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Inhaling Belgium | ||
Tags: Belgium | Super Challenge | Living abroad | Dutch | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Suzie Diglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 4232 days ago 155 posts - 226 votes  Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Dutch | Message 49 of 116 17 December 2013 at 9:35pm | IP Logged |
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Oh great. Having spent the weekend in Germany, I brought my Belgian colleagues some typical German Christmas bakery...at least I thought so. Just after I taught them everything I know about "Aachener Printen", I happened to read a newspaper article about this German specialty, only to find out that it is in fact nothing more than an imitiation of the Belgian "Couques de Dinant".^^ Polite as they are, my colleagues really made an effort to point out that these are still very different.^^ I'll have to find them and try myself....
I am afraid the super challenge will not be finished before New Year's Eve. Didn't find the time to watch any video recently. But I am confident that it will work nicely, even though maybe in the very last minute... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Suzie Diglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 4232 days ago 155 posts - 226 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Dutch | Message 50 of 116 24 December 2013 at 6:06am | IP Logged |
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I'm done! I just finished my "Half Super Challenge (only films)" in French. I am so thrilled to have reached that target, especially as live was so busy at times. I learned so much from this!! I am somewhat in the middle of season 2 of "Gilmore Girls", and will stop here, to spend the last week of the year with three hundred pages of "Inferno" and reviewing my vocabulary. It's great to be on holidays and having plenty of time for this...I sincerely hope I will make it until year's end, to have a clean table and to make fresh plans for 2014! Merry Christmas to all readers! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Suzie Diglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 4232 days ago 155 posts - 226 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Dutch | Message 51 of 116 25 December 2013 at 10:04pm | IP Logged |
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Phew, I am giving up. Today I spent two hours with reading, making not more than 20 pages. In order to complete Inferno by year's end, I thus would have to commit 5 hours a day. This is not feasible, and even if it were, I would ruin my holidays before joining the rat race again. I don't want this year to end this way, and neither do I want to rush through the book without any fun. Therefore, I extend my deadline to early 2014.
This leaves me with my last target (revising all vocabulary of 2014), which should be easy to handle, as I have already spent some hours with my Anki desk this month. And I now have sufficient time to make plans for 2014. As already mentioned, I'm taking Dutch on board this year, although with less priority than French. I target a ratio of about 1:4. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Suzie Diglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 4232 days ago 155 posts - 226 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Dutch | Message 52 of 116 25 December 2013 at 11:18pm | IP Logged |
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Before starting TAC 2014, it is time for a wrap up on my achievements in French since May 2013:
- I doubled my active vocabulary. - Starting with zero listening skills, I am now able to understand about 50 % of a dubbed film and of a conversation between two colleagues at work. - I have managed to get a bank account, a car insurance and information about dog sitters in French, even though conversation was very painful for both parties at times. My car is not yet completely registered in Belgium, but this is not due to lacking communication skills (I hope). I have had several chats with my colleagues, and it sometimes took us several minutes before one party (mostly: me) gave up and switched to English. - I finished a graded readers book with crime short stories, and Dan Brown's Inferno in French. Happy to have made this summary. I moved to Belgium with the highest expectations, and was incredibly dissapointed by not making any improvement at times. But now I see there was indeed some. Next year, there will be more..... EDIT: Thrilled to add "Inferno" to this premature list of achievements! Edited by Suzie on 04 January 2014 at 10:51pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Suzie Diglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 4232 days ago 155 posts - 226 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Dutch | Message 53 of 116 25 December 2013 at 11:32pm | IP Logged |
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TAC 2014 for French starts here!
I fear my French is still at B1 (though a solid one, with B2 coming closer and closer). When I signed in for TAC 2014, I decided on C1 to be my target for end of this year. Is this feasible? I mean, I am in a nearly-immersion situation (only "nearly", as most of my communication will still be in English during work), but my free time for active study is still limited, and C1 feels far, far away.... So, what would B2 and C1 mean, and where do I stand? Though it is hard to do an analysis, I'll give it a try, based on some official-looking definition of the CEFR levels: LISTENING: B2: I can understand extended speech and lectures and follow even complex lines of argument provided the topic is reasonably familiar. I can understand most TV news and current affairs programmes. I can understand the majority of films in standard dialect. C1: I can understand extended speech even when it is not clearly structured and when relationships are only implied and not signalled explicitly. I can understand television programmes and films without too much effort. Currently, I can understand about 50 % of a dubbed film, but far less if too many technical terms, slang, dialects or historian French are involved. The 9000 minutes of listening practice for the Half Super Challenge brought me to my current level. I think it is safe to assume that for the next 50 % far more practice is needed. Roughly spoken, I would expect that it would take me additional 20'000 minutes to achieve B2. READING: B2: I can read articles and reports concerned with contemporary problems in which the writers adopt particular attitudes or viewpoints. I can understand contemporary literary prose. C1: I can understand long and complex factual and literary texts, appreciating distinctions of style. I can understand specialised articles and longer technical instructions, even when they do not relate to my field. If "understanding" means "getting the message" and not "knowing the exact definition of each word", then I would rate myself quite close to B2. I am, however, far away from C1. The way to improve here is clear: reading, vocabulary training, reading, vocabulary training, reading. I don't know the exact source anymore, but I read somewhere that C1 would roughly be identical to the knowledge of ca. 3300-3700 words. I'll test whether this is correct and will learn 1000 new words in 2014. In twelve months I will know whether the above statement is true.... SPEAKING: B2: I can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible. I can take an active part in discussion in familiar contexts, accounting for and sustaining my views. I can present clear, detailed descriptions on a wide range of subjects related to my field of interest. I can explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options. C1: I can express myself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. I can use language flexibly and effectively for social and professional purposes. I can formulate ideas and opinions with precision and relate my contribution skilfully to those of other speakers. I can present clear, detailed descriptions of complex subjects integrating sub-themes, developing particular points and rounding off with an appropriate conclusion. I'll be honest: I'll have to work very hard to achieve the level of fluency required even for B2. I am still far from that level. With still very little speaking practice to judge on, I will first observe my improvement in daily communication with my colleagues, then decide whether additional training is needed here. Still, speaking might be my biggest challenge. WRITING: B2: I can write clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects related to my interests. I can write an essay or report, passing on information or giving reasons in support of or against a particular point of view. I can write letters highlighting the personal significance of events and experiences. C1: I can express myself in clear, well-structured text, expressing points of view at some length. I can write about complex subjects in a letter, an essay or a report, underlining what I consider to be the salient issues. I can select a style appropriate to the reader in mind. Also here, it feels very far away from B2. I discovered some grammar-related gaps last summer that have not yet been filled. To achieve a C1-ish level, I would need to do tons of grammar exercises, learn new words, train my writing skills by compiling essay after essay. So, the goal is set, the way is known, let's get started! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Suzie Diglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 4232 days ago 155 posts - 226 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Dutch | Message 54 of 116 26 December 2013 at 12:12am | IP Logged |
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TAC 2014 for Dutch starts here!
Compared to my ambitious goals with French, my goal for Dutch is quite simple: Bring it back to live! 15 years ago, I spent a semester at the Rijksuniversiteit Gent in Flandres, and during these few months I achieved some fluency in Dutch. I think I was B2 at that time. It needs saying that this huge speed is not surprising for a German native speaker. Even more so, as I grew up in Cologne region, and I was surprised to find immense similarities to our local dialect, Koelsch. (I once found myself in a pub at Gent, with a Flemish guy and someone from Frankfurt area, and when I spoke some Koelsch, the Flemish student could understand me, while the guy from Frankfurt could not!) In the following years, I followed some conversation courses in Germany, in order not to forget too much, but at some point I lost track. In the past ten years, I might have read three to four books in Dutch and have had 15 minutes of conversation in total. My active skills in Dutch are horrible in the moment. I have fallen back to an A-ish level, maybe even below the level of detection. As stated before, my goal is to be able and confident to have a conversation with someone in Dutch, whithout the other person switching to English or German. For French, I will return to the basics, work on grammar and words, analyse sentences etc. For Dutch, however, I'll try it the other way round, trying to re-activate my active skills via listening and reading in Dutch only. It sounds crazy, but I think in this specific situation it will work. Just next week, a new colleague from Flandres will join my department, and this poor guy will become my guinea pig. Edited by Suzie on 26 December 2013 at 12:13am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Suzie Diglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 4232 days ago 155 posts - 226 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Dutch | Message 55 of 116 27 December 2013 at 12:58pm | IP Logged |
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I am done with my revision of my 2013 vocabulary, and feel it is time to go into more detailed planning of my 2014 activities. With the six week challenge in May, the Half Super Challenge" and - non-language-related - the home assignment of my studies, I take as a learning that I am more motivated in project-related work, where I focus on one specific goal. I am very bad in splitting my motivation, which finally always results in dissapointment and burnout. Therefore, I try a new concept this year:
I'll dedicate 5 hours a week to the following activities: 1) Revision of French vocabulary and learning 20 new words 2) 1h Dutch (either reading or listening) 3) 1h Wallonian news (like Lesoir.be)(incl. adding all new words to Anki) 4) 1h HTLAL forum activities 5) 1h Repetition of French grammar and phrases Everyone will agree that this is merely maintenance work, not more. Therefore, beside these fixed regular activities, I have some projects in mind, and I will also try and use this format for my non-language-related activities. The project-related work is meant to push me to higher levels. My first project is easy: Finish Dan Brown's Inferno (still 260 pages to go). I hope I can complete this in early January. This will provide me some time to complete some pending non-language-related tasks. In February, I intend to participate in the six-week challenge, with French. I will use this for a major grammar and vocabulary session, using all the training material I have collected in the past twenty years. My intention is to throw away as much as possible afterwards. In May, I then would like to do the six week challenge again, in Dutch this time. I have ideas for other projects: 1) read book x in language y 2) dig into a specific topic of interest (e.g. Belgian politics, history, culture, geography; the football world cup, EU elections) and prepare a speech or write an essay on this topic afterwards 3) active conversation or writing mini-challenges I don't want to go into too much details with my planning, as I think the HTAL forum will come up with other challenges, too (e.g. TAC team challenges, or the Super Challenge, which I would be thrilled to join this year). In addition, life is full of surprises, and too narrow planning always ends with frustration. So far, I like my resolution for 2014. And I can't wait to start, which is why I am doing it today :-) EDIT 28-Dec: I had not done my maths properly, and thus I had to increase the number of pages to read from 220 to 260 :-( Edited by Suzie on 28 December 2013 at 5:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| agantik Triglot Senior Member France Joined 4638 days ago 217 posts - 335 votes Speaks: French*, English, Italian Studies: German, Norwegian | Message 56 of 116 31 December 2013 at 6:52pm | IP Logged |
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Meilleurs vœux pour le TAC 2014! I'm the Godmother for the French team so don't hesitate to ask for my
help;) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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