Weekly progress update - 10 Oct 2017

I'm late with this posting because I have been in the process of traveling. I haven't gotten to do much in terms of active studies. But I've kept up on hearing, although not as much as I would have liked. I would say I logged about 25-40 hours last week of hearing. But more on that in a bit.

I've done a bit of outputting because I'm now in the Philippines! I make sure to output only what I know is correct, although I do make an occasional mistake. I'm finding myself being able to respond naturally in conversation, when I'm able to produce something. Sometimes I don't get all the Tagalog I hear but that will come in time.

So since I'm now here in Tagalog's native land I'm hearing Filipino constantly. The 25-40 hours I mentioned earlier was based on the selective things that I decided to put on. On top of that, I have probably heard or been the recipient of another 20+ hours.

Now that I have a stable internet connection I can get back to focusing on selective hearing and active studies. I have felt that these help immensely and will only further my progress as I now have a full immersion environment.

One thing I've noticed is that I have been dreaming quite a bit in Tagalog. It happened on the airplane and it has happened a few nights here. Some of the dreams have been a result of hearing conversations in my sleep. Other dreams have been during sleep time.

I'm always happy to be here. Even the few weeks that I've been here before have done wonders for my Tagalog in terms of comprehension and speaking. Now that I have made a more conscious decision and have a process to improve I know that progress is inevitable. I'm also excited because I get to hunt for some reading material here.

Weekly progress update - 1 Oct 2017

Been at it pretty much the same as last week. I had heard around 50 or more hours of Tagalog. Picking out new words and phrases seems to be slowing down. Around my church mates, I feel that I'm understand about the same amount.

I've been been doing the flash cards every day. Words, phrases, and sentences are becoming much easier to say, although a couple of sentences had me tongue twisted. Overall, imitation is becoming much easier at the first pass.

I've felt a struggle at times this week. It feels as though I've been losing some of what I've gained. I read somewhere that children pick up a new sentence pattern or structure perfectly around their first few tries. But then they start to struggle with using it correctly, apparently because they try experimenting with it.

Some think a similar situation occurs with adults where they apparently seem to start losing their grasp of the language. At some point whatever adults seem to have lost returns and the use of it is even better. I hope that's what is happening here.

As with learning anything to a proficient degree, it's all about the day-to-day process. And I'm proud to say that I've stuck with Tagalog each and every day since writing this blog.