As you very well know that I have been learning, mmm no, memorising songs in Finnish and Japanese - something that is not really in my comfort zone. I have learned loads about how to break-down the complexity and basically how to approach the entire process.
I started with the two Finnish songs -
1. Jos sä tahdot niin - Samuli Edelman
2. Hetken tie on kevyt - Laura Närhi
And basically I heard these songs over and over till I got the rhythm set in my mind. Of course, there was a lot of hit-and-trial experimentation involved in the process.
I was quite frustrated with the process in the beginning and I kicked-off my memorization project with the target of learning 5 songs in the first week. Didn't happen;P
Then I thought if I write it enough times then it will eventually stick - made little progress!
And then I realized a couple of days ago that if I listen to the song and read the lyrics at the same time, I can remember more and the words even seem quite natural with the rhythm of the song. Even better of a techniques is to sing along - something I have never done really. I mumble songs yes, not never really sang them out loud like that. So, it's obviously out of my comfort zone and I love this opportunity to be able to step out of this tiny comfort zone and make a bigger one around myself. This is one of the most important things that I care about while doing something - It must help me improve as a person, help me grow.
One reason why it is taking so much time in my case is that I am not learning the meaning of the song, not making sense of the words in a context but, well, I am all into experimenting with how much progress I can make relying only on raw memory and training my ears. A worthy experiment, I believe.
Besides, I was obviously getting bored of doing the same two songs everyday so I decided to start with the Japanese songs as well. Luckily I came across the famous lullabies in the language which just are quintessentially Japanese.
* Sakura
* Furusato
* Toryanse
As is the case with lullabies, the length is small and the rhyme is also quite easy to grasp as compared to a song by Hideaki Tokunaga ( my favourite so far in Japanese ). Though, I do keep in mind the fact that these lullabies might contain some "outdated" words as well so I keep that in my mind while memorizing them. But, just imagine how much of a surprise it would be to just wonderful to be able to charm some Japanese person - my own way of testing whether Japanese really don't show surprise much;P
But then again, this is an external motivation factor so the deeper pleasure would be to see the world through the eyes of Japanese Culture. That would help me learn the society and people better. And the biggest plus point being that once I understand the songs and know the words, it would be so much easier for me to focus on the Kanji for these words.
Now, I think why I didn't focus on Songs before? It's fun and almost as good as Reading and Listening with the added opportunity to speak the words in a more natural and rhythmical flow.
In the past couple of weeks my ability to hold rhythms in my head has sky-rocketed and I find myself murmuring these songs and lullabies while doing something else. Isn't that Good - a song filled mind. The most amazing feeling is to have an utter silence in one's mind or have it sing songs.
I do feel that if I were able to play out these songs on the Piano or Harmonica - I would progress far more faster but as of now my skills with either one are too elementary. Long road ahead;P
On a slightly less exiting note -
I recently finished a Chinese Podcast which absolutely was the longest podcast show I ever heard but I absolutely loved it. It had so many songs and most of the words that I had learned via Anki in the last month have been thoroughly integrated into multiple contexts via Movies and Podcasts.
I have made no progress what so every with the Japanese Words apart from breaking them down into more approachable groups and giving them similar-sounds in other languages like English, German and Chinese etc. So, what really remains for me to do is to sit down with the charts and just imagine-them-out.
I have changed my Google interface to Finnish and I make silly mistakes like Reporting something rather than Sharing it, so that's that)
No, other language has been touched apart from a bit of Polish and Russian. I have so lazy these past weeks I tell you. I will improve, I need to;D
I have this feeling that it's only gonna get better and I would be able to memorize songs in about 5 repetitions. So, that's the target.
Will keep you posted on the progress!
Auf Wiederschreiben;P
I started with the two Finnish songs -
1. Jos sä tahdot niin - Samuli Edelman
2. Hetken tie on kevyt - Laura Närhi
And basically I heard these songs over and over till I got the rhythm set in my mind. Of course, there was a lot of hit-and-trial experimentation involved in the process.
I was quite frustrated with the process in the beginning and I kicked-off my memorization project with the target of learning 5 songs in the first week. Didn't happen;P
Then I thought if I write it enough times then it will eventually stick - made little progress!
And then I realized a couple of days ago that if I listen to the song and read the lyrics at the same time, I can remember more and the words even seem quite natural with the rhythm of the song. Even better of a techniques is to sing along - something I have never done really. I mumble songs yes, not never really sang them out loud like that. So, it's obviously out of my comfort zone and I love this opportunity to be able to step out of this tiny comfort zone and make a bigger one around myself. This is one of the most important things that I care about while doing something - It must help me improve as a person, help me grow.
One reason why it is taking so much time in my case is that I am not learning the meaning of the song, not making sense of the words in a context but, well, I am all into experimenting with how much progress I can make relying only on raw memory and training my ears. A worthy experiment, I believe.
Besides, I was obviously getting bored of doing the same two songs everyday so I decided to start with the Japanese songs as well. Luckily I came across the famous lullabies in the language which just are quintessentially Japanese.
* Sakura
* Furusato
* Toryanse
As is the case with lullabies, the length is small and the rhyme is also quite easy to grasp as compared to a song by Hideaki Tokunaga ( my favourite so far in Japanese ). Though, I do keep in mind the fact that these lullabies might contain some "outdated" words as well so I keep that in my mind while memorizing them. But, just imagine how much of a surprise it would be to just wonderful to be able to charm some Japanese person - my own way of testing whether Japanese really don't show surprise much;P
But then again, this is an external motivation factor so the deeper pleasure would be to see the world through the eyes of Japanese Culture. That would help me learn the society and people better. And the biggest plus point being that once I understand the songs and know the words, it would be so much easier for me to focus on the Kanji for these words.
Now, I think why I didn't focus on Songs before? It's fun and almost as good as Reading and Listening with the added opportunity to speak the words in a more natural and rhythmical flow.
In the past couple of weeks my ability to hold rhythms in my head has sky-rocketed and I find myself murmuring these songs and lullabies while doing something else. Isn't that Good - a song filled mind. The most amazing feeling is to have an utter silence in one's mind or have it sing songs.
I do feel that if I were able to play out these songs on the Piano or Harmonica - I would progress far more faster but as of now my skills with either one are too elementary. Long road ahead;P
On a slightly less exiting note -
I recently finished a Chinese Podcast which absolutely was the longest podcast show I ever heard but I absolutely loved it. It had so many songs and most of the words that I had learned via Anki in the last month have been thoroughly integrated into multiple contexts via Movies and Podcasts.
I have made no progress what so every with the Japanese Words apart from breaking them down into more approachable groups and giving them similar-sounds in other languages like English, German and Chinese etc. So, what really remains for me to do is to sit down with the charts and just imagine-them-out.
I have changed my Google interface to Finnish and I make silly mistakes like Reporting something rather than Sharing it, so that's that)
No, other language has been touched apart from a bit of Polish and Russian. I have so lazy these past weeks I tell you. I will improve, I need to;D
I have this feeling that it's only gonna get better and I would be able to memorize songs in about 5 repetitions. So, that's the target.
Will keep you posted on the progress!
Auf Wiederschreiben;P
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