I really enjoyed my independent studying this semester, and I am surprised at how well I kept on track. I think I have a really good foundation of Catalan if I were to continue learning the language in the future. I worked on my vocabulary, grammar, writing, and some speaking.
I think I have a solid vocabulary inventory as I choose vocab topics that either are frequently used in conversation (like food, numbers, pastimes), or are relevant to my studies (like political terms). I worked on my speaking with Estevam from Italki, and my vocabulary with my language partner. Although my language partner and I did not work out, I like that aspect of the SDLAP program.
What really helped me the most was journaling everyday or so. I would just write whatever came to my mind. Oftentimes I would write about what I did that day; and as I am a student and live the pretty typical college life, I got used to many words of things I did each day like “I went to class” or “I had lunch with my friend”, things like that.
I learned that I am very much a visual learner. Seeing words and phrases on a page helps me much more than hearing them. I also was exposed to different accents and dialects on Catalan as I used a few different tutors throughout the semester.
I think that being in SDLAP 105 helped me tremendously. Learning things about how we as humans process words and sounds really pushed me to think when I was studying Catalan. I also enjoyed learning about points of articulation and how some languages have sounds that other languages don’t have. I still don’t believe that a non-native speaker will ever sound like a native speaker due to these reasons. There are some sounds in Catalan that I have had trouble articulating but I try to think of voicing and vocal chords, like how we learned about glottal and plosive, or how vowels are continuous unobstructed sounds. I found it interesting to compare the languages we learned about in class to the English language. For example, that African tribe with the clicks was so cool to hear, and I could not imitate them.
I am very happy with myself and all that I have learned and accomplished this semester, and I know that I will definitely apply the things we learned in SDLAP 105 to speakers and languages I encounter in the future.
Replies
The tactic of journaling everyday, and just writing what came to mind and what you were thinking to help "flip" your inner voice to Catalan is a tactic that I want to try with Turkish, I think it will be extremely beneficial. Also, analyzing critically how you learn is very important and I agree that some learning tactics work better than others, especially when you learn visually versus orally.