The Ideas of TAC 2010 (General Info) (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

The Ideas of TAC 2010 (General Info)
Tags: Introduction \| Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC)
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Fasulye
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Message 1 of 50

30 November 2009 at 3:21pm | IP Logged

TAC = Total Annihilation Challenge

Let me quote Reineke, the founder of the Total Annihilation Challenge:

reineke wrote:

It’s TAC, therefore the official goal to try to do at least two languages. TAC is about going the extra mile. You can try and do four. You should be able to achieve something concrete. It should be something you will be proud of in 2009. You can do one language and win if you do a great job and others prove total wieners. Languages like Mandarin, Japanese etc. deserve special consideration. Progress will be weighed using common sense. Even if you officially don’t “win” but accomplish something and break a vicious circle YOU ARE A TRUE WINNER.

If a man should conquer in battle a thousand and a thousand more, and another man should conquer himself, his would be the greater victory.

This year’s TAC was supposed to last until January 1st. It was cut short because everyone lost steam. I dozed off several times reading the winner’s log but he dutifully punched the clock. The contestant won by default, 50% in life is about showing up. This is especially true about language learning.

The official end date of the 2008 TAC is Dec 31. The winner will hopefully not be clear until the very last minute and everyone will do such a great job we’ll have to debate who deserves the title. This year, uh, that wasn’t a problem. Last year people complained about the short notice. Now there’s over a month to decide/prepare.

Others complained about not being able to start at a certain date. You could have joined last summer and won had you used a little more elbow grease and shared your progress with others. Sunja, I’m looking at you, kid.

About the exact start date. You should start gathering materials/warming up right now.
Don’t fret. If you’re anxious about starting a new language or you are currently studying another one, don’t stop. Language classes count if you fully take advantage of them, make an effort and actually add to it and turn these lessons into something productive. Most people taking a class in 2009 will sleep through the whole process. Do better than Comte Frou Frou. When all the annihilators get parachuted into the challenge, you should hit the ground running and shift to a much higher gear. That will qualify you for the challenge; you only need to track your progress. Whether or not you kick into higher gear and join the challenge at around Christmas or on January 1st is sort of irrelevant.

Use only one (b)log to track your progress. This forum allows you to link to your blog. You can use that feature. Hopefully that will take out some sting out of the whole reporting process. Track your progress on your blog, tag each language separately if you wish to make some order, have fun. Do remember to name your learning log on this forum TAC 09. For easier reference please start the title with TAC 09 and then call it whatever you please. You can edit the title of an existing log. If you’re not going to post here regularly simply write a sentence occasionally so people can see you’re participating. People who don’t have a log/don’t wish to post here but would like to participate and track their progress can simply say hello in this thread. This will also prevent having too many empty logs. In any case be sure to post/bump your learning log to the top of the queue in December 09.

Quote Reineke again:

"The (unofficial) guidelines, short and simple:

At the very start please state your current knowledge of your target language(s). Work out a plan or simply start without one. Do declare your target languages and whether or not you intend to follow a particular method. Maybe you CAN do Assimil every day.

You may start a new log or rename an old log. Add TAC/09 to the name. In case you’re reusing an old log edit the first post to account for this. Mention the page number where your 2009 log entries begin. It is ok to keep a record somewhere else and link to it. Create log entries, blog posts etc. and try studying as much as possible – certainly more than you would normally do. Write about course materials, hours studied, and document any major effort and this includes things like TV, movies, comics and music. It’s ok to give weekly, biweekly, or even (hopefully detailed) monthly reports. Log entries should not be a chore.

The ultimate goal is to have fun, remain motivated and actually accomplish something concrete. As the very minimum for 2009 you should try to bring a couple of languages to a useable level. This may include languages you have previously studied or that you are currently studying. If you can only afford time to do one language, or you intend to do an intensive course in only one language and don't want distractions that's ok -do a great job. On the passive side you should be able to read and follow TV programs with relative ease. On the active side, let me quote from Black Adder’s conversation with the Comte de Frou Frou, an escapee from Revolutionary France:..." END OF QUOTE

Edited by Fasulye on 30 November 2009 at 3:59pm
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Fasulye
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Message 2 of 50

30 November 2009 at 3:27pm | IP Logged

Reineke's explanation is from 2008, responding to FAQ questions of people who are newly interested in the TAC, I gave the following additional expanation about the concept of TAC

Quote Fasulye:

TAC 2009 / TAC 2010

"The idea of the TAC comes from Reineke, as far as I am informed. "TAC = Total Annihilation Challenge" is a language learning challenge for one whole year. You can choose how many and which languages you want to study. The log should be named TAC 2010 plus a significant title (e.g. your name plus the languages) so that everybody knows who is participating in the challenge.

In the first post of this log you should describe your learning goals for the year, resources and methods. It's up to you, how ambitious your goals are. If your goals are too high, you might get frustrated, if you can't reach them. At the end of the year, so end december 2009 (and then again end december 2010) the participant should evalutate his/her language studies and state which goals he/she has reached and which language progress he/she has achieved.

The most important ideas of the TAC are not to give up so easily, keep you study discipline, annilihate bad study habits and give a lot of feedback and support to the other TAC participants. Reineke's idea of the previous TACs was to evalutate people's performance and name the winners of the TAC, but I don't know, if this will happen for the TAC 2009, because Reineke has left the forum some time ago."

It's a personal choice whether a participant chooses one, two, three or more languages as target languages for the TAC year. Also it's one's personal choice to write the TAC log in English or in other common languages or - the modern alternative - in a multilingual form. There can be found some good examples of TAC logs which are not written in (only) English.

Fasulye

Edited by Fasulye on 01 December 2009 at 3:55pm
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numerodix
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Message 3 of 50

30 November 2009 at 5:27pm | IP Logged

So basically in order to be "in" you have to post regular updates on your learning? That's the whole intention?
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Fasulye
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Message 4 of 50

30 November 2009 at 9:19pm | IP Logged

If you want to participate in the TAC 2010, it's recommendable to start already in January 2010 and continue posting in your TAC log for one whole year. For many people it's not so easy to keep studying languages and posting during 12 months, the TAC 2009 shows this. Another target of the TAC is to make progress in your learning. Other people can estimate how much progress somebody has made, when they compare the initial goals stated in January of the year with the results of one year's language learning stated end of December of the year.

Fasulye

Edited by Fasulye on 30 November 2009 at 9:19pm
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keith1569
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Message 5 of 50

01 December 2009 at 3:51am | IP Logged

Excellent. I just started my log
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NichtGut
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Message 6 of 50

01 December 2009 at 8:49am | IP Logged

Thanks Fasulye I was just about to post this up!!
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doviende
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Message 7 of 50

01 December 2009 at 12:22pm | IP Logged

I think we should have a central place where people post their intention to participate for the year, and their initial abilities and end-of-year goals. Should we do that in this thread?
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DaraghM
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Message 8 of 50

01 December 2009 at 5:49pm | IP Logged

How about TAC 2010 teams ? Instead of all of us going it alone, we could group into teams of three to six, and then have teams compete against each other. The winner is the team with the most members finishing the year, with a series of special prizes for other teams and individual entries.

The logs themselves would be individual but would include the team name in the title. Teams could form based on native country, target language, number of languages studied, or any other arbitrary concept.

Edited by DaraghM on 01 December 2009 at 5:53pm

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