Monthly Language Learning Journal

[keagan cross]

This past month has moved fast— I’ve found myself trying to keep up with the ambitious syllabus I created for myself while allowing my goals to be somewhat in flux. I started the semester with little to no knowledge of Bahasa Indonesia, so I’m learning more about what I want to know as I go along. Currently, I’ve been focusing on building fluency in conversation, increasing vocabulary, and continuing my studies of historic and sociolinguistics.At the beginning of the semester, my language partner and I were using class time to review homework exercises. Now that I’m able to speak more, I requested that we start class with any questions on the homework, but spend the majority of the time doing conversation practice. This has been a pivotal change— reading responses straight from my homework hadn’t been helping me to think in Indonesian. Now, I’m being forced to use circumlocution and noticing myself holding longer and longer conversations with less and less confusion.I’ve continued to find the homework units that my language partner provides as being more useful than the textbook I purchased. I’ve moved to asking for more homework units and doing two between classes and using my textbook only as needed.My building of the Google Site, the Bahasa Indonesian Learning Lab, who I’ve lovingly named BILL, has been helpful to my building of vocabulary— as I create vocabulary lists, I’m having to look at them over and over again. By compiling resources, I’m looking through so much language learning content. I’m hoping to have it public by next month, though I’ll continue to add to it after that. I’ve continually struggled with how sporadic resources are for Bahasa Indonesia, so maybe this will be helpful for future SDLAP students learning Indonesian.The most rewarding part of the class has been my study of sociolinguistics. I’ve been working on a history of corpus linguistics and how politics, colonization, and cultural contact has shaped the language. I’m thinking that my final project might involve using loan words as a means to understand Bahasa Indonesia’s history and attitude towards foreign languages.

[Joanne Bong]

I find it inspiring how much you managed to improve in a short amount of time. I wonder if a more ambitious learning plan creates more growth or if a more realistic and attainable plan does? I’d say there is merit to both! It’s also great to see how much you have dived into sociolinguistics and I’d bet it contributed a lot to your experience in learning the language.

[Xiwei Gu]

It's great to hear about the progress you've made in learning Bahasa Indonesia and the strategic adjustments you've implemented in your learning process. Focusing more on conversation practice with your language partner is an excellent move, as it helps you think in Indonesian and enhances your ability to hold longer, more fluid conversations.

Your approach to homework, preferring the units provided by your language partner over the textbook, reflects a personalized and effective learning strategy. Tailoring your resources to what works best for you is key in language acquisition.

[Global Studio]

Thought you'd like this study on Indonesian morphology: 

https://www.sfs.uni-tuebingen.de/~hbaayen/publications/DenistiaBaay...