563

I’m switching back. I prefer to write these entries first thing in the morning. That sets me up for the day. The plan is to head out for a walk thereafter, at the magic moment of dawn. Nice, ne?

My daughter and wife are now back from Japan. I’m eavesdropping in Japanese. On the way out to the airport I called in to the recycling shop. Two more child’s books in Maori. A late Xmas with presents under the tree—that Spot book in Maori too. And in bed at night reading Lee Child and Jessica Rowling.

Family life resumes.

Today: J1 D2 G1              

Total: J599 D29 G95 P63 F62 Sp42 I11 A10 Sw10 C9 Ro5 N4 M4 Da3 Ru3 Gk1 H1

562

An explanation. With Japanese I’m converting 5-digit numerical codes to 4-digit numerical codes. That isn’t Japanese, and so I’m not crediting myself with that time. However, there is promise with the NHK World site that I bookmarked.

I’ve made a grievous error. I assumed that people would easily be swayed. I assumed that educators would come running, as soon as they saw what I was doing. But you cannot assume that people with change as readily as that.

Therefore, don’t put pressure on myself to convince. Take the long-term view. Enjoy what I do. That’s all that I can do.

Today: J0 D2               

Total: J599 D27 G94 P63 F62 Sp42 I11 A10 Sw10 C9 Ro5 N4 M4 Da3 Ru3 Gk1 H1

561

Today I made a proper start with Maori. I’m gleaning words and rules from a book—in English mainly, but with some Maori—called Te Marae, by Hiwi and Pat Tauroa. I set the kitchen timer and just went for it.

So Maori nouns don’t add an ‘s’ for the plural. Unless the word has been taken up into common English use, in which case it’s okay. And I already know that ‘te’ is the article that introduces a noun. As in Kiribati. 

Word order is backward, via English eyes. And the particles have several different meanings each, I’ve discovered.

Today: J2 D2 M1              

Total: J599 D25 G94 P63 F62 Sp42 I11 A10 Sw10 C9 Ro5 N4 M4 Da3 Ru3 Gk1 H1

560

I had seen a bunch of Sweet Valley High paperbacks at the Green Island dump. I couldn’t get them off my mind. (The books were once used in a reading experiment, as documented by Krashen.) So today after class I cycled on over and bought them. I may conduct my own experiment with students.

In other news, Maori. I’ve a copy of Te Marae. It includes all sorts of translated snippets. Because Maori has a tendency to raise my affective filter, I feel the need to accumulate a collection of vocabulary and rules. That’s how I’ll get gradually into Maori.

Today: J3 D2 G2 Sw1 P1 M1              

Total: J597 D223 G94 P63 F62 Sp42 I11 A10 Sw10 C9 Ro5 N4 Da3 Ru3 M3 Gk1 H1

559

I finished Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen today. Technically it’s not my first home-run book in German (see Drachenfisch). But it was a lot meatier, and I feel excited about continuing on to the second book, even though I’m not as familiar with it. Woo hoo!

I got into a little Swedish too. Not Harry Potter, but Jack Reacher. The Swedish and English versions of A Wanted Man are at the top of my menu, thus conveniently placed.

Several more kanji have been identified from my ‘workings’ list. So next it’s a question of how to tackle Maori.

Today: J2 D1 G2 Sw1              

Total: J594 D221 G92 P62 F62 Sp42 I11 A10 Sw10 C9 Ro5 N4 Da3 Ru3 M2 Gk1 H1

558

I spent a good half hour on Romanian—following the Romanian text while listening to the original English. No worries. Then, I listened to the Romanian while following the English on the page. Great. But when listening and reading simultaneously in Romanian, I struck a problem. 

It seems that there are two translated versions. Of course, they are 80% the same, but the phrasing varies, and some of the words use different synonyms. The audiobook uses one version, and the electronic text files use another.

But maybe that need not be too troublesome. It could even make it more fun!

Today: J3 D1 G1 Ro3             

Total: J592 D220 G90 P62 F62 Sp42 I11 A10 Sw9 C9 Ro5 N4 Da3 Ru3 M2 Gk1 H1

557

I haven’t taken a look at Romanian as I’d had to. But a quick look now reveals that all I have on my laptop is Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Interesting. Intriguing, even.

I cycled around the old Belleknowes neighborhood after eating an ice-cream. It was sunny weather. Don’t let it go to waste. Then I sorted out some old scraps of paper. One of them had a note to myself about language learning.

I’d written that it isn’t that people neglect listening (when learning a language the traditional way). It’s that they neglect doing anything at speed.

Today: J4 D1 G1             

Total: J589 D219 G89 P62 F62 Sp42 I11 A10 Sw9 C9 N4 Da3 Ru3 Ro2 M2 Gk1 H1

556

Again I planned to take it easy. However, I can never resist knocking a few more kanji off my list, so that’s what I did, about an hour’s worth split between morning, at the Marsh Centre, and evening.

In the middle of the day, eating lunch, the Kindle was at hand, and so I read through a few pages of Persoonlijk just for the hell of it, and in bed too to prepare for my nap.

At the Green Island recycle shop I got a Spot the dog board book. The horse speaks English. All the other animals speak Maori. 

Today: J4 D1 M1             

Total: J585 D218 G88 P62 F62 Sp42 I11 A10 Sw9 C9 N4 Da3 Ru3 Ro2 M2 Gk1 H1

555

With a low-grade cold I can’t do much. Nevertheless, I did spend some time on my kanji. I have only about 200 to check, after which I’ll implement the new 4-digit code.

I happened to catch some Hindi in the background of a Youtube clip about mud-wresting (not what you think).

But my main accomplishment was to examine my files for Russian material. In that, I’m well-equipped/stocked/supplied. I have all 7 Harry Potters in RTF format. I was able to download the HP1 audiobook (the first half). And I have a course called ‘Listen ‘n’ Learn Russian’ to get started.

Today: J3 R1 H1             

Total: J581 D217 G88 P62 F62 Sp42 I11 A10 Sw9 C9 N4 Da3 Ru3 Ro2 M1 Gk1 H1

554

Let’s talk about kanji. It’s very interesting. There are about 2045 basic kanji that everyone should know. Now, in HP1 about 1600 discrete kanji are used. However, several kanji fall outside of the range: less common kanji are included. Also, not all of the basic kanji are used. Therefore there are 3 different sets on my list.

In Chinese, I have the HP material in traditional and also in simplified characters. I’ve yet to get to the bottom of that. But that promises to be an interesting exploration as well.

I may, if I haven’t yet, become a Chinese-character otaku!

Today: J2             

Total: J578 D217 G88 P62 F62 Sp42 I11 A10 Sw9 C9 N4 Da3 Ru2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

553

That I didn’t do anything in any language yesterday (apart from Japanese) doesn’t matter, because that isn’t the point. The actual point is to keep interested in the process of language acquisition by constantly generating new ideas so as to remain enthused. And in that I succeed handsomely.

For example, if I could devote a couple of hours daily—such as when I retire—I could set it up so as to spend 5 minutes each on 24 different languages! Wouldn’t that be amazing?

Whether or not I do that is irrelevant. That I can imagine doing so is not.

Today: J2             

Total: J576 D217 G88 P62 F62 Sp42 I11 A10 Sw9 C9 N4 Da3 Ru2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

552

Listening while reading is the same thing, more or less, than a child being read to. That’s how I remember both experiencing it and seeing it. And that’s my method in a nutshell, I realized, when I spent half an hour on that this morning.

As to Chinese, I want to simply recognize the written script. Forget about the spoken form for the meantime. What would work, I expect, is to run though the Japanese and the Chinese in parallel.

I’ve the resources that I need, although the pdfs are of separate pages. I’ve both the traditional and simplified versions.

Today: J3 C1             

Total: J574 D217 G88 P62 F62 Sp42 I11 A10 Sw9 C9 N4 Da3 Ru2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

551

I think my health is misbehaving too. Or it’s old age. It’s a pain not having energy, or with having a low-grade ongoing headache. So I’ll give up the coffee (causing a rough few days, I expect). And I’ll work on weight reduction so as to be able to take up running again.

But I did experiment with TED. I listened to a twenty-minute talk in English with French subtitles. That works well and fast. You cover a lot of territory. Part of the way through, I realized that the speaker had a French accent. By chance I’d chosen French.

Today: J2 F2             

Total: J571 D217 G88 P62 F62 Sp42 I11 A10 Sw9 C8 N4 Da3 Ru2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

550

After uploading another book, my Kindle has started misbehaving. It doesn’t arrange books according to how recently they’ve been accessed. Because of that, it is now too tedious to alternate between the one book in its different versions.

I will need to spend some time reducing the number of books on it from over a hundred to perhaps only a dozen. KISS—keep it simple, stupid.

Tonight was the farewell function of the Kobe Osaka Kosen group. I look forward to my regular class of 2 mornings a week. More than that, and it becomes hard to have a life.

Today: J2 D2             

Total: J569 D217 G88 P62 F60 Sp42 I11 A10 Sw9 C8 N4 Da3 Ru2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

549

I did what I said I would and listened to a story in Arabic using Bookbox. It’s one of 6. It was the one about the turtle (a word I’m now starting to recognize) and the flute. It only takes 6 minutes. In future I’ll listen to 2 stories before crediting myself with a ‘point’.

Arabic looks like Hindi upside down. And it seems as if there’s a ‘to be’ word starting with a nasal ‘h’ sound at the end of some sentences.

At this stage I’m trying to recognize shapes, associate them with sounds, and connect them into patterns.

Today: J2 D2 P1 G1 A1             

Total: J567 D215 G88 P62 F60 Sp42 I11 A10 Sw9 C8 N4 Da3 Ru2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

548

No good Arabic at hand. Will make use of Bookbox. Starting tomorrow. Promise!

I really must make all language activity fun for me. No pressure to prove anything to anyone. Enjoyment for myself. 

I raced to the former Bargain Barn at 3:30. Now called Restore. I thought I had an hour till five. But the shop shut at 4. There was a half-price sale on for books. I got $3.50 worth. Dutch dialects from Limburg in a Suske en Wiske, German, French, Dutch and English too. Seven books in total.

I’ll prepare for a Japanese walk in 2 years’ time.

Today: J2 D2             

Total: J565 D213 G87 P61 F60 Sp42 I11 Sw9 A9 C8 N4 Da3 Ru2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

547

And now Arabic. I have to confess to being a little nervous about it. It’s not a straightforward language, by all accounts. Steven Kaufmann says so. It’s the language he’s currently learning.

Okay, I’ve spent around a couple of hours on it. It’s the script that worries me. And yet it’s via the script—I believe—that I’ll crack it.

I’m going to start simply by identifying patterns in the written text. I won’t do that ‘every letter of the alphabet in order, its name and pronunciation’ style. Rather, I’ll simply get used to its curves, lines and dots.

Tomorrow.

Today: J4 D2 Sp1            

Total: J563 D211 G87 P61 F60 Sp42 I11 Sw9 A9 C8 N4 Da3 Ru2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

546

It’s difficult locating resources in Danish. I guess that Denmark is only a small country. But they must be vigilant regarding copyright rules. There’s audiobooks on Youtube, but of the Jules Verne and Gulliver’s Travels ilk.

I do, however, happen to have a couple of children’s books: Winnie the Pooh and a collection of fairy tales. That’s apt, since Hans Christian Andersen was Danish. And that will do me for now. I carried the latter along with me yesterday, but spent more time on my Kindle reading Dutch.

Once you get into a good book, you can’t put it down.

Today: J2 D2 Da1            

Total: J559 D209 G87 P61 F60 Sp41 Sw9 A9 I11 C8 N4 Da3 Ru2 Ro2 M1 Gk1 

545

Onto Norwegian, and onto my Norwegian language HP1 hardback. Thanks to Youtube I also have the audio. I find that I haven’t the patience to tackle it sentence by sentence—according to the Heinrich maneuver. In fact, I’m starting to think this ought only to be applied to languages in which any commonality is lacking.

The thing is to increase one’s tolerance to the unknown. To become comfortable with 95 to 98 percent non-understanding, as opposed to the 95 to 98 percent understanding of texts used (as Paul Nation et al recommend).

A language like Norwegian I dive straight in.

Today: J3 D2 N2            

Total: J557 D207 G87 P61 F60 Sp41 Sw9 A9 I11 C8 N4 Ru2 Da2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

544

Perfection isn’t perfect. There’s a glitch with my Swedish. Somehow my 3^rd book doesn’t jump to the head of my recent books queue, so that means I can’t easily toggle between it and the English version. 

The solution is either to get a hard copy of one version. I have that with Norwegian—I’ve a hardback of HP og de vises stein. The other solution is to choose an activity that will accommodate this problem. So I’m thinking of targeting Swedish sentences within a chapter. Highlighting and or copying them down one by one as they fall into my range. 

Today: J3 Sw2 D1            

Total: J554 D205 G87 P61 F60 Sp41 Sw9 A9 I11 C8 Ru2 Da2 N2 Ro2 M1 Gk1 

543

I considered treating the Scandinavian languages as one. After all, it’s difficult to tell them apart. However, let’s do them the honor of dealing with them one by one. First Swedish. 

It’s easy finding ebooks in that language. (Not in Norwegian and Danish.) In Swedish, I happen to have two novels by Lee Childs, both of which I’ve made a start on. Was that wise? 

I’ve a ton of resources: all the Harry Potter books as audio, Enid Blyton. But I’ll settle for Livvakten (Without Fail), a third Lee Child, since I have every format. I look forward to it.

Today: J2 Sw2 D1            

Total: J551 D204 G87 P61 F60 Sp41 A9 I11 C8 Sw7 Ru2 Da2 N2 Ro2 M1 Gk1 

542

I believe that I’m doing the right thing with Spanish. And that is, to race through a familiar text—HP1—identifying the sentences that I feel I’d recognize out of context. Then I tag them.

There might only be one sentence out of 20 that fits the bill. No matter. I believe that I’m not wasting time. I’m improving at the subconscious level with everything that still lies ahead.

I ought to start a Polyglot Project. Rename the page I once started on Facebook. Only those prepared to tackle 3 or more languages at a time need apply. Me included?

Today: J3 Sp1            

Total: J549 D203 G87 P61 F60 Sp41 A9 I11 C8 Sw6 Ru2 Da2 N2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

541

I’m not sure about French. I’m at the same stage with it as with Spanish (minus 2 years of high school). I want to do the same as Spanish: skim-read so as to catch easy sentences . Probably East of Eden is not quite suited. Its font on my kindle is clunky. French strings together words and letters with apostrophe glue.

So I’ll do as I did with my Polish. I’ll switch horses midstream. I’ll use my true and trusty Harry Potter. Interestingly, the word ‘stone’ isn’t used in the title. It’s simply Harry Potter at the School for Wizards.

Today: J4 D1 F1            

Total: J546 D203 G87 P61 F60 Sp40 A9 I11 C8 Sw6 Ru2 Da2 N2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

540

Dutch is effortless. Dutch is fun. It’s so much fun that I feel it doesn’t do me any good, but of course it does. It’s just that the idea that progress only comes with effort is so deeply ingrained.

I read the Lee Child books in Dutch as if reading them for the first time. That’s great, because I’ve read them all in English. I come across Dutch idioms and expressions that make me burst out laughing. And I come across vocabulary that I’ve never heard my parents use over the years.

I’d love to spend a year in Holland.

Today: J5 D2            

Total: J542 D202 G87 P61 F59 Sp40 A9 I11 C8 Sw6 Ru2 Da2 N2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

539

My Japanese is no worse than my German. It may even be better. But I’m a little wary using it. The perfectionism drive of that culture affects me.

I get sidetracked by the nitty-gritty. On the other hand, I’m now comfortable viewing dramas. I’ll spend hours on both those activities. I can read the first Harry Potter (at least the first few chapters). I am very comfortable listening while reading simultaneously in Japanese, but I don’t often get around to doing that.

Japanese is a language that I could very easily and quickly ramp up. It’s totally worth the effort.

Today: J5            

Total: J537 D200 G87 P61 F59 Sp40 A9 I11 C8 Sw6 Ru2 Da2 N2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

538

I’m doing very well at German. I realized today that I’m up to the second-last chapter of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. It isn’t actually my first home run book in that language—that was Der Drachenfisch by Pearl Buck—but it will certainly be the longest to date. And it is going to be the first other language in which I’ll proceed onto the second book in the series.

Von oben schien ein leises Rascheln und Klimpern zu kommen. I showed my class how it’s possible to know the overall meaning in a sentence without knowing every word.

Today: J2 G2           

Total: J532 D200 G87 P61 F59 Sp40 A9 I11 C8 Sw6 Ru2 Da2 N2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

537

Yesterday’s focus was Italian, which is a latecomer to my multi-language party. However, as a European language it’s very welcome. I’m happy to be doing as many languages of that type as possible. Really, the more the merrier.

The best activity I’ve found for myself is doing a Heinrich maneuver. I compare sentences one at a time. I’m using Killing Zone—the first Jack Reacher. The font size gives me about 6 words per line. My aim is to highlight one word per line. I choose words that are recognizable.

I demonstrated this for a language class that I relieved.

Today: J2 I2 F1           

Total: J530 D200 G85 P61 F59 Sp40 A9 I11 C8 Sw6 Ru2 Da2 N2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

536

Let me focus on one language at a time. 

First Polish.

I was using Lee Child’s One Shot text in Polish. I’d highlighted almost 250 short sentences. But I’ve switched over to his Make Me. And the reason is that the paragraphing and even the graphology for the first book had errors.

I’m just getting used to the written script by going through the entire novel highlighting sentences of 5 words or less. I’ll try to find their English equivalents, but I won’t waste time. 

I’m not bothered about ‘losing’ the 245 sentences that I’d collected. There are plenty more. 

Today: J5 P1           

Total: J528 D200 G85 P61 F58 Sp40 A9 I9 C8 Sw6 Ru2 Da2 N2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

535

I heard a few phrases of Swedish today. I was visiting Mum at Brooklands. A 99-year-old man joined us at the table. He was born in Foxton but had a Danish mother and a Swedish father. They had immigrated here in 1911 from Malmo because of economic reasons. That’s over 100 years ago! His mind is still as clear as a bell, and he has a strong handshake.

I also heard some Russian being spoken on YouTube. A three-year-old chess prodigy, Misha Osipov, was filmed playing a game with Anatoly Karpov. Perhaps chess could be my entry point into Russian.

Today: J5 D1 Sw1           

Total: J523 D200 G85 P60 F58 Sp40 A9 I9 C8 Sw6 Ru2 Da2 N2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

534

I’m watching another Japanese drama series: 1 Litre of Tears (yes, it’s a tear-jerker). I’m up to the 6th episode, I think. What I’ve discovered is how to use the arrow key to skip back several second (on YouTube). It’s great for nailing the odd phrase.

The other thing I’ve worked out is that languages have 2 entry levels. With the more familiar ones, I can skip straight to the read&listen both in that language. For less familiar ones, I have to use the ‘overlay system’. I replace the (written) English text one sentence, phrase or word at a time.

Today: J5 D1 G1 F2 Sp1 Sw1          
Total: J518 D199 G85 P60 F58 Sp40 A9 I9 C8 Sw5 Ru2 Da2 N2 Ro2 M1 Gk1

533

I didn’t do exactly the 4 periods of 15 minutes each. In the morning I had a lot to do. However, I did try both Japanese and Spanish, and the method worked like a breeze. As before, and as I’d expect other people to react, it really doesn’t feel as if anything is being achieved, on account of the fact that it proceeds so effortlessly.

It will take some time to prepare the resources exactly as I want them. I’ll do that unhurriedly one language at a time. But the Germanic, Romance and Scandinavian tongues will present no problems whatsoever.

Today: J5 D2 G2 F1 Sp1           

Total: J513 D198 G84 P60 F56 Sp39 A9 I9 C8 Sw4 Ru2 Da2 N2 Ro2 M1 Gk1