Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5869 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque
| Message 57 of 120 16 June 2009 at 2:15am | IP Logged |
Thanks, ExtraLean.
Spanish:
Today I started Unit 41 in FSI and did Mnemosyne reviews. This unit has been really complex for me, I've used the subjunctive form as they teach here many times when writing, but producing it verbally trips my mouth up.
French:
I am at Assimil lesson 33, tonight I may try to sneak ahead a few lessons :) That reading assignment I gave myself has so far fallen through, but hopefully not for good.
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Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5869 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque
| Message 58 of 120 17 June 2009 at 11:49am | IP Logged |
Well, today was spent playing an old computer game with a friend. Seriously, the entire day, allowing maybe 20 minutes for lunch and about 30 minutes for a phone call. How did that happen?!
I just finished doing my Mnemosyne reviews and I am exhausted. I probably won't do anything else before passing out. (Seriously! Where did today go?)
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Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5869 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque
| Message 59 of 120 20 June 2009 at 2:27am | IP Logged |
Spanish:
Still working through Unit 41.
French:
I converted a lot of the FiA videos to fit on my iPod, so I've started watching the first few lessons again. In Assimil I just added lesson 36 yesterday, but I'm thinking about possibly switching to the old 40's course that Rout is currently ripping the audio for. If I can find a place to print it out for free I may do that. I haven't really had any real issues with the Spanish version yet, but occasionally I come across a couple words that I don't know and can't figure out from the context.
Oh! I also watched three movies a couple days ago, one a Russian film called 9 Рота about the war on Afghanistan in 1988. It made me really wish I were studying Russian right now! (and Ukrainian!) Then I watched a Japanese film that I don't remember its name and a Thai film called Citizen Dog, both with Spanish subtitles. I had to pause it a couple times when they spoke really quickly, but throughout all of both movies there were maybe 4 or 5 (Spanish) words that I didn't know, one which I had figured out by the end of the film. I don't know if the translations were that great, but it is nice to have these moments where you can noticeably see your improvement :)
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Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5869 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque
| Message 60 of 120 24 June 2009 at 11:23pm | IP Logged |
Spanish:
Working through Unit 42 and finally down to around 50 reviews a day in Mnemosyne (time to add more words, then!). Today I also posted a journal on Lang-8 that I had written down a few days ago in my notebook. It seems when typing things from my notebook I always make some spelling mistakes, I'm not sure why.
French:
Still working through El nuevo francés sin esfuerzo and still thinking about switching to the free English course from the 40s. I've also downloaded a lot of Volume I of French FSI as it is a bit of a bummer to have studied French for a little while (I guess only about a month) and still not be able to say hardly anything without intense effort and lots of references to the dictionary. I might try to add FSI French into my schedule soon to try to start feeling more comfortable speaking/writing it.
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Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5869 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque
| Message 61 of 120 26 June 2009 at 2:59am | IP Logged |
Spanish:
I've run through Unit 42 several times today and hopefully I'll feel comfortable enough to move on tomorrow. Also did Mnemosyne reviews.
French:
Nothing yet but I really want to start becoming "functional" in French (like I feel like I am in Spanish, not fluent, but functional). Really I just wanted to post today because I had a sudden burst of inspiration to find a penpal or something of the like. So if anyone wants an American penpal let me know! :P I'd say from Assimil I have a pretty decent passive vocabulary, but my active vocabulary is pretty poor. Right now I think it is still easier for me to speak German than French (after three or four years of not really having studied it!). But deconstructing/understanding sentences (thanks to MT, I think) is not totally out of my league.
Take care everyone and good luck with the TAC!
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keith1569 Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5658 days ago 61 posts - 64 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Sign Language, Spanish
| Message 62 of 120 26 June 2009 at 3:50am | IP Logged |
Keep plugging away Crush. I enjoy your log..I would create my own..but i get an error and
cant! oh well
take care
keith
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Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5869 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque
| Message 63 of 120 30 June 2009 at 12:44am | IP Logged |
Thanks, keith :)
Spanish:
CRUSHING my way through Unit 43, the first unit without a "Conversation Stimulus" but instead the basic sentences to the reading section (basically, a short conversation to introduce the new vocabulary in the larger reading section) which I think now is much more useful anyway.
French:
Have watched through Episode 12 of FiA and added Leçon 44 in Assimil last night. I think FiA is a lot more effective when you have a stronger basis in French. I don't have a strong base by any means, but I am starting to pick up a bit of a passive vocabulary thanks to Assimil, and FiA has been amazing for reinforcing words I knew, teaching new words, and making it easier to understand sentences as a whole and not just bits of words. I'm curious what effect the "Active Phase" will have on being able to produce French sentences of my own. I want to type up each lesson (because it's much quicker for me than writing it by hand) in order to, if for no other reason, improve on my ghastly French spelling!
In about a week I will have 3 or 4 weeks mostly to myself, which I am sort of looking forward to as I'll have a lot of time for language study. The last stint I was able to put in about 4 hours a day each for Spanish and French, and another hour or two for Esperanto :) Going to sleep earlier and waking up earlier also had an amazing effect on studying, I felt much more awake and far more attentive than usual.
EDIT: Oh yea, I forgot that I had written down entries in my notebook for lang-8. I just entered the Spanish one and am about to type up the French one now.
Edited by Crush on 30 June 2009 at 1:20am
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keith1569 Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5658 days ago 61 posts - 64 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Sign Language, Spanish
| Message 64 of 120 30 June 2009 at 1:50am | IP Logged |
wow, I wish I was able to dedicate that amount of time to learning..I struggle to put in 2
hours a day with my schedule..Keep at it!
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