wheniwentstudying-blog

[wheniwentstudying-blog]

As all my classes got cancelled today, I went on studying for my greek class. For me personally this language is pretty interesting but also really hard to learn- if you studied Latin before that might be a bit of an advantage (for the translations and maybe some of the grammar stuff...) but after all you have to learn a whole new alphabet first. I needed about one and a half week to learn and remember every letter but knowing doesn't mean reading perfectly or saying everything right- it's quite the contrary to be honest. So I will keep on studying and hopefully pass the exam at the end of the semester. xAnnie

[wheniwentstudying-blog]

Tips for Speaking Your Target Language(s)

I don’t usually make this kind of post, but I’ve been collecting these ideas on my phone for a long time, so I thought I’d share, since they’ve helped me.

1. Get A Conversation Partner A native or another learner – pretty much anyone who speaks the language to some degree. Make sure this person is nice(ish), so you can speak to them without worrying (too much) about mistakes. If there are speakers in your area, try to get yourself out there and talk to them! If not (or if you don’t feel ready for that yet), try apps or something (HelloTalk, Tandem, etc.) with voice message options so you can actually, you know, speak.

2. Find Non-Judgemental People (Things?) Find someone (something?) to talk to who doesn’t know the language (and therefore can’t judge your mistakes). My 3 year old brother only knows a tiny bit of Mandarin, so I talk to him in it a lot. I also volunteer at a humane society, and speak to the animals in Chinese. (Pets also work well, if you’ve got one.) If you don’t have access to animals or small children, I suppose you could talk to the wall or something. Or an imaginary friend. Idk.

3. Have Shower Conversations This is one you’ve probably heard before, but it actually helps. Just talk to yourself in the shower, in your target language. You have to keep up both sides of a conversation, plus you’ll find any gaps in your knowledge. The shower is a nice, private place (usually) to practice. But if talking in the shower is too weird for you, do it in your bedroom or something. It doesn’t really matter where, as long as you’re practicing.

4. Narrate Your Life (Aloud!) Try to say what you’re doing as you do it. (Or what you want to be doing, it doesn’t have to be realistic.) Again, this forces you to find gaps in your knowledge. Even if it’s as simple as “I am sitting. I am walking. I am eating food.” You’re practicing your speaking skills. If you don’t know the words, look them up and practice those. Try narrating other people’s lives too. (See how long it takes them to catch on.)

5. Say New Words Out Loud This one is pretty self-explanatory. Say new words aloud as you learn them.  Exaggerate it – say it slowly, drag out the sounds, then say it quickly. Then say it normally. Use it in a sentence, even if it’s a really simple sentence. Learned ‘love’? Say ‘I love you. You love him. She loves me.’ Whatever. Just say it, preferably in context. (And make sure you’re saying it correctly! Don’t learn incorrect pronunciations!)

6. Work on Your Pronunciation This seems like a no-brainer, but make it a priority. I’ve kinda failed at this with Swedish, and it’s taking forever to actually learn proper pronunciation. It’s a hard habit to break, but if you want to be understood, you need to know how to pronounce stuff. Especially in tonal languages like Chinese, pronunciation is incredibly important. Learn what rules there are, and practice practice practice. (Forvo is usually pretty helpful for checking your pronunciation.)

7. Learn (and Sing!) Songs I know from experience that singing, whether you’re good at it or not (I’m not), is very helpful for pronunciation. You don’t have to understand all the words, you just need to practice saying them. Focus on saying the words together, not just separately. Do they kind of blend together? Try to mimic that. Try to sound like the singer does, at least in the sense of pronunciation.

8. Read Everything Aloud Remember when you were a little kid and people read books to you? Now you get to do that for yourself, your dog, your imaginary friend, whoever. In your target language. It can be a book, a dialogue, journal entry, song lyrics, anything really. Again, you don’t have to understand all the words. If you can’t sound words out (looking at you, Mandarin) or aren’t sure how to pronounce it, hum and move on. (But remember it and learn how to pronounce it later!)

9. Record Yourself Speaking I know a lot of people hate hearing their recorded voice. I do too. But it’s a requirement for my Chinese class and it’s actually been really beneficial. I read a dialogue, record myself, then listen to it and read along (silently). I figure out what I’m saying incorrectly, then repeat until I’m satisfied. Basically, just record yourself reading something. Then “grade” yourself (but not too harshly). Figure out which words you’re saying wrong, and work on fixing them. It helps.

10. I actually don’t have any more tips right now, ten was just a nicer number than nine.

Anyway, hopefully this is at least a little bit helpful for somebody. Please feel free to add any other tips you might have, as well!

(P.S. - sorry this got so long)

[wheniwentstudying-blog]

The Most Iconic Libraries from Film and TV by Neville Johnson

From hit TV shows to blockbuster movies, libraries often find themselves at the centre of the action. Whether our favourite characters are quietly pursuing the answer to their problems through literature, or causing absolute mayhem between the bookshelves, they’ve served as a base for many a story. To help you get your head around some of modern media’s most famous libraries, Neville Johnson has dissected five of our favourites by studying their on-screen appearances. 

[wheniwentstudying-blog]

Just a bit of rambling.

Third week of the semester. After having seven full days of sun last week we're now back to grey skies and clouds. Or rather sunny mornings that make you believe it's going to be a nice and hot day but then turn into these cloudy, sometimes windy, days. Besides the weather I'm still facing some struggles with my schedule as well as first outbursts of procrastination- sometimes even no motivation at all. For nothing. Not even non studying related things... ...but usually that should get better sometimes arond next week. Oh just one more thing I noticed: I don't think that I become your normal, super creative studyblr. I'm just here for...well sharing some things, spending my free time with writing and that kind of stuff. I do have a bullet journal though and may even post something about that but I can't give you a wonderful coloured book and clever study advice- I'm not even sure how I got through last semester and am certainly no expert in studying. If you're looking for a blog posting about the things above there is a whole world out there- I love to go through other blogs and really appreciate their creativity and passion I just don't think that I can create something like that. With this said have a great day :) xAnnie

[wheniwentstudying-blog]

So second semester starts tomorrow- which means this blog will come fully into action and I should probably introduce myself:

Hi! My name's Annie and I am studying to become a teacher. We'll see where exactly this blog is heading- mostly things I notice during classes and desperately want to share with someone I guess.

[wheniwentstudying-blog]

my first semester.

Hi there. I just finished my first semester at university and as I am waiting for the second one to start I came up with the idea of starting this blog. Don´t know where this´ll take me to be honest but we´ll see. I don´t even know if anyone is interested in reading about my time at university- after all I won´t have this super crazy lifestyle or the most popular friends to hang out with. I guess you could say I´m pretty normal. And so will be this blog. But now without further ado let´s go. xAnnie