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Hjordis’ Weekly Super Challenge Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| hjordis Senior Member United States snapshotsoftheworld. Joined 5026 days ago 209 posts - 264 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 1 of 7 28 April 2014 at 11:51pm | IP Logged |
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Well, I decided to start a log to track my weekly progress in the super challenge, so
that I can see if I'm meeting my goals. I may sometimes write about other things I did that week as well, though. For now, I'm going to write a post here detailing the plan and my resources, which are mostly picked out already. Mostly so I don't forget. I'm sure it won't work out quite so neatly, but hopefully I can come close by monitoring it on a weekly basis. Challenges: French full I'm decent at reading, but weak at listening. Reading: I'll read 30 pages a day. This will start May 1st until the 17th when I go home and am actually able to access my Japanese books which I'll then read until I start working again. After that I'll read French on the bus to and from work, which should be enough time to read 30 a day at my current speed. I'll do this until I finish the books I have, hopefully in December 2014. For resources, I have just about the right amount of books to finish, maybe a little more. I'll be finishing up Harry Potter, then I have some classics, a few books from Africa, and a couple of popular books, one from Belgium. Listening: I'll be watching about one movie every day off of work until April 2015. I'm going to start with the first 4 seasons of Futurama and seasons 1,2,4 and any other episodes I want to rewatch of Doctor Who. The idea is to watch shows that I'm familiar with because I struggle so much with listening and I'm beyond the point where English subtitles help me. I'm also taking a Coursera course which has French subtitles I can watch along with. After that I'll be working through my backlog of French movies on Netflix. Spanish Half I'm a beginner, so I'll be starting with movies. Goal is to finish just before my trip to Perú next May. Reading: I'll read 30 pages a day 5 days a week after I finish French until the end of April. For resources I have a few books at home. One is 365 Cuentos y Rimas para niños. The other two are books I bought at the library book sale because I have no self control when it comes to buying books, especially cheap books. Before I realize it I'm just buying them. It's like kleptomania except I pay for it and it's book specific. Other than that I'll read about 1000 pages of books from here: http://www.novelas.rodriguezalvarez.com/index.php/listado-no velas which somebody posted in the other thread(thanks whoever you were!) I can only read those on my days off since I don't currently have an e-reader. Other than that I'll have more or less 1000 pages left, so for those I'll see what's at the library. Listening: My goal here is 100 even though it's a half challenge. I'll be following the same schedule of one movie every day off until April 2015. I have some movies picked out on Netflix, about half from Latin America and half from Spain(although some from Spain are in Argentina so may have Argentinean Spanish). These will add up to about 50 movies. I'm also taking a couple of courses on Coursera, although I don't expect them to add up to much and I don't know if I'll actually do the coursework. I'll also be watching La Familia P. Luche, which my friend recommended to me. To make up the rest I will watch some of Al Fondo Hay Sitio, which looks good and my friend says is good, but has far too many episodes to watch in full. Japanese Full My listening is decent, if out of practice, but my reading is horrible due to insufficient kanji knowledge. Reading: I will read 30 pages a day. Until I finish French I'll be reading only on my days off to hopefully increase reading speed and Kanji knowledge. I'll continue reading 2 days a week while reading in Spanish, but on the bus to and from work. During this period I may not reach 30 pages a day if I'm still slow, but hopefully I can come close. After I return from Perú next May I'll hopefully be done with both French and Spanish and will be able to read 30 pages on days off and however much I finish on the bus to and from work on working days for the rest of the year. For resources I have all sorts of books on all different levels, but mostly a lot of famous books both classics and modern literature, and a good amount of nonfiction as well. This is the reason I'm trying to finish French and Spanish in a year. I counted the pages and I have around 13,000, so I'm hoping to finish at LEAST half of that. I'll be starting off with Kino no Tabi. Listening: I may do some sporadic listening before, but starting June 2015 I'll watch 2 movies on days off. I have a handful of movies left to watch on Netflix, and beyond that I'll be re-watching a few of my favorite anime without subtitles: Kino's Journey, Monster, Princess Tutu, and Gintama. This should add up to the 100 I need. Conclusion It seems like a lot, but with all the work being done on my days off or during my commute I should be able to finish, even allowing for unproductive vacations and the occasional slip up. Life never works out quite so perfectly, though. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Emily96 Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4268 days ago 270 posts - 342 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Finnish, Latin | Message 2 of 7 29 April 2014 at 12:57am | IP Logged |
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This is really impressive. I think it's an excellent idea to have a game plan, and although I had listed a few books and
movies I plan to consume, I have nothing as detailed as this. Not for long though!! You've inspired me =) And you've also reminded me that reading during a commute is possible. Next year i'll be starting college with a half hour bus ride each way - perfect for language learning. Like you said, life rarely goes as neatly as planned, so good luck! I'll probably check in on your progress for more ideas. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| hjordis Senior Member United States snapshotsoftheworld. Joined 5026 days ago 209 posts - 264 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 3 of 7 29 April 2014 at 3:33am | IP Logged |
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Aww, thanks Emily. Always nice to hear I've inspired someone. I struggle with
depression and don't always follow through with my plans because of it. At least if I've inspired someone there's some effect. I only have my books planned out because I have a book buying problem though. And I have to try to finish them all before I leave the country in 3 years! I've just written a blog post about long term goals that you might be interested in: http://www.snapshotsoftheworld.com/2014/04/the-tortoise-and- the-hare-revisited/ It's mostly in a different context, but certainly applies to language learning as well! As for commutes, indeed. I quit my first job to get a job closer to where I lived but then I realized I missed reading during the commute. I quit the second job for school and other personal development, and am currently unemployed but will be looking for a job in the same town as the first job when I return from visiting my family! There are more jobs there anyways, and some pay better. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Emily96 Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4268 days ago 270 posts - 342 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Finnish, Latin | Message 4 of 7 30 April 2014 at 7:09am | IP Logged |
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No problem =)
The tortoise/hare thing is definitely a good concept to keep in mind! "As much as i try to be a tortoise i'm often guilty of being a hare" - that sure sounds familiar. I guess repurposing commutes is what you call finding the silver lining! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| hjordis Senior Member United States snapshotsoftheworld. Joined 5026 days ago 209 posts - 264 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 5 of 7 02 May 2014 at 5:43am | IP Logged |
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I'll post an initial post here, and then update every Thursday. I managed to get
everything done today despite oversleeping and waking up at 1PM. Spanish Audio(87 minutes): -Week one of the Coursera course "Ser más creativos." With Spanish subtitles I can get the general idea of what she's saying, but it tires me out fast. I'm enjoying it, but may rewatch the videos of this course when I'm better with Spanish. -Two episodes of "The Magic School Bus." These are on Netflix, and I'm planning to watch seasons 2,3, and 4(season 1 doesn't have Spanish.) French Audio(104 minutes): -"Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec" By the time I got to this I was too tired to watch anything without English subtitles, so I chose a movie that didn't have the option to turn them off. This movie was a bit ridiculous, but fun. In my inexpert opinion, many of the characters spoke clearly so it wasn't too hard to understand for the most part, but the subtitles certainly helped. French Reading: 30 pages in the 6th Harry Potter book. I'm a little over halfway through this now. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| hjordis Senior Member United States snapshotsoftheworld. Joined 5026 days ago 209 posts - 264 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 6 of 7 09 May 2014 at 7:01am | IP Logged |
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A bit of a rough start, and it should be easy for me as I'm on vacation right now! I
decided to just do 2 movies worth of audio per language even though I'm not currently working. I'm visiting family so I need to spend time with them. This week's numbers: Spanish audio: the magic school bus: 6 episodes (150 minutes) ser mas creativos: week 2 (25 minutes) French audio: Doctor who 3 I didn't quite get the 2 movies here, but should catch up next week. I'm finding that while I don't understand a lot, I'm picking out more than I expected and I know it well enough that I can enjoy it anyways. I think it'll work well. French reading: 60 pages Here's where I really fell behind. I have some sort of mental block where I don't want to read even though it's not that bad when I actually do. Hopefully I can catch up in the coming few weeks. My mom's computer broke and she needs to use mine to finish her schoolwork for this week, so I'm going to try to use that time to read. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| hjordis Senior Member United States snapshotsoftheworld. Joined 5026 days ago 209 posts - 264 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 7 of 7 23 May 2014 at 7:29am | IP Logged |
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I never got to update last week, since I was busy saying goodbye to my family. Between
getting in some final visiting last week and getting sick this week, I haven't done a whole lot. Nonetheless, here's an update: Spanish Listening I finished up the second season of The Magic School Bus. Two more seasons to go. I'm thinking of watching one more with subtitles and then trying the last without. I don't think I'll understand a whole lot, but it's easy enough to follow along with the video that I don't think it'll be a problem. I also watched Harriet The Spy: Blog Wars, which was on Netflix(with subtitles). I stumbled across it and was just in the mood I guess. Spanish Reading 3 Pages of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. My friend from Perú keeps making fun of me because I'm asking about words from Spain that I'm reading in this. I may put it aside for now anyways. I was browsing books in Spanish in my library's catalog, and I noticed they have many of the earlier Magic Tree House books. Judging from the English version previews on Amazon, these are even easier than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and I haven't read them since I was really young! French Audio La Nouvelle Guerre des Boutons- I wanted a break from Doctor who, so I watched this movie. I enjoyed it a lot, but had a hard time understanding and turned on subtitles. I'm not a great judge, but it felt like most of the language was slurred a lot. This is pretty typical though, and something I'll have to get used to. Doctor Who- 3 episodes. This really is quite difficult, particularly when they're arguing or otherwise talking at great speed. Furthermore, some of the voices for the aliens are near impossible to understand. The daleks are surprisingly easy, though. French Reading Still reading Harry Potter. I read 130 pages in two weeks, which isn't as bad as I thought. Most of it I read while I was on the plane, and I also read some while my mom used my computer to finish her schoolwork, since hers broke. Japanese Reading Kino no Tabi- 3 pages, This is one of my favourite anime, so a while back I bought the first 8 light novels. I'm putting it aside for the moment to read a slightly easier book first. Amai Mizu- 2 pages. This is a book I picked up in a used bookstore when I was in Japan. It's too early to say whether it's good, but it looks promising. For now this is going to be slow going no matter what I read, but it should get better. I think I'll just try to read a little bit every day until it does. I may have more stamina for it once I'm not sick. Edited by hjordis on 23 May 2014 at 7:31am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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