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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| j0ma Tetraglot Newbie United States Joined 5706 days ago 24 posts - 30 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, German, Esperanto Studies: Yiddish, Mandarin | Message 1 of 8 08 September 2009 at 11:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hello everyone.
After having spent a lot of time just lurking around on this forum, I decided to collaborate in some way. This journal is a means for me to track my study methods, hours and overall process. I will also be setting goals for each of the languages, both major and minor. First and foremost: What is my current level in the languages I am studying? German: Took it for five years in school, learned the basics. A couple of visits to Germany and Austria really made my German "alive" the first time and I learned to add a bit of flavor to my speech via more colloquial expressions. At the moment I am living in Germany, near Dresden, and am practically immersed in the language. Overall I would say my German is intermediate - high intermediate. Spanish: Total beginner. Before writing this I have studied three chapters of my book. French: Beginner as well. I only know some phrases. Russian: Took two years in school. Has become really rusty. I included this here only because I am taking taking it in school again. Study materials: German: Immersion & native materials (TV, newspapers, everyday conversations) Spanish: Working through my Finnish "Zarabanda - espanjan alkeiskurssi" book from 1974 Shadowing Assimil Spanish with Ease (have to buy this one first) Pimsleur Latin American Spanish French: Cortina's French in 20 Lessons ( no audio :( ) Pimsleur French Russian: Only materials provided by the school. Not really of high importance to me at the moment. Goals: German: Basic fluency (or more if possible) by July 2010 Spanish: Conversational fluency (high intermediate) by Summer 2010 French: To get by in October 2009, longer term goal is conversational fluency. Not setting any deadlines for that. Russian: Just to brush it up a little bit, not going to stress too much about this. Okay, I think I've said everything I had to say for this introductory post. I hope this stuff works out and I hope this log/this forum will also help me in learning how to learn (i.e. study techniques) Here we go then! Jonne Edited by j0ma on 15 September 2009 at 10:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| j0ma Tetraglot Newbie United States Joined 5706 days ago 24 posts - 30 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, German, Esperanto Studies: Yiddish, Mandarin | Message 2 of 8 10 September 2009 at 9:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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Study 09/09/2009
German: Immersion as always. Spanish: Finished unit 3 in my Spanish coursebook by doing the exercises. They were connected to asking things like "Where is..?" "Is there...?" etc. 30 minutes. Total Spanish: 30 minutes French: Nothing. Study 10/09/2009 German: Immersion. I went to my first ever German kickboxing class today and was immersed in the martial arts German slang. :D Also on my way back home I noticed that I'm thinking in German ! That's what I'd call progress. Spanish: Going to translate the dialogues in unit 4 of my Spanish book and also study a bit of Spanish grammar. If this book gets too boring I might switch to the Unilang.org basic Spanish course. Or maybe do both? We shall see. French: Going to review the footnotes in unit 2 of my Cortina book. I'm still struggling with finding a good study strategy for Cortina, since it has no exercises. Perhaps I could translate the dialogues French -> English and vice versa to balance my input/output levels. The lessons are only vocab and dialogues. Any ideas for a study strategy would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance. I've also been thinking of doing French and Spanish on separate days so that every other day would be Spanish and every other day would be French. And I'm also very tempted to start learning Esperanto. Maybe I could study French and Esperanto on alternating days and then Spanish every day. Maybe I'll just stick with the two. I've flirted a bit with Esperanto already and found it relatively easy. But I guess I shall introduce it at a later time, if at all, and at the moment just stick to the two. Well, I guess that's all for today. Have to go now, got some studying to do ! Tschüss, Jonne Edited by j0ma on 10 September 2009 at 9:50pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Jiwon Triglot Moderator Korea, South Joined 6438 days ago 1417 posts - 1500 votes  Speaks: EnglishC2, Korean*, GermanC1 Studies: Hindi, Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 8 11 September 2009 at 12:27am | IP Logged | ||
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Yay! Let's all work towards German fluency! :)
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 5996 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 4 of 8 11 September 2009 at 1:19am | IP Logged | ||
First of all, good luck J0ma and keep up the good work.
Secondly: I dunno, I reckon it's a better idea to knock over French and Spanish first. :p As for strategies, if you want you could have a look for my old learning log, from last year, it shows how I went about learning French, I could probably link you to it actually....here. (thanks crush) Translation excersizes can be alright, just don't burn yourself out forcing yourself to do boring stuff. I also strongly recommend you get to Delicast to pound out some listening practice, the site will help you with every language. It also has tv. Free and fun for all. As for Esperanto, I've only got one recommendation: "don't". You've got enough work to do with the useful, cool and natural languages you're learning. I wouldn't bother with learning something the complete opposite. Thom. Edited by ExtraLean on 11 September 2009 at 6:07am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5867 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 5 of 8 11 September 2009 at 4:37am | IP Logged | ||
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ExtraLean, that is just a link is to edit a post. Was this what you were talking about? And good luck j0ma!
Btw, I think our logs almost have the same name. I think mine is something like Spanish, French, German, Russian. And I also studied Esperanto off and on ;) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| j0ma Tetraglot Newbie United States Joined 5706 days ago 24 posts - 30 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, German, Esperanto Studies: Yiddish, Mandarin | Message 6 of 8 13 September 2009 at 12:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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Study: 10.9.2009
Spanish: Ended up finishing the whole unit 4. I think I might move to the more interesting unilang course, since the book I have is getting really boring. French: Didn't have time -> nothing. Study: 11.9.2009 German immersion. I went out with friends so I didn't study. Study: 12.9.2009 This day was a French day. I reviewed the footnotes of chapter 2 and also studied a bit of grammar from the reference grammar at the back of the book. Also went through the dialogue again and wrote the vocabulary of the chapter down on index cards. Going to take them with me to public transportation. It is amazing how much study one can do while waiting for the bus/tram/train ! I am very pleased with todays efforts (finally starting to feel like I'm getting a grasp of the Cortina book) and I didn't even do any formal, office-room kind of study! Only while "on the go". I'm very pleased with that. Study: 13.9.2009 Going to report these after I've actually studied something. That's all for now, Jonne Edited by j0ma on 15 September 2009 at 10:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| j0ma Tetraglot Newbie United States Joined 5706 days ago 24 posts - 30 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, German, Esperanto Studies: Yiddish, Mandarin | Message 7 of 8 15 September 2009 at 10:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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Study: 13.9.2009
Spanish: Went through lessons 1 and 2 of the Spanish course at www.unilang.com I am not really happy with the rigorousness of my study but I think I'll just be happy with the little work I've done and move on day by day. Because no matter how much I rush, the future comes one second at a time. Study: 14.9.2009 French: Reviewed vocabulary for units 1&2 of the Cortina book, started chapter 3. The words seem really useless (words like underpants won't be very useful in the beginning, or?) and I also find the footnote system really hard to follow since I have to flip back and forth between the pages. Hmm, need to see about this. Having moved to Germany a month ago really makes my language learning resources scarce, since my resources are predominantly stored on my laptop which is back in Finland. Hope I'll get it soon. Well, thats it ! I'm off for some Spanish study ! ps. I noticed copying things out by hand is a great way to remember stuff ! I reviewed the numbers 1-20 in Russian class (by writing them down at least five times) on my own since I don't understand the tuition that well (it's in German). Edited by j0ma on 15 September 2009 at 10:19pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| j0ma Tetraglot Newbie United States Joined 5706 days ago 24 posts - 30 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, German, Esperanto Studies: Yiddish, Mandarin | Message 8 of 8 19 September 2009 at 8:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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Due to a lack of decent study materials I'm postponing my Spanish/French studies a bit. I'm going to order Assimil Spanish soon (in October at last) and I'll try to find a good coursebook/something like that for French.
Meanwhile, I've started Norwegian with the utterly amazing book "Beginning Norwegian: A Grammar and Reader" by Einar I. Haugen, published in 1939. I find Norwegian to be a good choice since I have lots of opportunities to practice it in its spoken form with my Norwegian friends. Norwegian is also relatively transparent for me ( at least beginner level texts ) for I have a background in Swedish (studied it in school, seen Swedish labels everywhere since childhood due to living in bilingual Finland). So, at least for now, new adventures are waiting for me. My Romance language studies will continue in the (not too distant) future when I get better study materials. I will create a new log for Norwegian in the few upcoming days. Stay tuned ! Jonne Sälevä ps. my German immersion will, of course, go on like before since I currently reside in Germany. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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