March 15: collaborate on a post
I know no one, and only me. So I’ll collab with myself : @kstudy
So originally I was going to make a video with this script below, regarding language, but here, take it:
My Language Experience and Resources
Hi, so today I’ll talk about the resources I happen to own, and the ones I have used in the past.
I’ll also talk a little bit about the number of years, and the things I ‘ve done in total. Basically what experience I have and why I’m learning languages! So I’ve wanted to learn a bunch of languages for a long time, and the reason is, my parents, speak 8~ish languages in total. They both speak Vietnamese, English, Teochew Chinese, Cambodian, and Mandarin. But my mom isn’t as fluent in Cambodian as she used to be and my dad is conversational in Mandarin. But my mom also knows Cantonese and my dad knows Thai. Both of my parents are either conversational or fluent in the languages I mentioned.
And because my parents are pretty good and well-rounded in these languages, whenever I travel to Asia, we don’t really have any issues. My parents can read Chinese characters in Japan or in Taiwan or Singapore. Or my dad’ll read Vietnamese, Cambodian and some Thai. This whole issue of being able to talk to people out of one’s ordinary spectrum is absolutely amazing to me and my cousins also know quite a couple languages, as well as family all over the place, as some know the languages I mentioned already and some knowing even French or German.
Thus my main 5 languages I want to learn for sure are : Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, French and German. I’m going to now talk about my experience with the each of them, and the order will be how long I have spent being around the language.
French
So, I’ve spent about 3 years, in high school. And this year I didn’t get to take it. So i’m losing some of my french,
fortunately I’ve gone through some lessons on Duolingo to remind me and some exercises on Lingvist. I took
the traditional class during those 3 years, so I had homework just about everyday for the last three years and I’m
most likely to be conversational in French than any of the other languages mentioned on my list. It’s also a lot easier
than any of the other languages as its not using a new writing system, and the sounds aren’t like German.
So the resources I’m using now, as I mentioned are Lingvist and this textbook here called French Made Simple. I
got the book at a Swap Meet for about $5 when the original price was $13. I also have pretty much all if not most
of my notes from my class years so they are really strong reference tools that I’m depending on.
Korean
Probably the language I’ve spent the most time TRYING to learn. I say trying because I kid you not, I have like 3 different
textbooks, probably for beginners for this language. So, I’m into Kpop if you haven’t guessed, and I’ve grown to enjoy
the culture and language. My progress level is that I have a REALLY GOOD handle on Hangeul. I can read fairly well, and
I’m at a fair rate I’d like to think. I’ve collected a lot of vocabulary from my years into K Pop Culture, and since I speak
Teochew, there are also a lot of commonalities I’ve collected as well.
Early on during my interest in learning the language, I realized that it’s super similar to the Chinese dialect I speak at home,
so by learning Korean and Japanese, I’d also be strengthening my Teochew. I’ve picked up the interest of learning Korean in
like 2013, so it’s about 5 years and I haven’t made very much progress, unfortunately. Like I’ve picked up pronunciation rules,
know what are vowels and consonants and some basic grammar rules, but aside from that, I’ve done A LOT of listening and attempts
at reading.
For my resources I have a TTMIK Level 1 Book, they changed the cover but the content should be the same. 2 Ehwa books, for level
1-1 as well as the textbook and workbook. And the last textbook I believe is called Sogang? I’m not sure, but I have the
PDF file from like A LONG TIME ago. I’ll see if I can find it. But I think that’s about all the physical resources I have, and I always
have a hangeul chart. So I’ve used in the past apps by Hikari Nakashima, Sejong Hakdang’ vocabulary app, Hansol Education CO.,
and currently Lingodeer with Japanese and Chinese and it’s like the app Chinese Skill and Duolingo in one app.
Japanese
The language I have the MOST resources in. I have well over 5,6, or 7 books on Japanese alone. I’ve liked anime like every other kid
and one day I want to live in Japan. So yeah. I’ve learned hiragana when I was around 14, so 2014 or so and learned how to read it after
picking up Hangeul. I STILL can’t read Katakana that well, but I know a couple things in Japanese as I’ve picked it up with Lingodeer.
I just like the language and culture and just, everything. Also, I want to talk fast.
So, I’ve got Japanese in Mangaland, Japanese Tutor, Genki Level 1 Textbook and Workbook, a Kumon Hiragana Book for 4-year-olds, Daiso
Hiragana tracing book, and a cute little Daiso series teach hiragana, katakana, phrases in Japanese and Kanji, and a few reference books.
That being said, I’ve got a lot. And I’ve used, in terms of apps or sites in the past, tofugu.com (an amazing online Japanese hub for linguistic resources
and all things Japanese), more apps by Hikari Nakashima, who also has an app for French?, Dr. Moku for mnemonics, and I think that’s it.
I hear great things about Tae Kim’s guide on Japanese on how thorough it is and whatnot, my dad said so as he’s learning the language kind of too.
Mandarin Chinese
The language I’ve probably heard my entire life. So I’m Chinese, but not really. I’m from Southern California and that means a lot of Chinese people
that speak Mandarin. More Cantonese speaking people live in Northern California. And I live nearby a city where pretty much everyone is either
white or Asian. And usually, they speak Mandarin or Korean. So I’ve gone to art class since I was 6 and basically I’ve heard other kids speak in
Mandarin to each other, and I just never picked up the language.
Once I started to volunteer for my art classes and speak with parents, I realized I looked Chinese and I couldn’t speak it, and that’s a problem. So I tried to learn in 2013 or 2014 as well. I picked up a couple characters, attempts at a class when I was 8, when my mom had hope, and I didn’t get very far.
Recently, as we’re right up to mentioning resources, I’ve got Tuttle’s Learning Mandarin Chinese Characters, Chineasy app and book and this little phrase book. I also have 2 other textbooks: Discovering Chinese Volume 1 and Integrated Chinese, also Level 1. Apps I’ve used in the past are probably really little,
but I know that Skritter Chinese and Pleco are really good apps. I haven’t gotten a lot around Chinese, but I’m making my way around with LingoDeer.
German
So this language. My cousins speak French because they’re from Canada or France, and some Aussie cousins picked it up as well. As for German, I’ve only
got one cousin who picked it up and I like Attack on Titan okay. I loved the theme song and I’m like why not. Also, German is a language that I feel like that can be very beautiful and it sounds a little nasally to me. But all the more reason to learn it.
I considered picking up the language in 2015 and used the Memrise app for it. I picked up some phrases and some words, but after a hiatus of I don’t know how long,
I just didn’t get back into tempo until this challenge. I’ve touched upon the language with Duolingo as well, but now I’m using Lingvist. Lingvist is a pretty active
learning app, as it kind of does throw you into the language and forces upon a repetition system which I really like. I only have one book about German and that’s
Barron’s Learn German the Fast and Easy Way. I’ve looked into the book, and unless I’ve got picture-perfect memory, I ain’t memorizing that fast.
So, that’s pretty much my list of languages I want to learn and why and the things I’m using. I hope you’ve received insight as to the power of languages and all the things you can do with them after hearing me. There are always resources and there were a lot more than I’ve used in the past that you can find out for yourself too. I hope you can use some of these for yourself and maybe send it to a linguistically interested friend, and I hope you have a good day. Thanks for watching, bye!
And if it should be a video, let me know!