|
 |
Interm. Spanish, Beginner Irish & French | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6761 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 65 of 72 06 February 2014 at 5:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
Writing has helped me. Whenever I'm "done" with a lesson, I copy it the Arguelles way, i.e. read the sentence aloud, copy and read aloud word-for-word, and finally read aloud again. Next sentence. Make sure you know (or half-know) some spelling conventions. For instance, it's good to know that future tense has the endings -faidh/-fidh (1st conjugation) (and correspondingly -óidh/-eoidh for 2nd conjugation). I just saw this one: Pronouncing verb endings 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| sctroyenne Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5243 days ago 739 posts - 1312 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Irish | Message 66 of 72 06 February 2014 at 5:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
What makes it even more difficult is that the dialect of Learning Irish can also throw the spelling off so I'll see the word later in a different form and not recognize it. Somewhere I had a list of commonly-confused words which ought to help a lot as well. I find that is one of the hardest parts of learning Irish vocabulary - the words that resemble each other but have nothing to do with each other. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Indíritheach Senior Member United States Joined 3897 days ago 108 posts - 146 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Irish, French | Message 67 of 72 07 February 2014 at 12:47am | IP Logged | |||||
Yup...also, as much as I love Learning Irish, it skips over cool synthetic verb forms that I've only found in Teach Yourself Irish Grammar. Like táim/nílim instead of tá mé/níl mé. Or that the past tense first person plural has a synthetic form? Like instead of mhol muid you can say mholamar. It's weird...I hope no native Irish speaker ever thinks I'm speaking some weird pastiche of their language if I'm ever fortunate enough to talk to one. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4696 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 68 of 72 07 February 2014 at 12:26pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
As far as I know, those synthetic forms are typical of Munster Irish. In Conamara Irish, the analytic forms are preferred.
As Ó Siadhail explicitly teaches the Cois Fharraige dialect, he skips the synthetic forms, but they appear in the Caighdeán Oifigiúil. As a learner of Irish, you will always speak a somewhat unnatural mixture of different dialect features, so don't worry too much about it. The only solution would be long-time immersion in a single Gaeltacht, so you could adopt the local dialect. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Indíritheach Senior Member United States Joined 3897 days ago 108 posts - 146 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Irish, French | Message 69 of 72 12 February 2014 at 2:37am | IP Logged | |||||
|
Irish
The more I study this language, the more I love it. It really is very difficult, but to me it is oh-so-worth-it. So I'm currently doing a revision of Lesson 26 of Learning Irish, I'm re-working my way through Buntús Cainte and I'm having fun with Irish for Beginners. I'd say that after 4 months, I am starting to feel more comfortable with the language...I am consciously trying to think in Irish, I am finding it easier to speak in Irish to my daughter, and a lot of grammar points that didn't make sense are starting to "click". I will say, one difficult part is learning the differnces between Official Standard Irish and Connacht Irish. I prefer the sound of Official Standard Irish more, but I realize it isn't really a "dialect" per se, and that I should probably focus on Connacht Irish. I am also ALMOST caught up with my vocabulary...and I'm thinking about shadowing Buntús Cainte in the future... French I'm on Lesson 28 of Assimil, and it's going great. The jokes, the leisurely pace...I never really loved French, but Assimil takes the "toil" out of language learning. I've also been watching some EXCELLENT French films and dubbed versions of my favorite TV shows. Irish 244h30/1100 French 47/600 Edited by Indíritheach on 19 February 2014 at 12:47pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Indíritheach Senior Member United States Joined 3897 days ago 108 posts - 146 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Irish, French | Message 70 of 72 20 February 2014 at 1:11am | IP Logged | |||||
|
Long time no post...well, I guess the main news item is I've finally finished my review and have started on Lesson 30 of Learning Irish
IR Still my favorite language, and by far the hardest. If this is what Category II languages are like, I truly can't imagine you folks tackling the Category III "big boys" like Arabic or Japanese. Seriously, Irish is hard. If I didn't like this language so much, I don't think I could manage. I started on Lesson 30 of Ó Siadhail's text and I gotta say I'm drowning. There's just so much info to absorb...I might be near the "end" of the book, but I'm nowhere near done with it. I have found, however, that whenever I re-read a grammar point a few times it starts to make more sense. The genitive case, for one thing, isn't quite as daunting as it was. FR I initially wanted to learn French because I wanted access to Assimil programs that haven't been translated into English yet. That's still the main goal, but I'm slowly starting to like this language and I think Assimil has a lot to do with that. I'm on Lesson 36 and loving it. SP Same old same old...I'm almost finished with Harry Potter...I don't know if I'll read the next installment or switch to something else. Irish 248h30/1100 French 51h30/600 Edited by Indíritheach on 26 February 2014 at 11:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Indíritheach Senior Member United States Joined 3897 days ago 108 posts - 146 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Irish, French | Message 71 of 72 27 February 2014 at 3:03am | IP Logged | |||||
|
Wow, I haven't updated in almost a week. I have been really sick...I've got an impacted molar or something and my face is completely swollen...I have spent the past 4 days in agony, and I have gotten very little language studying done. But I have managed to do my Assimil French every day without fail no matter how horrible I felt. Now that I have some antibiotics and painkillers I am back on track and will be updating my log soon.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Indíritheach Senior Member United States Joined 3897 days ago 108 posts - 146 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Irish, French | Message 72 of 72 27 February 2014 at 11:15am | IP Logged | |||||
|
Okay so hopefully with my health slowly being restored I can stay on track, because some interesting developments are happening with my languages.
French I am definitely a true believer in Assimil now. When I used it for Spanish, it was as a "false beginner" so I wasn't surprised at the results.It was fun, but I figured that my rapid progress was due to my previous knowledge of the language. But using it for French, a language I really have no previous experience with, has shown me how truly effective this method is. I am on Lesson 42 and already I am starting to be able to understand whole sentences when I watch French television or listen to French radio. I have been texting my ex back and forth in French and despite my tiny vocabulary I am able to form complete thoughts. I know it isn't going to be smooth sailing all the time, and that there is still a lot of hard work left to do, but I will definitely be turning to Assimil in the future for the rest of the languages on my "hit list". Initially, I didn't really like the language. I was only learning French to gain access to language learning materials that haven't been released in English. But now, for some reason, the language is really starting to grow on me, and I even prefer it to Spanish, something I never thought would happen. While I was laid up in bed I binge-watched I bunch of TV shows in English, something I felt guilty about because I knew I should at least be doing some passive language learning. But yesterday I found out that, low and behold, the DVDs for my current favorite show, The Walking Dead, have a French dub! So I've been watching that, along with dubbed versions of Game of Thrones, The Simpsons, and Dexter. Irish I feel bad that I didn't get a lot of Irish study in the past few days, because it's a language that's close to my heart, but I'm back on track and am working on finishing Lesson 30 of Learning Irish. Like French, I've made some decent progress in being able to understand the spoken language. Being able to produce it is another matter, much more difficult than French, but I've been keeping a diary in Irish and it helps to practice expressing my thoughts. I am pleased that I understand more and more when I watch shows like Ros na Rún. I'm going to order the remaining two volumes of Buntús Cainte, I think it's a good course to build up conversational abilities. Spanish Still stuck on that intermediate plateau. I finished watching Gran Hotel and haven't been able to find another series that really grabs my attention. I'm thinking of maybe mixing things up and watching more Latin American TV than series from Spain. I've also tried to keep up my conversation practice with co-workers and customers at work since that's really the only way I'm going to advance at this point. I'm almost done with Harry Potter y la cámara secreta, and I'm thinking of switching to Juego de Tronos when I'm done. I also want to start getting my feet wet with some original Spanish literature, there's a lot of great works out there. Well, that's it for now. This has been a week from hell, but I'm glad the end is in sight. Back to studying! Irish 251/1100 French 59/600 Edited by Indíritheach on 01 March 2014 at 12:57pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
