Self Improvement

[Fierce_LiNk]

I've been practising Dutch for about 2 weeks straight on DuoLingo and I'm determined to get better at it. I've made improvements already...it's just getting it to stick now!

[Jimbob]

Well, more so making some improvements by helping out Sophie a bit. Had a chat with her, basically her Mum does just about everything in the house. Any communication they have is via texting (bit lazy). Mentioned that she needs to stand up for herself a bit more, and get the apron strings cut as it were. So, we cleaned out her fish tank (which her Mum never let her clean, even though it's her fish). Last clean was 8 months ago, so we had to get a new filter. And we bought an iron, again not owned one in months.

 

As for improvements myself, i'm looking at some ways i can improve.

[bob]

Well, more so making some improvements by helping out Sophie a bit. Had a chat with her, basically her Mum does just about everything in the house. Any communication they have is via texting (bit lazy). Mentioned that she needs to stand up for herself a bit more, and get the apron strings cut as it were. So, we cleaned out her fish tank (which her Mum never let her clean, even though it's her fish). Last clean was 8 months ago, so we had to get a new filter. And we bought an iron, again not owned one in months.

 

As for improvements myself, i'm looking at some ways i can improve.

That's less 'self-improvement' and more 'fish-improvement'.

 

8 months is insane! It must have been like 90% green sludge.

[Jimbob]

That's less 'self-improvement' and more 'fish-improvement'.

 

8 months is insane! It must have been like 90% green sludge.

 

Let's put it this way, i was genuinely surprised the fish was still alive. The old filter was full of sludge. And the smell, urghhh.

 

Bit of cleaning, changed the stones and a new filter. And the difference is so much better.

 

Edited September 5, 2016 by Jimbob

[nightwolf]

Learning lots of real life practical skills. Have done the DIY thing to death and pretty much can cope with most non electrical non plumbing problems. Learning how to sew next.

 

 

This is something I always tell people who are starting to rent to do. Its saved my ass so many times knowing small DIY and quick fixes.

 

For instance, my partner unplugged a sink plug (the screw/lid kind) and I had the knowledge to check under the sink to fix it. Easy peasy. But he was at a complete loss.

[Fierce_LiNk]

I've carried on with DuoLingo and have made tons of progress, so far.

 

The PC version is great. Whilst the mobile version is awesome as you can sit in bed and learn, the PC version is more comprehensive and contains more information about the section you're learning about. E.g. about sentence construction if you're learning about conjunctions.

 

I'm a big fan of DuoLingo. Would definitely recommend. It covers a lot of ground and the information is sticking.

[Ashley]

Yeah I prefer the web version. The timed practice also helps (and you get more points ) and while I've been away it's not been as good using my phone/tablet to do it.

 

They've also just released TinyCards, a flashcard software. Currently only available on iOS but coming to others. And chatbots but only in French, Spanish and German on iOS for now.

 

Although I did spend the best part of two weeks and kind of froze up when it came to Italian....

Edited October 8, 2016 by Ashley

[Babooo]

-Learning to teach English as a foreign language (started the course just today)

-Improving my maths skills (embarrassing right now)

-Fitness (trying to improve my PB for my next half marathon)

 

Should really look into improving my presentation skills. The nerves! Eurgh.

[drahkon]

I'm going to attend a Japanese course at university starting next Monday Always wanted to give that language a go. Pretty sure it will be incredibly difficult

 

@Debug Mode you're living in Japan right now, am I remembering this correctly? Any advice for learning Japanese?

[Ashley]

From what I recall of Japanese (and granted I didn't get very far) but their rules are fairly simple compared to some languages, it's the alphabet that obviously is the biggest hurdle for Western learners. Good luck with it!

 

Still ambling through with Italian. I feel like I need to make a more concentrated effort with learning the underlying rules and clarifying similar words (either spelling wise or conceptually) that I keep getting mixed up but urgh who has the time man? On day 90 of my duolingo streak though.

 

Was out with an Italian friend, Portuguese friend and his boyfriend (Irish) the other day and at some point me and the Irish guy were just saying "come on...why gendered words?" and then one of them said "well its useful when agreeing adjectives and numbers" and I just said "oh get rid of that too!" I agree it can be useful that once you learn the rules you can just conjugate the verb instead of adding a pronoun, but to a native English speaker it feels like having to learn a lot more as we typically only have very few conjugations. Obviously English is full of weirdnesses and inconsistencies too.

Edited October 21, 2016 by Ashley

[Debug Mode]

I'm going to attend a Japanese course at university starting next Monday Always wanted to give that language a go. Pretty sure it will be incredibly difficult

 

@Debug Mode you're living in Japan right now, am I remembering this correctly? Any advice for learning Japanese?

 

Yo! Yes, you are correct!

 

First piece of advice: Don't pass up on any conversational practice, no matter how bad you think you might be. You'll remember so much more that way and it's one of my biggest regrets that I didn't take advantage of the many opportunities I had.

 

Ashley already hit the nail on the head that the grammar rules are very simple, the key is to simply remember them. All you really do is 'conjugate' the verbs and the verbs are split into three different groups, you'll definitely be taught how to identify what group a verb belongs to so I wont touch upon it here.

 

The best advice I can give you is study from this website as well as your classes. I failed my second year miserably due to many different circumstances (laziness was admittedly one of them). I had to repeat the year but instead of attending classes, I studied from that website and attended the tests and was getting high 90's for marks. Completely free, you have the option to buy the book too if you want but there's no point given that it's available in it's complete form on the website and as a smart phone application.

 

Don't neglect the kanji writing system. Hiragana and katakana are a piece of piss, but you'll need to know your kanji. i'm okay at reading, but terrible at writing so make sure to practice as much as you can so you ingrain it into your memory!

 

If you need any help along the way, send me a PM and I'll do my best to help you out mate, good luck!

[drahkon]

First piece of advice: Don't pass up on any conversational practice, no matter how bad you think you might be.

 

The course is intended to be very interactive so conversations will be a big part of the lessons. I also want to give Japanese a try when I'm at a restaurant for example, or when I meet Japanese students. Obviously video games and anime will become quite important for listening comprehension (I improved my English soooo much with video games in my early teenage years; still do, actually).

 

Ashley already hit the nail on the head that the grammar rules are very simple, the key is to simply remember them. All you really do is 'conjugate' the verbs and the verbs are split into three different groups, you'll definitely be taught how to identify what group a verb belongs to so I wont touch upon it here.

 

Ah, I see. My biggest fear was how difficult grammar would be but that doesn't seem to be that big of a deal. I'm still a bit overwhelmed by hiragana's and katakana's symbols/signs. There are so many

 

The best advice I can give you is study from this website as well as your classes.

 

Awesome, thanks : peace: Already downlaoded the pdf for the grammar guide and will use it on my tablet I'll also take a look at the app.

 

Don't neglect the kanji writing system.

 

What exactly is kanji? Isn't it kinda like "hieroglyphs", i.e. a symbol looks a bit like a fish, for example, and its meaning is fish?

Or are there also kanji that just symbolize syllables like in hiragana and katakana? Is kanji used in conjunction with hiragana and katakana?

[Debug Mode]

What exactly is kanji? Isn't it kinda like "hieroglyphs", i.e. a symbol looks a bit like a fish, for example, and its meaning is fish?

Or are there also kanji that just symbolize syllables like in hiragana and katakana? Is kanji used in conjunction with hiragana and katakana?

 

Kanji is very important to the writing system as it can distinguish the meaning of words that have the same spelling and also 'simplifies' texts by requiring less space. Once you get to a certain level, you can actually work out what a kanji you've never seen before actually means by the radicals contained in the kanji (as in, certain shapes or strokes in the kanji).

 

Giving an example of why kanji is useful, I'll give you a word.

 

かえる

Romanized: Kaeru

 

Now, there's two words that immediately spring to mind that are spelt that way in their basic dictionary form (present tense).

 

変える - To change

帰る - To return (as in, return to your room, apartment, country etc)

 

Both spelt the exact same way yet two different meanings. Obviously you would be able to tell the difference by context、but the 'kanji' element I mentioned is the first symbol and those can be combined. One example from the latter word is 帰国, to return home. Instead of having a long winded explanation that you're returning to your home country, you now have just one verb for it and it is read as 'kikoku'.

 

I hope that serves as a decent explanation as to why kanji is important, but by all means message me if there's any thing you're stuck with in the future!

[Will]

帰国 is a noun, right? The verb would be 帰国する.

 

I'd agree with the advice above and say above all else get as much speaking/listening practice with native speakers as you can. The grammar rules are very simple but they're also broken all the time. You can drop things, mash things together and it can be incredibly hard to tell where one word ends and the next one starts.

 

In the kaeru example above you'd obviously have the context but they're also spoken differently. To change has an emphasis on the E whereas to return kind of mixes the A and E sounds into one. The important point is don't believe them when they tell you all of the sounds in Japanese stick strictly to the rules - they change all the time.

 

For me the biggest thing to get my head around is that although the grammar rules are simple they are completely different to what you're used to. The easiest way to get ahead is don't question these things that seem weird, just learn them, practice and soon enough they will just be in your head and you won't need to think about them.

[Ike]

I'm going to attend a Japanese course at university starting next Monday Always wanted to give that language a go. Pretty sure it will be incredibly difficult

 

I used this website to learn Hiragana. There's a flash drag and drop game linked in there which I used as well which I found useful. It helped me learn Hiragana during my lunch breaks at work a lot quicker then reading it from a book. I'm just self learning though which probably isn't the best way but I'm not sure I'd have the time to take a course.

 

The grammar rules are very simple but they're also broken all the time.

 

Which is the same as English, really. As well as probably any other language.

[Will]

Which is the same as English, really. As well as probably any other language.

 

Oh I have no doubt that's the case. The point is that, for me at least, it was drilled in that its a very strict language and just learn the rules and you'll be fine, when actually it's not the case at all. I know so many people who are great in the classroom but when it comes to actually talking to someone they can't do it, which really is the whole point of a language.

 

The main thing I'm trying to get at is real life practice is the absolute most important thing you can do. As with the grammar, it's probably the same for any other language too.

[Debug Mode]

帰国 is a noun' date=' right? The verb would be 帰国する.

 

I'd agree with the advice above and say above all else get as much speaking/listening practice with native speakers as you can. The grammar rules are very simple but they're also broken all the time. You can drop things, mash things together and it can be incredibly hard to tell where one word ends and the next one starts.

 

In the kaeru example above you'd obviously have the context but they're also spoken differently. To change has an emphasis on the E whereas to return kind of mixes the A and E sounds into one. The important point is don't believe them when they tell you all of the sounds in Japanese stick strictly to the rules - they change all the time.

 

For me the biggest thing to get my head around is that although the grammar rules are simple they are completely different to what you're used to. The easiest way to get ahead is don't question these things that seem weird, just learn them, practice and soon enough they will just be in your head and you won't need to think about them.[/quote']

 

Ah, I completely forgot to explain that. It is indeed a noun, but it's also what my teacher's referred to as a 'suru' verb. By itself it is a noun but it can be used as a verb.

 

Very true about the pronunciation but when you're reading in hiragana you're not going to learn that, hence why I went with those two as an example of similarly spelt words to demonstrate why kanji is very useful to learn properly.

[Ashley]

 

Sì boy!

 

And appropriately enough my friend left me a whatsapp voice message this morning and I could understand about half of it

 

I'm on day 98 of Duolingo but the last ten percent has taken a long time (in part due to illnesses/holiday where I was doing the bare minimum to keep up the streak rather than trying to progress).

[Fierce_LiNk]

I wish the Dutch one had the fluency bit. I'm quite curious about just how far along I am.

 

I'm doing pretty well, if I do say so myself! My vocabulary has definitely improved and I'm much more used to the sentence structure/word order, which can be very tricky. My one weakness I'd say is that I'm not particularly great at anything past a simple sentence. I guess that'll come in time.

 

I've got a 17 day streak going. I'm a bit annoyed now at those days where I didn't attempt it!

[Ashley]

Is it not part of the software rather than language? Always assumed it was as it comes up for Portuguese too.