I was also able to communicate with my language partner in Indonesian. After an entire semester, we were finally able to have a brief conversation. In this thread, we are talking about going to eat dinner and at what time. My language partner even offered to pay.
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One of my objectives this year was to have a causal conversation in Indonesian with my roommate this year. It finally happened!
Wow, what a semester. Looking back, I really set high expectations for myself. I forgot how difficult it is to learn a different language. On top that, teaching yourself along with the help of a language partner is not as easy as I had imagined. My language partner helped a lot and gives us plenty of tips to remember certain words and phrases. She also provided us with activities that helped me practice my grammar and my speaking.
However, I really wish I had one more semester of being able to take Indonesian. There is definitely a learning curve in the first couple of weeks because you are still adjusting to your learning plan and learning what the best way to learn a language is. All in all, I greatly enjoyed meeting with my language partner and learning Indonesian. It is also helped that there was Bo along to work with. Having a second person in the course was great.
I have finally been able to write a few types of written correspondence with my roommate and one of my language partners, Bo. To be frank, it is still very basic Indonesian. I am still only writing basic sentences that mostly consist of me asking questions and introducing myself and giving basic facts about myself. Needless to say, I have learned so much considering how difficult it was for me in the beginning. I think trying to learn different foods and how to order has been my favorite part about learning Indonesian. The toughest part, and the part where I still lots of practice in, should be grammar.
This is an email I wrote in Indonesian to my roommate.
This week, we did some review of what we have learned thus far. Personally, I did not realize how much Indonesian I have actually learned this past semester. Although I realize that each week we are working little by little to achieve some beginner level in Indonesian, it is remarkable how much I have been able to learn and retain thus far. While I am not by any means fluent in Indonesian, after the review session I felt somewhat surprised by how much I was able to understand, even at a beginner level. So far, I have slightly changed the methods by which I have tried to memorize and retain Indonesian words.
An effective method I have found that has helped me the most is trying to have a conversation in Indonesian and reading the dialogues that are found in the text book, with a partner. Using this method has helped me with my pronunciation, grammar and syntax, and my ability to create longer sentences. Having a convention in Indonesian has also helped me feel more comfortable making mistakes all while practicing what I already know.
This week, we continued with creating sentences while focusing on verbs and other grammatical aspects. The most important lesson from this week, was learning that in Indonesian, personal pronouns come after the noun rather before like in English. For example, instead of writing "your cat", the sentence order would directly translate into "cat you." Adjectives are also placed after the noun unlike in English where adjectives are before the noun. This week we also learned about two new words we can use when discussing future events. The word akan means will while the word mou means want. These words have made it easier to grasp the concept of time in Indonesian.
The lesson from class this week was also very relatable in terms of my self-directed learning. In class, we discussed how being bilingual may help you think or just think differently from those that are only monolingual. I have certainly found that to be true, especially when learning to speak Indonesian. While English has helped to an extent, I have found Spanish to be a little more helpful when trying to pronounce new Indonesian words.
Going forward with my Indonesian studies, I have tried to continue to expand my Indonesian vocabulary by learning more common words and phrases. Slowly, with the help of my language instructor, I have been able to put more complex sentences together that go beyond just introducing myself to others. I have learned new verbs and adjectives that make it easier to express a thought into Indonesian. However, while I am being exposed to these words, I have had trouble memorizing the words and having a clear grasp on them. To help me memorize these new phrases, I have tried making note cards and reading some of the dialogue in our Indonesian textbook. Reading the dialogues found in the textbook helps me further understand how the contexts of the words and sentences structure.
