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TAC 2011 (Team ÇÜ): The Continuing Saga | ||
Tags: Esperanto | Dutch | Translation | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Italian | Mandarin | German | French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5692 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes  Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 113 of 135 01 October 2011 at 7:39pm | IP Logged | |||||
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*ENTRY 263* (24 September 2011)
FRENCH 100 minutes: read 40 pp. of HP 2 in French. French total: 100 minutes GERMAN 130 minutes: read all (75 pp.) of the play "Judith" by Friedrich Hebbel. 120 minutes: talking with flatmates. 156 minutes: watched "Der Untergang" (no subs). German total: 406 minutes TOTAL STUDY TODAY: 506 minutes (8h26) --- *ENTRY 264* (25 September 2011) FRENCH 35 minutes: read aloud and typed over chaps. 3 & 4 of "Le petit prince." 50 minutes: read French online. French total: 85 minutes GERMAN 38 minutes: read two short stories (29 pp.). 10 minutes: listened to the news. 10 minutes: L-R'd an article about Enzianschnapps. 25 minutes: read German online. German total: 83 minutes TOTAL STUDY TODAY: 168 minutes (2h48) --- *ENTRY 265* (26 September 2011) FRENCH 100 minutes: read the rest (chaps. 13-18) of HP 2 in French. 10 minutes: read French online. French total: 110 minutes GERMAN 15 minutes: conversation in German with a new friend. 30 minutes: listened to the news. 20 minutes: listened to music in German. 127 minutes: watched "Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse" (EN subs). German total: 192 minutes TOTAL STUDY TODAY: 302 minutes (5h02) --- *ENTRY 266* (27 September 2011) FRENCH 165 minutes: read 96 pp. of "Harry Potter et le Prisonnier d'Azkaban". French total: 165 minutes GERMAN 60 minutes: read 26 pp. of "Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre" by Goethe. 300 minutes: speaking with flatmates & a friend. German total: 360 minutes DUTCH 30 minutes: listened to music, read lyrics while getting real-time translation (into German) from a native speaker. Dutch total: 30 minutes TOTAL STUDY TODAY: 555 minutes (9h15) --- *ENTRY 267* (28 September 2011) FRENCH 15 minutes: read French online. French total: 15 minutes GERMAN 30 minutes: read stories in German online. 90 minutes: watched an episode of Tatort (no subs). German total: 120 minutes TOTAL STUDY TODAY: 135 minutes (2h15) --- *ENTRY 268* (29 September 2011) FRENCH 10 minutes: read 6 pp. of French super-short stories. French total: 10 minutes GERMAN 10 minutes: read 6 pp. of German super-short stories. 80 minutes: read 47 pp. of "Wilhelm Meister". German total: 90 minutes TOTAL STUDY TODAY: 100 minutes (1h40) --- *ENTRY 269* (30 September 2011) FRENCH 240 minutes: read 200 pp. of HP 3. French total: 240 minutes GERMAN (after midnight, for Tadoku) 10 minutes: read various apartment-rental documents. 20 minutes: read 9 pp. of "Faust" by Goethe. German total: 30 minutes TOTAL STUDY TODAY: 270 minutes (4h30) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5692 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 114 of 135 01 October 2011 at 7:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Reflections at this juncture
I keep settling into Leipzig day by day. I take pleasure in doing classic German things such as riding my bicycle to the bakery and buying breads. I've become a fixture at the local bookstore, where I like to arrive around noon, select a few books, and while away the afternoon reading, while nervously demonstrating my tenuously-defined patronage by constantly buying coffee from the drink-automat. I have bought one book there, though: a collection of Rilke's poetry. The man's a god, I swear. I just signed up yesterday to do Tadoku again this month. I'm so excited for it! If anyone wants to follow me on Twitter, my user name is "msklang". This time I'm reading just German and French, in the hopes to be able to focus myself and really get a LOT of reading done in these two languages. I'd just like to point out, because it kind of blew me away when I calculated it a few minutes ago, that the past week includes what are surely the first-place and second-place personal records for me in the number of hours studied in one day: nine hours and fifteen minutes on September 27, and eight hours and twenty-six minutes on September 24. Living alone and using literally all my free time for language study or practice pays off, I guess! I've started reading the Harry Potter books in French, which is rewardingly easy, while also helping me become aware of some more colloquial turns of phrase. I've finished the second and third book at this point (my local bookstore unfortunately doesn't have the first book in French) and plan to start the fourth on Monday. Upon hearing that I'd only read Faust in translation, my flatmate lent me her school copy of the book, and I started reading it last night, feeling the urge to do something for Tadoku before going to bed. I've also started re-reading (again, only having read it in translation) "Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre", the original Bildungsroman. I'm enjoying them both greatly. The semester starts in about a week, though – we'll see if my study hours rapidly drop off after that or not! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5692 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 115 of 135 07 October 2011 at 11:18am | IP Logged | |||||
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Quick example of the practicality of knowing some Esperanto, for all the doubters out there.
I was sitting eating breakfast in the courtyard of a cafe a few minutes ago when a beggar woman came and started bothering me. (Quick note to avoid distraction: yes, I support the poor - through charities, because then you KNOW where your money's going.) Anyway, she started talking to me about "die Kinder" (the children) and I stared blankly at her and said "Emmm... es tut mir Leid... mi ne parolas la Germanan..." She quickly tried to guess what I could possibly be speaking: "Che parolas? Espagnol? What language?" (It was pretty impressive the way she jumped around, I gotta say.) But one more shrug and "Mi ne parolas la Germanan..." was enough, and she got up and left. Esperanto saves the day! EDIT: oh, that annoying auto-capitalization thing... Edited by Jinx on 23 October 2011 at 3:01pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5008 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 116 of 135 07 October 2011 at 11:48am | IP Logged | |||||
Thanks for this review. I was wondering whether you didn't have such a success with Assimil like Fanatic with German. Your path seems very varied, how long did it take to you? The key seems to be speaking and, how you said, to stop being focused on the mistakes too much. That is very difficult for me as I get a bit discouraged every time I realize what I just said wrong in few sentences before. I haven't completed any Assimil yet (but I'm currently focusing on the German one) and they are great but I just cannot get rid of the need for a more traditional course alongside it (or right after it if I am short of time). Not that Assimil doesn't explain grammar or do anything wrong, I am just one of the people who need both approaches. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5692 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 117 of 135 13 October 2011 at 2:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
Hi Cavesa, sorry for the delayed reply. Let's see, I started obsessively listening to German music when I was 15, and started officially studying the language when I was 20. That was four years ago, so I suppose you could say it took me four years to reach C1 in German. Obviously I wasn't intensely studying that whole time, though! "The key" isn't just one thing; it varies, depending on your learning style. Some people, like Benny the Irish polyglot, gain great benefits from speaking. I didn't really start German conversation until about a year of very intense study. What really helps me the most is reading and listening. You have to find the best technique for you and stick to it, despite what other people might say. I know how it feels when you're constantly aware of your own mistakes and it makes you not want to talk. What helped me is just to constantly imagine the roles switched around: what if I were the native and someone else were the foreigner, trying very hard to learn my language? Then I realized that of course that wouldn't annoy me, and I wouldn't care about the other person's mistakes – I'd just think it was cool that we were able to communicate at all! It's great that you've figured out what role Assimil can play for you. Have you looked at the TY books? I really benefit from their more traditional approach. If you can find an actual course near where you live, that might be the best, at least until you've got a good start in the language. Best of luck to you, and feel free to ask if you have any more questions! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5692 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 118 of 135 13 October 2011 at 2:57pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Okay, this is unexpected but fun to announce: as of today, I am also studying Catalan! While figuring out the first week of classes here, I discovered that two minority languages, Galician and Catalan, are offered in my program. Neither course requires any previous knowledge, and they're completely free. Needless to say, I was unable to resist this temptation, although I already have 16 hours/6 days of class per week, not counting this course.
The opportunity was just too awesome, though. I couldn't pass it up, especially considering that this is one of the very few programs of this level in Germany that offers these languages. (I don't know if there are any others, actually...) I'll have an additional four hours of class time per week for this course, and will of course be supporting it with self-study as well. Our first class meeting was this morning, and it was so much fun. The professor came in, said hello to us in German, and then just started rattling away in Catalan, introducing himself and mentioning a few things about the course format. I couldn't stop a smile spreading over my face as I quickly decoded the sounds of this language I'd never heard before, and found myself making a note "no class tomorrow" in my notebook while the girls sitting next to me watched me in confusion. I had understood what he'd said! I guess my patchy knowledge of French/Italian/Spanish pays off after all. To me, Catalan sounds like a cross between Spanish and Italian, with what sometimes sounds like a Portuguese accent. I already love the way the language sounds and looks. I'm going to try to get the absolute most possible out of this course, because I seriously doubt I'm going to have much use for Catalan in the rest of my life, and study opportunities like this don't come often. I just really hope the workload doesn't become so intense during the semester that I have to drop this course. Since I moved to Leipzig, I've met two Valencians, so maybe I'll even have the opportunity for some Catalan conversation! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6702 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 119 of 135 13 October 2011 at 3:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I have visited Valencia, and it was totally dominated by Spanish - otherwise an interesting place to visit, and in the countryside to the North of Valencia Catalan (or rather Valencian) is said to be alive and well. But from Germany you can take cheap flights to places like Barcelona and Girona where you can hear all the Catalan you could possibly wish for.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5692 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 120 of 135 13 October 2011 at 8:35pm | IP Logged | |||||
I would love to be able to go to Barcelona, but even such a relatively close destination is at the moment unfortunately not financially practical for me. Luckily both my friends from Valencia do speak Valencian/Catalan, so they're probably my most likely prospects for now. :) Barcelona is absolutely on my "bucket list", though! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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