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TAC 2009 - DaraghM | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6153 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 25 of 177 20 January 2009 at 5:12am | IP Logged |
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19/01/09
Just a quick update on some of my study. If I get more time, I'll edit this, and give a more detailed update on the other languages. Spanish (Active ~2.5 hours, Passive ~1 hour) I've underestimated the amount of work in my "Teach yourself Spanish" challenge. I managed to complete units 20 and 21, and make a good start into unit 22. However, at the very back of the book are a number of revision exercises, which contain as much work as several units. The loop track feature on MP3 players is so handy. I used it to listen to the various units, on repeat, and complete the listening exercises when I got back. [EDIT - I never got a chance to update. My time is very constrained at the moment for logging. I really need to get a laptop at home.] Edited by DaraghM on 21 January 2009 at 5:46am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6153 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 26 of 177 21 January 2009 at 5:14am | IP Logged |
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20/01/09
I've decided to increase the amount of Spanish I do for the coming week, and put the Hungarian on temporary hold. I'm planning on taking a Cervante's Spanish course in February, and the registration ends very soon. I need to take a placement test, but I'm still afraid they'll place me in the A0 beginners class, as I don't have enough practice speaking Spanish. Russian (Active ~15 minutes, Passive ~15 minutes) I started into lesson 4 yesterday on Living Language Russian. The lesson gives a quick overview of the Russian cases, before concentrating on the prepositional case. This struck me as unusual, as most courses start with the accusative. It also discusses the use of o, oб and oбo, for about, and the prepositional pronouns, Мне - Me Тебе - You Нём - Him Ней - Her Нём - It Нас - Us Вас - You (Plural) Них - Them Spanish (Active ~2 hours, Passive ~30 minutes) My "Teach yourself Spanish" challenge slowed down slightly, as I only just completed unit 22, and started into unit 23. The weather was too bad to walk, so I tried doing the listening tests at home. This requires a patient partner. I also scripted out Assimil lessons 88 and 89. Lesson 88 is more on that annoying character Baldomero. Is anyone else sick of him ? The most enjoyable part of my study was reading an article in El País, and checking up the unknown words. The article was on the recent happenings in Gaza, and included such useful vocabulary as, Cohetes – rockets Escombros – rubbish, debris Desangrarse – to bleed to death. Tajantemente – Emphatically. Humareda – cloud of smoke Hogares – homes lives Demoledor – overwhelming, shattering (ataque) Bélica – warlike Palidecer – to turn pale. Recinto – enclosure, area Rechazar – to rebuff, to turn down. Desmentir – to contradict, to deny Encerradas – Locked up. Blindados – armour plated (vehicles) I'll be doing Spanish Assimil during my lunches for the coming week. It was a hard to decision to postpone the Hungarian, but I'd sooner skip a week of Hungarian than be placed at the very beginning of the Cervante's course. This might still happen, as I've heard they expect complete mastery at a given level, and missing a single item of vocabulary can set you back. UPDATE: This post has been constructed piecemeal through the morning, so mightn't read very well. Time constraints are preventing me fleshing out more detail, or writing in the target languages. :-( Edited by DaraghM on 21 January 2009 at 6:05am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6153 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 27 of 177 22 January 2009 at 4:12am | IP Logged |
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21/01/09
Not a great days studying, with a number of non language related items that I had to sort out. I normally try to defer these to the weekend, but sometimes you can't. Why aren't langages learners exempt from tax ? Wouldn't it make the world a better place ? Spanish (Active ~1.25 hours, Passive ~1 hours) The only Spanish I managed to do was my "Teach yourself Spanish" challenge. I completed unit 23, which was on the formal imperative. E.g. Hable-Speak, Siga-Continue, Gire-Turn. A long time ago I completed the Michel Thomas Spanish course, and he teaches this in a very simple way, with his discussion of switching tracks for the imperative and subjunctive. It made the exercises very easy. Unit 24 is on the informal imperative. E.g. tráeme - Bring me, abre-open, dímelo-tell it to me. I'm not sure now, if I'll complete the course by next Monday. Maybe Monday will turn out to be a very busy day. Fingers crossed I'll manage my first challenge. I think I already know what my second will be. Edited by DaraghM on 22 January 2009 at 4:15am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6153 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 28 of 177 23 January 2009 at 3:50am | IP Logged |
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22/01/09
Spanish (Active ~1.5 hours, Passive ~1 hours) I think I might make the "Teach yourself Spanish" challenge. I finished unit 24, and moved onto the last unit 25, which covers the present subjunctive. It doesn't cover the topic in any great detail, but provides a very general overview. A lot of the sentences are of the form, I'm\We're looking for a (person/flat) that ... E.g. Busco uno piso que este en el centro. (.. that is in the centre.) Busco una persona que le gusten los gatos. (.. that loves cats.) Buscamos una persona que sepa idiomas. (.. that know languages.) After unit 25, there's five revision units, consisting of a lot of exercises. EP: Espero que puedo terminar estos también. I also wrote out the Assimil lessons 90 and 91, and completed that annoying unit 88 with Baldomero. After a PM from josht, I started thinking about the quality of the Assimil course, and it has a few faults. Lessons 90 and 91 use simple enough Spanish, that I would've expected a lot earlier in the course. As I mentioned elsewhere, the translations can be very loose, and obviously taken directly from the French. My biggest quib is the grammar. They don't build this up in a logical fashion, and hardly ever explain why a particular structure is used, or the role of prepositions with various verbs. Though the course is useful, I won't progress to Using Spanish, and will move onto something different. Edited by DaraghM on 23 January 2009 at 4:09am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Flarioca Heptaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5884 days ago 635 posts - 816 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Esperanto, French, EnglishC2, Spanish, German, Italian Studies: Catalan, Mandarin | Message 29 of 177 24 January 2009 at 11:45am | IP Logged |
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Tricoteuse and DaraghM,
I'm also studying Hungarian through Assimil. I've seen that you've also considered lesson 19 to be particularly difficult. For me, this was a relief. After a first listening to it two days ago, I thought that I should be way too tired . However, yesterday I've drawn a picture that helped me lot. I'll not give up and have decided to tame this lesson whatever it takes! :-)) The picture is in a new thread about Hungarian postpositions: Hungarian postpositions. Please, let me know what you think about it. Edited by Flarioca on 24 January 2009 at 12:01pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6153 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 30 of 177 26 January 2009 at 3:55am | IP Logged |
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Hi Flarioca,
Unfortunately, I can't comment on your diagram, because the host site is blocked here. This is annoying, because it sounds like you've come up with something good. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6153 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 31 of 177 26 January 2009 at 4:24am | IP Logged |
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Weekend Summary 23/01/09 - 25/01/09
This weekend turned into a disaster for study. The landlord rang me to say there was a leak going from my bathroom, into the apartment below. This meant I'd to spend a lot of time sorting out the place. This problem could disrupt some of my study this coming week. Spanish (Active ~1.25 hours, Passive ~2.25 hours) The majority of my study was on Friday. I've completed the main units on "Teach yourself Spanish", and started the revision exercises. If I can complete this tonight, I'll make the challenge. The revision units blend a number of units, and are quite good test material. I've come to the conlusion, that Assimil Spanish is a very strangely paced course. I scripted out lección 92, and it concentrates on stem changes in the verb. This feature of Spanish is generally treated at the start, and not introduced after the past subjunctive. The course also uses the gerund in many different ways, but rarely explains any of them. Edited by DaraghM on 26 January 2009 at 4:25am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6153 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 32 of 177 26 January 2009 at 11:03am | IP Logged |
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- I realised I haven't posted any statistics yet on my TAC 2009. Here's a breakdown of the study so far. I've been a lot stricter, and more accurate, in terms of time logging this year. I haven't done any French so far, but it's still January. I'm using my time tracking to see how much effort I'm spending on each language. It's a handy way to tune my study.
Language Totals Start Date: 01/01/09 Current Date: 26/01/09 French Active Study - 0 minutes = 0 hours. Passive Study - 0 minutes = 0 hours Total: 0 hours Spanish Active Study - 1515 minutes = 25.25 hours Passive Study - 925 minutes = 15.41 hours Total: 40.66 hours Russian Active Study - 430 minutes = 7.16 hours Passive Study - 546 minutes = 9.1 hours Total: 16.26 hours Hungarian Active Study - 285 minutes = 4.75 hours Passive Study - 497 minutes = 8.28 hours Total: 13.03 hours Overall Pure Study = 37.17 hours Passive Study = 32.8 hours Total = 69.97 hours Language Percentages Spanish : 58.11% Russian : 23.24% Hungarian : 18.62% French : 0.00% Edited by DaraghM on 26 January 2009 at 11:08am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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