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Geoffw in TAC2015: RU, HE and Friends

 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
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geoffw
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4448 days ago

1134 posts - 1865 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish
Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian

 
 Message 1 of 251
17 December 2012 at 7:01pm | IP Logged 
Thus begins my TAC2013 log. I will be studying French, and I also will be studying Italian for at least the first few
months. I'm studying Italian primarily in preparation for an expected trip to Italy, and thereafter I'll be ready to
decide whether to continue with Italian or to concentrate on other languages.

French
------
I have been studying French for about 7 months, logging about 150-200 hours in that time. I'm just about done
with the passive wave of Assmil's New French with Ease, and I plan to continue and finish the active wave next year.
I have elected French for the last two 6WCs, and I am working on a half super challenge in French. Besides Assimil,
my main approach has been a never-ending stream of input, from radio, TV5MONDE, audiobooks, eBooks, and
book books. Thus far I've enjoyed reading fantasy series such as Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and A Song of Ice
and Fire, both in French and in other languages, so this is where I've concentrated my efforts. I also read and listen
to the news.

At the moment, I estimate my reading ability to be a strong B1 or a weak B2, my listening ability to be around A2,
and my speaking and writing abilities to be in the A1/A2 range.

My plan for progressing is to continue with the diverse audio and written input and to complete the active wave of
Assimil. Once I finish, I will consider picking up other possible options, such as FSI drills, Assimil's advanced
course, and the like. In 2013, my "official goal" will be to change my HTLAL profile to French - Basic Fluency. My
"real goal" (i.e., a realistic goal measuring my studying, not an idealistic goal relating to the results of the studying)
is to put in at least a balanced 200 hours of additional study. If that doesn't do the trick, I figure an additional
200+ hours every year will get me wherever I want to go eventually.

Italian
-----
I have been studying Italian for just over 3 weeks so far, and I am trying to get as far as I can by May 2013, when I
hope to travel to Italy for vacation. I am using Assimil's Italian with Ease, and also giving myself extensive written
and audio input (including a lot of Serie A on RAI). I signed up for a half super challenge in Italian. When I return to
work in January, I will be working with a couple people who speak Italian at the HTLAL Basic Fluency level, and I
hope to get some small amount of speaking practice with them when I can. Between all of these steps, and building
on my French knowledge, as well as my high school Latin, I expect that I will be able to get around pretty well in
Italy, even if I still feel very limited. After May 2013, I plan to reassess my language learning goals to see how
Italian fits in.


Edited by geoffw on 28 December 2014 at 3:24am

1 person has voted this message useful



tastyonions
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4425 days ago

1044 posts - 1823 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Spanish
Studies: Italian

 
 Message 2 of 251
17 December 2012 at 7:08pm | IP Logged 
Good luck! I have been doing New French With Ease for a few months, with some gaps here and there; just did Lesson 69 this morning. I'll be following your log.
1 person has voted this message useful



Anya
Pentaglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 5553 days ago

636 posts - 708 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, FrenchC1, English, Italian, Spanish
Studies: German, Japanese, Hungarian, Sanskrit, Portuguese, Turkish, Mandarin
Studies: Ancient Greek, Hindi

 
 Message 3 of 251
17 December 2012 at 10:48pm | IP Logged 
Good luck!
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geoffw
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4448 days ago

1134 posts - 1865 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish
Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian

 
 Message 4 of 251
18 December 2012 at 6:56pm | IP Logged 
SUPER CHALLENGE UPDATE - Added Italian audio entries 9-12 and French audio entry 26

Some context for those who are just starting to follow me as part of TAC2013:

Nearly all of my study time tends to be loggable for one of my Super Challenges, and now that I have my own log,
I'm moving my updates for the Super Challenge here. I originally signed up for "half" challenges (50x90 minute
blocks of listening practice and 50x100 page blocks of reading practice) in each of French and Dutch, and very
recently I signed up in Italian. To make time for Italian, I've (temporarily, perhaps) abandoned my efforts in Dutch.
(I started studying Dutch last year basically on a whim to see how far I could get, and I got to where I was reading
more or less "fluently," and could understand clear standard speech pretty well, so I think it was a major success.)
My German was too advanced to enter into the Super Challenge, and the Advanced Super Challenge was never
going to happen for me, so I've been "unofficially" logging my German reading and audiobook listening (but not
posting it to the Twitter bot).

As you can see, I'm continuing to watch as much football as possible. This was a busy weekend for me with Serie A
on RAI again. My philosophy regarding language study is one that I share with AJATT: if it's not fun, I'm not likely to
stick with it, so even if it's less effective, I'd rather spend time enjoying the language than doing textbook study.
Grammar books are a necessary evil, but I try to use them as late and as little as possible. An object lesson in why
this works for me was presented this weekend in the form of the Napoli - Bologna match. I ask you, when was the
last time you came across anything as exciting as THIS
in a grammar book?

As always, my entries are below.

BOOKS (Italian): 0. ...

FILMS, ETC. (Italian):

9. Serie A: Udinese - Palermo
10. Serie A: Lazio - Inter
11. Serie A: Fiorentina - Siena
12. Serie A: Napoli - Bologna

BOOKS (French): 10. ...

FILMS, ETC. (French):

26. Foot! (1.5 episodes-a review of the weekend's Ligue 1 action)

BOOKS (Dutch): 28. ...

FILMS, ETC. (Dutch): 24. ...

I am not entered in any Super Challenge for German, but I also am still reporting for my log:

BOOKS (German): 12. ...

FILMS, ETC. (German): 34. ...
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geoffw
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4448 days ago

1134 posts - 1865 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish
Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian

 
 Message 5 of 251
18 December 2012 at 7:00pm | IP Logged 
I didn't want to bury this in my SC update above, but I've come across a common phrase in the Italian football
broadcasts that is a bit confusing. I often hear the commentator say "centrale," which appears to translate literally
as "central" (shocking, I know). I would have guessed that this would refer either to a centering cross or to
describing where on the field action is occurring. However, this appears to be something that is said when a shot
on goal is directly at the keeper and the keeper makes a clean save.

Does anybody reading this happen to know if my understanding is correct, that "centrale" is here referring to the
fact that the shot was an easy save?
1 person has voted this message useful



Kerrie
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/Kerrie2
Joined 5155 days ago

1232 posts - 1740 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 6 of 251
18 December 2012 at 9:50pm | IP Logged 

I'm looking forward to the new year. I'm doing the Super Challenge in French and Italian too, so I'll be keeping an eye on what you're doing. I'm glad you'll be on our team. :)

I have no clue about football, but if no one else here knows the answer, ask Serpent. I'm pretty sure she'll know. :)
2 persons have voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6357 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 7 of 251
19 December 2012 at 6:07am | IP Logged 
geoffw wrote:
I didn't want to bury this in my SC update above, but I've come across a common phrase in the Italian football
broadcasts that is a bit confusing. I often hear the commentator say "centrale," which appears to translate literally
as "central" (shocking, I know). I would have guessed that this would refer either to a centering cross or to
describing where on the field action is occurring. However, this appears to be something that is said when a shot
on goal is directly at the keeper and the keeper makes a clean save.

Does anybody reading this happen to know if my understanding is correct, that "centrale" is here referring to the
fact that the shot was an easy save?
I think this would be just about shooting at the center rather than at the corner of the goal. a "central shot" so to say.

These shots are not necessarily easy, and for example Forlán wrote in his biography how one of the most valuable pieces of advice he ever got was to aim for the center, not for the corner. If you aim for the corner and you fail, the whole opportunity is lost. if you aim for the center and fail, the goalkeeper may be unable to fix the ball, or he might make a mistake - basically there are more chances for continuing the attack.

I'll pay specific attention when I watch Fiorentina and Napoli tomorrow:)
I watched Fiorentina-Siena as well!!!
But I have to shamefully admit I don't watch Palermo (other than vs Fiorentina and maybe Napoli) due to their pink kits...


edit: a youtube search for "tiro centrale" seems to confirm what I said:)

Edited by Serpent on 19 December 2012 at 6:33am

2 persons have voted this message useful



geoffw
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4448 days ago

1134 posts - 1865 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish
Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian

 
 Message 8 of 251
21 December 2012 at 3:50pm | IP Logged 
Inspired by the example of teammate tastyonions, I decided to try posting a recording of myself speaking French.
This is both my first attempt at making an audio recording on this computer and my first attempt at sharing a file
via dropbox, so apologies if this doesn't work at first.

My clip is here,
or at least I hope it is.

Assuming that the technical issues work out, I hope it's clear what I'm trying to read here, even if it's not well
spoken. I used only my existing French knowledge in guessing how to pronounce everything, and I didn't rehearse
beyond a couple quick run-throughs so that I wouldn't stumble over it too much.


1 person has voted this message useful



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