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Baoの旅立ち -TAC14- jp, es, fr, cn

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Crush
Tetraglot
Senior Member
ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5625 days ago

1622 posts - 2299 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto
Studies: Basque

 
 Message 25 of 46
24 January 2014 at 1:29am | IP Logged 
Bao,你的中文怎么样? 你看得懂简体字吗? 我现在学习中文是因为那个两年前的 “中文竞争 ” (EDIT:在LanguageLearners,你还记得吗?) 我觉得你老是说你的能力很差, 但是我觉得你的外语都说得很不错: 你的法语和西班牙语都很流利。 你的英语就不用说了。 其实你很棒,不要看不起自己!

我不知到你的日语怎么样, 只能说以前我看到你写的日语话就很羡慕你。 我知道这样夸奖没有什么道理, 但我还是还是日语虽然很复杂, 你的基本却很好。 长长的路,要慢慢地走 ;)

Edited by Crush on 24 January 2014 at 1:31am

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mrwarper
Diglot
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Spain
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Studies: German, Russian, Japanese

 
 Message 26 of 46
24 January 2014 at 2:38am | IP Logged 
Bao wrote:
it's sad, isn't it? I don't know if guys make similar experiences all that often. I personally haven't made that particular experience before, but that is probably because

I owned an internet café for four years, and I can say it happens, but all less often than people's WTF experiences would make you think -- you know, 0.1% feels like 100% when it happens to you, our recalling is biased towards the remarkable (i.e. abnormally good or bad), etc.

Quote:
I wish I knew how to react in such situations. But somehow I always end up running away and feeling like it must somehow be my own fault.

Being the stubborn bastard I can be sometimes, I'd probably keep asking for my part of the deal -- 'so you got someone to show your stuff to, cool, good for you, now can we do the languages, or what?' -- just to see what their reaction was. Maybe harass them a little. Yes, too much exposure to the internet and its surfers can... inspire you ;)

Quote:
Yesterday, I thought a long time about my current lack of progress
[...]
It often hurts and demotivates me to read about all your progress, because my own skills are so low.

This seems to happen a lot here at HTLAL, maybe more than weird encounters in the whole cyberspace. OK, stupid joking aside, I just posted this at BAnna's log, so excuse me if I repeat the relevant part here...

the key here is not to compare to others who may be way too ahead, but to oneself --how did I do last time? how did I do today? why?-- and slowly adjust one's rhythm so that every time one can do at least as much as the previous one. Bad routine adds to itself and feels like a burden that slowly grows until some day you just can't go on (been around the block a few times) -- good routine lets you rest enough to adjust, and that's how people grow stronger.

Hope this helps, if only a bit.
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Bao
Diglot
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Germany
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Speaks: German*, English
Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin

 
 Message 27 of 46
24 January 2014 at 11:54pm | IP Logged 
Sunja, I actually don't forget the things I understand. I just can't write or speak to write home about. (Or at least I can't explain the things I know about the TPP in Japanese, even though I learnt those things listening to the news in Japanese. >>;)

When I listened to a Talk To Me In Korean episode some days ago I thought it would be really fun to relearn the little Korean I know, but that is mainly because I don't have any expectations regarding Korean. In my other languages I do have some expectations, and I feel frustrated when I can't concentrate on the language and don't understand what I would understand when I can concentrate, or when I know exactly I know all the relevant words to some something I want to say, and the sentences just won't appear in my mind.


Still, I met with the Japanese girl again. And now I'm tired, and that makes me feel frustrated and like I won't ever be able to improve etc.


As for doramas, I can't exactly put my finger on it, but I think one of the problems is that when I am alone, I tend to either stop the DvD/file after 20 minutes, or I do a TV marathon. But mostly I just stop watching. Most of the series I watched I watched with friends, which makes it much easier for me to finish one episode and to start the next another time.
(And that is the crazy thing, I absolutely enjoy many of those dramas, I want to finish them, but somehow I can't bring myself to start watching.)


Crush, sadly I've taken almost a one year break. I can't write anymore at all, and I was pretty much in the 'my grandfather is fifty years old and now you have to turn right, because the weather in spring is warmer than now' stage of the language. And, yes, it doesn't help that I want to study languages and post on here when I'm already quite tired and prone to negative thinking.

mrwarper, you are completely correct.

In fact I've been comparing myself to my peers for a long time, in a frantic attempt to not stand out too much. That lead to all kinds of weird mind games. For example, I didn't allow myself to use translations, reference books, study guides etc. As a 10-12 year old I still read all of my school books in the first two weeks after receiving them, and then somebody told me that was weird and I was a horrible know-it-all, so I stopped it. And stopped learning content that might appear in class just because it was interesting. Now, finally in university, I suddenly realized that now I am in an environment where it is not only tolerated, but expected of me to acquire knowledge by myself. It's ... terrifying.
Still, when I pick up a new language it is very easy to only look at my own progress. But once I can kind of deal with native material I don't see my own progress anymore. Reading my own English writing from a decade ago ... is a very painful experience in that I see a lot of 'horrible mistakes' and at the same time I am constantly surprised that 'I knew how to use that expression even back then'. Another person might come to the conclusion 'hey my English used to be pretty good even back then'; I tend to think 'oh no my English is surely still full of so many horrible mistakes I can't yet self-correct'.
(Yup, I made self-debasement into an art form.)



So, well. My current plans are mindfullness training and hopefully reduce the automaticity of negative thinking anc comparision, trying to learn about self motivation, inertia and intervals between repetition of a task (it's not only the TV thing but something that happens to me all the time), and just try to do as much as I can do comfortably in my languages.
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mrwarper
Diglot
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Spain
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Studies: German, Russian, Japanese

 
 Message 28 of 46
28 January 2014 at 8:30pm | IP Logged 
Bao wrote:
mrwarper, you are completely correct.

In fact I've been comparing myself to my peers for a long time, in a frantic attempt to not stand out too much.[...]
(Yup, I made self-debasement into an art form.)

I'm not sure how much help you may need with this, or if you even think it's a good idea that I comment on this, so I'll try to keep it short and let's see if it helps with anything, if only hinting at what not to do :)

Try to think about stuff in rather mathematical terms so you can approach some degree of objectivity, and try to always balance your own perspective with an external one, or many. Why should you worry so much about something others simply ignore?

How much time and energy do you devote to assess what other individuals do, or the mistakes they make? Not that much, do you? Do you really think they devote much more or less to care about your stuff than you about theirs? And if most people don't find something wrong in what you do, why do you keep telling yourself that it's there? What's in it for you?

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Bao
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 Message 29 of 46
04 February 2014 at 6:51pm | IP Logged 
I'll write. I'll read. But exam period has started, and right now I should be concentrating on studying for my exams.

Ah.

But, a quote.
Quote:
The great ultrarunner Ann Trason was asked how she runs 100-mile races. This was not a deep philosophical question posed by an experienced runner looking for that little tidbit of information that would finally give them the edge to winning a race. It was one posed in the format that our NRF (non-running friends) ask us about any race longer than about 100 feet. It was more like “How can you possibly run 100 miles?!” Her answer? “One tree at a time.”

From here.

Not in any shape to run ultra marathons, but, of course. As soon as I start thinking about my goal, whether my strategies are the right ones, the perfect ones, as soon as I start questioning myself because it gets hard keeping in motion becomes difficult.
Doesn't matter. I also run until the next tree, take a breather, and then start running again, if that's what it takes.
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kujichagulia
Senior Member
Japan
Joined 4607 days ago

1031 posts - 1571 votes 
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Studies: Japanese, Portuguese

 
 Message 30 of 46
07 February 2014 at 1:48am | IP Logged 
Bao wrote:
'my grandfather is fifty years old and now you have to turn right, because the weather in spring is warmer than now'

I'm still trying to understand the meaning of this. :s
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Bao
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
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Joined 5526 days ago

2256 posts - 4046 votes 
Speaks: German*, English
Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin

 
 Message 31 of 46
07 February 2014 at 2:03am | IP Logged 
kujichagulia wrote:
Bao wrote:
'my grandfather is fifty years old and now you have to turn right, because the weather in spring is warmer than now'

I'm still trying to understand the meaning of this. :s

That was about everything I could've said in Mandarin. I mean, you wouldn't try to press it all into one sentence, but say 'My grandfather is fifty years old' and 'The weather in my hometown is very mild in spring, warmer than here/now' and 'You need to turn right, walk 300m and then take the subway for three stations to get there.'
... but that is about as useful as trying to use all of it in one single sentence. At least to me.
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Crush
Tetraglot
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ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5625 days ago

1622 posts - 2299 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto
Studies: Basque

 
 Message 32 of 46
07 February 2014 at 4:08am | IP Logged 
But... how WOULD you say those things?
我的爷爷五十岁了,现在你要往右拐因为春天 的天气比现在的热。
I'm not sure of the word for subway station, is it 地铁站? I'm also not sure how to say "take the subway for three stations", 坐地铁过了三站就到了..?

I think you're underestimating yourself again, but i dunno. In any case: "Ahir com avui, en efecte l'important no era el destí sinó el trajecte." One tree at a time, Bao, one tree at a time...

Edited by Crush on 07 February 2014 at 4:09am



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