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Mani’s language confusion in Lux. | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Mani Diglot Senior Member Germany imsprachendickicht.b Joined 4708 days ago 258 posts - 323 votes  Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Swedish, Portuguese, Latin, Welsh, Luxembourgish | Message 9 of 28 08 September 2011 at 11:48am | IP Logged | |||||
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WEEK 9 & 10
Okay, the last two weeks haven't been as successful as I wanted them to be. I hardly did anything for French or Luxembourgish being so tired from work and house- and cat-sitting (3 lovely but very active cats). All I could do was relax a little with English (my first foreign language) and absorb some new vocabulary through watching QI and listen to some audio books. Actually I worked actively on my English as well because I started another tandem (German/UK English), but I count that more as a kind of social activity. I don't know why but Luxembourg seems to be a good place for language exchange partners! Kurdish: It wasn't much I could do in the last few days, but I studied at least some minutes each day. This is a success for me. I'm still missing the last two exercises of chapter 1 of Rojbaş, but I'm already studying the grammar and vocabulary (flashcards) of chapter two. I'm still very exited about learning Kurdish and wish I could spend more time learning it or languages in general. I'll see if I can squeeze in more "foreign language time" in my daily routine. (I'm too impatient!) I suppose I could learn French during my lunchbreak, starting from today I'll see if it works. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Mani Diglot Senior Member Germany imsprachendickicht.b Joined 4708 days ago 258 posts - 323 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Swedish, Portuguese, Latin, Welsh, Luxembourgish | Message 10 of 28 17 October 2011 at 12:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
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WEEK 11-16
Wow, I can't believe it! It's over a month since my last entry and I've been totally back on my British English trip since then. I knew I shouldn't have started watching QI! Stephen Fry bewitches me each time and now that I've found Horrible Histories as well it's even worse! Luckily my English tandem partner loves that kind of humour, too and could suggest me a lot of things I can watch over the next months. Unfortunately I couldn't really return the favour when it came to German comedy/humour. The only ones that make me laugh even after watching them for the 3rd or 4th time are Heinz Erhard and Loriot. (Any other suggestions?) Oh - and thanks to Meramarina for the link to Monty Python's Lumberjacksong in German! :-) Even though it is not exactly "German humour" at least it is humour in German... So let's have a look at my other languages. French: To start with the bad news - I guess I lost my tandem partner somehow. Don't exactly know why, but hm, maybe she's mad at me because I had to cancel our meeting twice in a row, but as she's not answering my emails I don't know. Better news now. I'm through the 1st chapter of my French grammar - nouns. Yippieh! One more small step on the long road taken. I also do a regular Anki deck now each day. Some of the vocabulary is really easy, other words I just don't get. Luxembourgish: Well, Chapter 1 finally done. Having done all the exercises I still wonder if I ever get to spell Bläistëft (pencil) right on the first attempt. (Had to look up this one, too.) Usually mix it up with the German Bleistift and end up with the neither Luxembourgish nor German spelling Bläistift ... Hm? Kurdish: I'm still happy with Kurdish. I've finished Chapter 1 and try now to tackle Chapter 2. I opened my own Anki deck for my Rojbaş vocabulary, which is currently torturing me with Kurdish numbers. I really dislike by now numbers 2-5, 12-15 and 30 and 40. Kurdish to German - okay. German to Kurdish - my own nightmare! But I will know them all one day!!! :-) Well, so much for my language situation. Haven't really made progress in the ones I actually study, have I? But oh, BE is so much more fun ... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Mani Diglot Senior Member Germany imsprachendickicht.b Joined 4708 days ago 258 posts - 323 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Swedish, Portuguese, Latin, Welsh, Luxembourgish | Message 11 of 28 23 October 2011 at 9:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
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WEEK 17
This week I finally got back to not only studying English - though it is interesting how a conversation can turn from British comedy to the importance to know the names of food in general and vegetables in particular, after mentioning that the first word you ever learnt from the series Blackadder was turnip (and believe me the turnip/beet theme can become quite interesting!) - but also - haha - French: I finally found a way to squeeze some more time for French learning into my daily routine at work. Anki running in the background for some quick vocabulary (re)learning whenever there's some time is something I should have done before ... I also found a book in our library about enlarging your vocabulary (French one of course - I've forgotten the title) which is now an essential part of my desk. ;-) (Honestly - I don't think that anyone else but me is even aware that there is a book like this in our library.) Kurdish: Only, did some Anki reviews this week. Numbers aren't so bad anymore, still struggle with some. I signed up for November's 6WC with Kurdish - so let's see how far the competition will take me. :-) Edited by Mani on 24 October 2011 at 3:41pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Mani Diglot Senior Member Germany imsprachendickicht.b Joined 4708 days ago 258 posts - 323 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Swedish, Portuguese, Latin, Welsh, Luxembourgish | Message 12 of 28 15 December 2011 at 11:10am | IP Logged | |||||
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Okay, whatever week it is, I give up counting. It's almost two month since my last log entry so I think it's about time to write something new. :-)
A lot happened like I moved to a new flat and I participated in the November's 6WC - places 48 target language (Kurdish)/40 all languages studied which I'm quite comfortable with regarding all the things I had to organise. My English tandem is such a great thing! I love the way that I learn so many things just by sitting together, drinking a coffee (or now at Christmas time mulled wine) and chatting. And I'm still QI addicted and already watching series H and there is only series I left before I have to wait for the next years series or restart watching it - boo hoo. About time that they release the 3rd series of Horrible Histories, too... or that I find something I love to watch in another language like French: I had quite some input in French, two dinners with the office (Christmas and a farewell dinner for a colleague) within a week where everyone was happily chatting away in French and sometimes someone would switch to German to talk directly to me, but unlike last year I could participate in the French conversation. Great relief for me. Thanks to this forum I finally found some French singers/bands I like (outside the Chanson genre) and - facepalm - Les Fatals Picards I already knew from the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. I also watched my first film in French without subtitles in years (Monsters Inc.) and am now eager to lay my hands on more animated French dubbed films. :-) So I'd say my listening skills have improved a bit, my speaking skills, well it could be worse, but it also could be a lot better and I so need a larger vocabulary! Luxembourgish: Best thing to say about it, I expose myself much to passive listening (mainly radio news, advertising and the like), but I definitely need to do more. I don't like to end up perfectly understanding the language but not having a clue how to speak or write it. Kurdish: Kurdish is my favorite a the moment. I so much enjoy to discover it - even though my pace is real slow. With Rojbaş I'm through with grammar, text and dialog of chapter 2 and now testing myself with the exercises where I occasionnally have to look up a word but I still understand the tasks. Silliest mistake so far: mixing up keçik (girl) with kurik (boy) and mistranslating keçikên kurd as Kurdish boys instead of Kurdish girls. Hm - beginner's mistake. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 songlines Pro Member Canada flickr.com/photos/cp Joined 5012 days ago 729 posts - 1056 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French Personal Language Map | Message 13 of 28 20 December 2011 at 8:00am | IP Logged | |||||
That phrase may come in very useful for me too - thanks, Team-mate! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Mani Diglot Senior Member Germany imsprachendickicht.b Joined 4708 days ago 258 posts - 323 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Swedish, Portuguese, Latin, Welsh, Luxembourgish | Message 14 of 28 20 December 2011 at 8:38am | IP Logged | |||||
Unfortunately I forgot the other two options to say that. But I've written them down somewhere... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5198 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 15 of 28 28 December 2011 at 3:01am | IP Logged | |||||
Mani, I have the same problem with my Spanish. I can read and understand very well, but I need a much bigger active vocabulary! Btw - welcome to TAC 2012! Are you going to be keeping the same log for the New Year? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Mani Diglot Senior Member Germany imsprachendickicht.b Joined 4708 days ago 258 posts - 323 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Swedish, Portuguese, Latin, Welsh, Luxembourgish | Message 16 of 28 28 December 2011 at 11:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
Thanks Kerrie. Yes, I'm going to keep this log for two reasons. 1st: I like to keep my languages together. Writing a log for all my languages reminds me to devote time to each one of them. This is necessary because I - well - I'm easily distracted and fascinated by "new" languages (therefore my list of "Oh that's fascinating, I should study it." becomes longer year after year) and keeping just one log is a way to trick myself to remain focused on what I decided to study now and hopefully see a progress after some time. 2nd (and more selfish reason): I'd love to have a fascinating and long log like Iversen and Fasulye a few years from now. :-) Don't know if I can write such a cool log, but I'll do my best... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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