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TAC 2011 - Team KEN - French and German

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M. Medialis
Diglot
TAC 2010 Winner
Senior Member
Sweden
Joined 6358 days ago

397 posts - 508 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, English
Studies: Russian, Japanese, French

 
 Message 57 of 66
30 October 2011 at 11:12pm | IP Logged 
Yeah, Adrean. It's inspiring to read how you're advancing through you learning materials, bringing them down one after another. German has gotten a worthy opponent. :)

Adrean wrote:
I noticed one thing which was a
little peculiar, there seemed to be no subtitles even though there was a little bit of
French being spoken. It felt great to be privy to these exchanges when perhaps other
movie goers did not catch the little bits said.



I got a somewhat similar experience when I watched Inception before. They speak a couple of short Japanese phrases in the beginning, and I thought it was cool (and a bit weird) to 'understand' a foreign language when I'm off guard.


@Teango: Lol. "Dropping subtle hints here and there"   -What!? why is there a croissant in my left shoe?
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Adrean
TAC 2010 Winner
Senior Member
France
adrean83.wordpress.c
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348 posts - 411 votes 
Speaks: FrenchC1

 
 Message 58 of 66
07 November 2011 at 9:37am | IP Logged 
A pretty good week me thinks since last. Much more of the same.

Up to lesson 8 of Pimsleur German two. I'm giving each lesson a good level of attention
which I think is important. I'm definitely enjoying this method. Often I break a lesson
into two if I find my attention is drifting. As for Assmil I've slowed ever so
slightly. To use an analogy; the hardest part of a run is putting on your shoes and
stepping out the door. I find much the same with pulling out a paper and pen and
setting up the audio. With Pimsleur it can be dark, I can be lying down, walking etc.
With Assimil; table, chair, light, quiet.

I suppose the highlight of my language learning week was joining an almost beginner
German class. It was the first ever time I've attempted to communicate with others in
German. Even though it was a small bit it was something new and exciting.

I've seen several films during the week, including a German film. I've decided to begin
my list of German films, let's hope it grows too over the years.


Teango wrote:
I think 70 films by the end of the year is an excellent goal too. What's
your record so far? I'll be studying as many Russian films as I can lay my hands on for
the next 6 week challenge and hope to make up for lost time.


Well I had 65 films in 2009 and 60 films in 2010. There is a couple of times I failed
to jot down the name of the film straight away and it didn't make the list but hey.
Watching other films can eat into French movie watching time as well.

Can't help you
too much with Russian cinema, you probably have a much greater knowledge then me. I've
seen all of Tarkovsky's films because my brother is a die hard fan, his favourite is
Andre Rublov (sp). I remember going to watch the 1967 Russian version of War and Peace
over two weekends a few years ago. I say over two weekends because the film was over
seven hours long, however the film is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.
I understand the film had a 100 million budget in 1967! And also a famous battle scene
with 10's of thousands of extras. Above all it was a great film which I look forward to
seeing again, hopefully on the big screen.

Edited by Adrean on 07 November 2011 at 9:38am

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Adrean
TAC 2010 Winner
Senior Member
France
adrean83.wordpress.c
Joined 6169 days ago

348 posts - 411 votes 
Speaks: FrenchC1

 
 Message 59 of 66
17 November 2011 at 11:07am | IP Logged 
Listening away to my favourite podcast which is Le masque et La Plume whilst writing.

This past ten or so days I've got up to lesson 17 level 2 of Pimsleur German. Pimsleur
is such a great supplement to have. It's perfect for me at the moment. I find it
challenging but not to the point where it frustrates me. It might frustrate just a
little but then they go and chuck an easy sentence in which makes me feel good.
Absolutely lapping up Pimsleur at the moment.

I'm getting through Assimil just a bit slower. I give myself 20 minutes a day and I
find I'm doing a lesson every two days. I may have forgot to mention that I'm doing
this off a French base, the explanations in grammar are therefore from a French
perspective. I imagine from an English perspective it could present things from a
different angle which I may be able to appropriate a little better. Looking forward to
the whole 'active way' thing, but that's still a little way off.

Besides this, German class is going well enough. I've seen a few French films this week
and on track for my target of 70 by the end of the year. Quite a bit of reading..that's
it....

Edited by Adrean on 08 December 2011 at 8:29pm

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Topsy Turvey
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United Kingdom
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18 posts - 18 votes
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 60 of 66
20 November 2011 at 9:35am | IP Logged 
It looks like your German is going really well. It makes me feel like picking up German
again... And I love the idea of using a French base to learn German too.

I am also so envious that you can watch so many French films. I hope I am in a position
to do exactly the same thing soon. It's the pleasure of doing things like this that make
language learning completely worthwhile :)

Formerly the user Buttons
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Adrean
TAC 2010 Winner
Senior Member
France
adrean83.wordpress.c
Joined 6169 days ago

348 posts - 411 votes 
Speaks: FrenchC1

 
 Message 61 of 66
10 December 2011 at 11:20am | IP Logged 
This week I finished up a short term of German classes. Overall it was a good
experience however I don't think I gained a whole lot more then if I was doing just
self-study. I think this may be the approach by the teacher and what the students
wanted. I'm not too disappointed because going to a German class was as much a social
thing then just a learning thing.

I have totally stressed and spent so much energy this week on an application for a
assistant English teacher job beginning in August next year in France. I had to have my
application to the French embassy by close of business this Monday and I got it
Thursday. Australia has a total of 60 places available through the program. I'm hoping
that the fact that I finished university so long ago and that I'm not coming from a
teacher background (although it's not necessary to be from one) won't have too much
effect on my application.

It was necessary to answer some questions and write a letter why you wanted the
assistant role in France. Writing is not exactly my strength so I sent it away to away
for a small fee to have the rough edges smoothed out. The editing was great and I'm
very happy with the end product. I also missed completing one of two teachers
appraisals because I only know one teacher at the moment, I hope they can ignore this.

I'm tentatively on the way to 70 French films for the year. I have to pick up the
average over the next few weeks but I think the holiday period will allow me to do so.
Overall the viewing has been hit and miss.

My German lessons were interrupted this week by trying to prepare my application for
the English assistant role in France. I'm finally up to part 3 of Pimsleur. Assimil has
taken a back seat for the past couple of weeks. Finishing the 100 lessons including the
active wave and doing it properly is certainly an achievement. Perhaps I can
make that a goal for next years TAC.
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Topsy Turvey
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United Kingdom
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Speaks: English*

 
 Message 62 of 66
10 December 2011 at 10:14pm | IP Logged 
I don't blame you for putting your German on hold for a week whilst you work on getting
your application in place to go to France. I wish you lots of luck with this application
and I have all my fingers and toes crossed for you :)

This all sounds really exciting!

Are there any other opportunities in France (or Germany) that you can apply for to help
maximise your chances of getting a job in Europe?   



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Teango
Triglot
Winner TAC 2010 & 2012
Senior Member
United States
teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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Speaks: English*, German, Russian
Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona

 
 Message 63 of 66
10 December 2011 at 11:06pm | IP Logged 
Bonne chance with the teaching position in France, Adrean! I've been accepted on a part-time CELTA course starting in February (which was initially a bit of a devil to get onto actually), so I'll probably be teaching some poor unlucky students English next year too (lol).

And 70 French films is really impressive for this year! I've watched a few gangster flicks like "Le Samouraï" and "C'est arrivé près de chez vous" recently, and am thinking about watching "Z" next. It must be amazing to be able to jump straight into the French and understand most of what's said without subs now.

Edited by Teango on 11 December 2011 at 12:57am

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Adrean
TAC 2010 Winner
Senior Member
France
adrean83.wordpress.c
Joined 6169 days ago

348 posts - 411 votes 
Speaks: FrenchC1

 
 Message 64 of 66
22 December 2011 at 10:52am | IP Logged 
@Teango & Topsy
Thanks for the encouragement. It's a long time before I find out if I get the job. I
think June next year. But boy will that change my language goals next year if by
miracle I get the job. I would love to discuss language teaching with you guys if
that's the case.

--------------------------------

So not quite my final post for the year but I think I'll be analysing the year that was
in the next post. I'm quite excited for next year's goals as I always am at this time
of year. I'm messing about with picking goals and resources for the next year. Having a
clear, somewhat challenging goal is an absolute must to keep you going. Unfortunately
the gang will be disassembling as far as I can tell as we undertake new language
challenges.

Went to a French meet-up the other week. It went really great, talked to lots of nice
people with good levels of French. My French wasn't as rusty as I thought. I will definitely make this a goal of mine to attend these on a regularish basis in the new
year.

I don't quite think I'll make 70 films in French this year.I think having a long film
hiatus in the middle of the year hasn't helped. I've added the last 3 years worth of
movies to an excel list where I can sort by Director, Name , date seen etc. Going over
the list it's interesting to recollect where and who I was with when I watched the movies. Writing things down certainly (in this log) has given my language journey a lot
of clarity where otherwise it would have been just fragments.

---------------------

As for German making progress slowly, very slowly. Lesson 45 in Assimil and about 20 to
go with Pimsleur. Not nearly enough exposure to this language. I haven't developed
patterns in listening as I just haven't had the exposure, but another year awaits.


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