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New Super Challenge Discussion thread2014 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4137 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes  Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 305 of 766 21 May 2014 at 11:26am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I'm reading extensively for the Super Challenge, so I don't track unknown words at all. The only time I look up a
word is if it "bugs" me - I keep seeing it and need to know what it is, or not knowing it keeps me from understanding the text. Yesterday, for instance, after reading the word "petate" over and over, I got annoyed and looked it up. It turns out that it means sleeping mat. I like reading intensively as well, looking up every new word - but I do it much less often, and usually with articles rather than novels. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5469 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 306 of 766 21 May 2014 at 12:12pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Hey all,
My story is one of an obsession with courses and one of procrastination... I've gotten past the 2nd issue it seems a little while back now (I'm not silly enough to think it won't 'attempt' to make a comeback tho).. As for my course obsession, well I still love doing courses, but I have 2 people in particular to thank for getting me to read as well (it took some doing to break down my barriers/ the stranglehold the courses held on me- it's the courses fault not mine!).. so thanks emk for your ever sound advice and persistence in advising me to read, and Jeffers thanks for nudging me into doing the SC... Other ppl also advised me to read, sorry I can't recall all of you at the moment, but thanks for your support all the same. The first couple of days or so I took a little bit to wind up to get my head around the SC, but then i took off like a rocket (ok ok a rocket for me, many others are much quicker at reading). I dropped my courses completely as I found the leaderboard extremely motivating... clawing my way off the bottom right up near the top. I've slowed down a little now as I reintroduced my Dutch studies (totally dropped it as my SC in French completely took over my attention- I don't want to read yet in Dutch), and i have returned to doing courses as well. I'm balancing everything but the thing is i'm actually reading now because of the SC and those that recommended me to take part. That's def a good thing! My techniques with reading involves reading each page of a book twice. The first read through I decide on a word I want to add to my flashcard deck as a new word. The second read through I feel more comfortable with the page and consequently move onto the next page repeating the process. This is my quicker way of reading. My slower reading involves adding every new word (usually utilising my French learning magazines) with the aim not to progress quickly but to thoroughly comprehend all whilst acquiring new vocab in context. PM 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Komma Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4052 days ago 107 posts - 134 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish | Message 307 of 766 21 May 2014 at 12:47pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I do this in English too (however I look up words I don't know while reading with my reader, which is done in seconds..) But in Spanish I'm just at a low level and really need to look up much in order to get what is happening. Thats why I started with a graded reader, which is very short has many mini-chapters. At this time just this level 0 reader is a bit too much, however, I improved and read like 3 pages without looking anything up (Actaully becose I dried my hair and didn't have a hand free to do so :D). I managed to get the gist, but I understand much more with looking things up and FOR ME that's more interesting. At the moment I see reading as a vocab practice which I find more interesting than just writing down words from word lists or going through a coursebook (which I do, too, but the stories in there are not always good) I hope that, when I continue like that, I might be able to extensively read a book in September. That's when I'm in Spain and have time. I always find it even harder to get the gist when I only have half an hour of time to read... I'm so slow - especially in a new language - and only manage to read a few pages then... I also actually wanted to start with Harry Potter because I know that story so well. But it was way to hard at the moment. I'll try Charlie and the Chocolate factory and other Roald Dahl books (sorry, but I can't remember right now, who suggested this, but I think it's a great suggestion.. I actually didn't know that charlie is also a novel... I only watched the film ^^)
I think I'm a bit like you in this point. I like courses. I like to have them as a guide or companion. Otherwise I never know where to start with all the grammar and then I just do nothing at all. At the moment however, i haven't found a balance to my learning Spanish. As stated above I started reading HP1 and it was to hard. I now read Lola Lago 1 which is a level 0 graded reader. And even there I have to look up much in order to get the gist.. But I don't mind. I don't mind that I'm slow or anything. It's better than doing nothing, right? One could see this graded reader as a course. One chapter is only 1 page (sometimes more or less) and I look up vocab etc. So quite similar to a course, right? :D
I like this idea, however, I would be bored right away when reading every page twice.. I often get bored when I reread a book. I always think I know everything and then it's no fun (there are exeptions, but there are always exeptions... everywhere) At the moment I'm doing the second way of yours... Looking up EVERYTHING I don't understand. Actually it's a pity that I don't know even basic vocaubary after one year of learning, but the university course was more to learn university-related stuff.. That's why I learn on my own now, and I do much more than I did for and in the course.. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5469 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 308 of 766 21 May 2014 at 1:32pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Hi Komma, Thanks for sharing. Keep up your reading no matter how you approach it you're learning, and that's the idea... persistence pays off :) At the risk of ending this message on a very short note, I'll add a little sth else..., If you are into courses I found Destinos (all components together) helped me immensely with Spanish on all levels- reading, writing, speaking, listening. It's by far the best Spanish course I've ever come across. Unfortunately my Spanish today is not very noteworthy, hence overcoming procrastination has been a particularly strong goal of mine. Nevertheless it's an awesome course... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| sfuqua Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4758 days ago 581 posts - 977 votes Speaks: English*, Hawaiian, Tagalog Studies: Spanish | Message 309 of 766 21 May 2014 at 2:50pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I've been reading each page twice also. I read once, making sure I understand it from the parallel text. Then I read again the next day; if I don't get it the second time through, I may cycle through a third time the third day.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5469 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 310 of 766 21 May 2014 at 3:03pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Hi sfuqua, Actually I do something similar. Once I get to the end of a chapter, I go back to the start of the chapter and re- read through again- twice each page, but picking a different word each page to add to my FC deck. I'm sure by the end of the book my vocab will have improved substantially with regard to the type of subject matter found in that particular book. Like you sfuqua I have parallel texts on my hit list. Good luck sfuqua with your SC! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6054 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 311 of 766 21 May 2014 at 4:35pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I've been using the challenge as a way of keeping track of my activities in Italian: more persistence than enthusiasm.
I've also noticed that some people are very committed. At this rate, some could win their challenges by the end of summer, let alone December 2015. I also read somewhere that the number of people that actually finished the previous challenge is quite small (this is surprising - maybe I misread it). Is there a page / thread / bot where I can check the evolution of the previous challenge? I think it would be instructive. Edited by Luso on 21 May 2014 at 5:06pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6590 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 312 of 766 21 May 2014 at 5:28pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Here are the previous year's stats.
Here's the list of the completed challenges. (note that two people were doing different languages from the Patate account) 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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