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PMs TAC 2015 crazy? French course mission | ||
Tags: TellMeMore | Fluenz | Linguaphone | Flash cards | Michel Thomas | Self-Study | Spaced Repetition (SRS) | Diploma/Certificate | Study Plan | Fluency | Dutch | Pimsleur | FSI | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Assimil | French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5468 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 209 of 451 02 November 2014 at 8:55am | IP Logged | |||||
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October summary
October was a rather ordinary month for language study hours. My least yet. Many things mingled together to cause this but ultimately it was all within my control. I simply allowed myself to procrastinate, or study less than usual at least, be distracted, sleep in (I realised my 6am starts were not sustainable given some nights I'd work later and couldn't get enough sleep consecutively), plus I would eat rubbish food which found me not so alert and going for the sleep-ins again, plus a 10 day break in New Zealand which lead to me only using Duolingo (decided to try it as some family members in NZ were using to learn some Spanish) and reading random websites. Out of 10 days I prob read some French 5 of those days. I took a book along but didn't read much of it. It may sound like i'm being hard on myself, which I do have a tendency to do. However, i'm simply noting facts that lead to a loss of routine. Upon arriving home I feel like rubbish from eating too much rubbish and my main study companion (smart-phone) has had some major issues that's taken me over a day to fix. Now i'm set to aim for the 1000 hours mark. I've done 800hrs this year of French, I'd like to make these last 2 months very successful and up the ante once more, but sensibly. ------------------------------------ October hours of study: 46hrs,46min Average for month: 1hr,30min Breakdown: Audio only: 17hrs,41min Course work: 8hrs,42min Reading: 8hrs,50min Flashcards: 5hrs,40min Series/films: 5hrs,28min Conversation: 25min Super challenge: Films (min): 198 Pages: 37 ---------------- I did read a lot more than 37 pages, but this was predominantly from websites. I had one conversation at Wellington airport while waiting to board our flight to come home 2 days ago. I sat next to an older couple and heard them speaking French. I got chatting. Turns out their daughter lived in Sydney (she turned up after conversation started) and they were very friendly. They were amazed with my French, which felt nice. I held a decent conversation with them for 25min rarely struggling with vocab or grammar. It felt good, real good. Of course I know there are a LOT of holes in my vocab/grammar that will hopefully fill in as I continue learning (I obviously didn't speak words I haven't learned, nor used grammar I don't know how to use). Their daughter from Sydney gave me her contact details and said write to me for practise, and look me up if you come to Sydney. Her parents even said we might see you(me) again one day, who knows - I explained I'd love to live in the south of France some day, who knows, on sait jamais! As a side note: I've been following all the regular logs that I usually follow, just had little time to respond. Keep up the learning everyone! PM 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7197 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 210 of 451 02 November 2014 at 10:19am | IP Logged | |||||
That is a friggin' awesome result. You are doing great! Keep up the good work. 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: FrenchB1 | Message 211 of 451 02 November 2014 at 11:11am | IP Logged | |||||
Thanks Luke, I appreciate the positive feedback. I've been keeping touch with your log as well and the main thing drawing my attention is your consistent focused study. Good job Luke! Those most consistent in learning (a) language(s) reap the surest results. Power to the French fries, aka Belgian fries! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Mohave Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Mohave1 Joined 3999 days ago 291 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 212 of 451 02 November 2014 at 12:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
So glad to see you posting again! In fact, I checked your log a few days ago to see if you had posted and I had missed it. You averaged 1 1/2 hours of study a day! I find that pretty remarkable that that was your worst month! You're home now. You will get your diet, exercise and study routines back to normal, and that will help you feel even better! Congrats on the 25 min chat! Doesn't that feel just awesome! :) Edited by Mohave on 02 November 2014 at 12:12pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4901 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 213 of 451 02 November 2014 at 8:56pm | IP Logged | |||||
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That must have been a great experience, PM. It shows that your methods are working for you. I also agree that a bad month for you is pretty good for most learners! Keep it up!
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| Sizen Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4331 days ago 165 posts - 347 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Catalan, Spanish, Japanese, Ukrainian, German | Message 214 of 451 03 November 2014 at 4:55am | IP Logged | |||||
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Your log is always a wake-up call, PM. I need to step up my game. 1:30 per day and it's
just an ordinary month! I'd be ecstatic if I managed that with Spanish. Heck, I should put more time into my French... Keep up the good work, man. 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: FrenchB1 | Message 215 of 451 03 November 2014 at 6:14am | IP Logged | |||||
Thanks Mohave, I appreciate your enthusiasm with regards to my studying/log. It was great to follow your progress in Belgique by the way.
Cheers Sizen, I appreciate that... I must step on over to your log and see how you're doing and lend a few words of encouragement in return :) ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------- In relation to my hours of study.... It's strange that 1 and a half hours makes me feel out of touch considering back in 1998 when I first attempted language study at home 1.5 hrs (of French and Spanish at that time) felt like a lot in terms of getting a good flow and being saturated with language, and that I was learning a lot of new concepts.... I think it really depends on the language, one's approach/methods to study and the level one is at. Put it this way 1.5hrs of Spanish would be perfect right now were I to recommence Spanish study. I wouldn't have to deal with phonetics much (as it's phonetically much easier than French in my opinion), the language seems to just stick easier. Whereas French 1.5hrs is not enough for me personally at the moment. Understanding the phonetics (or at least being sure about them as I go), the seemingly roundabout way of saying things seems to me as an English speaker strange, and of course 'logging my vocab' via the entry of flashcards slows me down. Every hour of study lately is taken up by 30min of FC reviews. I still have a large back log to get through, once i'm up to date I should be able to cut that time in half thereby devoting more time to actual courses/reading etc. I'm not sure how Anki works but I have set Flashcards Deluxe to ensure every 'new card' has 5 correct 'responses' before it even becomes an 'active card'. All in all it feels like French is slow going. And this makes me envy those who despise FC's (I do at times) and therefore don't use them (unlike me) and simply learn via exposure. My apprenhension in wanting to learn new words 'thoroughly' has me using flashcards, in an attempt to ensure new words in my courses don't escape my watchful memory banks. I do know of course than thinking Spanish would come easier is a matter of perspective too. We all know the old saying the more you know (learn) the more you realise you don't know. Another thing to add to the slow but steady progress is that I own a MASSIVE amount of courses in French much more than I have in any other language. When I attempt to begin learning Spanish (again) I'll be using one course only I think for at least 12 months. Destinos is so comprehensive I doubt I'll need much more for a year or so, considering I have the follow on courses of the Nuevos Destinos group as well. ---------------------------- This of course means that the language i use in conversation (like with the French couple in Wellington) is qute thoroughly formed in my mind as far as a language learner goes, but as I'm not using terribly advanced materials I am not really using much advanced grammar when conversing. However given my vocab is at a guess half that or a little less of a native speaker (I estimate this by having entered over 9000 flashcards, and having read that the average active vocab of a native English speaker is around 25,000 words). Perhaps my active vocab is a lot less than the 9000 recorded words. Anyway, the point is my vocab should be large enough that I can talk around things. I can use the passé composé with ease, the imperfect here and there, and a rare spattering of future, conditional and subjunctive. What this amounts to is a 25min conversation in which it appears I'm very well accomplished in the language, especially since I believe my accent is excellent, but I know damn certain I'm far from native speaker ability. I'm very poor at the subjunctive, use the subjunctive, future and conditional tenses rarely as I'm not overly comfortabe with them and i get confused sometimes when to use the imperfect. I'm not at all concerned tho, as I know that when I begin using more advanced materials it will fall into place (and of course speak more!). Forgive me for the seemingly arrogant statements at times regarding my perceived good qualities in French, please try to balance it with some of my criticisms too - this is just the way I honestly see it. I would be happy to accept criticism of aspects of my linguistic skills that I feel are good which in fact are not in someone else's opinion. PM 1 person has 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: FrenchB1 | Message 216 of 451 03 November 2014 at 7:05am | IP Logged | |||||
Thank you too Jeffers, it was nice to finally speak to some real live actual French ppl. I'm even considering a trip to La Nouvelle Calédonie next year... but its by no means a low-budget destination, so we'll see. Nice pix in your log btw. Hopefully that French restaurant turns out to be the gem from your at times disappointing trip to London 1 person has voted this message useful |
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