March Update

Hey all!

Sorry I've been on a MAJOR hiatus, but many things has been changing in my life and things have finally seemed to settle for the moment and I've felt the need to share some things. I've been wanting to write things to ensure that I don't forget them, hence this is me writing them now (at least for the beginning ;) ).

I JUST finished my first day of clean eating and must I say, it was really difficult! I decided a couple weeks ago to begin working out again, and since I know my full results won't show if I don't follow up with healthy eating, I have decided to finally change my diet.

Not just parts of it--almost all of it. I'm not allowing myself to add butter to any of my meals and I've cut down my sugar intake which is a major plus. The only thing that I've indulged in today are what I'm eating right now (haha) which are banana oatmeal cookies with dark chocolate (+1!)--if I have to have my chocolate fix, I might as well do it with dark chocolate and healthy goodness :)

The reason why I want to write this and share it with you all is not really because I'm changing my diet, but because I feel excellent. Today I've been given a large dosage of energy and from what? Not eating all the junk food in my house.

You heard it from me. I ate healthy and I felt like I could do so much more. I didn't have the weight of all those snacks in my stomach pulling me down and making me feel lazy. I can't even describe how great I'm feeling and I can't wait to go through this routine again tomorrow!

Also, since my last post, I have stopped learning Swedish (personal reasons... they don't really make any sense to me haha) and I have started Romanian. I've been eyeing the language for a couple years since I discovered Romanian dance music which is the BEST. MUSIC. IN. THE. WORLD.

Does anyone else share my fascination of Romania? The music is great, and the people seem so friendly. I'm learning Romanian because I feel really connected to it--the music was what pulled me into learning the language two years later. Now, not only do I get to enjoy Romanian music in English, but also in it's native tongue. What's even cooler is that I've recently been able to create sentences! Yeah, they aren't that spectacular but to be able to create sentences after about a month (I'm not really sure when I started) of dedicating time to the language, I am really proud of myself, and if that motivates just one person out there to start learning a new language, then my job here is done. Learning a language is such a joyful experience and, eventually, when I start uploading more unto my blog, I will share my tips and my daily routine with keeping up on my languages.

I hope everyone is having a spectacular start to March and I wish you all the best!

--Baylee

Language Update #1

Hey all,
I apologize for such a long "break" in writing blog entries, but I've been so busy with school and work and my language studies that I haven't had time to sit down and relax.

And now, since I'm on Winter break, I've found time in my schedule to write ;) This is mainly an update to also say that I am going to be changing my blog to something more personal, and I'll be focusing more on my language process and the difficulties I'm facing.

It's been about a month since I've jumped into the Swedish language and I can say that I definitely know a lot more than I did in November. I'm mostly in beginners now (other than novice) and I've been having a lot of fun with it! I definitely need to practice listening more since I find it difficult, but I know that beginners just need to practice and work hard to see progress. Right now, I've just learned how to conjugate verbs into the present tense which feels like such an accomplishment! I'm really proud with myself for keeping at this language, even when I don't have any Swedish influences near me.

I also started German thirteen days ago (if exactness was needed) and I have been making progress in that as well. I've been able to have short conversations with my dad over breakfast and during the day, which is a lot of fun! I'm taking my time with German since it is the newest of the languages that I have started practicing on a day-to-day basis. Currently I'm able to conjugate regular verbs and I have looked into the future tense, but it's still getting there.

I picked up Spanish even earlier than German and I have been able to communicate with my coworkers in the language ;) I used to take classes for Spanish but found them to be really boring--in fact, within ten days I have been able to learn more useful vocabulary than I have in about seven years of Spanish (for instance, I immediately learned tan, which means "so"). I'm really happy with how my progress has been rapidly increasing with Spanish, and my goal for a somewhat-fluent communication is set in the summer, before I leave for my immersion program in Italy (yay!). To increase my progress, I've been using lyricstraining.com so that I can improve my listening skills, which I definitely recommend doing. I've learned to speak in the present as well as the future, and I'm hoping to learn the past soon.

French--what can I say? It's my beauty, my pride. I'm no longer in the lower intermediate but the intermediate series itself, so I've been learning about the subjunctive tense and the idiomatic expressions (which are absolutely priceless). I definitely need to start writing in French again because it was such a great exercise, and I've also been using lyricstraining.com for this language, too.

Italian, of course, has been improving during class, so I haven't been dedicating much out-of-school time to it since it's more advanced than my other languages. I'm currently driving through an hour and a half to get through the other four languages, which is quite a chunk of my time, but it's something I love doing. If I find ways to cut down on the time I'll be sure to tell you, and if you have any for me then please share :)

Happy learning!

Baylee

My First Love: Livemocha

Roses are red, violets are blue
Livemocha rocks, and so do you

Really, though, you do rock ;) you rock SO MUCH that I'm going to share my first true love. No, not a story about that crush I had in fourth grade, but my first language love.

When I was first intrigued to learn French, I didn't know where to start. There were programs like Rosetta Stone (don't mention that name to me--it's forbidden on my site!) that cost a lot of money, which wasn't an option for me since I didn't work. During my search, I found a website called Livemocha.

Now, after finally using something other than Internet Explorer, I can use it again--yay!

This website is really nice for beginners to get on their feet with a new language, especially if you don't have people who speak the language around you. You can make friends, chat, and provide advice for people learning languages you speak.

Here, I am going to show you some screenshots from my attempt at Swedish with Livemocha. There are four stages that you go through per lesson, which we will go further into depth.


1) Learn--probably the most required for the lesson, this part focuses on introducing you to the new vocabulary/phrases, the pronunciation, and the meanings.

As you go through the sentences, you will hear the pronunciation as well as the sentence in the chosen language. To see the English translation, you hit <Translate> under the photos on the left hand side. To see tips on the sentence, you can view them on the left hand side of the screen.

After you finish going through the lesson, you will be able to create a flashcard set, which can be a plus if you plan on printing them out and taking them with you somewhere. I have used this part of the website and it is nice to be able to have the set of flashcards, but I prefer using sites like Quizlet or Memrise for memorization.

2) Review--you will be "quizzed" on your newly-learned vocabulary with reading and listening exercises. You will have to match a photo with the description/phrase, or re-create the sentence. Both of these ways are to help you remember the phrases and (hopefully) place them into long-term memory. (IMO) it's a really fun way to recognize and remember the new information, and it is simple.

3) Write--this can be a bit complicated at first, but the meaning of the exercise is to allow you to understand how to use your new vocabulary. When you hit <Submit>, others will be able to make corrections for you and/or tell you how well you did.

4) Speak--ah, the fun part! During this exercise, I've noticed that they'll give you words that you haven't yet learned. While that's okay, it may be frustrating since you may not know how to pronounce them. Once you add audio, you can submit it, where it will be reviewed by another speaker. Some speakers are kind enough to make a recording of their own voice so that you can hear the pronunciation better, which rocks!

And, you're done! All set to go onto the next lesson! If you want extra practice, you can hit one of the three tabs under <Skill Builder Exercises> on the bottom right hand corner.

The thing that always amazes me about the site is how much content they allow people to learn for free. There are courses which you can buy, called Active Courses, and from my personal experience they work really well if you are dedicated to learning the language. Those courses offer more insight and grammar lessons, and allow you to participate in "role plays" with your voice recording. They also have quizzes and tests, which makes me jump for joy (sadly). I completed three of the four Active French courses and I really did enjoy them, but the free courses are great as well!

If you have any questions at all about the program, feel free to ask away! What I would recommend, from personal experience, is to get a notebook for the specific language and write your notes/new vocabulary in there, as well as grammar explanations that you find difficult. That way, you can find all of your progress in one spot.