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Post by Wolfgang on Nov 23, 2019 21:25:54 GMT -5
How is Wolfgang 's Mandarin coming along? The People™ need an update. The months after volleyball season started, I've been less diligent. Just a few minutes here and there every day. I need to really get back in the swing of things. |
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Post by vup on Nov 23, 2019 21:35:14 GMT -5
How is Wolfgang 's Mandarin coming along? The People™ need an update. The months after volleyball season started, I've been less diligent. Just a few minutes here and there every day. I need to really get back in the swing of things. Very good. It sounded like you were going at it pretty hard earlier in the year, and this "volleyball break" may be what you needed to keep your mind sharp and flexible. 🦗 |
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Post by Wolfgang on Nov 23, 2019 21:37:15 GMT -5
Yes. That's it.
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Post by vup on Nov 23, 2019 22:04:10 GMT -5
I was studying some Spanish earlier, and I have concluded that the four most important verbs in Spanish (or maybe any language) are:
Estar: to be (subjective)
Ser: to be (objective)
Hacer: to do, to make
Haber: to have, must, to have to
I took four years of Spanish in high school, and they didn't teach us "haber" until year three. Looking back on it, I don't agree with this teaching method. Haber is so common and fundamental to speech in Spanish, and I think it should be taught in the first year.
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Post by XAsstCoach on Nov 24, 2019 23:57:37 GMT -5
How is Wolfgang 's Mandarin coming along? The People™ need an update. The months after volleyball season started, I've been less diligent. Just a few minutes here and there every day. I need to really get back in the swing of things. Hey! See if u can install Shadow of War in Chinese. Can play and learn at the same time. |
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Post by vup on Apr 6, 2020 17:59:39 GMT -5
I'm taking a leave of absence at work due to the coronavirus, so I might as well take advantage of my time and do something I've always wanted to do! I just booked a 30 minute trial Spanish lesson on iTalki set for tomorrow afternoon. I've seen this site recommended by Paul on the LangFocus YouTube channel, so I thought I would give it a try. iTalki offers lessons from Professional Teachers and/or Community Tutors, at an hourly rate. You can book lesson times whenever the teacher has availability, so it's pretty flexible. And teachers and tutors are often native speakers, so it allows you to speak with natives without going to another country.
Anyway, I think this will be fun, and maybe even excuse to socialize in isolation. 😁
Anyone else ever used iTalki? How have you liked it?
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Post by vup on Apr 8, 2020 21:16:44 GMT -5
I had my first lesson on iTalki. My teacher was very kind, encouraging, and patient with me. I've booked 5 more lessons with him, every other day starting tomorrow. The upcoming lessons will be an hour long, and more structured. I have since branched out to the other features that iTalki offers. There is a community section for writing notes, asking questions, answering questions, as well as other tools to help stay active on the site. I commented on someone's post who was offering to help teach Spanish, and many noticed my comment, and I now have a few native Spanish speakers offering to help me learn Spanish! So far my experience has been good. It's a great way to make connections with native speakers, and also speakers who want to learn English in exchange for lessons in Spanish. Looking forward to my lesson tomorrow!  |
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Post by vup on Apr 13, 2020 14:30:50 GMT -5
My language learning is taking a bit of a lull right now. I have been keeping up with my lessons and homework, but the holidays and the global pandemic have been keeping me distracted. I know I can do this though. I have my fourth lesson on Wednesday, and I want to impress my teacher. We're going over all of the past tense verbs, but my responses have been pretty bland as of late. (Ej. Question: "¿Qué ciudades has visitado fuera de tu estado?" Response: "He visitado muchas ciudades.")
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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 5, 2023 16:52:32 GMT -5
Oooh...foreign language thread!!!
Update on my Mandarin self-study. I believe I may have already posted this (I didn't check).
I gave up on Mandarin. It's so frikkin' hard. Quite possibly the hardest thing I've had to learn in recent memory.
I think it would help if I had someone to practice this with. I used to have Chinese friends but that was back in college and grad school. I used to have Chinese coworkers but it would be too much bother (for them) -- and I haven't really kept in touch. Also, I wouldn't know for sure if my former Chinese coworkers spoke Mandarin vs. Cantonese. In the Bay Area, you can't be sure. So many people are from Hong Kong (Cantonese).
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Post by Wolfgang on Aug 5, 2023 22:16:48 GMT -5
Re. foreign language
One of the funniest scenes in all of The Big Bang Theory. When I watched it for the first time, I burst out laughing so hard...
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