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Josquin’s TAC 2014 - Катюша, Celts, 旅立ち | ||
Tags: Gaelic (Irish) | Hungarian | Portuguese | Korean | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Italian | Japanese | Russian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6059 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 97 of 227 29 March 2014 at 7:38pm | IP Logged | ||
I just noticed this and would also like to volunteer to help you in this journey, if you want. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4842 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 98 of 227 30 March 2014 at 5:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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Obrigado, Luso! This is the great thing about this forum, having native speakers that support you. I'll get back to you when I have questions.
@fabriciocarraro: Yeah, kanji can be a real nuiseance. I know most of the kanji, which have been introduced by now, but don't ask me to write them from memory! I sometimes even confuse some of the katakana, but I'm getting better at that. :) I did some Japanese, Portuguese, and Irish today. I repeated kanji and grammar from Genki, and reinforced stuff from unit 1 in Lehrbuch der portugiesischen Sprache. I also gave Learning Irish another go, which didn't seem that bad any more. Maybe, if I mix it with Gaeilge gan Stró, I can finally progress beyond A1 in Irish. I have been working on this language for nearly a year and still I can't say much more than: Is mise Christian agus tá mé 29 mbliana d'aois. Is mac léinn mé agus tá mé i mo chónaí sa Ghearmáin. Is maith liom ceól, teangacha agus léamh. Tá mé ag foghlaim Gaeilge anois agus tá sé go hiontach. Anyway, giving up isn't an option, so I will see if a different mindset can get me further. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4842 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 99 of 227 12 April 2014 at 3:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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SATURDAY, 12 APRIL 2014
Dear all, I just wanted to inform you that the charcater of this log is likely to change in the future. I'm currently redefining a lot of things in my life and I found that languages simply aren't that important to me any more. I'm concentrating on music now and I will only do a little bit of language studies on the side when I feel like it. That means I finally came to the conclusion that I'm not that kind of language nerd which seems to be cherished on this forum, i.e. a person who thinks about nothing else but languages and has a study plan which is beyond sanity. I am not that kind of person and I don't want to become one. This means you're likely to see fewer updates in the future, which, however, doesn't mean I'm not doing well. On the contrary, I finally found some happiness in life, which made me realize that languages are nice, but not everything. Writing a public log on this forum always put me under pressure to study more, so I had "good news" to report. I'm not going to do that any more. Reading some Russian texts, listening to JapanesePod, or studying some Irish or Portuguese from time to time is a nice hobby for me, but it's not an obsession or even my life. You've given me a lot of positive feedback and support during all I made through and I'm very grateful for that. Now, there are other things I need to do, so I probably won't get to report about language studies that often any more. I will remain a frequent visitor of this forum and I'll stay captain of Team Катюша, but I won't keep this log like I used to do. I will report from time to time and maybe about more general things, but not about every podcast I listened to or every unit I completed in a textbook. Anyway, I haven't touched most of my books in over a week now and this probably won't change soon. I'm not saying this is the end of my language "carreer". I have always been interested in languages and I probably always will be. However, I have other priorities now and I don't want to study for studying's sake, so I don't know if or when I'll return to systematic language learning. Anyway, writing this log has meant an awful lot to me for a long time, so I proably won't stop writing, but it definitely won't be that often any more. Life has taken a new turn now and the only thing remaining constant is change. Take care, everybody! It has been a pleasure studying with you. See you soon! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4663 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 100 of 227 12 April 2014 at 9:22pm | IP Logged | ||
I hope you don't think that to participate in this forum you need to obsess over a language. If your priorities in life have changed such that you'll spend less time with languages that's fine. If that means you'll post less, that's fine too. Even as a TAC participant I don't think there's a requirement to post on a regular basis. I find that logging what I do and then posting a weekly update, setting monthly goals and then noting whether I met them or not is something that helps me to focus and shows me whether I'm managing to keep up with the various tracks in my study plan. However, if there's one thing I've learnt from this forum, it's that everyone is different and what works for me way well not work for you. That's OK. I've enjoyed reading your log here, so hopefully you'll drop by occasionally to let us know how you are getting on. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5332 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 101 of 227 12 April 2014 at 9:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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Dear Josquin, I have been pondering over whether I should be happy or sad about this, and have come to
the conclusion that I am happy for you but a bit sad for us. You were this shiny beacon of structure and perseverance, and someone I looked up to. On the other hand I will continue to look up to you for having the strength to rise above any expectations or pressure from others and simply do what makes you happy. I obviously hope to see as much as possible of you here also in the future, but I am very happy that you will stay on as captain of team Katioushsa, and will regard anything else as a bonus. Go and be happy. At the end of the day that is the only thing that matters. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| AlOlaf Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5146 days ago 491 posts - 617 votes Speaks: English*, GermanC2 Studies: Danish | Message 102 of 227 12 April 2014 at 10:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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Josquin, whatever you end up doing, I want you to know that you've helped me tremendously.
4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4842 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 103 of 227 13 April 2014 at 12:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you, guys!
Maybe, I should have been less cryptic in my post. The point is I started taking singing lessons and noticed that I'm not only good at singing but that it gives me a kind of deep satisfaction and happiness I have seldom felt in my life. I think there can be no clearer sign what one is supposed to do with life than feeling truly happy, so this is the way I will go. Languages will always stay beautiful and fascinating, but I'm just not interested in systematic language studies any more. Maybe, I never truly was. I only studied languages out of curiosity, not because I wanted to become fluent in them. I think this is what makes me different from a lot of people on this forum. I'm happy with just knowing a little bit of Russian. I don't need perfection. I'm simply not interested in getting better any more. So, what's the point? Maybe, there will be a time when I feel like hitting the books again, but this time is not now. I have always been a very structured person, so, probably, what I need right now is less structure and more spontaneity. Having a strict studying schedule wouldn't do me good right now. As I said, life has taken a new turn and the only constant is change, so I guess the chapter of systematic language studies is over for the time being. I will probably do a little bit of Russian, Japanese, or Irish now and then, but it will be a lot less frequent than it used to be. If there's anything interesting and language related to report, I'll get back to you. Once again: Thank you for everything! Edited by Josquin on 13 April 2014 at 1:26pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4842 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 104 of 227 24 April 2014 at 6:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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THURSDAY, 24 APRIL 2014
So, life is turning and changing and after two weeks of absence I have decided to write a little text about my current situation. I am not going to talk about my private life, which has taken an interesting turn I could hardly foresee, but rather concentrate on the purpose of this forum, which is obviously languages. First of all: Yes, I'm still studying, but not regularly and not very systematically. Reading a foreign language and listening to its sound still give me a kind of intellectual tickle I don't want to miss. However, I have banned Anki out of my life and I do only what I like to do. If that means I will progress only slowly, I'm okay with that. As far as languages are concerned, the journey is my reward, so I want to enjoy it. Unfortunately, I have so many interests that I hardly find the time for all of them, so I need to forget about perfection. Maybe, I'll do a week of regular studying followed by two weeks of no studying at all and that's all right. So, although my relaxed approach may be a harsh contrast to all the challenges and the results-oriented mentality at HTLAL, that doesn't mean I don't belong here. I love writing this log and participating in stimulating discussions, but I'm not obsessed by languages the way some people here are. I don't know why a person should speak 20 languages when they have nothing interesting to say. In concrete terms, I'm still concentrating on Russian, Irish, and Japanese. Although Portuguese is interesting, three beginner-level languages are simply too much. Both my Irish and my Japanese are still at a rather basic level, so I should rather consolidate them before starting a new language. That said, I'm getting more and more interested in Arabic, so if time and money allow it, I might get myself an Arabic course sooner or later. As far as Russian is concerned, I'm still juggling texts from Colloquial Russian 2 and graded readers. If I had the time, I'd hunt for easy native materials, but as I said I can't sing, practise the piano, play the bassoon, study Irish and Japanese grammar, and read a lot of Russian at the same time - that is, in my free time, of course. I still have to work on my dissertation for a living. Anyway, I'm very pleased with the way things are right now. I needed to find the priorities in my life and had to decide to cut short on my languages, but I'm still in the game. It's an interesting and exciting time for me, so my languages may suffer a little bit, but I'm no longer worried about that. Edited by Josquin on 24 April 2014 at 6:38pm 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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