2018 blog - księżyc

[vijayjohn]

I'm lucky I have both books.

[księżycowy]

Update time!

Last week's goals:

Japanese

• Learn the first 50 Kanji in The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course by Conning ✗
• Finish review of Lesson 1 in「みんなの日本語」by 3A ✔

German

• Complete Chapter 1 in Begegnungen by Buscha and Szita ✔

Hebrew

• Translate Ex 3:8-14!!!!!!✗

Irish

• Complete Lesson 14 in Teach Yourself Irish by Dillon and Ó Cróinín ✗
• Complete Unit 1 in Colloquial Irish by Ihde, et al. ✔

Polish

• Learn the dialogues (Lesson 1) in First-Year Polish (2nd Ed.) by Swan ✗

Hokkien

• Sound Drills 1 & 2 in Spoken Amoy Hokkien by Bodman ✔

Seneca

• Continue working on Quizlet decks ✔

[księżycowy]

This week's goals!

Weekly Goals 06/24-06/30

Japanese

• Learn the first 50 Kanji in The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course by Conning
• Review of Lesson 2 in「みんなの日本語」by 3A

German

• Complete Chapter 2 in Begegnungen by Buscha and Szita

Hebrew

• Translate Ex 3:8-14!!!!!!

Irish

• Complete Lesson 14 in Teach Yourself Irish by Dillon and Ó Cróinín
• Complete Unit 2 in Colloquial Irish by Ihde, et al.

Polish

• Learn the dialogues (Lesson 1) in First-Year Polish (2nd Ed.) by Swan

Hokkien

• Unit 1, Sentences 1-15 in Spoken Amoy Hokkien by Bodman

Seneca

• Continue working on Quizlet decks

Notes:
As much as it pains me to admit this, I might need to drop off a language or two.

Ideally, I'd like to finish my current Hebrew textbook and them not actively learn the language for a bit, just read small chucks for a while. Polish may also drop too, as much as I don't want to do that. I'd also like to finish my Munster textbook for Irish soon. Between that and Hebrew, it would free up some time. (We'll see how long I last with the study group for Irish.)

I'll give it at least another week before dropping anything though.

[vijayjohn]

Honestly, I am fine with just trying to help you with German and maybe learning some Japanese with you (and/or helping you with Japanese). But for now, I'm also fine with helping you get through TY Irish, etc.

[księżycowy]

Well, if I were smart, I'd only do one language at a time. But what fun is that?

[księżycowy]

I'm updating my goals because I'm trimming the hedges:

Weekly Goals 06/24-06/30

Japanese

• Learn the first 50 Kanji in The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course by Conning
• Review of Lesson 2 in「みんなの日本語」by 3A

German

• Complete Chapter 2 in Begegnungen by Buscha and Szita

Hebrew

• Translate Ex 3:8-14!!!!!!

Irish

• Complete Lesson 14 in Teach Yourself Irish by Dillon and Ó Cróinín
• Complete Unit 2 in Colloquial Irish by Ihde, et al.

Polish

• Learn the dialogues (Lesson 1) in First-Year Polish (2nd Ed.) by Swan

Hokkien

• Unit 1, Sentences 1-15 in Spoken Amoy Hokkien by Bodman

Seneca

• Continue working on Quizlet decks

I want to try keeping on top of 4 languages (well, really 5, but I don't really do much for Seneca aside from attend class once a week for an hour and a half and do some flashcards a few times a week.)

I also want to do Irish and Hebrew (and Seneca) every other day. I'll do Japanese (kanji every day, except maybe Mondays!) and German 5-7 times a week.

If I find that I do have enough time for another language (or two), I'll add Hokkien (and maybe Polish) back into the mix.

[vijayjohn]

However many of these languages you may feel a need to drop, you seem to be doing pretty well with your goals these days (Hebrew notwithstanding). Nice going!

I hope you don't mind all these questions about what you're doing.

Well, if I were smart, I'd only do one language at a time. But what fun is that?

Plenty of fun, actually! That's what I used to do.

Learn the first 50 Kanji in The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course by Conning

What does "learning the kanji" consist of? Does it mean learning how to write it, what it means, all the pronunciations listed for it, and how to read it in the context of the examples given? Or some subset/modification of that?

Review of Lesson 2 in「みんなの日本語」by 3A

Same question here: What does it mean to review the lesson? Reading through the dialogue? Or the entire lesson? Does it include grammatical notes, cultural notes, and the vocabulary list, too?

Complete Chapter 2 in Begegnungen by Buscha and Szita

Where in Chapter 2 are you now?

I also want to do Irish and Hebrew (and Seneca) every other day.

Is today an Irish/Hebrew/Seneca day?

[księżycowy]

I hope you don't mind all these questions about what you're doing.

I do mind.

Plenty of fun, actually! That's what I used to do.

I wish I could go back to one or even two at a time, but I'd hate to lose the progress with Irish, Seneca and especially Hebrew.

I'd love to just do Japanese and German for a while and really get somewhere with both. Not that I think I haven't gotten anywhere, but I mean faster.

What does "learning the kanji" consist of? Does it mean learning how to write it, what it means, all the pronunciations listed for it, and how to read it in the context of the examples given?

Basically, yes.

Same question here: What does it mean to review the lesson? Reading through the dialogue? Or the entire lesson? Does it include grammatical notes, cultural notes, and the vocabulary list, too?

Basically I got through the example sentences, dialogue and drills.

Where in Chapter 2 are you now?

If I'm being honest, I have a few more exercises in part C in Chapter 1 to finish.

Is today an Irish/Hebrew/Seneca day?

Not so far. I'm even thinking of skipping class today. I'm just not feeling it.

[vijayjohn]

I hope you don't mind all these questions about what you're doing.

I do mind.

Sorry.

[księżycowy]

I thought, given I did answer, you'd get that I was joking.

[vijayjohn]

I suspected as much, but if you hadn't answered, I wouldn't have known anyway.

[księżycowy]

So, I was talking to my cousin, who's opinion I respect very much, and he recommended cutting back everything but the languages I want to intensively study to one day. That way most of the effort goes to Japanese and German, but I can try to curb (as best as possible) losing a lot of the others I've worked on by reviewing once a week. I may modify that a bit, cause I may try to do Irish more than once a week. We shall see.

Seneca is still the odd man out, but it'll still be in the mix.

With that in mind, my goals don't change all that much, except the obvious dropping of actively studying Hebrew (or Irish?). I didn't get far enough with Hokkien or Polish to cry over stopping them.

Sorry to those who joined my study groups for any of the effected languages. It is my hope that these study groups continue, and I'd love to rejoin once I've reached my goals with Japanese and/or German.

[kevin]

Don't you think your Irish is good enough that once per week should easily be enough to keep up with the study group at least for the next few weeks?

Anyway, I'm still waiting for some activity in your German thread, so maybe that will happen at least.

[Bubulus]

Don't you think your Irish is good enough that once per week should easily be enough to keep up with the study group at least for the next few weeks?

Anyway, I'm still waiting for some activity in your German thread, so maybe that will happen at least.

Meanwhile, please respond in the Biblical Hebrew study group, so we can get started. I think we're just awaiting your response.

[księżycowy]

Don't you think your Irish is good enough that once per week should easily be enough to keep up with the study group at least for the next few weeks?

Anyway, I'm still waiting for some activity in your German thread, so maybe that will happen at least.

That certainly is a possibility.

I have to admit that I love learning Irish and it gives me a great sense of pride. Unfortunately, other priorities keep interfering. I was mostly speaking about the other study groups, by the way, as I have not exactly formulated what I was ould like to do with Irish yet.

I'll give just Japanese and German a go for a good 2 days and see what I think is conceivable.

And yeah, German is coming. I'm waiting until I get through at least chapter 3 before I try any translating.

[aaakknu]

Good luck with Japanese and German!

[księżycowy]

ありがとう！
Danke!

[księżycowy]

So, here are my short term goals for the next year:
Summer (through September): Get through (or as close to done as possible) Minna no Nihongo Beginner I and II
and Begegnungen A1+ and A2+.

Winter (January through March): Get through First-Year Polish and Teach Yourself Irish (Dillon & Ó Cróinín)

Summer (July through September): Get through Reading Greek (JACT) and Biblical Hebrew (either Lambdin or Kittel, et al.) [I might add Latin or Old English here as, but we'll see.]

More or less 12 weeks (ideally) for one intensive study of two languages, which is reasonable I feel.
At most that means about 3~5 lessons a week (for Japanese, which is 50 lessons long, but I hope to recover as much of the first ten lessons as I can by July 1st, so that will cut it back a bit.)

I've obviously built in some wiggle room as well, with about three months between each period of study. This is obviously in case I need a bit longer for any particular language/resource, but it could also be for a break, or for an early start, or for taking care of something else for a particular language. Basically it's for whatever I need it to before.

I also want to do a better job of reviewing things. I do want to go at a good pace, but part of my plan is making sure I comprehend and retain the grammar I'm learning. Therefore I'll make sure to review previous lessons every other day. I don't need mastery of vocabulary, I can easily fill-in gaps there.

(See? I didn't forget Irish! Or Hebrew! I will still try to review them once a week in the meantime too, but if that drops off, it drops off.)

The nice thing about this plan is, at least one language in each grouping is one I've had previous experience with! (German, Irish, Hebrew and Greek.)

Part of the challenge will be keeping what I learn alive after my three month intensive study, but that's where media comes into play. And that should be pretty easy for most of them to find.

And fear not, Seneca is still in my plan. I'm just not too worried about it, as we go slow enough in class that it doesn't take up too much time or effort. I'll review it at least twice a week.

Still up to the task of helping me, Vijay?

No distractions, no deviations, no mercy!

[ceid donn]

(See? I didn't forget Irish! Or Hebrew! I will still try to review them once a week in the meantime too, but if that drops off, it drops off.)

I don't think this is a bad way to approach your goals. I've been very casually reviewing what I know in Spanish and Indonesian, and eventually I will do the same with Breton, Welsh and Irish if I have time, or heck, maybe Swahili too, while I focus more intensively on my SAC languages. It not only helps me remember what I've learned, it helps me not feel so bad about not working on the languages I have previously devoted time to and still would like to progress further in. Plus, the reiteration is certainly good for long-term memory.

I did that with Japanese when I was focusing on French and Spanish a couple years ago. I didn't have time to really study Japanese so I would review just kana and first year kanji a couple times a week, and that was all. And I while I'm rusty at them right now because I haven't had to use them for anything for quite a while, I don't feel like I'm having to start at square one and re-learn them all over again.

[księżycowy]

That's my plan!

But saying "if it drops off, it drops off", I'm (hopefully) only meaning a week or two here and there.