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Mae’s Lone Wolf SWE Challenge ♥ TAC 2015 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
 Mae Trilingual Octoglot Pro Member Germany Joined 4989 days ago 299 posts - 499 votes  Speaks: German*, SpanishC2*, Swiss-German*, FrenchC2, EnglishC2, ItalianB2, Dutch, Portuguese Studies: Russian, Swedish Personal Language Map | Message 105 of 143 02 January 2013 at 2:07pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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@Tarvos: I see... You're already testing my language skills to its limits :-D Thanks for your support!
I'm sure you're doing fine with French and German. Are you on Google+? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Mae Trilingual Octoglot Pro Member Germany Joined 4989 days ago 299 posts - 499 votes Speaks: German*, SpanishC2*, Swiss-German*, FrenchC2, EnglishC2, ItalianB2, Dutch, Portuguese Studies: Russian, Swedish Personal Language Map | Message 106 of 143 02 January 2013 at 2:32pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
 TAC 2013: Overcoming challenges - Reaching goals
Language levels, skills, goals  Swedish
- Level: very basic, A1 or even lower - Skills: simple conversations about daily life, getting along as a tourist, basic grammar - Goals: reach fluency - target level B1/B2 or higher  Dutch
- Level: basic, A1/A2 - Skills: more passive skills (reading + listening comprehension), simple conversations - Goals: reach fluency - target level B2 or higher The main goal this year will be overcoming all challenges that pop up, such as: - dealing with my heavy schedule at university, - developing an optimised action plan, - tackling motivational problems from time to time, - solving target-setting issues, - setting and reaching milestones, - counteracting agaings decreasing work output, - improving learning performance, - etc. Challenges keep coming up when you fight on a new language front and attempt to conquer fluency. But this time I'm supporting and being supported by an exclusive, extremely powerful, deeply committed, closely-knit and highly motivated group of fearless language warriors! ;-) Edited by Mae on 02 January 2013 at 2:33pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Kez Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4355 days ago 181 posts - 212 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: Swedish | Message 107 of 143 02 January 2013 at 2:46pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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"dealing with my heavy schedule at university"
Ah, know exactly how that feels. I'm in the last month of my education and it's killing me. Hope you can still make enough time free for language learning! One thing i'm curious of, since you're native German. Which language do you find easier for you to learn, Swedish or Dutch? And which do you mix up the most? Edited by Kez on 02 January 2013 at 3:24pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Mae Trilingual Octoglot Pro Member Germany Joined 4989 days ago 299 posts - 499 votes Speaks: German*, SpanishC2*, Swiss-German*, FrenchC2, EnglishC2, ItalianB2, Dutch, Portuguese Studies: Russian, Swedish Personal Language Map | Message 108 of 143 02 January 2013 at 3:21pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Then good luck for the final sprint!
You'll laugh... I can't tell you which one is easier, but which ones are hard to learn. Once you "master" a Romance language, it will be easy to learn another one. Same thing for a Germanic language. And this is exactly the "problem" I have: no Slavic language. In general I can say that for me learning Russian and Arabic has been far more difficult than learning Italian, Portuguese, Dutch or Swedish. I don't find Russian or Arabic grammar to be extraordinarily difficult. It's just that I don't have any related basics to link to. At least learning Russian is easier when thinking in German ;-) One of the most difficult languages to "master" though, is English. No kidding! There are so many exceptions and difference in spelling, meaning, declination, etc. in English, than in any other language I ever learned (not even in French!). A bonus here are the uncountable phrasal verbs...
You'll laugh again... The languages I mix up the most are the languages I speak with my family! When we speak, we mix up Swiss German and Spanish. A few years ago my husband kept interrupting us every time my family and I were using a word in the other language (if we were speaking Spanish and we used a German word, or if we were speaking German and used a Spanish word or expression). Thanks to that, I noticed that the words we were saying in the "wrong" language, were always shorter than the translations to the other language. Mixing up Spanish and English: - "¿Me pasás el queso, please? [We would use this one!] - "Könntest du mir bitte den Käse rüberreichen?" - "Could you pass me the cheese please? Mixing up Spanish and German: - "Se fué al centro con el Tram. ["Tram" is shorter than "tranvía"] - "Er ist mit der Strassenbahn in die Stadt gefaren." - "He went to town by tram." This happens all the time, and we enjoy having our own language mix! ;-) Edited by Mae on 02 January 2013 at 3:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Kez Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4355 days ago 181 posts - 212 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: Swedish | Message 109 of 143 02 January 2013 at 3:32pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Thanks for the extensive answer!
Haha must be a weird combination. I've had a few years of German lessons on school but i'm barely able to speak a single sentence. But eventhough I don't speak it, I tend to say things like: Und instead of Och. Ich instead of Jag. etc. Just the small mistakes. So I was just wondering if you had the same with Dutch or Swedish ^^ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 110 of 143 02 January 2013 at 4:35pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I have an account, but I absolutely never use it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Mae Trilingual Octoglot Pro Member Germany Joined 4989 days ago 299 posts - 499 votes Speaks: German*, SpanishC2*, Swiss-German*, FrenchC2, EnglishC2, ItalianB2, Dutch, Portuguese Studies: Russian, Swedish Personal Language Map | Message 111 of 143 09 January 2013 at 3:44pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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How to balance life with language learning
A few days ago, someone left a comment on my blog, asking for advice: "[...] My problem is that I can’t balance between my studies and learning new languages. What would you recommend me to do? [...]" I know perfectly what this person meant. Lack of time has always been an issue for me. My heavy schedule at university is the main reason I cannot put in as much work into languages as I want. And to be honest, I don't have any sure formula to solve this problem. So I wanted to share my answer to that comment with you. It is a list of things that work for me: (1) Study your target language every day! You don't need to put in hours, but a few minutes (10-15') every day. Be consistent! You can use all kind of breaks: read your books while waiting for the bus, learn some vocabulary with flash cards or index cards while riding the train, listen to radio/music/mp3-files in your target language while working out at the gym or during body care time (e.g. while having a bath), etc. (2) Have fun! If you don't like what you do, you won't succeed. So if you don't feel like learning grammar right now, then you could watch a video instead (for example). You need to combine things that are fun with things that are necessary. (3) Learn a language the right way! This means that you need to read, listen, speak and write. You need to learn grammar, vocabulary, idioms, exceptions, etc. There's no way round grammar - even if some people say so. (4) Practise! Try to find a tandem partner or a tutor to practise your target language regularly (e.g. having 30' chats once a week via Skype, MSN, etc.). Having a tutor is important, because every learning process needs to be monitored, corrected, etc. (5) Find your own way! When it comes to language learning, there are lots of self-appointed experts. You shouldn't believe everything what is spread around the internet. You need to find your own way, because noone else but you knows what works best for you, what makes you succeed. Need more tips? Here are more articles: [ The top 3 hindrances to language learning and how to tackle them ] [ How to make time if you are too busy ] [ Start learning languages successfully ] I wish you the best of luck for your language learning journey! Edited by Mae on 09 January 2013 at 3:58pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5007 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 112 of 143 09 January 2013 at 6:38pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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A very nice post.
I would just add to the list: 6. Learn to better organize your time. There is the Pomodoro and similar techniques, there is the option to write down tasks and work through the list, there is a lot of good advice on the time management on the internet. Get inspired and think about your ideal way to handle the time management (I like to think of it as a kind of Tetris) and squeeze more into your day. After all, we all feel like we have no time but there are people studying two schools or studying and working or studying and doing a sport on the Olympics level or getting their degrees while already having kids. Not all of us are that efficient, surely I am not, but most of us can get better. :-) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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