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Expug’s All at On(c)e Log - TAC14 | ||
Tags: Papiamento | Estonian | Georgian | Native Materials | Norwegian | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Mandarin | Russian | German | French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| YnEoS Senior Member United States Joined 4255 days ago 472 posts - 893 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish | Message 185 of 415 11 April 2014 at 12:57am | IP Logged |
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Yay Indonesian!! I'm hoping I'll be able to start Indonesian next year as well, though that's semi dependent on me reaching an intermediate level on Cantonese first, and who knows how long that's going to end up taking.
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| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5167 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 186 of 415 11 April 2014 at 10:08pm | IP Logged |
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I'm kind of wanderlusting for Indonesian, and not only I'm quite interested in the
language (or else I wouldn't have listed it), but I'm also excited that it has all of the resources I'm ranking the as most valuable (it only really lacks Lyricstraining :D). The 2015 forecast (late 2015 actually) is quite realistic, though, as I have to do Estonian A1-B1, then Turkish A1-B1, then Italian B1-B2 and only then I will go for Indonesian (that is, unless I reach B1 in either Chinese on Russian before 2015, which is less likely to happen, though...hmmm, not quite so in the case of Russian, let's hope). ============================================= No way better to start the weekend than with good news! I managed to have a conversation in Chinese today, at Sharedtalk. I talked to a Chinese guy in Chinese and in English. My greatest difficulty was to understand non-obvious sentences, like when he asked about the capital of Brazil. I could still say the city I live is the third largest in Brazil and that BrasÃlia isn't the largest one and quite a few more sentences. Once again, I noticed that it would have been better if I had practiced with text chat earlier, but I think that's the way to go (I know I keep repeating myself with this expression, but it's nice to feel that something is working in the middle run when you do so much stuff with rather unnoticeable results within this interval). I had less time for Tutu, Memrise and the Papiamento video, but I accomplished those tasks right before the time to leave home. I even managed to listen to half a Chinese podcast lesson (that was before I started talking at Sharedtalk, though). I only left the Tuttle Flashcards for the afternoon. At Culrure Talk, the interviewee mentioned a Georgian folk band I've know for 7 years! It's the group 33a . I was happy to see it mentioned in the context of my studies. You don't get that from textbooks :) . Today's lesson at Travel in Chinese was about the Naxi (not the Na'vi!) people and the Dongba script. I had heard about it before but never bothered checking, and it is simply the most beautiful pictographic script I've seen so far. I managed to do some lyricstraining in French. I did the new song 'La vie d'autre côté, by Keen V. I like the lyrics. The TED dialogue was by Malcolm Gladwell. He used the example of Norden's device in the 2nd World War but didn't go much further in what he actually wanted to say. I am familiar with some of his books, nevertheless. I particularly enjoyed the beginning of the talk. Malcolm Gladwell speaks clearly and mostly with shorter sentence, and that is good for language learning. I'm more confident with Georgian reading. I get better results with Ted Talk and Culture Talk than with reading bilingually in Portuguese. Maybe it's the shorter sentences at those two medias. A normal novel, even with a simple language such as the ones by Paulo Coelho, tends to have somewhat longer sentences and long paragraphs. I do believe I'm getting a nice amount of input. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5167 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 187 of 415 14 April 2014 at 10:24pm | IP Logged |
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Weekend
I travelled on Saturday afternoon and came back some 28 hours later, as expected, but I did find time for keeping up with Memrise and Anki and for some accomplishments: I finished all the Tuttle Flashcards - which I liked better than Heisig and another author I forgot; better to have examples and formation than to force mnemonics on you - and I read 2 pages from KGGS. Still too much to finish for someone who wants to be done with Georgian grammars and textbooks asap, but at least I'm starting to notice I'm beocming more comfortable with reading this grammar extensively. And I also started another grammar which I can read even more comfortably, because this one is in English: Georgian Syntax. So, whenever I have those gaps on weekends, I'll read a few pages from Georgian Syntax because it's my next Georgian resource after KGGS. Reflections I am wanderlusting, but only for the languages I'm already considering learning. I want to learn Estonian, Turkish, Indonesian and brush up Romanian and Italian to a reading level. On the other hand, I was just reflecting on how much I can already do and how much fun I can have with the knowledge I've got so far. I can enjoy reading in German, Norwegian, Russian, Georgian as long as I have a translation. It's not the same as reading directly and extensively, but it's much more interesting than reading translated works. If the original is in the target language and deals with the local culture, then it can be quite rewarding to read even with a translation, or to watch even with double (i.e. L2/L1) subtitles. If I decide to stop studying I can still select a corpus of novels and gather some films and series and have a lot of fun with my languages. All in all, it seems my work through those 2 years have been quite rewarding, et je ne regrette rien. Funny how I'm becoming interested at the plot at the eternal French saga I'm reading. Reading is much faster now, even though I didn't read the first three volumes intensively. The current volume I'm reading is shorter than the ones I've read before and the plot also seems to be evolving faster. Travel in Chinese is a bit boring. I have to copy-paste the dialogues and study both meaning and pinyin. Sometimes I get many sentences in a row, then there are sentences with up 10 ten unknown characters. A good thing about Chinese is that I'm starting to learn words in context, that is, I managed to read enough sentences where I only miss one word or two and thus I can focus on learning those words, even with pinyin and tones right. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| glauco Bilingual Triglot Newbie BrazilRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3889 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Portuguese*, EnglishC1 Studies: French, Japanese | Message 188 of 415 15 April 2014 at 12:24pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks
I am so Happy to know that we have one similar method as tv, anki, reading, writing my cellphone and notebook language I got with me everywhere is like a time safer. I the morning i do take a shower while I do watch the TV in French I do a lot of jumping too. I am studding French, Latin and German. Language Multitask Method: Yesterday I was translating a commercial presentation of logistics' software Global project for AB-Imbev (AMBEV) from English to Portuguese and listening the tv in French: - Each 30 minutes I change to a different channel, business, music, art, cartoon - Increase the multitask languages skill - at the first 5 minutes seems hard but after 1 hour was amazing to see how much i did accomplished and learned Language Skills Benefits: KPI's (Key performance Indicators) Skill  ; ; ; Brain Areas 10% New Vocabulary     - Reading 15% Understanding sentences - Listening 10% Recognize different accents - Understanding 20% Language Multitask skill - Translating Note: I did develop this skill when I lived in USA, i was chosen in a group of Brazilians people to translate a meeting I get inside of a room with a tv and Headset the left side of the Headset I got the voice of the speaker and the right side I hear my voice back. 3 months latter I went to Canada and I did participate at the ESL program for immigrants, I did help the government on the immigration translating their interviews and Teaching twice a week English for Chinese Immigrants, at that amazing time I did study Chinese for 1 year. Also once a week I translated 1 hour conferences from different countries more them 20. Every meeting we have 3 speeches like 1 in Portuguese, Spanish and English them I should translate for one of this 3 languages, them I did started to develop multitask language skill and also recognize the different accents. On the first Month was hard to get words to flow, and remembered that a lot of people failed, also I did but the difference was that I did keep going and understood that I could do it just need to practice the ability to Translate that was a total different skill from speaking. Well thanks for your recommendations .... Obrigado Edited by glauco on 15 April 2014 at 12:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5167 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 189 of 415 18 April 2014 at 12:35am | IP Logged |
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Congratulations on your achievements, glauco! I think 30 minutes is a wise number. I
have no idea how it is like to work as an interpreter, one really needs to push one's skills highly. =========== Time for an update after the DNS issues. I can't remember well what I did the past days, but I'll try to sum up the most important issues. I finished Perfectionnement Allemand. I have mixed feelings regarding this book. I was really tired of so many notes. I also don't think I've made as much progress as I made after the 3 beginner's Assimils and maybe after La pratique de l'allemand. The texts became easier with time, though, and that's what matters. Most important, I started Wieso Nicht, from Deutsche Welle. It's one more of these courses I thought I'd never start. It's entirely in German, so, it's almost a preparation for native material while already consisting of a good exposure. Funnily enough, it's easier to understand a WN lesson, with a plot, than an Assimil lesson tha usually consists of a larger dosis of nonsense, at least in the sense of lacking introductory explanations and a longer plot. This is something I had already noticed when comparing Assimil's short lessons with other courses with longer lessons or even with other types of Assimil courses, such as Business French. Having a clear, contextual situation helps one's understanding. Well, WN is a short course, only 20 lessons. Then I'll try Markplatz and maybe delve into native materials. I started te first minutes of 'Das Leben der Anderen' and was impressed at how much I could understand so well to the point of being able to transcribe it phonetically. Sandard German has always been a language easy to decypher, and I believe this will help at understanding meaning as well at a later point. So, I also did a bit of Chinese watching and reading. I see how much difference two evenings without a forum make. Besides the series I already mentioned, I watched a few from Singapore, one of them was about recruits. I find it to be funny. It's subtitled only in English, though, and there's quite some Singlish going on. Russian is the language I'm making most sensible progress now. I'm trying my best to consolidate my cases, at least as an overview, and Russe 90 has been helping tremendously. I've been reading my Norwegian novel extensively most of the day, and comprehension increases each day. Maybe I can do a half-challenge. I've read a few text-chat attempts at SharedTalk. I talked a bit in Norwegian, no big deal. Contacted a Chinese but we talked only in English, it was lunch time for me and we couldn't resume it later. I'm still disappointed at how many invitations I send keep unanswered. The site's engine doesn't help much: you stay a couple of minutes out of its tab and you get bumped off the site; when someone accepts your invitation at the text chat, you don't get a sound warning or a tab-blinking warning. So, you really have to check the tab all the time. That goes against the spirit of permanent connection that is so typical of today's mobile social networks. I hope they get it rearranged soon. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5167 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 190 of 415 21 April 2014 at 7:11pm | IP Logged |
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So, an unexpected update on a holiday after an unexpected opportunity to study. I think
I should evaluate my resources quickly: Chinesepod - lessons are actually easy now. They all have new words, but I think I could take longer dialogues. Actually I need texts, especially for the SC. Russianpod - its longer texts at the Upper Beginner level were responsible for an improvement at my Russian, alongside with Russe 90. KGGS - Yeah, I'm reading the German on it extensively. I only think when it delves into more complicated topics of the Georgian grammar I had better do it intensively, as I still need to master them and the explanations are among the best one can find. Culture Talk Georgian - I don't like culinary lessons and the sound quality is not the best, but I'm getting use to Georgian's speed and this is important. Wieso Nicht - wonderful course. I'm actually amazed that it's easy for me, I don't have to look up more than 5 words each lesson...and it's entirely in German! So it looks rather like a preparation for B1, which means I might already be there. Russe 90 - 21 lessons so far and I'm managing to work intensively on them and do all the written exercises. I'm starting to get the hang of declensions, finally. Hjem - This series is about to come to an end. Need to find another one and watch it even if I don't find subtitles. I'm quite used to reading the subtitles in Swedish at Hjem now. French novel - Just finished the penultimate tome. 546 pages to go now. Most of them will already count for the French Super Challenge. Norwegian novel - So, I'm reading it mostly extensively. I can't really follow the plot satisfactorily enough. I do hope the half SC will remedy this. Travel in Chinese - Waiting patiently for the last month with it. I do hope there is no other course at this situation (not available fully at Youtube and lacking English subtitles Papiamento novel - haven't read the past days, didn't bring it to my hometown. I'm reading quite fast, though. Aruban orthography for the moment. Papiamento video - There are better and worse days, but overall I'm happy with my listening skills. Memrise, Anki - After Tuttle's Flashcards went over, the load seems lighter now. Not that I spent much time on them - it's rather the feeling of having one less resource to worry about. TED Talks - Ok, I don't always pause and pay close attention to the Georgian text; I'm also having some audio/subtitle desync problems. Yet, I'm learning quite a bit from it. Georgian novel - There are good and bad days. Today I didn't manage to learn much Georgian from it. Still, with so many translated Georgian texts I think overall I'm making good progress even if I don't actually work on any of them intensively. Chinese Breeze - Still too easy. Going to start a textbook (probably) this week, as I'm about to finish the one I have (I really want to find her). French movie Just finished De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté, not bad. I need to watch 15 min more if I want to go for a full SC. Don't know how to handle this, as I've also signed up for a Chinese half challenge. ====== So, the Super Challenge. I had to let go all of my intentions to associate the SC with the start of native materials for my languages. The video part of the challenge is too time consuming. People generally assume it is easier to just sit down and watch TV, but they ignore how much time it takes. For example, I need 90 minutes to complete a film, while I'm sure in 90 minutes I'd read much more than the 50 pages needed for completing a book. I read 20 French pages a day in about 20 minutes but I don't have time for the 25 minutes a day required (according to my standards) to finish the French challenge. Therefore, I'll stick to 1 French full challenge and 1 Norwegian and 1 Chinese half challenges. I'd better focus on reading when necessary (Chinese, German and Russian have no fixed reading at all now) and watch just excerpts. I know that with 5 minutes of video a day I can learn a lot, and Papiamento is there to prove, but with 5 minutes a day I can't even make a half challenge. So, going for video challenges would mean doing more than I need in a time I don't have just for the sake of a challenge. That's why I decided not to do SC's for Georgian, German and Russian, even though I'm at a point at which I need them and would benefit from them. A sad and tough decision, but life has to go on. I won't be able to use the SC as a tool for evaluating my progress, but anyway, enough reflections. What I need now is to find a way to add those activities to my routine: reading in Chinese, German and Russian; watching stuff in German, Russian and Chinese. I'll have to plan wisely an optimal way that will allow me to progress while having fun. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5167 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 191 of 415 22 April 2014 at 11:38pm | IP Logged |
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Holidays are over in a quite chaotic way. Bus crashes, canceled and delayed flights, missing luggage, late at work but things are getting on track again. I even managed to accomplish my schedule today. It's getting more effective and this is partially thanks to Wieso Nicht which is much more practical and effective than the previous Assimils.
The good offspring of the day is today's Ted Talk on listening. I like the topic and I think others could benefit from it. I even consier having a look at Julian Treasure's book. People vented that the star-system would be back again and thus the 1/4 challenges. I'm waiting for a word from Cristina on this. If that's the case, good, because I'm hopeless when it comes to the film part. If not, no problem. Life goes on. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Penelope Diglot Senior Member Greece Joined 3870 days ago 110 posts - 155 votes Speaks: English, French Studies: Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 192 of 415 23 April 2014 at 9:36am | IP Logged |
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I believe you can study through anything!
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