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Silbermond TAC ’13 - Teams Mir/鶴 (Asian) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Silbermond Diglot Groupie United Kingdom xuexisprachen.wordprRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4353 days ago 64 posts - 79 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Mandarin, Italian, Spanish | Message 1 of 41 29 December 2012 at 4:40pm | IP Logged |
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Hello everyone! I'm Silbermond - known up until a couple of weeks ago as Luna Moonsilver - but my real name is Charlotte, so call me anything.
This is my TAC 2013 log! I'm proud to say I'm a member of two teams this year; the Russian Team Mir and the Asian Team 鶴. This should (will!) give me the incentive to keep up this log this year and not burn out in July... again. Go teams! :D I was going to write about my languages in this post, but I fear it's getting a little long. Instead, I'm just going to say that I hope 2013 is an even better year for everyone than 2012 was - in terms of language learning, as well as everything else. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Silbermond Diglot Groupie United Kingdom xuexisprachen.wordprRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4353 days ago 64 posts - 79 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Mandarin, Italian, Spanish | Message 2 of 41 29 December 2012 at 4:41pm | IP Logged |
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So, here are my languages and current goals for the upcoming year:
German German has been my main target language for a while - and with good reason; I've been studying it since I was 12 and it's now half of my degree. I'll be in Germany for most of January to complete the end of the first semester there and I'm hoping to step it up a notch in terms of immersion; though I was there September up until a week ago, I spent a lot of my time with other English speakers or Erasmus students (something I promised myself I wouldn't do!). On a positive note, I've still seen massive improvement in the last three months and I'm in a C1 level class, so I mainly need to concentrate on exposure to native materials and conversation, rather than a lot of book learning. My main goals are: 1) Complete the Super Challenge. I'm on a half-challenge for German at the moment (50 books, 50 films) but I might change it to include writing as well at some point. 2) Read, read, read. I got a host of German books for Christmas and they're not too expensive to buy on the Kindle store. I am mostly sticking with translations right now for the familiarity of the stories, but I think I should be able to change that soon. 3) Brush up on grammar. My grammar improves the more time I spend on it - the more time I spend with the language (reading, watching movies, etc.), the better a feel for it I get. However, there are still areas I need to work on because there are parts I just struggle to remember. Level goal: Go from a B2 to a solid C1 by the end of the year. Though I am in a C1 class at the university, this placement was based on a grammar test -- my speaking lacks a lot of fluency and I need to drastically increase my vocabulary. German will hopefully end up being more of a maintenance language until it gets to September and I go back to my university for my final year. I need to get used to doing more of my every day things in German, instead of just in English. Mandarin Mandarin is the second half of my degree and the reason I joined the Asian Team this year. I started learning Mandarin properly at university in October 2010 and I love it, I really, really do. I don't even mind learning it at uni because we do six hours a week of class and have access to native speakers the whole time. Plus, the class motivates me to do more work on my own (there's nothing wrong with a bit of competition ;D). I've been having trouble keeping it up since my move to Germany, though. I joined a class here but they've only been studying a year and only do an hour and a half a week, meaning that I'm ahead and I'm finding it boring. I need to get myself back on track and start working alone - then if I do come across anything I don't understand, I can take it to class and ask the teacher. I'm heading out to Beijing in February and will be there in July, and I'm very concerned about my level right now (especially compared to most of my classmates, who have been out there since the end of August). My main goals are: 1) Complete the NPCR series books three and four. I'm on the final lesson of book two and am hoping to get it finished before January 1st, then I can move onto these. We're supposed to be covering book four in our final year, so I'm really hoping I can get through it before September. 2) Complete at least the movies part of the Super Challenge. I signed up for a full Super Challenge plus writing for Mandarin, but I'm not sure I'm going to complete it - especially not the reading, which I find very difficult. However, I love watching dramas and think I should be able to fulfill the movie requirement. I'm hoping to finish the writing too, but I doubt I'll get anywhere close with reading. 3) Make the most of my time in China. I've been to Beijing once before and loved it, so I'm hoping I won't get knocked sideways by the time change/climate change/homesickness and can dive right into practicing and learning once I get there. Plus, this is probably going to be the only time I'll visit China for a good long while (whereas I can go back to Germany more-or-less when I like), so I have to make the most of it. Level goal: Go from a high A2 to B2 by the end of the year. I estimate I'm at about A2 because the book we're using in class is A1-A2 and I did it about a year ago. However, the level fluctuates when I'm not using the language and my reading is probably nowhere near that high. I'm hoping to push up to a B2 level. Korean Korean is... a bit of a whim language, to be honest. Essentially, I got to Germany and was told I had to take 30 credits in the first semester - but eight of those could be other language classes. Mandarin will give me four credits, so I thought, 'why not take a beginner's class?' Korean was the only one that wasn't full and I love Korean dramas, so- I do Korean now. That being said, I find the class very difficult. It's hard enough learning a new language (and I had no prior knowledge before I walked into that classroom), but even harder to learn it in an L2 (how some of you do it astounds me!), so I find that I'm not retaining a lot of the information I'm given. However, I want to visit South Korea when I'm in Asia and I figure learning outside of class will help me pass the exam, so it's become a target language for 2013. My main goals are: 1) Pass the exam in January. I don't have to pass any of my exams this year (it's just to do with my university and their policy on the year abroad), but I would like to, and I figure I have a better chance at passing my Korean and Mandarin classes than I do my Psychology and Linguistics ones. I only do two hours a week so it shouldn't be too hard to catch up. 2) Complete Integrated Korean Beginner's one and two. These are the textbooks I have to hand and, from what I hear, they're quite useful. I'm going to start on the first one in the New Year. 3) Complete the Super Challenge. Soon after I started doing Korean, I signed up for a half Super Challenge (movies only). I'm on 8% so far, so I need to get moving - but I'm sure it won't be too hard ;)! Level goal: Go from A0 (more or less) to an A2 by the end of the year. If I could get higher, that would be great, but I want 'survival Korean' for now, then maybe I can focus more on it next year. I'm not going to push Korean to the point where I abandon my other languages. Russian Last, but not least, Russian. Russian was always my dream language; it was what I wanted to study at university, but couldn't, and I've put off learning it for so long without really knowing why. Well, no longer! This year, I plan to really get involved in learning Russian and hope to make some serious headway. I meant to start in November with the Assimil challenge, but the hectic mess that was my final month in Germany meant that that plan flew out the window. Hopefully I'll make a better start in January. My main goals: 1) Complete Assimil Russian (2011). I'm still determined to complete this course, though I now know (from doing the first six lessons) that I need to practice the Cyrillic alphabet more so that I can read and write as quickly as possible. This is supposed to get me up to B1 level, though I don't believe it, so I need to supplement it with another course. 2) Complete another Russian textbook/language course. I haven't picked one out specifically yet, but I'll do it alongside the Assimil course, from about lesson 25 or so. I'm thinking the Colloquial series or something similar but if anyone has a better idea, please let me know. 3) Read something in Russian. Something like the first Harry Potter book, or some other short-ish children's book that I find interesting. I don't know if this goal will be achievable in a year, but I'm going to try. Level goal: Go from A0 to B1. If possible. This may be the loftiest of all my goals so far - I've never studied a Slavic language before, and I've never really done well at pure self-study, either. Still, there's no harm in aiming that high, I think; if nothing else, I should put enough work in to get myself to a satisfactory A2, and that will be enough :). Wanderlust languages I'm hoping I don't succumb to too much wanderlust this year, but if I do, expect to see languages such as: Spanish, Basque, Gaelic or Persian floating around. They've all been on my hit-list for ages. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Silbermond Diglot Groupie United Kingdom xuexisprachen.wordprRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4353 days ago 64 posts - 79 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Mandarin, Italian, Spanish | Message 3 of 41 29 December 2012 at 4:42pm | IP Logged |
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[holding for resource list]
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| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4865 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 4 of 41 29 December 2012 at 4:53pm | IP Logged |
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Wow, looks like you really have your work cut out for you! I'm looking forward to reading about your journey through those four difficult languages and hope that you'll find time (or just motivation) to dabble a bit in Persian ;) Good luck!
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| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4704 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 5 of 41 29 December 2012 at 5:55pm | IP Logged |
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Sounds good! I don't know much about Mandarin and even less about Korean, but I wish you
luck with Russian and German! I found German quite easy, though, to learn the basics of. Edited by tarvos on 29 December 2012 at 5:55pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5331 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 6 of 41 31 December 2012 at 5:39pm | IP Logged |
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Lots of luck with your studies, and I hope you reach your goals in Russian - it would make you queen of the team :-)
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| Silbermond Diglot Groupie United Kingdom xuexisprachen.wordprRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4353 days ago 64 posts - 79 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Mandarin, Italian, Spanish | Message 7 of 41 31 December 2012 at 5:41pm | IP Logged |
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@druckfehler Thanks for your encouragement! :D I'm sure I'll find the motivation for Persian - as for the time, oh well. I'll carve some out if the wanderlust gets strong enough. I'm still reading through your log as it is... It's so long, but so, so useful and interesting.
@tavros Thank you! I have a love-hate relationship with German a lot of the time, though now it's leaning more towards love again... sometimes I get the simple things but sometimes (like with cases), it takes me such a long time to understand. I have no doubt the same thing will happen with Russian, but I'll get there. @Solfrid Cristin Haha, thank you! :D I hope I make it, but I may have gotten a bit ahead of myself. Still, all I can do is try... Last Day of 2012 Well, we're on the very last day of the year. I finished NPCR book two today (though how much of it I know is still unclear...) so I can start with a fresh new textbook in the morning. Now I'm just working my way through the Cyrillic alphabet before the parties start this evening... Good luck, everyone, for the New Year :). I hope it goes well for you! 新年快乐！Gutes neues Jahr! Edited by Silbermond on 31 December 2012 at 5:42pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4704 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 8 of 41 01 January 2013 at 2:50pm | IP Logged |
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I forget cases even exist in German. I have not studied its gramar for almost 10 years. I
know they're there, I just pretend I have internalised all of it. I haven't. Und ich wünsche dir auch viel Glück und ein gutes Neues Jahr! Edited by tarvos on 01 January 2013 at 2:51pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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