2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

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Blue
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2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

Postby Blue » Mon Feb 01, 2016 8:33 pm

Hello! I'm an American who has been studying Indonesian for a few months (with a few breaks thrown in as dictated by life). This is my first attempt at learning a new language. I don't currently intend to go into great detail in this log, but I want to track what I've read and maybe interact with other language learners. If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to do what I can to help. I'm also very open to feedback and suggestions. I don't have a ton of experience with language study.


Book 1
Image
Goosebumps - Rambut Setan (Translation)
Word Count - 19,530
Words Read to Date: 19,530

It was a tedious slog at first, and it was difficult to focus for more than a couple of paragraphs, but it became much easier by the end. As a 90s kid, Goosebumps books are quite nostalgic for me. I think they're great for a language learner.

Book 2
Image
Goosebumps - Misteri Hantu Tanpa Kepala (Translation)
Word Count - 16,185
Words Read to Date: 35,715

I'm planning to read a couple more Goosebumps books, then do some listening-reading with a series of Indonesian books titled Api di Bukit Menoreh. I have the audio for 4 books, each of which are roughly comparable in length to the Goosebumps books. If anyone knows where I can find more audio books, please chime in! :)
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Rotasu
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Re: 2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

Postby Rotasu » Tue Feb 02, 2016 12:26 am

A few months in and you have already read two novels?? How did you start Indonesian?
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Blue
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Re: 2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

Postby Blue » Tue Feb 02, 2016 1:04 am

I got my start with The Indonesian Way - http://indonesianway.com/tiw/introduction/ . A textbook turned into an internet course, made available free by a professor from the University of Hawaii. I'm also a big user of memrise. The course comes with anki files that I converted and put on memrise. Since then I've been making my own memrise decks. I'm up to 2,466 words in total for Indonesian. I've also made some Indonesian friends on HelloTalk who have been quite helpful. I have Pimsleur, but I only did 11 of the 30 lessons. I'll probably do the rest soon. I have a grammar book, but I've barley used it. I've also used Linguaphone a bit, but only did 13 of the 40 lessons since I didn't really care for it. It was just too much of a chore. I've found other practice methods more enjoyable. I think the simplicity of Indo grammar cuts down on the amount of instructional resources needed compared to many other languages.

As far as having read two novels already, Goosebumps books are pretty short and simple. About one-quarter the length of the first Harry Potter book. When I was a kid, I read them in 4th grade if I recall correctly, so they definitely aren't terribly advanced. I've also been studying pretty intensively and focusing mostly on reading/writing to this point. I'll actually be able to update my log with a third Goosebumps book soon.
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Adrianslont
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Re: 2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

Postby Adrianslont » Wed Feb 03, 2016 8:59 am

Hi. I'm posting on your log because I'm one of the few people learning Indonesian on the forum.

I'm Australian and have been studying for about 15 months now. I'm fairly new to the forum and have only made about a dozen posts here and there. If you search on my name you will see my Indonesian related posts and some other stuff.

I don't keep a log but perhaps I'll get around to it one day. I look forward to reading your log and will no doubt interact. One of my posts concerns resources but I won't repeat it here.

In short:
Like you I started with Linguaphone but got to lesson 30 before I had had enough.

I've read a dozen Tintin books.

I use a course called Bahasa Inggris until Studi Di Australia as my intermediate course. Yes, it's actually an English course for Indonesians but it works both ways!

I watch Thomas the Tank Engine cartoons from YouTube.

I listen to news and current affairs podcasts from SBS radio in Australia.

I play Criminal Case in Indonesian.

I watch the occasional movie and struggle with The Indonesian Lawyers Club

I Anki much of that stuff.

Such is my idea of study.
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Expugnator
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9931
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Re: 2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

Postby Expugnator » Wed Feb 03, 2016 6:59 pm

Have you guys had access to audiobooks in Indonesian? It can be translated books.

Congratulations to both on taking this undeservedly not so commonly learned language.
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Adrianslont
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Re: 2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

Postby Adrianslont » Wed Feb 03, 2016 8:05 pm

Hi Expug. I haven't had access to audio books - there are none in my local library, which actually has hundreds of paper books in Indonesian and a few dozen DVDs.

Looking around the web I couldn't find any so I was interested to see Blue's mention of "Api Di Bukit Menoreh". I had a look on the web and found an amateur reading of it in YouTube. Maybe Blue can confirm - is that what you are using or have you sourced a professional recording? Does anyone know of ANY Indonesian audiobooks?
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Blue
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Re: 2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

Postby Blue » Wed Feb 03, 2016 9:43 pm

Hey Adrian. Great to see another Indonesian learner here. I look forward to helping each other out.

Yes, that amateur reading on YouTube is exactly what I was talking about. It's all I could find. The corresponding text is freely available on many websites (for example https://apidibukitmenoreh.wordpress.com/). I'd love to find more audio books. Harry Potter in Indonesian would be awesome, but I'll make the best use of whatever I can find.

I'll share some of the listening resources I have been able to find.

http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/cultu ... index.html - A series of interviews/dialogues with accompanying Indonesian transcription and English translation. Realistic conversational speech.

www.mivo.com - Live streaming Indonesian TV. Many channels. There's a TV schedule app on the Play store (Apple store too I presume?) that goes great with this. There are also plenty of programs you can use to record shows/movies for later viewing.

www.vidio.com - A bit like an Indonesian YouTube. There's a playlist of dubbed Spongebob I've made good use of.

Like you I've used news podcasts. I listen to BBC Indonesia daily. I've also been able to acquire a few Indonesian movies with Indo subtitles.
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Blue
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Re: 2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

Postby Blue » Thu Feb 04, 2016 1:20 am

Finished another book.

Book 3
Image
Goosebumps - Kembalinya Sang Mumi (Translation)
Word Count - 18,361
Words Read to Date: 54,076

My reading speed continues to improve significantly, which is great. Reading at a snail's pace is agonizing for me. I read very fast in my L1, and it would be great if that transfers to my L2. It seems like it will. I'm getting a lot out of the Goosebumps series and I enjoy reading them, so I'm going to continue with another one.

I've been slacking on everything but reading and SRS. I should probably be taking a more balanced approach, but I feel like I make more progress with 1 hour of reading than I would get out of an hour of anything else. And its something I enjoy, so its what I'd naturally prefer to do.
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Adrianslont
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Re: 2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

Postby Adrianslont » Thu Feb 04, 2016 9:29 am

Hi Blue. Thanks for the list of resources - it's great.

I really like the fivecolleges.edu stuff. I like the topics, having transcripts is gold, and the cultural content is great. I watched a few and followed quite well without the transcripts but it's great to be able to chase up the things I didn't catch by using the transcripts.

I also really liked Vidio. It has some nice things - some different content to YouTube. I'm going to watch a heap of cooking videos and then maybe I should get hooked on a soap opera.

If you like learning with cartoons, I think the Thomas and Friends cartoons at https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCTCYKGqa0yY_5BMFzX65VOw are great, maybe better than spongebob because the voices are not so cartoonish and there is more speaking. Of course you may just prefer spongebob so YMMV.
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Blue
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Re: 2016 Language Learning Log - Indonesian, maybe a little Russian

Postby Blue » Wed Feb 10, 2016 11:59 pm

Thanks for the tip about Thomas and Friends, Adrian. I've already watched a few of them, and its probably the highest level of listening comprehension I've had with anything yet. I think I caught the meaning of almost every sentence. Regular adult tv/movies are still a struggle, so its nice to get some input that's truly comprehensible. I'm definitely going to start spending some more time with audio/video media.

I finished book #4 this evening.

Book 4
Image
Goosebumps - Pembalasan Kurcaci Ajaib (Translation)
Word Count - 17,891
Words Read to Date: 71,967

I hope the pictures don't annoy anyone. I thought it would be interesting to give anyone checking out my log a bit of insight into what I'm reading. Hopefully the books will get more interesting before too much longer.

In addition to another Goosebumps book, since my last update I've watched some cartoons, listened to some Indonesian music, had Indonesian text chats on HelloTalk (I also do a little voice messaging, but its not real time. We send brief messages back and forth as if they were text messages.), and surpassed 2,500 Indonesian words on memrise. I also read Indonesian news articles during "hidden moments" during the day. Actually, a ton of my study comes during those moments. I'm not going to formally track these kinds of activities, and I may not even mention them consistently in this log unless I start doing something new or somehow notable.

Until my next update: more of the same. Another Goosebumps book, and more cartoons and news podcasts. Other things I'd like to fit in at some point in the near future, but won't happen right away, include reading a grammar reference I bought a while back and finishing Pimsleur. I'm certain that Pimsleur has nothing to teach me about vocab or grammar or anything like that at this point, but I really need to start having real conversations soon and its good at training you to produce sentences without hesitation. I'm also anxious to do the Listening-Reading mentioned previously in this thread, but I want my reading to be a little smoother before I do. Apparently this is the only Indonesian audio book on Earth, so I need to make the best of it. Maybe after the next Goosebumps book, or maybe after a couple more. We'll see.
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