Super Challenge discussion thread 2014 (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

Super Challenge discussion thread 2014
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Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log

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Kerrie
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/Kerrie2
Joined 5396 days ago
1232 posts - 1740 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 169 of 432

15 February 2014 at 10:36pm | IP Logged

Serpent wrote:

Surely I'm not the only one who "wasted" HP/LOTR on languages in which there are tons of other resources?

How is any time that you spent working on bettering your language skills "wasted"? The idea of the Super Challenge is to challenge yourself, not to waste time doing something you don't want to do just so you can tick off the next item on your SC to-do list.

Next time, choose something you enjoy doing, then your time won't be wasted.
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Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
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Joined 6598 days ago
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4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, Finnish^C1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

Message 170 of 432

15 February 2014 at 11:21pm | IP Logged

That's not what I mean, and no need to be hostile to me all the time. I miss the time when we were BFF's.

What I mean is that I read most of that in Italian and Polish, and I enjoyed it. But I have tons of other stuff I want to read in these languages, especially Italian, and I should've totally read them in a language with less resources, such as Belarusian, Croatian or even German (in which there are resources, but too many are still above my level). I like HP and I love LOTR, but there's only so much (re)reading I can do in 20 months. That's why I gave up on Danish at 94 films - because of HP overload.

Edited by Serpent on 15 February 2014 at 11:23pm
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Solfrid Cristin
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2011 & 2012
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5335 days ago
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Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian
Studies: Russian

Message 171 of 432

15 February 2014 at 11:28pm | IP Logged

I agree that in general it would be a good thing to have less hostility here. Remember, this is supposed to be
fun...

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Serpent
Octoglot
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Joined 6598 days ago
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Message 172 of 432

15 February 2014 at 11:54pm | IP Logged

And have you read my previous post?

Also does early modern English count? This awesomeness is from the dead languages challenge thread:

emk wrote:

Well, yes, this challenge may be a bit on the easy side for Iceland speakers reading Old Norse. :-) Or for English speakers reading The Canterbury Tales, for that matter:

Quote:

Whilom, as olde stories tellen us,
Ther was a duc that highte theseus;
Of atthenes he was lord and governour,
And in his tyme swich a conquerour,
That gretter was ther noon under the sonne.

Once on a time, as old tales tell to us,
There was a duke whose name was Theseus:
Of Athens he was lord and governor,
And in his time was such a conqueror
That greater was there not beneath the sun.

I'm definitely going to read some English (I've read like 1 or 2 books in English by voluntary choice), and it would be nice not to limit it to the new stuff :-)
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Solfrid Cristin
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2011 & 2012
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5335 days ago
4143 posts - 8864 votes

Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian
Studies: Russian

Message 173 of 432

16 February 2014 at 12:01am | IP Logged

Serpent wrote:

I disagree with that. I added Romanian in June (or even late May), and I added
Belarusian sometime later in summer. If I had done them from the beginning, I'd have completed Belarusian
movies, and I'd have completed Romanian before New Year's Eve, leaving more time for those 6 Danish
"movies" that I didn't finish.

When you're doing a challenge, you're generally prioritizing the language over others. For example, when
choosing in which language to watch football, I always thought of the Super Challenge, as well as the 6WC
when it was on. Fortunately in 2013 there was also reineke's
challenge that allowed me not to throw away the opportunities to watch something in an unusual
language.

Especially with video/audio, I think many learners are going to finish early, and still want to watch/listen to
something that no longer counts. If you look back, won't you wish you had spread it more evenly? Surely I'm
not the only one who "wasted" HP/LOTR on languages in which there are tons of other resources?

And for example in Expugnator's case, it makes no sense to count retroactively what he read when there's a
bot that can let him count the reading (and movies) from the beginning. It's always easier when your stats are
up-to-date, and trying to fix them later just takes more time away from language learning.

You say that doing a half challenge or movies only is also an achievement - then what's wrong with
registering for the challenge with that in mind? Of course if you're already fluent in German/French/Italian, it's
much more important for you to complete your Russian challenge - but everyone is different. Yes, if you have
a clear highest priority language, it's better to aim for just one Super Challenge, and for some misc stars in
other languages. (and besides, I assume the ranking will still be calculated per member and not per language
- wanting to be above those who are focusing on one-two languages was one of my reasons for registering
with more and more languages) But a challenge is just a challenge. Don't let your other languages suffer. If
you have reasonable expectations/plans of completing one reading star in a language, and/or if it's one of
your main languages for TAC, register with it. Unless said language is a guilty pleasure/your way of
procrastinating, like Spanish sometimes is for me.

BTW, any feedback/stats from those who started later? Did everyone who completed the full 100/100 start in
May 2012?

Also, what about this?

surrealix wrote:

- Personally, I enjoyed having separate graphs/counts for different languages. It made it
easier to keep track of what I needed to study. An option I think could work for the next round would be to
keep the same language distinction, but remove the 'registration' step so that people who want to record
those 12 pages of Xhosa can do so easily. The rankings would be done on totals with options to drill down
into individual languages if people want.

I think it would be good if people learning several languages could record everything from the beginning, and
then see what chances of completing the challenge they have. Or will you be asking surrealix not to change
this?

Serpent, if anyone but you had made that comment about only caring about my own goals, and not about the
others, I would have been deeply hurt. Since I know that as a Russian you are very direct, since I consider
you my friend, and since I know that you are very passionate about the Super Challenge, I will take your
comments in the best possible way.

But please remember that very few people can pull off what you can pull off, and if people get the idea that 4-
5 SCs is a piece of cake a lot of them will fail. I will not FORBID anyone to do as many SCs as they want. But
I will RECOMMEND that they do as few as possible. There are a lot of challenges where people can fit in
their other languages. This one was never designed to cover all the languages everyone studies. This was
designed to be the big extraordinary one that you did for one particular language where you really wanted to
see an improvement. I refuse to feel guilty for proposing that.

Now could we please all use a more civil tone. I have received PMs from people who are starting to get put
off the Super Challenge because of this discussion.

I am still eager to hear more good advice about how to best spend the waiting time before we start up again
though :-)

Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 16 February 2014 at 12:15am
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Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6598 days ago
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Message 174 of 432

16 February 2014 at 12:23am | IP Logged

I didn't say you only care about your own goals. You are used to (looking for) subtlety, but I honestly didn't mean more than I said. Hm, interesting new angle to look at subtlety/directness.

Of course we all know that you care. What I was saying is just that if you consider it an achievement to do several half challenges, there's also nothing wrong with registering with a few languages from the beginning. If in one of them you make significant progress and feel ready to double your goal, do it. If not, that's not a failure, even if it's not enough success to earn a ribbon.

But I absolutely agree that in non-fluent languages two (and even one!) SC's is a lot of work. More is only possible if one or more of them is C1 or higher, I would say.
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Kerrie
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/Kerrie2
Joined 5396 days ago
1232 posts - 1740 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 175 of 432

16 February 2014 at 12:25am | IP Logged

Solfrid Cristin wrote:

I am still eager to hear more good advice about how to best spend the waiting time before we start up again though :-)

I'll add my two cents on that one.

Read intensively. Read the first chapter or two of a book (or more than one) that you want to read for the super challenge. Look up vocab that you don't know. Put it in Anki and memorize it. If you do 10 words a day between now and the beginning of the challenge, you will have learned about 750 new words. If you focus on the words you will need for reading the books you want to read, it will make the starting process a little easier. Especially for those at a lower level.

That's just my two cents. From my experience. Of course. Everyone's approach is different, and different things work for different types of learners. But it was an incredibly effective strategy for me with Spanish, and I plan to do the same with French this year for the Super Challenge.

And once I get through about 5,000 pages in French, I will begin to employ the same strategy with Italian. And maybe German. But only after I get over the "hump" with French. I agree with Cristina that it is better to focus on making good progress in one language before jumping into the next language. And honestly, I kinda wish I had that perspective a year ago, and I might have been able to accomplish a lot more.

Of course, that's coming from a beginner or low-intermediate stage, too. For those starting at a higher level, someone else will have to give us ideas for that. :)

Edited by Kerrie on 16 February 2014 at 12:26am
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Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6598 days ago
9753 posts - 15779 votes

Message 176 of 432

16 February 2014 at 12:41am | IP Logged

Beginner or low intermediate coming from a "moderately related" language. It's harder if the language is not Romance or Germanic and easier if you speak/study more than one from either of these groups, one of which is at least around basic fluency. (English has diverged too far to "count" for the Germanic group, though)

Edited by Serpent on 16 February 2014 at 12:51am

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