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TAC 2009 - DaraghM | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 5938 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 1 of 177 23 December 2008 at 4:44am | IP Logged | ||
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After much hesitation, and deliberation, I've decided to join the coming years Total Annihiliation Challenge.
[EDIT] As TAC 2009 appoaches it's end, I'll review what was achieved and what is left for next year. Generic Goals - Spanish: To go from intermediate to upper intermediate, and possibly basic fluency. [B2] -- I certainly achieved the goal of upper intermediate, as I scored above 90% in a test in Cervante's at that level. Would I say I'm at basic fluency ? Not quite at my own personal definition, but possible next year. - Russian: I want to get my Russian to a comfortable intermediate level. [B1] -- Unfortunately, this didn't happen. My Russian did improve during the year, but not as much as I hoped. - Hungarian: This is currently early beginner, and I'll hopefully approach lower intermediate by the end of the year. [A2\B1] -- My Hungarian definitely is at the A2 level, but not B1. I ended up doing more Hungarian than Russian, and the results showed. Specific Goals Spanish -- I completed a number of Spanish goals for 2009, but I didn't get certified. I introduced Platiquemos into my study mix, and ended up halting the Assimil Active Wave. Spanish class generated a lot of work, which meant I never completed the B2 Gramatica. I might leave this as a TAC 2010 goal. Overall, I'm very pleased with my Spanish achievements for 2009. - Complete Assimil Spanish Passive Wave.[Complete - 21/05/09] - Complete Assimil Spanish Active Wave. - Complete Teach Yourself Spanish. [Complete - 26/01/09] - Take up Spanish classes and get certified. (I think a DELE certificate would help me clarify my level in Spanish) - Complete the Anaya Gramatica B1. [Complete - 28/01/09] - Start and complete Anaya Gramatica B2. - Complete Platiquemos II.[Complete - 05/03/09] - Complete Platiquemos III.[Complete - 09/04/09] - Complete Platiquemos IV.[Complete - 04/05/09] - Complete Platiquemos V. [Complete - 04/06/09] - Complete Platiquemos VI. [Complete - 10/10/09] - Complete Platiquemos VII. Hungarian -- Hungarian worked out quite well for 2009. I made the best decision in pausing the Assimil course. This really wasn't working for me. I didn't quite complete the first level of FSI Basic Hungarian, but I did enjoy using the course, and I felt I really started learning the language. - Complete passive wave of Assimil Hungarian. [ON HOLD] - Complete active wave of Assimil Hungarian. [ON HOLD] - Complete FSI Basic Hungarian 1. (Just adding this to the mix as a useful addition.) Russian -- I abandoned the living language course, as I felt it wasn't providing enough examples, and it moved very quickly. Using Modern Russian 1, I feel I got a much better feel for the spoken language. - Start and complete Living Language Russian. I purchased this course a long time ago, but never started it. I've only recently located it after moving house. (This is a mammoth challenge, the course is large and dense.) - Modern Russian 1 French -- I managed to complete two specific French goals, but I never used the grammar book. Overall I'm happy with my French achievements for 2009. - Complete the passive wave of Assimil French (Lessons 1-50). [Complete - 12/08/09] - Complete All Talk French [Complete - 21/08/09] - Start and complete an all French grammar book, such as "Grammaire progressive du français Niveau débutant" - FSI Basic French - Living Language French New language - Reach the A0\A1 stage in a brand new language, similar to Greek in TAC08. This goal will be decided by my travel plans, and not the language itself. -- Oddly, this was crammed at the end of the year, and it was Bulgarian. It turned out my travel plans had no affect on the choice of language. -- Just discovered I had done some Italian during the year, so I already achieved this goal. Other Goals - My other goal is to keep everyone in the TAC. Winning by default is not good, and I won't be doing that this year. Useful Links Listening-Reading System Don Quijote I'll probably re-edit this page to reflect goals completed, new goals, and more detailed goal specifics. In the meantime, I'll update my study in their individual language threads. [EDITS] 05/01/09 - Added generic and specific language goals. 16/01/09 - Split Spanish Assimil goal into passive and active waves. 27/01/09 - Annihilated "Teach Yourself Spanish" 03/01/09 - Added FSI Basic Hungarian 1 16/02/09 - Added Platiquemos II. 05/03/09 - Completed Platiquemos II. 05/03/09 - Added Platiquemos III. 27/04/09 - Completed Platiquemos III. 27/04/09 - Added Platiquemos IV. 08/05/09 - Completed Platiquemos IV. 08/05/09 - Added Platiquemos V. 05/06/09 - Completed Platiquemos V. 05/06/09 - Updated Passive Wave Spanish Assimil to complete. 05/06/09 - Added Platiquemos VI. 19/06/09 - Added FSI Basic French 22/06/09 - Modified French to studying and Spanish to not studying 08/07/09 - Added Living Language French 17/07/09 - Added All Talk French 29/07/09 - Added Modern Russian 1 12/08/09 - Completed the first 50 lesson of French Assimil 12/08/09 - Added useful links page. 24/08/09 - Completed All Talk French 10/10/09 - Completed Platiquemos VI 11/10/09 - Added Platiquemos VII. Edited by DaraghM on 22 December 2009 at 12:17pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| josht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6233 days ago 635 posts - 857 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch | Message 2 of 177 23 December 2008 at 5:55am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm glad to see you're joining up. I've sorely missed reading your log.
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| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 5938 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 3 of 177 05 January 2009 at 6:04am | IP Logged | ||
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And so it begins...
I don't know if my TAC 2009 goals are too ambitious, but I suppose it wouldn't be a challenge if I kept it safe. I may drop some goals, such as French, if another language leaps onto my hitlist. My current approach is as follows, Russian:- I've moved Russian to the morning sessions, where I was doing Hungarian. This means I've 15 to 20 minutes of active study over breakfast, with another 15 minutes listening on my way into work. This morning was my first session using Living Language Russian, and I enjoyed it. There's no English on the main CD's, which is a significant bonus. Hungarian:- Using my recent method, I'll listen to the Assimil Hungarian lessons while walking at lunch. I'll set the track to repeat, and glance as needed at the sheet of paper containing the vocabulary and notes. This means a good chunk of my evenings will be spent creating these notes. Spanish:- My evening walks, and study, will be mostly Spanish. I'll jump between the various courses I tackled in TAC 2008, and hopefully complete them in the first half of the year. I've also plans to start Spanish classes, with the aim of getting a DELE cert. Prof. Arguelles recommended formal tuition in one of his threads. Edited by DaraghM on 05 January 2009 at 6:09am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 5938 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 4 of 177 06 January 2009 at 4:50am | IP Logged | ||
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I didn't realise the TAC had officially started a month ago till reading the other logs. I've started my TAC 2009 from 01/01/2009, and will continue to note in detail where I'm spending my time, but not posting every little figure, and where I've reached in every course.
The spreadsheet I developed for TAC 2008, I've adapted for TAC 2009, and I'm using it to tune my study. I'm trying to maximise the quality of the study I do within a given time, if I'm in company, while I'm walking or when I'm alone. When a particular method becomes very routine, and my brain is not really concentrating, I'll try and adopt new techniques and methods. TAC 2009 started slowly with a sore head on New Years day. I managed to squeeze in an hour of Spanish, but this was listening on a walk, and it was not getting my undivided attention. The next couple of days were something similar, as I'd a lot of friends who returned to Ireland for Christmas, and this was their last weekend. Hungarian - I spent some time last night using my scriptorium-wordlist method on unit 36 of Hungarian Assimil. This lesson covers exercising and some useful vocabulary for the body. On the same piece of paper, I've also drawn arrows between the related words so "szüksége"(need) links to Fáradtságra(tiredness) to express that tiredness is needed. ra expresses the sublative case ending. - I'll be using this sheet of paper during my next couple of lunch breaks, until I've mastered the material. Spanish - I did a few more exercises from the B1 Gramatica, an Assimil listening session, before experimenting with my scriptorium-wordlist combined method on the Spanish Assimil course. I'm not sure the method works as well for Spanish. I used the method on lessons 50 to 52, which is about half way between my active and passive waves. It took nearly two hours to break down all three lessons. I was somewhat slowed down, as I didn't like some of the Assimil translations, and kept checking my large Spanish Oxford dictionary, to see if there were a better way of expressing some phrases. E.g. El ritmo de vida = Assimil: rhythm of life = Oxford: pace of living This would appear to be a direct translation from the French, "le rythme de la vie", as was pointed out by my French speaking partner. Edited by DaraghM on 06 January 2009 at 5:52am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| josht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6233 days ago 635 posts - 857 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch | Message 5 of 177 06 January 2009 at 9:21am | IP Logged | ||
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Could you clarify what exactly you do with your scriptorium-wordlist method? I think I read about it previously, but I can't remember where in your various threads.
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 magister Pro Member United States Joined 6390 days ago 346 posts - 421 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Turkish, Irish Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 177 06 January 2009 at 9:54am | IP Logged | ||
I thought it began Dec. 25, but I can't find the post to back up that claim at the moment. Many logs began earlier, "unofficially," as a kind of pre-TAC. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 5938 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 7 of 177 07 January 2009 at 4:31am | IP Logged | ||
Here's my original description from the Hungarian08 thread.
I called it a scriptorium-wordlist method, as I tend to read aloud each word as I'm writing it, and I write the words in three columns across the sheet. The only addition I didn't mention was drawing arrows to link related words in a given dialogue. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 5938 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 8 of 177 07 January 2009 at 4:56am | IP Logged | ||
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Spanish
Spent a good bit of time between all my Spanish courses last night, Assimil, Teach Yourself and the Gramatica. In the Gramatica, I've finally moved onto a unit that's not about the present subjunctive. I think there was about six units in a row covering the material. I also used my scriptorium-wordlist with unit 88(?) of Assimil. As before, I kept checking the dictionary for alternative translations. The dialogue was about letter writing, and contained one or two dodgy translations. E.g. Manifestar - Assimil:to manifest: Oxford: to declare, express. Based on reading some logs, especially Iversens, I've decided to post in some of my target languages. I'll provide translations so people can see what I intended to say. Please let me know any spelling or grammar mistakes I'm making, or if the translations don't match, or if there's a nicer way of expressing it. Thanks :-) EP: Esto no me alienta a comprar "Using Spanish", pero debería considerarlo. EN: This doesn't encourage me to buy "Using Spanish", but I should consider it. Edited by DaraghM on 07 January 2009 at 5:17am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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