thu Jul 06, 2017 11:53 pm

7 days a week
Japanese
3 days a week
Swedish
1 day a week each
Spanish, Korean, Mandarin, German

Weekly plan:
Japanese AND ... Spanish - Swedish - Korean - Swedish - Mandarin - Swedish - German

(the goal is at least 2 hours each day per language; reading-writing-listening-speaking and flashcards)

-Extra time can be used on any language, including languages I'm just itching to learn more of~
-I'd also just like to read and write in English this summer too

General Materials:
-Quizlet (flashcards)
-Memrise (flashcards)
-Lang-8 (writing)
-Youtube videos (listening)
-Pimsluer (listening)
-ielanguages.com (German, Spanish, Swedish)

Japanese:
-Sample class short-story
-1 book I've always wanted to read
-3 new books I got in Japan that interest me
-Kanji Renshuu
-Nihongo no Mori (on YouTube)
-The remainder of Tobira (taking a break until at least August)
-Making Sense of Japanese - What the Textbooks Don't Tell You
-Jisho (of course)

Swedish:
-svt.se (I really like the barnkanalen :lol:)
-Wikiversity Intermediate Swedish I
-digitalasparet.se
-ielanguages.com
-Duolingo
-tyda.se

I don't want to overwhelm myself with these languages, so there are minimal resources for now:
Korean:
-TOPIK ONE (iPhone app)

Mandarin:
-Chinese Grammar Wiki (allsetlearning)
-Pleco (iPhone app)

Spanish:
-Duolingo
-ielanguages.com
-Studyspanish.com
-Spanish dictionary (iPhone app)

German:
-Duolingo
-ielanguages.com

I will edit this post accordingly, as the schedule is subject to change. But I will update more frequently ^^~
Last edited by Xelian on Mon Jul 10, 2017 10:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.
2 x
: 84 / 1000 Japanese Pages Read

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jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Japanese, Swedish, and Polyglotism Language Log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:01 am

Xelian wrote:7 days a week
Japanese
3 days a week
Swedish
1 day a week each
Spanish, Korean, Mandarin, German


This reminds me of 2003 (I think) when I practiced forms from seven martial arts (and I did wingchun every day on top of that). I wish you the best of luck!
1 x
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Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord

User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
x 237

Re: Japanese, Swedish, and Polyglotism Language Log

Postby Xelian » Sat Jul 08, 2017 3:32 am

jeff_lindqvist wrote:
Xelian wrote:7 days a week
Japanese
3 days a week
Swedish
1 day a week each
Spanish, Korean, Mandarin, German


This reminds me of 2003 (I think) when I practiced forms from seven martial arts (and I did wingchun every day on top of that). I wish you the best of luck!


Haha, that's awesome! I've done this kind of format before, it never lasts too long if it's more than 3 ish languages, but I'm hoping this time I can do it. Just beginning is the hard part... Haha
0 x
: 84 / 1000 Japanese Pages Read

User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
x 237

Re: Japanese, Swedish, and Polyglotism Language Log

Postby Xelian » Sat Jul 08, 2017 7:02 am

I actually started! I decided that Fridays will be my Japanese-Mandarin day. This week is a test run, as are all first weeks I guess haha. Also, I actually started at 9pm today, so I got really sleepy and only could stay up until 12am. Here's my progress for today:

Japanese:
Reading: 1/2 page of a short story
Writing: Copying unknown kanji from short story into my kanji renshuu, then writing kanji compounds
Listening: Nihongo no Mori JLPT N3 Grammar #1, 1-1 (20 mins) this was great review, though I might want to switch to N2 grammar if it is too easy. I like to be sure I caught everything, though, and I'm kind of bad with grammar.
Speaking: Well, I did speak to myself in Japanese a little. But not a lot of chances come up where I am able to really speak unless there are native speakers around or others who are willing to practice. I'm glad I spoke so much while in Japan!
Flashcards: No review today, but I'm in the progress of making some decks with unknown words from the short story, as well as some words I found but didn't memorize, and some words from the book I'm working through.

Totals of today:
1/2 page read
9 kanji practiced
20 mins listened
Not much spoken
19 new words discovered
0 words studied

Totals of this summer:
6 pages read
49 kanji practiced
A lot + 20 mins listened
14 consecutive days spoken
117 new words discovered
24 words studied

~~~
Mandarin:
Reading, Listening, Speaking, Flashcards: Memrise "Everyday Mandarin Chinese (Survival vocab)". I repeated the words after I heard them. I am able to link the sounds up with the hanzi, but linking the words up to the English definition is proving challenging with the way this set was created. I found it cool how there are three separate hanzi for "he, she, it" but all of them are pronounced the same! I didn't spend a lot of time on Mandarin today because I am so tired. Next time!

Totals of today:
20 new words discovered
22 words studied

Totals of this summer:
20 new words discovered
22 words studied

~~~
English:

Totals of today:
Reading: 0 pages
Writing: 7 pages

Totals of this summer:
Reading: 71 pages
Writing: 22 pages
Last edited by Xelian on Sun Jul 09, 2017 5:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
0 x
: 84 / 1000 Japanese Pages Read

User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
x 237

Re: Japanese, Swedish, and Polyglotism Language Log

Postby Xelian » Sun Jul 09, 2017 5:34 am

Continuing my language learning today~ I did my work in chunks, but I got 2 hours in for Japanese and about an hour in for Swedish. I think I will also do some review for my other languages each day, but won't write much on that.

Japanese:
Reading: 1 page of a short story
Writing: Copying unknown kanji from short story into my kanji renshuu, then writing kanji compounds
Listening: TalkInJapan JLPT N4 Lessons 1-3. I was looking for basic grammar videos for my boyfriend and ended up forgetting that there is an N5 before N4, so these videos were too hard for him. But I actually learned something new from them, so that was cool!
Speaking: Minimally to myself
Flashcards: Currently working through a set of 24 words I picked up while in Japan, and I am also reviewing some grammar-related words, because I realized I don't know them yet, which is surprising. I picked them up quickly it seems~

Totals of today:
1 page read
5 kanji practiced
15 mins listened
Not much spoken
19 new words discovered
28 words studied

Totals of this summer:
7 pages read
54 kanji practiced
A lot + 35 mins listened
14 consecutive days spoken
136 new words discovered
28 unique words studied

~~~
Swedish:
Reading: Subtitles on a kid's show :lol: I will do more advanced reading once I get the hang of my new Swedish schedule.
Writing: Writing words down I didn't know from the show.
Listening: A kid's show in Swedish, and the Memrise flashcards.
Speaking: I repeated the words that were on Memrise.
Flashcards: Working on completing the "Hacking Swedish" Memrise set. I also am planning to make some flashcards on Quizlet for words I pick up and don't know but want to learn.

Totals of today:
0 pages read
20 mins listened
Not much spoken
31 new words discovered
25 words studied

Totals of this summer:
0 pages read
20 mins listened
Not much spoken
31 new words discovered
25 unique words studied

I'm unsure how to measure the amount spoken without a set time in which I speak. I suppose I'll figure this out. Having a language partner has proven pretty difficult, but it's doable if I really feel the need to improve my speaking skills. For now I feel like the other things are sufficient, but I will think of some way to incorporate speaking too.

The "words studied" section might get a bit complicated, but I figure I will just say how many words I studied that day, whether or not they are review words, and then just count how many words are unique words I have studied to find the total words studied. It will get difficult with most of my languages, because most words I am learning are on Memrise, but I'm very organized with my word learning in Japanese (with Quizlet) so that one will give me less of a headache. Maybe I will omit the other languages because, well, we can just say I mostly studied vocabulary for those.
~~~
English:

Totals of today:
Reading: 0 pages
Writing: 0 pages

Totals of this summer:
Reading: 71 pages
Writing: 22 pages
0 x
: 84 / 1000 Japanese Pages Read

User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
x 237

Re: Japanese, Swedish, and Polyglotism Language Log

Postby Xelian » Mon Jul 10, 2017 11:01 pm

I didn't get around to doing this yesterday, so I will post again later today to account for today's post. (whoops!)

7/9/17:

I slacked off a bit on languages today because my foot is hurting a lot, so I'm working through this slowly.

Japanese:
Reading: 1/2 page of a short story
Writing: Copying unknown kanji from short story into my kanji renshuu, then writing kanji compounds
Listening: N/A
Speaking: Minimally to myself
Flashcards: N/A

Totals of today:
1/2 page read
4 kanji practiced
0 mins listened
Not much spoken
14 new words discovered
0 words studied

Totals of this summer:
7.5 pages read
58 kanji practiced
A lot + 35 mins listened
14 consecutive days spoken
150 new words discovered
28 unique words studied

~~~
German:
Reading: Duolingo (2 basics sections); ielanguages German Tutorial I: (Basic German Phrases, Vocabulary, and Grammar); Unilang German For Beginners (Lesson 1)
Writing: Writing practice from Unilang
Listening: Listened to German on Duolingo, ielanguages, and Unilang.
Speaking: I repeated the words they asked to repeat that were on Duolingo. I also mouthed the rest of the things I was reading.
Flashcards: N/A.

Totals of today:
20 mins listened
10 mins spoken

Totals of this summer:
20 mins listened
10 mins spoken

This was basically my introduction to German, and I already have a headache, hahaha... Just kidding. But it is interesting, they have a lot of words that are just going to take some getting use to. I learned that the W more or less = a "v" sound, and that a lot of words that aren't capitalized in English are capitalized in German. So that was interesting...

I think I will make a template for each language, and then use that so that it's easier to write out the work that I did. They also will evolve with time. Seems disorganized, but I think it's ok. Learning isn't always the cleanest of processes anyway :lol:
~~~
English:

Totals of today:
Reading: 0 pages
Writing: 0 pages

Totals of this summer:
Reading: 71 pages
Writing: 22 pages
1 x
: 84 / 1000 Japanese Pages Read

User avatar
Xelian
Orange Belt
Posts: 170
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:19 pm
Location: Seattle
Languages: English (N)

Studying actively:
日本語 (B2)

Studying off and on:
한국어 (A2)
svenska (B1)
中文 (A1)
Tiếng Việt
Deutsch (beginner)

On the back burner:
Español (A2)
ASL (A1)
العَرَبِيَّة

Maybe some other time:
Български (A1)

Interested in:
Arabic (Egyptian, Yemeni), Hindi, Turkish, Thai, Tibetan, Nepali, Bengali, Urdu, Russian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, Farsi
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17163
x 237

Re: Japanese, Swedish, and Polyglotism Language Log

Postby Xelian » Tue Jul 11, 2017 2:36 am

Okay, I haven't done any Japanese today and I don't know if I'll get to it, so I'm posting early. (I felt like studying a little Swedish instead, lol)

Swedish:
Reading: Whizzed through some Duolingo (3 basics sections)
Writing: Wrote down some words I didn't know; plus typing on Duolingo
Listening: Duolingo
Speaking: Duolingo (minimal)
Flashcards: N/A

Totals of today:
Not much reading
5 mins listened
Not much spoken
2 new words discovered
?? words studied

Totals of this summer:
0 pages read
25 mins listened
Not much spoken
33 new words discovered
27 unique words studied
~~~

Spanish:
Reading: I did some Memrise and read grammar stuff on espanol-ingles.com
Writing: Wrote down words I didn't know; plus typing on Memrise; typing to some friends online
Listening: Songs in Spanish; Memrise
Speaking: N/A
Flashcards: Memrise

Totals of today:
Not much reading
2 hours listened
Not much spoken
30 new words discovered
90 words studied

Totals of this summer:
0 pages read
2 hours listened
Not much spoken
70 new words discovered
90 unique words studied
~~~

English:

Totals of today:
Reading: 1 pages
Writing: 1 pages

Totals of this summer:
Reading: 72 pages
Writing: 23 pages
0 x
: 84 / 1000 Japanese Pages Read


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