Thursday, January 15, 2009

vblogging now?

ok...

in the beginning, my only purpose in blogging was just to practice english while i write journals of what's happening in my daily life.

i need a place to practice the language because being in japan, the daily usage of english is close to zero, and i do hear a lot from my seniors saying that after spending 4 years in japan, their english language skills deteriorate significantly (but they managed to replace it with the japanese language, obviously).

i don't want that to happen to me. i want to be able to read, write and speak in BOTH english and japanese. my malay and kelantanese dialect won't go away that easily, so i don't have to worry about those 2 other languages.

so i start to blog in english, pushing myself to write at least 10 posts a month.

then i started to enjoy it; which is a good thing because it means that i could earn some language skills while i was doing something that i like.

a couple of years had passed, and i am positively sure that my english is significantly better compared to before i started blogging; so i think this 'blogging to practice english' method really works!

so now i can read and write english freely, and although far from perfect, i think i could translate what i had in mind (in kelantanese), into english writings.

although i can read and write, speaking felt to me like it's on another higher level; and most definitely more difficult.

you have to construct sentences on the fly, and the sometimes 'hard' pronunciations really didn't help much. living in japan, i have no use of my english speaking skills, thus i could understand why i couldn't speak the language very well.

i need to practice speaking in english!

so it is obvious that the next step to further my english skills is to practice speaking!

hence, i think i should start vblogging now, to practice speaking in english!

so i took my first vblog today, and it was pretty bad. but you have to start somewhere right?

i know my first vblog does not have much content that someone could comment on, but if you have any advice in vblogging, please share it with me by commenting.

[note]

to those who didn't know:
> my mother tongue is malay
> i use kelantanese dialect when speaking with another kelantanese
> english were thought as a secondary language since i was a child
> i also speak japanese (fluently, i hope)

click the spoiler below to reveal my first attempt at vblogging:



first vblog attempt from Taufiq Ali on Vimeo.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

anyways, it snowed a lot today and the front of our apartment is covered with thick layers of snow; and it made it hard for anyone to move around.

this is the car park in front of the apartment, and i guess those cars would have a little bit of problem moving out of there.

this is the stairs going up to our apartment. the wind is so strong that it blew the snows, covering the stairs up with whites.

10 comments:

  1. oh my.u look very cold n shivering.
    ( btw,ur video makes me recall my 1st time experience of snowfalls here ..ho ho) but i think,the snow storm there is far worsen than here.

    nwy,dun have any comment bout the content of vids,(my english is bad also..heheh)juz wanna say u have a very great courage to improve ur english. well done.

    ReplyDelete
  2. asa kecek kelate still berabuk tadok hal lah abe ali :P

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous2:32 AM

    .your english is quite good. i'm pretty sure ur english will improve better. keep updating ur blog now n then huhu..

    ReplyDelete
  4. Delete Comment From: MrNiCeKiD's DeAd

    Blogger b@bi gOlek said...

    i think ur english is better than mine...
    ahahahah
    i mean better than most of the TESL students in Malaysia...
    they tend to think they are the smartest in english even though they are not...
    nway,
    that kind of TESL students doesnt include me n akim..
    aaahahha

    ReplyDelete
  5. @mysteriousFana:
    yeap it was quite cold, and i am shivering while in the midst of it all. it's -2c outside! i'll try to stay courageous. :)

    @taufiq:
    bereh boh! lagi kemah la kalu buleh kecek blako...

    @3li3:
    yessir! i'll try and make more videos; i want to be great in english. being good just won't cut it anymore... thanks for the support!

    @b@bi gOlek:
    ooo no way am i going to be better than TESL students... i know my place hehehe. i just want to be able to speak more freely, more fluent and more natural. that would really help in my future career.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous11:51 AM

    bakpo dgr lebih kurg mace indonesia pulok bunyinyo.. hii. nway, it is the effort that counts kan. ;p

    ReplyDelete
  7. bunyi mace indonesian eh?

    tak penah lak ada org cakap mcam tu.

    *someone had said that i sometimes sounded like an indian when speaking english though.

    but at least i don't sound like a singaporean.

    which is the worst english accent ever!

    ReplyDelete
  8. hahahah
    indonesian??
    kelantanian kot..
    ahaha

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous6:07 AM

    very impressive 1st vblog attempt. cool toilet too =) i admire your determination to improve your english.. maybe i should take a leaf out of your book and do this too. i think my hampeh comm skill was the reason i flunked my exam last time heheh eniways.. keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  10. b@bi_gOlek:
    ahah speaking english pon kena la bau budu sket, baru la anak kelate sejati. dok gitu? hehehe.

    zen:
    are you studying in new zealand?

    thanks for the support, and i hope you'll do better on your coming papers.

    ReplyDelete

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