Language Rambles (Japanese, Dutch and Norwegian)

[brilliantyears]

Sorry for butting in, but maybe start a thread for your 読書の秋 challenge? Because I think it's a great idea and it would definitely motivate me to pick up a Japanese book again too I'm sure you can inspire more people!

[appelkoekje]

Outcome of today's voice chat on HelloTalk: Average success

I. AM. SIMPLY. TOO. NERVOUS!



We talked for about an hour. Things I noticed:

1) Luckily, I have little to no problem following a native speaker talk at a normal speed using dialect (大阪弁)
2) My confidence seriously stops me from speaking.
3) My mind goes blank. All the knowledge is there, but my mouth struggles to keep up with my head.

But, it was a fantastic experience, nonetheless. A lot of nervous laughter from both parties. She kept remarking I shouldn't worry about my Japanese, and each time I would feel a little better, but I would soon clamp up again. I want to speak, I want to participate and ask questions, but I'm too shy and nervous. In English, I'm much more talkative (obviously), but in Japanese I seriously clamp up and I get so nervous. At the beginning, she called me, and the conversation went something like...

S-san:もしもし？
Me:もしもし～
Both of us: (laughter)
Me: き、聞こえますか？
S-san: 聞こえるよ～
...

It was such a natural flow, I thought, I have this! I got this in the bag! Then... I clamped up. She asked me a question, and I was able to answer, but I could feel myself getting more and more nervous. It's so frustrating because I understood every word she said to me but I just couldn't find the words. At one point, we were talking about studying, and she asked, "What's the best way to improve speaking?" and I replied, "well, 話すしかないですね..." and she laughed, and responded with a warm "ほんまやね～" But it's really true! I can talk all day about how I can't speak and how difficult it is, and I can read all the books, type all the Japanese I want, but none of it will improve my speaking. So, I just have to speak.

I have noticed with Y-chan, the native speaker I meet with weekly, I am getting more confident and my mind kind of relaxes, and the Japanese just "clicks", and flows out easier. It's purely a mind over matter thing. When I speak Japanese with her, it's not perfect, but I am way more relaxed and I can express myself better. I'm not sure if that's because it's in a more relaxed setting and I know her well, or if it's just the result of speaking it often with her ... or possibly, a combination of both. It was the first time in a long while I've spoken Japanese over "the phone", so my nerves were 100% max!

The conversation was revealing, though. I'm very motivated and I guess it's time for a new goal.

☆Get better at speaking Japanese!☆

I've always avoided it out of fear, and used the fact that I had no access to natives as an excuse (though in recent years, that has not been the case) but now that I am in the best possible situation I could be (native friend I meet with weekly, access to natives through HelloTalk), it's time for me to REALLY bite the bullet and get used to speaking Japanese. Finally. After 14 long years of avoiding it.

I'm aiming to have a conversation in Japanese at least 1-2 times a week if time persists. Let's see how it goes!

[appelkoekje]

Sorry for butting in, but maybe start a thread for your 読書の秋 challenge? Because I think it's a great idea and it would definitely motivate me to pick up a Japanese book again too I'm sure you can inspire more people!

Oh you're not butting in at all! Any input is welcome! I would love people to get inspired and participate! I call it a "challenge" but it's not really that thought out, more of an excuse to read a book because it's autumn I'll surely think about it, right now the main idea is to try and complete the book by December 31st. If people are alright with a bare bones challenge like that (although I do welcome people to make their own twist on it), it'd certainly be a fun idea to make a thread and have everyone share their progress!

[Sarafina]

Your log is delightful. I really enjoyed reading your posts. Honestly it makes me wish that my Japanese was at an intermediate level by now. I've been hestitant to go to language meetups IRL and I used to think that I prefered Skype conversations but now I'm considering it more strongly. Sadly all the nearest ones are in London which is one hour by train from my town. It's not so bad I guess. I've never heard French/Japanese/any of the languages I'm interested spoken in my town and it's so homogenous so the chances of me being in a similar situation as you is slim to none.

[appelkoekje]

Your log is delightful. I really enjoyed reading your posts. Honestly it makes me wish that my Japanese was at an intermediate level by now. I've been hestitant to go to language meetups IRL and I used to think that I prefered Skype conversations but now I'm considering it more strongly. Sadly all the nearest ones are in London which is one hour by train from my town. It's not so bad I guess. I've never heard French/Japanese/any of the languages I'm interested spoken in my town and it's so homogenous so the chances of me being in a similar situation as you is slim to none.

Thank you! I'm glad you've enjoyed my log (thus far!) I come here to ramble on about the highs and lows, but I'm glad someone is getting something out of it. I know how you feel! For the longest while, I thought that I'd have to go London to be involved with the Japanese community, but it just seems in recent months they've all started popping up out the woodwork up North 1 hour on the train isn't too bad! You could make it a monthly thing, then it won't be too much travelling! The Japanese conversation group (I've decided that's probably the most accurate name for it) I meet with have decided on 2x a month which I think is ideal, it gives us a week off to study, then when we meet up, we all come with fresh knowledge and are motivated to practice. A lot of people do come from quite far away for it, so it works out better for them, as well. I hope you're able to attend some similar meetings, as it is a great deal of fun and incredibly motivating being with like-minded people.

[appelkoekje]

A little update today.

I get caught up reading everyone else's logs here and it inspires me to update my own After I've done something to write about, that is.

Today is the last day of my bank holiday weekend. I was busy all day yesterday and I was grateful for it. After Saturday, where I'd spent most of the day speaking in Japanese, my brain was absolutely fried so it welcomed the break from Japanese for a while Today, I was still feeling the effects, so I decided to finally make some progress with Teach Yourself: Complete Dutch. I'd casually gotten up to Unit 3, so I decided I would sit down and complete a whole unit. I did just that! I finished Unit 4 today. A lot of it I was familiar with as I have gotten up to Unit 11 in the past, but I have admittedly forgotten all of it, but the earlier units I can somewhat remember. It's good reinforcement, at least. I'm finding a lot of useful phrases in there, though. Phrases and words I could have done with knowing before I went to the Netherlands this year Simple things on transactions at the kassa, greetings and the like. I'm glad I'm encountering things in the book I can definitely see myself using when I'm over there, so that's good.

I realise it's Monday and I said I would come up with a schedule! So, here goes. I'm going to base this around the fact that every 2nd Friday in a month I'll be at the Japanese conversation meet-up, and I usually meet up with Y-chan on the weekends, and that I really can't help but do at least some form of Japanese through the day...

Monday - Dutch
- Commute: Memrise/Clozemaster for vocabulary
- Home: Complete at least half a Unit from Teach Yourself: Complete Dutch
Tuesday - Norwegian
- Commute: Memrise for vocabulary or Duolingo
- Home: Find a nice textbook to study from
Wednesday - Japanese
- Commute: Memrise/Clozemaster for vocabulary
- Home: Podcast in Japanese (I'm currently enjoying ひいきびいき!)
Thursday - Dutch/Norwegian
- Commute (either way): Memrise/Clozemaster for vocabulary
- Home: Complete at least half a Unit from Teach Yourself: Complete Dutch/whatever I find for Norwegian
Friday - Japanese
- Commute: Memrise/Clozemaster/Podcast
- If at language meeting: no further action required
- If not at language meeting: Try to schedule a voice call with a Japanese speaker on HelloTalk
Saturday & Sunday - Dutch/Norwegian/Japanese
My free reign days. As I can't predict how a weekend will be, I'll try to do activities in either of these languages.

This Saturday I am starting my 読書の秋 challenge. I'm still on the fence if I'll make a thread about it, but I will outline what it is in case anyone else wants to take part.

The general idea is, autumn is soon upon us and it's the perfect season for snuggling into a blanket with a good book and a cup of tea (or beverage of your choice!). As language learners, why not take the opportunity to progress through a book in our target language? The time scale is until December 31st - I'm well aware that is Winter - but I feel September 1st to December 31st is a decent timescale for a reading challenge (maybe). Feel free to record your progress however, by pages, by chapters, by minutes or hours. I personally will be doing pages, and I plan to update my log at the end of every week with my progress.

The book I have chosen is 花散る頃の殺人 by 乃南アサ. A good nice cheesy detective novel

I'm going to end this update with a few questions!

I've been thinking about getting the book "日本語表現文型辞典 -「生きた」例文で学ぶ" - can anyone vouch for it? It's £28 on YesAsia. The description states, 03. 1・2級中心の500以上の文型 日本語能力試験1・2級レベルを中心に、500以上の文型を取り上げているので、試験対策にも役立ちます。which is roughly where I'm at/aiming for, so it seems like it'd be worth the money. Has anyone used it?

Also, what's a good textbook for Norwegian? I like courses like Teach Yourself, where it's guided and has exercises. I've tried Colloquial Norwegian, but I feel it introduces too much too soon. What else is out there on the market these days?

[eido]

I have tried to learn every Nordic language (the ones which are officially recognized as such, at least, or would be to the average foreigner) at some point in my young life. However, because I am young and undetermined, I don't know much about resources. There are some free ones on the Internet that can take you up to A2 I believe, like this one, and this one which is about A1. There's various "Norwegian For Foreigners" texts which mostly are taught in all Norwegian to my knowledge. A couple I can list are Ny i Norge and Norsk for utlendinger, but like me, you might get frustrated by working with these books because of the language they're in. I'd ask @Brun Ugle about what to use because she's fluent in Norwegian, and maybe ask @Expugnator - he's working with it, too.

[appelkoekje]

I have tried to learn every Nordic language (the ones which are officially recognized as such, at least, or would be to the average foreigner) at some point in my young life. However, because I am young and undetermined, I don't know much about resources. There are some free ones on the Internet that can take you up to A2 I believe, like this one, and this one which is about A1. There's various "Norwegian For Foreigners" texts which mostly are taught in all Norwegian to my knowledge. A couple I can list are Ny i Norge and Norsk for utlendinger, but like me, you might get frustrated by working with these books because of the language they're in. I'd ask @Brun Ugle about what to use because she's fluent in Norwegian, and maybe ask @Expugnator - he's working with it, too.

Thanks so much for the recommendations! I'll definitely check out those links. So far, I'm using Duolingo (I find it's great for dipping your toes into a language) and Memrise's Norwegian course. I've happened upon a textbook I like so far, so I'll see how it goes with that for now. I'll be sure to ask those users you mentioned, as well. Mange takk!

[appelkoekje]

Mid-week update.

As I technically created my schedule on Monday, I probably don't have to stick to it too strictly this week (not an excuse!) but I have loosely tried to get myself into the routine. Off to a solid start, I would say. Yesterday, I did Duolingo on the way to work, and found a nice textbook to study from! It's called Norsk På 1-2-3, and it's written in both Norwegian and English which I am loving I did the first unit last night, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can now (somewhat) introduce myself in Norwegian.

Hei! Jeg heter Luna. Jeg kommer fra England. Jeg snakker Engelsk, Japansk, og litt Norsk og Nederlandsk. (Although basic, corrections are welcomed )

I listened to the audio for the dialogues, and my main goal for Norwegian is just to be able to write/read mainly, but I do love the sound of Norwegian. It has a very homely/warm feel. I don't know if that's because my dialect was influenced a little when the vikings invaded/visited us We use words like "bairn" and "hyem" on a daily basis, which a quick google reveals it comes from "barn" in Old Norse and is still used in Norwegian, HOWEVER it seems "hyem" was not influenced by Old Norse, but rather stems from Old English. Is it a coincidence they use hjem in Norwegian? I guess our accent probably was loosely influenced from how they spoke back then. I say loosely, and I mean very loosely. We still owe them some credit for some of the words we use in our dialect, though.

So far, my language schedule is working wonderfully, although I might have assumed today was a Dutch day and did some on Duolingo on the way home As it turns out, today is a Japanese day, which is great as it means I can veg out on the sofa and watch a Japanese show on Netflix I have been keeping up with language partners on HelloTalk, although there are only so many times you can have the same conversation! I'm starting to think about hiding myself from search and maybe just sticking with the current people I am talking to until they eventually and most definitely stop replying, then go search for new people. I know it's a bit much to expect deep conversations on HelloTalk, but it really does get tiring going through the same small talk every day. I should think of some new conversation topics maybe.

I have an Instagram where I log my study progress in Japanese along with pictures of what I've been doing. (@luna3jp, for those who are interested) I posted about my Dutch study, and my boyfriend's mum replied She asked if I had been speaking with my boyfriend. I said we hadn't. She suggested we pick a day of the week and only use Dutch. I agreed, that's a good idea! So we chose today. My Dutch is full of gaps so it is absolutely painful, and we mostly conversed over WhatsApp as I was at work today, and most of the conversation tonight at home has been in English Baby steps, though! I think by the time I've finished Teach Yourself: Complete Dutch, I may be more equipped to hold a conversation. But I guess, it's nice to try to speak it and get my mouth used to it.

I've invited Y-chan for afternoon tea at some point in the next month. I make it sound like it's so commonplace, but it's really not. I found a coupon for a cute French inspired cafe in town, and I figured, why not invite her for her first British afternoon tea experience (in a French cafe of all places?)! Most of the times we've met we've been in either a group or have been walking around and doing stuff, so I'm looking forward to just relaxing and chatting in English and Japanese while nomming on cakes and sipping on tea!

[Mista]

Hei! Jeg heter Luna. Jeg kommer fra England. Jeg snakker Engelsk, Japansk, og litt Norsk og Nederlandsk. (Although basic, corrections are welcomed )

There's only one thing to remark, really: we only use capital letters for names of places, not for languages and nationalities or anything like that. So you have to write engelsk, japansk, og litt norsk og nederlandsk.