Should you learn a new language at Melbourne Uni?

Hey guys!

So it’s only been about *checks watch* 5 months since I last posted, and I’m all about breaking records, so I think I did well!
How’re things? The metaphorical kids? Great!

Anyway, I thought I’d talk to you a little about what it’s like learning a new language at Uni. It’s something I wanted to know more about before I started, so I hope you will find this helpful. (and of course if you have any more questions, just comment them down below!)
First off, a little about my experience!
So, in High School I learnt French for approximately 3 years. I sucked. It was absolutely abominable and sometimes I sit and wonder whether I really learnt anything in those three years. What I thought it had taught me was that I was bad at learning languages.

Never has Dwight Schrute been more right in his life.
I’d been forced to learn French, a compulsory subject at my school, and so there was really no real passion or reason for me to learn the language properly. I wasn’t interested! If you’re not interested in what you’re doing, then it’s really not going to get you anywhere, and that’s the real truth.
I’d always wanted to learn Japanese though. When I found out I got into Melbourne Uni, I spent a long time figuring out what classes I should take. I had my major of course, but what was I going to take for my extra breadth subjects?
It took quite a while doing the back and forth dance, until I decided to take (at least what I saw in my mind) as a leap of faith. I was finally going to learn Japanese. It was officially a thing.

I was so nervous going into my first class. SO NERVOUS. Knowing I had previously done so badly in French didn’t help.
I remember sitting down in my first class like a lost lamb, definitely about to pee itself. Not actually, but I’m building a scene, guys. I was a nervous wreck anyhow even without the pee thing.
My new teacher walked in speaking half to himself and half to the class in full on Japanese and…you should have seen me! It was like Dobby all over again. I was looking at the other people on my table though, and thankfully they also looked equally as scared. THANKFULLY he then started to explain in English. I was still in the general vicinity of my utter confuzzlement from the Japanese, but it was a step back. And then he went back to the start. And I swear to you, it was one of the most enlightening and hilarious classes I’ve ever attended. The teacher was super engaging, looking at all the students, walking in between our tables and making things as simple as we needed.

Okay, here is an outline of how taking Japanese 1 actually works.
You have 2 classes a week which go for 2 hours each. They’re specifically called seminars, not lectures, which (at least for Japanese) means the teachers are more interactive with the students. They chat to you, have more time for questions and they often look at your work during classes.
These seminars are not necessarily with the same teacher. Whatever classes you put in your timetable determine what teacher you get. So there might be 6-8 seminar one classes and 6-8 seminar two classes. You *might* get the same teacher, but the chances are slim.
For Japanese 1 I got two different teachers and they were both amazing. The way the seminar classes work is that the first one goes through a lot of the vocabulary you have to learn and goes through the grammar. The second seminar is revising over that stuff and also looking at Kanji (‘a system of Japanese writing using Chinese characters’). In this way, the teaching styles are going to be quite different between seminars, so it’s really good. And that’s what’s really great about having two teachers – if you don’t understand what one says, you can just revise it with the other.

Now, this is only my experience with Japanese 1 (and 2), so other language classes tend to be a little different. I’ve had friends taking German 1 and Italian 1, having completely different experiences. It seems to be that because Japanese is an Asian language and the others being European, the approach has to be different. From the people I’ve spoken to about German and Italian, the classes tend to focus a lot more on grammar than the Asian languages because the vocab is easier to grasp without having to learn new characters.

In answer to my original question in the title, ‘Should you learn a new language at Melbourne Uni?’, you need to ask yourself a few questions. Is it something you’re passionate about learning? If so, YOU TOTALLY SHOULD. Curiousity leads to great things, and you should explore where that leads to. Learning a language is always great, but you have to be prepared to work hard for it. Are you going to continue to work hard? That’s another important question. Like everything else, it takes around 10,000 hours to master something. You’ve dedicated so much time to your other passions, something that may have started out as a small curiosity or interest and has since become something you can’t live without. What’s saying learning a language won’t become one of your greatest passions? That it might help you in your future career? To help you meet new and amazing people?

What benefits have I had so far in learning a language?
SO, I only started at the beginning of this year, so this is short-term benefits guys. However, I think it’s important to note because those short term goals will give you the motivation to continue in your study, making it all seem worthwhile!
In taking Japanese 1 and 2 at Melbourne Uni, I have met so many amazing people. I met many in the Japanese classes themselves (4 classes in total between the 2 seminars a semester), but also online and elsewhere. I found this app called ‘Hello Talk’ where you can talk to people from other countries, helping to correct eachother’s mistakes as you learn the other’s language. I’ve been trying out my new language skills and I’ve seen how much I’ve grown. I’ve literally become friends with people living in Japan right now! It’s a long leap from what I learnt in French, that’s for sure.
When I buy Japanese food I can often read what is on the packages, and understand basic grammar functions to correct ill-translations on Google Translate. That’s such a freeing feeling!
I’m also about to go on holiday to Japan where I can further test out my skills. In my classes I’ve also learnt a lot about culture, so all that will come in handy when I travel!

So I ask you, do YOU want to learn a language? Don’t let anyone tell you whether you should or should not learn a language, it’s completely up to you! If you are interested, I encourage you to try. You may be surprised by the results!

SWOTVAC and Procrastination (Fine Arts)

Again. Not representing entire faculty :L just me. #responsibleblogger #misleading titiles

FIRST COMES THE CAUSE:

This is a post. On procrastination *says I as I proceed to close le Netflix tab with The Paradise episode 5 playing* mmm *coughs forever*
So…Recently, depending what you consider recent…I was subtly (depending what you consider subtle) grilled about alllll the work I presented…by a few *coughs* the whole group crit. They basically agreed I was unsuccessful and shallow and confusing. *many adjectives* *is chagrined* *is grillled* is *chargrilled* :L

This had a flow on affect.

It put a halt to my practise. I just stopped. It made me even more uncomfortable to be in the studio because everyone around me was being appraised and I was not. Every time I had tried to re-invent up to that point, it was not good enough. I was so determined to devalue myself (bad habit); to open up my pores with the heat of the moment, and adsorb the adjectives of the day. I moped. Then I procrastinated. And have been doing so for a while. I believe the moping period is necessary, a couple of days BUT….

Procrastination is a form of self-sabotage.

SECOND COMES IDENTIFYING UNHELPFUL MINDSETS

Here is a list of things I shouldn’t have ignored:

1. Up until the moment of the group crit. I liked and had, had fun creating what I presented.
2. My discordance with the sort of people who all happened to be in my group crit. This included being worlds away in things like politics, recreational activities, views and values and ideologies. Very BIG things that would deem them an as inconsequential audience to the sort of work I want to make (and vice versa).
3. I didn’t like their work either. And though it’s contradictory, I still think I can give unbiased evaluation because I know what it tries to do AND because my mind can work in similar ways except I just don’t take myself so seriously when it does. I should have IDENTIFIED moment where people have not done the same.
4. NO ONE ELSE had let such things affect them. Partially because I’m a black sheep and their work is favoured by different tutors. Partially because confidence and charisma keeps people from devaluing their work. But also partially due to their mindsets of NOT GIVING A *&^#

I didn’t observe myself or the environment I was in. I didn’t assess the people being productive. How and Why.

BACK YOURSELF HARD. When the sun shines the next day, you don’t want to wake up changed for people you don’t intend to please for the rest of your life. You want to wake up as you. Oftentimes we feel sad because we are not the best we can be or that we cannot embrace what we are. We do not really want to be other people even though they get praises we would like and who are productive the way we’d like to be,  it is more likely we want to know what it feels like to be in ourselves with qualities we see in them. And just as they will get praised by people who resonate with them; one should be patient for their own people to come along.

And if they aren’t your people. WHY are they affecting your productiveness and worth. Even if your clever brain can think of reasons. Convince yourself they’re excuses, BACK YOURSELF HARD (not up against a wall though). Like get muscles. Do pushups. Work on that back.

THIRD COMES TAKING PROGRESSIVE ACTIONS TO BE PRODUCTIVE AGAIN

Tl;DR. Avoiding procrastination that makes you sit at your laptop all day:
(1) watch that episode and while it’s inbetween changing to the next, QUICKLY flick to another tab. (no need to open a book or pull out a canvas…yet…because let’s be honest…no.) Minimal effort first. Contrary to tackling the hardest task first.
(2) think of little idle things you can do. like the smallest inconsequential task. checking e-mails or a phone call to RACV that you need to hit off your list. Get that thing up on your screen.
(3) If you can bring yourself to do that thing. do that thing. if you can’t. another episode for you. While watching the episode though, tell yourself honestly “I like this but it’s bad for me. I need to stop. Stop. Stop. This is not fulfilling me or helping me get the things I need to get done.”////something like that. No insulting yourself though, I prohibit it.
(4) After feeling a little pointless and dissatisfied in your procrastination. Do that thing you opened. Then scribble a list of little things to get done in order for you to get done what you want to get done. Include a slight indulgence, and some fresh air. Even if that’s just air on your way to the library.
> read the article
> take notes
> form arguments
> COFFEE
>section points off from notes
> TEA TIME
> Write intro etc etc.
>take bus to MC and go to State Library
Location can change things.

And repeat to yourself that you DON’T CARE ABOUT QUALITY. No matter how great a perfectionist you are. Even if that inability to achieve perfection is what makes you procrastinate. KEEP IT DOWN. Ignore it. Just type type type type. Just to get your body onto the train of momentum.

You’ll find you indulge yourself a little and have smaller breaks. But repeat, and it slowly builds up your momentum and drive. Breathe deeply and be exited for no reason.

And that’s all folks.

Was that helpful? Probably not. #I’mjustalittlegirlIknownothing

GOODLUCK STUDYING FINE ARTS DOESN’T HAVE EXAMS

I’m jokie. we hab folio. I’ll do another post after studio assessments :L Hopefully with cats.

Momomomomomomomomomoomomomo

Wild READING appeared! (Tharidi)

You have 24 hours to find the reading for tomorrow’s tute. You never bought the course reader. You said it was a waste of money.

Every other reading was online. This one would be too. You got cocky.

The reading’s not online. You’re screwed. Or, maybe not.

You search the reading on Discovery. You’ll be fine. There’s no way Discovery doesn’t have it.

Discovery doesn’t have it. Discovery’s never seen that reading in its life.

Now you’re screwed. It’s not on LMS or in the library.

Give up? No. Knowing your luck, the tutor will ask you about the reading tomorrow.

There’s only one thing that can save you now.

You search the entire book/journal in the library catalogue. Score! There’s an online copy.

You download it. You read the required pages.

You’re safe for another week.