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Hidden’s TAC 2012 Log: Teams 德 & German | ||
Tags: German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Hidden Groupie Joined 4701 days ago 42 posts - 48 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin | Message 25 of 47 13 June 2012 at 11:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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Just popping my head in to let you all know I'm still about.
I've been lurking mostly, but my German studies are still going strong. I'm embarrassed to say that I almost completely forgot about my log here. I've never been much of a diary/blogger person. :( I have my final tests for my German course coming up soon, and I'm working myself up into a right panic about them. The last tests are more 'formal' than the previous ones, and I ALWAYS freeze in these sort of situations. I hope this time will be different...or at the very least that I wont burst into tears (unfortunately, this is not an exaggeration. I've never been able to hack formal exams). I intend to try it anyway, but my hopes are not high. :( I'm thinking about signing up for another German course after this one finishes, but leaning more towards a conversational one, rather than an exam oriented one. Give my nerves a break. On the plus side, I have thoroughly enjoyed the course that I'm on. It's been a lot of fun, and my confidence has grown a great deal. :) I've gone from sitting on my own at the back with my head down, to actually taking part in the lessons and talking to the others in my class. The tutor is fantastic, which helps. It was definitely worth doing, even with the nerves and occassional panic attack. Apologies to my team mates for the TAC 2012 challenge. I will try to post here more often in the future. Edited to add - If anyone has any advice on getting through listening exams, I'd really appreciate it. :) Edited by Hidden on 13 June 2012 at 11:47pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Luna Moonsilver Diglot Groupie Germany lunaslanglog.wordpreRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4890 days ago 77 posts - 99 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Mandarin, Korean | Message 26 of 47 14 June 2012 at 12:14am | IP Logged | ||
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Good luck on your exams!
What sort of listening exam is it? Ours are usually: we listen to a text and answer some questions, either true/false, multiple choice or with short answers (maybe a sentence or two). Your best bet is to make sure you read all the questions before the recording starts (wherever possible). It means you have some context to work with and (sometimes) you can even guess the answers! Otherwise, if the recording is played twice/three times, it might be easier to use one of the times to only listen, so you can focus on the recording and not the questions... Sorry if that's too long or doesn't make sense, I hate listening exams too (mainly the lack of visual clues -_-) so that's what I tend to do. Hope it helps! :) ETA: OH and, also, welcome back team mate! :D Edited by Luna Moonsilver on 14 June 2012 at 12:15am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Hidden Groupie Joined 4701 days ago 42 posts - 48 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin | Message 27 of 47 18 June 2012 at 10:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well...I got through the listening exam...just... o.O
We had 5 minutes to read through the questions at the beginning, then the questions were read out on the CD (each one was repeated once). Thanks for the advice Luna, it did help. I used the first time each question was played just to listen, and focused on the answer the second time. I had a couple of 'mini-freezes' during the test and missed some of the questions, but I managed to pull myself together, so hopefully I didn't do too badly. :) If only I could work out why tests stress me out so much. :( Oh well...a few months ago I wasn't sure I'd have the nerve to even sit the tests, so it's progress. :) **sighs** 5 tests down...1 to go. :) Edited by Hidden on 18 June 2012 at 10:54pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Hidden Groupie Joined 4701 days ago 42 posts - 48 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin | Message 28 of 47 20 June 2012 at 2:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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Choosing my next language.
I promised myself that I would wait until I finished my German course before starting another language. I thought it would keep me focused, and give me the motivation I needed to get through the tests at the end (hmm...have I mentioned before that I hate tests?) :P Now I've nearly completed it, and I'm still in one piece...just. O.O My last test is next week, so I thought I'd start thinking about what I'm going to work on next. German will still be my main focus, but I think having something else on the go at the same time will help me, and break it up a bit. I've narrowed down my options to the following... Czech Spanish Dutch Mandarin My 'shortlist' was actually twice as long when I started writing this post. Putting things in writing helped me think it over, and narrow things down a little more. Yay for a rambling post actually being useful. :) Czech This would probably be my first choice, if it were not so difficult to find resources for it. There are no college courses for Czech near me, and my local bookstore has nothing either. :( I'm going to check the library later on today, but I wont be holding my breath (I tried getting out some German materials from there, and aside from the selection not being great, the ones that I could find didn't work) :( If anyone could recommend a good beginners course, or any good learning materials for Czech, I'd really appreciate it. :) Spanish This is one of my 'mystery' languages. I have no idea why it appeals to me to learn it, it just does. Spanish is also one of the few languages that I would be able to find a beginners course for near me (several in fact, it seems to be a popular one for colleges to offer at the moment). Dutch I want to learn Dutch, but I'm concerned about the similarities to German and worried about getting it mixed up. Would learning Dutch alongside German be a help (because of the crossover) or a hindrance (because of the similarities)? I suppose the only way to find out would be to try it and see. If I try learning Dutch alongside German I might have no problems and be ok with it. On the other hand, if I start to get them muddled, then I could always drop it for a while and come back to it later, when my German is better established. Mandarin I started a beginners short course for Mandarin a few years ago, but had to drop out after only a couple of weeks due to other committments. :( I always intended to go back to it, but I never have. Edited by Hidden on 20 June 2012 at 2:10pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Hidden Groupie Joined 4701 days ago 42 posts - 48 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin | Message 29 of 47 25 June 2012 at 2:13am | IP Logged | ||
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The late night rambling post...
I have spent some time thinking about which language I'm going to start learning next, and I've decided...that I can't decide. So instead, I'm going to start 3 new languages. Maybe it's not the best idea, but as I start learning them I'll find out which one(s) I'm getting on better with. As of tomorrow (technically today :P ) I'll be adding the following languages to my studying repertoire on a 'trial basis'. Depending on how I go with them, I'll probably end up dropping one, or a couple of them (and coming back to them later). On the other hand, I may decide to keep all of them going at once (not probable...but possible). :P Czech - I'm still looking at different resources for Czech, and I hope to get my hands on something soon. Until then, Czech is on my list, but not 'active'. :( Mandarin - Time to stop putting this one off. I'll be looking into an evening course for Mandarin, but until I find one I'm on my own. The thought of tones are a little scary, but I really want to learn Mandarin, and I still regret that I had to give it up after such a short time before. Spanish - I'll be using the BBC course/resources to start with. Hopefully that will get me off to a good start. I may end up getting the MT Spanish course at some point, but I want to buy materials for Czech first. I still need to get down to the library and raid them for language resources, but I should find time tomorrow (today). o.O *fingers crossed* 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Hidden Groupie Joined 4701 days ago 42 posts - 48 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin | Message 30 of 47 26 June 2012 at 12:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm looking into college language courses again. It seems like a good idea for getting feedback, though I'm thinking about choosing one that doesn't have tests at the end this time.
My local college is running a Mandarin beginners course in the evenings, so I may opt for that one if I'm able to. :) German The last test for my German course is tomorrow. I'll probably end up doing some revision later on today, other than that I'm trying not to think about it too much. Mandarin I've started using the BBC resources. I've enjoyed the little bit I've done so far. I think I'm going to devote some time every day just to listening to tones. I'd like to start learning the writing alongside speaking, so I've started looking for teaching materials for that as well. :) Spanish Nothing so far. :( I intended to get started on this one yesterday, but got a little wrapped up in Mandarin. O.o 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Hidden Groupie Joined 4701 days ago 42 posts - 48 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Mandarin | Message 31 of 47 27 June 2012 at 12:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's over!!! :)
My last German test was today, so I have officially completed the course. :D There were a few 'iffy' moments during the course where I came close to dropping out, and some tears along the way, but I've managed to stick with it. :) I froze a couple of times in the test again (what I now dub 'mini-freezes'). Took a deep breath, pulled myself back together and got on with it. The progress I've had in dealing with my nerves feels great. :) I know I didn't do as well as I could have if I hadn't panicked, but considering I didn't think I'd even finish, I'm happy just to have gotten through it with my nerves (mostly) intact. I wont know how I've done for a while yet, but at least it shouldn't be a terrible result. *fingers crossed* I've already started looking for another course to do. Though whether I choose a course with exams, or just a casual one without exams (more likely), remains to be seen. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Flarioca Heptaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5694 days ago 635 posts - 816 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Esperanto, French, EnglishC2, Spanish, German, Italian Studies: Catalan, Mandarin | Message 32 of 47 28 June 2012 at 7:53pm | IP Logged | ||
Congratulations! I hope that, at least, we both are going to keep the German Team alive :-)) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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