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Adelie’s Language Logbook

  Tags: Icelandic | German | French
 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
Adelie
Diglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 5357 days ago

4 posts - 5 votes
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Spanish, Icelandic, Hungarian, Sign Language

 
 Message 1 of 6
29 August 2014 at 9:35am | IP Logged 
Hello, everyone! My name is Adelie and I'm a 21-year-old English native from the United States. I'm participating in the Super Challenge for French, German, and Icelandic.

~

French (full)
Starting level: B2-C1

I've been lazily studying French for the past two years. Before that, I had dabbled in a dozen other languages without making much progress, but one day I decided to change up my acquisition methods and make some meaningful progress in a language. I decided on French because I was already familiar with Romanic languages and because, of course, it's a dreamy, melodic, collapse-in-a-dead-faint-from-the-beauty language.

In January 2013, I passed the Test de connaissance du français with the following scores: B1 for oral comprehension; B1 for written comprehension; B2 for language structures; and B2 for the written exam. I estimate that my current overall level is somewhere between B2 and C1. I feel that my level should be higher by now, but alas... I've got to put in work to see results, right?

Over the past couple years, I've amassed a huge library of French books, both fiction and nonfiction, and I think it's about time I begin to actually read some of them. I've already seen a handful of French films and television series, some of which I will be rewatching to start off the challenge in French.

German (half)
Starting level: A1-A2

German has been on my list for a while. My father's ancestors were mostly German, and my mother was an exchange student in Germany for two years when she was my age, so it's close to me in that way. So far, I've been inching my way through the first Harry Potter book in German, and I think I'll continue through the entire series.

Icelandic (half)
Starting level: A1-A2

I've had my eye on Icelandic for years, and if anything, I've only gotten more enthralled by the language over time. I have never studied it too seriously, but that's about to change! Of the three, this is the trickiest language for which to find resources, but I've got enough to get me going: a video course, some workbooks, an audiobook (still on the hunt for the accompanying text), Icelandic sagas (obviously), and a few films.

~

Edited by Adelie on 29 August 2014 at 12:25pm

1 person has voted this message useful



tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4700 days ago

5310 posts - 9399 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

 
 Message 2 of 6
29 August 2014 at 10:54am | IP Logged 
To move up from B1-B2 to C2 is slow going, you're doing just fine. That's been more or
less my level for the past year too and I can still feel slight improvements.
1 person has voted this message useful



Elenia
Diglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
lilyonlife.blog
Joined 3849 days ago

239 posts - 327 votes 
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Swedish, Esperanto

 
 Message 3 of 6
29 August 2014 at 11:12am | IP Logged 
Yep, the Cs are definitely very challenging. I've been studying French (very
inefficiently) for ten years now, and I'd say I only recently made it past B1, so don't
feel bad about your progress!

Good luck with all of your languages! :)
1 person has voted this message useful



rdearman
Senior Member
United Kingdom
rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5229 days ago

881 posts - 1812 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin

 
 Message 4 of 6
29 August 2014 at 11:39am | IP Logged 
Good luck! I think you'll enjoy it. I'm doing two full super challenges in French and Italian, and I have to say it is turning out more of an exercise in time management to get through on 2 languages. I look forward to reading your logs and learning from your experiences. I'd recommend starting with some easy books to get a few sucesses under your belt. There is some really good resource links in the Super Challenge threads if you need books and films for German & Icelandic (and French but you said you had a ton of stuff already). Also people are very helpful around here so if you ask for some links to Icelandic you'll get them.

Once again, good luck!
1 person has voted this message useful



Adelie
Diglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 5357 days ago

4 posts - 5 votes
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Spanish, Icelandic, Hungarian, Sign Language

 
 Message 5 of 6
01 September 2014 at 6:47pm | IP Logged 
French:

Pêcheur d’Islande, Pierre Loti, 1886
Gutenberg (book); Littérature Audio (audiobook)
in progress

17 pages (0.3 SC books)
49m of audio (0.5 SC films)


I’m tickled by how fitting my first French book is for this challenge (French literature set right off the coast of Iceland), but I have heard that it is a depressing story, so I’m bracing myself.

Noteworthy words: boiserie, écuelle, attablé, deviser, goudronné, noce, sabot, âcre, ébouriffer, dédaigneux, hameçon, blême, causerie, peuplade, gerbe, éblouir, gencive, hardi, colimaçon, forban, caprice, chaumière, jadis, facétie, carriole

____________________

German:

Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen, Joanne K. Rowling, Klaus Fritz (Trans.), 1998
Carlsen Verlag Publishing (book); Random House (audiobook)
complete

335 pages (6.7 SC books)
9h32m of audio (6.4 SC films)


The French version of this book was the first one I owned and read in a second language, and now it is also the first book that I have read in German! I had already begun this book before the SC challenge and just completed it today. I knew it would be a difficult to read this as a beginner in German, but I got the hang of it after the first few chapters!

"Es ist nicht gut, wenn wir nur unseren Träumen nachhängen und vergessen zu leben, glaub mir."
Albus Dumbledore, Kapitel 12: Der Spiegel Nerhegeb

     Next: Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen (film)

____________________

Icelandic:

Viltu læra íslensku?
video series on tungumalatorg.is
in progress

episodes 1-5
1h40m of audio (1.1 SC films)

Cute series. I understood probably 50% of the vocabulary, but I could still follow the story!

____________________

@tarvos I remember at some point feeling that my level had skyrocketed, and I guess I have been expecting that to happen again, but it would make sense that my progress is steady from now on. Thanks! :) P.S. Your list of languages and logbook are impressive!

@Elenia Thanks for the encouragement, and I wish you the best with your languages, too! :)

@rdearman That’s great advice to start with something simple to not lose motivation, and I’ll check around for more resources as you suggested! Thank you! :)
1 person has voted this message useful



rdearman
Senior Member
United Kingdom
rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5229 days ago

881 posts - 1812 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin

 
 Message 6 of 6
01 September 2014 at 9:25pm | IP Logged 
I found the link I had been meaning to give you when I posted the first time. Free and legal books for the super challenge.


1 person has voted this message useful



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