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Towards Goal-Oriented Multilingualism | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Rhadryn Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5385 days ago 53 posts - 60 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese, French Studies: Spanish, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Latin, German | Message 1 of 27 20 July 2012 at 5:40pm | IP Logged |
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THE PLAN
(With the languages more or less in order of priority, the latter four being started pretty much from nothing) 
Note that all goals are referring to the end of the year, being 31-12-12. I'll be posting about progress on Mondays. INTRODUCTION I decided that I need to start a new language log to demonstrate my renewed enthusiasm. Since January I've been studying Japanese and Vietnamese regularly, but last week I gave up on Vietnamese due to lack of motivation and started learning Russian again instead. This was quite a motivator in and of itself, but then I found Ellasavia's language log which is one of the most inspirational things I've ever encountered (also, behold the power of charts!). Furthermore, I recently read an article on ajatt.com that said: "You don't learn a language; you get used to it." This really struck a chord in me and I definitely see this reflected in my strong affinity for Japanese compared to my weak affinity for French, which I've actively studied a lot more but not as long or as consistently as Japanese. I've shied away from learning more than two languages at a time because I decided that it slows progress and is less conducive to the production of a "linguist's high," which is what I call it when you unintentionally begin thinking and speaking in another language. Thus I've developed a sense of guilt when I study any language other than Japanese. But between the awe inspired by Ellasavia and his success with multiple languages and the quotation from Khatzumoto, I've decided that I can study multiple languages simultaneously, especially if doing so will keep me from wasting time on video games and such. And it seems that picking up another language for fun motivates some people to return to their focus languages, which I hadn't considered in the past. For the first time I'm setting shorter-term goals, another inspiration provided by Ellasavia (I don't know why I didn't think of doing so before). My long-term goal is to be able to read great literature in at least eight foreign languages (ideally twelve) by the time I'm 35 (in 11 years). At the moment I only have reading fluency in French, so I need to hurry up. One note about my grading: my speaking ability in every language, even in my native English, is pretty poor, and production in general is not something I'm seeking at present except in Japanese. So my CEFR ratings only account for listening and reading. RESOURCES: (will be kept up to date) Japanese:
Russian:
French:
Spanish:
German:
Latin:
Chinese:
Arabic:
Edited by Rhadryn on 08 November 2012 at 2:14am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Rhadryn Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5385 days ago 53 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, French Studies: Spanish, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Latin, German | Message 2 of 27 23 July 2012 at 1:04pm | IP Logged |
Update 1
Thoughts I did pretty well this week, despite working overtime. Japanese I'm going to really have to push myself to make my goal. Which is good--it's what I need. Non-flashcard/class-related activities:
Russian I'm pleased with how much I remember and how I can automatically conjugate some verbs (for the present tense only). I switched my textbook of focus to Teach Yourself because I was given a copy this past weekend. Non-vocabulary/flashcard-related activities:
Spanish This was harder than I thought. I read a short story (El Magen) which I understood in the loosest sense of the word. I thought it would be easy to read because I had no problems with Harry Potter last year, but I guess when I don't know the story it's more difficult. I probably need to do some more studying before I can read, but I'm not sure how to go about that yet. French I started Fort comme la Mort and it's going well. The words I don't know I can look up in the Kindle dictionary, so it's a pleasant reading experience so far. German I had no idea that the Michel Thomas method would be so addictive, but it was quite difficult to put down. As a result I raised my goal for German to 10 hours a month, but that isn't reflected in this week's chart. Edited by Rhadryn on 23 July 2012 at 1:12pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4870 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 3 of 27 24 July 2012 at 4:27pm | IP Logged |
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I like the layout of your log and the precise goals you've set for yourself :) I think it's a good idea to formulate such practical goals instead of aiming for a CEFR level. Good luck!
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Tecktight Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States Joined 4978 days ago 227 posts - 327 votes Speaks: English*, Serbian Studies: German, Russian, Estonian | Message 4 of 27 24 July 2012 at 8:03pm | IP Logged |
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I, too, like the layout of your log! It's inspiring me, as well.
Best of luck (though with this much organization, I doubt you'll need it)! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5168 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 5 of 27 24 July 2012 at 8:20pm | IP Logged |
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It's really great what you did with those charts, specific goals and methods. I'd like to do this with my languages as well, even if I only study three of them actively atm.
Could you point us to ellasevia's longs where you got your inspiration from? =D 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Rhadryn Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5385 days ago 53 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, French Studies: Spanish, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Latin, German | Message 6 of 27 25 July 2012 at 9:47am | IP Logged |
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Wow, thank you all for the encouragement!
I should have linked Ellasavia's log in my first post probably, but here it is. And this is his 2011 log which is definitely worth reading as well. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Rhadryn Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5385 days ago 53 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, French Studies: Spanish, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Latin, German | Message 7 of 27 10 August 2012 at 5:31am | IP Logged |
Update 2 (Originally lost in the rollback)
Thoughts I'm slightly disappointed with my progress this week, but it could have been worse. Japanese Class this week was unusually enlightening with regards to grammar—we talked about (among other structures) を通して, つつある, くらい and きっかけに, all of which I found to be useful. Also, when trying to reassure myself of the spelling of こんにちは (and not こんにちわ) I stumbled upon Gogen, which gives a brief definition, several synonyms, an explanation of etymology, and elaboration on usage. I love etymology, so I'm going to try to read a bunch of entries and pick out 5 words per week that I found particularly interesting. I just started on Friday so I only have three for this week: あさって、むかし、and こんにちは. This morning I was pummelled with a test in my class. Although I don't feel tests in general and this one in particular to be a very accurate evaluation of ability, it was still demoralizing to feel so thoroughly trounced. So I resolved to try much harder on the reading for class, which are essays that are pretty well written but usually only interesting for the first read-through. Non-flashcard/class-related activities:
Russian Nothing new with Russian this week really. I'm still ahead of my goal. Non-vocabulary/flashcard-related activities:
Spanish I decided to forge ahead with Spanish by reading Los Juegos del Hambre (the Hunger Games). I've already found it easier to understand than El Magen, and it helps tremendously that I already know the story pretty well. Even though I don't look up many words, it still took me about 45 minutes to get`through the first chapter, which is quite a slow pace. But I feel like I understand enough of it for it to be worthwhile. French French is fun and easy. I wish I could remember that and see it as more of a leisure activity. Fort Comme la Morte is completely different from the other Maupassant novel I've read (Bel Ami), and certainly less fun, but more thought-provoking. German The learners in Michel Thomas are getting on my nerves a bit, particularly the man who makes the same mistakes endlessly. And the teacher isn't as good as in the Russian Michel Thomas--he's a little too picky. But it's still pretty fun and easy to listen to, so I'll continue. Latin I started doing Latin but didn't make it a priority. It was fun though. I won't have any trouble meeting my goal. Edited by Rhadryn on 10 August 2012 at 9:50am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Rhadryn Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5385 days ago 53 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, French Studies: Spanish, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Latin, German | Message 8 of 27 11 August 2012 at 2:19am | IP Logged |
Update 3 (30/07 - 06/08)
Thoughts From the look of this week's chart, it seems I was a little lazy this week. In reality, I was really lazy, but managed to diminish the effect with two exceptionally productive days. When HTLAL went down on Wednesday (?) morning, my motivation went down with it. Japanese Non-flashcard/class-related activities:
Russian Non-vocabulary/flashcard-related activities:
I did the same thing as last week for French, Spanish, German, and Latin. Edited by Rhadryn on 11 August 2012 at 2:20am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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