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Sunja’s Newspaper/TV Challenge --TAC 09

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Sunja
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6089 days ago

2020 posts - 2295 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 217 of 232
30 September 2009 at 2:26pm | IP Logged 
Here's what I've done so far.

Japanese:

I just finished worksheets 14 and 15 (link to the worksheets in my previous post). I've now added 32 sentences to one deck and 150 words to another deck (going from English to Japanese). I also wrote Mariko back (took about two hours to correct all her sentences and write a response in Japanese.)

French:

I'm still reviewing lesson 31. It's only 2:00 so I'm planning to go through lessons 31-33, using the scriptorium technique and I also have to put a few more pages of the glossary into my wordlists.

Tomorrow's plan:

Everything has to be done before 1:00 if I want to get to work on time.
Lessons 34-36, Assimil + vocabulary study. Worksheets 17, 18 plus input all the sentences and words from the worksheets into Anki. If possible, write a response email to Yuka.



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Sunja
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6089 days ago

2020 posts - 2295 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 218 of 232
01 October 2009 at 9:26pm | IP Logged 
Today I managed to get through all my Anki decks:

932 French words (most of them barely memorized)

305 kanji from worksheets 1-17

a handful of kanji sentences and

about five French sentences (new deck to record some of my work with French videos.

I'm already getting hung up on Assimil lesson 34. I may have to rethink TAC. B2 is something Assimil promises but I don't think I can muster the hours. Von wegen 15 minutes a day!!

I'm going through the lesson with the scriptorium technique. I try to listen and read at the same time, but because I'm so busy I can never get the two together (listening and reading). I'm usually doing one or the other, but not both with the CD. For example, I'll be listening in line at the cash register (no text), or I'll be sitting in my car waiting for my kid to get out of school and there I usually write down a few sentences and sound them out (no CD). I'll try doing both before I turn in tonight. But for now I just got off work and I'm really looking forward to my French Star Trek.

Edited by Sunja on 01 October 2009 at 9:26pm

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Sunja
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6089 days ago

2020 posts - 2295 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 219 of 232
03 October 2009 at 4:21pm | IP Logged 
I haven't added any new words, especially for French. I have my hands full with the deck that I have. I need to keep adding. I'm not doing well to memorize the Assimil sentences. I'll continue to stick close to the CDs.

I just got my book from Unicom, Listening Comprehension I've done just a little bit of it. I plan on doing worksheets 19, 20 tonight.
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Sunja
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6089 days ago

2020 posts - 2295 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 220 of 232
07 October 2009 at 5:07pm | IP Logged 
Working on worksheet 21. Nobody digs these worksheets? I think they're the best thing for intermediates! Let's get a vote or two in here!

French, I'm still lingering on Lesson 35. Not doing well to keep up, there.

Here's news. My work hours have been increased \(^O^)/

I'm happy about that, but it be detrimental to my TAC. I probably won't make any of my goals. There will be some improvement but it will not be as grandiose as I proposed. Here is my early prediction for December 30.

Here's where I started with Japanese: January 2009 - number of recognizable kanji c. 450. Number of known words, c. 1,000.

Right now I estimate my kanji recognition level at 800 or so. I'm not sure of my vocabulary level, but it's between 1,800 and 2,000. Yes- alarmingly low, but I've made no secret of my weakness in reading. Listening comprehension is on a good path towards JLPT 2. Not quite there, yet. I plan to finish my book before the end of the year. As long as I'm consistent with these worksheets my kanji level will reach JLPT 2 or above. Should work out okay. I've been consistent thus far.

I've been maintaining correspondence with.. le'see 1,2,3,....4 penpals. Mari left when I didn't show up for a text chat (I was delayed), and I don't know what happened to Kana, but I'm sure she's busy.

French: I started in March, was it? Then I took a break in June and got back on again in September. Sadly, I will not make it to B2. I read the back of my Assimil book and fell for the "Komplettkurs: Niveau A1 bis B2", but I don't think I'll be at B2 if I simply complete the course. Schön wär's. Would be sweet, wouldn't it. But no. I think A2 is a bit more realistic.

Spanish was dropped a long time ago. Didn't get far.

My TAC dreams of mastery are coming to an end. At least I've made marginal improvement. I'm saying all this now because the holidays are beginning (the family) and my job has taken precedence. Not that anyone expects to see any major changes to this log between now and the end of the year. Fall break begins on Monday. I'll think about a reasonable goal for the week.       
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Sunja
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6089 days ago

2020 posts - 2295 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 221 of 232
10 October 2009 at 5:05pm | IP Logged 
Sometimes I wish I could shed this log and start again. I thought about making a sub-log, but wouldn't that just be a gimmick to make me think I'm getting somewhere? oooh, sub-log!

No. I won't give in to my urge to bureacracize my log. I have however come up with a short-term goal for the week to help push me forward. Here's a sample of what Friday was like to show what I'm up against:

5:30am -- got up and got ready. and made lunches for 3 kids, did whatever didn't get done the night before
7:30 -- taxi service. got everyone out of the house
8:00 -- on the road to an appointment 50 km away. Here I was able able to listen to French. the appointment lasted all morning.
11:30 -- rushed back to pick up my kids
12:15 -- lunch. Everyone starving
Basically spent 2-3 hours doing housework and helping my kids.
3:30 -- worked on an assignment for work, met the landlady about the heating problem.
4:00 -- got ready for work
5:00 -- work
8:00 -- came home, spent time with the family, ate,
9:30 -- watched Star Trek in French until I passed out.

I usually have all morning for language but on some days (like Friday) I don't get to study. This makes it difficult to develope a realistic time line.

I've decided that this is reasonable:

Until next Saturday finish worksheets 25-32. I've considered this my most important goal for the week. French: get through 36-40. The lessons are difficult because I'm not used to the grammar or the pronunciation. It takes a long time to digest each section. I've promised myself to finish Assimil before I start in with any serious grammar study. As it stands I can't read confidently without a pronunication guide, but it's slowly getting better.

I have 4 ANKI decks. I have 424 kanji that I've added from the worksheets. I'm going from English to Japanese, and the task is to be able to write the kanji from the English. This should boost my reading ability. That's why I'm considering this a priority.

I have 1006 French words that I half-way know. Some I know better than others. It doesn't matter. As long as I recognize them for future study.

Then I have 83 Japanese sentences from the worksheets. This is a secondary task. I have to try my best to nail the Japanese from the English translation. Lately I've been saying just parts of sentences, hoping I get the vocabulary right. The sentences are getting complicated and my level of active Japanese way below my passive.

I have another deck, but so far I haven't found much time for it. They're French sentences from a "French Videos" website.

Maybe during the course of the week I can manage "on-the-go" studies. I have to be extremely disciplined and focused and lately I've just had so much on my mind. I've thought that maybe I can do short bursts of dictation through earplugs. Listen to an Assimil sentence and try to write it out. This means I have to be ready to interrupt whatever I'm doing -- at least for the few minutes that it takes to concentrate on writing the sentence.

okay I've said enough.

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Sunja
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6089 days ago

2020 posts - 2295 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 222 of 232
11 October 2009 at 5:02pm | IP Logged 
Mariko is having a penpal (a young man, I suppose) stay with her in Japan and she's experiencing some cultural differences.

(前に言ったかもしれませんが、メール友達 � �1人が今日本に来ています。今週末まで東 �� ��いる予定です。
彼は高級そうな香水をプレゼントしてくれま した。
次の月曜日が私の誕生日だと知っているから です。
男性が女性に香水を送るのはとても特別なこ となので、とても驚きました。
文化の相違によるものだとは思いますが、ス ーザンさんはどう思いますか。)

Apparantly her penpal gave her a "rather high-class" gift of perfume (probably purchased at the airport hehe) when he arrived. She wants to know what I think about this.

(彼は40分も駅に私を待たせたにも関わら � �、謝りもしませんでした。それが普通なの � �しょうか。
謝る代わりに、言い訳をしていました。彼の 言いたいことは分かりますが、私はとても不 快な気分になりました。
例え正当な理由があって遅れたとしても、何 時間も相手を待たせた場合、日本人なら必ず 謝ります。
私の友達は決して悪い人には見えないし、内 気で、私にとっては礼儀正し過ぎるくらいで す。
スーザンさんの意見を是非聞かせてください 。)

She's irritated that he made her wait 40 minutes at the station and then he didn't apologize properly. I guess he kind of explained it away, but she doesn't go into the details of why he was late. She goes on to say that Japanese always invariably apologize in the case of making someone wait. Hmmm. Not a good way to make a first impression on your Japanese hostess, I'd say.

I explained that it's probably a cultural misunderstanding and that she ought to give him another chance to (*ahem*) redeem himself.

Moving off that subject I tried to translate a children's version of the legend of the Jack-o'-Lantern and I had fun doing that. It was full of errors, I'm sure. I couldn't quite figure out how to say "red-hot coals inside a hollowed-out turnip"
( ̄▽ ̄)ノ_彡☆

I absolutely cannot forget to send another mail right around midnight. It's her birthday tomorrow and I forgot to mention that in my reply.

                               ♪Happy(。´_� ��`)ノ┌iiii┐ヾ(´○_`*)Birthday� �

I'm off to do ANKI

Edited by Sunja on 11 October 2009 at 5:36pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Sunja
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6089 days ago

2020 posts - 2295 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 223 of 232
12 October 2009 at 12:26am | IP Logged 
I wrote Mariko. Tomomi is next.

*YA--WN* It's 12:19. TIme for bed. I'm gettin gup at five, though. ..GOtta finish---AnKI..*crash*
1 person has voted this message useful



Sunja
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6089 days ago

2020 posts - 2295 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Mandarin

 
 Message 224 of 232
12 October 2009 at 6:49am | IP Logged 
It's about 6:30 now, I just spent an hour with my kanji deck. (I wanted to write them out, that's why it took so long. I did pretty well. Sometimes I missed just a part of them but I still counted it as "known" for example 消防車 I may have missed the 防. I still sent it to the bottom of the deck -- can't linger too long on one word.

I have to go get ready for my day and I won't be in here again (too much to do). I plan to try my "on-the-go" dictation method where I listen to a sentence with earbuds and then try to write it out as best I can. I do that while I'm running around today.

kids do that in school sometimes as a learning method. It's called "Lauf Diktat" "running dication". I'll try it today.

EDIT: please excuse the typos...too much coffee..

Edited by Sunja on 12 October 2009 at 6:52am



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