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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Melya68 Diglot Senior Member France Joined 4102 days ago 109 posts - 126 votes  Speaks: French*, English | Message 9 of 23 07 July 2013 at 12:36am | IP Logged |
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It's midnight, and I'm currently watching S2 Ep 10 of The Mentalist.
I reviewed some words today (all the words that I decided were due for today.) However, I haven't learned any new words. This makes me sad, but I've had a really bad day, so it's a miracle I've gotten anything done. This is completely off-topic, but I went to the doctor's today, and basically he told me I've probably torn a ligament in my knee. I don't know how this happened, but when I crouched a week ago, my knee cracked extremely loudly for a few seconds, and then I limped for the next three hours. Now I can walk pretty normally but my right knee is swollen, and both knees are painful. I keep putting ice packs on the injuries and it's helping, but holding ice packs keeps my hands busy, so it's not like I can whip some flash cards out. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Melya68 Diglot Senior Member France Joined 4102 days ago 109 posts - 126 votes Speaks: French*, English | Message 10 of 23 07 July 2013 at 4:39pm | IP Logged |
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(My knee is all bandaged up because I got tired of holding an ice pack against it. I still have to do it, but at least I get some support from the bandage. Looks like I won't be able to walk around much this summer.)
I'm still really depressed because of my injury, but I try to study English anyway. I reviewed all the words which were due for today, and I might just review tomorrow's words. I started listening to an audiobook, and I watched/listened to a couple of episodes of The Mentalist, plus extracts of White Collar and CSI. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Melya68 Diglot Senior Member France Joined 4102 days ago 109 posts - 126 votes Speaks: French*, English | Message 11 of 23 08 July 2013 at 12:42am | IP Logged |
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This is kind of a "brick wall" entry. My log is probably a bit depressing to read right now, but I promise it will get better.
For some reason (maybe because I've been under a lot of stress lately), I'm not able to understand the latest episodes of The Mentalist easily. I have the same problem with White Collar and CSI. I'm very tempted to go back to watching easier show. This means I'll have to switch to sitcoms-something like The Big Bang Theory, Friends, Weeds.... I could also decide that re-watching the first season of The Mentalist is the best course of action. If I do watch Friends, I'll need to memorize ALL the words that are used in the show and that I don't know yet. Friends is extremely easy to understand. If I don't do that, I might as well watch something harder. While my goal (learning 10,000 words by 2014-2015) is probably too ambitious as ~500 days is a very short period of time, I can change it a bit. If I study 25 words a day and memorize 20, I'll have learned around 7k words by next year. That's still too much for a school year, but I might be able to study 20+ words per day during the summer vacation. It would be much easier if I didn't need to learn the pronunciation of the words. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4820 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 12 of 23 08 July 2013 at 1:29am | IP Logged |
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I don't think the Big Bang Theory is one of the easier ones but it might be matter of personal opinion. Friends are among the least difficult. Just a bit above are things like the Stargate (unless you hate it, or sci-fi in general, of course). Rewatching something you enjoy is an option too.
Do you still need to learn pronunciation of most words? From some point, it becomes much easier to guess correctly. And your goal might not be that difficult to reach if you consider related words as separate. :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Melya68 Diglot Senior Member France Joined 4102 days ago 109 posts - 126 votes Speaks: French*, English | Message 13 of 23 09 July 2013 at 1:40am | IP Logged |
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I still need to check the pronunciation of most words, which is why I now try to only learn words I've heard in a podcast/show.
For those who are wondering about the state of my knee: It's a (pretty bad) sprain. I managed to get an appointment for x-rays on Wednesday. I truly hope I won't have to get surgery. The loud "crack" I heard when I injured myself probably isn't a good sign. Oh well... My knee is still swollen and it hurts more than yesterday. I think I didn't really understand the doctor when he told me to rest. It seems like pacing around or getting a drink of water every so often is just making my knee worse (and I managed to twist my Achilles' heel in the process... that's because I walk weird since I'm in pain.) I think I wasted 3+ hours babying my knee today. I'm so depressed that I don't even feel like listening to shows when I'm in bed. I'm sick and tired of not being able to walk normally. The only "good" thing about this is that since I'm stuck in bed/ sitting for short periods of time (since even sitting hurts), I studied a lot of vocabulary. I reviewed over 300 words, and I learned 20+ new words. I also watched a rerun of CSI Miami thanks to my mom who was tired of seeing me in bed and who helped me find a way to prop my leg up in front of the TV. I'll do my best to listen to more English tomorrow. Actually, as long as I learn/review vocabulary, I'm probably okay for the day. I'm creating a paper SRS, which is a pretty nice experience. So far, I have made five numbered plastic bags which I'm using to keep track of repetitions. The only issue is that I have tons of repetitions on the same day. It will get better as I add more words because the bulk of the words will be due in weeks. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Melya68 Diglot Senior Member France Joined 4102 days ago 109 posts - 126 votes Speaks: French*, English | Message 14 of 23 09 July 2013 at 11:17pm | IP Logged |
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Today: not a good day. This is looking more and more like a torn knee ligament. Urgh.
Vocabulary-wise, I haven't done that much. I listened to some podcasts for learners of English, and I made some new flash cards. The flash cards I made aren't even that good. I'll get rid of the "leeches" once I spot them. I reviewed some words which I'm having problem memorizing. I need to go to bed before one in the morning if at all possible since the x-rays appointment is tomorrow. I might try to bore myself to sleep by reviewing all the words I've learned so far. Overlearning also gives me a sense of security, and it might be useful for the words I knew 3 months ago but keep forgetting now. I don't have a definite SRS system right now so it's getting a bit complicated. I still plan on watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S. at some point. Today, I watched one episode of White Collar, and listened to around 6 20-minute podcasts. I think this is plenty given the situation. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4658 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 15 of 23 10 July 2013 at 2:50am | IP Logged |
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Sometimes it is good to go slow with dramas and podcasts. That is what I do with Japanese.
For your paper flashcards, don't feel bad to get rid of the "leeches". If you don't enjoy your cards, you won't enjoy your cards. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Melya68 Diglot Senior Member France Joined 4102 days ago 109 posts - 126 votes Speaks: French*, English | Message 16 of 23 11 July 2013 at 12:23am | IP Logged |
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You're right, there's no need to rush. If I crash and burn, I'll be done for the rest of the summer vacation.
I haven't done anything today. I listened to some music, but that's it. I fainted in the waiting room, which didn't help. Well, a doctor put me on the ground before I hurt myself. Good days. I still don't know what the heck is wrong with my bum knee. Could be anything: ligament, meniscus... This type of injury doesn't show up on X-ray results. I'm going to get more tests. I'll happily admit to having watched 1 hour+ of French TV to wind down. Watching French TV is fine... not reviewing my vocabulary isn't. I'm faced with a bit of a dilemma. I want to be in bed by 1 A.M., but I have tons of words to review, and I wanted to learn some new ones. I won't have time to do everything, and prioritizing is hard. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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