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Rem [TAC’15] Rätsel/東亞/French/Czech

  Tags: Czech | Mandarin | German | French
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Rem
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United Kingdom
Joined 3755 days ago

66 posts - 96 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Mandarin, Czech, French

 
 Message 33 of 73
07 January 2015 at 3:12pm | IP Logged 
patrickwilken wrote:

Would you consider studying here in Germany? Universities are free here. I think you
need to be about B2+ to manage classes - though you can write a Masters (at least in
some cases) in English.


My Uni has arrangements with different Universities, some in Germany, so it’s very
likely that I could end up going there (I’ll find out more about it all in the second
year of the course).


druckfehler wrote:

I'm sure it will be exciting. Probably also challenging, but maybe that's part of the
excitement. One thing I think you don't need to worry about is language ability. If
you do something like Erasmus, you could very well get by with just English. Most
people who spent time abroad during university didn't find it that difficult - it
seems that usually you're not expected to have great language skills. But of course I
think you get a lot more out of it if you use the opportunity to see what it's like to
live entirely in a second language. It's quite gratifying when it finally works well
:)


One of my fears is that I’ll have to rely on English all the time while I’m
away and I really don’t want to be in that position. Obviously there will be times
when I’ll need to use English, but I’d like to be able to use my target languages as
much as possible while I’m away. The thought of having to resort to using English for
everything is a little depressing (but I’m just going to take that as more motivation
for learning as much as I can before then). :)


Elenia wrote:

Good luck with all of your goals, and with finishing first year. Make sure you cherish
every moment: it may drag at times but you'll find yourself in your final year a lot
quicker than you want!*

As for the German book... Forum member eyðimörk is hosting a multilingual read-a-long
of The Hobbit. I've jumped on with German (despite the fact that I speak no
German and am surprised whenever I can understand a full sentence), so if that sounds
like your cup of tea, you should send her a message and join in.

*Sorry for all the final year sentimentality. This whole 'fourth year GRADUATION'
thing really snuck up on me. I'm definitely not ready.


Thanks Elenia. :)

A read-a-long sounds like an interesting idea; I’ll have to have a think about it.

As for ‘graduation’ ... At the moment it all still feels very far away...as does the
possibility of passing the first year to be honest. Maybe in four years I’ll be
looking back and wondering where all that time went, however; for now at least it’s
still very daunting looking ahead and seeing all the work that I have to do.
I’m almost afraid to even think about Year 2 in case I don’t “get there”. Although,
premature panicking aside, my tutors don’t seem to be too worried about my progress
yet...so maybe I’m just being silly?

1 person has voted this message useful



Via Diva
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Senior Member
Russian Federation
last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4232 days ago

1109 posts - 1427 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English
Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek

 
 Message 34 of 73
07 January 2015 at 3:33pm | IP Logged 
Rem wrote:
as does the possibility of passing the first year to be honest.

ah I know the feeling :)

I recommend to aim for something anyway. I have even less time to get prepared, so I think even if I go to Germany or Austria I will have to study in an English programme.
1 person has voted this message useful



PeterMollenburg
Senior Member
AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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821 posts - 1273 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: FrenchB1

 
 Message 35 of 73
11 January 2015 at 1:59pm | IP Logged 
Hi Rem,

I notice you have a reoccurring issue with wanderlust. I often suffered from this
problem, and in the past on rare occasions that would sometimes last several months I
was able to study multiple languages at the beginner level successfully. Mind you with
my analytical course-heavy approach progress was slow. However I have definitely
enjoyed the last year in which I studied ONE language alone (okay I picked up Dutch
for a few months and dropped it again). Okay, it would rip your heart out to cull all
the other languages and end up with 1, but from my experience it's been worthwhile. I
do know your goals are different, your methods, the way you learn and your interests
too, so I only share my experience so you take it with a grain of salt, as I"m not
always the most sensible of learners. However that's just something to reflect on for
you perhaps :) So welcome to Team français in 2015 and good luck with your studies
this year!

PM
1 person has voted this message useful



Rem
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 3755 days ago

66 posts - 96 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Mandarin, Czech, French

 
 Message 36 of 73
11 January 2015 at 4:46pm | IP Logged 
PeterMollenburg wrote:
Hi Rem,

I notice you have a reoccurring issue with wanderlust. I often suffered from this
problem, and in the past on rare occasions that would sometimes last several months I
was able to study multiple languages at the beginner level successfully. Mind you with
my analytical course-heavy approach progress was slow. However I have definitely
enjoyed the last year in which I studied ONE language alone (okay I picked up Dutch
for a few months and dropped it again). Okay, it would rip your heart out to cull all
the other languages and end up with 1, but from my experience it's been worthwhile. I
do know your goals are different, your methods, the way you learn and your interests
too, so I only share my experience so you take it with a grain of salt, as I"m not
always the most sensible of learners. However that's just something to reflect on for
you perhaps :)

PM


Yep. I’ve come to think of wanderlust as my constant companion in language learning. I
don’t think I’ll ever really be able to ‘beat’ it. o.O

Actually, since I’ve decided not to fight against it so hard, it seems to be becoming
more manageable (or maybe it’s just trying to lull me into a false sense of
security?). At least for now I’m able to focus on my core languages more because I
know that I have ‘wanderlust time’ later if I want/need it.

Although it’s probably helpful to focus on just one language (I expect I’d make more
progress in it for a start), I couldn’t imagine dropping 3 now.

It’s not really an option for me at the moment anyway as my studies require that I
learn at least 2 (German and Mandarin), so the most that I could cut back to would be
those two. Then I’d probably spend half of my time thinking about the ones that I’d
put aside and not being able to focus on the ones that I need to.

It also helps me to have ‘fun’ languages that I can study without having to worry
about tests and marks. Ok, so my French class does have tests, but it’s not quite the
same as German/Mandarin where it’s an official part of my degree and I have to
pass them.

I think I just have to accept that, with four languages, my progress in each will be
slower but, for me at least, I enjoy it more. :)

PeterMollenburg wrote:
So welcome to Team français in 2015 and good luck with your
studies
this year!

PM

Thanks :)

2 persons have voted this message useful



Rem
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 3755 days ago

66 posts - 96 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Mandarin, Czech, French

 
 Message 37 of 73
11 January 2015 at 5:36pm | IP Logged 

German

The library has a copy of Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen that I’ve
borrowed in the past. I’ve never actually started reading it because I usually look at
it for a while then get scared and think... ”...erm...nope...not yet...”

I’m not too keen on the HP stories either to be honest, which is another thing that
puts me off. However, because I do know the storyline, part of me thinks that it would
be a good book to use for learning.


Mandarin
I’m considering looking into doing a HSK exam because, apparently, when I spend time
studying in China it’s one of the things that we’ll have to do while we’re there. So
I’m thinking that maybe trying one out beforehand is a good idea (to see what the
structure is like etc.)


French
My classes seem to be going alright and I managed to get a decent mark in my first
assessment. Pronunciation is still a bit of a pain, but I’m getting there...slowly...


Czech

Ok, I’ve decided that Colloquial Czech will be conquered. I’m still not
enjoying it, but I’m very much in an ”I’ve started so I’ll finish” mood, so I’m
going to keep going with it...at least for now...

However, I’m also going to look into getting myself a copy of the German based Assimil
Czech. Maybe I can switch out the two and break up the monotony a bit.

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s.mann
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United States
lang-8.com/973514/jo
Joined 3636 days ago

55 posts - 76 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 38 of 73
11 January 2015 at 6:54pm | IP Logged 
Rem wrote:

German
...

I’m not too keen on the HP stories either to be honest, which is another thing that
puts me off. However, because I do know the storyline, part of me thinks that it would
be a good book to use for learning.



I'm coming across the same thing with Harry Potter, in French though. I was told by a
German language learner years ago that I'd like the books because there was more to
the adult side of the story in them, but at least in book 1 there isn't, it pretty much is
exactly like the movie, not a new interesting item to be gleaned. It's not even that I
dislike the story as a movie, but it's not intricate or clever enough for me to enjoy
reading repeatedly. I'm currently rethinking my strategy and chalking the first book up
as an experience.

Edited by s.mann on 11 January 2015 at 6:55pm

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g-bod
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Senior Member
United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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1485 posts - 2002 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: French, German

 
 Message 39 of 73
11 January 2015 at 7:11pm | IP Logged 
I am totally bored of Harry Potter as well! I have to confess I looked up how the series ended on Wikipedia, because I was slightly curious, but not curious enough to actually read the last three books of the series.

I read Der Kleine Prinz over the Christmas holidays, which became my first book in German. It's still a children's book, but comes with the added benefit of being very short, which means you can reach the satisfaction of having read a whole book in German somewhat quicker.

As for wanderlust, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. You can't know what you really want to do in life before you try it. Wanderlust helps you sift out the "nice to think about" from the "nice to do". Just don't kid yourself when you are actually using wanderlust as a vehicle for procrastination!
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PeterMollenburg
Senior Member
AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5474 days ago

821 posts - 1273 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: FrenchB1

 
 Message 40 of 73
12 January 2015 at 2:01am | IP Logged 
Thanks for the reply Rem...

Your wanderlust time seems to be a good method to abate your temptations and keep your
regular study going. What works for you works for you. As for g-bod's commments on
wanderlust I actually couldn't agree more. I just thought I'd share with you my
experience after years of wanderlust issues. Perhaps some of us just need this like g-
bod says to sift through our interests. How can I tell someone else not to experience
wanderlust when I did! ;) (and still do at times). Anyway keep up the good work Rem!

I have all the Harry Potter books in French as well as digital copies and audio for
all the books that had audio available. Aside from having a STACK of work (ie courses)
to get through I don't really like fiction much and have for the most part when i've
found sth to read, read non-fiction. Fiction to me is escapism and a waste of time
when the real world has so many wonders to offfer. Sorry I know that will almost
offend some ppl but it's just my take as to why i prefer non-fiction. However I can
only hope i'm pleasantly suprised by the Harry Potter series if I ever get to actually
picking it up :)

PM


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