If all goes according to plan (JP, FI, FR)

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dicentra8
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Re: If all goes according to plan (JP, FI)

Postby dicentra8 » Fri Nov 02, 2018 12:33 pm

I'm really not that good at keeping a consistent log. Most of the things have been going rather slow, and I've been a little lazier than usual. :?

Lately I really wanted to watch/hear videos using "TL audio - TL subtitles" but soon I realized that it might not work that well since it's really hard to find the subtitles. The only time I was able to find was when the video is in English. But I really needed that for Finnish...I like to watch native material but right now it all sounds like a long string of sounds that I'm not able to separate (figure when a word starts and finishes). But it hasn't been all bad! I've been getting these nice moments when my ears can actually pick up words I've just learned before from random YT videos. :D
So, I've been telling myself to get over this and just use what I've actually got available.

Another thing is that I miss having a vocabulary deck for Japanese. I had one before, then the love/hate relationship with Anki came, and the result was me deleting it (without any mercy). Since I want to move forward and start using some JLPT N2 material, I think it's time to start with the 耳から覚えるN2・語彙. I completed the one for the N3 (before taking the exam) and my favourite thing was really the exercises, it feels like they focus more on the word's usage.

I also realized that the software WorkAudioBook is perfect for the dictations I was planning to do. I wasn't sure how I should split sentences with Audacity (how long or short they should be). But now I don't have to worry about it anymore.
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dicentra8
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Re: If all goes according to plan (JP, FI)

Postby dicentra8 » Wed Nov 07, 2018 6:39 pm

- Lately I really wanted to watch/hear videos using "TL audio - TL subtitles"
A short while after I mentioned this I just bump into a blog that mentioned a YT channel (in this post) for that. Weird. :lol:
The channel is called CokeTV and it "exists at least in French, Spanish, German, Dutch, and Finnish". For Finnish it's called CokeTV Suomi. Sadly not all the episodes are subtitled, specially the most recent ones...and probably the really old ones. But! There's plenty of subtitled ones to keep me busy! Also, quoting the blog's person again:
Unlike the two previous channels, I liked these videos. They speak fast, but you get subtitles. They use slang. And it’s natural since they’re talking to each other most of the time.

That's something hard to come by with some YT videos, usually it tends to be a monologue...with the person talking to the camera. But here, you've got always 2~3 people speaking to each other.
Another useful article that I saw in that website was the "How to find YouTube channels in your target language". I use Youtube but I'm not familiar with some features you can use. For example, I never bothered to use or even noticed the Filter until now. :oops:


Apart from that, something else happened. I knew that sooner or later this would happen. And I ended up deleting pretty much everything I had in Anki, except the "Elementary School Kanji" deck which I still want to keep using. I still considered just suspending the cards for the time being, but I think that later after unsuspending a person will have all of the cards to review...and I didn't want to think about it anymore. So I just deleted them all. Now I've got the usual "strange relief feeling" but I feel good about it.
At the moment, I really want to focus even more on the Listening (and also Reading). I'm not sure if I just put Hyvin Menee on hold, I haven't touched it in the last couple of the days. I think I'll do the 3rd chapter soon and try to think if I want to keep using it.
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dicentra8
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Re: If all goes according to plan (JP, FI)

Postby dicentra8 » Tue Nov 13, 2018 12:36 pm

- I think it's time to start with the 耳から覚えるN2・語彙 (Nov 02)
And that took me...9 days since I said that until I actually started it. It could be worst. But I already started it.

A while ago I removed the 総まとめN3(語彙)from the resource's list... but then I found this Memrise course for it that I'm okay with (plus: all the words seem to have got audio). Since my only goal for that was to skim through the vocabulary, I decided to keep using it.

Using videos to have more exposure has been a little tricky. I enjoy watching them and try to catch as much as I can, but sometimes it doesn't seem to be enough. I decided to try a slightly different approach with them and see if after a while I'll have better results (or not) with it. What I'm thinking to do is:

1) Watch the video 1x
2) Go through the subtitle/transcript and check for things I really don't know
3) Convert video to mp3 - Use the mp3 with WorkAudioBook
4) Check and evaluate, comparing the transcription with the subtitle/transcript
5) Watch the video again 1x

Another resource I also gave up from the list was "Kuuntele ja opi suomea (audiobook)". Too much english in it.
:?: I also have got a question for people learning Finnish. Is there a textbook (or other resource) that you used and think it's got the best audio to learn from it? With "best audio" I mean audio that isn't too slow on purpose. I really prefer using audio that is closest to native speed and doesn't feel too slow.
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"I have to watch the time I spend playing Tetris very carefully."

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dicentra8
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Re: If all goes according to plan (JP, FI)

Postby dicentra8 » Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:31 pm

I've been trying to add some kind of update here and then I end up closing the window in the end. Sometimes I feel like I'm repeating myself by saying again "things are going slow but they're going...".

I said a while ago that I deleted a lot of things from Anki. Then a couple of days ago I imported everything from Memrise, deleted the Memrise account, and now Anki and I are friends again. :roll: It's a little embarassing but now I think this is the best option, to just stick with one SRS and Anki feels better (but I know I'll miss the "planting session" and the mix of multiple choice/typing). When it comes to apps, my phone is a little sensitive about the space...doesn't matter if I'm always cleaning the cache and data.

Japanese:
I've been doing the listening exercises for みんなの日本語2 as usual. Finished 2 sections (part 1) of the book about the Marketing Basics.
I've been wanting to (re)start soon the 毎日の聞き取り from where I left, but haven't done it yet. Soon, hopefully.

Finnish:
I was having some doubts about Hyvin Menee but now I know I want to keep using it. Even if I go slightly frustrated with the second listening exercise in each chapter. They usually throw a lot of things that weren't covered in the lesson there...and it's really hard to do it. It crossed my mind if it would be better to see the transcript first, check the things I don't know, and then do the exercise. :?
This is a little description I found about the textbook which I didn't check before I picked it, but it's one thing I like about it
The textbook is ideal for those who would like to improve their skills in Finnish communication. It is based on the situations and dialogues which the native speakers experience in a daily routine. The textbook includes various every day life texts and the most common words and expressions.

But sometimes I feel like it lacks somewhere... well one thing is probably explaining grammar. It rarely does it. So far they just mentioned about vowel harmony and verbs conjugations/tenses. The rest, like grammatical cases, you see them in the dialogues or when reading small texts. Now, I'm not a big fan of "grammar rules" but I needed something...and that's when this weird thing happens! Somehow the textbook Suomea Suomeksi 1, teaches sentence patterns the way I like to learn them. It feels like a みんなの日本語 but for Finnish. And in an unexpected way feels like the perfect complement to use with Hyvin Menee. :D At first I was just planning to do the workbook but I think I'll also go over the textbook as well.
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Re: If all goes according to plan (JP, FI)

Postby Nacobe » Sat Nov 24, 2018 10:20 pm

I always find it so fascinating when somebody's learning Finnish, so it's even nicer to read some posts about it.

All the best with the studies :)
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dicentra8
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Re: If all goes according to plan (JP, FI)

Postby dicentra8 » Sat Nov 24, 2018 10:30 pm

All the best with the studies :)

Thank you! :)
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Re: If all goes according to plan (JP, FI)

Postby SGP » Tue Nov 27, 2018 7:41 pm

dicentra8 wrote:So far they just mentioned about vowel harmony and verbs conjugations/tenses. The rest, like grammatical cases, you see them in the dialogues or when reading small texts.
Did you already develop any intuitive feeling for vowel harmony?
dicentra8 wrote:Now, I'm not a big fan of "grammar rules" but I needed something...and that's when this weird thing happens! Somehow the textbook Suomea Suomeksi 1, teaches sentence patterns the way I like to learn them. It feels like a みんなの日本語 but for Finnish.
Asking as a learner of JP and micro-learner of FI: How exactly does it teach sentence patterns?
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dicentra8
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Re: If all goes according to plan (JP, FI)

Postby dicentra8 » Tue Nov 27, 2018 8:31 pm

SGP wrote:Did you already develop any intuitive feeling for vowel harmony?

In general yes (i think). The diagram helps me remember and somehow it wasn't something that caused me a lot of trouble when learning it. But occasionally I still get confused with the vowel "y" in certain words.
Image

SGP wrote:Asking as a learner of JP and micro-learner of FI: How exactly does it teach sentence patterns?

At the beginning of each lesson they introduce basic sentence patterns like this
Image
Then, it's followed by a lot of sentences or really short dialogues (some pictures included) using those patterns and some of the words being replaced by others. I really like when books use this way of teaching. For me, it made more aware about the patterns, and got me into the habit of trying to reuse it (by replacing some of the words and creating new sentences by myself). Don't know if you ever used the みんなの日本語 main textbook(練習A), but the method was very similar: use a pattern and replace certain words to create new sentences.
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Re: If all goes according to plan (JP, FI)

Postby SGP » Tue Nov 27, 2018 8:44 pm

dicentra8 wrote:Then, it's followed by a lot of sentences or really short dialogues (some pictures included) using those patterns and some of the words being replaced by others. I really like when books use this way of teaching. For me, it made more aware about the patterns, and got me into the habit of trying to reuse it (by replacing some of the words and creating new sentences by myself).
So this is about mentally decoding the language and breaking it down [as in: analyzing it and disassembling its parts].
dicentra8 wrote:Don't know if you ever used the みんなの日本語 main textbook(練習A), but the method was very similar: use a pattern and replace certain words to create new sentences.
I only used a few JP text books up to now. But I also am learning it using the Language Decoding Approach.
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dicentra8
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Re: If all goes according to plan (JP, FI)

Postby dicentra8 » Tue Dec 11, 2018 1:23 pm

Image

There hasn't been a lot of studying lately. Mostly just doing a bare minimum and trying to come up with ways that will help me move forward. With Japanese, みんなの日本語2聴解 and 毎日の聞き取り vol.2 are gone! At least for the time being but most likely I won't get back to them. Doing workbooks with listening exercises for a while felt good and it really helped me, but lately I just had no will to keep doing it. I think right now what I really want to focus is mostly native TV content (like A LOT of it)! Also to keep reading native material.

Most of the resources I picked for Finnish will remain since I'm still pretty much a beginner.

I also slightly restricted Anki use for the following:
- Kanji (elementary school)
- (Finnish&Japanese) Mostly just vocabulary that appears in the books I'm using + books I'm reading

For the first book in Finnish I picked Mikä Sika Sotku! (it was the one available that actually sounded fun)
Paavo is the only clean pig in his family. He is afraid to invite his friends home. After he paints a beautiful picture, his family cleans up the house and themselves to provide a perfect setting for his painting.

Also since I still have got my twitter account (but haven't used it), I decided to use twitter lists like @emk does for French. I really like it! For the time being I've got a list for articles/news and other for TV channels.

It's good that things are getting back on track (even if slowly). :)
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