melomania Newbie United States Joined 4983 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French
| Message 1 of 3 29 March 2011 at 7:40am | IP Logged |
Well, even though I hate to state the obvious, this is the beginning of my language log. I don't really know how to begin journals without sounding awkward. It's a special talent of mine. But anyway, on to the goals!
I would like to reach a B2/C1 level in French by this time next year. I'm not sure how realistic that is with my schedule, but I'm going for it anyway. I also would like to learn the Russian alphabet (for starters) as it will be very useful to me in my musicological studies. I would really like to build my Spanish to a conversational level, but I'm already having enough trouble mixing up my Spanish and French pronunciations, so I think I'll hold off on Spanish for now.
As far as resources go, I have Rosetta Stone (boo hiss, yes I know.), Anki, Assimil "French Without Effort," and a French audiobook version of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" thoughtfully provided by my boyfriend. I also have been listening almost non-stop to French radio due to the glorious magic of the internet. I'm going to spend at least an hour a day on French learning, although it could be more since I don't have much happening this semester. I'm really going to play it by ear (har har).
I think my main challenge in learning this language is going to be the pronunciation, so it's a good thing I have a lot of audio sources and Audacity so I can record myself and compare.
For the Russian alphabet, I'm just going to flashcard it. It's an alphabet! How hard can it be? (hahaha...amirite? no? crap.)
Edited by melomania on 29 March 2011 at 7:41am
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melomania Newbie United States Joined 4983 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French
| Message 2 of 3 29 March 2011 at 11:02pm | IP Logged |
Today is kind of a French-lite day. I finished up Unit 1 in Rosetta Stone and have been listening to French radio. Other than that, I haven't done anything else with it. I did review my Russian alphabet flash cards for the first time, and managed to pronounce most of the syllables correctly. I think this lack of motivation is largely due to the weather and my unfortunate habit of sleeping in when I don't have classes. It's so cloudy and cold...where is spring? Anyway, I will update this if I make anymore progress tonight. Right now, I need to analyze some Mozart :D
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melomania Newbie United States Joined 4983 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French
| Message 3 of 3 31 March 2011 at 6:48am | IP Logged |
Well, today I made a little bit more progress. I had a busy day (classes, lessons, rehearsal), but I still managed to spend an hour on Rosetta Stone, listen to the radio, and get through CD 1 of Michel Thomas. I reviewed my Russian alphabet as well. I really should do some sentence mining, perhaps I will start that tomorrow. I don't think that reviewing individual word cards (like the decks I have now) will do me much good with the way I'm trying to learn. I have noticed that I think of random French words and phrases...well, randomly. Not necessarily when I see the objects they describe, although I do like saying "voiture" when I see a car. My mind works in mysterious ways, even to myself. I'm still having trouble with some of the guttural sounds, getting the back of my throat to cooperate. I can roll my r's like nobody's business though, something good I got from my Spanish genes I guess haha
I know this is kind of a slow start, but hopefully I'll pick up the pace soon. I've found some people in my classes who either speak French or are doing the same things I am, so perhaps I can actually do a little oral practice. I'm also going to creep on the French speaking table that meets at Holmes, so I can hear real live native speakers in action. Come to think of it, I should probably look into the French club...
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