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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Ending Newbie United States Joined 5322 days ago 19 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 9 of 28 30 December 2014 at 5:09am | IP Logged | ||
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Just a quick update for tonight. I've spent most of the time I had today reviewing: I managed
to get my duolingo tree back up to golden, lets just hope it stays that way for more than a day! I also caught up on my anki deck, and started up on lingvist again: that one I really need to stop slacking on. Other than that, I spent some time last night translating a song. I was pleasantly surprised that, at least when it came to reading the lyrics, I actually managed to understand most of it and only had to look up a dozen words or so. Listening comprehension is a whole different story, however, but that just shows me what I need to work on more. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fortheo Senior Member United States Joined 5038 days ago 187 posts - 222 votes  Studies: French | Message 10 of 28 30 December 2014 at 7:44am | IP Logged | ||
I've only done the Michel Thomas course, but I remember a few people saying that if you've done either one of these courses then you've practically done the other. I think if you finish paul noble your time would be better spent on continuing Assimil. If you do want another audio course you could try pimsleur, but I imagine the first lessons would bore you. I definitely recommend that you try to finish Assimil though because out of all the courses you've mentioned I think that one has the most to offer you. Good luck! Edited by fortheo on 30 December 2014 at 7:46am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ending Newbie United States Joined 5322 days ago 19 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 11 of 28 03 January 2015 at 3:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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So with the new year, I'm trying to put in more time studying. I've found a few apps that
I'm trying out to keep track of daily goals and such, so I feel at least a little bit more accountable to get things done! So far I've managed to keep duolingo gold at least, though I haven't really learned any new skills yet. I'm finding that I don't like duolingo in French nearly as much as I did in Spanish. For awhile now I've turned off listening exercises because I simply can not stand the voice on there. I realize I should just put up with it, but I figure I have other sources for listening practice that it shouldn't be too bad. I've also managed to keep up with Lingvist daily. While I thoroughly enjoy the website, sometimes I worry that it introduces grammar that I haven't looked at yet. After I've seen it a few times it doesn't bother me as much, but I'm afraid that if I don't actually do some grammar study to consolidate it, I'll end up messing it up somehow. I'm about 1/3 of the way through Michel Thomas so far, and I'm still enjoying it. I know I'll have to go through it a second time, if not third. I'm finding it difficult to *just* listen to the course and not be doing something else (I get all fidgety and end up being distracted) so I need to find some small projects to work on while I go through it such as knitting or embroidery. Finally, I started reviewing some Assimil lessons last night. So far I'm just going through them backwards from the last lesson and listening several times until I know I understand everything. Once I start up on new lessons, however, I think I need to experiment with a few different methods. While I like what I was doing originally with them, they only took me about 15 minutes and I feel that simply isn't enough. As always, I'm open to any suggestions or advice! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ending Newbie United States Joined 5322 days ago 19 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 12 of 28 06 January 2015 at 3:17am | IP Logged | ||
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I've been keeping up pretty good for the last few days at least. I've started to think of
this French journey in a different sense, and it's been giving me a lot of motivation. At the same time though, I'm somewhat intimidated by how far I have to go, but I suppose that's the purpose of the journey in the first place! Anyway, on to progress: Duolingo: I've managed to keep my tree golden, and started working on new skills again. I waver between being extremely frustrated with the website, and thoroughly enjoying it. Often within the same skill. I'll keep working on it, but I only really consider it a secondary resource, so I won't/don't get too upset if/when I fall behind on there. Lingvist: I've been doing 150 cards (or whatever you call them) each day for the past few days. I normally stop at 150 do to time reasons. I've been getting a LOT of review cards lately, to the point that they take up 80-90% of the 150, so I hope that goes down in the coming days. Overall I'm still quite fond of the site, though I do still need to start actually studying some of the grammar points that come up. Assimil: I re-started doing actual lessons today. I'm currently on lesson 57 of the passive wave, 8 of the active. I found this lesson to be extremely easy: not sure if it's just the lesson itself (I've noticed a few really easy and a few really hard ones thrown in against the average) or if my break from assimil and time spent with Michel Thomas/lingvist has helped me to better understand things in general. I'm going to assume it's a mix of both. Michel Thomas: Still quite fond of the course, and I wish I had started with this from the beginning. I haven't been able to get much in the last few days: I've probably been averaging 20-30min. a day. Anki: I've kept up pretty well on my Anki deck, and I think I'll be able to add some more cards soon. I want to get the new ones cleared out before adding a ton more, so some of them don't keep getting pushed back. I'm still getting new cards that I added a month ago, so once they're all up I'll hopefully just do a few at a time instead of another massive list. Overall: I'm quite content with where I'm at at the moment and the progress I'm making. I'd rather go slow and learn things thoroughly than rush through with a basic understanding of concepts, as I have in the past. I do wish I had some more time to set aside for studying each day, but for now the hour or two I manage will have to be enough. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| s.mann Groupie United States lang-8.com/973514/jo Joined 3640 days ago 55 posts - 76 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 13 of 28 06 January 2015 at 4:27am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, I'm hardly farther along than you, but I have a suggestion about your multiple resources, which is to let them support each other.
For example, Lingvist for me is my vocab acquisition app. I'm learning some other vocab in my other materials, but it's strength is the SRS of the vocab and natural sentences, not the grammar (though they did clear up devoir/falloir for me). Personally I think it's made me feel more comfortable by introducing some verb conjugations I haven't studied anywhere yet (like the future tense) without the stress I get from Duolingo making me construct a correct sentence with it immediately upon introduction. It seems like you're already noticing the synergies in your return to Assimil. Since your resources are similar to mine I might suggest: Lingvist: vocab; I'm not going to bother with an Anki deck for vocab because this will cover me for the next year I'm sure Michel Thomas: running head start on grammar Duolingo: ongoing grammar (even though they don't explain grammar for you they train it well in my opinion) Assimil: all over wholistic course that will help bring everything together but the 10-30 minutes of lesson a day doesn't teach it on its own (I'm on lesson 2, so that's not a review, just a feeling having previewed it and read others' experiences) It sounds like you're doing a great job with the amount of time you have. I hope when my work picks back up I can commit to a couple of hours a day of dedicated study time still. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ending Newbie United States Joined 5322 days ago 19 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 14 of 28 09 January 2015 at 8:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Update time! I've been (semi) productive the last few days at least.
Lingvist: it only takes me about 16 minutes on average to get the 150 cards in each day, so I've had no problems keeping up with that. According to their count, I'm at 771 words. Duolingo: My tree remains golden! My streak is only at 12 days at the moment, but a start is still a start. I've only managed to complete a couple of new skills, but I am making progress at least. Michel Thomas: I finished the Total course yesterday. I still have to go through the vocabulary discs, however. I listened through the first couple of tracks, and I'm not entirely sure if I like it or not--I'm a bit put off by it at the moment, but that might just be because I'm still at the beginning of them. Either way, I'll plow through the rest of the vocab section eventually. I also plan on going through the entire Total course again at some point, probably not until I have a few solid days to work on it though. Assimil: I've only managed to do one lesson since my last update. I'm on lesson 58 of the passive wave, 9 of the active. I found this lesson a bit more difficult than the last one, but with a little more work on it, I should be good. Anki: Still going strong! In a few days I should be able to add some new cards, there's a few terms from Assimil I definitely wan to get in there, along with some words from readings/songs. Overall: Now that I've (mostly) finished Michel Thomas, I want to start working through some grammar. I'll probably use "easy french" and the practice makes perfect books to drill some grammar points that come up in Assimil and Lingvist. At this point I'm really starting to feel the need for some solid grammar study and exercises, as I haven't really had that yet. I might also start working through the FSI course sooner or later, but we'll see how everything else goes first. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ending Newbie United States Joined 5322 days ago 19 posts - 20 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 15 of 28 15 January 2015 at 2:21am | IP Logged | ||
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A rather slow week so far:
Duolingo: Tree is still golden, and I've managed to complete a few more skills. Streak is at 17 days. Lingvist: I'm at 835 words, averaging 10-20 new words a day. Michel Thomas: I still haven't gotten around to going through the vocab CD's. Hopefully that will happen some time soon, though I make myself no promises. Anki: Finally got rid of all my new cards, now to decide what to add next...I'm contemplating adding all the sentences from Assimil, but not sure if I'll like that or not. I have the first lesson in the deck already, and I don't mind it. Otherwise I'll start looking through my notes for words and phrases that stood out to me for whatever reason. Assimil: I will admit that, for whatever reason, I've been having a hard time getting back into Assimil. I know if I can get in the habit of doing a lesson a day I'll be fine after a week, but getting into that habit is proving to be more difficult than I thought it would be.. Overall: I haven't made a whole lot of progress this last week, though I've kept up with my dailies at least. I also started a basic reader, which I'm enjoying so far. I should have some extra time starting next week, so I'll take advantage of that and get some serious work in. Side note: I have started doing a bit with Japanese again (at least I've added a daily goal of doing *something* with it. Right now it's not much--I'm spending maybe 10 minutes (if that) on Readthekanji to brush up. Perhaps later I'll start doing some more serious studying, but for now I want to keep it simple. Edited by Ending on 15 January 2015 at 2:23am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Meyers Diglot Newbie New Zealand Joined 3611 days ago 36 posts - 39 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French | Message 16 of 28 16 January 2015 at 11:22am | IP Logged | ||
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Hey, I've been reading your log, keep it up!
I think what you mentioned about starting an FSI course might be a good idea. Personally I've found a course like FSI, FiA etc combined with Assimil, works out rather well. Looking forward to reading your future progress! Edited by Meyers on 16 January 2015 at 11:23am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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