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What to choose for the next 6WC in August | ||
Tags: 6 Weeks Challenge (6WC) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5334 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 16 21 July 2012 at 5:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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Every time there is a new 6WC, I have to take a moment to think which language to choose. Usually it is a short moment, and I take Russian which is my main focus language. This time, I will need to think a bit harder. Not that I wouldn't need to take Russian this time as well. In fact, the only sensible thing would be to take Russian, since I am still somewhere in A2, and I for so many reasons need to push it up to B1 at least, but I am still hesitating. The thing is that I am going to spend a few days in China at the end of my Trans-Siberian trip, and I am a bit reluctant to travel through a country where I know absolutely nothing of the language. On the other hand I have heard people say that even after 2 years of study they are unable to string a sentence together once they reach China, so what good would a few weeks do when I am busy with so many other things? On the (third?) hand I would really like to learn a little Mandarin, and this seems like a good occasion. Can you help me to choose?
ADVANTAGES OF DOING RUSSIAN - I would build on what I already know - I will get to a higher level and might actually be able to speak a little Russian when I go to the Trans-Siberian - I would not get interference from another language (my absolute worst nightmare is for Mandarin to come in the way of Russian, so that I am suddenly unable to say anything in either language) - Focusing on Russian would make it possible to reach my goals in the Super Challenge DISADVANTAGES OF DOING RUSSIAN - I may lose my best opportunity to start Mandarin being really motivated - All the study material I have in Mandarin might just be collecting dust ADVANTAGES OF DOING MANDARIN - It might help me when I find myself on a Chinese night train in September with nobody speaking English, and my sister looking at me expectantly, since she is used to me generally being able to hack my way through most languages - It could be fun to do the 6WC the way it was intended - starting with a language from scratch - It might give me the kick in the behind I need to actually get somewhere with Mandarin, as I now have great motivation - If I do not do Mandarin now there is the risk that I will just drop it (I have just looked at it for a few hours, so it is not out of the woods yet) - I actually enjoy the Mandarin characters DISADVANTAGES OF DOING MANDARIN - Since I am such a slow learner I may not get any results at all in such a short period - It may get in the way for Russian Help! I do not know what to chose, and I must chose tomorrow at the very latest, since I am packing my bags to go on holiday now, and I would need to bring some study material with me. What are the rest of you going to do for the 6WC? Do you know what to do already, or are you just as bewildered as I am? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Luna Moonsilver Diglot Groupie Germany lunaslanglog.wordpreRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5078 days ago 77 posts - 99 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Mandarin, Korean | Message 2 of 16 21 July 2012 at 6:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am, weirdly enough, going to do Mandarin myself for this 6WC (again!) so it would be
good to see another learner doing the same thing ;). I was torn between that and Portuguese - because my Portuguese is much more basic - but because I'm going to Germany in September and have signed up for a level 3 Mandarin class without really knowing what it entails, I figure focussing on that might be my best bet. I don't know what to suggest for you, but I would think considering the amount of hours you manage to put into your challenges, there's not a chance of you not seeing any results! :) Still, it depends how you feel about it. I would recommend at least knowing a few basic phrases before you go to China (even if you don't pick it for the 6WC) - I know when I went it was a lot easier to get around with a little bit of Mandarin than a lot of English! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5982 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 3 of 16 21 July 2012 at 6:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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Go with Russian. If you could push it up to B1 by September, it will make the Russian part of your Trans Siberian journey that bit more magical. Plus a week stuck on a train is plenty of time to get to grips with some survival Mandarin. I am quite jealous actually, my one day trip of a lifetime would be to travel overland to Japan via the Trans-Siberian, so I will be looking forward to hearing about your experiences.
As for me, I'm very much looking forward to doing a 6WC in German. Doing the 6WC in Japanese in May 2011 was incredibly motivating, but afterwards I felt stuck in a strange place of being too advanced to honestly do another Japanese 6WC, but not advanced enough to take time away from Japanese and use it on another language. I've been prompted to pick up a little bit of German because I shall be taking a trip there at the beginning of August, but I am enjoying it rather a lot more than expected. I'll be really interested to use the 6WC as motivation to push my German even further, but also to see how well I can balance my hours between a new language and an old (but not yet finished with) one. Edited by g-bod on 21 July 2012 at 6:22pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5130 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 4 of 16 21 July 2012 at 6:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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You could always take the phrasebook approach to Mandarin. That way you're getting most
of what you'd need for the trip without delving too deeply into the grammar. As an aside, some of these phrasebooks are pretty thorough. Lonely Planet's Mandarin Phrasebook is over 300 pages! Certainly enough material to cover 6 weeks. R. == 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6597 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 5 of 16 21 July 2012 at 6:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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Spain won the Euro so I'll be doing Spanish. I don't love it the way I love Polish so it'll be more important to reach the top3 on total time. I'll also do all the fun stuff that I'm jealous of Spanish learners for, e.g. Destinos, lyricstraining, GLOSS, langmedia. (any other recs?)
Cristina, I think a Mandarin 6WC is too big a commitment. If you want to do something new I recommend Ukrainian:) And if you like the Chinese characters you may want to do it for the next Tadoku along with some other languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4678 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 6 of 16 21 July 2012 at 7:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'd say Russian. 6WC is clearly about wanderlust, but if you have a project to use Russian soon, then I'd definitely say that it's better to have a good level in one language than low + nil in two!
Perhaps it would be good to learn a few food related characters for Mandarin, just in order to get an idea of what you're actually eating, but there's probably not much point going beyond that. Ah, yes: learn to pronounce pinyin: it's not very difficult, and at least you'll be able to ask the places you want to go. When does the 6WC start by the way? I've seen nothing passing about it, but indeed I should start thinking of which language + buying some learning material if needed... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6597 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 7 of 16 21 July 2012 at 7:12pm | IP Logged | ||
6WC starts on the 1st of August. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Osodrak Diglot Newbie Brazil Joined 4547 days ago 5 posts - 10 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English | Message 8 of 16 21 July 2012 at 7:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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