A Small Final Product

Ta-da, a short video where I speak Luxembourgish for less than a minute! As I state in the video, I only know simple stuff, but I incorporated all of these things into my video, so I think it's a good representation of what I know. Happy viewing!

Video link: https://vimeo.com/63126573

Luxembourgish:

Ech sinn d’O’Neill. Ech wunne zu d’Vereengte Staate vun Amerika. Ech sinn fofzeng. Meng Famill ass grouss. Ech hunn vierer Schwësterencher an een Bridderchen. Mir hunn e Hond mä mir hunn e Goldegfësch gehat. Ech goen bis Schoul jiddwer Wochendag dass ech muss léieren. Ech huet gär Schoul etlechmol (mä net ëmmer), an huet gär Maschinnen an Tele mei. Onse Maschinn ass gutt, ech denken, mä mir verleiren etlechmol. Doctor Who, Sherlock, an Criminal Minds si un echto beschtthe. Si si net Lëtzebuergesch, ma britesch an amerikanisch. Ich hunne keng Lëtzebuergecsh Saachen nieft Wierder. Ich denken dat Lëtzebuergesch ass schein. Huet Dir gaer meng Video?

English:

I am O'Neill. I live in the United States of America. I am fifteen. My family is large. I have four younger sisters and one younger brother. We have a dog but we had a fish. I go to school every weekday because I must learn. I like school sometimes (but not always) and I like robots and television more. Our robot is good, I think, but we lose sometimes. Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Criminal Minds are to me the best. They are not Luxembourgish, but British and American. I have nothing Luxembourgish except for the words. I think that Luxembourgish is beautiful. Do you like my video?

That's a relief

I feel like an incredible weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Like.... like I just dropped an AP class or snuck/sneaked something through customs or found out I didn't have to build a battery rack in two days. Great feeling, but I'm a bit sad. I won't have as much motivation to continue Luxembourgish, even though I fully intend to. It's sounds pretty cool and people always give you weird looks when you say you speak it.

But let's move on. Grading myself. I'm always bad at this; half of me thinks I'm the best person on the planet (ah-hem, smile and nod) and the other half of me thinks I'm on par with Rick Santorum (ba-dum, tish). Everyone told me I did really well but my voice shook a little and I mucked up when I was speaking Luxembourgish and the projector was a little bit off and just ugh. But I'll try, step by step.

• Time: I didn't time myself, but I seemed to be fine. Even if I wasn't between four and five minutes I said what I wanted to say, and I think that's somewhat more important.
• Visual component: If I hadn't had anything I think I would've been fine. But my Prezi was hecka cute.
• Content: Somebody, please learn a language so I can say I inspired someone through my passion. Just kidding (kind of). I wanted to show my product, but since I didn't have speakers I just said it out loud and there was a bit of Luxembourgish writing on the Prezi. I'm not sure that cuts it. On that note, my video will be posted later this afternoon, as last night Vimeo and Blogger were not cooperating with each other. It's longer than the short paragraph I spoke in my presentation. Anyway, I did explain my process and gave background on Luxembourg and I think my purpose was well laid out. Learn a language because x, y, and z.
• Organization: I think it was good. I personally like it when people introduce a topic, then say how it relates to their project, and then delve into the overarching topic. A few others did this and it worked out well, and I think I applied it well to my presentation. The Prezi helped with transitioning, as the audience knew when a new idea was coming up.
• Delivery: Better than I expected. People heard me, my voice only shook a little, and while I did muck up my Luxembourgish, that's understandable. I'm not a very poised person, but I don't think I sounded unprofessional, and I made people laugh and smile. Audiences really appreciate that sort of thing.
• On following the TED Commandments: I don't think the TED Gods will send me to the inferno. My message was simple enough, I said things so other people understood them, I didn't read my talk, I made audience members laugh. Considering the fact that I hate public speaking, I did pretty well. I think. I hope. 

Since I'm really 60-40 about myself in general, I'll give myself a 25 out of 30. I wasn't perfect, but I definitely didn't do horribly. I wasn't extraordinarily profound, but I did have something to say. I think a 25 is a good compromise. If you have good reasons for going above or below, then okay. 

Okay, that's it until the video later. Please watch it, I'll say more ridiculous things. Good luck to all presenters and good job to everyone who already presented!

Blogs I've Commented On

I've posted comments on the following blogs this week:

• http://johnrecording.blogspot.com/
• http://brookesknitting.blogspot.com/
• http://ianhebrew.blogspot.com/

Week Before Project

Happy Spring Break! Happy Saturday! Happy Holy Saturday! Happy Doctor Who Day!

I've been a busy bee the last couple of days. I've been trying to focus on my Prezi and not my blog, since the former takes the most work. However, I'm back, with my Prezi almost completed! *Spoilers sweetie* I've decided not to go the endangered languages route or the what-can-you-learn about your own language route for my presentation. Instead, I'm going to talk about the different ways to learn a language and what you can do with a foreign language. I think I can include more information this way, and after all, Luxembourgish isn't endangered, as further research has taught me that it's spoken by everyone in the country in a variety of ways. I've been thinking that it was spoken by children at home and adults in the most casual of situations, but there are novels in Luxembourgish and it's used in schools and the government. I'm happy to be proven wrong, since languages are very important cultural cornerstones.

As I've stated before, my final product will be a video embedded in my presentation. I'll be using many of the things my lessons (completed!) talked about. I'll include nouns and adjectives, greetings, the present and past tenses, negations, and other things. I'll subtitle the video and pronounce things as best I can. Maybe I'll say a few ridiculous things to make people laugh. People like that. But my accent is awful. Ugh.

While researching different things I could do for my presentation, I've learned a lot, even about things I'm not including in my presentation. For example, Luxembourgers are very private and formal people. They don't tell anyone anything ever. Sounds a little bit stuffy and repressed, like they're Vulcans or something, but maybe they discuss personal things with their families. Anyway, language use depends on what situation you're in. Restaurants, use French. In the office, use French or German. At home with your family, use Luxembourgish. Speaking to a foreigner, use whatever they spoke or look at them very confused if they jabber away in Chinese. Unless you know Chinese, in which case good on you. I'm going to touch on these distinctions in my presentation when I talk about my own experiences with the language.

Let's go back to my lessons. I'm very excited. I learned the past tense, among other things liek complex sentences and yet more vocabulary. I've been waiting for this like I've been waiting for my shows and movies (I'm waiting for like 6 different shows okay and the next Star Trek movie and the Matt Smith-Ryan Gosling film, okay, this Luxembourgish is intense). Past tense actually really simple and it works like German. For example:

Ech hu en Auto gefuhr. -------> I have driven a car.

The subject, ech, comes first because we are not savages. We speak proper Luxembourgish here. Then comes the auxiliary (helping) verb which means 'to have.' We have this in English. After this is the direct object, the thing being used. Finally there is the past participle gefuhr. This is the equivalent of driven. Pretty easy. The website gave me a bunch of past participles of multiple verbs, and they're not that far from the originals.

Ask loads of questions at my presentation, please! I'm really looking forward to everyone else's! 

P.S. The pesky Hereditary Grand Duchess is still around. I'll break their spirits. One day.

Readings:

• http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/luxembourg.html
• http://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/Luxembourg.html

A Beautiful Vlog

Okay, so hopefully this will work. If it doesn't, here is a Vimeo link.

Ech sinn d’O’Neill. Ech wunne an d'Vereengte Staate vun Amerika. Ich brauch e Computer fir Aufgabe zie maachen. E Computer ass bëlleg. Si kaschten sechshönnert Dollar. Anerersäits sinn Bicher net bëlleg.
Si kaschten zwanzeg Dollar.

See? I told you it wasn't German.

Vimeo link:
https://vimeo.com/62192860

Week Four (I think)

My lesson for this week was jam-packed. The verbs kaschten, kafen, brauchen, kréien, comparison and degrees of comparison, pronouns, the fir ze locution, and the niceties, as well as using vocabulary from previous lessons. I also have to remember the 'n' rule (thank you Herr Boudoumit) which is kind of like saying 'a' or 'an' before a noun. It all makes sense and I know where these things go in sentences, but the trouble is memorizing the words, and in the case of the verbs, conjugations. Conjugations, like their endings, aren't regular at all and it makes me unhappy. For example:

To need           To buy

Ech brauch      Ech kafen

Du brauchs     Du keefs

Hie brauch     Hie keeft

Hatt brauch     Hatt keeft

Si brauch     Si brauch

Mir brauchen     Mir kafen

Dir braucht     Dir kaaft

Si brauchen      Si kafe

See? While some conjugations are similar, they're not exactly the same and I haven't been presented with any rules as to how to conjugate verbs. There aren't many Luxembourgish verb resources, so I have to do without and just memorize. It seems to m that this QuattroPole website is taking me beyond what would amount to Luxembourgish I. This is starting to get to Luxembourgish II. The intensity is building.

On the bright side I've been practicing my note cards and I've memorized a bunch of words. Simple stuff, like kitchen and grass and blue. Just going over them again and again is helpful for German and it's been just as effective for Luxembourgish. You can practice note cards anytime, anywhere. Also, activities like these, when you see the word with a picture and hear a recording of a person saying it, are excellent: 

For my final product I will still be making my video and incorporating it into my presentation, but I've decided upon some changes Since this TED Talk will be in the Audion and it'll be a bit awkward to do translations of things I just said, I'll make a video of myself saying certain phrases and show it to the audience. The video will still have subtitles and I might go into some rules of Luxembourgish, but my fabulous adventure won't be the sole topic of  my talk. I'm going to make a Prezi because they look really cool, but there are two possible topics I would talk about. I'm interested in dying/little-spoken languages (thank you, Drew Ells) and I've found a few things (here, here, and here) that talk about them and their importance. However, I think talking about how learning a foreign language helps you better connect to your own. I could definitely talk about either one for three to five minutes, with my video. Does anyone have any preferences or advice? Does anyone speak a dying language that can give insight? No one? No one? Latin counts, guys.

Okay, I think I've bored you long enough, but I have one more thing to talk about. Online flashcards sites. May the alien god Xenu bless and keep them. They're just as effective as note cards and I've come across some words I wasn't taught using QuattroPole. Very useful. Beautiful things.

Alright, now go off and do whatever it is you do when you're not stalking my blog. Go. Shoo.

P.S. I am still not Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. Baby steps.

P.P.S. Stay tuned for my vlog later today.

First link:

http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/

Second link:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/21/tech/web/google-fights-save-language-mashable

Third link:

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/endangered-languages/

Flashcard links:

http://quizlet.com/12762320/luxembourgish-flash-cards/

http://flashcarddb.com/isl/study/luxembourgish

Comments- Week Three

This week I've commented on these blogs:

• www.ccphotograph.blogspot.com
• www.aslin7weeks.blogspot.com
• www.brookesknitting.blogspot.com