I've finally got confirmation on my B2 exam date for Turkish. It'll happen on February 19. It's a bit sooner than I wanted, but I'll deal with it.
I've been going through the TELC practice material to prepare. The TELC website has a mock exam, but I've also purchased the extra practice material, so there's plenty for me to use prior to the tests.
Additionally, I've decided my second language this year to study, or rather continue to study, is Ojibwe. I first looked at this language about a year and a half ago and was really interested in it. I couldn't find many resources, though, so I let it slide. Now that I'm returning to it, I'm pleasantly surprised to find many more resources available. I'm reviewing the Pimsleur course that I'd initially found notes to, then bought the audio course. What a difference having both makes. I understand things much better now.
Another resource that I'm finding to be really helpful is the Anishinaabemowin language page. It's quite complete as a grammar reference. I've also found this Ojibwe grammar site for any other questions I may have.
I'm taking it slow with Ojibwe until I get through my Turkish exams, but will probably concentrate more on it after that. In the meantime, I'm documenting any lessons or learning points on my Indoojibwem! blog.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
2012 - Year End Review and Thoughts for 2013
I've been terrible at updating this blog the last half of 2012. I've been quite consistent with my Turkish studies, and have gone as far as I could with Georgian, although I would have liked to have progressed much further with it.
I've now completed the complete Yeni Hitit series of courses. This course has given me everything I was looking for to push me forward. I've doubled (at least) my vocabulary and strengthened my grammar. I've spent a lot of time with my conversation partner and feel muh more comfortable speaking. Of course, I still stumble with thoughts at times, but I have no trouble communicating what I want to communicate, and if there are holes, I can converse my way around them and usually end up learning something in the process.
I've also spent a considerable amount of time watching Turkish TV, whether it's CNNTürk, Kanal D or NTV. I've averaged 3 hours a day with this type of input, and continue to do so.
I finished Kayıp Sembol and gained a decent amount of vocabulary from that too.
What's next for my Turkish? Well, the first quarter of this year I plan on sitting the B2 exam. It's being arranged through the Turkish American Society of Chicago - a really great group of people. I highly recommend checking them out for learning the language and culture if you're in the Chicagoland area. So, for the next three months, preparing for the exams will be my focus.
As for Georgian, well, I completed most of the courses I wanted to, except for the Hewitt grammar. I had and still have so much trouble with that book. I was unable to watch the number of movies I wanted to. I just couldn't find enough material that interested me. Music, on the other hand, was plentiful. I learned twenty new Georgian songs.
Do I think I reached an A2 level? No. A strong, A1, yes, but I just don't feel comfortable saying I'm at an A2 level. I also had trouble finding conversation partners for the language. Had I succeeded in this, I think I would be comfortable in saying I reached an A2, but without consistent conversation, I'm just not there.
I will most likely not continue studying Georgian this year, although I'll try to maintain what I've learned, either by looking for more comprehensible input, or reviewing what I've already learned. This approach has worked well for me with maintaining Polish - something I may pick up again later this year. More on that in a minute.
Finally, I participated in a 6 Week Challenge with Piedmontese, and continued with the language after the challenge was complete. It's definitely something I have incorporated into my daily life. In fact, the last half of 2012 was spent writing a comparative grammar that is due to be published this month. It's something I'm pretty proud of. There are so few resources out there for English speakers that are interested in the language.
So, for 2013...
I don't have any plans for a new language for the year, as I've done for the last couple years. As I mentioned, the first quarter of this year I'll be concentrating on the B2 exams for Turkish. What I am at least tentatively thinking is resuming my Polish studies, and maybe another language that I've previously either briefly looked at or studied. I feel like I'm in a much better space mentally this year to take on Polish again. The 6 Week Challenge was good motivation for me with Piedmontese, so I will probably try to take advantage of that again with Polish and another language.
This year, I want to approach things a little differently than in years past. I don't want to have such rigid goals, aside from my exams. Although some goals are important, they tend to just get in the way when something goes off track.
So there you have it. I want to wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous 2013.
I've now completed the complete Yeni Hitit series of courses. This course has given me everything I was looking for to push me forward. I've doubled (at least) my vocabulary and strengthened my grammar. I've spent a lot of time with my conversation partner and feel muh more comfortable speaking. Of course, I still stumble with thoughts at times, but I have no trouble communicating what I want to communicate, and if there are holes, I can converse my way around them and usually end up learning something in the process.
I've also spent a considerable amount of time watching Turkish TV, whether it's CNNTürk, Kanal D or NTV. I've averaged 3 hours a day with this type of input, and continue to do so.
I finished Kayıp Sembol and gained a decent amount of vocabulary from that too.
What's next for my Turkish? Well, the first quarter of this year I plan on sitting the B2 exam. It's being arranged through the Turkish American Society of Chicago - a really great group of people. I highly recommend checking them out for learning the language and culture if you're in the Chicagoland area. So, for the next three months, preparing for the exams will be my focus.
As for Georgian, well, I completed most of the courses I wanted to, except for the Hewitt grammar. I had and still have so much trouble with that book. I was unable to watch the number of movies I wanted to. I just couldn't find enough material that interested me. Music, on the other hand, was plentiful. I learned twenty new Georgian songs.
Do I think I reached an A2 level? No. A strong, A1, yes, but I just don't feel comfortable saying I'm at an A2 level. I also had trouble finding conversation partners for the language. Had I succeeded in this, I think I would be comfortable in saying I reached an A2, but without consistent conversation, I'm just not there.
I will most likely not continue studying Georgian this year, although I'll try to maintain what I've learned, either by looking for more comprehensible input, or reviewing what I've already learned. This approach has worked well for me with maintaining Polish - something I may pick up again later this year. More on that in a minute.
Finally, I participated in a 6 Week Challenge with Piedmontese, and continued with the language after the challenge was complete. It's definitely something I have incorporated into my daily life. In fact, the last half of 2012 was spent writing a comparative grammar that is due to be published this month. It's something I'm pretty proud of. There are so few resources out there for English speakers that are interested in the language.
So, for 2013...
I don't have any plans for a new language for the year, as I've done for the last couple years. As I mentioned, the first quarter of this year I'll be concentrating on the B2 exams for Turkish. What I am at least tentatively thinking is resuming my Polish studies, and maybe another language that I've previously either briefly looked at or studied. I feel like I'm in a much better space mentally this year to take on Polish again. The 6 Week Challenge was good motivation for me with Piedmontese, so I will probably try to take advantage of that again with Polish and another language.
This year, I want to approach things a little differently than in years past. I don't want to have such rigid goals, aside from my exams. Although some goals are important, they tend to just get in the way when something goes off track.
So there you have it. I want to wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous 2013.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Her şeyi açıklayabilirim (eh, doğru değil)
Summer has passed, for the most part. My relatives have gone back to Texas for the winter. I'm not outside quite so much, although I do take my regular walks.
I purposely took a break from my blog, although I continued (and continue) studying throughout the break. With the colder weather comes more introspection and solitude, something I specifically avoid in the warm summer months. So now I can begin to get back to journaling my progress and thoughts.
I've continued, as was my plan, to focus on Turkish this year. It's going about as I expected it to go. This year is all about massive vocabulary acquisition, and I think I'm still on track to get my vocabulary above the 6000 word mark. I've finished the second level of Yeni Hitit and am about half way through the last level. Level 3 is largely about reading, and by extension, writing. So I've been picking up the book more sporadically than the first two volumes. For reading, I've just started to read Kayıp Sembol (The Lost Symbol), by Dan Brown. I've read the book in English, so I'm familiar with the story. Even so, I'm estimating it'll take me a little over two months to get through it. So far, there's a lot of new vocabulary for me to soak up, but I like the novel, so it keeps me interested. I still watch a hell of a lot of Turkish TV - around three hours a day. I'm actually quite comfortable watching most of what I find on Kanal D, maybe a little less so with the news on CNNTürk, although the vocabulary is pretty regular and not difficult to understand. The reason I say I'm maybe less comfortable with CNNTürk has to do with the subject matter. It's mostly politics and Syria and, well... politics. It's just not that interesting to me. So aside from the nightly news (really the morning news because of the time difference), I've focused more on Kanal D's programming, which keeps me plenty entertained and interested..
Back in June, my 6 Week Challenge to learn Piedmontese ended, and I considered it a success. I continue to read Piedmontese every day, and to listen to whatever I can find. I also write when I can, although, as I mentioned at the top of the post, my writing and journaling took a big hit over the summer. I love the language and I plan on perfecting it as much as I possibly can.
Georgian is another story.. While I got through Dodona Kiziria's Beginning Georgian and am happy with the results, I've not progressed much further than that. I tried to continue on with George Hewitt's Georgian: A Learner's Grammar, but frankly, I can't stand it. The book is so convoluted and disorganized to be taken as a course. I think it's a decent reference book, though. So I no longer crack that one open very often. My goal was to get to an A2-ish level by the end of the year. I'm not sure I'll make it. If I can find something as interesting as Beginning Georgian, but slightly more advanced, I may still have a chance. But we'll see. Even if I don't progress much further with Georgian, I'll still he content with what I've learned. It's an extremely difficult language - at least for me, and I go through cycles of really liking it and hating it. So I suppose the trick is to ride the high cycles and ignore the low ones.
I'm already thinking and planning how I'll be dealing with the level of Turkish I want for next year, but I still want to keep my plans under wraps for the time being.
I purposely took a break from my blog, although I continued (and continue) studying throughout the break. With the colder weather comes more introspection and solitude, something I specifically avoid in the warm summer months. So now I can begin to get back to journaling my progress and thoughts.
I've continued, as was my plan, to focus on Turkish this year. It's going about as I expected it to go. This year is all about massive vocabulary acquisition, and I think I'm still on track to get my vocabulary above the 6000 word mark. I've finished the second level of Yeni Hitit and am about half way through the last level. Level 3 is largely about reading, and by extension, writing. So I've been picking up the book more sporadically than the first two volumes. For reading, I've just started to read Kayıp Sembol (The Lost Symbol), by Dan Brown. I've read the book in English, so I'm familiar with the story. Even so, I'm estimating it'll take me a little over two months to get through it. So far, there's a lot of new vocabulary for me to soak up, but I like the novel, so it keeps me interested. I still watch a hell of a lot of Turkish TV - around three hours a day. I'm actually quite comfortable watching most of what I find on Kanal D, maybe a little less so with the news on CNNTürk, although the vocabulary is pretty regular and not difficult to understand. The reason I say I'm maybe less comfortable with CNNTürk has to do with the subject matter. It's mostly politics and Syria and, well... politics. It's just not that interesting to me. So aside from the nightly news (really the morning news because of the time difference), I've focused more on Kanal D's programming, which keeps me plenty entertained and interested..
Back in June, my 6 Week Challenge to learn Piedmontese ended, and I considered it a success. I continue to read Piedmontese every day, and to listen to whatever I can find. I also write when I can, although, as I mentioned at the top of the post, my writing and journaling took a big hit over the summer. I love the language and I plan on perfecting it as much as I possibly can.
Georgian is another story.. While I got through Dodona Kiziria's Beginning Georgian and am happy with the results, I've not progressed much further than that. I tried to continue on with George Hewitt's Georgian: A Learner's Grammar, but frankly, I can't stand it. The book is so convoluted and disorganized to be taken as a course. I think it's a decent reference book, though. So I no longer crack that one open very often. My goal was to get to an A2-ish level by the end of the year. I'm not sure I'll make it. If I can find something as interesting as Beginning Georgian, but slightly more advanced, I may still have a chance. But we'll see. Even if I don't progress much further with Georgian, I'll still he content with what I've learned. It's an extremely difficult language - at least for me, and I go through cycles of really liking it and hating it. So I suppose the trick is to ride the high cycles and ignore the low ones.
I'm already thinking and planning how I'll be dealing with the level of Turkish I want for next year, but I still want to keep my plans under wraps for the time being.
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