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Kerrie TAC 2015 Team Caesar SP BrPT ASL | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5182 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 129 of 246 25 June 2013 at 6:29am | IP Logged | ||
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So.. since the last time I posted, I have come to my senses. There is no way I can focus on 8 languages for the Super Challenge. :D
I am working (and hopefully semi- on-track) toward finishing the reading part of the Spanish Super Challenge. I have 40 books done, and I'm about 200 pages into the next book. I think I worked it out to about an average of 30 pages a day. This is doable, as it is getting easier and easier to read now! With everything going on right now, I doubt I will finish the French. I think I will finish this year strong with Spanish, probably add French back in more intensely later in the year (if time allows), and then focus next year on French and one other language. I haven't decided which one, but most likely Italian, German, or something Slavic (Croatian and Russian being at the top of the list). Hopefully life will quit interfering with my language studies soon. :D 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5182 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 130 of 246 11 August 2013 at 7:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's funny when you're watching a Korean drama with Spanish subtitles and they start speaking English!
I'm getting closer to the end of my Super Challenge reading for Spanish. Not quite there yet, but if I finish the last three books of the series I'm reading, I will be around 95 books. I've been watching my Korean dramas with Spanish subs, though, and I find that it doesn't even phase me anymore. That's a lot of progress in the last year and a half! I remember starting the first book (of the series I'm reading) and looking up every other word and feeling very overwhelmed. It's been a long road. I'm really floored by how much reading so much has helped. I was wondering how much my comprehension has improved, but I was watching a video of Luca from the Polyglot Conference this past May, and I understood his Spanish as easily as I understood his English. I still have trouble with European Spanish pronunciation, but that will improve with time. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5182 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 131 of 246 14 August 2013 at 4:12am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm trying to decide between Italian and French for next year's focus. I want to learn both of them. My French is at a higher level at the moment, but I think that Italian would be easier to get to a semi-fluent level than French. Reading a lot of people's logs, I find a lot of people struggle more at the intermediate stage with French. Native speakers are (in general) less helpful. Listening comprehension is harder. Over and over again, it seems like I keep seeing the same theme. In a lot of ways, French is a lot harder than Spanish and Italian. I want to learn French. There's no doubt about that. Partially because it opens up the whole world of Assimil programs. Partially because it is a beautiful language. And partially because I think French should be in every polyglot's repertoire. (For me. Not for you. I don't want to argue that, it's just my opinion. FOR ME.) I want to learn Italian. It's a beautiful language. Nuff said, really. If I could only choose one language (after Spanish) and stop learning languages... I would choose Korean. So I could watch K-dramas. No, just kidding. I choose Russian, so I could read Tolstoy. No, I would choose Greek, because I want to live there when I retire. =) There are five languages on my definitely list, besides Spanish: French, Italian, German, Russian, and Korean. But as far as French or Italian, I want to learn both of them, and (lazy me) I want to take the path of least resistance. I have thought about focusing on both of them, but let's be realistic. I think I have learned that I cannot really focus on more than one (non-intermediate/advanced) language at a time and make substantial progress. I've discovered in the past few months what a joy it is to be able to read, relatively easily, in another language, and I want to get my second language up to that before I really dive into a third. (Although, after my L3 is up to that point, I think I could handle two non-related language, a romance language plus German or Russian, for example.) I know I have a few months before the end of the year, but I have been thinking of working my way again through Assimil, either for Italian or French, for the next few months, so I can focus more on vocabulary and reading, which has worked really well for me for Spanish. Anyone have any thoughts one way or the other? Besides.... "it's up to you" and "which do you want to learn more?" =) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5182 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 132 of 246 14 August 2013 at 4:21am | IP Logged | ||
Maybe that's the wrong way to put it. I want to take the most efficient route. It will be easier to get to high intermediate with Italian or French than it will be to reach that stage with Russian or Korean. The more languages I have "under my belt," the better I will be at learning languages. If I can learn Italian in 2014, then I can focus on French in 2015, and maybe German. If I can be at a high-intermediate or advanced level with three or four languages, I will be better equipped to learn Russian and Korean. Instead of taking four years to learn Russian, I can take a year to learn Italian, another year to learn French and German, and then spend two years learning Russian. The time I spent learning the first three languages will essentially give me a leg up on learning Russian (and Korean) because I'll have learned how I learn. In reality, I'd probably be pretty close to the same level in Russian after four or five years, but have more to show for it (with the other languages). If that makes any sense. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4676 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 133 of 246 14 August 2013 at 6:54am | IP Logged | ||
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I can empathize, and I'm glad that someone else has the same type of logic that I do!
And I would give a soft recommendation for French over Italian, because I think French might be easier to maintain once you're at a comfortable level. And by easier, I mean that there are enough books, audio books, graphic novels, poetry collections, and so on to keep someone busy regardless of their interests. Though maybe there is in Italian too. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4994 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 134 of 246 14 August 2013 at 11:44am | IP Logged | ||
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French versus Italian is a tough decision, I can understand! You seem to have a realistic idea of the advantages and disadvantages of each at least. Italian doesn't have any shortage of resources either, particularly when it comes to films; for a small country it's always had quite a big media output.
For me it's quite difficult to advise: I found Italian a lot easier than French, but that's because I already knew French quite well. Between Italian having a lot of similar grammar and vocabulary and me having already taught myself one language to a reasonable level, of course the journey was going to be much smoother. I really can't say which would be easier if I were starting from a similar level in both. French has much more difficult pronunciation, and listening comprehension can indeed be tricky, but Italian has more complicated verbs that require a ton of practice to get right, plus there are more regional variations. And both are beautiful in their own ways. Even usefulness is quite subjective and depends on your life and interests. I suppose your situation is a bit like mine: I've known for a while that I wanted to learn French, Spanish, and Italian, so it's just been a question of which order. And there's no easy answer, even with some hindsight. Looking back I think Spanish is an ideal candidate for a first Romance language because of its utility, friendly and ubiquitous native speakers, and relatively simple pronunciation, but beyond that I don't know! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5182 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 135 of 246 19 August 2013 at 11:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've been trying all summer to get my kids to learn Spanish.
Pimsleur failed miserably. Michel Thomas was actually pretty successful, if I actually made the time to sit down with them one-on-one and work with them. Then I started giving everyone a to-do list. It works for me (most of the time), so I thought I would try it with the kids. Now, it's a game, to see who can get their to-do list done first. They work together on the Michel Thomas tracks. This morning, the neighbor girl came over a little earlier than usual, and the three of them are sitting on the couch learning Spanish together. It's so cute. :D I wish I had thought of that at the beginning of the summer. At least now I know how to get them started with it for next year. :D 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5182 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 136 of 246 19 August 2013 at 11:35pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes, I'm glad I chose Spanish first, although when I first started (many moons ago, in high school), it was a choice between German and Spanish. Spanish just seems a little more useful in the USA, that's all. :D As much as the logical side of me keeps saying French first - since my French is further along already, and the fact that Assimil is almost all based in French - I keep telling myself that Italian would be a better 2nd choice, in the long run. @Kanewai I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks about doing things as efficiently as possible. (I'm also glad I'm not trying to learn Ancient Greek and Japanese. haha!) I feel like I've been so inefficient in learning languages so far that it's silly for me talk about doing it efficiently. Now that I feel like I'm actually getting somewhere with Spanish, I want to be able to get to this point a lot faster with the next one. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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