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20 in 20 - learning log of the deranged | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5954 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes  Studies: French | Message 121 of 138 16 January 2012 at 9:26am | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you for such a warm welcome to the team Jinx! But in fairness I should let you
know that I am already busy working on pre-planned excuses to get myself off the team in the event I find that German winds up beating me like a rented mule (which is my present expectation). As soon as I come up with one that is not completely transparent that I can keep in my pocket for an emergency bail-out, then I will feel more comfortable. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5954 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 122 of 138 16 January 2012 at 9:28am | IP Logged | ||
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Encountered a bit of detour up to this point: having gotten all fired up about getting
a good start at the beginning of the year and sticking with a language learning commitment on a daily basis, work life got inconveniently in the way when I was sent up to Smithers in northern British Columbia for the last while, but that is over now. Smithers is an interesting town from a language perspective – historically it was an area of interest to Swiss guides, and there continues to be Swiss bakeries and Swiss memorabilia and some isolated German speakers in town. There is also an Austrian and Dutch presence in the area, which is odd given the tiny size of the town. I uttered an awkward “danke” to the server with a German accent who brought me an impossibly large krug of Bavarian bier at the Alpehhorn restaurant in town, but just got a weird look in return, so there is the slight possibility I blew the pronunciation of even something as straightforward as that. Smithers is smack-dab in the middle of Gitxsan territory – the aboriginal language of the Gitxsan people (a Tsimshian language variously called Gitxsanmaax, Gitenimx or similar) is hanging on marginally for dear life, though rather hopelessly I expect. I encountered small doses of it in relation to work and by coincidence had an opportunity to speak with some of the individuals who are involved with formal efforts to pass the language along to younger members of the community. I have set up a separate Freutsch log for the periodic recording of my energetic effort to avoid studying both French and German. Slow start - about 10 hours only over the first half of the month for German and French, which is pretty lame considering I have set myself the goal of 750 hours of German and 350 hours of French this year. I have also gotten underway with the Heisig kanji project, which I may address from time to time here. I have re-reviewed the first 36 already-super-memorized kanji including ensuring correct stroke order, and have started a new kanji Anki deck. Edited by Spanky on 16 January 2012 at 5:39pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6618 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 123 of 138 16 January 2012 at 1:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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Heisig is great. I finished RTK1 and am working on RTK3. Here is a link to a good site for reviewing if you find yourself too lazy to make your own deck. Also the study page has lots of stories made up by other members in case you're too lazy to make your own stories -- or can't think of any.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5691 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 124 of 138 16 January 2012 at 2:08pm | IP Logged | ||
No worries, the most important thing is for it to stay fun. :) Don't stress yourself out over it! I'm a big fan of picking something up, dropping it, and then maybe coming back to it later. It's better to move forward slowly or patchily than to spoil your relationship with a language forever through overzealous application. ;) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5954 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 125 of 138 04 March 2012 at 12:02am | IP Logged | ||
Thanks Brun Ugle - I am enjoying Heisig. I am still in the earlier part of RTK1 (re- started for momentum, as so much time passed since I previously made a start), so the stories are still pretty fully developed, but that site will undoubtedly be of some interest once the Heisig blurbs get a bit more skimpy. Honestly, anything that is offered to me out of interest on the basis that I might be too lazy to do anything particular is generally guaranteed to be perfect for me! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5954 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 126 of 138 04 March 2012 at 12:08am | IP Logged | ||
Agreed, but it is far too late for the relationship between me and French, which is already irreparably spoiled. I don't mean to be overly-dramatic, but at this point we thoroughly hate each other. I continue with French because I know how desperately annoyed French becomes when it hears itself mangled by me. And it in turn continues mercilessly to torture me, mostly in an orthographic fashion. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5954 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 127 of 138 19 September 2012 at 3:31am | IP Logged | ||
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Hey ya stupid Log,
Have not forgotten about you, just firmly ignoring you. Gave up on German and Japanese a number of months ago and just as pretty much guaranteed, I bailed on the Freutsch team effort. Got drunk one day late last June and hatched some crazy scheme involving learning French and (for some reason which eludes me) mimes, which I have since regretted. As I result, I have sworn off alcohol completely ever since. I am tracking my French progress (I use the word "progress" in a decidedly loose manner) in a separate log. Read an article today about a biography of Jack Kerouac - can't say I've ever particularly been a fan before but learned of his strong French-Canadian heritage and early joual usage. Doubt I will read the biography (so much easier - and ever so Borgesian - just to read about books rather than read the books themselves), but the article prompted me to take a quick run through some Kerouac quotes just for fun: - "Men say 'We are men, we pull out tree stumps, we make paper bags, we think wise thoughts, we make lunch, we look around, we make a great effort to realise everything is the same.'" - "If you have ice cream I will give you some. If you have no ice cream I will take it away from you. (It is an ice cream kōan [cone].)" - "I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion." If I were not so despondent over my horrible French, I would try translating these into French just for fun and practice, but I suspect the middle one at least would get lost in the translation (un cornet à glace is just not as smooth as "ice-cream kōan" here). I just recently learned that we will be heading to Mexico for a week next summer (middle of July 2013) to help some friends celebrate their wedding anniversary and their daughter's 15th birthday. So now I am adding Spanish to the list of languages that I am in the process of not actively learning (but wish I were). Edited by Spanky on 20 September 2012 at 5:04am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5954 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French | Message 128 of 138 10 December 2012 at 11:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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Still working hard (or hardly working, or some combination of both perhaps) on French. While I am not making much progress in actually learning French, I do seem to be making some progress in needlessly multiplying the number of logs I am maintaining.
I have been maintaining a French-focussed log ("18 Months of French") for a few months and have now started a concurrent log ("TAC 2013 Romance/French (Spanky)) for another team TAC challenge (no, I have not warned my new team mates about how unreliable a team mate I am, they can learn that in due course for themselves). EDIT: I have either changed my mind or have come to my senses - either way I don't think I will bother with the separate log, too deranged an idea. Edited by Spanky on 11 December 2012 at 1:38am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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