Language Learner's Thread - Cunning Linguists Welcome.
703 replies, posted
Can someone who can read Cyrillic letters tell me what brand is this?
[img]http://i.imgur.com/OVq45oH.png[/img]
So i'm currently studying abroad in lyon, france, been here a month still got 4 to go. when i came i couldn't speak a word of french (still can't really but getting there), i've been doing french lessons with the uni for the past month but its on a 2 week break from today, so im wondering if there are any good resources people can recommend to continue learning so I don't slip back? I had a look at the OP, i've tried duolingo in the past but I personally don't feel like it did much for me, while I know the stuff it teaches me has a use, I don't find much of it useful in a practical sense.
[QUOTE=Super2Donny;49712952]Can someone who can read Cyrillic letters tell me what brand is this?
[img]http://i.imgur.com/OVq45oH.png[/img][/QUOTE]
Ayauoyaos?
Sobolyad?
The design makes it confusing, especially because I don't speak any Slavic languages, I only know how to read cyrillic because of dayz
[QUOTE=Super2Donny;49712952]Can someone who can read Cyrillic letters tell me what brand is this?
[img]http://i.imgur.com/OVq45oH.png[/img][/QUOTE]
It's flipped left to right and says cordura
[QUOTE=galimatias;49714737]It's flipped left to right and says cordura[/QUOTE]
Haha well
Still a confusing design
Something makes me say it might even be a defect from the manufacturer, maybe the tag was put on backwards or something :v:
Learning some latin here myself. A lot of the vocab is easy because if you're well-read you can already recognise billions of words and their meanings (respondet, iratus, intrat, exit, portat)
Any suggestions for stuff to read in latin?
Holy fuck i love Anki so god damn much.
Spanish is pretty interesting. Word order fucks me though.
These general word lists are boring as fuck. Really not terribly enthusiastic about learning what prime minister, president, and union are. Sure I'll need to get to them eventually but there are so many more useful (and interesting) words I could be learning. The fucking Kanji phase was so much better than this because Kanji are pretty (usually). 綺麗 so 綺麗. And knowing the Kanji for words that are normally written in Kana is a partial replacement for my vocabulary of big words nobody uses in English.
Decided to pick some songs I like and learn the lyrics since it's actually interesting for a change and I've heard good things about it in logs I read (mainly one for Korean, where transcribing the booklet lyrics is [I]much[/I] easier. Apart from them being pop songs which is pretty much the only place in Korean that Chinese characters are used AFAIK).
Anyone ever just gone and highlighted some text to see what you do and don't understand? Did it today and it's a strange feeling seeing half the words highlighted in green after only a year. Current favourite and almost favourite songs:
[t]http://i.imgur.com/P6LuxwJ.png[/t][t]http://i.imgur.com/Yk8lRYR.png[/t]
(Put particles in purple but I know what they all mean) Some of them I know the vague meaning of but haven't mastered the verb ending (fucking potential form ～せる 「i.e 戻せる - to return 『[I]potentially?[/I]¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 』」) so I put them in red. Going to change the red to yellow once I understand it rather than green, should be a good way to track my progress.
Done 171 hours of Anki review in the last 233 days, it's ok.
[editline]12th February 2016[/editline]
I know the shit out of those English bits.
[QUOTE=helifreak;49720062]These general word lists are boring as fuck. Really not terribly enthusiastic about learning what prime minister, president, and union are. Sure I'll need to get to them eventually but there are so many more useful (and interesting) words I could be learning. The fucking Kanji phase was so much better than this because Kanji are pretty (usually). 綺麗 so 綺麗. And knowing the Kanji for words that are normally written in Kana is a partial replacement for my vocabulary of big words nobody uses in English.
Decided to pick some songs I like and learn the lyrics since it's actually interesting for a change and I've heard good things about it in logs I read (mainly one for Korean, where transcribing the booklet lyrics is [I]much[/I] easier. Apart from them being pop songs which is pretty much the only place in Korean that Chinese characters are used AFAIK).
Anyone ever just gone and highlighted some text to see what you do and don't understand? Did it today and it's a strange feeling seeing half the words highlighted in green after only a year. Current favourite and almost favourite songs:
[t]http://i.imgur.com/P6LuxwJ.png[/t][t]http://i.imgur.com/Yk8lRYR.png[/t]
(Put particles in purple but I know what they all mean) Some of them I know the vague meaning of but haven't mastered the verb ending (fucking potential form ～せる 「i.e 戻せる - to return 『[I]potentially?[/I]¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 』」) so I put them in red. Going to change the red to yellow once I understand it rather than green, should be a good way to track my progress.
Done 171 hours of Anki review in the last 233 days, it's ok.
[editline]12th February 2016[/editline]
I know the shit out of those English bits.[/QUOTE]
Nice idea mang, I'ma try that on some stuff.
171 hours is pretty fucking intense, I've only mustered 99 in the last year, though recently I've had a lot more time so I've been doing my anki a lot more regularly.
Only 940 kanji to go for me. And by that I have 940 unseen cards, who fucking knows how long until I actually have them memorised to any useful degree. I definitely feel like I'm making more progress by putting in more time though, getting past halfway has done wonders for my morale.
Any good decks in particular you've found? My vocab so far is all stuff I've gathered myself from reading stuff, but I downloaded the Nihongoshark kanji deck just to learn the kanji themselves.
I'm on 37 hours in 128/130 days (only skipped two so far). Slowly going through some ten part core2k vocab deck I found on the anki site, with some modification to the decks so that they have reading cards as well as listening. Just started step 6 the other day.
Weirdly it seems the decks I got no longer exist on the site. I too would like to know of any decent decks for learning individual kanji. I've got a .txt file on my computer that I painstakingly transcribed from the White Rabbit Japan kanji poster that I'll probably import.
[QUOTE=Empty_Shadow;49720172]Nice idea mang, I'ma try that on some stuff.
171 hours is pretty fucking intense, I've only mustered 99 in the last year, though recently I've had a lot more time so I've been doing my anki a lot more regularly.
Only 940 kanji to go for me. And by that I have 940 unseen cards, who fucking knows how long until I actually have them memorised to any useful degree. I definitely feel like I'm making more progress by putting in more time though, getting past halfway has done wonders for my morale.
Any good decks in particular you've found? My vocab so far is all stuff I've gathered myself from reading stuff, but I downloaded the Nihongoshark kanji deck just to learn the kanji themselves.[/QUOTE]
If you can deal with it being the most boring thing you ever do the 6k vocab sentence pack I was using seems pretty good. It got removed from Ankiweb sometime this month but I [URL="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15606445/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC/Core%202k_6k%20Optimized%20Japanese%20Vocabulary.apkg"]exported it[/URL] to Dropbox if you want it, the images and audio are in the OP of [URL="http://forum.koohii.com/thread-5110.html"]this thread[/URL] on Kanji Koohii (Core 2k/6k Image and Audio Files).
Most of my time was spent on my custom Kanji deck (159/171 hours - maybe another 50-100 to make the cards), it's based on the Kanji Damage mnemonics with changes to cards here and there (changed maybe 10-20 keywords), I posted it in the [URL="https://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1446104&p=49404602&viewfull=1#post49404602"]Japanese Chat thread[/URL] if you want it. I'd say it's not worth it to swap to that if you are that far into it already, I swapped from Mnemosyne to Anki around 500 in and it sucked so much. I always write the Kanji out for recognition and recall which is why it takes me so long to do.
I have some other miscellaneous decks I made but they aren't anything special. I am pretty picky so I haven't found many premade decks I am fine with.
I now have Kanji exams every week, holy shit. But luckily I passed my overall exams with decent grades, can't wait to move there next year.
[editline]11th February 2016[/editline]
The exams cover (obviously) being able to draw them correctly, all of the on/kun-yomi for them and vocabulary using all of the readings :/ We're using BKB at the moment, I find the way it teaches to be incredibly helpful, as I memorise by answering questions.
Have you decided on where you're going yet?
[QUOTE=The Aussie;49723064]Have you decided on where you're going yet?[/QUOTE]
I don't get to decide unfortunately. It depends on the final grades we get in May next year, then depending on our competencies, sensei decides. Tokyo University would be pretty badass, but I really have no preference so long as it isn't too cold :v:
[QUOTE=helifreak;49720406]If you can deal with it being the most boring thing you ever do the 6k vocab sentence pack I was using seems pretty good. It got removed from Ankiweb sometime this month but I [URL="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15606445/日本/Core 2k_6k Optimized Japanese Vocabulary.apkg"]exported it[/URL] to Dropbox if you want it, the images and audio are in the OP of [URL="http://forum.koohii.com/thread-5110.html"]this thread[/URL] on Kanji Koohii (Core 2k/6k Image and Audio Files).
Most of my time was spent on my custom Kanji deck (159/171 hours - maybe another 50-100 to make the cards), it's based on the Kanji Damage mnemonics with changes to cards here and there (changed maybe 10-20 keywords), I posted it in the [URL="https://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1446104&p=49404602&viewfull=1#post49404602"]Japanese Chat thread[/URL] if you want it. I'd say it's not worth it to swap to that if you are that far into it already, I swapped from Mnemosyne to Anki around 500 in and it sucked so much. I always write the Kanji out for recognition and recall which is why it takes me so long to do.
I have some other miscellaneous decks I made but they aren't anything special. I am pretty picky so I haven't found many premade decks I am fine with.[/QUOTE]
Oh man cheers, thanks for that, sounds awesome.
I'm not planning to switch my kanji deck, I think keeping it consistent is a good move (even if whatever deck you choose has some problems, they'll work out in the end)
I used to handwrite them out to memorise but I don't get time for that any more, most of my revision happens on the train so it's purely visual. I'd say it's helping me learn to read faster but my writing will be in the toilet, sadly.
The way I see it though, if I can read fluently, learning to write will come naturally (just slowly), I don't have any plans to actually emigrate to japan so I'm not fussed if I can't fill out forms/write shit down. I just want to enjoy my eventual holiday there (and read some manga)
That deck sounds great though, mining for vocab is fun and gets you a bunch of words but at the end of the day you need to sit down and go through the boring shit eventually. Once I get through my kanji deck I'll give your vocab pack a shot. Cheers bro
[editline]12th February 2016[/editline]
[QUOTE=Cypher_09;49721707]I now have Kanji exams every week, holy shit. But luckily I passed my overall exams with decent grades, can't wait to move there next year.
[editline]11th February 2016[/editline]
The exams cover (obviously) being able to draw them correctly, all of the on/kun-yomi for them and vocabulary using all of the readings :/ We're using BKB at the moment, I find the way it teaches to be incredibly helpful, as I memorise by answering questions.[/QUOTE]
That's rough man.
My handwriting is utter trash in english so I probably have no chance getting through any of the later exams.
Such is life.
Anki is killing me silently on the inside, I've switched back to memrise.
[editline]12th February 2016[/editline]
Consistency is good until you hit a plateau, which I just have. Switching my method of learning completely has helped somewhat.
I think going from total immersion back to an English speaking country also helped cause the plateau, brain just wasn't being challenged anymore and decided it was good enough. This is despite chatting daily in Chinese with friends.
[editline]12th February 2016[/editline]
Good motivation booster despite the relatively simple lyrics. Just takes forever.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/kmRY2Wf.png[/img]
[URL="http://www.japantoday.com/category/opinions/view/why-you-shouldnt-learn-japanese"]Is this true bout Japanese?[/URL]
[QUOTE=AhoyMate;49728021][URL="http://www.japantoday.com/category/opinions/view/why-you-shouldnt-learn-japanese"]Is this true bout Japanese?[/URL][/QUOTE]
Mostly yes.
[quote]It’s Going to Take Time. A Really Freaking Long Time[/quote]
Spot on, takes forever.
[quote]Safe Return Doubtful[/quote]
Still takes forever.
[quote]Opportunity Cost[/quote]
Kinda disagree here, there's lots of stuff you don't need to be in Japan for (untranslated visual novels etc).
[quote]The Payback[/quote]
Pretty much same as above.
[quote]You Really Don’t Need Japanese[/quote]
If you go to somewhere like Tokyo or Osaka you don't need Japanese at all but if you go to a small quiet town in the middle of nowhere English will not save you.
[quote]Japanese Can Make You Less Popular[/quote]
Can't comment on this one.
[quote]Japan Isn’t all That[/quote]
All the Jvloggers I've watched seem to enjoy they jobs, take from that what you will.
[QUOTE=AhoyMate;49728021][URL="http://www.japantoday.com/category/opinions/view/why-you-shouldnt-learn-japanese"]Is this true bout Japanese?[/URL][/QUOTE]
Seems like this is aimed at the kinds of people who go "YEAH! I want to live in Japan and be Japanese because it's just one big anime over there!", and then get disappointed when it turns out it's not. I'm not exactly an anime/manga/cosplay/etc fan so I feel like I have a more grounded expectation of what it's actually like over there. Plus I've probably watched dozens of videos of Gimmeabreakman walking around boring Nagoya streets so I'd like to think I'm used to the mindset that it's just another country. That reassures me a little.
In all honesty I just like how the language sounds and looks. I'm fully aware that Japanese is not a terribly useful language on the global scale - it's just a fun hobby for me. And yeah, it takes a long time to get good, but really, so does pretty much any other language, even ones closely related to English.
Studying Japanese has actually made me a shit load more popular.
People love all the weeb shit I put up on Facebook like photos of essays from lectures and of my room which has a load of cool Japanese stuff along with a huge flag :v:
But yet I can't get into anime...I liked Death Note and a couple of others I've forgotten the name of but that's not what draws me to it anyway.
Fauxpark, Gimmeabreakman is ok but goddamn Tomoko's intro grinds my gears and I'm bored of Nagoya streets and Two and a Half Oyajis :v: I'm more of a Ryan Boundless fan myself
[editline]13th February 2016[/editline]
I can relate to this
[quote]They got up at 4 a.m. every morning to do speaking drills, or wrote 50,000 flash cards, or went to language school five hours a day[/quote]
Goddamn having to get up to prepare for lectures is really stressful. Sensei always makes a huge point of having us speak Japanese out loud every single day, and if I fuck it up nobody says anything or laughs but I always feel ashamed so I've gotta make sure I'm awake fully and prepared (which takes me a few hours as I worship sleep when I can get it :v: )
I don't use Anki though, like I said I learn by answering questions so I'd be [B]fucked[/B] without memrise. I take the notes from the day and feed them into a private course and repeat until they're in permanently, but the constant usage and having japanese friends helps too.
There's a 'Japanese Society' social every week but it's just an excuse for everybody to go and get wasted and hook up with asian/western people. On occasions though we go for meals and celebrate japanese traditions and what have you
[QUOTE=Cypher_09;49730323]Fauxpark, Gimmeabreakman is ok but goddamn Tomoko's intro grinds my gears and I'm bored of Nagoya streets and Two and a Half Oyajis :v: I'm more of a Ryan Boundless fan myself[/QUOTE]
Yeah, some of the things he does can come off as a little cringy or obnoxious to me (like the constant sexual innuendos) but I admire his enthusiasm all the same. I like Abroad in Japan and Regan more anyway, Chris is hilarious and makes pretty well-made videos and Regan's just a straight-up Aussie dude who happens to like Japan.
Everyone assumes I'm a weeaboo.
I'm learning fucking Mandarin Chinese.
[QUOTE=AhoyMate;49728021][URL="http://www.japantoday.com/category/opinions/view/why-you-shouldnt-learn-japanese"]Is this true bout Japanese?[/URL][/QUOTE]
counter points:
It's fun
I can do what I like
I don't have anything else to do on the train
其实学习中文给我很多动力，去中国以后我非常想要实现我的目标，我每天骑自行车，学习中文，不经常玩电游，更多锻炼，减肥，吃很健康的食物，如此向一个完美的人不向一个宅男方面努力。
[editline]13th February 2016[/editline]
其实学习中文可能是最重要的原因我不是个宅男。
[QUOTE=reevezy67;49731822]其实学习中文给我很多动力，去中国以后我非常想要实现我的目标，我每天骑自行车，学习中文，不经常玩电游，更多锻炼，减肥，吃很健康的食物，如此向一个完美的人不向一个宅男方面努力。
[editline]13th February 2016[/editline]
其实学习中文可能是最重要的原因我不是个宅男。[/QUOTE]
就是说笑...
So I've just started taking Spanish classes from a Colombian teacher at one of the centers here.
I'm just happy that I've got a Latin American teacher instead of a Spanish (european) one, always wanted to speak one of the latino dialects.
Most English teachers in Japan are pissing me off. They need to pretend like they are a dire importance to all Japanese and most of them love to circle jerk in their methodology and 'show it off'
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