Condensed milk March and April

Hello,

Sorry for disappearing last month. My mind was focused on school with the last assignments to hand in and with final exams. So, writing for the blog was not my priority. I want to take a moment to write my highlights for the months of March and April. Without further ado, the highlights of March and April!

Our winter was supposedly coming to an end, but the weather didn’t seem to bring spring. Even though spring was not coming, the weather seemed better with the visit of a friend from Japan. He came to visit Montreal with a friend for a couple of days. We had the chance to meet a few times and chat for a bit. Being social does lift the mood after such a somber winter.

Before coming, he asked me if I wanted something from Japan. First, I answered 何でもいい. Then, I read Shanna’s Japanese books haul and I got the bite for the NO.6 series. Maybe it is more than I can handle (and these are not the only Japanese books I have in my possession :S ) I guess 2015 will be my year of reading. Maybe, I’ll finish a book by the end of the year. Let’s stay positive on that!

Speaking of reading, I manage to read L’art d’écrire by Pierre Tisseyre. It was a book about getting tricks on how to write better and even publish a book one day. One of the tips was translating. Attempting to do write good translation forces you to analyse the source text and to understand how does the target language work to translate efficiently. Another one is reading a lot and this has also been suggested by my teachers. I am always getting a new author to read in a class.

I purchased more books than I usually do last month. But, they could be showed on a separate post ^^

Studying wise, school took over so not much language learning. But, I am still working on getting over this slump Still making slow progress on this.  Making slow progress on both languages and still working on mastering French a bit much.

I started to work on decluttering my environment with the KonMari method. I purchased the electronic version of her book and read quickly to get the concept of the method. I still need to give more time into the process to be completely done with my life cleaning. I noticed I have put myself on a shopping ban until I am done with the cleaning. I guess I need to assess what I have in my belongings before determining what I need.

That was the start of spring for me. I will work on posting my book haul next.

またね～

先年日本に行ったね～

時間がたつのが恐ろしく速い。

Condensed Milk: Feburary

Hello fellows learners (and those passing by),

February was more of dipping my toes in different waters.

Finished learning the Korean alphabet but I need more reading practise. I have been liking the fact that my Korean Grammar is Use (lovely named KGU as of now) book as mp3 available. I am trying mostly to learn Korean by ear as one thing that attracts me into the Korean culture is the entertainment/audiovisual field. I met with a language partner lately and explaining why I am learning Korean results in vague answers. I like Kpop but not so much. Kdrama are interesting but I don’t really watch them. I am learning the language because I can…? Why not? No real answers but still entertaining to learn it.

Pronunciation wise, I feel like I have cotton in my mouth when I try to speak it. We have several vowels in French so but I have a hard time connecting with Korean pronunciation. My language partners are so encouraging though. However, I still feel like I am butchering the language.  I don’t remember having this issue with Japanese.

None the less, using the KGU book is a constant struggle. Pushing asides school work for my other hobbies and vice versa has always been my constant guilt factor. I still have not found the right balance between work and pleasure. It wouldn’t be a problem if work was pleasure. Probably why they tell you to work in something you like or you will feel like you always need a reward for the work you have done. The constant self-taught learner problem I guess. Those pesky obligations!

I am working on finishing the books I currently own. Even I have been eyed many books lately, I have put myself on a shopping hiatus. It helps that the Canadian dollar is not doing so well and everything just costs twice as much O_O.

KGU gives a lot of grammar points but I need to work on the vocab acquisition. So, I will integrate my Hello Korean textbook that I bought on a splurge actually years ago.

Japanese wise, Shana’s lastest splurge has awaken my book craving.That NO.6 series is so tempting! Luckliy, my Japanese friend would be coming around town at the end of the month, So, I am turning him into a Japanese goods mule ~( ~´･_･`)~ . In the mean time, I will increase my Japanese reading ability with the book Read Real Japanese that I checked out of the university library. Seeing how the Asian section is so popular *sacarsm* I can renew the book as I need without an issue.

Reading wise, I read the second book in the 1Q84 series. Leisure reading has been put to a stop for exam preparations but I will probably get the third book. Seriously! That ending for Aomame! Yes, the third book is a necessity.

I hope you had a great start for March. To those in the cold weather, spring is coming. Keep on hoping ^^