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Super Challenge Update thread 2014-15 | ||
Tags: Super Challenge | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| sfuqua Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4764 days ago 581 posts - 977 votes  Speaks: English*, Hawaiian, Tagalog Studies: Spanish | Message 33 of 198 17 May 2014 at 4:41pm | IP Logged |
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I'm only reading at about 100 words a minute at this point, so I actually need to spend more time to get through a "novel" than through a "movie". I've been reading aloud most of the time, in hopes of having a positive impact on my speaking. This slows me down, so I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep it up. I planned to just L-R the same thing that I'm reading for the "movie" part of the challenge. I'm having trouble getting into this. Perhaps I need to just sweep through some books as audiobooks.
I've also been thinking about just watching through the "La Reina del Sur" telenovela again. I watched it with subtitles about 18 months ago, and at the time I convinced myself that I understood it. I have a copy of the series on DVD without subtitles, and I find it a little challenging. I wonder where I can find a good bunch of old classic movies, Casablanca and such dubbed in Spanish. It would be similar to what I'm reading right now... 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| miertje Diglot Newbie Netherlands Joined 4068 days ago 21 posts - 27 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: German, Russian, French | Message 34 of 198 17 May 2014 at 7:14pm | IP Logged |
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I'm not used to tracking what I watch/read and how much time I'm doing it. I 've watched
stuff and when wanting to write down how many minutes, I had no clue. Not sure if that is a good thing or not. ;-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4888 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 35 of 198 21 May 2014 at 9:52pm | IP Logged |
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Three Week Update
The links Jeffers and rdearman posted opened up a whole new world of podcasts to me, especially on Radio France's France Culture programs. I've tried listening to them before, but it was too hard and I never stuck with it. At this point I can understand enough that the stories are enjoyable, although I still miss important details. I already notice that my ear is adjusting, and that I am understanding more and more each program. Italian Books: 1.5 I'll probably still be working on Harry Potter next month. And the month after. It's slow going. It's interesting how a new language can change your impression of the characters; the wizards seem much more boisterous and expressive when speaking Italian than when they are speaking proper British English. Italian Films: 5.2 Matrimonio all'italiana is a screwball comedy. Sophia Loren plays a courtesan who has a long affair with a rich playboy (Marcello Mastroianni). When he decides to marry someone else she hatches a devious plan to keep him. It's totally sexist, but the two have such great chemistry that it's also good fun. 
***** La meglio gioventú (The Best of Youth) is one that everyone - even if you're not doing Italian! - should watch. It's a six hour movie (miniseries, something) that follows the course of one family over 40 years. I was intrigued at first, then a bit restless (family dramas aren't really my thing), then got hooked into some of the stories (it takes some interesting turns that I won't spoil), and in the end absolutely loved the show. Great acting, and it had a very warm and humane script - even the troubled characters were treated as real people rather than villains. 
French books: 7.4 I love Zola, but he does take forever to read. French Movies / Podcasts: 6.3 Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec - 1911: Best-selling author Adèle Blanc-Sec is in Egypt battling tomb robbers while a pterodactyl terrorizes Paris. Directed by Luc Besson, the same guy who did The Fifth Element. It's a great flic if you like pulpy adventure stories. 
La vie en Piaf Five part series on the life of Edith Piaf. Contains great musical interludes of her, Charles Aznavour, and others. I can follow the narration, but have trouble sometimes understanding what she is saying. This is one I'll probably listen to again at the end of the challenge so that I can catch the details. Au coeur de l'histoire I like history podcasts, but this one is hard. The narrator talks so fast I wonder how he can breath. It's at the limits of my comprehension. - La chute de l'empire Romain. So many dates, and so many people. This was hard to follow. - Les secrets de Joséphine. In school we learned a very simple history of Napoleon: he was a short dictator who wanted to conquer the world, because he was short. He was defeated first by the Russian winter, and later by the British, who saved the world by defeating him at Waterloo. Yeay Britain. It's been interesting to learn the much more nuanced and complex interpretations Europeans have of the Bonapartes. Also, Josephine had a lot of secrets. And shoes. Polar et SF (France Culture) Thrillers and sci-fi stories. I find narratives much easier to follow than discussions; I can fill in the bits that I missed ... although sometimes I miss important plot developments. - Dracula. Very well done. And my first podcast! - Chérie noire de Caryl Férey. Chérie had an unpleasant childhood. Now she likes to kill. I never quite figured out why. Fictions>Jeunesse (France Culture) I thought that fiction for youths might be easier to understand. I was wrong. Those dang teens mumble and swallow their words and use slang and just massacre the French language. - Tom Sawyer. Four part series. I understood almost nothing of the first episode (see: stupid teens, above), and then it just clicked ... and I followed the rest of the series without difficulty. I was in the field a lot this past week, and so had long hours on the road where I could listen to all these programs. I don't know if I'll have the time to listen to as much the rest of the month, but I have programs lined up on France Culture for when I do: - Pars vite et reviens tard, a ten-part series by HTLAL's favorite French mystery writer Fred Vargas; - Peter Pan ou le garçon qui ne voulait pas garndier, a five part series on Jeunesse; - Elvis Presley, une histoire americaine docu (I wonder if he sings in French?); and - Agatha contre Christie archives, five mysteries by Ms. Christie. That should keep me occupied for the summer. Edited by kanewai on 22 May 2014 at 2:16am 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| VivianJ5 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4261 days ago 81 posts - 133 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 36 of 198 23 May 2014 at 3:21pm | IP Logged |
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Had another go at Balzac, after finishing French translations of the Twilight books. "Les Choans," which takes place
towards the end of the French revolution. Language level-wise, I can understand most everything - although there are definitely more words per page that I either need to look up, or just ignore, than in more contemporary books. But I'm thinking I'm just not in the mood for Balzac at the moment: life is getting stressful (just got dates for our upcoming overseas move), our travel plans are heating up (traveling two-three weeks per month for the next four months or so), and way too much on my to- do list... So when I read, I'm looking for distraction and enjoyment. Balzac's just not doing it for me right now. I've only read 30 pages of "Les Choans" but I think I need to let it go (as our "Frozen" heroine would say) for a calmer time. Need something lighter, which doesn't need quite so much focus...my husband has recommended Marc Levy as a contemporary author I'd probably like, so will try that next. I look at Balzac in French a bit like Dickens in English: can be a very good story, but takes more effort to work with the more formal language. Balzac will have to wait... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| sctroyenne Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5390 days ago 739 posts - 1312 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Irish | Message 37 of 198 23 May 2014 at 6:05pm | IP Logged |
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I had actually started Les Chouans a while back but dropped it (probably around the same
part you did). I had read Quatrevingt-Treize by Victor Hugo before that which deals with a similar subject and I loved it. So maybe give that a try. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| sctroyenne Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5390 days ago 739 posts - 1312 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Irish | Message 38 of 198 23 May 2014 at 10:01pm | IP Logged |
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I thought I'd update everyone with a few highlights myself.
Podcasts: I see above that people were talking history podcasts. Let me offer a few more: La marche de l'histoire (France Inter) Concordance des temps (France Culture) Rendez-vous avec X (France Inter) - specifically for history of secret ops, the CIA and the like Some interesting shows I've listened to recently: La marche de l'histoire - 1974 : le débat autour de la loi Veil sur l'interruption volontaire de grossesse : From time to time the show makes use of the actors from the Comédie Française to recreate famous debates of the Assemblée Nationale. Here's one about abortion. Répliques par Alain Finkielkraut - L’histoire de France a-t-elle encore un sens ? : "Finkie", the newest member of the Académie Française, is quite controversial due to his conservatism/elitism which makes a discussion on the current study of the history of France quite interesting. Le téléphone sonne - En duplex de Cannes : l'industrie du cinéma face aux nouveaux modes de diffusion A discussion about the distribution of film becomes unexpectedly heated Le Monde selon Edwy Plenel - Edwy Plenel is an important media figure to know as co-creator of the reader-supported online news site Médiapart which has broken quite a few important stories. He's on the left and in this short weekly podcast he gives his take on current issues. I'll update later with books and TV/films. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6596 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 39 of 198 25 May 2014 at 3:55pm | IP Logged |
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I'm past 50 pages in Swedish! I just started learning it several weeks ago, and prior to the challenge I mostly used songs. I definitely wouldn't have started reading so early otherwise.
I'm also working on learning to read Danish without having to rely on audiobooks for the pronunciation. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| VivianJ5 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4261 days ago 81 posts - 133 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 40 of 198 25 May 2014 at 4:19pm | IP Logged |
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Congratulations, Serpent! Once you can read, so much is open to you...I wish I had started reading much earlier in
my language learning beginnings, back in the dark ages ;-). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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