NeonQwerty’s Italian and German thread (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

NeonQwerty’s Italian and German thread
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neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 185 of 206 01 November 2009 at 8:42pm \| IP Logged
	Alright! Good day since yesterday. But before I get into what I actually did, one of my frequent asides... At some point last week, I was listening to an Italian podcast and thought "This is a shame... I understand to words as they are being used, but I wouldn't have thought of expressing myself that way if I were communicating the same point." At that point I filed it under "Well, at least I understand it" and moved on. Later that day I was listening to some French rap. Now, I'm fluent in French, but it's Quebec French. That means that when I listen to rap from France, there are some parts that seem unusual. Slang is one obvious case. But it's not just slang... it's also the use of some "correct", non-slang words. What got my attention in this case was the rapper's use of "jadis". The thing with that word is that it's only a slight exaggeration to say that one in Quebec would ever use it. In fact, my only exposure to it was when reading very proper books in school; I don't think I was ever taught anything about the word formally. So what does this have to do with anything? Well, the "jadis" moment was similar to my earlier Italian moment. I knew of the word, understood it, but would never use it myself. And yet, I really am fluent in French! That's when it occurred to me that you don't need to express yourself in every which way to know a language. For Romance languages, at any rate, you just need to understand most of the "proper" speech (assuming you understand the accent) and your local slang. But your speech should only be judged by whether or not you are able to express your thoughts in a a correct way. If someone learning English were to ask me if I have an automobile, I would consider the English to be flawless as long as the question were posed correctly. Sure, I would be tipped off to the fact that he's not from around here (or else he would have said "car"), but that's fine. After all, if I go down South and I ask to see someone's car, they might silently take not that I did not call it a "rig". If I stayed in that community for a long time, I'd pick up some of the linguistic idiosyncrasies and eventually blend in. In any event, it was very heartening. My Italian may be simple, and at times too simple to be able to accurately express what I want to express, but it's still not bad by this standard of communication. End thought! Italian, Got caught up with my ankis, read some articles and inserted new words. I listened to about 25 minutes of a newscast that just consisted of reading headlines from Italian newspapers. This got very boring, so I stopped at that point. I also watched the second half of the new Star Trek movie in Italian. I had watched the first a while back... German, Listened to a slow news report, redid Pimsleur 21 and did Pimlseur 22. This latter lesson is the first in a long time that I will not have to repeat. I also got caught up on the ankis, but did not create more Pimsleur 21: 26 mins Pimlseur 22: 25 mins Total: 1827 minutes 1 person has voted this message useful
neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 186 of 206 03 November 2009 at 12:27am \| IP Logged
	Italian, Doing my ankis, listening to podcasts... I think that I will at some point need one more spurt of Italian studying before I'm "done", as well as a slightly modified review process... But I actually think that my progress is pretty good. I think that at this point, most of my improvement is just going to be frequent exposure to the language. German, Slow news, reviewed some ankis. Of course, Pimlseur too! :-) Pimsleur 23: 27 mins Total: 1854 minutes 1 person has voted this message useful
neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 187 of 206 06 November 2009 at 4:35pm \| IP Logged
	So very, very tired! Great school week, though! But this is a language log, not a school log, dammit, so... Italian, Heard an interesting podcast about the swine flu vaccine. I have not listed to the Repubblica podcasts in a while; they got really repetitive and polemical after a while, so I've been experimenting with other sources. Also read some more Vanity Fair. I now know that your hairstyle is very important if you want to have an impressive appearance. Thanks, Vanity Fair! I've been keeping up to date with my ankis, too. German, Did not listen to slow news, which is fine by me. I felt like I needed a break from that. I've been keeping up with the few ankis I have, plus..... Pimsleur 24: 27 minutes Total: 1871 minutes 1 person has voted this message useful
neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 188 of 206 08 November 2009 at 4:33pm \| IP Logged
	Italian, Just reading an anki maintenance since the last entry. I have a lot of things to do today, but I'd like to add more anki words if I have time. My main anki list (where I'm given the English word and must guess the Italian one) is derived from a vocabulary book, but I only got halfway through the transcription process before stopping. German, Did Pimsleur 25, although I'm going to have to redo it. Pimsleur 25: 26 minutes Total: 1897 minutes 1 person has voted this message useful
neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 189 of 206 09 November 2009 at 8:58pm \| IP Logged
	Italian, I bought the new issue of Vanity Fair, but have not started reading it yet; I'll do it on the bus ride to (and possibly from) school today. I'm on top of my ankis, but they really are starting to get few and far between, even as I add more to my Italian --> English list. The reading that I'm doing is great, and I should be doing even more of it, but I need an extra push to really "know" the language at a high level by next fall. So it's time to (gently) introduce new study materials. Remember the vocab book that was the basis for my original anki list? While I did study it pretty thoroughly, I got halfway through when I was inputting words into my anki file. The first order of business is to resume where I left off. I won't systematize this for now, but if in a couple weeks' time I'm not happy with the progress, I'll come up with a minimum number of words per day or something. No panic, though. Afterwords, I'll need to come up with something that gets me to write and speak more, as well as review grammar, but one thing at a time... :) German, Still no more audio. For some reason I'm just not feelin' it. I just finished adding 28 words to my anki file. I now have about 78-80 and finished going through the "100 most common German words" list that I bookmarked. Having the audio blurt out when a new word comes up is very nice. :) This will give me a bit more work to do with my ankis... BTW, I obviously didn't include all the words in the list. I think that I can do without reviewing "bin" and "sind". Also BTW, I'm very glad that I also have been including the plural of the nouns from the start. I consider myself NOT to have gotten the word if I can define it but can't come up with the proper plural. I also did some Pimsleur... Pimsleur 25: 25 mins Pimlseur 26: 29 mins Total: 1951 mins 1 person has voted this message useful
neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 190 of 206 12 November 2009 at 10:23pm \| IP Logged
	Italian, I did a ton of reading from Vanity Fair on Tuesday, and highlighted words to (eventually) add to my anki file. Speaking of which, I've been reviewing my ankis but have no yet added anything to the file(s). German, Married a beautiful woman from Austria who helps me raise my seven children. That's what Mr. Von Trapp from The Sound of Music would say. I, on the other hand, reviewed ankis and did some Pimlseur. Pimsleur 26 (again): 29 mins Pimsleur 27: 27.5 mins Total: 2007.5 mins 1 person has voted this message useful
neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 191 of 206 14 November 2009 at 6:17pm \| IP Logged
	Italian, Same ol', same 'ol. Ankis + reading some stuff online. No audio / video, though. Sadface... German, Ankis and Pimlseur. Pimsleur 28: 27.5 mins Pimsleur 29: 25.5 mins Total: 2060.5 mins 1 person has voted this message useful
neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 192 of 206 15 November 2009 at 6:45pm \| IP Logged
	Okie-dokie! Italian: see previous post German: anki and Pimsleur Pimsleur 29 (again): 25.5 mins Pimsleur 30: 26 mins Total: a mighty 2112 mina 1 person has voted this message useful

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neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 185 of 206 01 November 2009 at 8:42pm \| IP Logged
	Alright! Good day since yesterday. But before I get into what I actually did, one of my frequent asides... At some point last week, I was listening to an Italian podcast and thought "This is a shame... I understand to words as they are being used, but I wouldn't have thought of expressing myself that way if I were communicating the same point." At that point I filed it under "Well, at least I understand it" and moved on. Later that day I was listening to some French rap. Now, I'm fluent in French, but it's Quebec French. That means that when I listen to rap from France, there are some parts that seem unusual. Slang is one obvious case. But it's not just slang... it's also the use of some "correct", non-slang words. What got my attention in this case was the rapper's use of "jadis". The thing with that word is that it's only a slight exaggeration to say that one in Quebec would ever use it. In fact, my only exposure to it was when reading very proper books in school; I don't think I was ever taught anything about the word formally. So what does this have to do with anything? Well, the "jadis" moment was similar to my earlier Italian moment. I knew of the word, understood it, but would never use it myself. And yet, I really am fluent in French! That's when it occurred to me that you don't need to express yourself in every which way to know a language. For Romance languages, at any rate, you just need to understand most of the "proper" speech (assuming you understand the accent) and your local slang. But your speech should only be judged by whether or not you are able to express your thoughts in a a correct way. If someone learning English were to ask me if I have an automobile, I would consider the English to be flawless as long as the question were posed correctly. Sure, I would be tipped off to the fact that he's not from around here (or else he would have said "car"), but that's fine. After all, if I go down South and I ask to see someone's car, they might silently take not that I did not call it a "rig". If I stayed in that community for a long time, I'd pick up some of the linguistic idiosyncrasies and eventually blend in. In any event, it was very heartening. My Italian may be simple, and at times too simple to be able to accurately express what I want to express, but it's still not bad by this standard of communication. End thought! Italian, Got caught up with my ankis, read some articles and inserted new words. I listened to about 25 minutes of a newscast that just consisted of reading headlines from Italian newspapers. This got very boring, so I stopped at that point. I also watched the second half of the new Star Trek movie in Italian. I had watched the first a while back... German, Listened to a slow news report, redid Pimsleur 21 and did Pimlseur 22. This latter lesson is the first in a long time that I will not have to repeat. I also got caught up on the ankis, but did not create more Pimsleur 21: 26 mins Pimlseur 22: 25 mins Total: 1827 minutes 1 person has voted this message useful
neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 186 of 206 03 November 2009 at 12:27am \| IP Logged
	Italian, Doing my ankis, listening to podcasts... I think that I will at some point need one more spurt of Italian studying before I'm "done", as well as a slightly modified review process... But I actually think that my progress is pretty good. I think that at this point, most of my improvement is just going to be frequent exposure to the language. German, Slow news, reviewed some ankis. Of course, Pimlseur too! :-) Pimsleur 23: 27 mins Total: 1854 minutes 1 person has voted this message useful
neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 187 of 206 06 November 2009 at 4:35pm \| IP Logged
	So very, very tired! Great school week, though! But this is a language log, not a school log, dammit, so... Italian, Heard an interesting podcast about the swine flu vaccine. I have not listed to the Repubblica podcasts in a while; they got really repetitive and polemical after a while, so I've been experimenting with other sources. Also read some more Vanity Fair. I now know that your hairstyle is very important if you want to have an impressive appearance. Thanks, Vanity Fair! I've been keeping up to date with my ankis, too. German, Did not listen to slow news, which is fine by me. I felt like I needed a break from that. I've been keeping up with the few ankis I have, plus..... Pimsleur 24: 27 minutes Total: 1871 minutes 1 person has voted this message useful
neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 188 of 206 08 November 2009 at 4:33pm \| IP Logged
	Italian, Just reading an anki maintenance since the last entry. I have a lot of things to do today, but I'd like to add more anki words if I have time. My main anki list (where I'm given the English word and must guess the Italian one) is derived from a vocabulary book, but I only got halfway through the transcription process before stopping. German, Did Pimsleur 25, although I'm going to have to redo it. Pimsleur 25: 26 minutes Total: 1897 minutes 1 person has voted this message useful
neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 189 of 206 09 November 2009 at 8:58pm \| IP Logged
	Italian, I bought the new issue of Vanity Fair, but have not started reading it yet; I'll do it on the bus ride to (and possibly from) school today. I'm on top of my ankis, but they really are starting to get few and far between, even as I add more to my Italian --> English list. The reading that I'm doing is great, and I should be doing even more of it, but I need an extra push to really "know" the language at a high level by next fall. So it's time to (gently) introduce new study materials. Remember the vocab book that was the basis for my original anki list? While I did study it pretty thoroughly, I got halfway through when I was inputting words into my anki file. The first order of business is to resume where I left off. I won't systematize this for now, but if in a couple weeks' time I'm not happy with the progress, I'll come up with a minimum number of words per day or something. No panic, though. Afterwords, I'll need to come up with something that gets me to write and speak more, as well as review grammar, but one thing at a time... :) German, Still no more audio. For some reason I'm just not feelin' it. I just finished adding 28 words to my anki file. I now have about 78-80 and finished going through the "100 most common German words" list that I bookmarked. Having the audio blurt out when a new word comes up is very nice. :) This will give me a bit more work to do with my ankis... BTW, I obviously didn't include all the words in the list. I think that I can do without reviewing "bin" and "sind". Also BTW, I'm very glad that I also have been including the plural of the nouns from the start. I consider myself NOT to have gotten the word if I can define it but can't come up with the proper plural. I also did some Pimsleur... Pimsleur 25: 25 mins Pimlseur 26: 29 mins Total: 1951 mins 1 person has voted this message useful
neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 190 of 206 12 November 2009 at 10:23pm \| IP Logged
	Italian, I did a ton of reading from Vanity Fair on Tuesday, and highlighted words to (eventually) add to my anki file. Speaking of which, I've been reviewing my ankis but have no yet added anything to the file(s). German, Married a beautiful woman from Austria who helps me raise my seven children. That's what Mr. Von Trapp from The Sound of Music would say. I, on the other hand, reviewed ankis and did some Pimlseur. Pimsleur 26 (again): 29 mins Pimsleur 27: 27.5 mins Total: 2007.5 mins 1 person has voted this message useful
neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 191 of 206 14 November 2009 at 6:17pm \| IP Logged
	Italian, Same ol', same 'ol. Ankis + reading some stuff online. No audio / video, though. Sadface... German, Ankis and Pimlseur. Pimsleur 28: 27.5 mins Pimsleur 29: 25.5 mins Total: 2060.5 mins 1 person has voted this message useful
neonqwerty Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5980 days ago 229 posts - 239 votes Speaks: French, English Studies: Spanish	Message 192 of 206 15 November 2009 at 6:45pm \| IP Logged
	Okie-dokie! Italian: see previous post German: anki and Pimsleur Pimsleur 29 (again): 25.5 mins Pimsleur 30: 26 mins Total: a mighty 2112 mina 1 person has voted this message useful