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A Linguistic Odyssey | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
 magister Pro Member United States Joined 6605 days ago 346 posts - 421 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Turkish, Irish Personal Language Map | Message 41 of 265 02 October 2009 at 11:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
What "intermediate" means is subjective, and you will likely receive opinions across a rather wide spectrum. Personally, I look to the ILR scale for guidance and consider the area around 2 or 2+ to be "intermediate." I have nothing against the CEFR scale; I'm simply far more accustomed to the ILR due to my prior military service. So what does 2 or 2+ mean? To take listening as an example: Listening 2 (Limited Working Proficiency) Sufficient comprehension to understand conversations on routine social demands and limited job requirements. Able to understand face-to-face speech in a standard dialect, delivered at a normal rate with some repetition and rewording, by a native speaker not used to dealing with foreigners, about everyday topics, common personal and family news, well-known current events and routine office matters through descriptions and narration about current, past and future events; can follow essential points of discussion or speech at an elementary level on topics in his/her special professional field. Only understands occasional words and phrases of statements made in unfavorable conditions, for example through loudspeakers outdoors. Understands factual content. Native language causes less interference in listening comprehension. Able to understand facts; i.e., the lines but not between or beyond the lines. Listening 2+ (Limited Working Proficiency, Plus) Sufficient comprehension to understand most routine social demands and most conversations on work requirements as well as some discussions on concrete topics related to particular interests and special fields of competence. Often shows remarkable ability and ease of understanding, but under tension or pressure may break down. Candidate may display weakness or deficiency due to inadequate vocabulary base or less than secure knowledge of grammar and syntax. Normally understands general vocabulary with some hesitant understanding of everyday vocabulary still evident. Can sometimes detect emotional overtones. Some ability to understand implications. That's all fairly abstract. You could visit the GLOSS site, select a language you already know well (like Spanish), and search for level 2 and 2+ materials. Could you handle this level of language in German? If so, I think the label "intermediate" is safe. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5867 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 42 of 265 03 October 2009 at 12:48am | IP Logged | |||||
Also, thanks magister for sharing those links. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6144 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 43 of 265 03 October 2009 at 1:24am | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks, magister. I didn't quite understand the whole GLOSS website, but I did make sense of the ILR scale. On average, I think that I would place as a 1+ in German, perhaps a 2 in some stronger areas, like writing or reading. So, I guess I'm a bit below intermediate level. I suppose I'll make it my goal to get to intermediate level by May, at the latest.
Thanks to Crush and Leopejo for explaining the legality and the mysteriousness of how the Uz-Translations site works. I'll be back later with my daily report. :) -Philip 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6144 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 44 of 265 06 October 2009 at 12:05am | IP Logged | |||||
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Friday: Ελληνικά
Goals: 1) 1 lesson of LGWT, 2) Unit 5 Odysseas, 3) Νέα Ελληνικά Vocabulary Achieved: 1) yes, 2) sorta, 3) no, forwarded to this week's Greek goals Saturday: 日本語 Goals: 1) 14 new kanji: to #225, 2) 1 unit of TY Japanese (especially vocabulary) Achieved: 1) yes, 2) yes Sunday: Italiano Goals: 1) 1 lesson of STG: Italian, 2) 1 Livemocha Italian lesson Achieved: 1) yes, 2) yes Monday: Português Goals: 1 lesson of Ultimate Portuguese Achieved: yes Wow, I have gotten very behind. I did mean to write sooner, I really did. It just didn't work out, because I didn't have enough time for some reason (time-waster! procrastinator!). So, I shall do a recap. A LOT of things have happened. You may notice in my profile that Dutch is gone, but Swedish is still there. I was able to rid myself of my mental connection to Dutch (I really didn't like it interfering with German and idealizing itself over it) and move it towards Swedish. I have decided to really pursue Swedish and I have really come to like it. And I decided that of the Scandinavian languages, Swedish really is the one that's right for me, and not Norwegian (despite its cool æ and ø letters). So, I bought a book for Swedish, Swedish: An Elementary Grammar-Reader, which looks GREAT. Because of Amazon's preview of the book ("look inside!"), I have already completed lesson one of the book and really like its technique. I was able to translate a paragraph into Swedish from English as the last exercise. The book doesn't have an answer key, so I shall post my translations here to be corrected by Swedish-speakers, I hope. Here it is: Gamla stan är en ö. Ön är liten. Stockholm är Sveriges huvudstaden. Huvudstaden är gammal. Kungen är mycket gammal. Erik, som är en svensk student, är mycket ung. Studenten är sjutton år gammal. Han har en vacker utsikt av slottet. Jag är tjugo år gammal. Hur gammal är hon? De bor i Stockholm. Stadens utsikten är ganska fin. Vi ser en stort slott. Vad ser ni? Studenten har en fin lägenhet på ett rum och ett kök. Hur gammal är lägeheten? Var är köket? Jag kan se en stor sjö. Sjön är mycket vacker. Vad heter du? Vad heter Englands huvudstaden? Vem bor här? Sverige är vacker. Stockholm är stor. De bor i en liten lägenhet i huvudstaden. Slottet är engelsk? Nej, det är tysk. Kungen är gammal? Ja, han är mycket gammal. NEXT: Greek. I did my lesson of LGWT and did the vocabulary for Odysseas's Unit 5. I haven't done anything else for the Odysseas, though. I'll finish it up this week, and do the next unit too. I don't have much to say for Greek. Oh, I do! My grandparents are returning from Greece at the end of this month (the 25th, I think?), which makes me very happy. This means that I will be going to their house every Friday after school for a "Greek lesson." I don't know how that will work out this year. I'll figure it out. But it's exciting because I haven't seen them since the middle of July and I'll get to speak Greek at least once a week. :) For Japanese, I finally was able to do my vocabulary on Sunday (yesterday), which took all day (I did it in little spurts, interspersed with Swedish). The unit taught about adjectives, which I think I mostly get. I still have to read the bulk of the grammar stuff in the chapter, though. The book continues to give me weird words... This week, one of the words I learned was 二日酔い (ふつかよい, futsukayoi), or "hangover." Truly a must-know word for beginning Japanese student, wouldn't you say!? I also was able to learn most of the kanji rather painlessly on Saturday night. Hooray. Italiano! I did my lesson yesterday and am multitasking and doing the Livemocha lesson for Italian at the same time as I'm writing this. I also did some Michel Thomas Italian listening while I was working in the yard (my parents made me and my brother, bleh). Not much to say. Portuguese-day is today, segunda-feira. This brings me to my next change, which goes along with Swedish... I don't remember exactly what my old schedule looked like (I didn't like it much), but I have changed it, AGAIN, to fit my school schedule and priorities. Here it is: Segunda-Feira – Português Mardi – Français Onsdag – Svenska Donnerstag – Deutsch Παρασκευή – Ελληνικά 土曜日– 日本語 Domenica – Italiano This schedule takes effect today, which is why I'm doing Portuguese today instead of Spanish or Dutch or whatever I was planning on doing. Anyways, I did my Portuguese lesson this morning. Actually, I did the following vocabulary lists this morning: - finished up Japanese vocabulary - did all Italian vocabulary - did half of Portuguese vocabulary (finished after school) Well, I believe that is it... I can't think of anything else to say. Γεια! // さようなら! // Ciao! // Tchau! --Philip Edited by ellasevia on 06 October 2009 at 12:12am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6144 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 45 of 265 06 October 2009 at 12:16am | IP Logged | |||||
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Oh, I forgot to ask for some help... Do any of you intelligent-with-computers people know about .rar files and how to download them? Most of the stuff on those websites are in that format and I can't seem to make it show up. Is there a good program (free?) that I could download to make it work? Thanks!!!
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| magister Pro Member United States Joined 6605 days ago 346 posts - 421 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Turkish, Irish Personal Language Map | Message 46 of 265 06 October 2009 at 12:28am | IP Logged | |||||
You download .rar files like you would any other files. You can extract them using WinRAR, found at www.rarlab.com. I don't understand what you mean by "I can't seem to make it show up." 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6144 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 47 of 265 06 October 2009 at 12:31am | IP Logged | |||||
Oh, when the files open, they are just gobbeldiguk and random letters and numbers. AKA, the document doesn't show up. Thanks for the link, I'll look into that. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6144 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 48 of 265 06 October 2009 at 5:58am | IP Logged | |||||
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Well, time for a brief update. Since I last posted, I got my book How to Learn Any Language, by Barry Farber, in the mail (after about a month of waiting; the seller "forgot" to send it). I read quite a bit of it already--about 50 pages, but it seemed only like five or ten--and it's quite good. I read the introduction, his linguistic autobiography, and the language ratings up through the Scandinavian languages. It seems like it will be helpful in giving me new techniques.
I have also just finished typing up my French vocabulary for tomorrow (yay, I like being ahead of schedule) and also read the entire lesson. This means that I might do two lessons tomorrow for French, [gasp]. I've been strangely productive school-wise and language-wise today, so why not keep up the trend, right? I wish more days would be more like today... Anyways, I also finished that Italian Livemocha lesson I mentioned earlier. I should do some kanji too... Oh, and that Spanish homework that's due on Thursday... WHEN IS MY SWEDISH BOOK GOING TO ARRIVE!? (Sorry about that, I'm just rather excited...) It probably hasn't even shipped yet, though, since I only ordered it on Saturday. Oh, I also skimmed through a Livemocha Swedish lesson on plurals. I already did a lot of studying all of the noun declensions on Saturday and Sunday, so it was pretty easy. :) Well, that's about it in this random entry. I am also using this peculiar new feature that has shown up to show what language I was studying... I marked French. I suppose I shall now see what it does. Bonne nuit! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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