Tristano’s log 2015 [EN|FR|NL|RU|ES] (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

Tristano’s log 2015 [EN\|FR\|NL\|RU\|ES]
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Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log

177 messages over 23 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 18 ... 22 23 Next >>

tristano
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 4039 days ago
905 posts - 1262 votes

Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English
Studies: Dutch

Message 137 of 177

07 May 2015 at 10:16am | IP Logged

I come from Portugal.
I could impress my girlfriend with some trick :P
The highlights:
- asking information in Spanish and getting the answer in Portuguese although I never
studied Portuguese before
- Speaking with a Taxi driver in French and Spanish
- Being in a restaurant and having around a) a table with Spanish b) a table with French
c) a table with Italians d) a table with Dutch and speaking with my girlfriend in
English, all my languages at once :)

But now I'm back to reality and I have to improve my Dutch.
2 persons have voted this message useful

tristano
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 4039 days ago
905 posts - 1262 votes

Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English
Studies: Dutch

Message 138 of 177

11 May 2015 at 2:47pm | IP Logged

Dammit, I need to learn Dutch lol
1 person has voted this message useful

tristano
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 4039 days ago
905 posts - 1262 votes

Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English
Studies: Dutch

Message 139 of 177

19 May 2015 at 6:31am | IP Logged

So. I find myself in a moment where my interest to stack a large number of foreign languages has dramatically
decreased. I started to do sport and to be more interested in cooking. I started to sleep more. As a result I have to
drop my Portuguese project, and to postpone every other project for a different moment.

Said that, Dutch is my only target now. I'll do maintenance of my French and Spanish with native resources, but I
need to study Dutch actively. My English has greatly improved in fluency. My vocabulary is improving (the grammar
less).

However my Dutch is also improving, thanks to my girlfriend and the possibility to be exposed to the language.
Saturday I was in a bookstore (where I bought two books about cooking written in Dutch) and I started to speak to
the owner in Dutch without thinking about it for the very first time (usually I rehearse the sentence with which I start
the conversation trying to imagine the possible answers). Yesterday I asked my singing teacher to give me the
lessons in Dutch, and it has been possible. It is encouraging, considering the pain that studying this language
always gave me.
2 persons have voted this message useful

PeterMollenburg
Senior Member
AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5468 days ago
821 posts - 1273 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: French^B1

Message 140 of 177

20 May 2015 at 6:04am | IP Logged

tristano wrote:

So. I find myself in a moment where my interest to stack a large
number of foreign languages has dramatically
decreased. I started to do sport and to be more interested in cooking. I started to
sleep more. As a result I have to
drop my Portuguese project, and to postpone every other project for a different
moment.

Said that, Dutch is my only target now. I'll do maintenance of my French and Spanish
with native resources, but I
need to study Dutch actively. My English has greatly improved in fluency. My
vocabulary is improving (the grammar
less).

However my Dutch is also improving, thanks to my girlfriend and the possibility to be
exposed to the language.
Saturday I was in a bookstore (where I bought two books about cooking written in
Dutch) and I started to speak to
the owner in Dutch without thinking about it for the very first time (usually I
rehearse the sentence with which I start
the conversation trying to imagine the possible answers). Yesterday I asked my singing
teacher to give me the
lessons in Dutch, and it has been possible. It is encouraging, considering the pain
that studying this language
always gave me.

I can relate to this. It sounds like you're approaching life in a sensible way. We all
love learning languages here at HTLAL but let's face it languages are not everything-
in fact part of the reason we learn them is to get involved in life by using them as
the vehicule that takes us on journeys in life, new, different ones whether it be
literature, socialising, movies, travel, employment, immigration and so on. Ironically
by studying too much (i've certaintly learned this) those doors start to close as you
spend too much time learning and not enough time 'living'. I think you've arrived at a
sensible approach to life tristiano. Good luck and I'm glad to hear you're still
focusing on improving one language - one dear to my heart too- ahhh, Dutch, sigh.

PM
2 persons have voted this message useful

solocricket
Tetraglot
Groupie
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3668 days ago
68 posts - 106 votes

Speaks: English*, French, Italian, Spanish
Studies: Dutch, Icelandic, Korean, Polish

Message 141 of 177

22 May 2015 at 1:39pm | IP Logged

Yeah I think it's good to keep multiple interests, if other things attract you in
addition to
languages. I have too many interests, but I'm kind of still hoping to acquire a big stack
of languages... But you have more than me right now so perhaps you're a voice of reason
from the future :D

Best of luck with Dutch-- it sounds like you're doing really well lately! Are you
planning on living in the Netherlands indefinitely?

Edited by solocricket on 22 May 2015 at 1:39pm
1 person has voted this message useful

tristano
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 4039 days ago
905 posts - 1262 votes

Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English
Studies: Dutch

Message 142 of 177

26 May 2015 at 1:09pm | IP Logged

PeterMollenburg wrote:

Hi @PeterMollenburg!
Thank you very much for your message. It's exactly what happened to me. At the beginning it gave me so much! But now I have different priorities and new interests and a relation.
Learning Dutch is now a must.
2 persons have voted this message useful

tristano
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 4039 days ago
905 posts - 1262 votes

Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English
Studies: Dutch

Message 143 of 177

26 May 2015 at 1:11pm | IP Logged

solocricket wrote:

Thank you very much!
Yes I'm planning to live in the Netherlands indefinitely and I will probably move to a no-expat zone and will find mostly no-expat jobs.
1 person has voted this message useful

tristano
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 4039 days ago
905 posts - 1262 votes

Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English
Studies: Dutch

Message 144 of 177

28 May 2015 at 11:13am | IP Logged

So.
I started with a new routine.
Everyday I come to work at 8 and study half an hour of Dutch before to work. The time
used for this task I recover it during the lunch break (that is now half an hour an not
an hour anymore).

In the evening I will casually allocate some time to watch tv or some youtube video. I'm
starting to use cooking recipes written in Dutch.

Yesterday and today I caught up some of the assimil lessons, from 17 to 26. I have still
another 10 lessons to catch up and then I will start with the new ones with a slower pace
(1 or 2 per morning).

1 person has voted this message useful

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