The last thing I posted is that you should do something, no matter how big or small, to get your learning back on track.
Somehow that was 2 months ago. So I thought I’d check in and ask how you’re doing, did you manage to do something? I did. Not quite as much as I’d hoped, but more than I did in March…
If you remember, I set two goals:
- Writing a sentence a day in Korean, 5 days a week
- Posting 3 words per week in the Instagram language challenge (IGLC)
Daily sentences
I wrote something 13 times in April. Many of these sentences were 2, 3 or even 4 sentences (so over the month I still totalled 30 ;)).
(3/4: There’s no spring in southern Vietnam. April is really hot.
4/4: I really like Saturdays.)
As you can see, your sentences don’t have to be long, which makes this goal very achievable.
I felt like I was learning a lot, but in a manageable way. I had to look up the occasional new word, but not so many that it’s frustrating and you want to give up. Success!
Then I sort of stopped. I wasn’t carrying my notebook around with me much, or I did but just left it in my bag when I got home. Looking through my Kakaotalk, I still wrote Korean a few times in May. Semi-success? I’m not sure.
IGLC
I posted to Instagram 5 times in April and 4 in May. Not great. I found the theme in April difficult as it was spring-related during the hottest month of the year in Saigon! In May, I forgot to save the prompts infographic to my phone so I didn’t keep track of the daily theme. I’ve already put the June prompts on my phone, so hopefully I can meet to my aim next month!
Other things
I’m still looking for a decent Vietnamese drama series that I can get subtitled. I don’t really read fast enough to watch Korean dramas with Vietnamese subtitles. However I recently watched an American film that had Vietnamese subtitles, so I was able to glance at the subtitles to see how certain words and expressions had been translated. Interesting, but not a great study method.
Next month
Summer means extra work for me, so I don’t have time to do the italki lessons challenge* (one day I will!) or anything else particularly intensive. So I’m going to set similar goals:
- Write a sentence a day in Korean (minimum 15 days).
- Post 3 words per week in the Instagram language challenge (aim 10 words).
- Keep reviewing vocabulary with Anki and Memrise every day.
Over to you: What have you been doing to boost your learning recently? What’s your aim for the next month?
6 replies on “Have you been doing something?”
Hello Ruth,
I haven’t done much language learning recently but I could suggested a couple of interesting Vietnamese short films although not drama series they are subtitled.
See below:
Memories (10 mins)
Xin Lỗi! Anh Chỉ Là Thằng Bán Bánh Giò (Phim Ngắn)(25 mins) And see discussion from Learning Vietnamese Language page https://plus.google.com/u/3/+NathanKuehlthau/posts/Q2r6Kmwsuu8
A collection of Short Films on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOqQKO1pAGY&list=RDkOqQKO1pAGY
Cheers,
Ben
Hmm maybe I should create a Vimeo playlist to compliment my Youtube ones!
In case anyone clicks on “Xin Lỗi! Anh Chỉ Là Thằng Bán Bánh Giò”, be warned it’s very sad. I wish I could add that warning in the playlist.
Chào Thảo! 🙂
How did June go for you? Has it cooled off in Saigon?
I recently started a new website for intermediate learners of Russian. This has been my dream for a long, long time and it feels really good to finally be creating content for it! Most of my goals for July revolve around the site… which means more learning (of Russian and- far scarier- WordPress).
Katherine recently posted…5’nizza – белые рубашки
Somehow I missed this comment. Your Russian site looks really cool, I like the way you set up the homepage. WordPress is not that scary, honest!
I’ve also found it hard to find Vietnamese material with Vietnamese audio and subbed in Vietnamese. I do enjoy a few Youtube shows though, like Kẻ Lắm Lời since they talk about pop-culture, but also combine three speakers with Northern and Southern dialects.
If you find any material that has both audio/subs then please let me know 🙂
I’ll check out that Youtube show you mentioned. Thanks for that!
I’ve already written about subtitles, and any new material I find is added to that article (and/or the associated playlists).