[JP/NL] Aardbei Koekjes - EarthBerry's language log!

[EarthBerry]

1 uur luisteren naar Nederlandse media... succes

Ik heb veel vrije tijd op het werk

very*Small success update*

So, my first small success... My boyfriend and I are very passionate gamers, and when I'm not studying or working, we're playing games together. We often play with some mutual friends, two of which are Dutch. Yesterday, my boyfriend hopped on a voice program to chat with his (Dutch) friend. They were talking in Dutch and were discussing something that included all 3 of us (me, friend and boyfriend). I'm proud to say that I could somewhat follow what my boyfriend was saying! I could follow along with the conversation ever so slightly. My boyfriend said something, and I replied instantly in English in response to it, and my boyfriend looked around like "Yeah..., yeah exactly..." (continues in Dutch with his friend, repeating what I had said in het Nederlands ). It may not be much, but I was very proud of myself It's certainly starting to stick, so I'm doing something right

Edit: I've hit page two, and what a great note to start it on

[Tristano]

Congratulations!
It took me much more time than you to start to understand something. For many months it was just plain noise to me.
So, as the locals say here, 'goed bezig!'.

[Elenia]

Good luck with your studies! I wouldn't worry too much about materials that are too advanced. Much of my Swedish study has been me throwing myself at native materials without the slightest clue and it's somehow gotten me somewhere. You seem to be making progress and having fun, that's the most important thing

[kujichagulia]

EarthBerry, nice log! I'm embarrassed to say that I've lived in Japan for 14 years now, and I'm nowhere near your level. That is impressive! I would say that I'm a B1 in reading/writing, and somewhere between A2 and B1 in listening/speaking, depending on the topic. I can't understand all TV shows that I watch; it depends on the show. Likewise for conversations: If I'm familiar with the topic, I can hold a conversation, but I don't do well with topics I'm not familiar with. For example, I often go to aerobics classes, so I can talk with someone about aerobics (but how useful is that? LOL). However, I can't talk about politics at all.

Good job and good luck!

[EarthBerry]

@Tristano: Dankjewel! I'm very fortunate to live with a native speaker... I'm exposed to Dutch daily, and my boyfriend doesn't mind repeating and teaching me things! It's definitely helping my progress. I'm worried that I'm just incredibly used to my boyfriends accent/way of speaking, and when we go to NL I'll probably feel lost as I adjust to other accents and ways of speaking... we shall see

@Elenia
Thanks for stopping by! Very true! I'm a firm believer in getting used to the sounds and rhythm of a language as early as possible. I somewhat avoided it in Japanese for a long time and as a result, my listening skills suffered. They only recently improved when I started working and part of my job is to listen to Japanese Needs must, as they say. I'm fortunate to work in a very multicultural office and I'm exposed to two Swedish speakers daily. It's a lovely language, and with each day I'm more and more tempted to start it...

@Kujichagulia
Hey there, thanks for dropping in! I've been fortunate in the fact I've had a constant stream of natives to practice with over the years, as well as so many Japanese resources online! I still feel like I lack a LOT in certain areas (mainly output!) so my level really isn't all that I'm somewhat similar, although I seem to be good at guessing from context and well, after playing an online game with natives every day for two years, I'm incredibly good at just straight up asking 〇〇、って何？or 〇〇、ってどういう意味ですか？Haha. I hated asking at first, but it's been super helpful for learning vocabulary about topics I'm not familiar with, as well as learning about said topic. I will admit TV shows about a politics and science, while for the most part I can guess from the words on the screen, I'd be pretty lost without the visual clues... Aerobics! Haha, that's great. I can imagine it comes in handy if the person you're speaking with is into Aerobics I could talk all day about video games... comes in handy sometimes ありがとうございます！

[Elenia]

I'm exposed to two Swedish speakers daily. It's a lovely language, and with each day I'm more and more tempted to start it...

Start, start! (they don't call me mefisto round here for nothing!)

In all honesty, I think you should work on getting your Dutch solid as you have a real need and you're doing so well. If you were studying for the joy of it alone, I would say throw caution to the wind and work on Swedish. Personally, I've been accidentally avoiding Dutch for just shy of two years now (just after I successfully gave into wanderlust!) so I really know exactly how you feel! Our boats are running parallel to each other, so we can encourage each other

EDIT: Your job sounds like language learner heaven!

[EarthBerry]

Mini update

So, if you haven't guessed (or I might have wrote it here), I'm very fortunate to work in a very international office. My team has a Swedish speaker, a Danish speaker, a Polish speaker, a Dutch and French speaker, a Chinese speaker ... and well the list goes on. As such, our office readily has available a TON of magazines and newspapers in a large variety of languages. Every month, they'll get put in the office kitchen for people to take. I was very lucky to get there and grab a Dutch magazine! I was in a bit of a hurry so I didn't browse too much, and picked up the first one that I saw that was written in Dutch. When I got home, I excitedly showed my boyfriend it. He noticed there was a little "offers" booklet attached to the front. "Awesome, we could use it on our next trip to the Netherlands!", I said excitedly while my boyfriend began to laugh. "Yeah... this is for places in Belgium." Whoops... I'd picked up a Belgian magazine. Not that it mattered, of course! It's still in Dutch. My boyfriend skimmed through it and deemed it "OK" for me to use. He was worried it'd use slang specific to the Dutch speaking parts of Belgium. He's even picked out an article for me to work through! ("It's about Dublin, and it's pretty easy to read... plus it's interesting"). So... that's my homework for this weekend

-

@Elenia

The voice of reason! You're right. I've set myself a 'soft' deadline of being somewhat functional and conversational in a years time, so if I'm to achieve that, I should keep chugging on. I might flirt a little with Swedish and delve into Duolingo... no commitment, just fun Let me know if you ever give into the temptation of Dutch...! I'm very fortunate to work in the office I do, it honestly makes sticking to just two languages almost impossible We often have chats where we all compare languages and/or discuss how to say things, so that usually keeps the curiosity at bay... for a little while

[Elenia]

Mini update

So, if you haven't guessed (or I might have wrote it here), I'm very fortunate to work in a very international office. My team has a Swedish speaker, a Danish speaker, a Polish speaker, a Dutch and French speaker, a Chinese speaker ... and well the list goes on. As such, our office readily has available a TON of magazines and newspapers in a large variety of languages. Every month, they'll get put in the office kitchen for people to take. I was very lucky to get there and grab a Dutch magazine! I was in a bit of a hurry so I didn't browse too much, and picked up the first one that I saw that was written in Dutch. When I got home, I excitedly showed my boyfriend it. He noticed there was a little "offers" booklet attached to the front. "Awesome, we could use it on our next trip to the Netherlands!", I said excitedly while my boyfriend began to laugh. "Yeah... this is for places in Belgium." Whoops... I'd picked up a Belgian magazine. Not that it mattered, of course! It's still in Dutch. My boyfriend skimmed through it and deemed it "OK" for me to use. He was worried it'd use slang specific to the Dutch speaking parts of Belgium. He's even picked out an article for me to work through! ("It's about Dublin, and it's pretty easy to read... plus it's interesting"). So... that's my homework for this weekend

-

@Elenia

The voice of reason! You're right. I've set myself a 'soft' deadline of being somewhat functional and conversational in a years time, so if I'm to achieve that, I should keep chugging on. I might flirt a little with Swedish and delve into Duolingo... no commitment, just fun Let me know if you ever give into the temptation of Dutch...! I'm very fortunate to work in the office I do, it honestly makes sticking to just two languages almost impossible We often have chats where we all compare languages and/or discuss how to say things, so that usually keeps the curiosity at bay... for a little while

I have Dutch resources and have started a couple of times, but it never seems to stick! And now I've roped myself (and a few others) into Finnish, Polish and Swahili for the next few years

[EarthBerry]

Second update... maybe a day late?

So, in my last update I set myself some goals. Let's see how that went (oh boy).

* Complete the first page of Harry Potter en De Steen der Wijzen
* Complete Chapter 2 of Shin Kanzen Goi & Bunpou
* Read 10 more pages of また、同じ夢を見ている
* 2 hours of listening to Japanese media
* 1 hour of listening to Dutch medica
* Reach Unit 10 of TYD
* Continue writing short passages in Dutch and Japanese on IG
* Practice conversations in Dutch with boyfriend

Yikes. More than half but not a lot done.

Dutch
Teach Yourself Dutch: 10 / 16 (10/16)
Harry Potter en De Steen der Wijzen chapters: 0 / 17 (0/17)

Well... I managed to reach my TY goal. I have to say I'm really enjoying the book. I'm using it without the audio (boyfriend has been filling in for that part ) but I really feel like I'm actually making progress. The units are getting longer, the grammar is getting more complex, and thankfully the example conversations are getting more colloquial and applicable to real life. I made a start on Unit 11 this morning, it covers how to express thoughts, likes and dislikes, comparisons and something else I can't quite remember of the top of my head (I'm sure it's important ). I find I can read a lot more, and can keep up with the new conversations it introduces, however I seem to struggle with recreating what I'm learning/reading. I manage the exercises all right. If I make a mistake, I can look back and realise why (mainly forgetting to conjugate the verb correctly!). I know it's too early to expect myself to perfectly write out sentences using the grammar the book has taught me just yet, and that it is going to take a lot of practice. I'm trying to make a start on this by writing short paragraphs on Instagram using the grammar I've learned. It's really simple stuff, such as Ik ga naar de stad om boodschappen te doen., Ik woon al 24 jaar in Engeland., en zo I'm feeling the increasing need to start working on vocabulary though. For some reason, I love learning grammar. I love learning how to formulate sentences, which is a good thing I guess... but this leads me to neglecting vocabulary. I'm still trying to decide between Memrise or Anki, but I think I'll go with Memrise for now as Anki needs some setting up, and I can be quite meticulous about the cards... I love to use colours when I study. I'm the kind of person who gives nouns, verbs, grammar constructions their own colours I'm considering buying some different colour highlighters for my notes Studying should be fun, after all!

I managed to hit out 1 hour of Dutch listening. I usually do this while at work. It's common to listen to podcasts or the radio while we work, so I opted for a Dutch podcast. This week it was Button Bashers NL, Podcast 73: Muziek in Games 4. I kind of half listened, half listened to it as background "music", but I was able to pick out some words and phrases. I'm certainly getting used to the sounds, and can visualise a spelling of a word somewhat easier. I always cross-check with my boyfriend though upon coming home . I find the harsh "g", an incredible noise. Especially how it seems to have so many variations (one of my friends is from near the Belgium border, and uses the soft "g", which my boyfriend really enjoys mimicking and teasing him for), and it really sounds (no offence to the Dutchies!) that they're trying to bring up phlegm. "r" is another sound that alludes me. It's so... I can't even say. It's something I need to work on, I'll say that much for now But, overall, listening is going as one would expect. Very little comprehension, but with each time my ears are getting more adjusted, and the sounds becoming clearer.

If you read my mini update, you will have known I managed to get my grubby little hands on a Dutch(/Belgian) magazine, and that my boyfriend picked out an article for me to work on. I set myself this as "homework", a little weekend project. Well, yesterday I ended up spending the majority of the day out of the house and so I didn't get to finish the article. I did however, manage to do the first few paragraphs. I was delighted to see not one, but two grammar constructions that I had just recently learned, being used in the article! (That sentence was a mess... ) "om + te" was used in "Handig om te weten" and "zin in ..." was used in "zin in Dublin". I should probably mention the article was about Dublin, recommending cafes, shops and places to see. It's actually enjoyable to read, as I have Irish heritage, have never been to Ireland, and would love to visit Dublin. Two birds with one stone I've noted down some places the article recommended, especially a cafe which serves matcha latte (!!). I'm learning Dutch, and I'm learning about Dublin, and getting some nice recommendations in the process. It's great! After working through the first few paragraphs, where I mainly underlined words I didn't know, I then read it out-loud with the help of my boyfriend. My "g"'s are getting better, however I need to work on "ui". My neighbours must think we're insane. Yesterday, as I was reading out the article, I was trying to say the word "gebruikt", which contains three of my weakest sounds "g" and "r" and "ui". My boyfriend kept repeating it and asking me to, and for about 10 minutes we were sat there going, "gebruikt", "ui", "ui", "uuuuiiii", "ui", "no, ui", "ui", "gebruikt"... He really likes to make sure I say it perfectly. I suppose it's good practice!

I didn't get a chance to work on HP, though I'm not too disappointed. It is still ahead of my level, and I picked it up to "challenge" myself, and to see what I could gleam from it. I'll definitely be taking it slow. I'm thinking after I've finished TY Dutch, I'll pick up a grammar book and maybe begin to work on it more seriously.

I'm still writing on IG, as I wrote earlier. With each post, my paragraphs get a little longer and a little more detailed

Japanese
Mata, onaji yume o miteita: 22 / 227
Shinkanzen masutaa goi and bunpou: 0 / 50

I... uh... mhm.

My Japanese is at the level where I can safely not spend too much time on actual studying... why does that sound like an excuse? But, no, seriously, since my Dutch is quite "young", I'm definitely focusing on it more. I've said before but Japanese is very deeply ingrained in my day-to-day life, so I don't have to worry about not using it. As I write this post I'm currently catching up with some old Japanese friends via Twitter. I did listen to two hours of Japanese media, though. I follow a Youtuber called Kinoshita Yuka. You may have heard of her... She's a petite Japanese woman who can eat enormous amounts. Her videos are entertaining, and although it's been said her Japanese isn't very clear (even Japanese speakers complain about her pronunciation), her videos come with Japanese subtitles so it's very easy to follow. I also watched the latest episode of Attack on Titan season 2. It's fantastic. I'm very much enjoying it. The new opening song is great too. I find myself singing along all the time... 捧げよう、捧げよう、心臓を捧げよう～ The chorus is too catchy! My boyfriend also came up with a theory from the opening song once I told him the lyrics But yes, enjoying it, although I will say I purely watch it for entertainment. I can follow the dialogue pretty easy, but they do sometimes uses words I don't know, but I usually don't try and commit them to memory since they're usually 'anime-specific'. I don't really have much else to report on Japanese... other than, I guess I'll try and get around to reading the book, and working through Shinzen Master But for now, I think I'll focus on Dutch, and keep the status quo on Japanese... i.e, doing what I do anyway!

How next week is looking...
* Reach Unit 13/14 of TY Dutch
* 1 hour listening to Dutch
* 2 hours listening to Japanese
* Read 10 more pages of また、同じ夢を見ていた
* Continue to write short paragraphs in Dutch and long paragraphs in Japanese

[tommus]

Button Bashers NL, Podcast 73: Muziek in Games 4.

I had a listen to that podcast. First time I'd been on SoundCloud. So I had a look at what was available in Dutch. I searched on "natuurkunde" (physics) and it looks very encouraging.

https://soundcloud.com/search?q=natuurkunde

Thanks for pointing me in this direction.