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Ellasevia’s TAC 2011: Team Ohana | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 5929 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 209 of 392 26 April 2011 at 4:59am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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And now for something entirely unexpected: a complete change of plans!
Last year I would report to my log periodically to admit that yes, I had just started to study yet another language. This time it's just the opposite. I'm now dropping at least four of my study languages and as many as six within the next couple months. Why? Well, have you noticed how I've been lacking in time to get around to all of my languages, how I am quickly losing motivation, and how I have been neglecting certain unfortunate tongues (ahem, Swahili) for a long time? That's why. I want to dedicate what time I have to my core study languages. At the moment, those happen to be Japanese, Dutch, Russian, and Persian. Here's a more in depth explanation for each candidate for abandonment. We'll begin with the obvious. SWAHILI I have studied exactly seven hours of Swahili this year, which amounts to about 3.5 minutes per day. The last time I even worked on Swahili at all was March 11th. I've neglected my Swahili to the point of serious disrepair and have discovered that I can no longer construct a sentence without having to look up at least one word. This is not to say that I don't still like Swahili, however. In fact, I intend to revisit it in the autumn as planned originally with fresh eyes. You never really forget so it will be more a matter of reactivating the language and restoring it to its former glory, but I really just need to get rid of some of this extra stress. Kwaheri, rafiki yangu! SWEDISH I had my first ever conversation in Swedish last night with my uncle. It was totally impromptu; he just came over and began talking to me in Swedish and although I've barely touched the language in almost two months (yes, that's right) I was still able to carry on the conversation without too many problems. He was actually very surprised because I had never told him I was studying it to begin with and had written a birthday card for him in Swedish. I think he assumed that I had looked it up on the Internet so when I was able to respond in Swedish he was very shocked. With that in mind, I've reached a passable level which is satisfactory for now. If I learn of an upcoming trip to Sweden I'll jump at the opportunity of working on my Swedish some more and might do so anyways later in the year, but for now... Hej då så länge! FRENCH This one is a no-brainer and I was intending to do this anyway. As soon as the AP Exam has passed, I will bid farewell to le français as well. French was my first language love and the one which got me hooked on language learning to begin with, so don't worry, I'll still of course be maintaining my French. Au revoir! GREEK This one is painful and I can't believe I'm even writing this. I just don't feel like studying Greek in the traditional sense is worth my time anymore. I haven't dropped Greek quite yet because I wouldn't dream of passing up a valuable month-long immersion experience, but once I return from Greece (unless I have a sudden change of heart) that will be the end of my Greek studies. I'll be sure to buy lots of reading material while I'm in Greece though. That is, assuming I can find a functional bookstore; the town closest to our house doesn't have one. Γεια σου φίλε μου! POLISH And this is where the decision to do this becomes extremely difficult, if not downright impossible. I've fallen in love with Polish in the past several months and the idea of letting it go is unfathomable. Polish, by the way, is the only language whose Anki deck I've actually reviewed diligently all year. For Polish I'm just doing an experiment to see if I really have to motivation to keep going with it. If in three weeks I am still truly missing studying Polish, I'll add it back in. Until then, Russian is my highest Slavic priority. (By the way, I have a feeling I'll be bringing at least Polish back.) Do zobaczenia później! ROMANIAN Again, very difficult. It's also just embarrassing, dropping it in the middle of what is supposed to be its focus period. My reasoning for this is that I'm really losing motivation for Romanian now that I know that I won't be going there this summer and I've fallen out of contact with my friend who lives there again. I'm doing the same three week trial period as with Polish, so if in three weeks I still truly want to study it, I'll reintroduce it. If I don't end up doing it then, I'll most likely bring it back later in the year or for 2012. La revedere! As I said before, this now allows me to focus on my top priorities, which are currently Japanese, Dutch, Russian, and Persian. I'm still working on Greek (for now) and German as well, but not to the same extent as those other four. I'll try to come up with a new study plan and I'll post here later. Wow, I feel so less stressed now. But at the same time I feel like I've just killed six of my good friends, although some of them were dying anyways so I just put them out of their misery. Good night. Edited by ellasevia on 26 April 2011 at 5:02am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 5929 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 210 of 392 26 April 2011 at 7:01am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Weekly Study Schedule For April 25 to May 15
Monday:   
Tuesday:  
Wednesday: 
Thursday: 
Friday:  
Saturday:  
Sunday:
Each occurrence of a flag represents one hour of study of that language. For example:  = 1 hour of Persian
I'm pushing the ending date for this schedule to May 15th because that's when I'll make my official decision of whether or not I want to continue with Romanian and Polish. At that point I'll also drop French and make the changes accordingly. I hope it works out this time. Note that this arrangement is still very much subject to change. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| hribecek Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5136 days ago 1243 posts - 1458 votes Speaks: English*, Czech, Spanish Studies: Italian, Polish, Slovak, Hungarian, Toki Pona, Russian | Message 211 of 392 26 April 2011 at 11:33am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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I think you've made a very brave and wise decision, although I can't imagine how painful the decision was.
I kind of did the same this year with Mandarin, but I consoled myself with the knowledge that it will just be dormant in my brain and as you said, you never actually forget. I admire your courage to make such a cut. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6257 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 212 of 392 26 April 2011 at 12:06pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Wow... I think it's a good idea to maintain some languages rather than try to spend equal
time on every one, but for me, two focus languages per three months is still good enough. And I do think you should participate in the 6 Week Challenge anyway, with whatever language you choose. It's a great way to become aware of all the time you could be diverting to language activities, and to build some good habits. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Meelämmchen Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4870 days ago 214 posts - 249 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 213 of 392 26 April 2011 at 12:12pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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You are still studying so many languages. However, I hope your decision was not influenced by this bad month April, when you had so few time. So maybe you will find your way back to Swahili, Polish, and Romanian in the next weeks. Maybe you can pause for two days with languages and then get back to it with a clear head. Ha, I know, on this forum, this has to sound like a mission impossible.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 5929 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 214 of 392 27 April 2011 at 12:31am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Thanks, hribecek. I've actually been deliberating on this and going back and forth on it for a couple weeks, so it definitely wasn't an easy choice. Your Mandarin sounds like my situation with Swahili. Are you planning on reviving it at some point later this year?
I think the basic problem is that I'm just not good at this "maintenance" business, seeing as how I've never done it before. I noticed that if I worked on my focus languages as intensively as I wanted to then I wouldn't have any time left over for my maintenance languages, and vice versa. I really like your system though and I will most likely return to it by October at the latest.
I don't know what I would study though... Should I just choose something completely random? My fear there is that I would end up liking the new language too much and then I'd want to add it to my main studies. ReneeMona suggested that I could just serve as "native help" for the Spanish-learners in the 6WC like she did with Dutch in the JDC, so maybe I'll do that. I'd be open to hearing suggestions for a language to participate with though. (Turkish? Hebrew? Slovenian? Lithuanian? Indonesian? Welsh? Mandarin?)
Yes, I am. I told some of my friends at school that I now studying only four languages (not counting French, German, or Greek) and they laughed. It wasn't only April that was bad though... Most of March was just as useless and some of the languages were inexcusably neglected even back in January and February. However, I should have seen all this work coming. The same wave of despair hit me last year at this time (end of March/April/May) because of the same cause, so I should have known that I wouldn't have as much time. EDIT: I just remembered this -- a month from today is the last day of school! You can't even begin to believe how happy I am about that. And if a month from today is the last day of school, then a month from tomorrow...I leave for Greece!!! Edited by ellasevia on 27 April 2011 at 2:23am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6257 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 215 of 392 27 April 2011 at 10:39am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
For maintenance, you have to have a certain level in a language. Then, maintenance can be as easy as setting your browser's home page to a news site in that language, putting a book on your nightstand, watching an episode of a TV series once a week, or having a friend with whom you speak the language occasionally.
I don't know what I would study though... Should I just choose something completely random? My fear there is that I would end up liking the new language too much and then I'd want to add it to my main studies. ReneeMona suggested that I could just serve as "native help" for the Spanish-learners in the 6WC like she did with Dutch in the JDC, so maybe I'll do that. I'd be open to hearing suggestions for a language to participate with though. (Turkish? Hebrew? Slovenian? Lithuanian? Indonesian? Welsh? Mandarin?)[/quote] Sorry if I was unclear. I think you should declare a focus on one of your existing languages that aren't strong yet, and spend one month with the goal of pushing the language to the stage where you can easily maintain it with native materials. Given your list, this could be Persian, Russian, Swahili or Dutch. If it doesn't sound appealing to spend most of a month's energy on one of these however, then maybe you need to start a new one. You need to have more than lukewarm interest in your choice though. Here's a nice thought: even with April being a difficult month, your hours-per-day average is still well above last year's! Edited by Sprachprofi on 27 April 2011 at 10:43am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 5929 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 216 of 392 28 April 2011 at 2:21am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
I laughed. You make it sound so easy, but somehow I just can't manage it on top of everything else I have going on. I've had that Italian novel sitting on my nightstand for four months yet I've still only read like two chapters of it. I'm just too tired by the time I finally go up to bed.
Oops...too late. I've already decided on Indonesian. :) I'm actually really looking forward to starting it and am trying to convince a friend to study it with me. However, part of the reason I chose Indonesian specifically was because I only have a lukewarm interest in it (for now at least). Any more than that and I'm afraid that I'd add it to my list of serious study languages -- that's why I stayed away from Hungarian and Finnish. Anyways, here is the link to my 6WC log for Indonesian.
I never thought about it this way, but I think you're right. Last year I was usually only getting in an hour or so per day and thought it was a lot. Huh. Did I mention my average time in my log sometime last year or were you just estimating? Edited by ellasevia on 28 April 2011 at 2:23am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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