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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 17 of 27 01 October 2012 at 6:37pm | IP Logged |
Update 11 (24/09 - 30/09)
Japanese I just tried to read a lot this week. Unlike with the first book, I haven't memorized Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, so I'm much more interested in what happens (I don't remember much from the first time I read it 10 years ago). Even so, an hour at a time is my limit, but I feel like that's a decent accomplishment. Non-flashcard activities:
Russian I got back into doing Assimil this week. It's a lot of daily activities for Russian, but I think I can handle it. I'm a little baffled by the similarities in the Russian verbs, but I remember having the same problem with Japanese so I'm not too discouraged. Non-flashcard activities:
Spanish I've decided to start reviewing Spanish by listening to Assimil while driving. I'll also try to set aside a few minutes a day to check for problems and understanding. The nice thing about Spanish is that it's not really necessary to read the transcript--the spelling can be easily understood just with hearing. This week I only listened once. French I didn't eat out often this week, so I didn't read much French. Le Pere Goriot just keeps getting better and better, though. German I was much more consistent with German, and arrived at lesson 14 this week. It's fun, and the dialogues are interesting, though sometimes too short. I'm expecting it to become difficult at any moment now... Latin With lesson 19, I'm starting to find gaps in comprehension. I'm not trying anything extra to understand the grammar, and I'll probably start paying for that in the coming lessons. 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 18 of 27 02 October 2012 at 9:57am | IP Logged |
September Update
Obviously this month wasn't great because I took a half-hearted two week vacation. However, now I'm back and pumped. In this last week I started using this website, Chains to remind myself of my daily goals and keep track of how well I fulfill them. Japanese: Actual: 50.54 hours Goal: 80 hours Signs of progress: I've seen a considerable increase in speed in September—in August my goal was to read two chapters of Harry Potter a week, and in the last week I managed four and a half chapters (still without reaching my weekly Japanese goal). I don't look up quite as many words as I used to. Every time I remember a dream, it seems that some Japanese was spoken at some point in it. Future plans: I've been wrestling with the idea of studying from a textbook for the last three weeks, since my class ended. I even found one that looked great, but in the end I think my primary goal at the moment is to increase the ease of receiving input, and I believe at this stage grammar is not an efficient way to do that. I was worried about having only Harry Potter and various anime/J drama as input (with the occasional podcast and song), but then I found http://hukumusume.com/douwa/index.html, a website of fairy tales. They're at good lengths and usually have accompanying audio—what could be better? Russian: Actual: 17.70 hours Goal: 25 hours Signs of progress: Through Penguin I now have some familiarity with the formation of all the noun cases except instrumental. I've also been introduced to aspect, though I don't know what it means exactly yet (in Russian). I'm beginning to form thoughts and talk to myself in Russian. I tend to spend more time than planned, and I'm always excited about what will come next. Future plans: My two resources, Penguin and Assimil, will probably last about 6 more weeks, and I'm quite happy with them at present. However, I was getting discouraged about my inability to remember how to conjugate and decline, so I found http://www.practicerussian.com which has tests to practice these problems. Obviously it's better to know aurally rather than mentally what form the word should be in, but for now while I'm doing textbook exercises, I think a solid intellectual foundation can only help. Spanish: Actual: 0.22 hours Goal: 6 hours As I said in my most recent weekly log, I'm going to start doing Assimil in a very casual way. French: Actual: 4.41 hours Goal: 5 hours I don't have any progress to record, but I think I've discovered that 5 hours a month is a maintenance level, at best. German: Actual: 3.42 hours Goal: 10 hours I feel like I've already forgotten a lot from Michel Thomas, but my two week break certainly didn't help with German, so I'm going to attribute any worry and disappointment I feel to that. Latin: Actual: 2.92 hours Goal: 5 hours Lingua Latina is getting harder, but I still have a good grasp of the meaning. I'm more than halfway through so I need to come up with a plan for the future. I'll probably re-read it (starting at chapter 8 or so), paying more attention to the grammatical notes. Total study hours in September: 79.21 hours 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 19 of 27 11 October 2012 at 6:15am | IP Logged |
Update 12 (01/10 - 07/10)
Japanese So close to making my goal! I had a nasty weekend which impeded me, though. The ghost stories I mentioned last week are, as I said before, of a good casual length, have nice audio, and I'm enjoying reading them without trying to understand everything. On the other hand I'm still being pretty strict with Harry Potter, and I make about 10 flashcards a day for new words encountered there. I started listening to podcasts to help me go to sleep, which makes me feel more productive though it doesn't add much to my study time. Non-flashcard activities:
Russian The Russian Assimil is so much harder than the German one. I can easily spend thirty minutes on it and still not understand everything. I ought to be starting scriptorium this coming week. In Penguin I did most of chapter 13, but the vocabulary absolutely decimated me. I can't remember the verbs to save my life, so I'm going to spend the next week just trying to catch up with the vocabulary. It's really annoying to be delayed by this, but I feel it's essential for fully enjoying the book. This week I was using the website mentioned above to practice Russian grammar, but next week I'm going to make flashcards to practice declensions and conjugations. Maybe it will help me remember the verbs, too.
Spanish Listened to some more Spanish. It's coming back to me pretty steadily. I think if I do this for a month I'll be well-prepared for some more intensive study. French Once again I didn't do much French, but I'm still chugging away at Le Pere Goriot. I might finish next week if I work hard, but I'll certainly finish by the week after. German I did Assimil up to lesson 21, and I'm a little frustrated with the short lessons. Some days I can barely do 20 minutes before feeling like I've learned it. It is enjoyable though, and I often do it first thing in the morning to motivate me. Latin Somehow I'm only on lesson 23 in Lingua Latina. I've got eleven more lessons to go, so I just need to push through to finish. My motivation for Latin isn't very strong it seems though, as it's usually the last one on my list to be completed. I tend to fall asleep when I listen to it. Arabic I learned seven letters of the Arabic alphabet from various sources. I've decided that the way that suits me best is the infamous textbook Alif Baa, so I'll be using that from now on. My goal is to do Arabic at least twice a week until I know the alphabet; that way hopefully I won't forget too much. Mandarin I listened to another lesson on Chinese pod and decided that it is waaaay too much talking in English to be worthwhile. My main focus for this year is just to get used to the sounds anyway, so I think I'll try to use Assimil for the rest of my time. 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 20 of 27 22 October 2012 at 10:59am | IP Logged |
Update 13 (08/10 - 15/10)
Japanese Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is losing its shine. I remember now why I liked this book the least of all, except perhaps the sixth. It's rather dull and lacks cohesion. I feel like my Japanese is improving though--I look up fewer and fewer words, and haven't had a new vocabulary barrage more than a couple of times this week. Non-flashcard activities:
Russian I spent this week trying to catch up on the vocabulary from Penguin in flashcards. I didn't entirely succeed, but I'm doing better than before. Really it's the verbs that are killing me--the other words aren't any harder than French or Spanish, but all the verbs look the same and trying to remember both the perfective and imperfective is near impossible. I also started doing flashcards to practice conjugation and declension. Since I'm not entirely sure how helpful it actually will be, I'm limiting my time to between 10 and 25 minutes a day. Non-flashcard activities:
Spanish I am now speaking to myself in Spanish about as much as I do in German. I think this demonstrates the validity of the premise of my current language study: "you don't learn a language; you get used to it." French I'll finish this book next week for sure. I should do more French. German I'm pleased to report Assimil is getting a lot more interesting and challenging. I'm now up to Lesson 26 and have easily spent 25 minutes on the most recent sessions. Latin Up to lesson 26! I find that lately I understand only the gist of the readings on the first time through, but catch most of it on the second time through. Arabic Basically I just reviewed what I learned last week and did a little more practice with those 10 (13?) letters. (Note: this post is exactly one week late. The current week's post will come tomorrow or Wednesday). Edited by Rhadryn on 22 October 2012 at 6:34pm 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 21 of 27 26 October 2012 at 3:13pm | IP Logged |
Update 14 (15/10 - 21/10)
Due to a variety of circumstances, my studying tanked a bit this week. One day I only did very light studying, and the next I did nothing at all. But one day off a month isn't too bad, I think. Japanese I went pretty light on this. I haven't been able to watch TV in Japanese for a while, so my time was already taking a hit. But totaling it up, I still read Japanese for four hours this week. I was also pretty excited to realize that I understood a lot more of the podcast than I used to. Non-flashcard activities:
Russian I nearly caught up with my flashcards this week. Things are going pretty well I guess. Non-flashcard activities:
Spanish Same old same old. French I finished the book, finally! The last page was odd; I had to read it three times and then I still wasn't sure I understood it. Le Pere Goriot will go on my re-read list...but I'll definitely need to read it quicker next time! German Now at lesson 33, it's becoming more challenging but in an enjoyable way. I'm pretty sure this is the best of the Assimils that I have tried. Latin On chapter 29, and it's not getting any easier. I'm quite glad I have the audio to keep me from getting stuck on certain parts. 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 22 of 27 07 November 2012 at 2:21pm | IP Logged |
Update 15 (22/10 - 28/10)
I was pretty pumped this week. Japanese Non-flashcard activities:
Russian I've found that reading poetry is a huge motivator. I got a snatch of a second Russian poem through Assimil, this one written by Pushkin. So I've now memorized three lines of a Pushkin poem, a taste of that which is one of my main goals in learning Russian! What a rush! I also came across some fairy tales for kids with audio. This is the ideal source of learning for me, at the beginner stage. Unfortunately, I only understand a few words per page; not enough to figure out many words based on context even though I know the stories. I did learn mirror in Snow White (зеркало, зеркало на стене, кто всех прекраснее в нашей стране?). Even though I don't understand a lot, I still think it's good practice for developing an ear for Russian. Non-flashcard activities:
Spanish Just a little Spanish this week. French La Chartreuse de Parme has an interesting beginning and I really enjoy the ironic tone. I'm not sure I understand all of what is happening though--I keep getting names mixed up. German Now on lesson 41 of Assimil. It's still fun, with only a few annoying lessons here and there. Latin Finally finished Lingua Latina! And the end was a huge boost to my motivation, because chapters 34 (and 33 too I believe) quote Virgil and other Latin poets extensively. Although I could barely get the gist and sometimes not even that, it still made me feel as if Latin poetry was within my grasp. Latin is probably my lowest priority right now, but even so I don't want to give it up. Edited by Rhadryn on 07 November 2012 at 2:22pm 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 23 of 27 12 November 2012 at 5:33am | IP Logged |
October Update
Japanese: Actual: 54.77 hours Goal: 80 hours Signs of progress: Podcasts have become much more intelligible. Reading is slowly becoming easier. Vocabulary is increasing. I'm quite happy with how consistent I have studied Japanese independently. Future plans: I've given up on my original goal of 80 hours a month, and lately I've felt that since I have no goal I can study as much or as little Japanese as I feel like. So, I think I'll unofficially lower my goal to 60 hours a month (14 hours a week) for the rest of the year. My original goal was intended to include at least 6 hours a week from Japanese class, and since I stopped taking classes it's quite difficult to reach that goal. I'll keep the charts the same though for the sake of uniformity. This month I hope to spend more time reading. Perhaps I'll try reading some of the things I was struggling with last year around this time--銀河鉄道の夜 and Fate/Stay Night. Russian: Actual: 35.92 hours Goal: 25 hours Signs of progress: The vocabulary barrier seems pretty insurmountable. It really slows me down in Penguin, and has even affected my retention of Assimil lessons (although these also seem a lot harder than in other Assimil courses). I can't really say that I've seen much progress. I think that with Russian, slow and steady will win the race. Future plans: However, I think that increasing exposure to the language would bring the contribute the most benefit factoring in frustration. To do this I hope to start reading Russian storybooks every day and find some more Russian series to watch. Spanish: Actual: 5.23 hours Goal: 6 hours I could probably be a little more consistent with this, but I'm fairly happy with studying Spanish two or three times a week casually. I was going to start studying more seriously this month but as it turns out my work schedule hasn't changed at all, so I'll just have to do some serious cramming next month to meet my final goal. I don't think this will be a problem though--Spanish has never presented any real difficulty when I concentrate on it. French: Actual: 7.02 hours Goal: 5 hours Finished another book this month, thereby completing my yearly goal. I can probably finish one more before the end of the year, and then I'll probably read some poetry. German: Actual: 10.73 hours Goal: 10 hours I'm continuing to enjoy German. Learning the past tense was pretty motivating. The verbs with detachable prepositions are intimidating (and prepositions in general). Now I feel like I understand the frustration of my English students a little better. In general German is a satisfying experience, and more fun than I expected it would be. Latin: Actual: 7.5 hours Goal: 5 hours So I finished Lingua Latina, but I'm going to read through it again this month starting at chapter 8. I'm hoping to be able to complete the book again with a little more comprehension. Maybe I'll start something new in December. Arabic: Actual: 1.83 hours Goal: 15 hours (by the end of the year) I started learning the alphabet at the beginning of the month, but didn't practice much. Total study hours in October: 123.12 hours 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 24 of 27 14 November 2012 at 5:08pm | IP Logged |
Update 16 (29/10 - 4/11)
This week I was kind of busy exploring Bangkok and Siem Reap. Considering that I was on vacation the whole time and often very tired, I feel like I did pretty well. The coolest thing about this vacation was that everywhere I went, I heard a foreign language, and usually I recognized it. On the bus to Siem Reap I overheard conversations in French and I feel pretty confident in my identification of several passengers as speakers of Mandarin. At Angkor Wat I eavesdropped on a Russian tour guide (I kept hearing him say давным давно, which almost always begins the fairy tales I've been reading lately). I understood the gist of a loud Spanish conversation taking place on the bus to the border with Thailand, and I picked out many words in a German conversation that happened on the bus to Bangkok. And several times in Bangkok I ate at a table next to Japanese speakers. So even though I didn't study as much, my mind was frequently in foreign language mode. Japanese Non-flashcard activities:
Russian It's getting really hard to do Assimil. The lessons seem much longer than in German and I can't keep up with the recording. And I'm still at an vocabulary impasse with Penguin. On the bright side, I'm being quite consistent with practicing declining and conjugating, and I definitely feel that it's becoming easier. Non-flashcard activities:
Spanish I will do something different pretty soon! This week I just reviewed Assimil again. French I'm pretty discouraged about la Chartreuse of Parme, and I'm even considering giving up. I'm finding it even more difficult to follow than le Père Goriot, but I can't figure out why--I don't feel like the vocabulary blocking my understanding. I will press on though. German On Assimil lesson 46. German is a lot cooler than I expected. Latin Listened to Lingua Latina starting at chapter 7 up to chapter 11. Edited by Rhadryn on 14 November 2012 at 5:30pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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