nogoodnik Senior Member United States Joined 5560 days ago 372 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, Russian, French
| Message 1 of 194 04 December 2009 at 3:43pm | IP Logged |
Hi...This post is edited. Initially I intended to study Hebrew and Spanish for TAC 10 but I decided in February to switch to Hebrew and Russian...In May I decided to add French as well, just because this log was not confusing enough.
Modern Hebrew:
Current level: hard to explain. I can carry on a superficial conversation with an unsympathetic (fast, unclear)
speaker. I am able to derive enjoyment from TV shows and movies due to understanding the majority of what is
being said. I do have difficulty expressing myself when a lot of technical vocabulary is required and I always
forget to use the future tense when speaking, even though it's not so difficult. I could use some grammar
practice. I definitely need a lot of reading and writing practice.
Goal: near-native fluency. By the end of 2010, I will enroll in a distance education program in Israel to obtain
my Masters degree. All of the courses will be in Hebrew.
How I will achieve my goal:
5,000 AJATT-style sentences. (flexible on this number)
SRSing like crazy
Watching only Hebrew-language movies (at some
point I'll allow myself to watch Spanish movies as well, right now I need the Hebrew environment)
Speaking a lot of Hebrew with my friends.
Listening to a lot of Hebrew audio
Reading books while listening to corresponding audio to speed up my reading.
Hiring a conversation partner or tutor to correct my compositions and speak with me, in order to occasionally
spare my friends. I probably won't get to this until about six months from now.
Biblical Hebrew:
current level: high beginner/low intermediate
goal: basic fluency. Specifically, the ability to read and understand texts with no strain. I currently read very
slowly and don't always understand everything.
How I will achieve my goal: Finishing "The First Hebrew Reader" Delving into some biblical texts. Memorizing Vocab.
Russian:
Current level: beginner
Goal: basic fluency
How: Pimsleur, Michel Thomas, Princeton and Penguin Russian courses, Vis-ed cards, Frequency dictionary, music, films, podcasts, parallel readers, LR?
Good luck to everybody participating in TAC!
Edited by nogoodnik on 20 July 2010 at 6:18am
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Stryozyk Newbie United States Joined 5461 days ago 39 posts - 44 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian
| Message 2 of 194 04 December 2009 at 4:31pm | IP Logged |
Sounds really good. I am a huge fan of the AJATT method. The First Hebrew Reader is great too. You know, I think
you're inspiring me to make my own Hebrew goals for next year... Good luck with everything!
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nogoodnik Senior Member United States Joined 5560 days ago 372 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, Russian, French
| Message 3 of 194 04 December 2009 at 4:51pm | IP Logged |
Stryozyk: Thanks for stopping by. I cannot say enough good things about the AJATT method--I've seen so much
improvement in my Hebrew in such a short time. Good luck with your Hebrew goals!
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nogoodnik Senior Member United States Joined 5560 days ago 372 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, Russian, French
| Message 4 of 194 04 December 2009 at 6:41pm | IP Logged |
ugh, I'm trying to figure out which Assimil to buy. There seems to be some debate about it in the forums, but the
consensus is the older the better.
Is this edition worthless? It seems to be the cheapest and I'm broke right now and want to spend as little money as
possible...I do need a physical book though, as I have difficulty spending a lot of time reading on the computer.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/2700501314/ref=dp_proddesc_ 1?ie=UTF8&n=283155
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nogoodnik Senior Member United States Joined 5560 days ago 372 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, Russian, French
| Message 5 of 194 05 December 2009 at 1:38am | IP Logged |
A nice member told me that the edition of Assimil I'm going to buy is O.K.
I found a website that sells Hebrew audiobooks. Unfortunately they are
not free, but I have been looking for ages and have had no luck in that respect.
For regular books, there is always Steimatzky.
I'm working with Michel Thomas Spanish right now and I keep repeating the Russian or French answers when he
asks questions. I find it strange that I'm not responding in Hebrew; I believe it has something to do with having
my own folder where I allow my Hebrew knowledge to accumulate. I have not spent enough time on Spanish,
French or Russian to have created that folder yet, hence the confusion.
edit: I'm on a limited budget and am a miser in general, so I've decided not to buy Assimil and work with the
myriad free resources out there for Spanish for the next couple of months.
Instead, I'm going to shell out the cash for Hebrew audiobooks and the corresponding paper editions. While
trying to come up with methods for reaching near-native fluency in Hebrew, I read part of the Listening-Reading
thread. It strikes me that because my aural understanding of Hebrew at a basic level is good, I can probably
follow the stories without a translation. Also, Hebrew is a non-phonetic language for the most part, so listening
to audiobooks with corresponding texts will allow me to understand the pronunciation of non-punctuated
words. I think that this approach will help me tremendously.
Edited by nogoodnik on 05 December 2009 at 6:01pm
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Shadow1984 Groupie United States Joined 5480 days ago 53 posts - 57 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German
| Message 6 of 194 05 December 2009 at 12:02pm | IP Logged |
If all of your courses are going to be in Hebrew, I know your must be studying your butt off!
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nogoodnik Senior Member United States Joined 5560 days ago 372 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, Russian, French
| Message 7 of 194 08 December 2009 at 3:55pm | IP Logged |
Hebrew:
My studies in Hebrew are starting to become less fun due to faulty technology. I think that my hard drive is
pretty damaged due to me dropping my laptop last week, and now anki rarely opens and I have a hard time
watching and acquiring new movies and TV shows. I have no money to fix my hard drive or buy a new laptop.
My boyfriend did buy a new one, so I will try to use his and put the media on an external hard drive. But what to
do with anki? I will research.
Also, I have no money to buy these friggin audiobooks and corresponding texts. I'm trying to figure out a way to
cut corners so I can free up some extra money next month.
I thought that this would be a good time to really work with "The First Hebrew Reader" and get as much out of it
as possible. So that is the new action plan, my friends.
Spanish:
Today I will finish at least unit 10 of Pimsleur I. I'd also like to go back to Michel Thomas. I like Spanish so far,
it seems so logical and intuitive.
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nogoodnik Senior Member United States Joined 5560 days ago 372 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, Russian, French
| Message 8 of 194 10 December 2009 at 2:17am | IP Logged |
I was at one of the bodegas buying cigarettes and beer (for my boyfriend, not for me) and I purchased a small
Israeli magazine. It has several interesting recipes, most of which are vegetarian, and I couldn't resist. When I
have money, I'm going to call them and see if they will ship the magazine חוץ לארץ
I'm kind of sad to be leaving New York, with its abundance of multilingualism and culture. I will miss being
surrounded by Hebrew, Yiddish, and Russian speakers and rarely hearing English spoken. California should be
an excellent place to interact with Spanish speakers though, and I will definitely be visiting Mexico frequently
and hopefully will be exploring South America in depth.
After listening to a bunch of Spanish accents, I've fallen in love with the Argentine accent. I hope to acquire
some kind of South American accent, because I have no interest in European Spanish or Europe at all, really.
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