Purangi's Log

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
Purangi
Orange Belt
Posts: 138
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:57 pm
Languages: French, English, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish
x 635

Re: Purangi's Haitian Creole et al.

Postby Purangi » Sat Jun 08, 2019 11:20 pm

We celebrated the 30th anniversary of a very sad event last week, and the Chinese government thought it would be a perfect time to cut us off completely from the global Internet by blocking all VPNs. And so, for the last ten days or so, I was unable to access anything remotely useful on the Web – all Google services, Wiki, YouTube, Facebook, VOA, Twitter, almost all foreign news agencies, etc. Even random things that have nothing to do with China were completely blocked, like Radio Ambulante. I now really understand just how dependant I am on the internet for basically all aspects of my life, including my language studies.

Luckily, I knew this was coming and I downloaded a bunch of Spanish podcasts just before things went down. For a change, most of these podcast were from Spain, not Latin America.

When I first started studying Spanish, I chose to focus exclusively on the LA variant. Peninsular Spanish felt too remote and not as “useful” as a more neutral, American version. I also had the false impression that the LA variant was overall easier, both in terms of phonetics and grammar.

Lately, as my Spanish level improved, I realized that it would be futile and counter-productive to avoid resources from Spain. Both in terms of quality and quantity, they are simply unavoidable. I looked through the forum for recommendations and found two Spanish podcasts that I like particularly (I can’t remember where and who exactly recommended them, but thank you!).

The first one is Nómadas, from RNE. I listened to about 20 episodes up to now, which adds up to about 10 hours. I remember trying to listen to it a few months ago and giving up – I just couldn’t understand the Spanish staccato. Now I feel I came a long way: I can now understand the two hosts just fine. Some of the guests can be challenging though. In a recent episode about Navarra, I could swear one of the guests had a potato in his mouth. Whether or not he had one, it was an excellent listening practice. They have both Spaniards and foreigners as guests, which provide for a good range of accents.

The other one is 5W, a foreign affairs podcast from Barcelona. This is a really high-quality product, the kind of journalism I wish I could see more in Canada. I listened to about 10 episodes, which amount to around 10 hours. They have a number of different guests each time, again with sometimes widely different accents.

(I may be wrong, but the more I learn about the Hispanosphere, the more I am impressed by how tolerant different Spanish speakers are when it comes to their respective variants – compared to the Francophone world, that is. Am I right to think that Mexican speakers do not feel the need to radically change the way to speak when they are being interviewed by Spaniards, and vice-versa? Whereas in France, people from Canada, Africa or Asia who are being interviewed on TV will almost always end up modifying their speech to imitate their French hosts. Is this some sort of colonial mindset on our part? Or is it related to the overall prescriptivism among French intellectuals, both in France and abroad?

The funniest thing is that this idea that Île-de-France is the only place where “real” French is spoken is highly contagious abroad: I saw symptoms of it almost everywhere. When I was teaching French at a university in Moscow, I taught it would be a good idea to introduce my students to some Canadian French peculiarities. This was purely utilitarian: they were going on an exchange in Québec City and I thought it might help them better integrate with the locals. The idea was met with utter hilarity by my boss. Just teach them normal French, she said. Next things I knew, the students were complaining that they couldn’t make friends in Québec because they couldn’t understand anyone after a couple of beers…

Same story in China. I cannot count how many times I saw French translators and interpreters being completely thrown off when faced with a Congolese, Belgian or Algerian accent. Really? We’re not talking about occasional learners or hobbyists, but professionals. How can you graduate with a M.A. in French translation and never have heard anything other than Parisian French?)

Anyway, these podcasts are a good way to keep me going by using Spanish instead of studying it. It is a real pleasure to get to know other cultures and countries through the medium of Spanish. More importantly, I now think it is essential to expose myself to a wider range of Spanish accents, instead of focusing just on LA. But I don’t think this is going to impact the way I speak, as all of the main resources I used (except Assimil) use neutral LA speakers.

Also about Spanish, I got a bit tired of literature and started making a list of influential essays to read. I am now working through Espana Invertebrada by José Ortega y Gasset, and I must say it is really interesting. Not sure I agree with the author, but it was certainly good food for thought. Although it was written almost a hundred years ago, so many things in it still ring true today - and not just about Spain and its minorities. It is always challenging to walk through someone else’s reasoning.

In other news, I am preparing a short trip to Eastern Africa for both work and pleasure. Swahili was just too tempting not to look at it. I read through a short grammar I found online. Some people are afraid of spiders, or heights or whatever, but the thing that really makes my skin crawl and keeps me awake at night is agglutination. So I won’t be touching Swahili anytime soon. But it was interesting to see the strong Arabic influence, with so many words I saw before. I did learn a few greetings which I hope will make the trip more interesting.

I am also looking at spending a few days in Mozambique, as that would give an excuse to learn some Portuguese. But given the terrible destruction unleashed by recent hurricanes along the coast, I am pretty sure it’s not the right time to go there. I also plan on going to Zimbabwe and was thinking of looking at Shona, although my workmate – who happens to be a native Shona speaker from Harare – keeps telling me that I’ll manage just fine with English. I found this interesting paper about racial and languages relations in Zim.

In other news I have signed another one-year contract in Beijing, meaning I won’t be going back home anytime soon. This means two things: I have basically one more year ahead of me with enough free time that I could use to focus on solely one new language, and actually make some significant progress; this most probably won’t happen because language wanderlust.

Wow, that was long.
11 x

Purangi
Orange Belt
Posts: 138
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:57 pm
Languages: French, English, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish
x 635

Purangi's Log

Postby Purangi » Wed Aug 28, 2019 8:33 am

So many things have happened since the last time I posted here, I don’t know where to start. Let me just do a quick review of what I have achieved, and what I plan to achieve, for each of my languages.

One thing is sure: I have spent much less time on the forum over the last few months, and this has had a direct and positive impact on my study. As I already wrote in my log, making progress when learning a language is less a question of how you do it, and more a question of just doing it.

Spanish:

- I have reached two new landmarks in my Spanish studies: 10,000 pages read (+5000 pages since last update) and 200 hours of native materials (+100 hrs).
- I read miraculously managed to read through the entire New Testament in Spanish (no comment). I tried to read through Don Quixote, but kept falling asleep about halfway through the first book, so I gave up. I may get back to it later on.
- When it comes to literature, I can read some authors easily, with little help from my dictionary (such as El Juego del Angel, Ariel, La Sombra Del Viento). But other books, such as La Voragine, remain too difficult, with just too many local terms to be enjoyable.
- As for native audio and video material, I focused on podcasts (mostly from Mexico and Spain) and audiobooks.
- I completely stopped doing Anki. It was too much time for too little results overall. I ended up with tons of leaches, mostly words that I would probably never encounter again, and even less actually use in a conversation. Extensive reading has given me all the repeated exposure I needed anyway.
- I have not had any conversation in Spanish yet.
- I have reached a level in Spanish where I feel confident enough to put it on “pause” from now on. I will gladly go back to it once I have confirmed travel plan to a Spanish-speaking country.

Mandarin:

- Mandarin is my 9-to-5, so nothing much to add here. I continue translating books from Mandarin, which give me all the daily exposure I need.
- I am usually too tired after work to study Mandarin, but I should take some time to review my traditional characters from time to time. With everything that’s happening in Hong Kong these last weeks, there is a great deal of interesting things to read…

Creole:

- Nothing to declare… The language has been on pause for some time now.
- I have been looking for new materials on YouTube, in vain.
- I do listen and watch Amabssador Marli’s videos when they come up on my Facebook feed, which is about one time per week or so.

Portuguese:

- I may need to work with Portuguese-speaking Africans as part of my work over the next few months, so I decided to give the language some of my time. As of now, I have studied 110 hours. At first, my goal was mostly utilitarian, but I have to say it’s difficult not to fall in love with the unique way Portuguese is pronounced.
- I have completed Brazil FSI, which is a real beauty of a language course. Each of the 60 lessons are targeted and focused on 1 or 2 grammar points at most, so you can tackle the language step by step. Explanation notes and the overall context of the course are a bit dated, but the vocabulary seemed fine.
- I have also completed Le Brésilien sans peine from Assimil. The audio is excruciating slow for the first 7 or so lessons, but it gets better with time. Overall, it is a classic Assimil course, with both good and bad sides. It was useful to improve my pronunciation, learn colloquial expressions and build vocab. It is basically useless to really grasp how grammar patterns work. Topics are varied and entertaining, which make it enjoyable, although lessons felt more like a vocabulary list than a real textbook near the end.
- I have also read throught a Portuguese grammar book and listened to most episodes of Ta Falado.
- I started then tackling native materials. I have read Guia Politicamente Incorretto Da Historia do Brasil by Leando Narloch. I was surprised by how much I understood, although I had to refer to my dictionary many times per page. Of course, it is more of a journalistic kind of text, I am certain fiction works will be much harder. I also started tackling audio material. I watched the entire Roda Viva episode with then-candidate Jair Bolsonaro, amounting to 1h20. I wouldn’t have understood much without YouTube’s automatic subtitles.
- I don’t feel the need to do any other courses, at least for the moment. I want to continue reading in Portuguese, as it just so satisfying and interesting. If I can continue reading 1 or 2 Portuguese books per month for the next year, I’ll be satisfied.

Korean:

- I bought tickets to Seoul, which has finally given me the motivation I needed to seriously refocus on Korean – and I mean it this time. In fact, I hope 2018/2019 will see me achieve a breakthrough in Korean. But really, it’s not about hope – it’s just a question of putting in the time and the efforts.
- To do this, I am planning to concentrate exclusively (or almost) on Korean for the next few months. All the hours I previously used for Spanish, Portuguese and Creole will be redirected to Korean.
- Already, many things make me optimistic. I have accumulated sort of a large passive vocabulary and grammar knowledge in Korean over the years. Most of the grammar concepts are not foreign anymore, but I need to be able to actually use them. My vocab needs to be extended, but I can already use the foundation I have and build on that (not mentioning that Mandarin gives me a huge bonus). Just like Portuguese, I won’t start from scratch.
- Right now, I am using Glossika Fluency Korean (the older MP3 version). I study each sentence carefully, looking up words and grammar particles, before listening and repeating during my commute. I am now at around 10%, so 300 out of 3000 sentences. My goal is to go through the entire 3000 sentences before setting foot in Incheon Airport.
- I also use the grammar lessons from TTMIK. I already finished Level 1 (25 lessons) and half of Level 2 (15 lessons). I didn’t learn anything that I had not seen before, so it was more of an extensive review. I like the fact that the lessons are focused, tackling one or two grammatical point per lesson. More importantly, they are really fun and much more entertaining than other Korean resources out there. My objective is to do as much as possible before my Korean trip.
- I also have Assimil Le Coréen Sans Peine, but it uses formal language, while I prefer to focus on the more conversation level.
- Once I am more advanced in both TTMIK and Glossika, perhaps in a month or two, I will start to carefully tackle a few Iyagis.
- I am also watching a lot of Korean TV shows, but the Chinese subtitles keep me from really listening to the Korean conversations, so I don’t actually count it as part of my study.

Russian:

- Did I say I will focus exclusively on Korean? That’s probably wishful thinking. In fact, before Korea, I will be stopping by the Russian Far East for a few days. I am also looking at a trip to other CIS countries next year, where Russian will be useful.
- Last time I had a conversation in Russian was in Italy with that nice Ukrainian host. I managed to talk fluently about everything I wanted, but I did notice that my vocabulary was getting smaller and I also had trouble using more colloquial expressions. That means I need to start consuming Russian material again.
- I already finished reading a book about North Korea published in 1948, i.e. peak Stalinist era, entitled мы видели Корею. I was surprised but how easy it was: I did not have any problem reading it, in fact, there were very few words I didn’t know/remember. So just like Spanish, reading non-fiction texts is a piece of cake, but fiction is another deal.
- If I have time, I will probably start to listen to Glossika Fluency Russian (also the MP3 version), go through Advanced Russian Assimil and a few Russian podcasts per week. This will probably be more than enough for me to “re-activate” the language and refresh my passive vocab.

I am leaving for Africa in a few days. Not sure if I will have time to do any language study will over there, but I will load my phone with some Korean Mp3s just in case. Hopefully, I won’t have to deal with malaria or Ebola.

See you in a few months!
8 x

Purangi
Orange Belt
Posts: 138
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:57 pm
Languages: French, English, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish
x 635

Re: Purangi's Log

Postby Purangi » Mon Oct 07, 2019 8:13 pm

Below are some notes I wrote during my recent trip to Subsaharan Africa. It is mostly about languages I heard, spoke and read while I was there. Mostly anecdotes, nothing scientific or systematic!

We started our trip in Zimbabwe. We skipped Harare and arrived directly in the Ndebele part of the country. People there take much pride in their local culture and language. Ndebele language is spoken everywhere, but not sure about Shona. Written signs, however, are overwhelmingly in English. I was quickly told - and reminded countless times - that my typical French Canadian last name also means Zebra in the Ndebele language. Nice.

Throughout my travel in East Africa, I understood Zimbabweans’ English best. At times, there even seemed to have a slightly British flavor to it. Not sure if this is an achievement of Zimbabwe’s schooling system or because we stayed in a highly touristy area around Victoria Falls. Overall I was surprised by the high English proficiency I saw there, higher than in all other African countries I have visited so far.

In Botswana I shared a safari tour with a group of Ecuadorians. We didn’t have the opportunity to really talk but I gladly eavesdropped on them. I could understand most of what they were saying, as long as they were making full, long-enough sentences. Shorts utterances and replies remained enigmatic mostly though.

Zambia was interesting as it was the first time I saw local Africans addressing each other not in their national language, but in English. On the bus between Lusaka and Chipata especially, local people didn’t seem to have a common language besides English. I heard a lot of code-switching as well.

Malawi seemed to have stronger cohesion - linguistically speaking - than Zambia, everyone speaking in the national language. Again, I had no real problem communicating in English everywhere we went. Proficiency in general seemed lower than in Zimbabwe and Botswana, but I didn’t meet any adult who didn’t speak some English. Unfortunately we were there during the anti-government protests and couldn’t really freely walk around and exchange with locals. The only two other foreign we met near Lake Malawi were US soldiers traveling together with a convoy of the Malawi army.

In Tanzania, Dar es Salam, or at least its central district, struck me as more English/Indian than Swahili. At times it seemed more like Mumbai than Africa. From what I heard, the common language between the Indian and the African communities is English - spoken everywhere.

I now realize why people say Zanzibar is the best place to learn Swahili. Not only the language is everywhere, both written and spoken, but it’s one of the few places where I heard people using Swahili numbers instead of English numbers when buying stuff, paying for fuel, etc. Newspapers and books sold on the streets are almost exclusively in Swahili. Locals were enthusiastically greeting foreigners in Swahili and seemed very encouraging others to learn the language. Or at least, that’s what I thought until I heard a tourist painfully trying to order a drink in Swahili at a local beach bar. Unwilling to do an impromptu language exchange, the barman quickly cut the conversation short with a categorical : “I speak English, just tell me what you want to drink.” Ouch.

Around Kilimanjaro, Swahili was also overwhelmingly the common language, more so than English. Local Indians, Maasai and other locals all spoke Swahili to each other. Kenyans and Tanzanians didn’t have any trouble understanding each other, from what I saw.

As soon as we crossed the border into Kenya things started to change: Swahili signs were replaced with English ones, some locals were speaking English to each other on the street, on the bus, in the fancy restaurants. I noticed a lot of code-switching between the two languages. Interestingly, newspapers and books sold on the street in Nairobi were all in English.

I had not problem communicating in English in Uganda, except in Kabale near the Rwandan border, where English seemed much less spoken. It’s also in Uganda where I met a first French-speaking African on a bus near Entebbe: a Congolese national now living in Uganda.

Out of all the countries I visited, I was most curious about Rwanda. As a ex-Belgian colony, the country used to be (still is?) considered part of French-speaking Africa. Things changed radically with the genocide and the administration of Kagame, who embraced English, for a variety of reasons which I will not discuss here. I was very curious to see how are things actually on the ground. I have been told that many Rwandans have no love for anything French these days, but is it true?

From what I witnessed in my short stay there, Rwanda really did an terrific job at erasing its French-speaking past. Public and governmental signs are overwhelmingly in Kirwanda and English, with the occasional odd French translations. Equally, private shops’ signs favor English and Kirwanda over French. The only French signs I saw seemed old, dating perhaps from pre-94. French still survives but in a sort of “fossilized form” such as in brands and place names. The bottled water company Source du Nil, for example, has retained its French name, but everything else on the bottle is written in English and Kirwanda. I saw countless examples like this. Everywhere I went to eat, menus were exclusively in English.

Throughout my time in Kigali and the surrounding areas, I tried my best to start conversations in French, just to gauge the reaction. There was no hostility whatsoever. On the contrary, I always received a polite but shy smile as a reaction. However, without exception, everyone I talked to quickly switched to English. Guides in the (many) genocide memorials were providing explanations in English only. Many younger Rwandans didn’t seem to understand French besides greetings and simple words. I didn’t hear any French music on the radio or on the streets: English entertainment is king.

Although my experience is very limited due my short time in the country, I am under the impression that French has been mortality wounded in Rwanda, at least in the public sphere. There were quite a few French TV channels, so someone must be understanding it, although I didn’t meet them.

Funny fact: while I was unable to have a real French conversation in Rwanda, I had plenty of Mandarin conversations. In fact, I stayed in a Chinese-owned hotel right in the center of Kigali, and the young Chinese owner was at the front desk greeting his guests in Mandarin and English (no French spoken). The business district of Kigali appears to be home to a significant Chinese community, and I saw many Chinese companies working on infrastructure projects in and around the city. I even saw local grocery products being labeled in Chinese language. It almost seems like Chinese is filling the gap left by French’s post-genocide demise.

In Ethiopia, as soon as we stepped out of the airport in Addis Ababa, we felt a real shock. It almost felt like another continent all together. Compared with East Africa, where English can be found virtually everywhere, even in remote villages, Ethiopia really something else. It seemed like Amharic language and culture were taking all the place, in a very confident and self sufficient way. In many coffee places in the capital, English was barely spoken and people didn’t seem to be bothered at all. Many locals were talking to us in Amharic and seemed genuinely surprised when we didn’t understand them. For a language learner, I am sure Ethiopia is a dream place to do an immersion. We managed to make ourselves understood anyway and had some of the best coffee.

—-

I was planning to focus on Korean during the trip, but my plan fell apart pretty fast. African buses do not provide the kind of environment conducive to shadowing recordings, even with good earphones. Not everything was lost though: I found an secondhand paperback spy novel in Portuguese in an hotel’s lobby. The book is called A Rapariga Inglesa. At about 530 pages, it was the perfect time-killer and quite a page-turner. It was also my first fiction work in Portuguese.
9 x

Purangi
Orange Belt
Posts: 138
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:57 pm
Languages: French, English, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish
x 635

Re: Purangi's Log

Postby Purangi » Mon Oct 28, 2019 7:12 am

Portuguese:

- I finished reading two books in Portuguese, both from French-Colombian ex-politician turned author Íngrid Betancourt. Não há silêncio que não termine is the story of her captivity at the hands of her FARC kidnappers in the jungle of Colombia. I loved it, her description of how she was kept prisoner for 6 years is vivid and quite horrifying, I must say. A Linha Azul is a fiction book, nothing exceptional. Total for both books is around 850 pages.

- I saw two comedy movies from Brazil, with English subtitles. I knew nothing about Brazilian cinema before seeing those, so it was nice to discover something new, in addition to some listening practice.

- I did listen to a few podcasts and YouTubers from Brazil, but nothing intensive or sustained. I have a really loose approach to Portuguese right now and it feels great to have no objective, but to just enjoy the ride.

Korean:

- Most of my time and efforts have been focused on Korean. I keep working with Glossika Korean. I am now at sentences #800. Progress has been slower than expected at first. It makes sense, as the first couple of hundreds of sentences were basically a review for me. From sentence #300, things started getting a bit more complicated. I am overall satisfied with Glossika, both in terms of speed/voice quality and content. There are some funny mistranslations, though, but I guess that’s to be expected with Glossika. Sentences can be a bit repetitive at times, but I take it as a kind of drill.

- On the grammar side, I finished Level 4 from TTMIK. I have only good things to say about the TTMIK team and their lessons. I really wish that a similar product could exist for every other languages, as it would make learning languages so much easier. To complement Glossika, I am also using Weekly Vocabulary and Everyday Conversation materials from TTMIK.

- I think I am making progress, although it is difficult to assess this. I started to realize just how much I had improved when I listened to Hotel del Luna. I was surprised by how much I could understand. If previously I was only able to get one or two words here and there, now I can catch entire sentences, from start to finish. I was even able to compare the subtitles with the spoken Korean, seeing how it was slightly different at times. Another sign of improvement is that I was able to hear the sounds of the language without necessarily understanding what was being said. Long monologues are still tough to crack however.

- Today I did my first TTMIK Iyagi Lesson, about travelling. It was challenging – a tons of new voc, not so much grammar – but incredibly rewarding. At about 9 minute long, it is long enough to provide a lot of content, but short enough to make it easy to review and read/listen to it again and again until I can reach a level I am comfortable with.

- I will keep basically the same strategy for the time being. A close acquaintance of mine –a native Korean speaker – may come to visit us next month. I really want to seize this opportunity to use my Korean, so I need to up my game before D-Day.
3 x

Purangi
Orange Belt
Posts: 138
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:57 pm
Languages: French, English, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish
x 635

Re: Purangi's Log

Postby Purangi » Fri Nov 15, 2019 3:27 pm

Only 10 weeks until I fly to Seoul, and I have reached a comfortable pace in Korean to ensure sustainable progress until then, without burning myself out, although that remains a risk. But some issues with material will mean I need to readjust my approach.

I continue using a number of materials, mostly from TTMIK. I finished Level 6 of TTMIK grammar lessons. I do feel that I got most the major grammar points covered now, and from what I saw, Levels 7, 8 and 9 are more focused on less-used points and idiomatic expressions.

I have started doing about 2 Iyagi lessons every week, which I then listen a few times over the week. I feel like this could really improve my listening skills. I also have to get use to the way Koreans discuss and express their ideas.

Writing-wise, I started sending text messages in Korean, using some of the more complicated grammar constructions I learned on TTMIK.

I continued to work through the TTMIK Weekly Vocabulary. I am at word number 20 as of now. You can access the transcripts here. Again, speed if more adapted to my level, at least compared to Glossika, and content is more suitable for beginners.

I finished the 40 lessons of Real-Life Conversations (Beginner) and I will start to Real-Life Conversations (Intermediate), for another 40 lessons soon. The speed and content (to some extent) if more relevant than Glossika, at least for me.

I tried reading a bilingual Korean/Russian text from Global Voice. I had no major difficulty working through the grammar, but the lack of vocabulary is still painful. The whole experience of reading the text was not exactly fun, so I think I will wait a bit more before trying again. Interestingly, I have very few problems reading an Iyagi lesson, which makes sense as I focus most of my efforts on spoken language. I really need to increase my vocabulary in the written language field.

I started making physical vocabulary flashcards again. The last time I used flashcards was when I was studying traditional characters. I actively avoided flashcards when studying Spanish, Haitian Creole and Portuguese, and instead relied on intensive and extensive reading. Reading is not possible right now in Korean, so flashcards are the only way I can reinforce vocabulary. I downloaded a 6,000-word list from TOPIK, and I cross every word I already know and when I create a new card to measure my progress.

I took two vocabulary tests for Korean. I have no idea how accurate they are, but the numbers given seem to fit with my current level, i.e. not very high. The first one is available hereand gave me 1480 words.

Group A: 573 words = 58% of sample * 982 total words
Group B: 513 words = 24% of sample * 2111 total words
Group C: 394 words = 14% of sample * 2872 total words

The second test is available here gave me approximately 1100 words, which corresponds with level A1 of the CEFR.

I watched the entire 20 hours of a drama called Fiery Priest. Wow, my hard-won confidence really took a hit. Compared to romantic drama such as Hotel Del Luna, comedy is so much harder. I talked about it with a native speaker and realized that many of the jokes, if not most, come from the actors using dialect, wrong/exaggerated pronunciation, popular buzz words/expressions, etc. more than about the actual situation being funny, which explains why I was confused most of the time. I did start to pick up more by the end of it, but far, far less than Hotel Del Luna.

I completed the first 1000 sentences in Glossika Korean. I am thinking about putting it on hold for now. The pronunciation is just too fast, and I end up not shadowing, but just mumbling a half-coherent sentence. I feel it might actually hurt me in the short time. I might just use it as a listening resources, but even then, Iyagi are much more useful.

I found the following news podcast (transcript!) here which I might use once I reach a sweet spot with my vocabulary.

I feel that I making progress and that is a pretty good feeling. Of course, I am very far from having an actual spoken conversation in Korean and reading a book seems like fantasy right now, but I will get there. Just like with previous languages before, I realize now more than ever that when time is invested efficiently, one is bound to make progress regardless of the language’s inherent difficulty.
3 x

Purangi
Orange Belt
Posts: 138
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:57 pm
Languages: French, English, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish
x 635

Re: Purangi's Log

Postby Purangi » Tue Nov 26, 2019 2:52 am

He tomado la decisión de escribir mi log solamente y completamente en español, desde hoy y hasta que me aburra o que me queda sin motivación para hacerlo. La razón es que creo que en un futuro no tan lejos, voy a tener que hablar mucho más y quizás también trabajar en castellano. La lengua española es une ventaja muy importante cuando se trata de buscar trabajo en Canadá, mucho más que el Ruso, a decir verdad. El problema es que aquí dónde vivo prácticamente no tengo ningún amigo con quien podría platicar en español. Si hay gente de América Latina y de España pero si ellos vivan y trabajan aquí seguramente hablan muy bien Inglés o Chino. Por eso si realmente quiero mejorar mi español, escribir es no sola une buena manera, también es la única. Estoy seguro que si escribo aquí sobre mi estudios o mi vida en general, mi español va mejorarse, aún solo un pocito. Tengo que aprovechar todas las oportunidades para hacerlo. A ver.

En mis estudios de coreano, finalmente he terminado el nivel 7 de las lecciones de TTMIK. También he estudiado mucho más lecciones de Iyagi que había previsto aquí unas semanas antes. También completamente deje de usar Glossika: puedo decir que no creo que es mucho útil ahora y rápidamente perdí mi interés para este recurso. Es mucho mejor trabajar con verdaderos textos que con simples frases en aislamiento y sin contexto. Me di cuenta que Weekly Vocab (también de TTMIK) es mucho, mucho más eficaz.

Hace una semana que he empezado a hacer mis propias cartas de vocabulario para ayudar me en memorizar novas palabras en coreano. Cartas de puro papel, como yo lo hacía hace 10 años, si señor! Debo tener alrededor de 500 cartas ahora, más o menos. Es un buen comienzo.

He leído mucho en mandarino toda la semana pasada sobre las elecciones en Hong Kong. También sigo algunas activistas en HK y en Canadá que escriben solamente en cantonesa. Debo decir que no entiendo mucho lo que escriben, aunque la gran mayoridad de los caracteres son exactamente los mismos. También he visto videos en YouTube en cantonesa de HK, pero no entiendo nada de nada. Ni una palabra. Y decir que todavía hay gente aquí en China y allí en HK que muy seriamente afirman que no hay une lengua cantonesa, sólo una gran lengua china y algunos dialectos. Que broma!

Si quieren saber más sobre la lengua cantonesa y su futuro en HK y en China, les recomiendo ese blog: Is Cantonese a language, or a personification of the devil?

He comprado billetes por un viaje al Asia Central en seis meses. Naturalmente, he tenido que contenerme para no desviarme de mis objetivos, aunque debo decir que el uzbeko o el tayiko parecen tanto interesantes. En todo caso va a ser una buena oportunidad para revisar en profundidad mi ruso.

He visto algunos videos en YouTube sobre Belarús y también me gustaría tanto saber más sobre esa lengua. Según lo que me ha dicho mi profesor de ruso cuando estaba universitario, el Belarúso tiene una peculiaridad fonética muy interesante que no exista en otras lenguas eslavas: una consonante parecida a un silbido. Es realmente algo sorprendente. Traté de encontrar un ejemplo en YouTube pero sin éxito. Pueden escuchar aquí cómo suene esa lengua.



Voy a viajar a Vietnam el mes que viene, en la maravillosa y muy turística ciudad de Danang. Según lo que me han dicho amigos, Danang es una ciudad muy popular mientras turistas coreanos, y la gente allí muy frecuentemente habla coreano. Espero que podré aprovechar ese viaje para platicar un poco, si no con coreanos, al menos con Vietnamitas en coreano.

Hay rumores en mi departamento de trabajo que la dirección va a reorganizar nuestra organización y nos repartir en nuevos equipos. En otras palabras, es decir que van darnos más trabajo a hacer en menos tiempo, por el mismo salario. No tendré tanto tiempo para estudiar idiomas como ahora.
4 x

Purangi
Orange Belt
Posts: 138
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:57 pm
Languages: French, English, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish
x 635

Re: Purangi's Log

Postby Purangi » Fri Nov 29, 2019 6:20 am

Hay tantas cosas horribles que están sucediendo aquí en los últimos tiempos, pero no debemos olvidar que detrás de todo gobierno dictatorial existe un pueblo que no quiere más que vivir en paz y cantar.

Les presento la canción 모두다 갔다 Todos se fueron de 최승화 Choi Seunghwa, un cantante de trot de 延边朝鲜族自治州.

아내도 갔다 남편도 갔다 La esposa se fue, el marido se fue
삼촌도 갔다 모두다 갔다 El tío se fue, todos se fueron
한국에 갔다 일본에 갔다 Se fueron a Corea, se fueron a Japón
미국에 갔다 로씨아로 갔다 Se fueron a América, se fueron a Rusia

잘 살아 보겠다고 모두다 갔다 Todos se fueron para vivir bien
눈물로 해어져서 모두다 갔다 Rompí en llanto y todos se fueron
산다는 게 뭐이길래 산산이 부서져 ¿Cómo vivir así, rotos en pedazos?
그리움에 지쳐가며 살아야 하나? ¿Vamos a vivir así, cansados de anhelo?

오붓하게 모여 살 날 ¿Cuándo vendrá el día
그 언제면 올까? En que podremos vivir juntos cómodamente?
손꼽아 기대려 본다네~ Lo espero con ansias

1 x

Purangi
Orange Belt
Posts: 138
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:57 pm
Languages: French, English, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish
x 635

Re: Purangi's Log

Postby Purangi » Wed Dec 04, 2019 6:08 am

Todavía hay 9 semanas hasta mi viaje a Corea. Es muy poco. Tengo la impresión que el tiempo se va corriendo muy rápido, mientras yo y mis estudios avanzamos muy despacio atrás, pero avanzamos de todos modos.

También constaté que va ser muy difícil realizar mis planes originales: tendrá que revisar un poco mis ambiciones, deberé estar más realista. En particular, ahora tengo demasiadas cartas de vocabulario y poco tempo para revisarlas. Hay alrededor de 1300 cartas ahora. Pienso que más o menos 300 están realmente problemáticas, las otras son más o menos fáciles.

Lo mismo es verdad para los audios: no hay tiempo para escuchar suficientes veces por realmente asimilar lo que he estudiado anteriormente. Por eso he tomado la decisión de dividir mí tiempo en dos partes. Voy a continuar a estudiar normalmente hasta la final de este mes, es decir atacar nuevos materiales y lecciones, y también acabar el nivel 9 de TTMIK y escuchar cinco o quizás más lecciones de Iyagi. El mes siguiente, sin embargo, voy a dedicarlo solamente a la revisión de mis cartas, audios, notas gramaticales y textos. Creo que así va a ser mucho más efectivo para preparar el viaje.

En general, estoy muy contento de mi progreso hasta ahora, aunque sabe que hay mucho, mucho más en frente de mí. Después de haber comprado los billetes, he estado como si estuviera corriendo un sprint, pero sabe perfectamente que, en realidad, estoy en un maratón. Pero lo bueno esta que más aprendo coreano, más me gusta utilizarlo.

Algo muy interesante se me ocurrió el día anterior: estaba escuchando un programa de televisión en coreano y súbitamente constaté que estaba reconociendo palabras de mis cartas o de mis lecciones de TTMIK. Creo que es un súper buen signo: aprender palabras o reglas de gramática en la mañana y entenderlas y reconocerlas en la televisión por la tarde.

Descubrí a una chica de Corea del Norte (claro que ahora viva en el Sur hace unos años) que hace videos en YouTube sobre sus vivencias pasadas y sus nuevas experiencias después de haber huido de su país. Es muy divertido y estimulante de ver videos no solamente sobre Corea del Norte, pero también hoches por Coreanos del Norte.



Las noticias de los últimos tiempos han sido muy angustiosas para todos. Gasto mucho tiempo en leer los últimos acontecimientos, comentarios de todas partes, inclusivo más recientemente en Wenlou. Es algo de leer sobre esas cosas del extranjero, es otro de vivir en la boca del lobo, por decir así. Tengo cada día un sentimiento de impotencia más profundo en relación a lo que pasa aquí. Queremos irnos pero no es tan fácil. Lo peor quizás es que cada día es más difícil conectarse a Internet, así que a veces tenemos una sensación de estar solos en el mundo, es decir muy vulnerables. Los idiomas son realmente mi hogar en eses tiempos turbulentos, y cada día ellos me dan mucho placer y tranquilidad.

La cancion está aquí

왔소, 왔소, 내가 왔소Estoy de vuelta
꿈을 안고 내가 왔소Estoy de vuelta con mi sueño
왔소, 왔소, 모두 다 왔소Están de vuelta, todos están de vuelta
그리운 사람 모두 다 왔소 Todos los que me faltaban están de vuelta
잘 살아 보겠다고 떠났던 내가Todos los que me dejaron para tratar de vivir mejor
이제 성야 돌아왔소Todos están de vuelta ahora.
자식 외에 가정 외에 Para sus niños, para su casa
맘 고생 뭄 고생 많았지만Sufrieron mucho en su alma y en su cuerpo
온집신구 단란히 모여앉으니Toda la familia esta finalmente reunida
마음만은 즐겁구려 Mi corazón es feliz
이제는여 그리은 고생 하지 말고서 Ahora, basta de estos sufrimientos del pasado
오붓하게 잘 살아보자구려Vamos a vivir bien juntos
3 x

Purangi
Orange Belt
Posts: 138
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:57 pm
Languages: French, English, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish
x 635

Re: Purangi's Log

Postby Purangi » Mon Dec 16, 2019 12:02 pm

¡Qué lata! Rompí mi pie izquierdo unos días antes. No es muy grave, que es sólo una fractura de estrés, o como sea que se dice en Español, pero es una verdadera lata. La verdad es que la culpa es mía: he andando muchísimo durante el mes pasado: más de 20 000 pasos cada día. Como también he comprado nuevos zapatillas de correr, que son demasiado pequeñas para mi, sólo puedo echar la culpa a mí por no haber realizado que ese tipo de ejercicio intensivo con nuevas zapatillas seria fatal para mis pies. Lo peor es que no es mi primera fractura de estrés ese año: me rompí la pierna el verano después de haber corrido demasiado y también con zapatillas de mala calidad. No hay remedio en este caso: sólo debo parar de andar demasiado - y eso va a limitar el tiempo que tengo para estudiar.

Mi último de estudio activo del coreano, si puedo decir así, me va muy bien. Ahora tengo alrededor de 2000 cartas de vocabulario. Pero la mayoridad de las cartas tiene más de una palabra, según mi técnica que consiste en aprender palabras por la raíz. Por ejemplo, las palabras 회사, 회사원, 회식 y 회장 están en la misma y única carta, porque todas tienen en común la misma raíz. Es decir que he encontrado algo de 3000-3500 palabras en las últimas semanas. Ahora, uso un sistema muy sencillo pero muy eficaz para revisar las palabras. Las he dividido en tres categorías: las cartas muy difíciles que todavía no me entran en la cabeza, las palabras que puedo entender cuando las leo o escucho, pero que no puedo recordar automáticamente, y las palabras que entiendo y que puedo recordar a partir del coreano cómo del francés/inglés. Sólo en la última categoría las cartas están al reverse (francés->coreano). Mi objetivo al fin del mes que viene es que la mayoridad de las cartas estén en esa última categoría. ¡Si puedo alcanzar 80% de las cartas, voy a estar súper satisfecho!

He acabado todas las lecciones de TTMIK por un gran total de nueve niveles, 270 lecciones y algo de 75 horas de estudio. Dicen que todavía hay un nivel 10, pero no lo he encontrado en Internet y a decir verdad no creo que va a ser muy útil para mí ahora. Los últimos niveles (8-9) han estado mucho menos interesantes, a excepción de algunas lecciones de gramática. Las lecciones de vocabulario son buenas, pero puedo buscar y estudiar palabras independientemente en podcasts y serias. Sin embargo, recomiendo sin duda alguna ese curso para los que quisieran aprender el coreano.

Acabo de terminar una lección de Iyagi y lo que me reconforta mucho es cuando veo que se ha mejorado mucho mi comprensión. Primero, necesito mucho menos tiempo y esfuerzos para leer, escuchar y entender una lyagi ahora. Segundo, según mis cálculos, entiendo algo como 90 por ciento del texto escrito. (El audio es otra cosa...) Sólo 10 por ciento de las palabras me están incomprensibles, y eso incluye verbos que teóricamente he aprendido, pero no en la forma o la manera en que están utilizados en el dicho texto. No me equivoco si digo que dos meses antes, la proporción fue de 50-50%. ¡La sensación que estoy avanzado poco a poco es bien padre!

De aquí, voy a escuchar y repasar algunas lecciones de Iyagi antes que el mes se acaba. También he preparado una entrevista en la radio coreana de 23 minutos. Fui muy difícil pero aprendí muchas, muchas palabras y fórmulas de cortesía que se usan en los medios. Obviamente hay una diferencia bastante grande entre los lecciones de TTMIK para los extranjeros y los recursos para los Coreanos.

Casi cada día en la tarde escucho unas programas de TV realidad en coreano como 아내의맛 o 新西游记. Ese tipo de programas es infinitamente más difícil que las series románticas. Aunque todavía no entiendo la mayor parte, puedo sentir que mi comprensión se ha mejorado mucho en las últimas semanas. Continuo a leer los subtítulos en mandarín, pero creo que va a ser possible escuchar directamente, sin subtítulos, las programas coreanas en un futuro próximo.

Lo más rápido voy a concentrarme en libros y emisiones para nativos, lo más rápido voy a aprender la lengua. No es la ruta más fácil, ¡pero es la que debo tomar!

Fuimos a un concierto de opera en el centro de la ciudad el otro día y me quedé otra vez asombrado escuchar la belleza de la lengua de Dante. Y por eso he tenido las ganas de explorar el italiano - de una manera muy lenta y sin ninguna presión. Mi prioridad seguirá siendo el coreano. Pero también tengo mi pequeña ambición: quisiera leer la totalidad de la obra de Malaparte en su versión original. No sé si va a ser possible, pero vale la pena probar hacerlo. Ya he empezado a escuchar el podcast Coffee Break Italian y también el curso italiano de Language Transfer. ¡A ver!
5 x

Purangi
Orange Belt
Posts: 138
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 7:57 pm
Languages: French, English, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish
x 635

Re: Purangi's Log

Postby Purangi » Thu Dec 26, 2019 1:51 am

Para mi, lo más difícil cuando estudio cualquier idioma es evaluar si realmente me estoy mejorando y estoy haciendo progresos, o si al contrario estoy en un situación de estancamiento.

Algunos días antes, tomé de nuevo Glossika en coreano para comprobar exactamente esto. La última vez que lo usé, la voz estaba tan rápida y poco clara que finalmente había dejado Glossika para recurrir a otros recursos más adaptados a mi nivel. Esta vez fui muy diferente: no sólo pude entender muy bien la voz de la chica, aún reconocí casi todas las palabras! Así que sólo necesite 3 días para escuchar y revisar las frases de la 1001 a la 2000 (las primeras mil frases me han tomado 2-3 semanas). ¡Que diferencia y que satisfacción saber que sí he hecho progresos!, aunque todavía estoy muy lejos de mi objetivo.

Mañana me voy para el Vietnam y quedaré allí unos días para celebrar el Nuevo Año. Al volver a casa empezaré la última parte de mi “maratón” coreano: un mes completo y sin interrupción de revisión de lo que he aprendido en las ultimas semanas. Precisamente, voy a revisar esto:

- 2232 cartas de vocabulario con 3166 palabras.
- Los primeros 2000 frases de Glossika Korean en audio. 3 horas.
- 3 horas de ‘palabras del día’ de TTMIK en audio.
- 7 páginas de ejemplos de gramática con frases y explicaciones.
- La totalidad de Easy Korean Conversations (27 minutos).
- Las primeras 15 lecciones de Intermediate Korean Conversations (30 minutos).
- 16 podcasts por un total de 2.1 horas.

Voy a escuchar, leer y revisar todo eso cada día hasta el 27 de Janeiro, cuando partiré por Seúl. A decir verdad, creo que lo mas difícil non va a ser asimilar todo eso, pero va a ser controlarme para no emprender otras lenguas durante un mes completo...

Terminé el curso Introducción al italiano de Language Transfer y algunas lecciones de Assimil italiano (en francés). Me gusta mucho ese idioma pero no tengo ninguna necesidad de estudiarlo ahora, sino para leer literatura y escuchar radio. Voy a ver.

¡Feliz Navidad y Feliz Año Nuevo a todos!
¡Salud, prosperidad y libertad!
2 x


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests