Cam's Language Log

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cameroncrc
White Belt
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Joined: Wed Nov 01, 2017 6:30 am
Languages: English (N), Japanese (Fluent), Ukrainian (Beginner)
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Cam's Language Log

Postby cameroncrc » Thu Nov 15, 2018 1:37 pm

Hello everyone! I'm Cameron and I was a active on HTLAL for some time during high school, before and after completing a one-year exchange program in rural Japan. I'm now back in Japan (in the city this time), where I've been working in marketing for the past two years.

I've been making slow and steady progress on a number of personal goals, including language learning. I was looking for a way to visualize my progress over time, so I decided to start this language learning log.

So without further to do, here are some of my language learning goals for the coming year!

Ukrainian
I have been wanting to learn Ukrainian for a very long time. My great grandparents were born and raised in Ukraine before coming to the U.S. in the early 1900s. They didn't really pass down the language or culture, which made me curious to learn more. I originally set out to learn Ukrainian to reconnect to my heritage. But as I started learning, I realized how much I love the sound of it, the writing system, and the friendly and open attitude my Ukrainian friends had towards me trying to learn their language. I would love to travel to Ukraine soon, but first I want to gain some conversational skills. The resources I am using for Ukrainian are "Beginner's Ukrainian" by Yuri Shevchuk (Hippocrene) and a Japanese-language introductory text on Ukrainian grammar (yay laddering!)

Japanese
Second on the list because I am already far along in my Japanese studies (now 10 years since I started!). I work in a Japanese company so much of my day-to-day is in Japanese. However, everything is mostly desk-work, so as my reading/writing and listening comprehension have steadily improved, my speaking has been at a disappointing plateau for quite some time. I plan on using shadowing and read-out-loud techniques, as well as composing short essays using writing prompts, in order to improve my fluency and increase my active vocabulary.

Other languages on my language learning hit list:

French French was the first language I ever studied. After years of Japanese, I want to get reacquainted with Romance languages and Francophone culture.

Mandarin Chinese Because it's a fun language with an amazing culture. I have many Chinese friends and colleagues, and my company does business with China.

More to come in the future, but for now I'm happy to stick with these :)

Wish me luck, and I look forward to joining this community and making progress here with all of you :)
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zjones
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Posts: 483
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Location: USA
Languages: English (N), French (B1-certified), Spanish and Greek (abandoned)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9860
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Re: Cam's Language Log

Postby zjones » Thu Nov 15, 2018 3:44 pm

Hi Cam! I'm excited to read more of your language log, especially in regards to Ukrainian. My parents hosted a Ukrainian boy from an orphanage a couple years ago, and he barely spoke any English. Ukrainian sounds so cool, and I even had him teach me a few words (he giggled at me when I tried to pronounce "cat", from what I remember). :lol: Someday I might try to learn it. Keep us updated on how you like your courses!
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cameroncrc
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Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Nov 01, 2017 6:30 am
Languages: English (N), Japanese (Fluent), Ukrainian (Beginner)
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Re: Cam's Language Log

Postby cameroncrc » Sat Nov 17, 2018 11:39 am

zjones wrote:Hi Cam! I'm excited to read more of your language log, especially in regards to Ukrainian. My parents hosted a Ukrainian boy from an orphanage a couple years ago, and he barely spoke any English. Ukrainian sounds so cool, and I even had him teach me a few words (he giggled at me when I tried to pronounce "cat", from what I remember). :lol: Someday I might try to learn it. Keep us updated on how you like your courses!


Thank you for your encouragement! It is very cool sounding, and fun to speak. :D I will certainly be posting my thoughts here as I go,
and visit your log as well!
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cameroncrc
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Languages: English (N), Japanese (Fluent), Ukrainian (Beginner)
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Re: Cam's Language Log

Postby cameroncrc » Sat Nov 17, 2018 11:40 am

Dobryden' everyone!

Today I have a short Ukrainian lesson. I'm currently working on Chapter 6 of Beginner's Ukrainian. At the end of each chapter, there is a short paragraph written in cursive Cyrillic using the grammar and vocabulary from all chapters leading up to it. I write the paragraph out long-hand in my notebook several times, taking note of tricky spellings and trying not to forget the "soft sign" (знак м'якшення).

The textbook is extremely thorough, but I find myself getting bored doing repetitive exercises, so my strategy is to first slog through the summary paragraphs at the end of the chapter, familiarize myself with the vocabulary and try to intuit the grammar as best I can, and then go back and work through the exercises.

Does anyone else work this way? I honestly prefer the challenge of slowly working through more difficult material rather then repeatedly writing out "I have an apple / He has an apple..." Anyway, I'm trying it out as an experiment!
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iguanamon
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Languages: Speaks: English (Native); Spanish (C2); Portuguese (C2); Haitian Creole (C1); Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol (C1); Lesser Antilles French Creole (B2)
Studies: Catalan
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=797
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Re: Cam's Language Log

Postby iguanamon » Sat Nov 17, 2018 12:08 pm

Welcome to the forum, Cam! It's nice to see someone living and working successfully in a second language. How long did it take you to become proficient enough in Japanese to do this?

Courses can be a necessary evil. However you can get through the lessons, whatever works best for you, that's the way forward. Good luck with your Ukrainian studies.
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cameroncrc
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Posts: 11
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Languages: English (N), Japanese (Fluent), Ukrainian (Beginner)
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Re: Cam's Language Log

Postby cameroncrc » Sun Nov 18, 2018 12:10 am

iguanamon wrote:Welcome to the forum, Cam! It's nice to see someone living and working successfully in a second language. How long did it take you to become proficient enough in Japanese to do this?

Courses can be a necessary evil. However you can get through the lessons, whatever works best for you, that's the way forward. Good luck with your Ukrainian studies.


Thank you iguanamon! I did a one-year immersion in high school, and followed that up with college courses, as well as a second "study abroad" program in university. So I had about seven years of contact with the language, but about four years of actual intensive study before I began working.

Thank you for the encouraging words! I realized it's important to have fun, but I should probably be a little bit more strict with myself :lol:
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cameroncrc
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Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Nov 01, 2017 6:30 am
Languages: English (N), Japanese (Fluent), Ukrainian (Beginner)
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Re: Cam's Language Log

Postby cameroncrc » Sun Nov 18, 2018 12:25 am

Ukrainian

Day two of the log and feeling optimistic!

After browsing the forum a little bit, I noticed that several of you are watching Peppa Pig in your target languages, so I decided to see if there was a Ukrainian version--and there is!

I started the morning with a cup of tea and watching 10 minutes of Peppa Pig. I could pick out a few words and grammatical endings, and learned the word dinosaur. :lol: As I was watching the second episode, I was surprised to actually understand one full sentence: "Динозавр дуже важко знайти" (the dinosaur is difficult to find). :P

After that I went back to the beginning exercises in Chapter 6. Today's lesson was about the verb "to visit/frequent" and family expressions. For this I used the "scriptorium" method, which seems like it will be very helpful. I tend to get mixed up with the different i/y combinations (iyi, yy, iy, yi, y, i) and this seems like a good method to clear things up in my head.

The slower I go, the more I realize how thorough and deep this course goes. I think if I can just stay patient and move through it slowly, it will give me a good understanding of the language.

If anyone knows of any Ukrainian podcasts or music, please let me know! I especially like the acoustic stuff. <3
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cameroncrc
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Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Nov 01, 2017 6:30 am
Languages: English (N), Japanese (Fluent), Ukrainian (Beginner)
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Re: Cam's Language Log

Postby cameroncrc » Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:48 pm

Busy week so far! I just got back from a lecture about urban farming in Tokyo...it was really interesting! The event was in Japanese and we did group work and I also made some comments in front of everyone, so I suppose that counts for listening and speaking practice for today.

I also bought a book about Project Leadership (work related...) so I'm excited to read through that. It's written in a colloquial style and fairly easy to read, but it's a business book, so it should be a nice challenge.

For Ukrainian, I only had time to review what I wrote in my notebook on Sunday, a short paragraph that I'm working through and my "family expressions". I recorded myself reading the paragraph and it's a little quicker and more natural sounding than the first time I recorded it a couple of days ago.

Tomorrow is Thursday and then we have a three day weekend, so I'm planning to get some more studying in during that time.
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cameroncrc
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Re: Cam's Language Log

Postby cameroncrc » Sun Dec 23, 2018 12:26 pm

Hello everyone!!

December was a busy month for me, and totally flew by! I spent the first week vacationing with my family in Hawaii, which was amazing...
(and much needed since I haven't spent time with family in nearly a year). Came back and caught up with work stuff, and prepared for an upcoming business trip.

Ukrainian Update

I'm back into my Ukrainian studies, and it feels good to be hitting the books again! I made a small adjustment in my study method, that has already made a big difference in my "enjoyment" levels. I was reading an article about how to study effectively from textbooks, and it recommended focusing on studying short sections (one page, one paragraph, etc.) at a time. Normally, I would try to focus on a Chapter. But the chapters in Beginner's Ukrainian are relatively lengthy compared to other introductory texts, and very dense. I would say to myself that I would study "one chapter a week", but honestly one week is not enough time to master a single chapter, so I end up getting intimidated and just not studying. So, no more chapter-by-chapter thinking! I'm breaking it down into small sections, and trying to master those before moving on. Not only does this take the pressure off, but I found that it has already made learning more fun again.

I also found a great website, ukrainianlessons.com, run by a native Ukrainian who is passionate about teaching Ukrainian to foreigners. The site is full of great blog posts, and there is even a podcast series. I just started skimming through it but I plan on exploring more there later.

Today, as I was studying, I realized that the vocabulary I've learned in past lessons is starting to become more "colored in" for me. I don't know how other people experience this phenomenon, but I'll try to explain. It's the moment when you no longer perceive a word as a string of letters, but at a single glance are able to associate it with an image in your mind. I also have synesthesia with letters, associating certain letters with colors, and thus the cognition of a word feels a little like "coloring it in". Anyway, what I mean to say is that Ukrainian is starting to feel a little less foreign to me, which I see as a sign of progress!

Japanese Update

I'm currently reading that book on project management I bought a few weeks ago. Using the same method of breaking it down into sections (paragraphs for this book) and taking down notes as I go. The book is written in a fairly colloquial style so it's not that difficult to understand, although I do come across a decent amount of new vocabulary on each page, which is good because I'm still learning new things! It's great because I actually do need to work on my project management skills for work, so I have a great deal of motivation to move through it. I also find that since I am able to focus on imagining the subject matter and relating it to my actual work, the vocabulary and concepts sink in a little quicker than they do when I am reading from a Japanese language textbook.

Anyway, after a short hiatus, it was a productive day!
Good luck in your studies this week everyone, and for those who celebrate, a Merry Christmas!
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cameroncrc
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Languages: English (N), Japanese (Fluent), Ukrainian (Beginner)
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Re: Cam's Language Log

Postby cameroncrc » Sun Feb 03, 2019 11:31 am

Hello everyone! January, just like December, has flown by!! I cannot believe it. This month went particularly fast due to a business trip to New York City (woohoo!), where I spent about one week. It was nice to be "home" in the US, even just for a little bit. I thoroughly enjoyed my Dunkin Donuts breakfast and spending and entire afternoon at Barnes & Noble on Fifth Avenue. :lol:

Ukrainian Update:

I am really, really enjoying learning Ukrainian. Which is reassuring. I put off studying it seriously for so long because it is not that widely studied, and not a particularly "practical" language outside of Ukraine. But I still love the sound, the shapes of the letters (especially in hand-written script), and the way it feels to speak. And I figure that once I can speak Ukrainian, I will find a use for it anyway!!

I have also found my method. Flashcards? Don't like 'em (trauma from having a deck of hand-cut flashcards fall apart at the bottom of my backpack in high school?). Word lists? Kind of boring. Phrase lists? YES. Making lists of phrases and copying them over and over again is so satisfying. I love looking at a whole page of sentences and being able to understand everything on the page. Yes, it may only be four sentences written five times each. But I can understand everything, in FULL sentences. It really feeds my ego and keeps me motivated to learn. I realized that dialogues, by contrast, are tricky, because even if I can learn everything in the dialogue, it is still a set dialogue and therefore difficult to say if I will recognize the words out of context. With individual phrases, you often see words that you know from other phrases/lessons, and I think being exposed to words in several different contexts helps me remember them more naturally.

Because of my schedule (excuses, excuses), I haven't made that much progress on "Lesson 6", however I have been writing down my phrases and reviewing them once or twice a day.

I am LOVING the Ukrainian lessons podcast. Good dialogs and lots of them. Planning on delving in more later.

Japanese Update

So, even though I have been studying Japanese for a long time, and living/working in Japan, there are still a lot of advanced vocabulary/expressions that elude me. There are also a lot of words that I recognize and understand, but am unable to produce. Part of this is an issue of active/passive vocabulary, but part of it is the fact that Japanese utilizes kanji. Because kanji gives you an idea of the meaning of words, as long as you know the kanji from another context, you can sometimes guess what the word means. This is great for reading comprehension but bad if you want to be able to really understand the word's official definition and produce it in speech. So in order to improve my vocabulary, I bought a little notebook, where I plan to write down any unknown word I see and create my own little J-E dictionary. I actually plan on using half of it for English words (even though I am a native speaker), because improving my native language will help my writing, (which I use for a lot of different things--my job, blogging, writing long-winded posts on my language learning log, etc.) and also because I plan on attending graduate school one day (yay ambition! boo GRE!).

That's enough for today! Good luck in your studies everyone!
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