Please forgive me, but things have turned south for me, and as such I have paused all language learning for the time being… I shall continue posting once I push play again.
Until next time [<.<]/
Archive for December, 2010
So, I am currently using surusu to multiple-study french, spanish, and some other third, undetermined language as of late. Determination of third language will be ased on usefulness/novelty [sounds fun]. All from my android phone! Man, I really need to ask Khatz if he could make surusu a little more mobile-friendly…
~[<.<]~
If you haven’t already heard, MCDs are the best way to hack a language. If there were anything as powerful as it were effortless [and believe me, it is quite effortless] to learn a language with, I would like to know that way also. In the meantime however, we are now at the very crest of learning any language.
Now, for ideographic languages [any of the Chinese languages or Japanese, afaik] or languages [Arabic, Greek, Korean, etc] wherewith you do NOT yet know the very basic ruminations of the way of pronunciation, you will need to add an extra step in the listening department, but that on in another post [‘.’]
For now, I will be adding to a post by Khatzumoto from AJATT [+] referencing using MCDs to dominate Latin-Scripted [mostly European] languages.
My addition is small, but noteworthy, for, as in many of Khatz’s posts, his posts tend to come out I’m sure exactly as his thoughts come, which both is good for learning and entertainment [he’s quite the funny fellow!]. But after reading this post, I was left with a sort of, “now what?”
So, I paused my Japanese for a bit and actually started to make MCDs of French, along with some others, and here’s the kind of parts of speech I clozed out:
le, les, la, un, une, de, des, aux, ou, et, est, ser[ait], s’étaler[ont], etc…
Basically any particles, or any parts of words that change to change a nuance of meaning. Nouns, I believe, can be learned either purely through context, [I do not believe I have ever looked up “context” before ;)], or through a picture [what adjective do you think this picture represents? http://bit.ly/fvOqP ] if that is not a possibility.
Also, I have a thought that you do not need to include English on these cards because context might take care of everything!
In the end, context is KING. That is what the MCDs are all about anyway, showing you how to use parts of a language through context.
Happy Travels!
{{{{[>’.’]>
For Spanish, I have opted to use three different formats of SRS cards:
1:Reading Card – Nothing serious, just a block of text to read for understanding.
Grading will be on how much of the card I understood w/o any english assistance, yet no assistance will ever be given in english, a ha ha!
2: Listening card – There will be two variations of this card, one with audio and text, and one without text, yet I have still counted this as one card.
Grading again will be based on how much I am able to understand, the more I understand, the better the grade.
3: And last but certainly not least, the all-powerful MCDs. – This will probably be my most frequent card, because, although not the easiest among the three, it is most certinly the most fun to make. This will also be my primary way, aside from reading an abhorrently large amount of text and listening to tens of thousands of hours of audio, to understand more of the language.
Grading stays consistent throughout
\[>•<]/
[Edit: I have changed my mind, and opted for only the very spectacular MCDs. My reading and listening will improve automatically as I continue to create and review my MCDs. Also, when I do begin to speak, I will be better off because of them as well!]
Sorry people of the interwebs, I have been slacking in the way of posts here, but you have not missed out on anything, for the project had to be put on hold for a bit… but! It shall continue this week, so mever fear! \[!,!]/
I had typed this entire post up, and clicked save draft, only to have it be erased. Therefore, I shall do only a brief summary, as the post was over 350 words….. [T.T]
Using MCDs for a while now, I believe that it is possible to study multiple languages at once, with little to no crossover (as long as you do not output too early!) using these powerful study tools. I believe this because of the whole “context” idea of the cards. Since everything is in context, when you do get to speak to a person in your L2 (or L3) you should have no mixups because the conversation will be in the context of that language, which you should have studied in a way that you were not learning the same words at the same time in both languages, so you will not associate them together in an unhealthy way (causing mixups).
However, theory is just theory, and theory produces nothing in and of itself, so I shall start a project, studying two languages at once, but using English as the base language for both (the language I study in), and not Japanese (laddering). I shall start Cantonese, because I have no past experience with it, and also it has a great amount of interesting material, and I also love the way the language sounds. It’ll be hard formatting the cards at first, so… If anyone out there has already started Cantonese with MCDs, or if you already learned it and know about MCDs and would like to let me know how you would format it if you had it back when, that would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
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[Update: Due to the diminished access to a real computer, I have opted to place cantonese on hold, as ankionline does not currently support sounds, which are crucial to the learning of the language. I have opted for strengthening my spanish in the meantime while I gather some resources for a new computer]
I have finally broken down and started using Ankiweb.net to review my cards when away from the computer…. It’s turned out pretty well, I must say… I dont hate it as much as I used to, maybe I was being unreasonable? Anyway, Anki online is a plus for when you’re away from your computing devices.
As for right now, I shall be making MCDs of Tae Kim’s Grammar Guide, and possibly in between I’ll be making MCDs of random Japanese I find in case I get bored.
At the same time, I will have Japanese audio playing on InfiniteYouTube.com
Whatever you do, make sure you have fun in it!
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I really wish there was a mobile SRS in which one was able to edit and make cards on tje phone! I do not want to have to go on a website on my phone to make my cards….
Life, as inspired by AJATT 
