How I study

When I tell people that I study 7 languages at once, they always say that they could never do it and ask how I keep myself motivated.
I already told you that I study every language once a week, but what do I actually do? Maybe this could help you with your language studies as well?


First of all, I have a notebook where I fill one page per day. This includes new vocabulary (20 words a day, in Japanese I learn 10 new kanji every week) and, of course, some grammar as well. I have to admit, I usually have troubles finding some grammar to study for English or Swedish for example, because I already know how to use the language. I don't really need much more but the practice, but this is part of my everyday life, in every language. So, what exactly do I do?

1) Reading
Reading is, in most cases, the easiest part of learning a new language. You can take your time, work your way through every word, until you understand the meaning of a sentence. I have to admit, it's a bit more difficult with Japanese, because you don't only know the words, but also the Kanji belonging to them. Since I always set my first goal for reading, I'm mainly studying Kanji at the moment, without knowing how to pronounce them in most cases. My excuse: Depending of what way they're used in, they're always pronounced differently. Ways to practise your reading comprehension are:
- reading a book
- reading blog entries
- setting your phone/computer/facebook to the language you're learning
- reading song lyrics
- reading example sentences including the words you've just learned
- scanning shampoo bootles/food packages/etc for the language you're learning: they might have the ingredients printed onto it
- finding a chat partner online (before you start writing in that language, you could continue in your own language and ask that person to reply in his)

2) Writing
Writing is usually the next step I take. You don't need a conversational partner for these two kinds of practice, which is useful if you need to find a way into the new language. If I would actually try to speak with a Finnish person, or maybe just listen, I probably wouldn't understand a word. It's hard to analyse what is being said, since the person doesn't know what speed you work in. Some people might argue this, but working with the written word is the easiest way to approach a language for me. Of course, it's always important not to stay in one area, but work with all four of them. You can practise your writing skills by:
- copying texts you've read
- writing with your chat partner
- giving yourself tasks for writing (in an essay for example, or a review)
- having a blog in that language
- doing grammar exercises (and writing the solutions down in a whole sentence!)

3) Listening
Listening is the third step I approach. Before speaking yourself, you need to know how a word sounds, and it's easier to try and understand unknown words from the context, instead of getting stuck while speaking because you have a lack of vocabulary. This counts for reading as well, of course! I often study unknown words from books I'm reading as new vocabulary. Since you already know what words look like, you can keep your eyes open for words and sentence structures that seem familiar to you. You can do this while:
- watching a film (maybe a film you already know to start with)
- watching interviews or TV shows (choose a topic you're actually interested in)
- listening to native speakers (e.g. via skype or when you recognise them in public transport)
- listening to songs 
- listening to audiobooks
- listening to the radio 

4) Speaking
Speaking is what we're actually aiming at, isn't it? Being able to participate in conversations. You don't say "speaking a language" for nothing! Now, ways to practise this are:
- speaking with a native speaker
- repeating sentences you've heard
- reading texts out lout (that's what I do with books)


Now, have fun with learning your language, you all know that I do! It's midnight, so Finnish time for me!

Agatha Christie - The Pale Horse (English)

Due to my language study plans, I've decided to read more, starting with an English book I bought on a flea market more than three years ago.

I wasn't quite convinced at first, because for me, it's always hard to keep reading at the beginning of the book. Until the tension rises, which it did in this case.

Of course, the tension came together with a murder and - even more importantly - a mystery.
The dying Mrs Davis leaves tells Father Gorman about some names which are important to remember, and then dies. Straight after, Father Gorman is killed on the streets. The detectives didn't really understand why he was killed, but it must have had to do with the names on the list he hid in his shoe. What were those names about? It was certain though, that some of those names were surnames of people who had just died, and people with the remaining surnames kept dying, from natural causes, apparantly. As Mark Easterbrook, our protagonist, hears about this place called the Pale Horse where there were supposed to be witches, he tried to find out more about it. Soon enough, he learns that there is a whole business behind it, and it had to do with the people dying. According to his theory, this guy in Birmingham, Bradley, bet on the lives of people with relatives who wanted them to die, which seems completely legal. Thyrza Grey and the other women of the Pale Horse then put a curse on them to make them become ill. Also, there must be a brain behind it, and since the old pharmasist Osborne had seen someone following Father Gorman right before he was killed who looked like Mr Venables, he was the main suspect - although he had atrophied limbs.
To find out more, Mark and his friend Ginger decided to trick them and look behind what was happening. Mark told Thyrza Grey he wanted Ginger, who played his wife who had disappeared years ago and now suddenly was back, dead and so they have a séance at the Pale Horse, a black magic ceremony. And a while later, Ginger actually becomes ill.
As Mark found out that she was losing hair, his friend Mrs Oliver told him that the previous victims also were losing hair - it wasn't a curse, but a thallium poisoning. D.I. Lejeune, his sergeant and Mark go to Mr Venables house, witness Osborne coming with them. They explain the whole business to Venables just to then turn to Osborne and state that he was the brain behind it, that he was just suspecting Venables to hide that he actually killed Father Gorman and had people go to the victims' houses and place thallium there.

What. a. plot twist. Wow.
I have to admit, I'm a really bad reader so this book actually took me some weeks, although it's not really long. But, despite the fact I'm not really into detective novels, this one was really interesting and provided surprises for the reader. Ginger and Mark decide to marry at the end, but I'm glad it wasn't utterly romantic, because that wouldn't have matched with the rest of the story. I hardly could identify with Mark, to be honest, but I guess most readers just want to get behind what's happening at the Pale Horse if they're reading this book. I might read more novels by Agatha Christie, I actually have another one here!


Now I need to start reading a French book though, ugh. English was so easy, it was wonderful! But I'd like to get to this point with all my languages. So be sure that more reviews will be coming!

Songs Explained: Norlie & KKV - Din Idiot

Hi guys, here's the second part of my language study program!

"Minns allt som igår
min sol gick i moln
ditt ord var förlåt
du har sagt det förr"
This is the situation of a breakup, after KKV found out that his partner cheated on him. She asked him to forgive her, but she's said that before and he just doesn't believe her anymore.

"Du vet vart jag står
när du ber mig förstå
du vill ha mig som då
men en del av mig fattar"
To be honest, I don't really understand this. I suppose, KKV is just angry because his girlfriend thinks he's stupid enough to believe her apologies. He's started to understand.

"Gången du sov med nån annan
och du vände på allt tills jag gav mig
jag vill inte ens nämna de andra
för du vet mycket väl vad du sa"
He's now directly speaking about the several times his girlfriend cheated on him. I don't really see/understand much more behind it.

"Du tror att det gör ont, it's all good
och så har det vart sen den dan du försvann
din idiot, hur kan du va så dum
nu är det försent att få vara mitt allt
Du tror att det gör ont
hur kan du va så dum
nu är det försent att få vara mitt allt"
I think this says that the person speaking is alright and has been since he's separated from this girl. He is directly addressing her, saying that he isn't her idiot (at least I think so) and that it's too late to be his. He seems to have understood that he's to good for someone who only cheats on him.

"Jag såg dig på stan
ni såg ut att må bra
men skenet bedrar
när du ringer mig"
He's seen her with her new boyfriend in the city and she seems to be happy, but he knows that she isn't because she keeps ringing him.

"Säger du inte har
någon annan som jag
du vill ha mig tillbaks
vad är felet på dig"
Now he's kind of angry, because she keeps saying stuff like her new guy wasn't like him and she wanted him back. But in the person's opinion, she should be aware of the fact that she's messed it up.

"Minns gången du ljög för min mamma
och måla upp dig som nån annan
jag vet inte ens varför jag stanna
för jag vet mycket väl vad du sa"
It seems like during all this time they were together, the girl wasn't herself and just pretended to be someone else which made him fall in love with her. Now you can see, that he's still upset, because he seems to actually have loved her a lot (probably due to what I just stated), but he knows exactly what she's done. He knows that he's good for her and that she didn't treat him right, but he fell in love and can't really stop loving her. It's the typical mind VS heart game.

Essay English #1

This might not seem too weird to you guys yet, but just you wait for the following weeks. As I told you, I've decided to spend more time on studying languages and apart from comprehension and reading tasks, I think I should also train my writing skills. It's easy this week, it might be alright in the next two weeks, but after that, who knows. I better start studying more!

Essay English #1: Do people depend too much on technology nowadays?

Technology appears everywhere in our everyday lives. In the morning, I am woken up by an alarm, which is usually on my mobile phone. I check my messages, start my computer and go through all the things I need to do. Usually, I write them into my spiral pad which has been my friend for more than a year now. Using programs and applications to organise everything confuses me a lot, so I stick to those old-schooled alternatives. When I feel like reading, I take one of those beautiful old books I purchased at a flea market out of my shelf, lie down in my bed and just read.
Without any doubt, we do use a lot of technology nowadays. It's faster, more efficient, it's easier to share things. But the benefits might come to a limit and there might also be some dangers.

Let's come back to my reading example. When do I actually read a book, voluntarily? To be honest, I haven't full-heartedly read a book in years. I bought one last year, but after I had finished it, I was disappointed about having put so much time into reading it, since the story was quite boring. When I go into a bookstore, I see so many books I would like to read. They sound interesting, there are so many diverse topics! So maybe I buy one. I go home, tell myself that I should read the book once I've spent money on it, read about two chapters and then get bored. Only think about those old times when I was in primary school, where I would read all day! What happened?
There's a simple answer to it: It's become easier to distract me. I lie in my bed, read the book, but I know that my phone is lying on my desk and the green light tells me that I have a new message. Who could it be? What if I miss anything important? Couldn't I read and just check my messages at the same time?
Well, no, I can't. Luckily, I've learned about myself that if I actually want to read a book, I need to get into an environment without any distractions. When I'm at my mum's house, I usually sit down in the garden – the dogs can only distract me for a minute. Also, I know that I need to be absolutely relaxed to read a book. And I don't know if this came with puberty or if it's an actual issue of our modern life, but I'm never really relaxed. I'm so nervous most of the time, if I sit down in front of my computer to just browse 9gag and do nothing for a moment, I simply get the urge to stand up and do something, but at the same time, I'm way too lazy.
There's no doubt about that technology has changed us, as people.
I still find myself trying to avoid seeing technology as an important part of our life, something, which still affects us when we're outside in the nature. I even refuse to see it as more than a medium for communication, no, it literally seems to have become a replacement for the normal communication: face to face, eye to eye. People apologise when they don't answer my messages rightaway, as if it was their duty to read their messages every single minute of their lives. They even apologise when they fall asleep.
Alright, it's different in a relationship, just to make that clear. But, still – isn't it weird how technology has even become an essential part in modern relationships?

Technology has changed us, it affects us, and we're dependent. Of course we are, because nobody will contact you if you don't have a mobile phone number, an e-mail address or a profile on a social media website. You'll be forgotten, it will be to inconvenient to get in touch with you. Life without technology would be too inconvenient for those, who grew up with it.
You can't fight it, it will increase and there will be more progress and better technologies and innovations. The most important thing is to force yourself to disconnect sometimes. To turn off your computer, your TV, your phone. To go outside, for a walk, to invite your friends for a picnic by the lake. To write a letter to your loved ones. Enjoying the little things in life has become really difficult nowadays, due to technology. But we should try to focus on them more often and we'll see that we won't be the only ones who will be happy about this decision.

Animal Language

I really think it is fascinating, how everything changes between you and an animal, if you just try to understand it, to feel how it feels and to "speak" to it, so it understands you. I could spend quite some time just with studying about animal language and actually getting in touch with the animals. And as I want to be close to the nature, it really makes me happy to be able to communicate with a living creature which is not from my species.

 The dogs and me

Photo: Sarina Weber (2014)

The dog is the major part of animals I get in touch with. when I took my experience proof certificate, I learned a lot about dog language, although I already knew a lot about it. Learning about it really improved the relationship between Sammy and me. I understand her. I have to admit, sometimes, I'm still a bit moody and unfair to her, but nobody's perfect, neither humans nor dogs. I can also see who doesn't understand his dog, or who simply doesn't care about what his dog is trying to tell him. Okay - I won't deny that sometimes, I really really really don't know what Sammy's trying to tell me. For example, when she's lying in her basket, she looks at me as if she was waiting for something. And I really don't know how to react in that situation! Most often, I just turn around and try to ignore it, because I know that, if Sammy actually wanted something, she'd find a way to tell me. I'm really excited to learn more and maybe to find an opportunity to be really close to a dog someday. I would lie if I'd say that Sammy just isn't the right dog for this because she's living too far away.

The birds and me

(2013)

It is not difficult to understand these cute creatures, but it's really difficult to get through to them and to make them accept me as a member of their "family". I was at a similar point some time ago, but I did the mistake to let it wind up when I got a boyfriend. I really have to work with them every day to make them trust me again, and for now, all I'm doing is to lie my hand into their cage. But it's really interesting how they react: I can check if they're scared or not, if they allow me to get closer or not. Saphira usually is super sceptical, but also curious, always hiding behind Lilla and making a long neck to see everything. Yesterday, Lilla could even clean herself when my hand was lying on their perch. When I got closer, her eyes were widening, her breathing became faster and she eventually made a step towards Saphira. That was the point when I took my hand back to show them that I wouldn't hurt them. And using my voice, I could give them the possibility to try to understand me, too. I often see that they're listening and they react to my voice and know when I'm adressing them. They are really clever and it's really exciting to use the right language to communicate with them.

The horses and me

Photo: Vilma Alderheim (2013)

Horses are still a big mystery to me. I remember when my neighbour took me to one of her riding lessons and after that, I really wanted to take some, too, but my mum didn't allow me to. I actually rode a horse for the first time when my sister took me to her Egon in preparation for my Sweden vacation some weeks later. Being in Sweden, Vilma's mother complimented me for my riding posture and the skills I had after only riding once my life. I really enjoyed the weeks in Sweden and got in touch with the horses a lot, but I'm just at the beginning of learning how to understand them and their body language. It's really fascinating, because they are so big, strong and also strange, which makes them interesting. This year, I'll probably go on an equestrian holiday near my town. Riding is an expensive hobby and there is a cheap horse ranch where I could take riding lessons this year, but in a holiday, I could use a lot of time for only one horse and apart from the riding sport, I'm just really interested in how a horse communicates and how a human could get through to it, as I read it in my friend's blog posts. I really like the idea and hope to realize it.






You can see that I don't love languages for the linguistic aspects only, but mainly for the communicative aspects. This sums it up quite well. As a person who feels happy and confident out in the nature, I'm not only interested in nordic languages, such as Finnish or Swedish (they spend a lot of time in the nature, more than Germans at least) but also in the "animal languages". I would like to hear your thoughts about this. :)