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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 6127 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes  5 sounds | Message 89 of 127 05 May 2009 at 6:50pm | IP Logged |
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listening: 360ish
vocabulary (flashcard-making) 210ish Dissing all the chat programs and most of my penpals was the best decision ever. My spoken English is coming back rapidly, and it's better than ever. Sometimes, being alone and not having the opportunity to reinforce your mistakes is all that it takes. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 6127 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes 5 sounds | Message 90 of 127 05 May 2009 at 9:51pm | IP Logged |
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Vocab: 330ish
My new method's definitely working out well enough. I just need to work a little quicker. I can't wait to see what my English will look like 2 months, 6 months, and a year or more down the line. Anyhow, averaging 11 hours of listening time every day for a month is a big achievement, so I'm quite proud of that. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 6127 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes 5 sounds | Message 91 of 127 06 May 2009 at 12:46am | IP Logged |
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I'm trying to overachieve, and it's just backfired. I'm sick and tired with looking for pronunciations, even if I know how much good it does to my English. Moreover, I feel like I have to download some words several times, only because I tend to mispronounce them, but that makes me lose a lot of time.
I should invest all of this time in vocabulary reps and the like. Heck, I have to look for roughly 50K words, and I allow myself to lose precious time on stupid things. However, I'm sure that it'll get better soon. I'm getting closer and closer to achieving my goal, and my Rs sound better and better. Listening to English extensively and, more importantly, shutting up, does wonders. As for my pronunciation files, they help A LOT. If I'm prepared to a certain extent and listen to the words over and over again, I don't butcher them any more. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 6127 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes 5 sounds | Message 92 of 127 07 May 2009 at 1:52am | IP Logged |
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I had a rant all prepared but getting a mail from my favorite American put loads of things into perspective. It was actually a happy rant, but that doesn't change anything :p
She is the best-sounding, nicest, funniest, cutest American ever, and she also gave me an A+ (but she did that twice, and also told me where my presentations went wrong and corrected my mistakes, so it's not like I'm biased. Not in the least.) Anyway, a couple of months ago, she told me that my English was amazing. She also said "I bet no native speaker could guess you're French". However, candid as she is (and that's one of her best qualities) she also blatantly said "native speakers might find that you have an accent". Now, it's not like that sentence crushed my heart, but I won't say that I was actually *pleased* to read that. I mean, there's a difference between fooling Brits or non-natives and fooling an actual American in person who is looking at your body language and analyzing your every action, but in the back of my mind, I sort of thought that she might have thought that . . . you know, when someone doesn't actually point out something, and when you're like me, you're like "oh, they don't say anything, so maybe I'm there". Anyhow, I made friends with her because she is so nice with me, and now she told me that she'd stay in France for one more year at least. So here's my incentive. Okay, I knew about that whole staying thing a month ago. But it didn't make any difference to me. I thought she'd just disappear out of thin air. She won't. And even if I don't actually get to have her as a teacher again, I really don't care. I'd like to become bilingual and sound native just for her, because she helped me THAT much. If she hadn't bailed me out about a grade problem, I'd have gottenn an F instead of an A+. Without her, I may have had no option but to be held back. And that, I only learned today. Sometimes, I should watch my mouth, because I have a tendency to say things that aren't so pretty if I flip out, but I always keep my cool with foreigners - I know it's never their fault. And that's true. Up to now, I didn't feel really happy when I had to do my vocabulary reps. Now, I think everything's going to change. Everybody needs a hero(ine), and I found mine :p I had one in high school, and it payed off big time. It's all about believing, I tell ya! On that note, I'll make some vocabulary flashcards and do some more reps. My next meeting with my assistant is in a week, so I have ample time to fine-tune my English and work. I'm currently averaging 11H of listening a day (and not listening to music, so everything that I listen to is top quality). I want moooooore :p 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 6127 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes 5 sounds | Message 93 of 127 07 May 2009 at 2:25pm | IP Logged |
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My wireless broke down on me, so I'll probably not be able to log on before a few days. At least, I still have my TV and my mp3 players, and I'm currently downloading as many podcasts as possible before internet goes out once more. I was smart enough to make my vocabulary flashcards yesterday, even if it was really late. However, my plan is deeply flawed because I always rely on the Californian news radios, but podcasts are the safest option out there. I don't know how many podcasts I'll be able to get, but I should have at least 100 new and interesting shows at all times. I always realize how much I'd miss this or that once I've already lost it. Mind you, it's better than not realizing something at all :p
My earphones also broke down on me (the 2 main pieces split apart!). I learned my lesson the hard way - my hardcore listening does cost me money, and I'll buy new quality earphones as soon as possible (I only have one good pair left). Dishing out $35 for a stupid pair of earphones is painful, but Apple never ever ripped me off, so I don't really mind. I'll order new ones on Amazon asap :) This listening challenge really *is* hard work. Anyway, I'll try to get something done before internet disappears off the face of the Earth for me :p 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 6127 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes 5 sounds | Message 94 of 127 07 May 2009 at 5:44pm | IP Logged |
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I got the opportunity to do lots of downloading, and my goal is to download around 100 podcasts today, before I decide to do anything else. Internet WILL break down on me again any minute, but if I got enough supplies, it won't matter at all :p
Sometimes, I think it'd be easier to download 10K podcasts and walk off. Sadly enough, half of what I download is crap, frankly. And I'm a bit tired of listening to the same shows over and over again. Anything in too high a quantity is bad (DVD boxset marathons are a sure fire way to get someone off the habit of watching too much of a particular show, trust me). So far, I've downloaded 85 hours of new shows (I didn't get that everything today). A hundred hours or so would last me 8 to 10 days, which is fair enough. From now on, I'll do my best to try to avoid postponing things I have to do. Being on the internet and not downloading anything is frankly stupid, but I probably won't make that mistake again in a long time :p Moreover, I'm only starting out my journey, and it promises to be full of podcasts and downloadings, so it's not like I've missed out on anything! I found more podcasts about moms, babies and families. It's defo my favorite topic. The 400-hour mark isn't that far! I kind of don't do everything that's in my power to hit it as soon as possible cause I don't feel so well, but everything in time :) Oh and, in fact, I got around 400 hours of podcasts tucked away for a rainy day. (I listened to half of that or so, I believe, but it's still good.) Edited by fairyfountain on 07 May 2009 at 5:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 6127 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes 5 sounds | Message 95 of 127 07 May 2009 at 11:31pm | IP Logged |
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My internet's back on track, I've only had to tamper with it a little - talk about miracles. This great big fright of losing my only podcast source. The connection could be better, but I won't complain now :p
I made some flashcards, but didn't look for the pronunciations yet. Staying off any instant messenging or voice chatting program definitely does me a lot of good. I feel like I have a couple more hours to use everyday, to be honest! I'll probably try to give up this log and Khatz's website soon, as it could save me an hour a day or so. I'll try to come up with a schedule for my computer hours and websites-visiting hours. The time really is there, I just have to make the most of it. I plan on buying lots of thing to aid my English studies during the summer vacation, but I'll only do it if I actually reach most of my goals. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 6127 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes 5 sounds | Message 96 of 127 08 May 2009 at 1:52am | IP Logged |
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I found a quick fix for my "don't speak English" challenge. It just dawned on me that faking a (albeit really poor) English accent shouldn't interfere with my American accent and thus, shouldn't do any harm. Moreover, I need to temporarily town my American accent down a notch (talk about narrow-minded people), so it perfectly fits into the whole scheme. That plus imitating anyone makes me feel really bad because my imitations suck so much :p so condoning my speaking time is okay. I mean, it's not like I *want* to make a fool of myself on a daily basis. Still, my faux English accent has improved since I last used it. This is partly due to the fact that a third of what I listen to is actually something British. (I just can't help watching The Apprentice and such like, which is, apparently, a good thing.)
Something tells me that I'll be able to sound native in both types of English one day. However, it would take a looot of listening. At least 10K-20K hours for both. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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