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Going back to Europe TAC 2014 DE|FR|日本語 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5767 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 65 of 142 01 April 2014 at 7:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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A Plan for April
- That's my plan. A nice blank list. Anything is possible. I'll see how I can fit a bit of Spanish in my life and not worry too much about the rest. Maybe I'll ponder a little more about what I care about, and what I measure, at least if I have the time. Edited by g-bod on 01 April 2014 at 7:59pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4969 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 66 of 142 01 April 2014 at 10:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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Good luck on the Spanish. I was thinking you care about Japanese since you're measuring all this but you
made it sound like you care about textbooks hehe. I was thinking it might be useful to copy you and track this stuff. Then again. If people knew how much I studied then they'd think it amazing I'm learning so slowly. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5767 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 67 of 142 06 April 2014 at 3:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have just finished the first seven lessons in Assimil Spanish with Ease (passive wave) so I think it is probably time I provided a little log update on what I am doing with Spanish.
I am taking a multi track approach using Assimil as the main thing I do every day, and Living Spanish: A Grammar-based Course when I feel I want or need to do more. Living Spanish is somewhat old-fashioned (in the very first lesson I got to learn all about how Ramón is working hard in the field while his wife prepares his dinner) but the explanations and "grammar-based approach" are pitched just right for me. I dipped my toe into Destinos last night, which was pretty good fun and something I think I will keep watching. I've also played around a bit with Mi Vida Loca on the BBC website. It's not quite what I want right now, because since I can make use of my existing knowledge of French and language learning in general, I'd rather tackle grammar and comprehension head on. It's quite good fun to browse through the headlines on El País just to see how much I can figure out despite the fact that I still know barely any Spanish. Oh, and I just love trying to get my mouth around the pronunciation. I pretty much knew nothing about Spanish just a week ago, and had no idea what a pleasant language it was to pronounce or to listen to. The vowels have a similar quality to Japanese vowels, which leads to some amusing false friends. I heard something like "pasa pasa" on Mi Vida Loca, which made me think straight away of パサパサ, even though the meaning and context is of course completely different. But in general I'm not aiming to get too involved with Spanish, as I am really busy with other life stuff at the moment. But to that end, it's actually kind of nice playing around with a shiny new language with no real expectations. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4450 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 68 of 142 09 April 2014 at 11:22am | IP Logged | ||
Oi. That's my claim to fame :-) 2.5 years before I even sit N3 when others can manage N1 in one year! @g-bod: good luck with the Spanish. It's on my hit-list too, just not yet. If you have a satellite dish then there are a handful of Spanish channels on Hotbird. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4450 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 69 of 142 09 April 2014 at 11:26am | IP Logged | ||
Wasn't that how you started German the other year, or was that kicked off by a holiday too? I'm beginning to see a pattern emerge. Any plans to visit Italy - you'd have almost a full Euro set then :-) I'm honestly very impressed with the way you can handle your existing languages and embark on a quick sally into a new one. Edited by dampingwire on 09 April 2014 at 11:26am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5767 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 70 of 142 09 April 2014 at 7:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well I've been at it for nearly 6 years and I'm not that far ahead of either of you. Japanese is hard!
@dampingwire my decision to learn some German was indeed prompted by a trip to Germany. Which was so enjoyable I learned some more German and took another trip to Germany. And then I muddled things up by taking a trip to France and dusting off my French. And now, yes, I'm going to Spain and learning some Spanish. When we made our holiday plans this year we narrowed things down to a choice between Spain and Italy, so it very nearly was Italian. Maybe next year! The important lesson I learned from German is that it doesn't take too much time and effort to pick up enough language to be off use to you as a tourist, especially when that language is related to one(s) you already know, but it can really enhance a trip. The real challenge is keeping up the momentum to climb up into the intermediate books & TV zone. I've reached that point with Japanese after many years, as my logs here demonstrate. I did the bulk of the work on French when I was at high school, so it did not take me too much effort to reach the tipping point after picking it up again. I'm not there with German and to be honest, I'm not sure when I will find the time to do it justice. I expect my Spanish to go the same way as my German. So in short, nothing to be impressed by. It's also worth noting that a lot can be achieved when one has no social life and an internet connection. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4969 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 71 of 142 09 April 2014 at 9:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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Have you given up studying multiple languages at once? I played with the idea but Japanese is too hard for
me to do anything else and ever get literate I think. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| g-bod Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5767 days ago 1485 posts - 2002 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, German | Message 72 of 142 09 April 2014 at 10:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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At the moment, rather than making grand plans which I fail to stick to, I'm rather just trying to go with the flow. I am making the point of sitting at my desk and studying some Spanish every day, because I still believe that's the best approach for a complete beginner, but I only plan to stick to that until my summer holiday. And even then, half an hour a day with Assimil is enough (but of course I have the option to do more if I want to).
It's hard to keep track of everything when you're just going with the flow, but not spending energy on tracking everthing frees up mental resources for other things. But since this time last week, I know I have done some of the following: Japanese: started reading another kid's book, did a Skype language exchange, did a Skype lesson, started to review 敬語, and got up to date with Anki reviews after taking a break for a few days French: finally read some more of L'élégance du hérisson, read a couple of articles in Le Monde, textchat to someone on Sharedtalk, listened (and subsequently fell asleep) to a couple of podcasts I don't know if that counts as study or not. Either way I'm happy with not trying too hard but doing stuff anyway. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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