Duolingo Progress with Chinese & Japanese

Spotlight on Chinese

I have been slowly working on Chinese.  It is more daunting an alphabet to learn than Japanese because Hiragana seems like baby steps from Romanji before you learn Katakana and Kanji.

Chinese - 高兴	happy,  glad  Kuàilè de

Part of speech	Translation
	English - happy, glad

 Reflection: 'I found a number of translations for happy, this seems to match the chinese in Duolingo.  So I guess it is Cantonese not Mandarin.

   Vocabulary comparison across languages: 

English - happy German - glücklich Danish - lykkelig Dutch - Vrolijk Swedish- Lycklig Norwegian - lykkelig Italiano - felice  Francais - heureuse, heureux Romanian-fericit Haitian Creole - kontan Esperanto - feliĉa Latin-felix Welsh - hapus Irish - sásta Scottish Gaelic - toilichte Zulu - ngijabule Hawaiian - hauʻoli Swahili-furaha Czech - šťastný Hungarian-boldog Polish-szczęśliwy Turk-mutlu Indonesian - senang Japanese-ハッピー Happī Korean 행복하다 haengboghada Hindi प्रसन्न prasann Yiddish - גליקלעך gliklekh Ukranian-щасливий shchaslyvyy Vietnamese-vui mừng Greek- χαρούμενο charoúmenos Russian счастливый schastlivyy

   Spotlight on Japanese

I first tried Japanese in year 6 at primary school.  My older sister was learning it at high school and later during her university. I was homeschool by my mum that year.  I found her hiragana flash cards to learn while I was sitting in the splits.  Trying to multi task, so I would be distract from the discomfort of stretching my legs to deepen my split while sitting on a pile of phone books with sharp corners.

I can see now that I am in my thirties the knowledge has stayed with me, so I have remembered the first part of hiragana and now need to work on the next years with the double lines ( i think they are called tentens) and the little circles used to make the other syllables like ta -> da, and ka -> ga etc.

Japanese - 名前はなんですか Namae wa nandesu ka 

English - What is your name?

 Reflection: I have learnt that putting 'desu ka' pronounced 'des ka' at the end of a sentence makes a question.  It seems like, isn't it?

   Vocabulary comparison across languages: 

English - name German - Der Name Danish - navn Dutch - naam Swedish- kaka Norwegian - Navn Italiano - nome  Francais - Nom Romanian-Nume Haitian Creole - non Esperanto - nomo Latin-nomen Welsh - enw Irish - ainm Scottish Gaelic - ainm Zulu - igama Hawaiian - inoa Swahili-jina Czech - název Hungarian-név Polish-Nazwa Turk-isim Indonesian - nama Japanese-名前Namae Korean 이름ileum Hindi -नाम naam Yiddish - נאָמען nomen Ukranian-назва nazva Vietnamese- Tên Greek- όνομα ónoma Russian имя imya

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Duolingo September Progress includes Zulu, Haitian Creole, Irish, Swedish and Czech

Learning Focus in September: trying to level up in Duolingo (jump each language to the next increasing Duolingo level)

I am trying different ways to keep me on track around work and family and keep my motivation up.

My September Challenge

This month, I am working through languages I haven't had a chance to revisit for a while.  I am dabbling in them until I level up.  Each subsequent language level is harder to obtain because each level is a much higher number of XP.  Level 25 is the highest level.

Trying out the new Duolingo update

I have enjoyed revisiting languages once again and getting into their mode or head space.  I am also enjoying this in combination with the new interface in Duolingo.   I have been a Duolingo member since begin on their waitlist 10 years ago.  I love the new path way and how it organises a set path of mini steps to try in bite size pieces as well as revision sets of mistakes, listening and speaking that can be forgotten about if like me you often play Duolingo in waiting rooms and near others so you never want to to turn the volume up in case it annoys other people.  The speaking and listening exercises remind me to concentrate on these skills when I am away from others.

So far, I have levelled up in 9 Languages across Turkish, Polish, Russian, Irish, Danish, Swedish, Czech, Finnish as well as the newest language Zulu.  I have worked hard and am enjoying every minute of Level 11 Zulu.

I wonder how many more level ups I can work towards by the end of September? I don't want to set a goal, because my family and work come first, but I celebrate every achievement along the way. 

Dabbling across more than 30 languages in my long term goal at my own pace. 5 languages I have already reached Level 25: Italian, French, German, Spanish, Welsh, however as Duolingo evolves and updates more lessons and units are being added to more courses. So, 38 - 9 levelled up recently - 5 at level 25 = 24 languages to work my way though.  At the moment, I am cycling through 3 langauges daily, usually a Romance language, a Germanic language (as the two language families I have the most experience/background in) and one from another family.

Next in line: 

•  Romanian, Latin,
• Norwegian*, Finnish, 
• Indonesian, Chinese, Korean
• Hawaiian, Navajo, Swahili
• Arabic, Greek, Yiddish

*Norwegian is a huge course

Level 6 vs Level 23 comparison

*Norwegian is a huge course and is going to hard to be level up from Level 23 to level 24. This next level needs over 1200XP to be completed. Be aware, lower levels like my Hindi is only on level 6, so needs only 150 XP to level up.  I think this tiered systems is effective because it allows you to concentrate in bite size amounts when you first meet a langauge and lets you get spaced repetition until you do the next lesson.  Whereas, with higher levels, you can concentrate for longer periods when you are used to more grammar and more vocabulary and can take on more complicated sentences. I certainly notice how much more alert you are and how quickly you fatigue with a new language as a beginner.

Hence, I have currently completed 10 trophies but Spanish and French as 2 of the largest courses with the most learners have been significantly updated and grown.

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Edit

Next 10 level ups completed: Esperanto,  Scottish Gaelic, Swedish, Japanese,  Hungarian, Hindi, Dutch, Haitian Creole, Hebrew and Vietnamese this week.

Now 19 levels up in September :-)

Japanese Learning Log - alphabet

   

Rule: Japan uses three alphabets hiragana, katakana, and kanji.  Romani is an alphabet using English alphabet of Japanese words from the other Japanese alphabets.

Japanese  Ogenkidesuka (romanji)

English - How are you?

Remember: Be aware of romanji.  If you type your notes, use romanji to begin with.  Then where you get more familiar and know how to on your computer, type in hiragana, katakana, and kanji.

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Japanese Learning Log - words

   

Rule: hiragana characters have romanji (English alphabet equivalents and "picture stories" to help remember the sound of each character)

Japanese romanji  - senaka (setting sun, nun, coming up a hill)

English - back (part of the body)

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Extension: credit to "Nihongo lets go" another blog below :-)    

more body parts vocab from head and shoulders song

Atama, Kata, Hiza, Ashi. Me to Mimi to Kuchi, to Hana.

頭 - あたま - Atama - Head

肩 - かた - Kata - Shoulder

膝 - ひざ - Hiza - Knee

足 - あし - Ashi - Foot (Leg)

目 - め - Me - Eye

耳 - みみ - Mimi - Ear

口 - くち - Kuchi - Mouth

鼻 - はな - Hana - Nose

credit: http://nihongoletsgo.blogspot.com/2010/08/body-parts-head-shoulders-knees-and.html

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Do you know any other body parts? Share other words you know or research in the comments below :-)

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