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How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4713 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 31 27 May 2013 at 2:16am | IP Logged |
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I was trying for a Dr. Strangelove pun in the title, but the character limit cut me
off. Oh well. I used to think wanderlust would always keep me from settling on one language to learn. I recently realized I was wrong. It is an interest in Russian that keeps me from settling on anything else. Background: One semester of Russian in university a few years ago. That semester covered all the cases besides locative and instrumental. I got as far as around Lesson 30 in Assimil's passive wave, and have acquired more Russian study material than I could use in two lifetimes. My fresh start began today. So far, I've listened to the first 3 cd's of Michel Thomas Russian Foundation. I've done them all today. My body needs a break, but I may do another cd later this evening. Something about it is just clicking quite well for me this time, and I don't want to stop! I think that after finishing the Foundation course, I will wait on doing the Advanced/Vocab (which I've read should be done together to cover all the cases) for a bit later. Possibly just before the active wave of Assimil. Tomorrow, I will begin the Assimil Russian With Ease passive wave (with Lesson 15 as the first two weeks are quite simplistic. I am just going to intensely review them this evening and then do the passive wave as normal beginning with Lesson 15). I will also start the New Penguin Russian Course on Lesson 3 after using the Iversen method on the vocab for chapters 1 and 2. I likely won't post much in this log as I sometimes find myself suffering from "paralysis by analysis" when it comes to coming up with the "perfect" plan. However, it is nice to have a small way to hold myself accountable and to have an avenue for others to suggest ideas for my study plan. Thanks everyone, and happy studying! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4717 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 2 of 31 27 May 2013 at 2:43am | IP Logged |
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Good luck man! I'll be following you. =)
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| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4713 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 3 of 31 27 May 2013 at 4:44am | IP Logged |
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So much for finishing Disc 4 tonight. I just finished Track 5 and my mind has slammed
into a brick wall. I think I have reached my mental limit, haha. I can't even focus on what the teacher is asking for now. I will stop for the evening since cramming in more when my mind is so worn out seems like a good way to forget a lot of things. I will pick up with it tomorrow on Disc 4, Track 3 to overlap a bit. If I cover the same amount of round tomorrow, I should be able to finish it all up by Tuesday at the latest! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4713 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 4 of 31 28 May 2013 at 4:11am | IP Logged |
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Alright, I finished Disc 4 of Michel Thomas Russian Foundation, so I am now
halfway through! There are almost 5 hours left on the remaining four discs. Since I go back to work tomorrow, I won't be able to do as big of a chunk all at once, unfortunately. It took a little bit to get back in a rhythm today, but then it all quickly came back. I will try to do at least a disc a day, so I will be done before the next weekend comes. I also went through Lessons 1-14 of Assimil's Russian With Ease today. Since it was all basically review, I just listened, pausing after each line of dialogue, and reading aloud. Then I quickly reviewed the explanatory notes. I then started Lesson 15 as my "regular" daily lesson. Everyone has their special way of doing it, but I am keeping it simple: Eric Blair's Passive Wave for Russian With Ease: 1. Listen to the Russian while reading the Russian. Pause after each line/sentence, and read aloud. 2. Compare the sentence structures and translations. 3. Review the notes. 4. Play the audio of the first exercises, pausing after each line, and repeating aloud. Then repeat the sentences while reading the English (this is easy since it is such a short bit of dialogue). 5. Do the fill-in-the-blanks. Cover the answer key with a notecard and check only after I guess. 6. Shadow the lesson from beginning to end. That is it, folks. Easy to run through that all a bunch of times, too. Anyway, I didn't have a chance to go through any of the Penguin vocab today. But, I figure doing a whole disc of Michel Thomas and 15 lessons of Assimil is enough, haha. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5926 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 5 of 31 28 May 2013 at 6:53am | IP Logged |
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You thought of a great title for this log and it looks like you are off to a great start with Russian! I'll definitely keep reading this log.
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| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4713 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 6 of 31 28 May 2013 at 11:16pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the positive words.
I am hoping to get some feedback from some more experienced students of Russian. As of now, the main thrust of my course will be Assimil Russian With Ease + The New Penguin Russian Course. My thinking was the former can be used less for grammar learning and more for exposure to vocabulary while the latter will be the main thing to build up grammar skills with. I do have Modern Russian 1 & 2 course books. Since the audio is uploaded here: http://www.iu.edu/~celtie/russian_b09.html I think I can work through it. Would it make more sense to do: 1) Assimil's Russian With Ease + New Penguin OR 2) Modern Russian 1 & 2 At first I was thinking option 1 would make the most sense since the audio is brand new and should, theoretically, have me on point with regard to current colloquialisms and whatnot. And I read nothing but great things about the Penguin course in terms of vocabulary. However, Modern Russian appears to be a rather handy package of goodness. Tons and tons and tons of audio. Practice for every aspect of learning the language. Plus, it is all integrated (as opposed to Assimil and Penguin not really being made to go together). So, could anyone with experience on Modern Russian chime in here, please. Is it fair to say Modern Russian 1 would get me as far as Penguin+Assimil? If I were to study with it, say, two hours a day, how long would it take to complete? I am sure working through all three sources would be ideal. But I saw a suggestion in another thread doing something like Modern Russian 1 & 2 followed by something like "Survival Russian" would work great to update my vocabulary. Basically, I already have all of Penguin, New Assimil, and both Modern Russians. I just want to do them all the best possible way. And since I am still mainly focused on finishing the first Michel Thomas course, it won't put me behind the 8-ball or anything to swap up the plan. So. Would Modern Russian work better as a follow on after Assimil+Penguin since it seems that it may be tougher? Or would doing it and then using the other two as a sort of review session be best? Oh, and would all the information in Modern Russian 1 & 2 safely get someone to the B2 level? Thank you! Edited by ericblair on 28 May 2013 at 11:22pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4717 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 7 of 31 28 May 2013 at 11:28pm | IP Logged |
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I don't know Modern Russian, but I love both Assimil and Penguin courses (especially the Penguin one). I think you'll probably be fine either way.
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| ericblair Senior Member United States Joined 4713 days ago 480 posts - 700 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 8 of 31 28 May 2013 at 11:36pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for your quick response. I think you are right about being fine either way. Thus
I am violating my first rule of "no paralysis by analysis," haha. I will stick with "Russian with Ease" and "Penguin" and see how far that gets me :) Edited by ericblair on 29 May 2013 at 4:53am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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