TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby dEhiN » 2018-09-13, 22:47

vijayjohn wrote:There are some words you need in order to do the exercises that, unfortunately, they never taught! So I'm going to try to give you those words:

சமை to cook
கதை story
விடு to leave
பள்ளி school
கார், தானுந்து car
வாங்கு to buy
சைக்கிள் bike

Thanks! I knew most of them, although for school I was taught பள்ளிக்கூடம் as well as பாடசாலை. I didn't know there was an actual word for car (though I probably could've looked it up!), so I used வேள் and for bike I just wrote பைக்க. At least, that's what I initially wrote, but I just changed car and bike now. I'm going to post my answers in the Tamil Study Group thread.

Edit: I also didn't know விடு. I used வை instead, since the idea is the same.
Native: (en-ca)
Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby vijayjohn » 2018-09-13, 23:35

dEhiN wrote:for school I was taught பள்ளிக்கூடம் as well as பாடசாலை.

Oh OK! That's the same as in Malayalam then. Although IRL we use none of these words and just say [skuːɭ]. :P

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby dEhiN » 2018-09-17, 20:38

Update time:

Tamil
  • Post my translations of the Year 1, Unit 2, Dialogue 1 grammar note exercises from TLIC in the Tamil Study Group thread
  • Start going through the Balabodhini Beginner's Book and post pictures of the first few pages on the Tamil Study Group thread

General
  • Create Anki cards from my language notebook
  • Start reading "An Introduction to the Grammar of Sumerian"

I added some new vocabulary from my language notebook to Anki, but I didn't do a lot. I haven't yet decided about whether to add grammar cards as well: cards for Tamil with grammar rules, such as sandhi rules. I have cards for specific suffixes, such as for the various cases as well as the conjunctive, interrogative, and adjectivizer suffixes. For other languages, I also have grammar cards, such as all the conjugations for a particular verb for a particular TAM in French/Spanish/Portuguese. But I haven't encountered a situation like this before, where the grammar aspect in question is about suffix addition. For those of you who use Anki to study agglutinative languages, have you added things like sandhi rules as Anki cards?

I also finished Lesson 1 of An Introduction to the Grammar of Sumerian. I'm actually quite excited to keep going through this pdf. (By the way, if anyone wants the link, let me know and I'll post it, since it's available for free on Academia.edu). My first foray into Ancient/Classical/Extinct languages was N.T. (i.e., Koine) Greek at university. I took NT Greek 101, which at my uni was a co-requisite with Classical (i.e., Attic?) Greek 101. I really liked it and did well. I then started NT Greek 102, but due to personal health stuff, wasn't able to finish. I still have the textbook and materials from those courses, including a New Testament in Koine Greek. My next foray was in 2014, when I simultaneously started to learn Hittite, Gothic, and Latin. I didn't get far; I think for Hittite and Gothic, I basically only read the introductory material on the University of Texas Linguistics Research Center website for their respective language lessons, and for Latin I learned a small handful of words which I have suspended in Anki. However, I have always had a fascination with and desire to learn and learn about ancient/classical/extinct languages.
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Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby dEhiN » 2018-09-17, 21:03

Weekly Goals:

Tamil
  • Go through Year 1, Unit 2, Dialogue 2 of TLIC - due by Sep 22
  • Decide about creating Anki cards for the Tamil sandhi and other grammar rules - due by Sep 23

General
  • Create Anki cards for pages 192-194 of my language notebook - due by Sep 22
  • Read lesson 2 of IGS* - due by Sep 22

*I'm shortening An Introduction to the Grammar of Sumerian to IGS. I also looked ahead and saw that there are exercises after each lesson (except lesson 1, since it was more of an introduction, despite being labelled lesson 1).
Native: (en-ca)
Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby vijayjohn » 2018-09-18, 6:51

dEhiN wrote:I also finished Lesson 1 of An Introduction to the Grammar of Sumerian. I'm actually quite excited to keep going through this pdf. (By the way, if anyone wants the link, let me know and I'll post it, since it's available for free on Academia.edu).

I might be interested, actually, so please do!

księżycowy

Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby księżycowy » 2018-09-18, 9:06

If it's the grammar I'm thinking of, it's also free on the authors website too.

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby vijayjohn » 2018-09-18, 12:33

Does Gábor Zólyomi have his own website? :hmm:

księżycowy

Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby księżycowy » 2018-09-18, 12:46

Apparently I was thinking of the textbook by Foxvog, which is found here.

EDIT: Here is the vocabulary that goes along with Foxvog's text too.

I also found Zólyomi's textbook here.

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby dEhiN » 2018-09-18, 21:11

księżycowy wrote:I also found Zólyomi's textbook here.

That's an older version; the most current one (copyrighted 2017) is here. In it, at the end of Lesson 1, Zólyomi does reference Foxvog's works as well as various others in a section listing the various Sumerian resources available.
Native: (en-ca)
Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby księżycowy » 2018-09-18, 21:22

My apologies.

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby dEhiN » 2018-09-21, 20:30

I meant to respond to this, but completely forgot:

Saim wrote:I think you're at the point where you'd seriously benefit from watching things in French with French subtitles. You're in luck because French is one of the languages where there is a lot of subtitled material. I think you could also do shorter sessions of intensive listening (actively trying to look up new words, understand as much as possible; this is much easier for material with transcripts or with subtitles in the target language) that will ease you into longer periods of extensive listening.

Thanks for the suggestion; I never thought of doing short intensive listening sessions before.

Here are two Facebook pages that upload short French videos with subtitles:

https://www.facebook.com/brutofficiel/

https://www.facebook.com/ajplusfrancais/

On YouTube there's a function that allows you to search subtitled videos only.

You could try checking out one of those graded readers for foreigners with audio that are around. I'm not sure if they're available in Canada (I never saw them in Australia), but in Europe they're quite common. This sort of thing: https://www.cle-international.com/reche ... facile-589. I noticed that after going through only one of them my comprehension in French skyrocketed.

If you look around a bit you should also be able to find entire films in French with French subtitles. If there's a French film you really want to watch with subtitles but can't find them on the internet, the DVD will likely have French subtitles (it may be worth buying the DVD if you know you'll watch it several times and will use the subtitles as study material).

Thanks for the links and resource suggestions. I'll check out those graded readers.

Recently my girlfriend and I have started watching a little bit of French TV. We try to stick to Kids TV; at first we tried an episode of a game show, but it was too challenging for me. I could pick out the odd word here and there, and get the gist of a few phrases, but I would frequently hit a word I didn't know. I also found that without subtitles, it was really challenging. We then tried kids cartoons, including the French versions of some English ones. I found them a little easier. I needed the subtitles or else I wouldn't have really been able to follow along. (Well, I would've had the same problem as the game show). Surprisingly, I did find some words that I have in Anki popping up, and I knew them because I do them regularly in Anki.

I think the problem is that all the French language exchanges I did in the past, and all the attempts I have made to practice speaking and listening to French, were done at slower speeds than native.
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Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby dEhiN » 2018-09-21, 21:10

I also meant to respond to this:

Car wrote:Can't you watch French Canadian TV?

Yes, and I recently started to. However, since I started relearning French, I pretty much focused on Parisian French - especially during the first few years when I would attend Meetups and other language exchanges. As a result, when I watch French Canadian TV, there's the issue of my French listening skills plus the fact that I'm listening to a variety of French that I'm not used to. So, there's both the phonological differences and the lexical ones that trip me up even more than if I watch TV from France.

In the past I let those reasons stop me, but now I'm going to keep at it; I'm sure eventually I'll get more used to Canadian French.
Native: (en-ca)
Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby dEhiN » 2018-09-24, 19:35

Update time:

Tamil
  • Go through Year 1, Unit 2, Dialogue 2 of TLIC
  • Decide about creating Anki cards for the Tamil sandhi and other grammar rules

General
  • Create Anki cards for pages 192-194 of my language notebook
  • Read lesson 2 of IGS

I went through Dialogue 2, but I didn't write out any of the grammar rules or new vocab in my notebook; I'm going to try and do that this week. I also didn't get a chance to create Anki cards for page 194, although I did finish 192 and 193. Lastly, I started lesson 2 of IGS. At one point I got stuck because I had to read the Glossing Rules to remember what the different abbreviations meant, and while I was doing that I started reading another pdf I have called "Harvard's Manichean Sogdian Primer Course". I read through the introduction and am now on lesson 1.

One reason why I wasn't able to do more was because I moved over the weekend. Originally the plan was to move some of my stuff, and then next weekend to move the rest. However, on Friday I got offered a job to teach Grade 11 English at a private school in downtown Toronto. (It is a bit ironic that I get a steady job in Toronto once I move out of Toronto!) Because it's a private school, the class will only be on Saturdays and is essentially semi-private; I'll be teaching only 2 students. This week, I'll have to do a lot of prep work! I have taught groups before, and I also have developed my own lessons before. However, most of my experience is around tutoring or following existing lesson plans (for the groups I used to teach at a church I attended in the past). As such, developing a course outline, choosing resources to use for study, creating assignments, etc. is all new to me. However, the school has resources I can use, such as previous course outlines, etc.
Native: (en-ca)
Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby dEhiN » 2018-09-24, 19:51

Weekly Goals:

Tamil
  • Do Exercise 3 of Year 1, Unit 1 of TLIC - due by Sep 29
  • Do Exercise 4 of Year 1, Unit 1 of TLIC - due by Sep 29

General
  • Continue lesson 2 of IGS - due by Sep 29

I'm going to keep my study goals short for this week, as my main task will be preparing for my first class on September 29.
Native: (en-ca)
Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby dEhiN » 2018-10-01, 4:42

Update time:

Tamil
  • Do Exercise 3 of Year 1, Unit 1 of TLIC
  • Do Exercise 4 of Year 1, Unit 1 of TLIC

General
  • Continue lesson 2 of IGS

I ended up not taking the job that I shared about last week. For anyone reading this who shared their suggestions for movies, thank you. Around Wednesday last week I got the contract to sign, and after going through it, I decided what they were offering me wasn't worth the amount of work plus the travel time and cost. It's a bit of a shame; it would've been somewhat fun to branch into being a school teacher. However, there are private academies in the city where I now live, so I might try some of them.

Despite not taking the job, I still spent the first half of last week working on lesson planning and preparing for the job. As a result, I only had 3 days to work through my language study goals. I was able to finish Exercise 3 of TLIC, but I couldn't do Exercise 4. I attempted it, but got stuck on new vocabulary in the first 2 questions, and that discouraged me from trying any more questions. I also tried to continue reading IGS, but for some reason lost motivation to keep at it. I think part of the reason is I forgot where I had stopped in lesson 2 and so I attempted to read from the beginning, but that proved to be de-motivating due to reading repeated material. I think another aspect was that letting go of the job saddened me a little, despite the fact that I made the decision after discussing things with my girlfriend and her mom (who used to be a teacher) to get perspective as well as crunching the numbers.
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Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby dEhiN » 2018-10-01, 4:53

I had two opportunities last week to speak in Tamil.

1) I found a burrito place near where I live that's run by a Sri Lankan couple. (On a side note, I was so ecstatic to find other Sri Lankans here because where I've moved to is predominantly white, and while that doesn't bother me, it was a bit of an adjustment from a city like Toronto). When I went into the restaurant, I was sure the owner and his wife were Sri Lankan, and so I asked him. As a result, I got to use some of the Tamil I know, including a couple of things that I learned recently as a result of the Tamil lessons with Vijay. There was still a point in the conversation where the wife said something that I couldn't follow, which forced me to switch back to Engilsh.

2) I had dinner with my parents last week Friday, and during the visit I retrieved their mail. There was a flyer from their local MP (Member of Parliament), and I wanted to tell my parents in Tamil that they had this flyer from their MP. I remembered the ablative case suffix but I only knew how to say it in written Tamil, which would've been something like "செல்மா சஹிடிடமிருந்து ஒரு advertisement" (Salma Zahid is the MP's name, and I would've just used the English word "advertisement".) So I told my mom about the flyer in English, and then asked her how to say it in Tamil (i.e., spoken Tamil). She used some word for paper that I now forget, but for the ablative case suffix, she said "செல்மா சஹிட்லெயிருந்து*", which surprised me a bit because as far as I know, that the Indian Tamil spoken form for the ablative.

*I'm not sure if the spoken form of the locative case suffix uses short or long /e/.
Native: (en-ca)
Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby dEhiN » 2018-10-01, 18:56

Weekly Goals:

Tamil
  • Do Exercise 4 of Year 1, Unit 1 of TLIC - due by Oct 6

General
  • Add vocabulary from language notebook to Anki - due by Oct 6

I'm going to take a break from Sumerian for at least this week, as I still don't feel enthused about it. I'm hoping this is temporary and I can find my spark again. I might need to switch tacks and not make specific goals to go through Introduction to the Grammar of Sumerian, but rather just try to read a little each week or every few days. That way, I can use weekly goals to keep myself on course (here, the course being to read through IGS), but also not lose motivation.
Native: (en-ca)
Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

księżycowy

Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby księżycowy » 2018-10-05, 16:21

I'm going to be nosy and ask if you're thinking of participating in the Powwow this year.

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Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby dEhiN » 2018-10-06, 17:35

księżycowy wrote:I'm going to be nosy and ask if you're thinking of participating in the Powwow this year.

I am actually. I'm trying to figure out which language to do; the choices so far are Ojibway, Cree, and Mohawk. I also want to look up which tribes are native to whereabouts I now live. I might start learning one of their languages instead (if it's not one of the three I already mentioned).
Native: (en-ca)
Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

księżycowy

Re: TAC 2017-2018 dEhiN

Postby księżycowy » 2018-10-07, 9:14

All excellent choices. :D

If in not mistaken, languages that are native to Ontario (which I'm guessing is where you still are) are Iroquoian (now it's most of the northern Iroquoian languages, but before the relocations I believe it was languages that now have no record and are extinct), Algonquin (if I recall correctly, it's Cree, Innu-Aimun and Ojibwe) and a touch of Inuktitut.


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