mangi-is-struggling

[mangi-is-struggling]

How i self-study

This is by no means a method of its own nor is it a guideline. This is simply what works for me and gets the brain juice boiling. It's been a lot of trial and error to get to a comfy place where I feel able to retain informations.

Audio!!! Most of the time, the language I've chosen is extremely auditory pleasing to me so it's a win/win situation : I get to listen to my target language w/o visual distractions and my brain soaks up the speech patterns, the flow and the overall expressiveness of the language. I love starting the day with a podcast while I make my coffee and get ready. Even if I only understand about a bazillionth of the whole thing.

In that same vein, any kind of audiovisual content. Movies, dramas, series, documentaries, News channel, ytb vlogs etc. I turn on the subtitles and try to figure out basic patterns. My latest game has been "Spot as many 是's, pronouns and 不' s as you can" when watching chinese movies. I never hesitate to pause the movie and go back a few seconds. It's literal hell for the people watching with me but I don't care. Furthermore, I get an insight on the different speech patterns (the news anchor does not speak the same way as the main character does in the sci-fi movie...). Audiovisual media does take up more energy to process so i usually save it for the evening, when I know i can use up the remainder of my brain power and go to sleep right after.

Learning-specific content. And by that I mean textbooks I bought, free online courses, websites and YouTube teachers, for the most part. I take notes on another notebook. I try and make my notes as simple as possible. I rephrase everything and try and make it as palatable as possible. I keep in mind that my notes should make at least a tiny bit of sense to someone who has never tried to learn my target language. I tweak the phrases around to make them really easy to understand, as i am not the best with grammar.

I stick vocabulary post-it's on my belongings. My bed has 2 post-it's. One has 침대 on it and the other has 床 [chuáng].

I'm not comfortable with the whole "keep a journal in your target language" spiel yet so i usually stick to parroting sounds i like, even if i don't understand what i'm saying. A while ago i learned how to say "my cat is small" in mandarin and i've been saying it out loud a lot since.

I must also be transparent with you guys : I am very bad at consistency and long term effort, so my progress is slow and i'm nowhere near fluent. I actually have no idea how good of a learning method this is.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to realize right after posting it i forgot about something very important but it's okay. I'll just edit the post.

Hope this helps !

See ya ★

#studyblr #langblr

[mangi-is-struggling]

I have been meaning to post for a while but I've also been drowning under paperwork and Important Adult Appointments.

I'm doing better than I have in years. I still have issues in the executive function department and I know some things won't "get better" but I am still happy to be out of the rough patch.

I'm in the process of filing for ASD assessment and no matter what comes out of it, I'm also currently calling and meeting people from the disabled students' office in uni, to get the accommodations I need.

So far the people I've talked with have been very nice and respectful (which I know is the bare minimum but hey) and they have not made a single comment on the way I speak or the time I take to process informations.

The disabled students' office, along with the student's health board are going to help me figure out what accommodations I need and can get. So far, a lot of things are on the table. I'll try and make a post about my various accommodations, if yall are interested in that.

See ya ★

#autistic student #languageblr #studyblr

[mangi-is-struggling]

I Am Back From The Dead

Happy New Year.

I'm very bad at not giving a shit ton of context and explainations so i'm going to try and be concise.

Everything went terribly wrong and then everything got better. I'm picking up Spanish and i somehow managed to register for general proficiency estimation sessions in uni. I have never been more ready to delete Duolingo, despite it being my most consistent "learning method". I dropped the online tutoring for now in order to focus on uni, although i am still willing to help out and answer questions. My mental health is so much better. I'm gathering informations regarding the program i'm considering applying to next year, though i am still reflecting on wether or not i should take a third language. I still have to write down my language learning plan and goals for 2024.

See ya ★

#languageblr #learning languages #studyblr

[mangi-is-struggling]

Okay. So...

My Rot Weekend™ turned into a Rot Week™ which then turned into 3 Rot Weeks™ and a half and I basically melted into the floorboards while listening to my Sad Rot Music™. I must admit it's been a rough coupla weeks. Truth is I'm so overwhelmed by the enormous amount of things I have to do I basically shut down. Before I went into Sad Little Critter Mode I had made a retro planning which's end goal was to take the Cambridge C1 exam. I'll get back to that but before, I have to get back on board. First things first I'm going to clean my place of the infamous Rot Days Remains (various cutlery utensils, plates, an army of cups), try to organize my literal mountain of unfiled paperwork then I'll vacuum the fuck out of this bitch because every single inch of my living space is covered in a thick layer of dust. I'm going to be honest with y'all, I completely dropped any kind of language study apart from that godforsaken Menacing Green Bird App. At the incredible rate of one (1) lesson per day, I can insure you I did not learn shit (we've been there, we all know what duolingo's worth).

Long story short, I am very tired but it iz what it iz and I'm an adult (*sobs*) so I gotta handle it.

See ya ★

#languageblr #studyblr #languages

[mangi-is-struggling]

Precisley my vibe

Hi! I'm Mangi, I'm French and I intend to teach conversational French to foreigners, abroad or online.

I don't understand why y'all would do that to yourselves but hey, we all make bad decisions, it's okay I don't blame you.

I cannot stress this enough but French is a... Badly designed language. You can try and break down everything but eventually you're gonna have to remember things you do not understand. But at this point you might interject and say "But Mangi? Most languages have their little secrets! Not every English native speaker can explain why several adjectives have a specific order depending on their meaning and type!"

I raise you this : "French has a shit ton of exceptions". Like. A LOT.

As I said in a precedent post, I'm gonna start teaching French soon, but I'm by no means an experienced teacher nor am I a linguist so take everything I say with a pinch of salt. However, as a rather articulate francophone, I think can explain basic concepts and lightly guide you towards appropriate resources and accessible media.

Anyways! A lot of words for a concise message!The message is : as I'm trying to become a good French teacher, let me know if you have questions! I'd be happy to get used to teaching while helping someone!

See ya ★

[mangi-is-struggling]

Hi! I'm Mangi, I'm French and I intend to teach conversational French to foreigners, abroad or online.

I don't understand why y'all would do that to yourselves but hey, we all make bad decisions, it's okay I don't blame you.

I cannot stress this enough but French is a... Badly designed language. You can try and break down everything but eventually you're gonna have to remember things you do not understand. But at this point you might interject and say "But Mangi? Most languages have their little secrets! Not every English native speaker can explain why several adjectives have a specific order depending on their meaning and type!"

I raise you this : "French has a shit ton of exceptions". Like. A LOT.

As I said in a precedent post, I'm gonna start teaching French soon, but I'm by no means an experienced teacher nor am I a linguist so take everything I say with a pinch of salt. However, as a rather articulate francophone, I think can explain basic concepts and lightly guide you towards appropriate resources and accessible media.

Anyways! A lot of words for a concise message!The message is : as I'm trying to become a good French teacher, let me know if you have questions! I'd be happy to get used to teaching while helping someone!

See ya ★

#languageblr #languages #learning languages #studyblr #learning french #french learning #french language #bilingual

[mangi-is-struggling]

I absent-mindedly forgot about this blog. I got sidetracked because my life currently requires a lot of dedication and mental presence.

Good news is while doing side quests instead of my main mission i somehow ended up signing up to be an online French tutor. I gotta finalize my account and profile first but if it works out I might get a few bucks from it!?

I already searched through my bookshelves to find the old dictionnaries and textbooks I used during middle school, which I think will come in handy. As I intend to teach French more formally in the future I thought maybe buying an additional textbook wouldn't hurt anyone... It wasn't cheap and It kinda hurt my wallet getting it but it's gonna be worth it in the end so I try not to overthink it.

#languageblr #languages #learning languages #studyblr

[mangi-is-struggling]

I love this question because i get to be a snobby little bitch and explain why french is a confusing language through and through.

Short but useless response : it depends on the context, the people and your relation to them. You wont be looked at weird if you ask people what they want you to call them.

Long convoluted answer : When the person you're talking to is a complete stranger, politeness rules that you are to refer to them as "vous". However, most adults go around saying "tu" to other adults as soon as the interlocutor looks roughly the same age. It is especially true with young adults. Children refer to whoever however they please, depending on their upbringing. The exception is teachers. As far as a know, teachers are always told "vous" (by their students i mean) In between grown ups is a weird social consensus that basically put an emphasis on age and hierarchy. As an adult, you're supposed to say "tu" to people your age or coworkers and "vous" to older people and hierarchic superiors, but not always. Depends on the person's degree of chill. The trickiest part is when you turn 18 (you are legally an adult but you're still basically a worm), or when you get close to your in-laws and you go past the "vous" barrier, you get these awkward conversations that go "euuuh je dois vous vouvoyer ?"

Long Story Short : If that's what worries you, remember you can ask people if they want "vous" or prefer "tu", it won't be weird and if you're still anxious, pull the non-native speaker card.

i think i just took 15min making everything even more confusing... I'm sorry , i tried !

[eng]: okay this is a question for ppl who speak French as their native language! i speak it as a second language, right? but i’ve always been curious: what is the transition like when it comes to shifting from using “vous” to address a person to using “tu”?? is it like a friendship/intimacy upgrade?? does there need to be a conversation about it before hand (like “what are we?”).

[fr]: j’ai une question pour les personnes qui parlent français comme leur langue maternelle. je le parle comme ma deuxième langue, hein ? mais je suis toutefois curieuse : la transition de utilisant de « vous » à « tu » — comment fonctionne-elle? est-ce qu’il y’a presque comme une promotion de l’amitié ? Devez-vous avoir une conversation à l’avance (comme que sommes-nous ?) ?

[mangi-is-struggling]

I will persevere

As expected, the motivation flare up I had for a week and a half or so is steadily decreasing. I am going to make a study routine and I'm going to try and stick to it! I'll break down tasks into smaller goals and spread out the work on several days as to not get overwhelmed. To be honest I have no idea what it's gonna be like maintaining language learning despite my focus being lower...

Anecdote: I made a crucial mistake. I put the information "Learning Mandarin" on my resume. Now if I don't study, I'm going to look extremely dumb in the recruitment teams' eyes...

#languageblr #languages #learning languages #studyblr #mandarin #chinese langblr #chinese language #korean language #한국어 공부 #中文 #langblr

[mangi-is-struggling]

Last night, I practiced the different number systems in use. I remember looking it up a while ago and being very confused as to each system's use, but this time I wrote everything down (I am aware it's messy), so here is what I understood! Once again, (I will never say it enough) feel free to correct me!

See ya ★

#languageblr #languages #learning languages #studyblr #korean language #한국어 공부

[mangi-is-struggling]

I've not been learning mandarin for that long but so far I should have practiced with checkered (?) tian zi ge (?) paper already. I think I will be practicing more from now on. I'd like to improve my handwriting because right now it is a hot mess. I looked up the stroke order of every character on that sheet but I noticed I cannot have both pretty sinograms and correct stroke order. It's kinda frustrating not being good first try but hey, I'll survive...

I realized halfway through my line of 我 maybe I should have written from top to bottom? I guess practice is allowed to be dogshit....

See ya ★

#chinese language #languageblr #mandarin #chinese #languages #learning languages #studyblr

[mangi-is-struggling]

My thoughts on Duolingo

I must preface this by saying I haven't been using it for years like some people have, only for a few weeks, but in that time period I've already noticed stuff.

First of all, I am not a fan of the competition aspect. In the first few days i was so adamant on being number one of my league that it overall ruined my learning experience. I was very anxious about the constant battle for the first spot and it overwhelmed me to the point where I wasn't even memorizing the lessons correctly. I think the XP's system is alright but making it a competition is so harsh on people that just wanna learn and have a good time.

The "gamification" on the other hand is quite cool (if you're not looking for actual lessons, that is). It makes it accessible to more people. It relies solely on memory and I think it has helped me remember some (emphasis on "some") words/sinograms in mandarin. But at the same time, there is zero (0) actual lesson in the whole "course"? So for people like me who like to analyze, break down and figure out patterns, sentences and word order by themselves, Duolingo does very little. I personally widely prefer watching rather compact (information wise) videos on grammar and break them down myself over getting vocabulary and sentences thrown in my face.

As a beginner I have little to no way of figuring out if the pronunciation (and tones) for both mandarin and korean is actually good. I've read a lot of posts made by native speakers roasting Duolingo, saying its speakers are shit and I'd like if someone could tell me how bad the pronunciation is...

I don't know if I'll keep on using Duolingo. Maybe I'll switch to another app... That is if I find an app which's relevance had been approved by native speakers...

Any thoughts?

See ya ★

#korean language #languageblr #mandarin #chinese #languages #learning languages #langblr #language learning #chinese langblr #chinese language #한국어 공부 #中文 #studyblr

[mangi-is-struggling]

Today I

Did my duolingo (mandarin)

Studied Korean Present Tense with content from YouTube

Listened to the very first episode of 괴담 on AudioClip (which was kinda overwhelming given I could only recognize "아니요", "여보세요", "노트북" & little filler words/particles...)

Did some more duolingo (mandarin), because why not?

Practiced Hangeul

Watched 안녕자두야 on YouTube and could once again not make out anything except for "선생님" and simple basic words like that

Ordered a notebook online to gather my vocab flashcards and sheets (that are all over the place) and have everything be in the same spot

I think, so far so good!

See ya ★

#languageblr #mandarin #korean language #languages #learning languages #studyblr #duolingo

[mangi-is-struggling]

My notes on subject marking particles & object marking particles

I am aware they are very rough looking and neither concise nor clear, but it's the way that works for me right now. It's more of a bunch of little remarks and examples sprinkled with some very basic grammar rules.

As for the resources from which all of this originated, i've been following along "Korean with Miss Vicky 픽키샘한국어" on YouTube. Although sometimes I'm confused, her lessons are well made.

See ya ★

#languageblr #korean language #languages #learning languages #langblr #duolingo #studyblr

[mangi-is-struggling]

I tend to wonder about chinese and korean translations of day to day words quite often, so here is...

Today's vocab! 今天的字! 오늘의어휘!

中文

酒 [jiǔ] (any kind of) fermented drink

电视 [diànshì] TV

한국어

아침[a-chim] breakfast

괴담 [gwe-dam] ghost stories

영화 [yeong-hwa] movie

My sources range from YouTube vlogs to basic translation websites (even though I know most of the time those offer broken and very formal talk) so if I happen to say bullshit feel free to correct me! Always happy to learn!

See ya ★

#languageblr #languages #learning languages #studyblr

[mangi-is-struggling]

I'm really new to this. My notes are far from neat and I lack methodology; my focus and motivation are fluctuating at best and my handwriting is hot shit. I'm not sure I want those pretty and aesthetic notes with lots of highlighter and very good calligraphy but I'd sure like to be able to decipher the meaning of my own annotations...

#languageblr #languages #learning languages

[mangi-is-struggling]

I've been very "committed" to studying my target languages lately... I've spent the best of the last business week and a half teaching my way through Korean grammar at full speed and powerwalking through Mandarin duolingo, while ignoring my basic needs and almost injecting ground coffee right into my heart. I'm thinking maybe managing a study blog will keep me motivated? And if not, I'll sell my soul to the Devil in exchange of the key to mastering every language to ever exist...

#languageblr #mandarin #chinese #korean language #languages #learning languages #한국어 공부 #中文 #language learning #chinese langblr #studyblr #If you've seen this post before it's because I'm an idiot #I deleted my account because of side blogs shenanigans