Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5949 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 41 of 138 09 March 2009 at 7:10am | IP Logged |
Last few weeks not entirely wasted, but not especially productive either. The usual excuses (work, family, the UFO into which I was abducted lacked an internet connection and et cetera).
French
Did manage to get in a certain amount of French language TV watching and radio listening and working through a few movies with a combination of either French language dubbing or French subtitles, or sometimes when available, as in the case of Max Le Menance (Get Smart), working through both French subtitles and French dubbing. It was a learning experience working out those instances where the two did not correspond, with the French subtitles generally being a shortened version of the French dialogue, but sometimes different in vocabulary choice.
Also worked through the following:
Pimsleur I, units 19 – 26
Michel Thomas, review discs 9 and 10
Frenchpod101.com, newbie lessons 24, 25
Complete Idiot’s Guide to Learning French (CIG), chapters 1 through 6
French in Action ([FIA), units 1 and 2
French.about.com – weeks 1 and 2 of a 20 week learning programme, including linked material, quizzes and audio material.
FSI Basic, tape 1.1 and 1.2
BBC, French Steps, Stage 1 – first dialogue
Anki review
Japanese
Reviewing kana and kanji learned to date
RTK – up to #120
Edited by Spanky on 09 March 2009 at 7:12am
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5949 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 42 of 138 16 March 2009 at 7:43am | IP Logged |
Pimsleur I, units 27-30
Frenchpod101.com, low intermediate lessons 1 and 2
CIG, chapters 7 and 8
FIA, unit 3
FSI Basic, tapes 1.3 and 1.4
BBC French Steps, Stage 1 dialogues
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5949 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 43 of 138 24 March 2009 at 5:43am | IP Logged |
Par les moustaches de Plekszy-Gladz!!!
Je suis en train de lire Les aventures de Tintin. Je commence avec L'affaire Tournesol.
Also, a few Pimsleur II units and some Frenchpod101 lower intermediate units. Otherwise, just slacking this week.
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5949 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 44 of 138 30 March 2009 at 4:40pm | IP Logged |
French
Pimsleur II, units 1-5
Frenchpod101.com, low intermediate lessons - miscellaneous
CIG, chapters 9 and 10
FIA, units 4 and 5
FSI Basic, tapes 1.5 and 1.6
Japanese
comprehensive review of kana and kanji to date
RTK #121-130
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Akipenda Lugha Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 5731 days ago 78 posts - 82 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Swahili, Sign Language, Spanish
| Message 45 of 138 30 March 2009 at 10:49pm | IP Logged |
Keep up the good work, and the entertainingly self-deprecatory blog!
Where do you live? I've just spent the last 3 years learning French in London, On, and I've found a few good local resources.
Also if you can afford it, maybe you'd consider doing the 1-week adult immersion program in Trois-Pistoles. I went for the 5 week student program and found it quite good, and I know the adults who went felt so as well. Site at http://www.uwo.ca/cstudies/tp/english/adults.html
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5949 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 46 of 138 31 March 2009 at 4:42am | IP Logged |
Thanks for the post Akipenda Lugha. I currently live in Vancouver but I used to live in Ontario. That immersion programme sounds very cool and tempting, but I strongly suspect that if I took off for a whole week, my wife and daughter would change the locks on me and undoubtedly my hamster would sulk. So I am left for now with mumbling along to Pimsleur and occasionally trying to create an impromptu immersion environment on the bus by having conversations with myself. Given that I still have fairly limited conversational ability, for the most part these pretend conversations go along the following lines:
Spanky A: Bonjour, je m'appelle Spanky.
Spanky B: Moi aussi. Il pleut encore.
and then I/we stall for something easy and topical to say.
Edited by Spanky on 02 April 2009 at 3:01am
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5949 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 47 of 138 03 April 2009 at 5:44am | IP Logged |
I have realized, only belatedly, that I have a keen desire to learn more than the 20 human languages I had originally envisaged, so I may need to revise my plan at some point to read 21 in 21. Specifically, I have an interest in learning an animal language, probably Ferret-ish. Ferrets mostly communicate by spraying smells out of their … well, the end that does not have the pointy teeth.
In addiing this to the list, I think I will leave this one for the bottom.
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5949 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 48 of 138 17 April 2009 at 2:48am | IP Logged |
With this, my 99th post, I stand poised on the precipice of transformation from Groupie to Senior Member. Not sure if that occurs with one's 100th post or 101st post. But I guess I will find out once I step off the ledge into the abyss with my next post or two.
Am I nervous about the pending change? Sure I am, I'd be lying if I said I was not. Do I expect great changes in my life as a result? In a word, "Yes." In lots of words: "Yes, even though I have no objective reason for thinking any of this to be true, I firmly believe that once I am a Senior Member, I will become taller, better looking, better able to forecheck hard in the corners and more adept at learning languages (3 at a time - in my sleep no less!)." Maybe none of that will actually occur, but surely I will at least get a parade or a plaque or something?
Anyhoo, see ya on the other side, once I get the nerve up to go….
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