Thursday, December 8, 2016

Language Learning 2016 Goals Update

Well as you can probably guess, I had another year where I slacked pretty hardcore but I have had some good language experiences too.

Português - I don't want to get worse and hope to maintain my Portuguese skills by listening to "Você Sabia?" on YouTube and commenting weekly. 

FAIL! It is safe to say that I FAILED this goal. I did not listen to a Portuguese speaker on a regular basis or comment. My skills have gone downhill and I cannot simply switch to speaking in Portuguese with confidence. I know that these skills will come back and I will likely have this as a goal after February (you will see why in a future post)
Traveling in my city on Instagram
Hindi - Weekly listening. Practice writing sentences. More complex sentences and find someone to correct them.

FAIL! This was a fail as well. I have only just recently began writing again. I failed probably 11 out of 12 months, maybe only 9 or 10. I also have been able to have some organic conversations in Hindi with people and there are people who I naturally speak Hindi with. I also have been watching a Bollywood movie and practicing writing again.

Urdu - Relearn the alphabet.

FAIL! I did study that alphabet through the year, I did not learn it but I have given it some practice and was able to use Arabic in one of the English classes that I teach.

Spanish - It will be important to learn Spanish in the future. I want to finish the Portuguese tree in DuoLingo and then start on the Spanish tree in Portuguese.

PASS! Well, kinda. I am about 2/3 of the way through the Portuguese tree. I am sure I will finish it in 2017. I may begin the French tree and work on it a bit in preparation for Italy too. I do still plan to one day use Duolingo in Portuguese to relearn Spanish. But I am not in a hurry for this.
Latin - I would love to finish reading John but that may need to wait.

Yep, still waiting. 

Somali - Listen when given the opportunity. Practice the few phrases I know.

My Somali and Sudanese friends have all moved to Seatle but I do practice my Somali basic phrases from time to time.

Arabic - Listen to speakers when they are around. Pick up common words and Urdu words. I don't plan to put any effort into finding Arabic speakers. Learn the alphabet and the difference between Urdu and Arabic.

See Somali.

As you can see I did not put a lot of effort into language learning over the past year. 

I know that I need to make quarterly or even monthly goals and track them on paper. That will be on my 2017 goals list. 

Some things that I did well that were not goals listed above but were added later on include practicing languages with native or native-like speakers and I was able to do this with Hindi and Portuguese. At international dinners I have also been able to work on code switching which is another goal. I would like to be able to switch between languages. I tend to be able to do this with Portuguese and English better than with Hindi but there have been dinners where I will switch in an appropriate way.

What are your top language learning goals? What is holding you back?

Monday, August 29, 2016

Some Practice Hindi Sentences

I have been slacking on practicing my Hindi the past couple years but I am still moving forward, slowly and surely.

Here is my most recent practice sentences. Please correct any mistakes that you see
EveFelicia Follum, Watercolor Prints $25Copyright 2015


Aap mujhe kya laana chahate hain?
What do you want me to bring?

Aap mujhe dinner ke liye kya laana chahate hain?
What do you want me to bring to dinner?

Mujhe aapko dinner ke liye kya laana chahate hain?
What do you want me to bring to your dinner?

Kya tum desi khana chahoge?
Would you like to bring Indian food?

Kya tum meri sath desi khaana banana chahogi?
Would you like to cook Indian food with me?

Kya tum mera dinner ke liye jaana chahoge
Would you like to cone to my dinner?

Mera dinner ke baad main thaka hua hongi
After my dinner I will be tired

Abhi tum kya karogi?
What are you going to do right now?

Ab tum kya karogi?
What are you going to do?

Ab tum movie ke baad (mein?) Kya karogi?
What are you going to do after the movie?

Main artist baanna.
I become artist.

Main ek din artist baanna. (Baanoongi)
One day I eill become an artist.

Jab main bacchi thi main baat kya ke...
When I was a child I said...


Kaunsa sentences accha hain? Galation correck kijie.


Main thoda thoda padna sakti hoon...
Mere pati ko classical hindusthani gaane pasand nahi bhi hai lekin mujhe pasand hai
Mujhe pet ka dard hai.
Mujhe pata hai - naya phrase hai

Lekin can you use
"Main jaanti hoon ke john kaha hai"
[8/18, 6:48 AM] Felicia Follum : Mujhe pata hai main cricket kelti hoon
I know how to play cricket

Aur cricket khelna pasand hai
Mujhe bhi yaqeen hai.

Mujhe parmeshvar yehova/bhagvaan/etc mein yaqeen hai.
I have faith in God

Mujhko ab kitab pardna hai mera kaam ke liye.
I need to read now for work

Thank you guys!!! I hope this was helpful for learners newer than me (and for learners of Hindi speakers who know more or are fluent, PLEASE CORRECT!)

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Em Portuguese - I love Brazil

Here is my newest language practice video. I was recently faced with a tough decision and had to say no to a travel opportunity. In this video I discuss my decisions and how much I love Brazil and am sad I'm not able to return due to bad timing.



Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Listening Practice

Here is my attempt to write out what I heard in this video...I will come back in some time and try again to see if I have improved. I will also write an English translation at some point but for now I am just focusing on my listening skills as I feel they are currently the weakest.

Feel free to type out what you hear in the comments. If you can make corrections to my attempt that would be great as well.


saari ja se accha
bharat desh humara
kyun? Kyunki …..>?????
kar kya tha

shyad

kyunki ghangi ji n

ho sakta

hum o ke log
ho sakti

asi kya aru naam hain
jitna textbook asi tha

phool

shyad logo ka kaam

meri kch


ke batrre mein social menda
ke barre mein status update…thats what peole deine as bieng invol

but asi jo log desh ….baht kuch karte hain aur patli main unko aur kuch nahi milta ya ? Humare attention nahi milta

wo….desh….dil rat ek karti tha

aur jivan jab main zindagi desh ?ki rakhsha ? karna thi?

vo saha si log jo kisi an jahn bhi jahn bachate hain

ya taki?

aur jo kisi disater ke bakti?

Main abhi asi kahini suniye
ek sachi kahini

????suna bhi me

sadam husein ne kuwait badam la kiya

aur usa badai desh mein

ek lakh satha hazar se zyada hindustani ???

kuch sabse bharti
judht ke badki jahn bhi jahn

duniya sabse aur arndigi sath

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

2016 Langauge Learning Goals

While I was home over the holidays, I was able to take a few moments and wish you all a Merry Christmas in a couple different languages. You can see me do the language challenge in the first few moments of this video. I took 15 seconds to send my holiday wishes in as many languages as possible.




And a Happy New Year!!!!

So now let's get to it! I have been a bit of a slacker the last few months as far as language learning goes. As you probably know my language learning is a hobby and not a job. So it really only gets a focus when I have extra time...But here are some goals for the next year or at least January and February ish ;)

Português - I don't want to get worse and hope to maintain my Portuguese skills by listening to "Você Sabia?" on YouTube and commenting weekly.

Hindi - Weekly listening. Practice writing sentences. More complex sentences and find someone to correct them.

Urdu - Relearn the alphabet.

Spanish - It will be important to learn Spanish in the future. I want to finish the Portuguese tree in DuoLingo and then start on the Spanish tree in Portuguese.

Latin - I would love to finish reading John but that may need to wait.

Somali - Listen when given the opportunity. Practice the few phrases I know.

Arabic - Listen to speakers when they are around. Pick up common words and Urdu words. I don't plan to put any effort into finding Arabic speakers. Learn the alphabet and the difference between Urdu and Arabic.

Picture credit - You can learn more about me and my art on my website.
See Www.feliciafollum.com
Or www.etsy.com/shop/feliciafollum

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

The Bilingual Brain

I found this video on the Bilingual Brain and some of the benefits of speaking 2 or more languages. It also talks about the different types of bilinguals. I found it quite interesting.

Are you bilingual? What languages do you speak? Are you practicing a second language?



As always be sure to follow me and my art on social media
My art website
Etsy
YouTube
facebook
Instagram 

Monday, January 4, 2016

2015 Language Goals - Not a Total FAIL

Did I reach my 2015 goals?

General - When people ask if I speak a language, say "Yes, I speak it." And then speak it. Sometimes...But I think I need to continue to work on saying "yes" with confidence.
Right Hand Panel of Unknown God Tryptic - Agyaat Bhagvaan Ke Liye
Felicia Follum
Watercolor

Português - I don't want to get worse and hope to maintain my skills by listening to "Você Sabia?" on YouTube and commenting weekly. I don't think I got worse but I have not been commenting weekly

Hindi - Create speaking videos monthly and practice writing monthly. Nope. But this was a bit of a lofty goal. A extra monthly video is a lot.

Arabic - Listen to speakers. Pick up common words and Urdu words. Yep! I listen whenever I get the chance and I do tend to pick up words.

Somali - Listen when given the opportunity. Practice the few phrases I know. Yes! I even have been able to practice with people in an airport. I will share this story soon :)

Latin - I would love to finish reading John but that may need to wait. Yep, it is waiting. But I hope to come back to this. Not giving up on it yet.

Spanish - I don't want to mix Português and Spanish intentionally. If a Spanish speaker speaks English I will speak English. If they understand Português, I will speak Português. Well I don't mix the two but I am forgetting Spanish. Which I'm hoping will help keep them separated in the long run.  I am also forgetting my Portuguese but I think that according to my understanding of the theory behind the idea of Spaced Repition Memorization, forgetting isn't the end of the world and may help in long term storage. Though I'm not sure how this relates to longer-than-ideal intervals. Either way, I'm sure Spanish will come back and be stronger than ever when it is needed.