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6 Week Challenge in May? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5169 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 137 of 220 04 May 2011 at 2:31pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I thought we could count school time, too. It really doesn't affect me as far as Spanish, since all my study is done on my own, but for Polish I take private lessons so I count the time spent in those. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6947 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 138 of 220 04 May 2011 at 3:24pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
What about those of us who live in-country and use a foreign language as part of our everyday life? For example, I use Japanese for work and with my friends and host family; I probably use it as often as I do English. Yet, because it's like second nature to me, I don't exactly feel like I'm "practicing" as such or learning something new whenever I have a conversation, so I wouldn't feel right awarding myself several hours of "study time" per day. Similarly, there are some forum members like Sprachprofi who might even have a better command of English than I do, and I would hate to compete with them if they were taking into account how often they used English! Where do we draw the line in such cases? I guess we should actually feel some kind of mental effort and some sense of progress in order for the time to count (e.g. if I read a difficult article or watched a movie that allowed me to pick up some new phrases)? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
 Mae Trilingual Octoglot Pro Member Germany Joined 4989 days ago 299 posts - 499 votes Speaks: German*, SpanishC2*, Swiss-German*, FrenchC2, EnglishC2, ItalianB2, Dutch, Portuguese Studies: Russian, Swedish Personal Language Map | Message 139 of 220 04 May 2011 at 4:01pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I live in Italy, but I don't count the minutes I speak Italian, even if I'm on a B2-level. I just count the time I spend doing "some kind of mental effort", as you say (mostly learning Portuguese and Russian). Last night I spent some hours translating the LingQ-website. Even if I have a good command of Spanish and French, I still have to look up words, compare expressions and search for the right context, so that everything suits well (I'm not an interpreter!). I don't count the time spent in this forum either, when writing in English. I guess it is a question of good common sense and honesty. It does not help to post we've been doing this and that just to gain points and to increase our ranks. After this 6WC there should be a useful outcome. It would be stupid to cheat ourselves... Edited by Mae on 04 May 2011 at 4:05pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6468 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 140 of 220 04 May 2011 at 5:40pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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School language class time definitely counts... it would be unfair to exclude it if
people like fuerte_viento can spend 100% of their days on language study and some of us have to work or go to school. Also, if we didn't count it, it would be difficult to count private tutoring time. Just keep the goal in mind. If you find that you're dozing in Spanish class, or otherwise not being focussed or not getting much out of it compared to self-study activities, don't award yourself the full time. As for living abroad and languages one speaks very well... only count time that you're intent on learn something in your target language(s). I may be using English a lot, but not with the intent of improving. I don't even consider it a target language anymore because it's just normal. Besides, I think intent is very important when it comes to our likelihood of picking up something. It is possible for an expat to live somewhere, greet people, order a coffee, and in several years never learn more than that, simply because the intent is missing and the brain doesn't see those interactions as an opportunity to learn. Edited by Sprachprofi on 04 May 2011 at 5:41pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5980 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 141 of 220 04 May 2011 at 7:29pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I'm a bit late to the party but I've just registered to join in. With Japanese, because I have no time for anything else. My username is gsbod because apparantly gbod was already taken! I was thinking earlier today about how to motivate myself and if I could get counting hours to work for me. I tried it with spreadsheets a couple of years ago but it felt like I was spending more time logging that could have been spent studying. Maybe twitter will make it easier. And I like the competitive element, I have four days of catching up to do!
1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| hjordis Senior Member United States snapshotsoftheworld. Joined 5184 days ago 209 posts - 264 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 142 of 220 04 May 2011 at 7:51pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Yay, I found the library. Time to get my serious study on!
Edit: Does anyone know how to make anki switch between asking the "question" and the "answer?" Edited by hjordis on 04 May 2011 at 7:59pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5169 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 143 of 220 04 May 2011 at 10:34pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Open a deck, and then click on "Edit". Next click "Browse Items", then "Card Layout", and finally "Flip". I hope that made sense! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| hjordis Senior Member United States snapshotsoftheworld. Joined 5184 days ago 209 posts - 264 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 144 of 220 04 May 2011 at 10:45pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Mine was a bit different, but that helped me find it. Thanks!
1 person has voted this message useful |
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