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Super Challenge Update thread 2014-15 | ||
Tags: Super Challenge | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Suzie Diglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 4226 days ago 155 posts - 226 votes  Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Dutch | Message 81 of 198 01 June 2014 at 10:47am | IP Logged | |||||
This is what I am currently doing as well, and it works pretty well to me. I am generally quickly bored by graded readers and children's literature (though this is not the case in this very moment), but working intensely through a book is a brain melting and dissatisfying procedure. To me, the combination of intensive and extensive reading really gives the boost I had hoped for. But I think the most important rule here is: Do what you would love to do in this very moment. So I completely second rdearman's advice! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4906 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 82 of 198 01 June 2014 at 1:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
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All good advice; variety in your methods is really the way to go.
One more option is to get an ereader which allows dictionaries. I have a Kindle with a French dictionary, and it is very quick and simple to look words up as you read. When I'm reading a paper book, I try to limit my lookups to 1 per page to keep in the flow (I underline any others I don't know). But on the Kindle I can look up most/all unknown words (which is sometimes up to 5 per page in the books I'm reading) without feeling like I'm slowing down. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| rdearman Senior Member United Kingdom rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5233 days ago 881 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin | Message 83 of 198 01 June 2014 at 1:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
I have the kindle software on my phone, but can't seem to find a dictionary option. It that kindle hardware only? And is it on one of the old kindles or just the kindle fire smartphones? I really could use that functionality. EDIT: I found if I highlight something then it brings up the definition, but in French not a translation. Still using a monolingual dictionary might be useful too. Edited by rdearman on 01 June 2014 at 1:18pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4906 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 84 of 198 01 June 2014 at 1:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I have an older Kindle with a keyboard, and I bought the dictionary (for a couple pounds). The kindle is smart enough to look up English words in the English dictionary and French words in the French dictionary. I think it's based on the book, not the words, because I've never had a problem with words spelled the same in both languages.
I prefer reading on regular kindles, rather than a kindle fire, because it's much easier on the eyes. The new kindles (paperlights or something like that) also allow you to highlight phrases and get translations. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| rdearman Senior Member United Kingdom rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5233 days ago 881 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin | Message 85 of 198 01 June 2014 at 1:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yes mobi files have a language tag in the metadata. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6594 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 86 of 198 01 June 2014 at 3:42pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Omg, I found an amazing book. The Danube. I was looking for something about Europe, not focused on a particular country or particular aspect (I'm mostly interested in history, geography and mythology but not only). The style is quite formal but for a learner that's better than heavily colloquial, especially if you can already read advanced literature in another Romance language or even in English.
I was originally looking for something like "lesser known facts about Europe", or "Europe in numbers"... anyone? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4886 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 87 of 198 10 June 2014 at 2:36am | IP Logged | |||||
I had a pretty lazy weekend - the mini Super Challenge was a perfect excuse to lie on the couch all day reading books. I had a good role model:
Italian Books Two more chapters of Harry Potter e l'Ordine della Fenice. I timed one chapter -it took me 50 minutes to finish 14 pages. Part II of Le città invisibili (Italo Calvino). I read this in small doses, so I don't know my pace. It was significantly easier than when I attempted Part I last month, though I'm still totally reliant on the English text. And I started my first Italian graphic novel, Una ballata del mare salato (Hugo Pratt, 1967). It's an adventure story set in the south seas in the early 1900's. It takes me about three passes before I 'get' a section. I'll read a few pages quickly, go back and re-read while looking up words I don't know, then read a third time just to enjoy the story. 
Italian Movies Reality (Matteo Garrone, 2012) is about a Napoli fishmonger who becomes obsessed with landing a slot on Big Brother. The movie focused much more on his obsession, his descent into complete madness, and the impact it had on his family, than on actual reality tv. Some of the most surreal moments were actually based on the experiences of the director's wife's brother. Won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2012. 
Cronaca di un amore (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1950) is beautiful to look at but felt empty at its core. A rich businessmen hires a detective to find out the truth about his wife's past. Antonioni is supposed to be one of the greats, but I usually find his movies to be all style and no substance. Still, his style is incredible. 
French Books Finished L'oeuvre. The book felt slow in the middle, but the final chapters were shocking and intense. I can't describe them without spoiling things. French Movies Where the boys are (Bertrand Bonello, 2010) is a short film about four bored teenage girls. They drink, discuss boys, listen to Connie Francis, and watch a mosque being built across the street. There wasn't much dialogue, so I only counted ten minutes of this for the challenge. French Podcasts Elvis Presley, une histoire américaine started off with a great discussion on racial and class politics in Memphis, but I got bored during the second episode about his fams, and the remaining episodes don't look that interesting either. Otherwise, I'm still listening to the same mix of short stories and history podcasts, and have started working a philosophy one, Le gai savoir, into the mix. It's hard to judge how much I understand. I follow a lot, maybe 80% of the words, but miss out on important details. Sometimes I am hopelessly lost and confused. I thought one episode was talking about somebody's mother, and had no idea why, and didn't realize until the end that the narrator was saying "Homère" and not "la mère." Overall, I ended up with a nice little Italian bump! 
Edited by kanewai on 10 June 2014 at 3:04am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| sfuqua Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4762 days ago 581 posts - 977 votes Speaks: English*, Hawaiian, Tagalog Studies: Spanish | Message 88 of 198 10 June 2014 at 6:33am | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks for all the great advice.
I've recently been doing one of my favorite time wasters, analysis paralysis. Look at this great advice I could do this, I could do that, I could read this, I could read this, no, no, I could go in this other direction... And I've wasted enough time to read another hundred pages even at my snail's pace. I know I can "just read" Harry Potter. Resistance is futile. Harry Potter it is, rereading when I get lost. :) 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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