Re: Wanderlust
Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 4:46 pm
Hala Madrid! Haha.
Infelizmente o Real deixou muito a desejar nesta temporada. Eu também gosto do Bayern Munich que ficou devendo também...
Tanto o Real quanto o Bayern precisam de renovação. Apesar disso, esta edição da Champions League foi uma das melhores desde que eu comecei a acompanhar em 1999/2000.
Obrigado pelos sites! Eu já os salvei no meu navegador.
On 2019 365 Day Language Challenge: Generic group
If there was something I have been consistent with, it is TAC. I have NOT missed any day so far. Yay!
Group 1:
1. English 2. Español
Achievement list
◎ Recently I have had more time for language exchanges in real life. I could use English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, German, French, Armenian and practice a bit of Mongolian. If I had more time, I could start having more German language exchanges as well.
☯ I have purchased some books for TOEIC, but I’m willing to sit for 英検1級 and either TOEFL or IELTS. There are some other tests on my radar, but I’d rather focusing in one or two tests per language.
I'm not in a hurry for my specific preparation. I don't even know if my working schedule will allow me to take proficiency exams as I need to discuss with my superiors in advance. It is a pity that in the past 3 to 4 years I haven't used any foreign languages at all. I still feel my English is really rusty nowadays.
Therefore, from time to time, I take a look at my bookshelves:
English vocabulary in use - Upper intermediate
English vocabulary in use - Advanced
Business vocabulary in use - Intermediate
Business vocabulary in use - Advanced
English pronunciation in use - Intermediate
English pronunciation in use - Advanced
English collocations in use - Intermediate
English collocations in use - Advanced
English phrasal verbs in use - Intermediate
English phrasal verbs in use - Advanced
English idioms in use - Intermediate
English idioms in use - Advanced
Advanced grammar in use - Advanced
I also found Michael Swan's Guide very useful to check some specific points. Sometimes I pick up Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, depending on my mood.
I just keep reading fiction books and watching some sitcoms.
Achievement list
I have had language exchanges with native speakers from Peru, Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Uruguay and Chile.
Biggest hurdles so far:
△ Modismos de diferentes países.
Idioms in Spanish have been a headache for me. I have to learn one by one each of them. I guess, the situation is no different for native speakers from other countries. Some of the idioms I heard when speaking to Mexicans, the Spanish people, Peruvians and Argentinians couldn’t understand at all.
Biggest triumphs so far
◎ I have been curious about the Spanish spoken in other countries and I managed to talk with Peruvians, Argentinians, Chileans and Uruguayans. My goal is to have connections with native speakers from other Spanish speaking countries.
◎ I have been listening to Spanish songs from different countries, too.
◎ I talked to Japanese people who studied Spanish literature and linguistics in Japan and who have just come back from Spain or other Spanish speaking countries. We have also commented on SIELE and DELE. One of the Japanese guys told me that he holds B2 (CEFR) in both SIELE and DELE.
When a native speaker from Spain talked to us, she asked me why I am learning Spanish. I said one of the reasons is because I wanted to sit for DELE in the future. Obviously this is just one of the reasons, but I just have stated the first thing that came to my mind. She suddenly asked me: "do you think you can pass C1?" in a very arrogant tone, as if I were not capable of. I didn't like the way she said that to me. She didn't know anything about me and it came out of blue.
I haven't even stated that I was going to start with C1. I could start with B2, for instance. That said, honestly I feel very comfortable and confident with my current Spanish skills, a very closely related language to Portuguese. I am reading native stuff including books, which I also used to do when I was at the university. I have practiced Spanish almost every day (speaking and writing) with native speakers in the past 4 months. The errors I got were becoming less and less frequent and more on nuances, rather than real grammatical mistakes.
I could have simply said: "well, even if you pass N1(JLPT), I'd say that your speaking skills is unfortunately at A2/B1". I am aware of CEFR and I could clearly make her uncomfortable by stating what B1 and B2 level topics she can't clearly speak in Japanese (yet). But, no, I am not such a jerk.
Similarly and funnily, in another place, I was asked "do you think you can pass C1 in English?" in a very negative tone. This person clearly didn't believe in my skills. He accused me of being a liar or crazy. I ignored him, but I could have said: well, next time I will show you my 8.0 on IELTS, 110/120 (TOEFL ibt) and that I also hold B2 and C1 (CEFR) in other English exams accredited in English speaking countries: "Have you ever heard of FCE and CAE?". I don't know why, but here in Japan, it seems that sometimes you are an alien if you do speak 2 languages. And if you speak more than 3 languages (by speaking, I mean, at least B2), you come from another dimension or universe.
The thing is, past is past. I have not maintained none of those languages for a couple of years. Since my skills are rusty, some people will give me very negative feedback anyway.
Unfortunately my certificates are older than 2 years, so, I need to re-take all those exams in the future.
Group 2: 3. 中文 4. 한국어/韓國語 5. Deutsch 6. русский язык
Achievement list.
◎
Biggest hurdles so far:
△ None so far.
Biggest triumphs so far:
◎ I found a Korean native speaker who is teaching Korean as a volunteer. We go to a cafe and start speaking in Korean. I really liked her first informal lesson because she can speak Japanese fluently. When I didn’t know the words or the grammar accurately, she could easily mention the Japanese equivalent.
Learning Korean through Japanese is way easier and faster than using any other language. Moreover, if you know Chinese you can grasp the Sino-Korean words as well.
I told her about my current level for every single ability. She brought me a difficult task to get out of my comfort zone. I’m studying with a German girl who is married to a Korean man, so I have to study hard to be able to take this informal lesson. It is arguably cheap and better than taking Italki or any other lessons in an online platform. The place is about 6-7 by train. If I consider the train fees, yes, it might be almost the same as Italki, but interacting with expats or immigrants will open more doors for new friendship and connections with other Koreans living in Japan. In addition, the Korean volunteer, she is a very well educated person. I also learned from the questions asked by the German woman.
Speaking of German, I talked to that German woman after the lesson for one hour. For free. Haha. I should have bought her a coffee or tea or something else...My German got rusty over the years, but I still managed to communicate around B1 level? She speaks with Southern German accent, which I am familiar with. So, actually, my exchange ended up being Korean and German! Haha.
I also found some partners for Chinese-Japanese or Chinese-English exchanges. I have been practicing with native speakers and I think I am learning new idioms, casual expressions not taught in textbooks.
All in all, I can say that I’m doing well on Chinese, Korean and German.
Regarding Russian...
Achievement list.
◎ None.
Biggest hurdles so far:
△ Vocabulary.
I’m not sure why but Russian is the language that requires more time for me to memorize words. Even Armenian and Mongolian words stick to my brain, but Russian…oh, well.
Biggest triumphs so far.
◎ Despite improving very slowly, my motivation is still the same. I love Russian language.
◎I am planning a trip to visit friends in either Moscow or Saint Petersburg by October or November this year, depending my friends' schedule. Therefore, I got some time to prepare myself and add an extra motivation to push myself to B1+ level until then.
Group 3: 7. հայերեն 8. ქართული ენა 9. монгол хэл
Although I have had lot of progress in Armenian and Mongolian, I honestly neglected a bit my Georgian studies. Not because I was lazy, but because I changed jobs and due to the rehabilitation that has been consuming much more time than I expected (3-4 hours every day).
There were days I counted (just as a matter of curiosity) and in one day I take notes on more than 100 new words in Armenian!
As for the hurdles, I suppose I need to get used to the voiceless consonants spoken by most Western Armenian speakers, because my resources are supposedly from Eastern Armenian. Other minor problems have been the vocabulary differences, but this is pretty normal at this stage where I am still a beginner.
Georgian is another beautiful language. People reacted also reacted in a negative way when they discovered that I study Armenian and Georgian: "WHAAAAAT? Georgia? In the US? I didn't know there is an indigenous language in Georgia". Well, people want to make fun of me, bully me, but sometimes it is better to be quiet than showing their ignorance. I also laughed at them and ignored such comments. I think it is an insult to language enthusiasts like all of us here on this forum. Poor them. Someone also looked from my back? "Why are you learning Russian?" Well, despite that being true, my material was clearly written in Mongolian...or is there another Ulaanbaatar in Russia? Ignorant people will remain ignorant, no matter what you say. Therefore, I took a more wise decision. I ignored them. I can't discuss with people who don't show respect, in first place.
My Mongolian language exchange partner (real life) had to go back to Mongolia and deleted her Line. It was the only way I had to communicate with her. I wish her the best and I wanted to say thanks for all explanations and feedback I received in Japanese. That said, I still have another friend who lives in another province. She is also from Ulaanbaatar and can help me from time to time. I will improve more my Mongolian skills to talk to her in Mongolian one day. She didn't believe that I was serious when I said I will learn her language.
In 2020 I was planning to visit Mongolia, but there are other strong candidates: Mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, Russia and all other "Russian speaking countries or regions" such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan etc.
Since 2000 or before I have been reading about Mongolia. I don't know why I haven't picked up this language before. Group 3, despite being the one that I dedicate fewer time, it is the one I really enjoy at most perhaps.
Group 4: 10. Français and 11. ئۇيغۇرچە 12 ལྷ་སའི་སྐད་ 13 Bahasa Indonesia
Biggest triumphs so far:
◎ Well, for the 1001th time in my life, I think I will try to restart with French again. I clearly don't like how it sounds, but...oh, well. I could easily read and understand 90% of the texts without a dictionary. So, the key point is to be consistent. I guess, there are lot of things stuff originally written in French. I don't like to rely in translations, so I got no choice. Maybe French will be like Galician for me. I might use this language only for passive skills...
If after one month I feel like giving up on French again, then, I will replace with either Hindi or Nepali. I got some Hindi and Nepali's resources on my bookshelves... My mom sent me this week a dictionary of Tagalog. I looked at the cover page so many times...whaaaat? Tagalog? Not that I am complaining. On the contrary, I am glad she did so. But, I was a bit surprised.
As for the second language, I believe both Chung and vonPeterhof have studied them to some extent. Maybe Expug also studied Uyghur? If I am not wrong, they took part in the Turkic language challenge in the old HTLAL.
I want study Uyghur for many reasons. One of them is obviously my interests in their culture and especially food. Here in Japan, I met Uyghur restaurants cooked by Uyghur people. Apparently the recipe is the same as from their local food, but I cannot say about the taste. Of course, I believe they adapt to the Japanese people's taste. However, when I go there, I ask them to cook like in Uyghur or the way they eat traditionally.
I talked to them in both Mandarin and Japanese and I have asked some questions regarding their culture. There are flights from Japan to Xinjiang region as well.
I think it will be challenging to study Uyghur due to the scarcity of good, reliable and updated resources. I have been to Turkey before and Uyghur reminds me both Turkish culture and language in some ways. Yes, they are different, I know.
Tibetan is also another language that I wanted to study. Not the Modern Tibetan only, but Classical Tibetan actually. Both Uyghur and Tibetan will be challenging because as of May 17th, they are not even available on Google Translator yet.
Speaking of Google Translator, I remember that when I was actively studying Burmese, there were no options for that language either. They also have Lithuanian and Latvian these days.
I got some ideas on how to learn both, but I want to see whether I will struggle more than Armenian, Georgian and Mongolian. The thing is, I should reach a solid A2. From there, many doors will open...
At last, it comes Bahasa Indonesia. Yay! Now it is official. I was supposed to start Indonesian together with "Group 3". Maybe in my next post I will change its status and put it back to the original group.
Galician
I keep reading and listening in Galician.
Rollercoaster
My life has been a turmoil in the past few years. As of 2019, I have been mostly dedicating my time at the rehabilitation and little by little, I am gaining some confidence to use the lower body more properly again. On Monday I have jogged for the first time and I felt good during the first 25 minutes. However, I started to feel the pain again on both knees. I also started jumping sessions and training, but I still fell uncomfortable.
My left knee, elbow and shoulder's ligaments, when will they fully recover?! I will never know the answer, but at least, for ONE day in such a long time, I could run, despite not feeling that my lower body works naturally anymore. I decided to accept that I will feel pain forever and just focus on languages. At least, when I am having fun with Uyghur songs and food, I feel I am blessed.
For instance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGVI5XMuplQ
So sleepy during this whole, long and confused post.
Infelizmente o Real deixou muito a desejar nesta temporada. Eu também gosto do Bayern Munich que ficou devendo também...
Tanto o Real quanto o Bayern precisam de renovação. Apesar disso, esta edição da Champions League foi uma das melhores desde que eu comecei a acompanhar em 1999/2000.
Obrigado pelos sites! Eu já os salvei no meu navegador.
On 2019 365 Day Language Challenge: Generic group
If there was something I have been consistent with, it is TAC. I have NOT missed any day so far. Yay!
Group 1:
1. English 2. Español
Achievement list
◎ Recently I have had more time for language exchanges in real life. I could use English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, German, French, Armenian and practice a bit of Mongolian. If I had more time, I could start having more German language exchanges as well.
☯ I have purchased some books for TOEIC, but I’m willing to sit for 英検1級 and either TOEFL or IELTS. There are some other tests on my radar, but I’d rather focusing in one or two tests per language.
I'm not in a hurry for my specific preparation. I don't even know if my working schedule will allow me to take proficiency exams as I need to discuss with my superiors in advance. It is a pity that in the past 3 to 4 years I haven't used any foreign languages at all. I still feel my English is really rusty nowadays.
Therefore, from time to time, I take a look at my bookshelves:
English vocabulary in use - Upper intermediate
English vocabulary in use - Advanced
Business vocabulary in use - Intermediate
Business vocabulary in use - Advanced
English pronunciation in use - Intermediate
English pronunciation in use - Advanced
English collocations in use - Intermediate
English collocations in use - Advanced
English phrasal verbs in use - Intermediate
English phrasal verbs in use - Advanced
English idioms in use - Intermediate
English idioms in use - Advanced
Advanced grammar in use - Advanced
I also found Michael Swan's Guide very useful to check some specific points. Sometimes I pick up Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, depending on my mood.
I just keep reading fiction books and watching some sitcoms.
Achievement list
I have had language exchanges with native speakers from Peru, Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Uruguay and Chile.
Biggest hurdles so far:
△ Modismos de diferentes países.
Idioms in Spanish have been a headache for me. I have to learn one by one each of them. I guess, the situation is no different for native speakers from other countries. Some of the idioms I heard when speaking to Mexicans, the Spanish people, Peruvians and Argentinians couldn’t understand at all.
Biggest triumphs so far
◎ I have been curious about the Spanish spoken in other countries and I managed to talk with Peruvians, Argentinians, Chileans and Uruguayans. My goal is to have connections with native speakers from other Spanish speaking countries.
◎ I have been listening to Spanish songs from different countries, too.
◎ I talked to Japanese people who studied Spanish literature and linguistics in Japan and who have just come back from Spain or other Spanish speaking countries. We have also commented on SIELE and DELE. One of the Japanese guys told me that he holds B2 (CEFR) in both SIELE and DELE.
When a native speaker from Spain talked to us, she asked me why I am learning Spanish. I said one of the reasons is because I wanted to sit for DELE in the future. Obviously this is just one of the reasons, but I just have stated the first thing that came to my mind. She suddenly asked me: "do you think you can pass C1?" in a very arrogant tone, as if I were not capable of. I didn't like the way she said that to me. She didn't know anything about me and it came out of blue.
I haven't even stated that I was going to start with C1. I could start with B2, for instance. That said, honestly I feel very comfortable and confident with my current Spanish skills, a very closely related language to Portuguese. I am reading native stuff including books, which I also used to do when I was at the university. I have practiced Spanish almost every day (speaking and writing) with native speakers in the past 4 months. The errors I got were becoming less and less frequent and more on nuances, rather than real grammatical mistakes.
I could have simply said: "well, even if you pass N1(JLPT), I'd say that your speaking skills is unfortunately at A2/B1". I am aware of CEFR and I could clearly make her uncomfortable by stating what B1 and B2 level topics she can't clearly speak in Japanese (yet). But, no, I am not such a jerk.
Similarly and funnily, in another place, I was asked "do you think you can pass C1 in English?" in a very negative tone. This person clearly didn't believe in my skills. He accused me of being a liar or crazy. I ignored him, but I could have said: well, next time I will show you my 8.0 on IELTS, 110/120 (TOEFL ibt) and that I also hold B2 and C1 (CEFR) in other English exams accredited in English speaking countries: "Have you ever heard of FCE and CAE?". I don't know why, but here in Japan, it seems that sometimes you are an alien if you do speak 2 languages. And if you speak more than 3 languages (by speaking, I mean, at least B2), you come from another dimension or universe.
The thing is, past is past. I have not maintained none of those languages for a couple of years. Since my skills are rusty, some people will give me very negative feedback anyway.
Unfortunately my certificates are older than 2 years, so, I need to re-take all those exams in the future.
Group 2: 3. 中文 4. 한국어/韓國語 5. Deutsch 6. русский язык
Achievement list.
◎
Biggest hurdles so far:
△ None so far.
Biggest triumphs so far:
◎ I found a Korean native speaker who is teaching Korean as a volunteer. We go to a cafe and start speaking in Korean. I really liked her first informal lesson because she can speak Japanese fluently. When I didn’t know the words or the grammar accurately, she could easily mention the Japanese equivalent.
Learning Korean through Japanese is way easier and faster than using any other language. Moreover, if you know Chinese you can grasp the Sino-Korean words as well.
I told her about my current level for every single ability. She brought me a difficult task to get out of my comfort zone. I’m studying with a German girl who is married to a Korean man, so I have to study hard to be able to take this informal lesson. It is arguably cheap and better than taking Italki or any other lessons in an online platform. The place is about 6-7 by train. If I consider the train fees, yes, it might be almost the same as Italki, but interacting with expats or immigrants will open more doors for new friendship and connections with other Koreans living in Japan. In addition, the Korean volunteer, she is a very well educated person. I also learned from the questions asked by the German woman.
Speaking of German, I talked to that German woman after the lesson for one hour. For free. Haha. I should have bought her a coffee or tea or something else...My German got rusty over the years, but I still managed to communicate around B1 level? She speaks with Southern German accent, which I am familiar with. So, actually, my exchange ended up being Korean and German! Haha.
I also found some partners for Chinese-Japanese or Chinese-English exchanges. I have been practicing with native speakers and I think I am learning new idioms, casual expressions not taught in textbooks.
All in all, I can say that I’m doing well on Chinese, Korean and German.
Regarding Russian...
Achievement list.
◎ None.
Biggest hurdles so far:
△ Vocabulary.
I’m not sure why but Russian is the language that requires more time for me to memorize words. Even Armenian and Mongolian words stick to my brain, but Russian…oh, well.
Biggest triumphs so far.
◎ Despite improving very slowly, my motivation is still the same. I love Russian language.
◎I am planning a trip to visit friends in either Moscow or Saint Petersburg by October or November this year, depending my friends' schedule. Therefore, I got some time to prepare myself and add an extra motivation to push myself to B1+ level until then.
Group 3: 7. հայերեն 8. ქართული ენა 9. монгол хэл
Although I have had lot of progress in Armenian and Mongolian, I honestly neglected a bit my Georgian studies. Not because I was lazy, but because I changed jobs and due to the rehabilitation that has been consuming much more time than I expected (3-4 hours every day).
There were days I counted (just as a matter of curiosity) and in one day I take notes on more than 100 new words in Armenian!
As for the hurdles, I suppose I need to get used to the voiceless consonants spoken by most Western Armenian speakers, because my resources are supposedly from Eastern Armenian. Other minor problems have been the vocabulary differences, but this is pretty normal at this stage where I am still a beginner.
Georgian is another beautiful language. People reacted also reacted in a negative way when they discovered that I study Armenian and Georgian: "WHAAAAAT? Georgia? In the US? I didn't know there is an indigenous language in Georgia". Well, people want to make fun of me, bully me, but sometimes it is better to be quiet than showing their ignorance. I also laughed at them and ignored such comments. I think it is an insult to language enthusiasts like all of us here on this forum. Poor them. Someone also looked from my back? "Why are you learning Russian?" Well, despite that being true, my material was clearly written in Mongolian...or is there another Ulaanbaatar in Russia? Ignorant people will remain ignorant, no matter what you say. Therefore, I took a more wise decision. I ignored them. I can't discuss with people who don't show respect, in first place.
My Mongolian language exchange partner (real life) had to go back to Mongolia and deleted her Line. It was the only way I had to communicate with her. I wish her the best and I wanted to say thanks for all explanations and feedback I received in Japanese. That said, I still have another friend who lives in another province. She is also from Ulaanbaatar and can help me from time to time. I will improve more my Mongolian skills to talk to her in Mongolian one day. She didn't believe that I was serious when I said I will learn her language.
In 2020 I was planning to visit Mongolia, but there are other strong candidates: Mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, Russia and all other "Russian speaking countries or regions" such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan etc.
Since 2000 or before I have been reading about Mongolia. I don't know why I haven't picked up this language before. Group 3, despite being the one that I dedicate fewer time, it is the one I really enjoy at most perhaps.
Group 4: 10. Français and 11. ئۇيغۇرچە 12 ལྷ་སའི་སྐད་ 13 Bahasa Indonesia
Biggest triumphs so far:
◎ Well, for the 1001th time in my life, I think I will try to restart with French again. I clearly don't like how it sounds, but...oh, well. I could easily read and understand 90% of the texts without a dictionary. So, the key point is to be consistent. I guess, there are lot of things stuff originally written in French. I don't like to rely in translations, so I got no choice. Maybe French will be like Galician for me. I might use this language only for passive skills...
If after one month I feel like giving up on French again, then, I will replace with either Hindi or Nepali. I got some Hindi and Nepali's resources on my bookshelves... My mom sent me this week a dictionary of Tagalog. I looked at the cover page so many times...whaaaat? Tagalog? Not that I am complaining. On the contrary, I am glad she did so. But, I was a bit surprised.
As for the second language, I believe both Chung and vonPeterhof have studied them to some extent. Maybe Expug also studied Uyghur? If I am not wrong, they took part in the Turkic language challenge in the old HTLAL.
I want study Uyghur for many reasons. One of them is obviously my interests in their culture and especially food. Here in Japan, I met Uyghur restaurants cooked by Uyghur people. Apparently the recipe is the same as from their local food, but I cannot say about the taste. Of course, I believe they adapt to the Japanese people's taste. However, when I go there, I ask them to cook like in Uyghur or the way they eat traditionally.
I talked to them in both Mandarin and Japanese and I have asked some questions regarding their culture. There are flights from Japan to Xinjiang region as well.
I think it will be challenging to study Uyghur due to the scarcity of good, reliable and updated resources. I have been to Turkey before and Uyghur reminds me both Turkish culture and language in some ways. Yes, they are different, I know.
Tibetan is also another language that I wanted to study. Not the Modern Tibetan only, but Classical Tibetan actually. Both Uyghur and Tibetan will be challenging because as of May 17th, they are not even available on Google Translator yet.
Speaking of Google Translator, I remember that when I was actively studying Burmese, there were no options for that language either. They also have Lithuanian and Latvian these days.
I got some ideas on how to learn both, but I want to see whether I will struggle more than Armenian, Georgian and Mongolian. The thing is, I should reach a solid A2. From there, many doors will open...
At last, it comes Bahasa Indonesia. Yay! Now it is official. I was supposed to start Indonesian together with "Group 3". Maybe in my next post I will change its status and put it back to the original group.
Galician
I keep reading and listening in Galician.
Rollercoaster
My life has been a turmoil in the past few years. As of 2019, I have been mostly dedicating my time at the rehabilitation and little by little, I am gaining some confidence to use the lower body more properly again. On Monday I have jogged for the first time and I felt good during the first 25 minutes. However, I started to feel the pain again on both knees. I also started jumping sessions and training, but I still fell uncomfortable.
My left knee, elbow and shoulder's ligaments, when will they fully recover?! I will never know the answer, but at least, for ONE day in such a long time, I could run, despite not feeling that my lower body works naturally anymore. I decided to accept that I will feel pain forever and just focus on languages. At least, when I am having fun with Uyghur songs and food, I feel I am blessed.
For instance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGVI5XMuplQ
So sleepy during this whole, long and confused post.