DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6156 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian
| Message 1 of 35 12 April 2012 at 1:31pm | IP Logged |
Having participated in various TAC's over the years, and realised how much it's increased my study, I've decided to re-enter the fray. My new challenge is to study 1,000 hours in each of my target languages. This will be a long burning challenge. Inspired by Solfrid Cristins super challenge, I've also decided that I must complete 1,000 hours in just one language by 31/12/2013. This may include the 100 book and 100 films challenge, and perhaps some 6WCs as well.
The hardest part of the challenge is deciding what my target languages will be. I'm mainly studying Italian now, but that will end after my trip in May. I've decided to back date the challenge to the start of April, and I've roughly, and probably underestimated, the time spent since then. If I add a new language in the interim, it'll also be added to the 1,000 hours goal. The overall challenge is probably ridiculous, but it'll be fun to try.
Here's the stats so far,
Language - Time to Go
Italian - 987.9167 hours
Spanish - 999.5 hours
French - 999.0833 hours
Russian - 997.0833 hours
Hungarian - 1,000 hours
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Cabaire Senior Member Germany Joined 5604 days ago 725 posts - 1352 votes
| Message 2 of 35 12 April 2012 at 1:56pm | IP Logged |
I see that as a mathematically minded person you count your progress in miliseconds! I wish you a good run, although Hungarian seems to have missed the gun.
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DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6156 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian
| Message 3 of 35 12 April 2012 at 2:47pm | IP Logged |
I did a good bit of Hungarian at the start of the year, but none in April. :-(.
Thanks for highlighting the granularity of my tracking. I just did a cut and paste from Excel, though I do track my time in minutes. I found this helps to squeeze as much dead time in the day towards study.
Edited by DaraghM on 12 April 2012 at 2:48pm
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DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6156 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian
| Message 4 of 35 17 April 2012 at 12:18pm | IP Logged |
I've made a difficult decision and decided to pause my Hungarian for the duration of this challenge. It will seem odd not studying Hungarian for over a year and a half. However, knowing myself, I'll probably return to it when I should be working on other languages. I think I've decided on French as the language I'll complete 1,000 hours in before the end of next year. I'll also couple this with Solfrids 100 films and 100 books challenge. Attempting to predict ahead is difficult, but I'll hopefully make it to 100 films. As I've been reading the same three books in English for half a year, I'd be surprised if I make it near 100 books in French.
The hardest part of the challenge is knowing I'll also be doing a good deal of Spanish and Russian study at the same time. Italian is still using up the majority of my study time, and will remain so until I return from Italy mid May. After I return I'll probably focus on Russian then Spanish. I'm not travelling to Russia in the near future, but I may be heading to South America later this summer.
Here's the latest stats,
Language - Time to Go
Italian - 977.08 hours
Spanish - 999.3 hours
French - 998.5 hours
Russian - 993.92 hours
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DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6156 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian
| Message 5 of 35 24 April 2012 at 10:41am | IP Logged |
Still ploughing slowly through Italian using the Assimil course and Living Italian. The Living Italian course, like the others in the series, is very strong on grammar. I used to think that Spanish and French verbs were complex, but Italian has brought it to the next level. Italian has as many tenses as Spanish, with the added complexity of French style past perfect. My French is a little rusty at the moment, but I don't remember having agreement between 'avoir' and the past participle, only with 'etre'. In Italian, the equivalent 'avere' also agrees with the past participle when it's used with a direct object.
E.g.
L'ho visto - I have seen it.
Li ho visti -I have seen them.
[Update - French also has this agreement with direct objects and avoir under certain circumstances. It's amazing how quickly you can forget some important rules. Hopefully the Super Challenge will eliminate this permanently. ]
Italian - 963.75 hours
Spanish - 998.58 hours
French - 997.25 hours
Russian - 993.92 hours
Edited by DaraghM on 24 April 2012 at 10:51am
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DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6156 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian
| Message 6 of 35 01 May 2012 at 3:53pm | IP Logged |
As mentioned in some other posts, I've also introduced the FSI Italian FAST course into my Italian study mix. The Italian FAST course is a bit different from some of the others, as it includes drills. While I'm learning some vocabulary, I'm mainly using it to develop speaking proficiency. I really like the format of the course, and its ideal for extensive listening. There's even a track that gives the English first, and then the Italian word twice. I've listened ahead to some of the vocabulary tracks and it makes the subsequent lessons a lot easier. I discovered the Czech FAST course follows a similar format, so I'm going to indulge my wanderlust, and use it for a week.
This is the first day of the Super Challenge. I've picked French, but it'll be late into the month, before I start.
Study since 1st April.
Italian 54 hours
Spanish 1 hour
French 3 hours
Russian 6 hours
Edited by DaraghM on 03 May 2012 at 12:19pm
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DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6156 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian
| Message 7 of 35 03 May 2012 at 12:26pm | IP Logged |
I wouldn't normally post this soon, but I've just realised that I managed to do three hours study in Italian and another three hours in French yesterday. Considering my normal work day took up nine hours, I feel this was a bit of an achievement.
Study since 1st April.
Italian 59 hours
Spanish 2 hours
French 7 hours
Russian 6 hours
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DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6156 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian
| Message 8 of 35 15 May 2012 at 10:24am | IP Logged |
My trip to Italy was a language learning success. I feel I definitely reached A2 in terms of my capability, as I hardly used any English during my trip. Initially, I found myself slipping into Spanish pronunciation when the words were similar, but after a couple of days I eliminated these. The problem wasn't knowing the Italian pronunciation, but stopping myself defaulting to Spanish without thinking. Now the trips complete, my Italian will be put in the long finger.
I suppose this begins my proper Supreme Challenge in earnest. As mentioned, I'll run this in parallel with Solfrids Super Challenge. As I use my tracking spreadsheet in work, I won't be able to join, or update on Twitter. It’s blocked. It’s a bit frustrating as I get the feeling most of the activity is happening there.
Study since 1st April.
Italian 86 hours
Spanish 2 hours
French 12 hours
Russian 6 hours
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