ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 5987 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German
| Message 49 of 138 06 May 2009 at 2:35am | IP Logged |
Spanky,
LOL. I am sure that you have earned senior membership. I hope that your 100th post is a nice big update on how awesome the first four months of the year were for you language wise.
Your motivational master,
Thom.
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5949 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 50 of 138 08 May 2009 at 7:32am | IP Logged |
Thanks ExtraLean as usual,
Nope, over the last few weeks I have mostly just been lurking threads, learning a fair bit about the social fabric of the community here but in terms of my own study, I have been dragging my sorry butt considerably. No real French or Japanese study at all since the hockey playoffs started, though I have picked up some random words from the Goon language through osmosis in watching some of the games (and have observed the fans of our most bitter rivals learning the language of Disappointment one agonizing game at a time).
Will be getting back to studying pretty soon. Am getting sent up to the hinterland for four days next week for work (I expect as punishment for some imagined slight) and will have a lot of time on my hands and few distractions, so back to it soon.
Edited by Spanky on 08 May 2009 at 8:26am
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5949 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 51 of 138 22 May 2009 at 6:54am | IP Logged |
Approximately eleven weeks left in my French language acquisition year. An estimated 300-325 hours of study remaining to get through the primary learning resources listed below, so need approximately 26 - 28 hours of study per week from now through to the end of the first week in August, when I intend to switch over (on August 11th) to learning German as my primary study activity, while continuing to expand my knowledge of French through radio, TV, books and conversation where possible.
Let me say this as clearly and firmly as I can: there is no freakin' way I am going to study 26-28 hours per week on a continuing basis , particularly given my track record recently. So, I am destined to bring shame on myself, family, gender, country and species.
Will revert to daily logs for the time being as an incentive to get at least something done each day, with the exception of those days I am out of town and away from computer access. Will keep track of my hours of active studying, possibly counting down from the estimated 325 active study hours required. I may also keep track (for motivation purposes) of the hours spent listening to French language TV or radio broadcasts or other audio material for that time actually spent trying to figure out and follow along rather than just having it as background noise.
The primary learning material I would like to complete prior to switching over to German at the end of my French acquisition year includes the following:
Pimsleur II and III (have completed up to unit 14 from Pimsleur II, but will be reviewing the last few units again)
FSI Basic (I have grown to hate this material, but not doing it seems like a bit of a cop-out, so I am hoping to just man up and muscle through it.)
FIA - just the video portions. Am through video 4 at present.
CIG (Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning French) - have worked through up to chapter 11
French.about.com - continue to work through most of the basic stuff
Frenchpod101 - the lower intermediate units - have worked through a few but lots left to go through
BBC internet material (French Steps, Talk French, Ma France and French Experiences)
Possibly MT Advanced and Vocabulary Builder.
Le petit prince (read and listen). Previously finished chapter 1 before putting it aside. Will probably leave this as year 2 material for build/maintain purposes.
Edited by Spanky on 22 May 2009 at 6:57am
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ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 5987 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German
| Message 52 of 138 22 May 2009 at 4:50pm | IP Logged |
This is my mandatory post of encouragement.
Thom.
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5949 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 53 of 138 23 May 2009 at 8:29am | IP Logged |
Thanks ExtraLean,
I am generally against detailed timekeeping or counting the hours, mais malheureusement, c'est comme ça maintenant.
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5949 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 54 of 138 23 May 2009 at 8:38am | IP Logged |
Pimsleur II, reviewing unit 10
Frenchpod101 - two lower intermediate units
french.about.com - working through week 3 basic study units: Telling Time; Averbes de Temps; Il y a; Depuis v. Il y a; Depuis v. Pendant v. Pour
Anki - entering words and phrases accumulated on bits of paper over time from a variety of sources, and some Anki drilling
miscellaneous media: TV morning news and morning show (recognized the words "Barack" and "Obama" and not a whole bunch more than that).
Study: 2.25 hours
Remaining: 322.75 hours
Media: 0.5 hours
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5949 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 55 of 138 25 May 2009 at 8:08am | IP Logged |
Away this weekend with the family visiting Osoyoos, spur of the moment car trip. Study time pretty limited, partly because it would have been selfish to spend much time studying, and partly because I believe my brain got baked by the sun.
Spent a few unsuccessful minutes earlier today trying to speak French with the two bears we saw in Manning Park - either my accent was off (unlikely) or these particulars bears simply did not understand French.
Pimsleur II, unit 11
CIG, working on chapter 12
Le petit prince – listened to first four chapters (audio only – reasonable oral recognition, given that I had superficially read through chapters 1 to 3 some time ago).
Anki – addition of new material and review
Media - rien
Study (over both weekend days): - 2.75 hours
Remaining: 320 hours
Media: 0.5 cumulative hours
Edited by Spanky on 26 May 2009 at 8:16am
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5949 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 56 of 138 26 May 2009 at 8:16am | IP Logged |
Pimsleur II, unit 12
Anki - more additions and reviewing
Media: morning news: La Corée du Nord a annoncé avoir effectué, avec succès, un nouvel essai nucléaire, en dépit des pressions internationales. Also watched, in French with French subtitles, some of No Country for Old Men (Non, ce pays n'est pas pour le vieil homme), par les frères Coen.
- À vous de jouer. Annoncez.
- C'est-à-dire, il faudrait que je sache ce qu'il y a à gagner.
- Tout. Vous avez tout à gagner.
- D'accord. Face alors?
- Bien joué.
Study: 1.25 hours
Remaining: 318.75 hours
Media (cumulative): 1.5 hours
Edited by Spanky on 26 May 2009 at 8:35am
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