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Expug’s All at On(c)e Log - TAC14 | ||
Tags: Papiamento | Estonian | Georgian | Native Materials | Norwegian | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Mandarin | Russian | German | French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4641 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 137 of 415 25 February 2014 at 5:46am | IP Logged | ||
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Wow, there is so much here that I can't even read it all. Need to print to PDF!
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lorinth Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 4068 days ago 443 posts - 581 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Latin Studies: Mandarin, Finnish | Message 138 of 415 25 February 2014 at 9:39am | IP Logged | ||
Hello, maybe I missed the post where you explain that, but what podcast do you use for Chinese? BTW, that's one impressive list of material and activities! Edited by lorinth on 25 February 2014 at 9:40am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4960 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 139 of 415 25 February 2014 at 9:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hehe I hope I'm not repeating myself, kuji. You may try just skimming through it.
@lorinth: I'm just using Chinese Class, currently Elementary level. -------------------- Today I was once again more concerned about the materials I'm using than about actual learning. I think the learning is not going that bad, even for languages I had been struggling at so far, such as Russian. I didn't forget the English episode this time as I did yday. It was a nice break after so much reading. I'm glad I managed to finish the French film Les 11 Commandements as I found it too silly. On the other hand, I'm learning quite a bit from the Russian film Связь. Now I feel tempted to keep watching films in Russian. The same YT channel also has films in other languages with English subtitles and I may get back to it in the upcoming years. Duolingo German is going quite smoothly now, I seldom make more than 3 mistakes that would force me to start over the lesson. It's also running smoothier even at my old device. I will try to do the shorter chapters faster. As an example, I just finished today's chapter with 4 lessons, but the next one also has 4, so maybe I can also get done with it today. Again with German: tomorrow I might finish L'allemand, which would be my third Assimil! I see how things have evolved since my first attempt. Back then I would just panic when I realized that being through 1 textbook wouldn't allow me to read in the language. I had no idea about daily consistency, multiple-track, parallel reading. I expected reading fluency to come automagically as it does with Romance languages, and when it didn't I'd go frustrated. I'm glad I'm over it. Now I will try the intermediate Assimils and see how it goes, though I'm optimistic as I'm going to have German practice on Thursday. Speaking of practice, I've also managed to schedule Georgian for tomorrow. I'll see how it goes. I really hope I manage to actually speak something and have a conversation. Like I mentioned yday, several resources are coming to an end and may not be replaced by any counterparts. I may use these 'slots' for delving into native materials, both reading and watching films. German and Russian on top. Two languages I thought I'd never manage to read in. Norwegian seems neglected. The book Beatles is still hard but I can get the gist even if I don't translate anything. I have lots of words I meet often but still didn't manage to dissociate their meanings fully. Most of these are dialog expletives. I really need some active work or it will get completely eaten up by German. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4960 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 140 of 415 26 February 2014 at 8:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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So I had the Georgian conversation. It didn't come out as expected, but I mustn't say I
am disappointed with myself. First of all, the sound quality wasn't that good. The surrounds might have been quite noisy at the Georgian's place. I really can't follow a conversation, so I asked him more than often to repeat and sometimes to write down. I could express myself in an understandable way, though, and seldom had to look things up. I think it would work out better now if it was just chatting. Anyway, that guy is learning English so I think we can pratice conversation. He said my English is ok and it would be helpful if we could practice. He suggested to prepare some sentences I'd like to discuss and/or translate beforehand, and I agreed. We may talk again on Friday, so I have to come up with something I need to work on the most. TY Russian is approaching its end, but with the Carnival break that will mean mid March. Today's lesson was on participles, which aren't much used nowadays. And now I'm glad to say that I've finished L'Allemand! My first beginner's German Assimil. Now I'm going to start an intermediate German book, I can't even believe that! I'll write down my first impressions on La pratique de l'allemand. I plan to go through both La pratique de l'allemand and Perfectionnement Allemand. Then I will resist doing any further course such as Mission Europa or Wieso Nichts. Hmm, maybe I should really do Markplatz or another businnes course. Any suggestions? Anyway, I want to be done with the textbook stage for German and start enjoying the language the way I'm doing with cousin Norwegian and neighbor French. I was just wondering...I need to pay more attention while reading in Georgian. It's time I do a more consistent comparison of Georgian and the original Portuguese text as an actual parallel reading. Maybe I should pick some sentences and scrutinize them like emk does with Egyptian. I have the original in my native language so I've got the chance this time. Today at the Russian film I was watching two clerks in a kiosk were talking among themselves in Georgian! No other big plans for the next days. My Chinese studies are a bit repetitive. Maybe I should test myself somehow, either through Skyping or trying to write dialogues. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| YnEoS Senior Member United States Joined 4048 days ago 472 posts - 893 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish | Message 141 of 415 26 February 2014 at 9:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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I know we've touched on this a few times already, but any new impressions on how the 3 German assimils
compare overall now that you've finished all of them? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4960 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 142 of 415 26 February 2014 at 9:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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I like them better than the 3 Russian, starting from the notes which are more
pertinent. Besides, 2nd and 3rd generstion books are more similar to each other, and the 3rd generation one seems more consistent than its Russian counterpart, to the extent that I would call it the best of them. I have the impression that the 2nd and 3rd edition German Assimils were meant to complement each other. One doesn't repeat the other in the themes, and the vocabulary is also new. That's when skipping a second wave comes in handy: I don't miss a 2nd wave because I did it through the other book. The first Assimil does lag behind. It is much less "Assimil-like", which is also a flaw of the Russian ones. It focuses too much on bringing up a word and inflecting it and deriving from it. I was at an A2-ish level thanks to Deutsch Warum Nicht and half 1st generation Assimil, half 2nd generation Assimil plus reading two Georgian grammar books in German, and now after those 3 Assimils I'm at a B1 about to become able to read comfortably with a dictionary. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4960 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 143 of 415 27 February 2014 at 9:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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It started out as if it would be an ordinary day, but it turned out to have plenty of emotions.
I woke at 20 to six again, and had this great German conversation. Not only I could talk more fluently as well as correctly (I am still impressed how I get word order correctly at a normal speed talk). I also managed to give a good help on Portuguese, even though we almost missed the Portuguese shift again. I still had to go to the gym, then go home and get ready for work (which includes preparing my own snacks for the afternoon). I also had to get to work earlier because I have a non-language lecture in the evening. Before getting to work, I could get done with Memrise for today. I arrived a little later than planned, but I still have some minutes of overtime left from the past weeks. [rant]I don't want to rant that much, but I'm a bit concerned about practical usage, accessibility and learning possibility of active skills off-country. I'm still a bit frustrated with both the previous Georgian Skype conversation and my Norwegian which only seems to get better at passive skills while I feel like I'm losing the bit of axtive skills I've learned. In order to come up with a Norwegian word, I have to think of the German and the English words first to evaluate whether it is a cognate or not. And this what for? The international active language is still English. As much as I benefit from having access to video and literature in those foreign countries, for practical purposes I'd rather stick to a language that enables the highest quality of communication. Besides, it takes a lot of effort to bring any non-Romance language to my English or French level. So often I try to come up with a Norwegian word I'm sure I've studied before but I just can't.[/rant] Rants apart, I'm just glad with the little I've learned so far. Today's Norwegian was impressively comfortable. It's not German, I know that my German is better, but yet I can understand the series with subtitles quite comfortably. The novel I'm L/Ring too turns out to be quite comfortable too. Sometimes it's better to follow the familiar Norwegian story than the medieval French trilogy. Now for German: I started La pratique de l'Allemand! I'm really glad I can try a somewhat intermediate book for German, after so many years. I am not very much excited about moving back to books in the old layout with somewhat anacronic conversations and long, not so useful notes, but I'm glad I can take more German a day now. Lessons are longer and yet I've decided I'm going to take 3 a day. Since it's 47 lessons, that means before April I'll be done with that book too. Then only Perfectionnement Allemand will be left. First day was bettert than expected in the end. At first the lesson's size put me off. I even had to look up some words in French (while it also turned out the actual German word was pretty much transparent). Then in the second lesson I was already adapted and the notes also were shorter and didn't pop up that often. I believe I'm going to have a good time with this book and the younger brother. TY Russian is also going to end sooner than expected. There are actually 38 lessons, plus a few reading excerpts which I think I can take more than 1 a day. Currently at lesson 32. I have to decide for an upcoming book still in March. I'm really happy when it happens that I have to switch several materials at once. As much as routine fits me, I also get a bit overwhelmed and bored sometimes. Towards the end of the schedule, I decide to resume my quest for Georgian subtitles. I got some that wouldn't load here because they weren't unicoded and the computer lacked the proper font. I have to remind myself of testing them at home and trying to convert them somehow.Due to the lack of dubbed movies in Georgian which aren't voice over as well as of Georgian movies with English subtitles, I decided I will try my best to watch films in English (or French, which I got too) with Georgian subtitles and learn as much as I can. In the end, I decided to watch the acclaimed film მანდარინები (Tangerines). Audio in Russian and Estonian, subtitles in Georgian. I could follow the Russian audio and the Georgian subtitle pretty close and understand both in the first scenes, which were rather basic. As for Estonian, I still haven't started so I won't make use of it as an Estonian resource. I do expect the book to be good and to help me improve my understanding of conversational Georgian. When you learn a less common language, you always have to deal with the lack of the totally adequate resource. It's so much different from learning German, Mandarin or Russian. Whenever I come across one of these resources (Assimil intermediate, Chinese Class, Duolingo, Living Language) I can't help but sigh "If only such resource existed for Georgian!". Well, I'm learning Georgian nevertheless, against all odds. I feel an improvement in my reading skills and now I'm having fun at reading. The day will come when I will have fun at watching it, too. I even paused watching the series so that I can focus on this film intensively (that's the best to do when the resources are scarce, believe me) with no risk of Georgian audio burnout a day. I've scheduled a Georgian conversation for tomorrow. Haven't prepared anything beforehand, but I'll focus on coming up with things I'd like to say if I were there and how to render these into Georgian. Even better to focus on subordinates, so I can get the hang of tense usage. That would work the other way round too, as the Georgian I will talk to will also get to use more complex English sentences. Now duolingo is still missing. It can wait though. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Hekje Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4497 days ago 842 posts - 1330 votes Speaks: English*, Dutch Studies: French, Indonesian | Message 144 of 415 27 February 2014 at 10:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hey teammate! Even though you're feeling frustrated with German and Norwegian, it looks like your overall progress
is incredible. Don't be too hard on yourself. Your self-discipline is an inspiration to all of us. :-) 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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