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Kronos’ 10+ Total Assimilation Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Kronos Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5056 days ago 186 posts - 452 votes  Speaks: German*, English | Message 1 of 6 26 July 2012 at 2:21pm | IP Logged | |||||
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About
This is my log where I will document my progress in learning at least ten European languages primarily with Assimil. I am learning for passive knowledge in the first place, basic fluency being a secondary goal. Some languages have priority over others, yet I want to do at least one or two Assimil courses for all of them. Goals (minimum) Advanced: Spanish, French, Italian Low Advanced: Russian High Intermediate: Swedish, Polish, Portuguese Intermediate: Dutch, Greek, Turkish Time Frame Spending two hours a day on the average and learning three languages simultaneously is a reasonable strategy for this kind of endeavour. If I have sufficient time and energy left, I may do more. This is of course an open-end project (you never stop learning), but I want the coursework phase for all ten languages be finished after five years at most. Learning Materials I will focus on Assimil courses, both old and more recent ones, and supplement them with other materials as required. For me Assimil is the ideal system for consistent simultaneous study, but most of all I simply like their approach and teaching style. It is an enjoyable way of learning. I don't expect too much of them though - getting to an advanced level in any language requires more than just working through textbooks. In the medium term, my main goal is to finish the courses and give them enough attention to eventually understand all the fine points. As long as I concentrate solely on this task I don't get distracted by my lack of proficiency in the real world. What will I do with the languages once I know them? I don't know yet! In the past, each time I just dabbled in languages something unforeseeable would happen or I would get into contact with people who I would have never got to know otherwise. I guess that's part of the mystery of language learning. This time I want to get serious and see it through to the end. On the outcome I'll let the future decide. Start date: August 1, 2012 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kronos Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5056 days ago 186 posts - 452 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 2 of 6 29 July 2012 at 6:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Learning Russian Script
Russian is one of the languages I will be starting with. Fortunately my 1971 Assimil course has a detailed introductory chapter on the Russian Cyrillic alphabet and the major pronunciation rules. It also gives 100 example words, each in block letters, in cursive writing, in phonetic notation, further notes on some of the words, and audio files for the complete set. I studied these beforehand since I do not want to lag behind with one language for too long just because of the script. How did I go about it? - Studying the Assimil introductory chapter and listening to the related audio - Watching several Youtube videos and other websites that demonstrate the cursive writing - Writing out all the individual letters by hand a number of times, referring to these sources. Doing this like a school kid would do. ---------- - Writing out all the example words from the Assimil course numerous times (*) - Writing out the same words (only once each) just by looking at the block letters - Writing out the same words again, book closed, just by listening to the audio ---------- - Reviewing the entire chapter, eventually going again through the example words, paying special attention to the phonetic notation and footnotes, checking these against the audio - Going once more through the example words, but this time looking only at the block letters. Trying to mentally reconstruct the pronunciation and speaking the words out loud. Checking this with the audio after each word. - Reviewing certain explanations, letters and example words that still don't stick Later on (projected): Transcribing selected passages from the Lessons in order to get used to writing and to increase comprehension speed. * Note: Having almost finished this step, I tested myself if I could go on already transcribing straight from the block letters. I could, to my surprise, and this must have been the fruit of writing out half a dozen pages, all with attention, for several hours altogether (split up by breaks). Therefore the next two steps turned out to be MUCH easier than expected. By now, after having finished all the steps outlined above (I worked on this intermittently for about a week), I recognise almost all of the block and cursive letters either at once or after some seconds of figuring out. Deciphering whole words goes rather slow yet. I will review the alphabet and some of the rules at least one more time before going straight into the Lessons. The strange thing about the Russian letters is that while the alphabet seems essentially the same as the Latin one the phonemes are interchanged between many of the letters. The English word "credit" for instance is the same in Russian, with almost identical pronunciation, but written as "kpegum", only the third letter being the same in both alphabets. The main work in learning the Cyrillic script lies in training the mind to automatically switch over to "Cyrillic mode" and read those familiar letters in a new way. The difference is less pronounced in block letters, it is more confusing in cursive script. There are plenty of videos that show how to draw the letters. Here are some that I found particularly useful: Writing the letters in slow motion Similar video, a bit faster Writing the letters in neat handwriting -- Part 2 -- Example phrases Complete alphabet written out on single page I noticed that some of the letters are joined to others in a way slightly different from what one is used to from Latin script. The alphabet videos generally don't show this, but the Assimil lesson does. My first attempt at Russian script. First set of words from the Assimil lesson on this sheet. I started with this after having done the individual letters for 1-2 days. 
4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| a3 Triglot Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 5051 days ago 273 posts - 370 votes Speaks: Bulgarian*, English, Russian Studies: Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish, Norwegian, Finnish | Message 3 of 6 29 July 2012 at 7:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
If you ask me, that's good enough. I've seen a lot of uglier handwritings. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| nuriayasmin70 Diglot Senior Member Germany languagesandbeyoRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4316 days ago 132 posts - 162 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: SpanishB1, Portuguese, Czech, Hungarian | Message 4 of 6 29 July 2012 at 7:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Since I'm also very interested in European languages I'll definitively follow your log. I like to approach of setting a goal for each language. Do you already know which languages you will combine? Probably Russian and Spanish in the beginning but what's your third language?
I like to change my mind but if I had to make a decision about the 10 European languages I'd like to apeak at an intermediate to advanced level, it would currently look like this: Advanced: Spanish, Czech, Dutch Low Advanced: Hungarian High Intermediate: Russian, Norwegian, French Intermediate: Finnish, Romanian, Irish I've never worked with Assimil but am likely to take part in the Assimil challenge and tend to choose Dutch. How advanced is your Spanish? I plan to take the DELE B2 exam in November and then slow down with my Spanish studies a little so that there's time for a third language. Will be interested to see if you reach your goal to finish the course work for all 10 languages in 10 years. Wish you good luck. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kronos Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5056 days ago 186 posts - 452 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 5 of 6 29 July 2012 at 11:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
I will start with Spanish, French and Russian, probably Swedish too. Turkish is on hold for the upcoming Assimil Challenge later this year. That's enough for the beginning, and the others (e.g. Polish <-> Russian, Portuguese <-> Spanish) also interfere. If I have extra time I better put in an additional half hour of Russian or do an extra lesson of French. I have chosen Assimil for various reasons: - I simply like them, they are interesting and done well - They are a perennial favourite of serious language learners, i.e. time-tested - Many people on this forum use these courses and post tips and experience how to make best use of them - I find them ideally suited for parallel study, and the pace can be freely adjusted - The books are of small size and can be easily carried around There is another reason. The proliferation of learning materials and speaking opportunities in the last half century has failed to increase the general learning capacity of people. So as a beginner I want to deliberately limit my choice of materials to the necessary minimum and work through those thoroughly before moving on to more diversified material. This may also require going through the same Assimil course twice rather than once. There are of course heaps of other excellent materials available for many of these languages. The current Langenscheidt course for Russian is very popular with learners. This would have been another option, but well... I have opted for Assimil.
Like nothing. I have a very basic reading and listening comprehension of both Spanish and French, even once managed to pass a French test in college without cheating, but still won't be able to form a single sentence. I am essentially starting from scratch. Czech is on my unofficial 'basic knowledge' wish list, but no chance for now since I have already Russian and Polish on the main list. If you learn Czech, you might 'czech' out FluentCzech's Youtube channel, he is also writing at this forum using the nickname Splog. There are some good learning tips there, and he has lots of materials for Czech (mostly in English). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| nuriayasmin70 Diglot Senior Member Germany languagesandbeyoRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4316 days ago 132 posts - 162 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: SpanishB1, Portuguese, Czech, Hungarian | Message 6 of 6 29 July 2012 at 11:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
Muchísimas gracias. I watched a video made by FluentCzech a little while ago but forgot to bookmark it. It was recommended on this forum but not in a thread about learning Czech and so I didn't find it again. Now it's bookmarked and I'll surely make use of the tips. Will be interesting to see if you stick to the language you chose or if you change again. I speak Brazilian Portuguese at an intermediate level but am not really interested in studying it again. At the moment it would interfere with my Spanish, anyway. Well, and I learnt French at school for 7 years - but that was more than 20 years ago and just some passive knowledge is left, so I'd start from scratch but would probably make progress quite quickly. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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