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Amerykanka’s TAC 2013, Teams Żubr & Nebun | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5163 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 161 of 176 09 August 2013 at 3:47am | IP Logged |
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It makes sense to me why my language skills are as they are, but I still think it's kind of weird. I'll try to explain
what (I think) happened. I started learning Polish about 7.5 years ago, but the first two years I was a) young and b) inexperienced with language-learning, so I didn't make as much progress as could be expected. In the two or three years after that, though, I studied much more seriously, so about 4 or 5 years into my studies I was doing great. Years 6 and 7 didn't go so well, mainly because I was focusing on Spanish and I didn't have enough time to give Polish the attention it deserved. I lost a lot of my active skills in that time period, and I'm still regaining some of them. So far in 2013 I think I've done a pretty good job of reactivating my listening and reading skills. My speaking has improved, but it's still not where it used to be; and my writing is really bad, compared to what I was capable of a few years ago. My passive vocabulary, as I mentioned before, has remained almost entirely intact. My first contact with Spanish came when I was 5, so I knew some Spanish already when I started learning Polish. Spanish never played a significant role in my life, though, until January 2011. That was when I began to focus on Spanish and (unfortunately) neglect my Polish. Not to diss Spanish or anything, but Spanish is WAY easier for an English speaker to learn than Polish, at least in the beginning and intermediate stages, so I progressed much faster than I ever had with Polish. Spanish grammar is similar to English grammar, so that made learning to speak and write much easier, and with my knowledge of Latin and English, Spanish vocabulary was a breeze compared to Polish vocabulary. I'm not sure if this has made very much sense! To summarize, the reasons I feel more comfortable with Spanish in spite of my more in-depth exposure to Polish are that Spanish is closer to English and that over the last few years I've been focusing on Spanish at the expense of Polish. My Polish vocabulary - and hence my greater ease in reading classics - comes from the fact that I have spent many more hours on my Polish vocabulary and my Polish reading skills. So perhaps one might say that my Spanish is "shallower"? For the longest time my Polish far outshone my Spanish. I'm kind of sad that things changed . . . hopefully my Polish will catch up again one day (read: maybe in a few years but probably within the next decade). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5163 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 162 of 176 09 August 2013 at 3:56am | IP Logged |
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Only 140 pages left in Cien Años de Soledad! I'm getting closer, guys!!!
It's kind of strange, though, because Aureliano Buendía and Amaranta both just died, and they had been around since the first chapter. Well, Amaranta might have been born in a later chapter, I can't remember, but she'd been around for at least 300 pages. And then there was a lot about Meme, but now she's gone, too. Úrsula's the only character left whose story I can remember clearly. I think I need to pull out the Buendía family tree I made and add the newest generations; otherwise I am going to go insane trying to differentiate between the dozens of Aurelianos. Oh, and aren't ANY of the characters going to get a happy ending??? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4361 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 163 of 176 12 August 2013 at 5:31pm | IP Logged |
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That's really interesting how our skills can vary greatly depending on how much attention we give to them, particularly if the language has significant differences from our native one. It actually does make sense that your strengths in both languages would be affected by which skills had the greatest focus (i.e. continuing to read in Polish despite focusing on Spanish). Thank you for sharing!
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5163 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 164 of 176 22 August 2013 at 2:07am | IP Logged |
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I only have 17 pages left of Cien Años de Soledad! Wow! Be prepared for insane celebrations (aka lots
of exclamation points) tomorrow or Friday. Once I've finished this 486-page monster, I'm going to go nuts! I suppose a regular update is also due, but currently I'm busy trying to get ready for the beginning of a new school year, so it will have to wait. There's not much to report, anyway. I have lots of important things to be doing right now, so my language studies are reduced to flashcards, listening comprehension while I'm exercising, and finishing Cien Años. But don't worry - there will be a language comeback in September! :) @Fuenf_Katzen, you're welcome! I'm glad what I wrote made sense to you! Edited by Amerykanka on 22 August 2013 at 2:16am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Vos Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5558 days ago 766 posts - 1020 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Dutch, Polish | Message 165 of 176 23 August 2013 at 3:27pm | IP Logged |
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Hola Amerykanka, pues voy a felicitarte de antemano por lograr superar tal libro tan enrevesado pero a la vez tan
importante a la lengua castellana. Felicitaciones!! Ahora has leído uno de los hitos del castellano. ¿Y cuál sería el siguiente me pregunto...? Por cierto creo que lo que te lleva pasando al polaco me lleva pasando al castellano también ahora que estoy concentrándome en neerlandés. Se va volviendo cada vez más nublado y ¡no me gusta en absoluto! ¿Las dificultades de estudiar múltiples idiomas no? Espero que todo te vaya genial 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5163 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 166 of 176 25 August 2013 at 8:51pm | IP Logged |
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I FINISHED READING THE BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
(In case anyone was wondering, there are 100 exclamation points, in honor of 100 years of solitude.) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5163 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 167 of 176 26 August 2013 at 8:19pm | IP Logged |
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¡Hola Vos! Estoy muy emocionada con haber terminado este libro tan largo y tan complicado. He pasado
mucho tiempo leyéndolo; será muy extraño devolverlo a la biblioteca tras tantos meses. En cuanto al siguiente libro . . . creo que va a ser El Sueño del Celta de Mario Vargas Llosa. Ya lo tengo (lo encontré por azar en la librería hace unos meses, y lo compré), pero no lo voy a empezar en seguida. Es que comienza otro año escolar y me hacen falta unas semanas (o quizás meses) para acostumbrarme al horario nuevo. Me parece que tus dificultades con los idiomas sí son parecidas a las mías. Cuando me concentro en un idioma, los otros sufren, y cuando me concentro en otro, ¿qué crees?, los demás sufren. Si yo tuviera más tiempo libre, o sea si quisiera consagrar más de mi tiempo libre a mis idiomas, tal vez no tendría tantos problemas con estudiar múltiples idiomas a la vez. Pero no estoy dispuesta a permitir que los estudios invadan otras partes importantes de mi vida, y por eso creo que voy a seguir teniendo los mismos problemas. De todos modos, sigo aprendiendo (aunque despacio), y sigo divirtiéndome, y esto es lo importante. :) ¡Buena suerte con tu español y con tu neerlandés también! Edited by Amerykanka on 26 August 2013 at 8:21pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5163 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 168 of 176 15 September 2013 at 1:45am | IP Logged |
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I haven't fallen off of the face of the earth, I promise. I am just very busy.
GREEK IS AWESOME!!! I am so excited that I finally have the opportunity to learn this language. I have only done the alphabet, the rules of accentuation, and the first two declensions, but that was enough to let me know that I'm going to love this language. Hopefully I will be able to post a proper update later this week. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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