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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| BenMilim Triglot Newbie Germany benmilim.blogspot.co Joined 4703 days ago 25 posts - 30 votes Speaks: Hungarian*, EnglishC1, GermanC2 Studies: Spanish, Russian, Modern Hebrew, French | Message 1 of 14 08 February 2013 at 7:47pm | IP Logged |
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Hey fellow HTLAL members!
A quick summary of my language journey so far: I was born and raised in Hungary, went to a bilingual (German-Hungarian) school where I learned English as well. After turning 18, I began my studies in Germany and completed my BA in English Studies/German Literature last summer. I'm currently enrolled at the Freie Universitaet in Berlin, doing a wonderful Master's called "Languages of Europe." The program focuses on comparative linguistics. But that's not all: you're required to take classes in 3 foreign languages before you can complete your degree. My chosen languages, in order of decreasing "importance", are: French, Russian and (Modern) Hebrew. I started learning Russian about a year ago. I made it into some B1 level classes this semester where I was, without a doubt, the weakest link. We did learn a lot about complex grammar structures, but I still have some problems plural declensions, huge issues with aspect and my vocabulary is just sad. French I also took for two semesters and reached A2 without much trouble. Loved the language and never had too many problems with it since its vocabulary is relatively transparent for someone who speaks English. I took a break from French and will restart my studies soon to hopefully make it into a B1+ class once the next semester starts (early April). I've been learning Hebrew on and off for quite some time now and finally took an intensive class in it this semester. It's hard for me to judge my level as the language differs so much from Indo-European languages. Our university courses are simply labelled Hebrew I, II and so on (where Hebrew II is actually a course in Biblical Hebrew which I'll be taking this summer!). I've got one last exam next Wednesday and two months off after that. My plan is to reach a solid B1 level in French, to improve my Russian vocabulary (by taming those unbelievably long words) and to have enough time for Hebrew to not forget what I've learned. Fortunately I recently met a bilingual Russian/Israeli person and we've become great friends, so I will have a chance to practice my spoken Russian/Hebrew. The resources I'll be working with are the following: French - Grammaire progressive du Francais I and II (I apologize for not finding the cedille on my keyboard! ;), Langenscheidt's Französisch mit System, Assimil French w/o Toil + Französisch ohne Mühe. Russian - Langenscheidt's Russisch mit System, Integriertes Lehrbuch der russischen Sprache I and II, as well as Assimil Russian w/o Toil + Russisch ohne Mühe. Hebrew - Assimil Hebrew w/o Toil, Lehrbuch der neuhebraeischen Sprache and Ivrit Schritt für Schritt. Yes, I'm a language book hoarder but I promised myself not to buy any new ones and to actually finish and internalize these this time. I'm sure these two months will be enough to work on my iron will and to change for the better. Wish me luck! :) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4706 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 2 of 14 08 February 2013 at 8:06pm | IP Logged |
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You've practically taken a leaf out of my book, hah; your three focus languages are
practically the exact same ones I am focusing on :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5008 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 3 of 14 08 February 2013 at 8:23pm | IP Logged |
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A book hoarder? Not that bad. :-)
Your log looks great, I'm looking forward to reading you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5923 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 4 of 14 08 February 2013 at 9:34pm | IP Logged |
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I've never read about, or heard of, a Master's degree called "Languages of Europe" before. It sounds like a dream come true and I'll definitely be reading this log!
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BenMilim Triglot Newbie Germany benmilim.blogspot.co Joined 4703 days ago 25 posts - 30 votes Speaks: Hungarian*, EnglishC1, GermanC2 Studies: Spanish, Russian, Modern Hebrew, French | Message 5 of 14 10 February 2013 at 11:38pm | IP Logged |
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Hey there again folks!
So what have I been up to this weekend? I must admit I was rather lazy. Still working on that iron will of mine... we shall see how fast I can find it. ;) Russian: I worked through the first lesson of "Integriertes Lehrbuch der russischen Sprache" (I really need to find a fitting abbreviation for this beast...). Everything was revision and it was mostly about introducing new students of Russian to the cyrillic alphabet. You'd think the entire chapter was boring for me, but GASP! Instructions in this book are entirely in Russian and thus I managed to learn a couple of interesting expressions, mostly grammar terms (which I'm extremely interested in, anyway, Because I'm A Linguist, -insert theme song here-). Such as повествовательное/сложное/прост ое предложение (indicative/complex/simple sentence), связка (copula), запятая (comma - looks like an adjective! I wonder what secrets its etymology hides...), предударный/ заударный слог (syllable before/after the stress) and so on. I made an Iversonesque word list of these and will find the time and will to drill these, since I do want to be able to talk about grammar in Russian. Apart from this, I started the second chapter, but didn't get too far yet. I'll continue with that tomorrow and hopefully start Assimil as well. I'll be doing one lesson from the old and the new Assimil course per day, respectively. By the way, I really recommend the course book I'm using to anyone who has access to German language materials. You can tell by the layout that this book was made for serious language learners, i.e. it's not full of colorful illustrations or unnecessary explanations in your native language. Every chapter consists of a part on intonation and stress patterns (which, in Russian, are a serious pain in one's nether regions...), one that introduces new grammar constructions and one or two more that deal with "drilling" new words + homework. Seems very thorough to me, check it out if you can! (Spraul/Gorjanskij: Integriertes Lehrbuch der russischen Sprache, Band I/II) I didn't do much French, just some revision for Wednesday's translation exam from Hebrew into German. I'll update you guys on this next time. Something I've been wondering about is scheduling study time. This is something I'm very bad at, which, in combination with the fact that I'm insanely lazy (лентяй or ein Faulpelz, if you will), just murders most of my language learning plans right away. I like spending a couple of hours per day working with textbooks but I just can't bring myself to NOT do a lot. I need to focus on one chapter per day, maybe even less. But constantly drill vocab, as that's my weakest point. Maybe do 1,5-2 hours of Russian, take a break and then 1,5-2 hours of French? I'll probably be making much faster progress in the latter, but this will probably turn out to be good motivation and hopefully won't hinder my Russian studies. As for Assimil, I've determined it'd be best to do my daily lessons right after waking up as they're not too grammar intensive. Plus I actually enjoy writing them down once and going over unknown words, looking them up one by one. Feel free to share your thoughts on this topic! I'm interested in your study habits or scheduling difficulties (though I hope you don't have any of the latter! ;). In diesem Sinne, have a great start of the week, fellow language learners! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6902 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 6 of 14 11 February 2013 at 12:44am | IP Logged |
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Oh, now I'm jealous of your "Languages of Europe" degree in Berlin. I was seriously considering this a few years ago. You chose an interesting language mix - I think one had to choose between a Germanic, Romanic and maybe some other language profiles back at the time when I was thinking about studying this.
Welcome to this forum and good luck with your languages! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Mareike Senior Member Germany Joined 6223 days ago 267 posts - 323 votes Speaks: German* Studies: English, Swedish | Message 7 of 14 11 February 2013 at 1:22am | IP Logged |
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I read many positiv reviews about buske books in general.
I like the Swedish book (okay, there are some curious vocabulary, I will never forget tändstift). During school time I used the Spanish book to review grammar topics. Both are very usefull. It doesn't always have to be Langenscheidt, Pons, Lextra... http://www.buske.de/download/020415_a.pdf http://www.buske.de/download/020452.pdf http://www.buske.de/download/020453.pdf http://www.buske.de/download/020422.pdf Edited by Mareike on 11 February 2013 at 1:23am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5846 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 14 11 February 2013 at 8:27am | IP Logged |
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Hi Ben,
I have visited your log to tag the thread. Your language story is so interesting and you are profiting enormously from your bilingual school education. Lots of good luck for your university studies! Fasulye 1 person has voted this message useful |
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