DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6149 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian
| Message 33 of 138 16 January 2009 at 9:11am | IP Logged |
Very sorry to hear about your loss. My sympathies are with you and your family at this difficult time.
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Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6083 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin
| Message 34 of 138 16 January 2009 at 10:19am | IP Logged |
I started reading your log and I really enjoy your writing. I'm terribly sorry to hear what happened over the holidays. My husband's uncle passed away in the fall and while I couldn't travel with him, I understand what a huge family matter it is. It's very difficult to take care of family business (which always hits immediately) and to process thoughts past, future and present all at once. It's overwhelming. I'd like to chime in with the others in their well-wishes and look forward to if/when you continue your log. -- Sunja
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Ninja Bunny Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5790 days ago 42 posts - 46 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), Dutch, Danish, Mandarin, Afrikaans, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French
| Message 35 of 138 17 January 2009 at 11:37pm | IP Logged |
Spanky I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. Best wishes to you, your friends and family.
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5954 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 36 of 138 29 January 2009 at 12:45am | IP Logged |
I am back to language studying after a short break, and have decided to try to be a little more focussed. I do not believe that simultaneous study of different languages was working effectively for me, so I will focus on just one language at a time, though possibly for a shorter time period than a full year. Perhaps three or four months at a stretch before moving on to a new language, with a view to cycling back to previously studied languages after satisfying my impatient curiosity somewhat. I'll sort this out later, but for now I am committing to pushing through with French to the end of May in hopefully a fairly dedicated fashion.
However, having said all that, I am stubbornly insisting on spending a few minutes a day on learning Japanese characters - am giving Heisig's Remembering the Kanji a try. I had previously disregarded Heisig's approach (learn only the written representation without concurrently learning either the Han or On pronunciations), but it will be less of a mental exercise for me this way and presumably better than nothing, even if possibly not the most efficient learning approach.
Edited by Spanky on 29 January 2009 at 11:40am
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5954 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 37 of 138 02 February 2009 at 1:32am | IP Logged |
French
This week mostly just reviewing material previously covered: Michel Thomas for Beginners, Disc #1, and Frenchpod101.com Newbie lessons #1 - 10.
Also working through Radio France Internationale (RFI) Le Journal en Français Facile podcasts (audio and text), (RFI Journal en français facile), which I think will be a powerful learning tool for me.
My approach currently with each ten minute daily audio news segment is to listen at first to see how much I can pick up aurally (not a whole bunch yet), and then to work through the text very carefully with Wordreference at hand trying as far as possible to understand all the French used. Then I listen to the audio portion a second time while reading along with the text. It took me well over an hour the two times I tried doing this this week, but it resulted in lots of additional words and phrases for Anki dumping afterwards. This coming week, will try adding a third listening session after the other two perhaps later in the day, to see how much more I can then pick up just aurally.
Also spent at least 30 minutes per day passive random listening to French language broadcasting (radio and television).
Japanese
Learned kanji #1-45 of Remembering the Kanji (RTK).
Edited by Spanky on 02 February 2009 at 1:37am
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5954 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 38 of 138 08 February 2009 at 11:45pm | IP Logged |
Wot Spanky dun this week.
French
Pimsleur I - units 15 and 16
Michel Thomas, French for Beginners - reviewing Discs 2 through 7
Frenchpod101.com - Newbie Lessons #11 - 17 (I am pretty sure Céline has a crush on me - il y a quelque chose dans sa voix qui me dit ça),
French.about.com - the following
- les Mots du jour
- articles on "leaving" verbs (partir v. s'en aller v. sortir v. quitter v. laisser), on les adjectifs and articles on the articles (indéfinis, définis et partitifs)
- multiple choice tests associated with these articles - earning a variety of test results, from "Très bien" to a rather cheeky and utterly unwarranted "Oh là là - vous devez étudier."
RFI Journal en français facile - still taking an absurd amount of time to figure out the ten minute transcript references and being able to follow along orally.
General French language media - beaucoup de listening attentively to miscellaneous TV/radio - comprehension rate is, malheureusement, still discouragingly low.
Japanese
RTK, kanji #46 - 75
Realized that practically all of the katakana have gone off somewhere, without leaving a note. Am hoping some occasional review on my part entices them back.
Edited by Spanky on 09 February 2009 at 12:22am
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5954 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 39 of 138 16 February 2009 at 6:26pm | IP Logged |
This week:
French
Pimsleur I, units 17 and 18
Frenchpod101.com, newbie lessons 18-23
Michel Thomas, disc 8 a few times (enough to think I am actually present in the room, though sadly in the role of the slow-witted student).
Generally, lots and lots of listening to French TV (which I believe is helping quite a bit) and lots of eating of French fries (which is not helping much, or alternatively, is helping exactly as much as anticipated).
Japanese
Heisig's RTK, kanji #76-104.
Also, back to Anki reviewing of kana characters and vocabulary.
Edited by Spanky on 16 February 2009 at 6:32pm
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Spanky Senior Member Canada Joined 5954 days ago 1021 posts - 1714 votes Studies: French
| Message 40 of 138 09 March 2009 at 7:04am | IP Logged |
Yikes, now I really will have to learn French.
My wife’s sister and her family will be moving next month to somewhere in France in or near Paris on a two year contract, and I have already secured a promise of floor space for a visit in whatever accommodation they rent. We will likely go for a couple of weeks during the summer of 2010.
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