#helenstudies

[helenstudies]

what do you mean if I am an "honest" and "realistic" studyblr? is posting one thing and disappearing for weeks on end not realistic enough for you? :/

[helenstudies]

Reading Books in Your Target Language

My favorite way to read in a foreign language is to take a book and read it in my native language or english first, and then pick said book in my target language. This technique is even more helpful if you also pursue translation studies but that's a plus, not a requirement. Since I've already read it in a language I can fully comprehend and critically analyze, I am not only able to read the book in my TL much quicker, I'm also able to fully grasp how a native speaker would rephrase or interpret the same sentences.

If the TL book you're reading is a translated version, you're able to see which words the translator used to convey the meaning. This answers questions such as: Did they translate words literally? Did they use localization instead? What did they do with puns or jokes from the original book? What kind of rephrasing did they do? The translated version tells you how the translator think about certain sentences and certain kinds of writing. Sometimes your TL is a very literal and direct language. Sometimes your TL uses a lot of metaphors or polite sentences instead of being direct. You will learn to absorb these lines of thinking by reading the translated version.

If the TL book you're reading is the original version, you're about to see all the things I've said but flipped. You've got the way the line of thinking goes in the translation. Now you're gonna see how they go about it. And most of the time, this path sort of takes you like "oh! I don't know how to read/interpret this word at all but the translator used x to say it so I'm just going to keep reading." You will realize that you can read much faster, since you remember how it went. (unless it's non fiction since you can't follow the plot in nonfiction, but I find that in language learning, non fiction reading is much easier because there's less flowery and literary language.) I mostly do this when I want to read fast and have no need to reach for dictionaries or to refer to the translated version. This helps me read other text in my TL extremely faster.

Another tip about reading that has nothing to do with language reading more about bookish snobbery: a book is a book is a book. If your purpose is to read in your TL, you don't need to pick up classics if it's intimidating for you. Pick any book. Hell, pick pamphlets if you need. I personally prefer to read adult's graphic novels. I don't mean 18+ graphic novels. I just mean comics that are not for children. I find that children's picture books are much harder because most of them are to teach vocabularies to children, which is taxing for language learners because apparently children love onomatopoeia so much. Also, they have adults to explain everything to them. Comics for adults have jokes and stories instead so I like then better but hey, if you like children's picture books, you do you.

Another another tip: You don't have to finish the books. At all. Ever, actually. Pick up, do twenty pages each and put down if you'd like. You're the boss. Do it your style.

Happy learning!

[helenstudies]

One of the Burmese sayings I keep thinking about nowadays is this: ဆင်လည်း ဆင့်အထွာနဲ့၊ ဆိတ်လည်း ဆိတ်အထွာနဲ့ (my translation of this: the elephant measures by the elephant measurements and the goat measures by the goat's measurements). This phrase is used in many contexts but the core meaning of the saying is "it is different for everyone."

Of course, an elephant might look at a tree and think it small while a goat may look at the same tree and think it big. An elephant might eat a colossal amount of food compared to the goat, but for the elephant it is a normal amount of food.

During these worrying and turbulent times, it is imperative that we realize all of us are going through life but we are not going through the same life. We have to have empathy and sympathy for fellow humans. You have to be kind to yourself as well. If you're a very productive person because you have a lot of energy, you can't blame someone who isn't energetic as you are. Their achievements might look small to you, but for them it's big. For you, an insult might be easy to shake off, but for others it might be a life-long traumatic memory.

This must apply to any sort of comparison and criticism you make in the world. Are you sure that person is the same as you are? Maybe you are an elephant to their goat? Are you a goat compared to that elephant? And does it matter if you can't measure up to someone else's expectations?

An elephant will never turn into a goat. You just have to make peace with the fact that everyone is living their own version of life. Understand this, apply this to as many things as you can and take life in stride (in your own pace of course)

[helenstudies]

I don't think I've ever said it here but my area of interest in linguistics is etymology, actually! I love reading about words and how they came to be. Unfortunately, since each and every word has their own little garden path they took in the course of history, it's hard for a person to keep track of them. At least etymology of words in my target languages are well-documented but that's not really the case with Burmese.

Burmese is a Tibeto-Burman language and like most other languages, it is a beautiful entangled mess. Old Burmese is a mix of Mon, Pyu and Pali languages. Modern Burmese is heavily influenced by languages of our neighbouring countries: which if you don't know are China, India, Thai, Bangladesh and Laos. [Side note: I think people have a general idea of where those five countries are but most people have no clue where Myanmar is. We're squarely in the middle of those five.] Anyway, I've been looking for etymology books on Burmese but they're not widely available to the public. The only source you can easily look up is Wikitionary but they're not that credible and also wikipedia is banned in Myanmar. And yes, you should be mad about that. Other than that, I love comparative studies about languages but I've never thought about what languages do I want to compare and study about. It'll come to me one day, I hope? For now, my thing is learn languages and read a lot about etymology.

[helenstudies]

36/35 days until TOCFL

hours studied - 5 hour 40 minutes

I previewed 2,868 words for TOCFL in last 24 hours and glad to report I knew all but 250 of them! I still need to preview other 6,000 words so wish me luck! After previewing all the words, I will be studying the new words while trying to take some practice tests.

I've used two quizlet lists for TOCFL vocabulary but fyi, these are with simplified characters! I'll be using the other three for the next days.

[helenstudies]

random but I tried tocfl (taiwanese chinese proficiency test, ik that's not the initials) computer mock test with simplified letters and got B1 level on my first try! I was really sleep deprived so I tried hard during the listening test but after 20 questions into my reading test I just clicked randomly to end it lmao. I think it's not bad for my first try? I think I can get B2 if I try to take it again on a better day. This is a good resource for intermediate-advanced learners, y'all. Try it out if you have time. Listening test takes 30 minutes and the time limit for the reading test is 60 minutes.

[helenstudies]

118 days to HSK (hopefully)

yes, this is korean. notes from 일이 편해지는 To Do List 250 by 호리 마사타케 (Hori Masatake). I honestly didn't care about the book at first, just felt like reading it. it turned out to be pretty good for the first 30% but then fell apart. it is dawning on me that I always say I hate business majors but I may have read more "self-help" books than any of them actually do. I'm going to stretch while listening to naddpod.

[helenstudies]

5/21 days of productivity

got 80% on my Health Psychology final! Yay!

taught my Chinese class and read tarot for half an hour

A little talk about productivity under the cut.

People always ask me "how are you always so productive?" after seeing my achievements but the truth is I'm not. I only do my work for three hours a day and when I study I do it three hours a day at most as well. And I only do those every other day. Only deadlines or exams would make me work more hours than that.

This is what I have learned during the last year: work and money doesn't save me from pain. I've done so much during my teenage years and now I'm suffering the consequences. I get sick a lot, I am in pain most of the time and I can't enjoy things like I used to. So I'm not going to make that mistake again. I refuse to work myself to bones at this age. I'm young and in pain. But I wanna live. So I will work less, earn less, read more and study more. I will put my health and my quality of life first.

And what do you know, that mindset actually helped me with my productivity!

Since I know I can't do more later, I work hard in two to three hours. Since my social anxiety interferes with my ability to respond well to my clients, I employed someone else to do it for me as a part time job and now I don't have to worry about that. Since I know I'm not going to do things "later" I start things faster instead of procrastinating. I know I'm doing as well as I can, so I have such a better self-image of myself and my stress and anxiety dwindle.

I know being able to make my own schedule is a privilege. And I'm grateful for it. But I work less knowing I will earn less because I'm not going to die a workaholic.

To summarize: people think "productivity = busy" but it's really not that. This is especially true with studying. I am a bit sick today (my canker sore is making me cranky and sore. heh) so I will take things easy. I'll do a couple things for myself like stretching even though all I wanna do is sleep because stretching and exercising is the self care I need today. And I'm going to do less work today because I'm in pain and I need money, but I don't want to be making mistakes and I wanna put my health first.

Do not fall for toxic productivity. I've seen it destroy too many people my age. We should live while we can.

Remember to rest, and rest well.