Raconteur Diglot Newbie Poland bit.ly/1eiSWnc Joined 3884 days ago 34 posts - 47 votes Speaks: Polish*, English
| Message 25 of 68 13 April 2014 at 9:30pm | IP Logged |
rlnv wrote:
I think I have discovered just how much Anki can become a bear. ... Some words just do not stick. Words I study without seeing in context multiple times are the ones that I tend to have a hard time remembering. I think there are two possible solutions to make this work; a) delete these cards, find other words and let these come back to me naturally over time, or b) alter the cards to include a phrase using the Anki cloze feature. I may do a bit of both. |
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I think those are very good solutions. I used to get really, really frustrated with Anki back when I was studying Japanese - some cards would just refuse to stick, no matter what. And I kept torturing myself with them.
I'd say now: delete, delete, delete! If that card is bothering you, let it go. Alternatively, if it is a single word vocab card, try putting it in context - a short sentence. For pesky cards, as a first line of defense, I also try to take it for a spin outside of SRS - make some paper flashcards, or write it out a few times on paper, whatever works for you really.
I see that we're both using Anki, Hugo in 3 Months and Assimil NFWE - although you seem to be a bit further along than me. That's pretty cool, I'll definitely keep an eye on your log. Bon courage!
Edited by Raconteur on 13 April 2014 at 9:32pm
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rlnv Senior Member United States Joined 3943 days ago 126 posts - 233 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French
| Message 26 of 68 14 April 2014 at 3:14am | IP Logged |
Thanks for following along Raconteur. I'll be visiting your log as well, as it seems we are using similar methods and I'm interested in your observations and insight as a fellow learner of French.
I'm moving fairly quickly though Hugo FI3M. I'm treating it as review of area that I'm familiar with, a quick overview of what is new, and using it to pick up some additional vocab. It's also good for its conversations at the end of the chapters. I find the one male narrator rather difficult at times to understand. To me he is less clear, and tends to talk in bursts. But that is good practice for listening comprehension. He is the person that plays the homme d'affaires in week 3, the client in week 5.
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rlnv Senior Member United States Joined 3943 days ago 126 posts - 233 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French
| Message 27 of 68 14 April 2014 at 3:40am | IP Logged |
Through rain, sleet or snow
After spending most of the night with system maintenance on an SQL cluster, and then after 2 hours of sleep the phone rang due to a SAN failure taking the cluster disks offline. So after spending most of the day with a jet lag like feeling, I'm off to the races with my French study. One Assimil lesson down and FSI, here I come. I might not make it through my Anki cards tonight, or any further in FI3M. If I lose my steam, I'll put in a movie.
Super Challenge!
I'll be signing up for the Super Challenge that Solfrid is so graciously organizing again this year. The May start really works well for me. The April Learning Challenge will conclude, I'm wanting to read native books, and within a couple of months when I'm finished with Assimil I'll be able to devote much of my time to it. I have a Kindle on order and I'm really excited about this. It will be books, shows, and FSI after I'm done with NFWE.
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PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5468 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 28 of 68 14 April 2014 at 7:14am | IP Logged |
Hey Rinv,
I haven't found the time it seems to read through all of the individual logs on French 2eme. I've just read the majority of yours realising that like Raconteur we are also using some of the same resources. I'm also using Fluenz (currently also in level 3), Hugo French in 3 Months and Assimil NFWE. I'm also using flashcards and a couple of other courses (FIA & FSI Mastering French).
It's nice to read your thoughts on Fluenz in particular. I found the accent in Levels 1 and 2 annoying at times with some of the nasal vowels definitely being very incorrectly pronounced, reassuringly though the native content was perfect and the content excellent. Level 3 is much better in terms of accent, and naturally the content more challenging. I find it's a great program to reinforce the rhythm of speech when repeating the audio. On the whole this is the best computer program i've come across for language learning.
Keep up the great progress! You've done an impressive amount of learning, and consistent too.
PM
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rlnv Senior Member United States Joined 3943 days ago 126 posts - 233 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French
| Message 29 of 68 15 April 2014 at 4:12am | IP Logged |
Hi PM. Thanks for stopping by.
It's been awhile since I've worked with Fluenz. I'm fairly certain that it's Assimil and FSI Basic for me from this point forward. And when I finish Assimil, it will be native materials and FSI. Caroline in Fluenz definitely adds much value to the course. I find her presentations more thorough, informative, and she being a native of France, excellent pronunciation. In contrast, although I like Sonia, I think the Fluenz course would have been even better with Caroline from the beginning.
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rlnv Senior Member United States Joined 3943 days ago 126 posts - 233 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French
| Message 30 of 68 15 April 2014 at 4:52am | IP Logged |
My Paperwhite Kindle arrived today. I think this will be great for the Super Challenge. I downloaded the Merriam-Webster's French-English translation dictionary and a number of books. Most of them I won't be able to get into for awhile since I will finishing up my paper addition of Easy French Reader by R. De Roussy de Sales, first. The Kindle has an incredibly clear screen in outdoor sunlight. It should be a joy to use.
The books I downloaded include:
Le Petit Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Harry Potter - à l'ÉCOLE des Sorciers (Tome 1)
A number of Jules Verne books for later on when I advance.
A few more free downloads, including a trashy looking romance novel.
I don't expect to make progress on the above for a couple of months, since I need to finish Assimil and the easy reader first. At that point it will free up a lot of time for these books. I'm really looking forward to them.
Edited by rlnv on 15 April 2014 at 4:52am
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rlnv Senior Member United States Joined 3943 days ago 126 posts - 233 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French
| Message 31 of 68 17 April 2014 at 11:44pm | IP Logged |
I'm having doubts about finishing my April Learing Challenge. Trying to cram 500 words into my brain is painful, and I'm regretting signing up for that commitment. I have ~100 Anki cards due today and I don't feel like grinding them.
All the other bullet items for my challenge are fine, its just those Anki cards causing the pain. I'd much rather be spending the time reviewing some previous Assimil lessons, or working on FSI or H3M. I think I have a choice to make, fail the commitment, or keep my sanity! :)
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luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7197 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French
| Message 32 of 68 18 April 2014 at 2:00am | IP Logged |
rlnv wrote:
Trying to cram 500 words into my brain is painful, and I'm regretting signing up for that commitment. I have ~100 Anki cards due today and I don't feel like grinding them.
All the other bullet items for my challenge are fine, its just those Anki cards causing the pain. I'd much rather be spending the time reviewing some previous Assimil lessons, or working on FSI or H3M. I think I have a choice to make, fail the commitment, or keep my sanity! :) |
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I vote for your sanity!
I have used Anki for about 30 minutes in my French studies over the last 2 years. That's total, not per day. Increase your exposure by listening and reading to things you like. They can be Assimil lessons or H3M dialogues or anything you enjoy more.
It's better to win the war and not worry about a particular battle.
Have you seen Frank Ilya's Petit Prince? That's got more than 500 words. If you listen/read it for even 1/2 of the time you would have devoted to Anki, I predict...
SANITY!
Edited by luke on 18 April 2014 at 2:03am
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