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Cavesa’s TAC 2013 and super challenges

 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
150 messages over 19 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 13 ... 18 19 Next >>
Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 5010 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 97 of 150
17 August 2013 at 4:04am | IP Logged 
Sorry to be a bit spammy but since I am writing again in the update thread, I should perhaps put there an up to day count.

ASC English books 59,4/200
ASC French movies 55/200
ASC French books 25,3/200

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Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 5010 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 98 of 150
17 August 2013 at 10:35pm | IP Logged 
3 episodes of Eureka = +1,5 French movie
Chattam: Malronce +4
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Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 5010 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 99 of 150
19 August 2013 at 2:12am | IP Logged 
ASC French movies: + 3 more episodes of Eureka =+1,5 movie

Other than that, I found some new bands singing in French and Spanish. They are quite different from my usual taste so it is a nice opportunity to widen my horizons. In French: Indochine, Manau. In Spanish:Mago de Oz.

And I accidentally found a real jewel on the internet. A book from 1939: Les Tcheques parlent francais. It's perfect. Vast majority of those typical czech mistakes are still up to date (perhaps all of them, I haven't read it all yet). The only difference I spotted is the old use of -i forme of infinitive in Czech (ex. dáti vs dát). Of course, some of the mistakes are quite basic but there is still a lot of valuable notes for me. Not only there are the mistakes, there is always a good explanation as well. A treasure. :-)
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Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 5010 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 100 of 150
27 August 2013 at 4:45pm | IP Logged 
Preparing for an exam so no real language studies. Just some ASC French movies breaks: 9 episodes of Eureka = +4,5 movies

I am so looking forward to having time again! I want to reeaaaaaad!!!!

And I want to get back to Swedish. I have decided to do an experiment. Since I tried a language class in Berlin for my German (and was a bit dissappointed with the class per se no matter how much I loved the experience and especially extra class language use), I cannot claim to be pure self-study learner anymore as 99% is still not 100%, if you know what I mean. I want Swedish to be 100% my own result and to either prove or destroy my hypotheses (which were until now based on only 95% self studied English, 60% self studied French, 60% self studied intermediate Spanish and 99% self studied beginner German). Here are the hypotheses:

1.It is perfectly possible to learn a language to B2 without a single hour spent with a tutor or in classes. I will of course use opportunities if I meet a Swede anywhere but I am not going to spend a single crown/euro/dollar/italkipoint or any other currency on lessons or practice. Finding an exchange partner would be a miracle I don't hope for anymore. I am not naive.

2.Classical methods including reasonable and systematic approach to grammar are very beneficial for learning. Again, that doesn't mean avoiding input, that would be stupid. It means I expect the grammar to make me progress in huge leaps.

3.You can get native material for a less common language without having to live of bread and water :-D (already know one eshop and one library but I am always open to new ideas, please keep them coming)

4. You can pass a B2 exam in two years from the beginning. That means I need to try Swedex B2 in Spring/Summer (as that is when the exams usually are if I am not mistaken) in 2015.

Now I only need to pass that stupid exam in a bit more than a week so that I don't have to disturb my time for hobbies and languages by looking for a job and thinking what to do with my useless, worthless life :-D No more procrastination! Forum time lessened to five minutes per day from now.
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Emme
Triglot
Senior Member
Italy
Joined 5348 days ago

980 posts - 1594 votes 
Speaks: Italian*, English, German
Studies: Russian, Swedish, French

 
 Message 101 of 150
28 August 2013 at 10:26pm | IP Logged 
Cavesa wrote:
[...]

4. You can pass a B2 exam in two years from the beginning. That means I need to try Swedex B2 in Spring/Summer (as that is when the exams usually are if I am not mistaken) in 2015.

[...]


Gosh, do I like this challenge!

From A0+ to B2 in two years seems ambitious and yet doable for an experienced learner like you with a language like Swedish, but I really admire your enterprising spirit to set out for such a goal with a very clear deadline in mind.

I’m sure that I’ll keep following your log with interest to see how you progress. And I bet that we’ll be tackling the same issues at some point, as I too am moving towards the B1-B2 levels, though at a more leisurely pace. But who knows, maybe you will inspire me to move faster towards proficiency than I’m currently doing.

Do you already have a plan for what to do/when to do it? What’s your next step going to be? What textbooks and native materials are you going to use? After you’ve passed your exam next week (I’ve no doubt of your passing it—but good luck anyway!) make sure to let us know what your plans are and feel free to ask about resources etc. I’ve been learning Swedish for quite a while and maybe I can help you somehow navigating the available options. My Swedish bibliography has become quite rich over the years: and to think that when I started I had a lot of problems just to find out a couple of titles to track down in bookshops half way around Europe. Internet has really made life much easier for people looking for niche products!!!

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garyb
Triglot
Senior Member
ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5208 days ago

1468 posts - 2413 votes 
Speaks: English*, Italian, French
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 102 of 150
29 August 2013 at 11:00am | IP Logged 
The Swedish challenge indeed sounds interesting! I think B2 in two years is possible. My Italian is getting towards B2 (I recently had a look through a couple of B2 sample papers and they mostly looked doable) and I'm quite sure it'll be there by December, which will be the two year mark for me. Of course, its similarity to French did give me a huge head-start, and this year I've managed to find a lot of speaking opportunities which has really helped. But then again, my study of it has been extremely part-time; I suppose the main factor is how much time you can actually put into it over the two years.
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Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 5010 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 103 of 150
29 August 2013 at 8:57pm | IP Logged 
Thanks a lot for your support!

Emme, you log is among my sources of inspiration when it comes to Swedish. Thank you for that. I want to get through my awesome textbook with audio (Švédština nejen pro samouky) first, probably acompannied with Assimil and FSI because I want as much audio as possible. And the FSI exercises should be a very good supplement too, all this together should give me the grammar core and first three thousand words or so. And than, I hope to make Swedish one of my Super Challenge languages and I'll be very grateful for any piece of advice concerning where to start, what is fun to watch or read and so on. There is too little info about Swedish for learners on the web. Or rather, there are some amazing sources doing their piece of the job well but then there are huge gaps in between.

Thanks for the encouragement, Garyb. I count a lot on similarities with English and with German (which I am continuing at the drunk snail pace. A very slow slalom.). I hope to put in enough time to make it work. The real challenge will be getting things for the massive input and SC. There aren't even many torrents with Swedish material! But I am so looking forward to it. THe swedish write awesome crime stories, thrillers and surely other things as well (which I'll surely find out when I am ready).

Btw, I'll be asking some Italian questions very soon (after the exam, when I have time to come with the right ones). My monolingual family goes to Italy once or twice a year and I am not too comfortable hearing of their hospitals and other such events. Something must be done :-)

Back to my exam preparation. Thanks a lot for encouragement, I actually need it. The only good thing about the option of not passing is that I'd have much more time for languages with any kind of job compared to studying medicine :-D
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Suzie
Diglot
Senior Member
Belgium
Joined 4230 days ago

155 posts - 226 votes 
Speaks: German*, English
Studies: French, Dutch

 
 Message 104 of 150
02 September 2013 at 7:40am | IP Logged 
Hi Cavesa, I still follow your log with awe. I am really impressed by what you have achieved in the past months. Especially your reading pace is immense!
Wish you all the best for your exams and I'll cross fingers for your Swedish project! An experienced learner like you....I am sure you'll make it. Still wondering how you find the time for this, I'm really impressed!

And I loved the "drunk snail pace" :-) This already made my day....


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