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Elsinore13 - German/Mandarin - TAC 2012: | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Elsinore13 Groupie United States Joined 4981 days ago 41 posts - 53 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin | Message 1 of 12 02 January 2012 at 12:15am | IP Logged | ||
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This will be a first language log, so figuring out how this all will work for me will be a challenge.
German While my German has improved since I joined HTLAL I feel I am still missing huge pieces of my education. I can read at a much higher level than I can speak or write. My goal is to be a SOLID B1 at years end. I'm could go higher, but know my work and competition schedule for the year, I'm trying to be realistic. Mandarin I'm about a A2 at this moment. Resources I have Assimil for Mandarin (I need to go through the second wave still). I plan to go through the second wave at least 2-3 times more. I have a few trips to China planned for the year for work, so I will get a lot of native speaker experience (if I'm brave!). Once I get through my Assimil I'm going to start looking for a tutor to help me. Pronunciation continues to be a challenge. I still have my subscription to ChinesePod. I will keep working with it, though I now understand people's complaint of "too much English". I will have to assess if I want to keep the subscription. For German, I can supplement my studies with a free language class at the local German-American club. I also have a friend who is fluent in German - first language - however I've been too chicken to speak to her. I'm contemplating jumping on the FSI bandwagon this year. I've heard good reviews on the method, I just don't know how it will work with my schedule. Pitfalls Classic fear of failure. Since speaking has always been my weakest skill, I'm really going to have to push myself to get out there and speak. I have no problem with reading material, heck, I devour books at great abandon. Another issue is time. I tend to constantly run errands, practice for competitions, etc. I've have started to get the boyfriend to take over some of the errands so I have more time. Well, that's it for today. I think, based on my schedules, I'll be adding a new entry the end of every week. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| NickJS Senior Member United Kingdom flickr.com/photos/sg Joined 4964 days ago 264 posts - 334 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 2 of 12 02 January 2012 at 9:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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Here is the list of your team mates from page 7 of the official team log.
Team Logs Here Good luck with your studies :). Edited by NickJS on 02 January 2012 at 9:42pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Elsinore13 Groupie United States Joined 4981 days ago 41 posts - 53 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin | Message 3 of 12 29 January 2012 at 4:43am | IP Logged | ||
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Of course, the moment I join a challenge everything around me goes to hell in a handbasket! Work drama has caused me to delay my language kick off.
I was able to get some work on the second wave with Mandarin Assimil. I was surprised I remembered as much as I did - being away from it for a while. I would like to find some sort of workbook that I can practice my sentence structure, etc. If anyone out there can suggest one I'd appreciate. I plan to do a major language book run next week. While I find learning while waiting for a flight, etc beneficial it's such a pain walking around with all the books. I have to look for someway get me ebooks. I have another China business trip slated for April, so this should give me plenty of motivation to push on the gas. For German, I've been going over Teach Yourself. Someone suggested "German is Fun" as a good work book. I plan to go to the Deutsche Welle site and do some serious work. Since Sunday is my "slow" day, I hope to get some stuff prepped for the rest of the week. Well, that's it for now. I hope I can do at least an entry once a week. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5014 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 4 of 12 30 January 2012 at 8:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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Of course it does, happens to me all the time :-D
Good luck with finding time, I hope things will settle down soon so you can study more. The books are heavy, that is true. I usually carry around a few kg of paper. The good thing is, that nearly no thief can take my bag and run away with it. It might pin him to the ground. Either get a kindle and ebooks, or scan the parts you are going to need. And you could try putting a book or two in your boyfriend's luggage, that is usually an option as well (my favourite). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Elsinore13 Groupie United States Joined 4981 days ago 41 posts - 53 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin | Message 5 of 12 01 February 2012 at 6:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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"The books are heavy, that is true. I usually carry around a few kg of paper. The good thing is, that nearly no thief can take my bag and run away with it. It might pin him to the ground." I can totally relate! My boyfriend said I would be a horrible nomad, as I would require at least 6 camels to carry all my stuff! As for the language front, Silver recommended some sources on her(?)log that has already been extremely helpful. "Mandarin Genius" on YouTube has proven very helpful already. I downloaded the Android "Pinyin Lite" app to work on tone recognition. With his hints I've already seen some improvement. For German, I downloaded the pdf and mp3 from Slow German. While I don't know the text completely, I'm just listening and repeating to get the pronouncation down. I even test myself by reading the sentence aloud and then follow up with the audio. I'm quite pleased that I'm able to figure out even the difficult new words out. While driving home, I try to describe my day aloud in my target language (I'm sure the other drivers think I'm insane). While I have limited vocabulary, my goal is to just try to express myself regardless. If I wait for the perfect words to come I'll never get out of my comfort zone and speak. So I'll start off : "Today I (went- need to know that verb) to the store and bought some bread. They did not have (mustard - need to know that word)." I find that if I keep going I will 1) figure out another way to say something 2) make it my goal to learn those new words. It's an experiment for me, but I'm trying. I'm an extremely impatient person, but I'm learning that I do have a YEAR to work on this project and the quality practice will bore out good results in the end. Well, off to research my workbook buying frenzy on Friday! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Luna Moonsilver Diglot Groupie Germany lunaslanglog.wordpreRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5083 days ago 77 posts - 99 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Mandarin, Korean | Message 6 of 12 01 February 2012 at 7:02pm | IP Logged | ||
Hi, fellow teammate! :D The method you've described there is one I use too, though I normally end up doing it at work. (I work on my own in an office most of the time, so I don't look that crazy!) It's a really good way to enforce what you already know, plus it can just be really fun when you go off track a little ;]. I hope you have fun in China this year :] - and I'm sure you'll get plenty of native speaker practice in there, haha :D. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Elsinore13 Groupie United States Joined 4981 days ago 41 posts - 53 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin | Message 7 of 12 11 March 2012 at 3:51am | IP Logged | ||
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Well after the flu and general craziness at work for the past month or so, I'm finally back on the wagon - so to speak.
It's been hard to have time and sit down and study with book in hand as of late.But the past couple of weeks I've been pulling out my dual text of German fairy tales and have been reading that. Of course, a daily dose of German music is keeping me in exposure. But I need to start getting into the meat of grammar and try to carve out some time. Before my trip I'm going to see if I can't locate an complete audiobook and ebook of a Harry Potter book in German. Not really into Harry Potter, but I think the chances of me getting some listening/reading done would be better if I can get an easy source. My next trip to China is in a few weeks. I've been working with Assimil hard and heavy. One, for getting back into the flow of speaking and hearing the language.Second, so I don'thave to be lugging both Chinese with Ease 1 and 2 books with me! I'm hoping to get to another book by the time I leave on my trip. While I haven't been neglectful of my tones, I've been really trying to work on them. I downloaded a tone app on my phone so I can recognize the different tones by hearing them. Sometimes I get so frustrated because the tones elude me and I end up picking the wrong one. I'm trying to be patient, but sometimes I feel I will never recognize them - let alone pronounce them correctly. *sigh* But the next couple of weeks should be some good studying time. For some reason, I find it extremely easy to study while on business trips. So, with all my travel in April (Elite status, here I come!) I should get a lot of language work done. That's it for now, hopefully I'll have some progress to report. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Elsinore13 Groupie United States Joined 4981 days ago 41 posts - 53 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin | Message 8 of 12 31 March 2012 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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Tones, tones, tones, oh how do I hate thee! I decided to focus on my tones and it's such of source of frustration. I'm not making my high pitch high enough and not getting low enough. I've been working with a tone app on my phone to try and figure out the right tones.
My next business trip to China is in two weeks and I've been going thorough Assimil daily. I have been listening to Pimsleur passively, only because I find the speed much faster than Assimil and I want to get my ear used to the speed. I do plan to do some massive book shopping when I'm there. Just enough to give me some stuff to work through until my next trip in a few months. German has taking a backseat for the time being. Still listening to German songs daily and I've been reading Gustav Bar at night. Reading alone helps me remember more vocabulary than a list. When I get back home I hope to get Harry Potter audio and book and do some L-R.t. Well, that's it for now. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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