I’ve been learning so much, so quickly! I began learning Bahasa Indonesia 2 weeks ago, and according to Duolingo’s test, I am 7% of the way through its course already! I hope to reach A2 proficiency by the end of this semester, which I know is a high goal. I’ll be happy to reach A1, but I am aiming for A2. Classes every morning with Farida are incredibly helpful towards this goal, although it takes more time than a typical one - unit course. On Mondays and Tuesdays we typically focus on some aspect of the language, such as introductions, and learning new vocabularies. Wednesdays and Thursdays are spent learning cultural information. For example, this week we learned about types of places to eat in Indonesia and their relative prices, as well as different places of worship. There are a lot of cheap places to eat in Indonesia, but I don’t think I will find it easy to be a vegetarian. There are also many interesting religions (agama) that seem to coexist within the nation. I find this to be a wonderful way of getting to know Indonesian culture and it’s a great time to learn new vocabularies! I have one notebook that I write all of my class notes in, and another notebook where I carefully copy the new vocabulary or rules each day into my own dictionary. This ensures that I review my lesson notes every day and allows me to say the words out loud as I copy them, which is necessary for me to make sure they stick in my brain. So far this seems to be working well, but I think that I need to find time to study the words more frequently. I am a terrible auditory learner but I am hoping to learn the language for interpersonal communications and day to day conversations, so I really need to read out-loud to myself to connect the visual and audio elements of the language in my brain. Having daily class with Farida also helps me practice listening, as I struggle to make sense of the foreign sounds over zoom and respond appropriately. On Fridays we have language table, which is where we really focus on learning new vocabularies. This week, we learned our numbers! I was fairly happy because within 5 minutes of talking to myself, I had numbers 1-10 memorized. Counting in Bahasa Indonesia is fairly simple and similar to English, so after 1-10 was memorized the rest was straightforward. I will have to practice this often though, because Indonesian money is counted in the thousands, which I am not yet comfortable with.
On Duolingo I switched from Spanish to Indonesian and have continued my 160 day streak, which helps me practice Bahasa Indonesia every night before bed. I practice as I fall asleep and frequently wake up with some words floating around in my subconscious, a method I found helpful for integrating the language into my subconscious. So far I have not yet had time to add any more elements to my language learning outside of class, but I’m hoping that as the semester continues and my time-management skills come back to me, I will be able to listen to Indonesian news pieces to stay on top of current events and practice my listening abilities.
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