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A Russian log, by fistsofabadger | ||
Tags: Russian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| fistsofabadger Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5380 days ago 16 posts - 19 votes | Message 1 of 14 07 March 2010 at 8:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ok, this is me trying to get my Russian motoring along again. Right now, I'm kinda stuck somewhere in B1 (going by wikipedia, at least), and progress feels very slow. Admittedly, that's because I'm not doing nearly enough - I'm doing maintenance, and not much more. So, to kick start it: this log. My aim is to get to B2 - optimistically, high B2 - this year.
Basically, I want: "Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party." That done, I'll reward myself with a few weeks in Russia, work/cash permitting :) I've decided to commit to making a realistic weekly plan, and working hard to ensure I stick to it - if I find it overbearing, I'll adjust the week after to compensate rather than cutting stuff (I know than once I start cutting stuff, I can't stop). Also, I'm going to try and set a 3 monthly goal to try and keep motivation high. Of course, I'm hoping this log keeps me on track, too. So, by the beginning of June - I've rounded down, optimist that I am - I'd like to have: - read a Russian book (for adults) - completed the Penguin Russian course - increased vocabulary (added 1500 words to Anki) - a greater understanding of Russian radio news (hmm, bit subjective - maybe to be able to understand at least what a report is about, if not all the content) And, a realistic Week 1 plan: - Read 3 chapters, intensively, of Пикник на Льду - 1 hour listening (with English/Russian transcript) (from http://www.russianlessons.net/articles/index.php) - 1 hour Russian tv show, or film - 1 hour speaking, with tutor - Chapters 17 and 18 of Penguin Russian - typing drills - 25 spread across the week (hate this, but getting stuff into Anki or taking a word from a (paper) book into an online dictionary is painfully slow) - passive listening - 8 hours spread across the week - usual SRS work This is substantially more than I usually do: hopefully I'll get substantially better because of it :) It's realistic though, and apart from the (yawn) typing, stuff I like. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5559 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 2 of 14 08 March 2010 at 12:13am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm in a slightly similar (if a somewhat smaller and slower) boat to you, around the A2/B1 mark in Russian probably. I think going to the country is an excellent idea if you can save up the money, and your weekly plan looks good. I'd also recommend a bit of listening-reading and shadowing at this stage, if you can fit it in too.
I liked the link to Russian-English articles, and in gratitude have included a snippet from another one of my posts about learning Russian, just on the off chance it's helpful to you:
Udachi, fistsofabadger! Edited by Teango on 08 March 2010 at 12:16am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| fistsofabadger Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5380 days ago 16 posts - 19 votes | Message 3 of 14 09 March 2010 at 1:34am | IP Logged | ||
Haha, I liked this, definitely made me smile. Guess my boat only going faster as I'm doing one language, not 8 - don't know how you manage it?! Good luck though, your TAC log is cool, if insane. Anyway, thanks for dropping by, much appreciated, and links v. useful. Got a hold of the Princeton course - I've seen a lot of people use it, so I'll try and take a look over it at the weekend and maybe add a lesson or two to the weekly plan if I think it might help. Added rpod.ru and Russkoe Radio, too - I've been using Voice Of Russia (via http://www.russianinternet.com/radio/voiceofrussia.asx), which is generally fairly chat heavy, but plays a lot of English music at the weekends, for some reason. I'm lucky enough to be able to listen to what I want at work, so something with more music and less chat might work well. I've visited rpod.ru before, but never delved in - so recommendations always welcome :) I've take a look at the ol' BIG PODCAST. The LR/shadowing stuff is interesting, I wasn't sure I was ready for it .. but guess it's just a matter of finding appropriate material (which I hate! but might be worth the effort). I understand how to go about LR, I think, and while I understand what shadowing is, I'm a bit vague on the details. Have to try and read up on it. Something you've had success with in other languages? A good day today: - 5 typing drills done - a decent improvement in speed and accuracy, so hopefully will be dropping this in a few weeks. - lots of SRS :| I moved a lot of "Production" cards from suspended to active recently, so I've still got a lot of cards needing reviewing. It's largely familiar stuff, but still sucks up time. But .. - got a lot of passive listening in whilst reviewing cards and typing. 3 hours, maybe. - read Pengin Russian ch. 17 on bus on way to work, and again on the way home - should tackle the exercises tomorrow and move on to ch. 18 - watched first Episode of Родина Ждет, 45 minutes This was a great day, for me. I'll be happy if I can keep it up, although know it'll be harder when the novelty wears off or the pace at work kicks up. Still, happy. One thing I noticed today was the recognition rates on the stuff I was listening/watching. Listening to VOR, I struggled with the news and TV - maybe 40% of words, and not a lot of meaning - but panel discussions on VOR seemed much easier - definitely understood much more vocab, and at times I felt that I could grasp at the whole meaning! Of course, I know it's quite a lot of work to move the grasping to a usable level, but it was interesting to discover the "easiest" part of today. I expected the TV to be easier - maybe that has a more conversational style that I need to get accustomed to. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fistsofabadger Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5380 days ago 16 posts - 19 votes | Message 4 of 14 09 March 2010 at 10:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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Long day at work, so not a fat lot done. Few typing drills, SRS, couple of hours of passive listening, half the Ch.17 exercises.
Crashing out. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fistsofabadger Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5380 days ago 16 posts - 19 votes | Message 5 of 14 11 March 2010 at 1:16am | IP Logged | ||
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Big win today: managed to clear my SRS due cards before work! Makes a big difference, right now - much more time to spend on other stuff. Even found time to go though old Skype logs with tutor and add ~400 vocab/sentences to Anki - so little chance of clearing it tomorrow morning, but at least moving in the direction this week.
Also: - polished off Ch 17 Penguin - 1 hour with tutor - lots of crime chat (no punishment, disappointingly) - Another 45 mins telly. Would be nice to be at a level where I could follow this well by years end. - Read over chapter 1 of book - covered vocab for this last week, so pretty straightforward Edited by fistsofabadger on 12 March 2010 at 9:51am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| fistsofabadger Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5380 days ago 16 posts - 19 votes | Message 6 of 14 12 March 2010 at 9:52am | IP Logged | ||
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Easy day yesterday: SRS and not much else. Browsed through Roots of the Russian Language, could be useful in building vocab a bit quicker.
Cleared off SRS deck before work again, so hopefully get some more useful study done later. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fistsofabadger Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5380 days ago 16 posts - 19 votes | Message 7 of 14 13 March 2010 at 1:13am | IP Logged | ||
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Meh, so much for getting a lot done - should know by Friday I don't want much brain work. Still, managed most of Ch18 (few exercises left), a couple of hours passive listening, and 6 typing drills. Happy, considering usual Friday efforts, but want to do more with the weekend.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fistsofabadger Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5380 days ago 16 posts - 19 votes | Message 8 of 14 14 March 2010 at 9:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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Wow, still logging after a whole week! Quite pleased by that.
So, yesterday: - a dozen typing drills - read a short article on lenta.ru about a Taliban attack in Afghanistan - 4 hours passive listening - free-read Ch3-4 from book - SRS And, today: - 8 typing drills - 1 hour listening from russianlessons.net (2 articles, repeated) - 6 hours passive listening - went back to Ch3 for bits of vocab I didn't pick up - finished off Ch18 in Penguin - SRS - (and, not learning, but .. ) wrote a tool to join multiple WAVs together, allowing for them to be repeated with silence stitched between repeats - should be good for putting looping sentences onto MP3 player for running or commute Think I've pretty much achieved what I set out to do at the beginning of the week. Log and plan definitely help, there's a little extra motivation to do stuff I wouldn't normally bother with. Next week, a bit tougher: - Book: 4 chapters - 1.5 hours listening (from http://www.russianlessons.net/articles/index.php again) - 1.5 hour Russian tv show, or film - 1 hour speaking, with tutor - Chapters 19 and 20 of Penguin Russian - typing drills - 20 (at the point now where typing is not horrific, just slow) - passive listening - 8 hours spread across the week - usual SRS work 1 person has voted this message useful |
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