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Stelingo’s TAC 2014 | ||
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| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5833 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 1 of 27 02 January 2014 at 2:00am | IP Logged |
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I did my first TAC last year but gave up updating my log around March. Let’s see if I can do better this year. I teach French and Spanish in a comprehensive school in the UK.
For the challenge I am concentrating on Mandarin as I want to go to China in the Summer. I shall also be observing team Sokoły as I study Polish. In addition I study several other languages and would be the first to admit that I spread myself too thinly. TAC LANGUAGES MANDARIN CHINESE CURRENT LEVEL LOW A2 I began learning Mandarin Chinese about 5 years ago. I was always reluctant to study this language as I thought it would be too difficult, being a tonal language. In fact for many years I studied Japanese. However my school established a link with a school in China so I decided to give up Japanese in favour of Chinese. I find the language fascinating and enjoy learning the Hanzi. (I use skritter.com to practise them and officially know 805 characters, although in reality I can probably only write half that number from memory.) But I find it disconcerting that, if your tones aren’t reasonably accurate, it’s very difficult to make yourself understood. My school actually paid for me to do a 2 week language course in Beijing in 2010. Of course I didn’t make much progress in such a short time, but it was an interesting experience. This year I want to travel around the country. I especially want to visit the Panda reserve in Chengdu. :-) GOALS Last year I completed ‘Colloquial Chinese’. I am now moving onto ‘A New Practical Reader’ I am quickly working through NCPR 1 (on L12 at the moment) as a refresher and hope to start NCPR 2 very soon, which I would like to complete by the end of the year. For variety I shall also use ‘Discover Chinese 2’. I worked through the first volume a couple of years ago. It’s a classroom textbook, so not ideal for self-study but I like it. I shall continue to use Skritter to learn characters and will try and reach 1500 by the end of the year. My main focus is on recognising them, although I practise writing them on Skritter, as I think this is the best way to achieve that goal. I also intend using Skype regularly in order to boost my confidence when speaking as much as anything. Mandarin is the only language where I am ‘afraid’ of having a go with the natives because of the tones. I shall also read 2-3 Chinese Readers, write entries on lang8 and sponsor a panda. POLISH CURRENT LEVEL HIGH A2/VERY LOW B1 It was only natural, given the high number of Polish immigrants to the UK, that I would start dabbling in Polish. I started studying Polish in about 2003, and have done 2 language courses in Poland. My knowledge has come in handy at work, when I had a non-English speaking Polish student in one of my classes, and sometimes when dealing with Polish parents. GOALS To work through ‘Polish in 4 Months 2’ and ‘Z Polskim Na Ty’. Improve my listening skills by watching the Polish news, Polish podcasts and the Polish TV series Londynczycy. Write entries on lang8. Read a Polish novel. NON TAC LANGUAGES FRENCH CURRENT LEVEL C1 The first language I learnt was French which I started at school when I was eleven. I did a BA degree in French and Hispanic Studies. I spent 3 months studying in Paris. I had to make an effort to find opportunities to speak French, as I was often with other English speaking students. I lived in a Foyer pour jeunes travailleurs, which gave me an opportunity to meet young French people and speak French. I also did voluntary work for an organisation which helped blind people, purely for the selfish reason of practising my French. I enjoyed my time in Paris, but it’s not the best place to learn French. Since then I have been back to France a few times, once I did a homestay, a couple of holidays, and some school trips. GOALS Maintain my level, mainly through watching internet TV, films and reading online newspapers. Write entries on lang8. SPANISH CURRENT LEVEL C1 I started Spanish in my last year of high school. I was the only student taking it. I studied it at university as part of my degree, and spent 6 months in Madrid teaching English. I shared a flat with some Spaniards, and spoke Spanish a lot, even whilst teaching English, as many of my students preferred explanations in Spanish. By the end of the 6 months I felt very comfortable in the language, and more confident in it than in French. I haven’t been back to Spain much since then, but I have been to Latin America several times. GOALS Maintain my level, mainly through watching internet TV, films and reading online newspapers. Write entries on lang8. Speak Spanish with my colleague (native speaker) PORTUGUESE CURRENT LEVEL C1 Portuguese, and more specifically Brazilian Portuguese is the language I am in love with. I studied (European) Portuguese at university. I spent 8 months in total doing work placements and improving my Portuguese during the summer vacations. I shared a house with Portuguese students, which also helped tremendously. I have been fascinated with Brazil since my teens and it was a dream come true when I finally made it there in the early 90s. I spent a month travelling around and also stayed with a family in Campinas (1 hour from Sao Paulo) who welcomed me into their family like a lost son. In total I have been to Brazil 6 times. GOALS Maintain my level, mainly through watching internet TV, films and reading online newspapers. ITALIAN CURRENT LEVEL B2 I started learning Italian by myself in my teens, and picked up the basics pretty quickly. After graduating I had more time to focus on my Italian, and did a 2 week language course in the early 90s. Last Summer I spent 2 weeks travelling around Italy, visited 5 different cities and stayed with Italians (rented rooms in private houses using airbnb.com). All the people I stayed with were very welcoming and I had regular opportunities to speak Italian. I also visited a friend who I spoke to exclusively in Italian. Unfortunately my wallet was stolen on the metro in Rome, but this did give me the opportunity to further practise my Italian at the local police station. I felt happy with my progress in the language but there’s always room for improvement, especially in my listening skills. GOALS To complete ‘Ultimate Italian Intermediate/Advanced’ and continue working through ‘Grammatica Azzione; Improve my listening skills by watching il Telegiornale canale 5, Euronews, RAI podcasts and Italian films. Write entries on lang8. Practise speaking with friend via Skype. GERMAN CURRENT LEVEL LOW B2 I also started studying German by myself during my teens. After graduation I was able to focus more on German. I studied for 2 years at the Goethe Institut in the evening and did two languages courses in Austria and Germany. However my German is quite rusty these days, and I lack confidence when speaking it. GOALS To complete ‘Ultimate German Intermediate/Advanced’ and continue working through ‘Aktion Grammatik’. Improve my listening skills by watching German TV news and other German programmes on ARD Archiv and listening to podcasts. Write entries on lang8. Practise speaking via Skype. Read a German novel. RUSSIAN CURRENT LEVEL B1 My first real introduction with Russian was through the excellent BBC series ‘Russian Language and People’ (broadcast in the mid-80s, some clips available on YouTube.) I would say it is my second favourite language after Brazilian Portuguese. I have done several language courses in Russia and Ukraine and I can speak Russian reasonably well. I can communicate in most daily situations. I have read several crime novels in Russian, some short stories and plays by Chekhov and Pushkin and even Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, with the help of an English translation. I would love to read Dr Zhivago in Russian but it is too difficult for me at the moment. I also still find it difficult to talk about more complicated topics or understand the news on TV. GOALS To complete ‘Ruslan 3’ and continue using ‘Učebnice současné ruštiny’ (a textbook published in the Czech Republic.) Improve my listening skills by watching Russian news on Первый Канал and and listen to podcasts from Эхо Москвы. Write entries on lang8. Practise speaking via Skype. CZECH CURRENT LEVEL LOW B1 My interest in Russian naturally led me to become curious about the other Slavic languages. I started dabbling in Czech about 10 years ago, and became more serious about it after visiting Prague in 2002 and falling in love with the city. I go there several times a year and have made friends there, both Czechs and expats. I can now manage most daily transactions in the language, converse reasonably, although still quite haltingly at times, on everyday topics. I can understand newspapers quite well, but my listening skills are weak, which often means my interlocutors will switch to English. GOALS To work through ‘Čestina pro Cizince’ and ‘Česky Krok za Krokem 2’. Improve my listening skills by watching ČT1 news, and the Czech Vyprávěj. Read Czech newspapers. Write entries on lang8. Speak to Czech friends when in Prague. MODERN GREEK CURRENT LEVEL A2 My introduction to Greek was again thanks to the BBC and their excellent series ‘Greek Language and People’. I’ve been dabbling in it on and off for many years, but have been getting more serious about it in the last year. GOALS Work through ‘Communicating in Greek 2’, ‘Elliniki B’ and for listening ‘Akou na Deis’ 1 and 2. Read a Greek reader. Write entries on lang8. Practise speaking via Skype. ARABIC CURRENT LEVEL VERY LOW A1 I have a love/hate relationship with this language. I love the alphabet; I find the language, especially the diglossic situation, utterly fascinating and enjoy listening to the news presenters on Aljazeera. However, I find some of the letters impossible to pronounce, the vocabulary and grammar are very challenging, all the resources available have their faults, and I realistically do not have time to reach a reasonable level, given all the other languages I have on the go. But I have completed (after 2 false starts) Mastering Arabic 1 and it seems impossible to ignore the language as the Middle East is always in the news. GOALS MSA Continue to work through ‘Teach Yourself Arabic’, Langenscheidt’s ‘Praktisches Arabisch’ and a book I found in Italy ‘Lingua araba contemporanea’ ECA Complete ‘Colloquial Arabic of Egypt’ (I am on the final chapter) Work through ‘Kalaam Gameel’ OTHER LANGUAGES WHICH I WILL NOT BE STUDYING CATALAN PASSIVE SKILLS B1 DUTCH PASSIVE SKILLS LOW B1 NORWEGIAN A1 SWEDISH A1 JAPANESE A1 Edited by stelingo on 02 January 2014 at 2:06am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| LeadZeppelin Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5022 days ago 59 posts - 85 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish | Message 2 of 27 02 January 2014 at 4:56am | IP Logged |
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Wow. Can I just say that you're an inspiration! It's sort of a far-away dream of mine to speak the five Romance
languages that you do. I'm so impressed that you speak all of those and a bucket load of others, and still find the time to maintain them! I'm seriously having trouble finding time to do anything with my French now that I'm working so hard on Spanish. But if I want to be able to speak five Romance languages at the same time, I need to maintain them all like you're doing. Keep up the good work! Looking up to people like you is great to give me something to look forward to and work toward. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4359 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 3 of 27 02 January 2014 at 8:09am | IP Logged |
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Good luck for 2014, and have a great language year!
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5833 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 4 of 27 02 January 2014 at 5:48pm | IP Logged |
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@ Thank you for your kind words LeadZeppelin. I don't really speak much Catalan, so only claim to know four Romance languages. Time is always a precious commodity, but with perseverance I'm sure you will succeed.
@renaissancemedi. I wish you a successful language year also. Hope you will be able to answer all my questions on Greek. :-) Edited by stelingo on 02 January 2014 at 5:49pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4359 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 5 of 27 02 January 2014 at 6:28pm | IP Logged |
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You can count on me :)
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| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5833 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 6 of 27 05 January 2014 at 12:22am | IP Logged |
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Today I completed Colloquial Arabic of Egypt. I think it is a good introduction to the dialect. There are 14 chapters, with plenty of dialogues and some exercises. At first I conscientiously copied out all the dialogues in Arabic script and did all the exercises in writing. Half way through the course I changed my approach and concentrated on listening and speaking. I don’t feel I have mastered all the material, far from it, but I’m keen to move on on Kalaam Gameel.
Things I liked about the book: -Plenty of dialogues, all recorded on 2 CDs -A good overview of the grammar -Lots of practical language on shopping, eating out, travelling and other tourist basics -You don’t get overwhelmed with the amount of vocabulary introduced in each lesson -The language is presented in transliteration, however all the dialogues are also in an appendix in Arabic script. -Speaking exercises, in which you take the role of one speakers. Things I didn’t like: -Too much English on the recordings. The author introduces each dialogue and I find her voice quite irritating. -Not enough exercises so no opportunity to really consolidate new vocabulary and grammar structures. -The grammar of some phrases isn’t explained. -Not enough tables giving information on verbs and preposition plus pronoun combinations. In Egyptian Arabic there often occurs changes in pronunciation or stress when verbs are made negative or when pronoun suffixes/verb prefixes are added. In other books I have there are tables and recordings to guide the learner. Overall I would recommend this book to anybody starting out on Egyptian Arabic. I’m now looking forward on starting Kalaam Gameel. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5833 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 7 of 27 06 January 2014 at 11:48pm | IP Logged |
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GREEK
Worked through and completed lesson 8 in Akou na Deis. This is a course which compliments ‘Communicate in Greek’ and offers supplementary listening practise. Each chapter has 1-4 recorded short dialogues. There are various types of exercise to test comprehension, such open ended questions, true or false, fill in the gaps. Transcripts of the dialogues can be found at the back. The recordings are clear and spoken at a fairly fast speed. I can generally complete a lesson in one hour or less. The dialogue in this lesson covered arranging meetings and personal descriptions. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5833 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 8 of 27 06 January 2014 at 11:49pm | IP Logged |
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MANDARIN
My first Mandarin session was on Saturday and I have done a couple of hours tonight. I have completed lesson 12 in A New Practical Chinese Reader 1. Up to now I have gone through the lessons fairly quickly, as there was nothing much new to me, apart from a few items of vocabulary. Lesson 12 was about illness, and there was a lot more new vocabulary, so I have gone through it more thoroughly. Listening to the 2 dialogues several times, repeating after the speakers, reading them out aloud, doing the spoken drills and the written exercise. I like the drills a lot, as I think they allow me to become comfortable with the new vocab and structures. In terms of grammar the lesson covers subject predicate phrases, the use of 还是 (or in questions), the optative verbs 要, 想 and 愿意. Nothing really new. So far I haven’t used the workbook, but I will do so for this lesson to reinforce the vocab. Also did about an hour on skritter. According to the stats I know 818 characters and 846 words. Edited by stelingo on 07 January 2014 at 12:16am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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