i have a lot to do today, but i also want to study languages. this happens all the time,
it's not a big deal. i'm a student. we exist. i'm really craving some turkish today,
possibly some german... man, i'm so glad i'm going to be out of here in a month. you know,
i'm constantly just thinking about after i graduate-- i'm gonna have so much time for
languages. nobody can tell me what to do! but just because i have two classes, three meetings
today.. and also presentation that's due on friday.. also a translation that's due on friday..
i also have a paper due next tuesday that i should start.. that don't mean i gotta roll over and die
on my language goals! are you kidding? so in my busy, busy day today, i hope to show you guys a
couple ways that i incorporate language learning into my everyday life when i'm super busy, don't
have much time, or i'm just out and about and it's a bit chaotic and i can't get to my desk to, like,
traditionally study, you know? no compromise. no sacrifice. easy peasy. you don't gotta give
up your life! keep in mind-- i am not promoting hustle culture. i do not study every day, nor
do i think you should. people ask me sometimes, like, "Elysse, how do you study when you have no
motivation and no time?" i'm like, man, sometimes you got to reprioritize. like, if you can't study,
don't study. you don't want to study? don't study. but, you know, this is for one of those days where
you have the itch, you want to scratch it, but you don't want to mess up your responsibilities.
we've all been there, sister. it's hard not to feel guilty when you're too busy to study,
but there's always a way to do something.. rather than nothing. so i have some work to get done,
and i think then we're going to get something to eat after that. allons-y. why am i speaking
french? i'm not studying french right now. do i even speak french? i'm not sure anymore. hehehe
so, i am now sitting in the room that i had my first-ever college course in. it was English 174,
i remember it like it was yesterday.. and this was my view. this is-- i think it's called the
memorial baptist church? or presbyter-- i'm not sure. these are the trolley tours that are the
bane of my existence, because they go five miles an hour and they are NOT. speeding up for anybody.
i haven't found any good podcasts for turkish yet, and i'm kind of i'm kind of butthurt about
it. are there that many good turkish podcasts? i'm not sure. there's a ton of good German ones
like Easy German, that's my go-to. i tried out Deutsches Geplapper, but i don't know,
dude. oop. not y'all seeing my freaking search history.. Chun Swae? 4-Town?! Dr. Gabba!! so if
i look up turkish and go to podcasts, there's a decent amount. i do follow this one that's called
Turkish Tea Time. oh i just realized you can see me in a reflection, hi. there's turkish tea time,
they post pretty frequently, but i'm not sure what it's about. i do follow that one already.
let's learn turkish, which... this one does not post very frequently. it says January 2021,
which is NOT frequent enough for my consumption style. i don't know. we're gonna have to explore.
anyways i'm gonna get to work, i'm gonna try out turkish tea time, let's do it.
what i like about podcasts on busy days is that it's passive, of course, so it's like you're not
actively having to study, but also that you can kind of chip away at it throughout the day. you
don't have to listen to the whole episode in one sitting, and i think it's beneficial to consume
it in small bites. because you can process both of the content and the features of the language
a little bit more, i think it makes it like a lot more digestible. [two hours later]. so i've just
gotten out of my news issues and analysis class, i do have some downtime before i have to go to my
music theory class, so i came home for a minute. but i would like to dedicate an entire chapter of
this video to what i call "playing on my little phone." people underestimate how much playing on
your little phone-- you know-- how beneficial it can be to your language learning. so one thing i'm
always able to do on the go is respond to my group chats and my friends and my language partners.
i'm in so many group chats, y'all, it can be a little bit overwhelming at times. i'm in a
german learner's groupchat, a portuguese learning group chat.. how could i forget? about a week ago,
i launched my membership group on ko-fi and we also have a groupchat. it's called polyglot
pals. i'm gonna just leave the benefits here for a second if you'd like to look at those. eh? eh?
but i don't know, say you're out and about or in between meetings you have some downtime-- because
let's be real, i don't think downtime means like relaxation time anymore-- it means phone time.
so you might as well be doing something good with your phone time. writing just a couple of messages
to your language partner or to your group chat every day can be really really beneficial for just
getting your words out, you know? for example, in my german learners group chat, we always
are just talking about our days, sending memes, talking about current events, but in german. so
it's a nice way to keep it casual like in your everyday life. and texting is great for all ends
of the spectrum! like for me as a beginner in turkish, it's nice to just like get my words out
and talk to people that are on a similar path. or, you know, for me as an advanced german learner,
i feel comfortable like leaving it on maintenance mode sometimes and texting can be a great way
to still maintain that contact in like a small, casual way. so, you know, it works for everything.
now comes the part you were all expecting and waiting for-- apps. what can apps do for you,
really? i've never been too much of an app person, but you know what? i feel like i've adopted that
philosophy because like most of the languages i speak i'm like intermediate or advanced. i
guess that apps are not always my first choice for studying. you know, at that point, i would rather
just read articles or watch a documentary and do something more immersive, i guess.
but i've recently, FINALLY begun to dig into turkish. now, you can laugh at me if you want,
because that was on my 202 language goals video literally at the beginning-- like over a year ago.
now, i have been doing a little bit of duolingo here and there, but honestly, i
even though it's, you know, cute and fun, i'm not the biggest fan of it because
i'm learning stuff that i can't use right now at the beginning of my learning journey.
i know that's like, a joke that's old as time-- these weird sentences that duolingo comes up with,
but i just want to learn like how to talk about how old i am, or what my name is. what's your
favorite food? and it's like, "THE MAN IS COLD. the young girl drinks water." and i'm like, okay,
and? i can't do anything with that right now! but what i HAVE been using is... Busuu! you know,
because i wasn't really feeling duolingo, i was looking around my phone for other apps that might
have turkish. and sure enough, Busuu offers Turkish in a travel course and just a general
language course. so i am taking the general one right now, and it's just been so good for building
up my vocabulary. you know, the all-around basic knowledge, at a slow, digestible, bite-sized pace.
i think the sun is moving, so i'm gonna move you guys over here. something i think is really
important for starting off in a language is having discipline, and that's not always so easy to come
up with by yourself. but the thing that i do like about Busuu is that when you start a new language,
it asks you to set up a learning plan. so you just fill out why you're learning the language, what
level you want to reach, what days you want to study, and what time you want to study.
and they'll set reminders for you to come and fulfill those goals that you set up for
yourself. and they even give you a projected goal date that you might reach that goal. so for me,
apparently, i'm gonna get to a B2 level in turkish in june.. i'm gonna say.. i don't know about that,
but i appreciate the optimism. when you're at the beginning stages, you know, i think you can get
so caught up in the how you're going to implement your studies, and what resources, and what routine
you're going to have, all that stuff-- that you end up wasting a lot of that time and energy that
you could be actually directing towards that goal. but no more. cry no more, friend. and on Busuu
everything's cut out in these topical little lessons, and they never give you too much
material in them. you know, i think the the most information or the most new phrases and words
i've gotten in a lesson has been like.. five. and that's very digestible for when you don't have a
lot of time or energy. watch, dude, i bet i could do this chapter in two minutes. who wants to bet?
boom, just like that. so for busy days, Busuu is just the best. you know, i can pop
in and out do my thing. i'm switching between apps all the time. i kind of have phases,
and i'm definitely in my Busuu phase right now. because, you know, it's that ease of learning,
and also being a beginner is just so intimidating. but not so much when you have these cute little
lessons planned out for you. [approximately 10 hours later.] you know, people ask me, "Elysse,
why are you learning turkish?" i literally don't have any good reason other than this video.
it's so classic.
so, honestly a lot of times at night, when i don't have that much energy,
i'm just going to watch netflix. but let's be real, there's nothing interesting about
me watching netflix on this youtube video right now. so i thought i would show you the other
thing that i do when i have just a little bit of energy but i still want to study--
it's called shadowing. it's a way to consume listening or video content in a more interactive
way that makes it pretty much not just go in one ear and out the other. so in its simplest
explanation, it's basically just watching the video, or listening to your podcast or whatever,
and pretty much every time someone says something you say it right after them. so when you shadow,
you're making something-- whatever piece of media that you're consuming-- last pretty much twice as
long, because you're practicing and actively speaking after the people. so for example:
so just every couple phrases, or every time you get to a good stopping point, that's what you're
repeating. so i can only remember sometimes, like, half of a long sentence. but yeah, i mean,
you're still basically just consuming video or listening content. it's just that you're
interacting with it and following it more closely than if you were to close your eyes, listen to it,
and leave it and not interact with it again. so let's do a little bit of that right now.
see, I have to go back and do that again. you see, turkish is an agglutinative language, meaning that
sometimes, to form an entire sentence or a long phrase, it'll just be one word.
so i have to get used to saying long words and not stumbling over them.
oh
it all comes full circle. mutluluk. happiness. shadowing is exhausting. so, you know, i could
have just watched half of this video and that would have been more than enough practice. but we
go extreme for youtube videos. it's a good method, it might be a bit exhausting, but you know, it's
just one more method. it's just one more language learning activity that you can do in bed without
it just being netflix or music or something like that. i'm a big advocate for speaking to yourself,
whether it's just, like, talking to yourself in the shower, walking down the street. shadowing
is just another way to implement that, but to actually have like a reference and something
to build off of without it just being like free flow words or whatever. you know, i don't want
to toot my own horn or anything, but i always get compliments on my accent. like, in all of my
languages. accent is very important to me. i want to fit in. i know that people always say, "don't
feel stressed about sounding like a native!" or, "you don't have to sound native!" i want to sound
native. that's my life mission. it is my life mission, wherever i go, whatever language i speak,
to be mistaken for a native speaker. put that on my gravestone. if you liked the video, please
give it a thumbs up and subscribe if you haven't already! even click the little notification bell
if you want to get really crazy with it. well, take care. görüşürüz! see you soon, and hoşçakal.
i said hoşçakal, that's the part where you say güle güle. you don't speak turkish?
okay-- bye. goodbye.