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Writing an intresting TAC log.

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
27 messages over 4 pages: 1 24  Next >>
reineke
Senior Member
United States
https://learnalangua
Joined 6207 days ago

851 posts - 1008 votes 
Studies: German

 
 Message 17 of 27
29 November 2008 at 6:45pm | IP Logged 
tricoteuse wrote:
Sennin wrote:
Is there some official thread where people state their intention to participate in the TAC, or do I just start a threat with "TAC:..." in font of it? :) It might be nice to participate this time .


There is that TAC thread in the General forum, but I think you just have to start a log and that's it.


Ahem, you have to start working on your languages and hopefully say hello and tell us what you're doing in the log area. Achieving something takes precedence over everything else.
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Sennin
Senior Member
Bulgaria
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 Message 18 of 27
29 November 2008 at 6:47pm | IP Logged 
Hmm, ok I will consider it ^_^
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tricoteuse
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Norway
littlang.blogspot.co
Joined 6438 days ago

745 posts - 845 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, Norwegian, EnglishC1, Russian, French
Studies: Ukrainian, Bulgarian

 
 Message 19 of 27
29 November 2008 at 6:55pm | IP Logged 
reineke wrote:


Ahem, you have to start working on your languages and hopefully say hello and tell us what you're doing in the log area. Achieving something takes precedence over everything else.


I thought that was quite obvious :P
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reineke
Senior Member
United States
https://learnalangua
Joined 6207 days ago

851 posts - 1008 votes 
Studies: German

 
 Message 20 of 27
29 November 2008 at 7:57pm | IP Logged 
tricoteuse wrote:
reineke wrote:


Ahem, you have to start working on your languages and hopefully say hello and tell us what you're doing in the log area. Achieving something takes precedence over everything else.


I thought that was quite obvious :P


Well, I see people getting worked up too much about their logs. It's a personal challenge, being a competitor is secondary. It is impossible to know everyone's personal circumstances. I am very comfortable about sheetz in 2007, and I hope people got worked up a little about 2008 being cut short. It is likely we will never know who beat the odds, who is the true champion but it doesn't really matter. If you see someone working real hard, encourage them.


Edited by reineke on 29 November 2008 at 11:47pm

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Mooby
Senior Member
Scotland
Joined 5865 days ago

707 posts - 1219 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Polish

 
 Message 21 of 27
14 November 2013 at 11:37pm | IP Logged 
I thought I'd revive this thread, as my TAC logs have become a little stale recently. I'll pause and think over what I've done that week, and it's usually too boring (read xxx pages of this, Ankied that, listened to blah blah). Some people use their log to simply record pretty dull facts (guilty as judged), others find all sorts of observations, comments and incidents to share.
I think habit plays a big role. How the format of log is designed at the start can be all too easy to stick with. For whose benefit is your log anyway? Have you thought about making changes to the way you write?


I like logs which:

1. Tell me something of the personality of the author.
2. Are real, pithy and humorous.
3. Provide snippets of useful knowledge about the language I'm learning, and methodologies.
4. Have a theme running through it. Perhaps based on travel, family interactions or exploring a particular aspect of the culture.
5. Some indication of the amount of studying done. Maybe the number of pages read, films watched, hours spent. True, this may bring out the competitive side, but it can spur me on to do more.
6. Pictures, cartoons and diagrams that illustrate the language.
7. Input and dialogue from others to break the monotony.
8. Engage me with the author, not just intellectually. I want to be drawn into his/her journey and feel like I've an interest in the outcome.


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Chung
Diglot
Senior Member
Joined 6916 days ago

4228 posts - 8259 votes 
20 sounds
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish

 
 Message 22 of 27
15 November 2013 at 5:22am | IP Logged 
I agree generally with Mooby's points, although for me the languages involved also count. I follow very few of the logs of those who deal with languages that don't interest me or for which I know little.

The main benefit of the log is that I can at least express some items that I couldn't do in real life since none of my friends share my interest in a handful of languages. It's one thing for me to count some Finns, Slovaks, Poles et al. as friends, but talking to them about certain aspects of linguistics or their native languages in a technical way is a non-starter because of the lack of interest or understanding on their part.

Unlike Iversen, I'm not highly keen on discussing techniques since I'm more interested in just getting my hands dirty and studying. Part of the fun for me is discovery and realizing that I've attained a small victory of sorts in getting my head wrapped around something new or adding to my stock of vocabulary (passive or active) for a given target language.

In general I try to leaven obligatory details of what I studied (e.g. studied such-and-such topic in chapter x of textbook y) with asides that interest me and presumably at least a few other people. I also feel sometimes to use my log as a way to provide mini exposés on certain topics in the languages that I study given that they're far from mainstream choices for language learning. In a sense I like having the opportunity to set the record straight so to speak using structural linguistics or doing a bit of comparative linguistic analysis. This ranges from somewhat demystifying Inari Saami by providing short summaries of the grammar that I learned in a kids' primer that's difficult to obtain and published in Finnish, to that recent painstaking comparative analysis of BCMS/SC which demolished supposed shibboleths that I had picked up when I was learning the language with a naive mindset. Of course, throwing in links to memorable video clips, and presenting lists of expletives or comic strips in my target language makes the process of maintaining my log less tiresome than otherwise.
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tricoteuse
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Norway
littlang.blogspot.co
Joined 6438 days ago

745 posts - 845 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, Norwegian, EnglishC1, Russian, French
Studies: Ukrainian, Bulgarian

 
 Message 23 of 27
15 November 2013 at 8:03am | IP Logged 
I also agree with Mooby. Nowadays I don't follow many logs, mostly just because I'm not
very active here, and therefore I don't stumble upon them as I did back in the days.
However, those that I do follow I will quickly stop following if they aren't somehow
amusing or personal ;) And PHOTOS! I wish people would add more formatting and life to
their logs! That's not the easiest thing ever on this particular forum though. I try to
make my cross-posted log at Parleremo a bit more lively since the forum system there is
so much more flexible.

This reminds me I should update my log ;)
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tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4467 days ago

5310 posts - 9399 votes 
Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

 
 Message 24 of 27
15 November 2013 at 1:35pm | IP Logged 
I mostly follow the logs of people I would talk to otherwise or those that explore
one/several of my target languages.

And only those with personality.


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