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New Super Challenge Discussion thread2014 | ||
Tags: Super Challenge | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5333 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 553 of 766 22 July 2014 at 2:47pm | IP Logged | |||||
It was :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4888 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 554 of 766 24 July 2014 at 1:54am | IP Logged | |||||
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Since I'm mostly on pace with the challenge (15% of each thing), I took the past week
off to do some proper studying. With Italian that meant finishing Living Language Intermediate, and with French it meant finally attempting the last and most challenging FSI chapter. I've noticed that the extensive reading really helps when I go back to my courses. Rather than struggling to understand the rules for some new concept, like all the ways that Italian pronouns combine and recombine, studying is now more of a review of concepts that I've already seen 'in the wild' a hundred times. The courses help me fit all the grammar into a framework that I partially intuit, but that I don't formally or consciously understand. It's so much easier this way, and a lot more fun! 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5333 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 555 of 766 24 July 2014 at 7:54am | IP Logged | |||||
You just made my day, and it is not yet 8 in the morning :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4908 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 556 of 766 25 July 2014 at 2:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
Excellent point. I originally thought that once I was on native material, I would abandon courses, or just read the occasional advanced grammar. Like you, however, I have found working on a chapter of a textbook quite interesting when I've got some native material bouncing around in my skull. Instead of reading a rule and wondering "How does that work in real life?" I read a rule and say, "Aha! That's why that person said it like XYZ!" Coming at it from that end means you are much more likely to remember what you are learning. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5333 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 557 of 766 04 August 2014 at 6:21pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Hi!
So how did the July mini challenge go? Which texts/films did you chose, what progress did you see, and do you think you would like to try this method again? Personally I listened to the audiobook of the first book of the Harry Potter saga three times, and read two hundred pages of the actual book. I noticed considerable progress, though not only from reading the book in between, but also from just listening. I particularly picked up lots of vocabulary. I plan to read the Russian masterpiece "The Master and Margarita", and I intend to watch the movie. First film, then movie, then film again. AUGUST MINI CHALLENGE - GRAMMAR I have received some wonderful ideas for mini challenges which I intend to use, but I have decided to do a special one this time. I know that some of you are a little unhappy that you focus so much on reading and watching, that you do not spend what you consider to be sufficient time on grammar. So this challenge is for you :-) 1. Pick a grammar point you struggle with in one (or more) of your target languages, and tell us which language it is and which grammar point you have chosen. 2. Write down a number of sentences of your choice and post them here in this thread. (Minimum 10- maximum 100) You can chose sentences from your books, or if you think that is too hard, you can pick examples out of course books. 3 At the end of August you tell us whether you have mastered it, or how much progress you have made. If you like you can also write down an explanation of the grammar point and post it here. I am looking forward to seeing sentences and explanations in/about many different languages: Hindi, French, Korean, Finnish and whatnot. The Super Challenge is basically a lonely effort, let us make this a moment of sharing. There is no wrong way to do this, just a variety of right ways. If you want to go total hard core, you take 100 sentences from texts you are reading or films you are watching and add a grammar explanation some time during the month. If you want an easier version, you just take 10 sentences from a language course or a grammar book. Both are perfectly valid. I recommend that if you chose to do many sentences, you brake them up in smaller bits. 10 sentences each time for instance. And if you aim to do 100 sentences and you do 11 you are still a winner :-) Feel free to combine this with the 6 week challenge. Now go have fun! My August mini-challenge: Language: Russian Grammar point -Verbs of motion Why: Because they are difficult and you cannot speak even basic Russian without knowing them. How many sentences: My goal is 100 - but at least I know I can do 10 :-) Grammar explanation: No idea whether I will actually be able to write about this in a comprehensible way without copying a book, but I'll try. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5981 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 558 of 766 04 August 2014 at 7:27pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Nice challenge!
Language: Japanese Grammar point: The many uses of the word もの (mono) Why: There are many expressions using the nominaliser もの (in my favourite grammar reference I've counted 15 so far). This little word seems so be following me around in my reading lately, but I struggle to remember what each expression means so this sounds like the perfect challenge to add a little clarity to my comprehension. How many sentences: At least 1 for every expression, maybe more if I can find some particularly vivid examples "in the wild". Grammar explanation: I think I'd better revise the general meaning of もの as well as noting the meanings of all the set expressions it crops up in. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| milesaway Triglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 4330 days ago 134 posts - 181 votes Speaks: French, English*, Russian Studies: Finnish, Sign Language | Message 559 of 766 04 August 2014 at 9:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Language: Russian
Grammar point: The declension of surnames Why: Because I can never remember how they work, when they're adjectives and when they're not. How many sentences: Let's go big, 100. Grammar explanation: If there is a logical rule, then yes, I will try to explain it. :D I might do something for Finnish, but I'm still puttering around at A1, so...I have no idea what grammar point I can do. I am going to start reading in Finnish soon, so that's exciting. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4888 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 560 of 766 05 August 2014 at 12:56am | IP Logged | |||||
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July Challenge (Italian) - I used Le avventure di Pinocchio, which was
perfect for my level. The chapters are only a couple pages each, and Project Gutenberg has good quality audio recordings. I only understood a few random words on first listen, and had zero comprehension of the plot. Reading was slow but relatively easy. On my second listen I was able to understand entire phrases. It was enough to vaguely follow along, although there were still long gaps where I'd lose the thread & start to drift off mentally. This is definitely a technique that I want to work in more, at least when I can find good recordings. I can't imagine listening to a whole book yet, but perhaps that day will come by the end of the Super Challenge. August Challenge (French) - Once again this challenge fits perfectly with my needs at the moment (and I had nothing to do with suggesting this idea!). I finished the last lesson of FSI French last month, which was a major milestone - I did the first lesson way back in July of 2011. It's been a long road. This last section contains hundreds of English > French translations, and it covers everything. I want to review it again and again until I internalize the sentences; I think it would be an excellent base for bringing my conversation up to C1. So for August I'll commit to FSI Lesson IV Chapter 1. It has 120 sentences, but I'll pick the 100 I want to perfect & list them here when I get the change. For Italian, I still need help with basic pronouns. I'll have to work on how I want to do this ... maybe the first couple dozen pronoun exercises from Assimil. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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