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Rem Groupie United Kingdom Joined 3747 days ago 66 posts - 96 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin, Czech, French
| Message 49 of 73 19 January 2015 at 2:47pm | IP Logged |
Ok, so I was browsing online last week and my finger ‘slipped’ and I ‘accidentally’
ordered the Assimil Czech course (German based) and a copy of ‘Der Kleine Hobbit’
(paperback).
After waiting for what seemed like ages (it always seems to take forever when you’re
looking forward to something) I was finally able to pick them up from the PO today. :)
German
Hopefully using the German based Assimil Czech will help me improve my German as well
(I just hope that I’m not getting in over my head here).
I’m going to start reading ‘Der Kleine Hobbit’. It will be slow going, but hopefully
not too slow. I think this is a much better choice of book for me than
something like HP since I really enjoyed reading The Hobbit in English as a kid.
Mandarin
My teacher has told me that my speaking and listening are improving. I still have a
long way to go, but I’m happy that I seem to be making progress on what I
consider to be my weakest skills. :)
French
We’re starting to take a proper look at reflexive verbs and past tenses. It seems like
a lot of info all at once but, as long as I can put in a decent amount of study time
outside of classes, it shouldn’t be too bad (I hope).
Czech
Although I have Assimil Czech now I’m going to continue with Colloquial as well. I’ll
be switching it up with Assimil (hopefully that will make Colloquial seem like less of
a chore). I’m still a little daunted by the prospect of learning Czech through German,
but I’m going to give it my best shot anyway and see where I end up.
.
____________________________________________
PS: I’ve given up on the idea of keeping track of the specific amount of time that I
spend on each language. It was making studying feel like an obligation somehow and I
don’t want that.
Edited by Rem on 19 January 2015 at 2:48pm
2 persons have voted this message useful
| WingSuet Triglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 5341 days ago 169 posts - 211 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, German Studies: Cantonese
| Message 50 of 73 19 January 2015 at 9:14pm | IP Logged |
I was thinking about reading The Hobbit in German too and almost ordered Der Hobbit (not der
kleine Hobbit) after having read about the different translations in a German forum, trying to
decide which is the best one. I think I'll wait a few days though before I decide whether to
order it or not.
1 person has voted this message useful
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4523 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German
| Message 51 of 73 20 January 2015 at 12:03am | IP Logged |
I think the Hobbit is a good idea if you want to read it. There are lots and lots of possible books around. HP is certainly not something you ever have to read if you have interest in it. I certainly wouldn't read the series a second time.
Rather than keeping track of time, I find it helpful to keep a list of all the books/movies I read/see by month. I got in the habit when I started do the super challenge the first time around, and it's turned out to be quite motivation to keep track of everything. It's like every time I finish a book or watch a movie I get a little reward.
1 person has voted this message useful
| Rem Groupie United Kingdom Joined 3747 days ago 66 posts - 96 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin, Czech, French
| Message 52 of 73 23 January 2015 at 2:56pm | IP Logged |
I've started reading 'Der kleine Hobbit' and, as I thought, it's slow going. Hopefully
I'll be able to speed up a bit as I go along.
patrickwilken wrote:
Rather than keeping track of time, I find it helpful to keep a
list of all the books/movies I read/see by month. I got in the habit when I started do
the super challenge the first time around, and it's turned out to be quite motivation
to keep track of everything. It's like every time I finish a book or watch a movie I
get a little reward. |
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Unfortunately, at the rate that I’m likely to read/watch anything, any list of
books/films is going to be pretty sparse. Perhaps when my speed picks up a bit I can
try that though.
1 person has voted this message useful
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4999 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian
| Message 53 of 73 23 January 2015 at 4:35pm | IP Logged |
Oh, such slippery fingers! :-D
No worries with the French. SUre, it is a larger bite at once but once you get used to
these basics, you apply the same logic to most new verb forms. It is a good investment to
learn these things correctly when you encounter them for the first time :-)
Your reading speed with improve with practice, it's that simple, I think you will soon
flood us with great reading and watching tips ;-)
1 person has voted this message useful
| Rem Groupie United Kingdom Joined 3747 days ago 66 posts - 96 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin, Czech, French
| Message 54 of 73 19 February 2015 at 2:16pm | IP Logged |
Update time!
February has been a pretty hectic month for me with real life ‘stuff’ and Uni work
(three assignments due in on the same day thank you SO much Uni [/sarcasm]).
I also surprised myself this month. I agreed to take part in an event for the Chinese
New Year. So, for the last few weeks, I have been learning some songs in Mandarin and
spending my time alternating between excitement, anticipation, nervousness and sheer
terror. There was a lot of work and preparation involved and I was absolutely
EXHAUSTED by the end of it, but it was definitely worthwhile.
This is something that, a year or so ago, I would never even have considered doing.
I’m someone who turns into a nervous wreck when I have to give a talk/presentation (in
English) and, in the past, I’ve gone out of my way to avoid situations where I have to
talk in front of other people, so volunteering to sing in front of an
audience is a massive step for me. Even stranger than the fact that I volunteered for
this is the fact that, this time, I never even once thought about backing out. o.O
I think that being part of a group made it easier for me to deal with and, terror
aside; I actually had a LOT of fun and I came away from it all feeling as though I’d
really achieved something. :)
Language learning definitely seems to be helping to boost my self-confidence. I know
that I still have a long way to go (and I’ll probably always be nervous) but I’ve gone
from someone who would break down in tears at the thought of having to give a short
presentation in English, to someone who, this month, stood on a stage in front of over
a hundred people and sang in Mandarin. O.O
Onwards and upwards. :)
2 persons have voted this message useful
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5466 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 55 of 73 20 February 2015 at 12:02am | IP Logged |
Rem wrote:
Update time!
February has been a pretty hectic month for me with real life ‘stuff’ and Uni work
(three assignments due in on the same day thank you SO much Uni [/sarcasm]).
I also surprised myself this month. I agreed to take part in an event for the Chinese
New Year. So, for the last few weeks, I have been learning some songs in Mandarin and
spending my time alternating between excitement, anticipation, nervousness and sheer
terror. There was a lot of work and preparation involved and I was absolutely
EXHAUSTED by the end of it, but it was definitely worthwhile.
This is something that, a year or so ago, I would never even have considered doing.
I’m someone who turns into a nervous wreck when I have to give a talk/presentation (in
English) and, in the past, I’ve gone out of my way to avoid situations where I have to
talk in front of other people, so volunteering to sing in front of an
audience is a massive step for me. Even stranger than the fact that I volunteered for
this is the fact that, this time, I never even once thought about backing out. o.O
I think that being part of a group made it easier for me to deal with and, terror
aside; I actually had a LOT of fun and I came away from it all feeling as though I’d
really achieved something. :)
Language learning definitely seems to be helping to boost my self-confidence. I know
that I still have a long way to go (and I’ll probably always be nervous) but I’ve gone
from someone who would break down in tears at the thought of having to give a short
presentation in English, to someone who, this month, stood on a stage in front of over
a hundred people and sang in Mandarin. O.O
Onwards and upwards. :)
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Hey Rem,
That sounds like decent achievement in light of your previous anxiety surrounding such
events. In fact, it's a decent achievement even for those without such concern in the
public eye. Well done :)
1 person has voted this message useful
| Rem Groupie United Kingdom Joined 3747 days ago 66 posts - 96 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin, Czech, French
| Message 56 of 73 12 March 2015 at 8:48pm | IP Logged |
Just a quick update from me since the forum decided to eat my last one...
I'm currently drowning in assignments, tests, and exams (not to mention the mocks that
they keep putting us through as well).
Don't get me wrong, I love my course, but the number of 'assessments' are an
absolute joke. The tutors can't even fit in the TEACHING that they need to do
some days. Ridiculous!
Needless to say this has severely restricted my self study options. Having to focus on
meeting so many deadlines means that I just don't have as much time for doing the
things that I enjoy doing. :(
Maybe they heard about the '100' challenge for the asian team this month and decided
that a '100 exams' challenge would be a fantastic fit?
Oh well...I'll get through it (I hope). *fingers crossed*
tl;dr
Languages = Fun
Uni = Interesting
Constant Testing = :(
2 persons have voted this message useful
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