Good Friday afternoon from Singapore!
I'm writing this blog post to let you know that I have just uploaded a new video on YouTube, after a hiatus of more than one year.
Please check out this video:
In this video, I am talking about my favorite method of learning French, which is to post French tweets on Twitter, using new words and expressions to continually improve my French.
For my French learning, I have shifted my focus from the input to the output, and I have been making conscious efforts to express myself in French by means of micro-blogging.
It's been roughly three months since I began tweeting in French, and I really love it. I feel that I can now express myself in French far better than a year ago, despite the fact that my vocabulary hasn't grown that much.
My intention is to keep developing my ability for output for the foreseeable future. I'm not in a hurry to expand my French vocabulary, as I plan to do it after I've achieved a certain degree of fluency in the language.
Also, as I've mentioned in this video, I would like to shoot more short videos going forward, especially in English, to improve my presentation skills.
I have to admit that my English accent isn't that spectacular (wearing dental braces does not help much either), but watching myself in the video enables me to analyze more objectively what my English pronunciation issues are, and what can possibly be done to improve my delivery, so I still stand to benefit from this video, albeit a bit embarrassing.
Anyway, I think it's a good thing that I've decided to become active again on YouTube, and I'd like to keep the momentum going.
For those of you who haven't yet watched my videos, please do so and let me know what you think. Your inputs are really valuable!
Thank you for your attention, and I wish all of you a nice weekend!
12 comments:
Good presentation. But how's your Cantonese learning now?
Great! Nice to see a post on this blog. I'm going to go watch the video now!
Hi Anonymous,
Thanks for your comment!
I'm still learning Cantonese. In fact I'm learning it using the same method as my French, and it's a lot of fun!
As I've promised in my previous Mandarin video, I plan to record a video in Cantonese as well, so please keep a lookout!
Hi Keith,
Thanks for your comment. It's great to hear from you again!
I had a lot of fun shooting this video, after being inactive on YouTube for such a long time. I've realized that while I love watching videos of my fellow language learners on YouTube, I actually love posting my own videos even more.
Looking forward to reading your next blog post soon.
Take care!
Hi Uncle Polyglot
I am very inspired by you and hope you make more videos with lots of good tips.
I am learning Japanese and Mandarin.
I'm not really sure how to use twitter at the moment so I will look into that.
By the way, you mentioned that these videos are for you to track your progress and efforts in brushing up your presentation skills. I notice that you don't really use gestures very much. Is there a reason what that is?
Usually when we speak, our hand gestures, even in presentations, help.
Hi Nihonga100,
Thank you for your comment and your kind words!
As you have mentioned, I don't normally use a lot of gestures. It's not that I don't like using gestures, but it's simply that I don't feel the need to use them that much. Maybe it has to do with my personality.
Anyway, I'm delighted to learn that you are currently learning Mandarin and Japanese.
If you sign up on Twitter, please follow my Japanese and Mandarin tweets! The IDs are @UnclePolyglot for Mandarin and @UncleMonoglot for Japanese.
Also, if you feel like it, I recommend that you also shoot your language learning videos on YouTube. It's a lot of fun! :-)
Talk to you again soon. Good luck with your language learning!
Hi, U. Polyglot: Heard your Cantonese video and now your English one! I had posted something earlier about your Cantonese but your English is great as well? Do you feel that you have a gift for learning English? It was interesting to hear about how you have ensured that there's no psychological barrier to learning languages. Do you set language goals for yourself along the way?
Hi Anonymous,
Thanks again for your kind comment!
My accent in English might be better than the average Japanese person, but still it leaves a lot to be desired.
In fact, I'm focusing on improving my English accent right now, and I've made some progress in the past few weeks. Hope to shoot a YouTube video on accent reduction in the near future. Hope you'll see my improvement in the next video.
Talk to you again soon!
Hi, U. Polyglot:
I had posted comments earlier (on 11/28/11) under your Cantonese and English videos. In response to your comments, I see that you have set some great goals for yourself in language learning. I look forward to watching more videos especially in Cantonese and English.
Regards,
M. Tong
Hi M. Tong,
Thanks again for your comment! Yes, I will continue uploading videos on my YouTube channel. Please be sure to check them out when that happens! :-)
I have kind of astonishing feelings when I learnt to know the blog I was reading were written by non-native English speaker. Your English is soooo good. Thanks for your tips to enlighten me how to master up a foreign language.
Hi reiko,
Thanks a lot for your kind comment!
It's great to know that you've enjoyed my YouTube video and my blog post.
My English, be it in terms of fluency or pronunciation, still has a long way to go, but I'm determined to work hard at it, in order to sound like a native speaker in the near future.
I will continue to update this English blog and upload more videos on my YouTube channel such that I can record my progress. I'll be delighted if you can check them out in the future.
Looking forward to talking to you again soon! :-)
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