Rasya
Language Tag | Road To Polyglot Challenge
1) What do you consider to be your native language?
Malay. It’s no secret that English is not my native language. In fact, I created this blog to improve my English writing skills.
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Rasya2) What was your first language learning experience?
For foreign languages, it would between English and Arabic.
3) What languages have you studied and why did you start them?
Putting aside my native language I have learned 4.
- English – You cannot survive Malaysia education system if you don’t learn English.
- Arabic – I went to a religious school from 2 to 5 in the evening for 6 years. I forgot 99% of the things I’ve learned after graduating from primary school but I can read (somehow) and write the Arabic alphabet.
FUN FACT: Most Malays in Malaysia have Arabic names. My name is from the Arabic language which Nurul means ‘light’.
- Japanese – I did my degree in the Japanese language in Japan because I received a scholarship. I HAVE TO LEARN the language unless I want to be kicked out of the program.
- Chinese – The language sounds beautiful to my ear and I want to read my favourite Chinese novels without English translation.
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4) How does your personality affect how you learn languages?
I don’t think my personality change when I speak in another language but my voice tone and the way I paraphrase my words are definitely different.
For example, when I speak Japanese, my pitch becomes 2-3 tones higher.
5) Do you prefer learning languages in a class or individually?
Class. The interaction is what makes learning fun for me.
I miss going to class.
My Japanese textbooks during my study at a Japanese language school in Tokyo.
6) What are your favourite language learning materials?
Youtube videos and recently podcast.
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7) How much time do you spend actively learning per day/week?
For Japanese, I consume native materials for 2 hours per day and my work use 99% Japanese so there is no problem with learning Japanese.
p/s: Do you notice that I have a new office table. Ho-ho-ho.
Learning Chinese, on the other hand, is so difficult.
I just don’t have the motivation to learn it and I keep slacking off in my study. For now, I try to make sure I listen to Chinese language materials; podcast, apps, Youtube for at least 5 minutes per day for a month.
8) What are your short term and long term language learning goals?
Because I’m learning Chinese (Mandarin), my goals for
- Long term: To be able to read my favourite Chinese web novels without English translation
- Short term: Pass HSK1 this year and take HSK3 next year before the new HSK format takes place.
9) What is your favourite language?
So hard to choose. I love ALL!
10) What is the next language you want to learn?
I want to re-learn Arabic after I passed HSK and Korean because their grammar is a bit similar to Japanese.
11) What advice can you give to new language learners?
There is no shortcut. This is going to be a long journey.
So what do you think about my new road to the polyglot challenge? And have any of you learned foreign languages? If yes, tell me what language that you’ve learned and tips or resources to share in the comment section below.
