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The drunk snail’s journey (TAC14) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4795 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes  Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 113 of 161 17 October 2014 at 8:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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ASCR:
+1,5 French movies: episodes 8,9 and 10 of Profilage-season 5. I can't wait to see the rest, I hate cliffhangers! Or rather stories taking two or more episodes, which is more of this case. I trully love the series. A small bonus: there is some easy German in one of the episodes. +3 French books: Dominique Sylvain: La fille du samuraï. Un policier, it is good but I wouldn't buy it hadn't it been so cheap. I got another one by the same author as well and am reading it. It is good but Agatha Christie or Fred Vargas are much better. Apart from that: a tiny, nearly non existent bit of German grammar. That is something I am going to remedy tonight. French lessons. My teacher is fortunately one of the illuminated ones. We spend like 5 minutes on grammar usually, just to check I already know it. Majority of the time is spent on speaking, for which I get a lot of praise, perhaps too much. Well, I make few mistakes (two or three are totally stupid and happen when I focus too much on the content and forget about the form) but he says I don't have an accent at all and it is difficult to say whether I am native or not, which is great to hear. However, my writing is worse, as I have known. I get usually a homework, mostly to write a resumé (the bread and butter of the dalf exams) and we spend some time on a detailed feedback and correction. The trouble is that I can screw up even things I say correctly following my intuition (gained from hours and hours of listening), because I just have too much time to think while writing. There are not that many mistakes but I am kind of a perfectionnist. I got some new vocabulary concerning an area in which I am weak in any language, including Czech: money, banks, economy. For next time, I got recommandation for two movies with Pierre Richard and I'm gonna write a few resumés of vatious things. Today's one was too long and I didn't feel as free during writing as I usually feel when writing English or Czech. Oh, I'll add the film I am watching right now and sum it up, instead of doing it after midnight: ASCR French movies +1, can't remember the exact name, basically supersticious people in early Québec, werewolves, an escaped prisoner impersonating a hero and basically becoming the hero. Quite fun. :-) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4795 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 114 of 161 17 October 2014 at 9:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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So, the name of the film was Le poil de la bete. Not bad, even though not too original.
ASCR COUNT UPDATE: French movies: 158/200 French books: 103,4/200 yay! less than a half to go English books: 105,4/200 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4795 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 115 of 161 22 October 2014 at 6:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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German: A few pages of Klipp und Klar. Nothing too complicated yet I need to further practice the basics of the verbs.
ASCR: French books +2,8 Dominique Sylvain:Soeurs de sang. Again, not bad at all, more entertaining than the other one, more thrilling yet I am not tempted to read more from her. Is she writing about victim art in every book? Not tempted to find out. My other French preparation: I need to get moving. I am laaaazy but tonight, I have big plans on writing and grammar review. ;-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4795 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 116 of 161 24 October 2014 at 10:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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I just wanted to share my excitement about books I'm reading. Dodger, the second newest book by Pratchett, is totally awesome. Fun, intelligent, great. And I like his writing style, there is a lot to learn from him, especially for someone who occassionaly writes (at least fan fiction type of texts). Another one is classics Les Trois Mousquetaires by Dumas. The language is surprisingly modern and easy, even though there is some new vocabulary, mostly related to the era in which the story is located. I loved Dumas when I was 12 or 13 years old and we meet again, finally.
Another French lesson. It was mostly spent on my writing and it was time well spent. My writing doesn't flow as easily as in my best languages, I create weird constructions at times (becuse I suddenly follow English logic even though I use purely the French one when I speak), I make occassional mistakes when my focus drops. And I choose complicated articles for resume practice :-D I signed up for the 6wc and I plan to make it the best one ever! German again. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4319 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 117 of 161 25 October 2014 at 12:05am | IP Logged | ||
I just started writing in German. It a strange and exciting experience to write in a language I have been studying for so long. Looking forward to seeing how your German develops. I am a bit jealous about your French. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4795 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 118 of 161 01 November 2014 at 7:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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Patrick, my road to French was soooo bumpy I am purely enjoying the harvest time no matter anything :-D i
am a little bit jealous of your awesome immersion opportunities ;-) No time for a big update, it will wait a day or two. For now: continuing with French, looking forward for some German grammar as a reward after a microbiology study session. 6wc is here! Sc update: English books: pratchett:Dodger +4 French movies +1 angelique et le sultan (yeah, i know, most people hate it but i dont care. Actually, more fun would be to read or watch adventures of her husband) French books: still reading les trois musquetaires and still loving it! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4795 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 119 of 161 09 November 2014 at 10:53am | IP Logged | ||
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First of all: the 6wc!!!
I have joined and begun. I am still under 2 hours due to a week of very intensive lab classes (truth be told, I hate my university studies more and more) but I am content with having added at least a bit here and there. The week to come will be much better. I am glad to see such competition and so many dedicated people! Really, only six are at zero, and only fifteen or so are behind me, that is awesome news for the team :-) So, what have I been doing and what are the plans for the 6wc. They might seem humble but they are important for me. 1.Grammar. I am slowly getting through Klipp und Klar. Some things are easy (I was surprised not to have much trouble with the basics of imperativ anymore), some are harder (Plurals will need more time and input probably). But I am moving forward. Right now, I am at lesson 10 out of 99. 2.Assimil. This is a two part thing. I bought a new El Alemán without CDs and it was a good choice. I love how easy it is to put the small book in my handbag and get it out in the public transport. Priceless. HOwever, this new Assimil is much less funny than the older French edition in my computer so I am likely to go through both but one at a time. 3.I want to get back to and finally finish the last unit of Themen Aktuell 1. I've been stuck for too long! Other languages: French: I need to work harder on my exam preparation, I need to write more. My speaking is getting better as those tiny mistakes I make when I am tired or less focused are being corrected. Next week, I'm gonna review some grammar, like the conditional sentences etc. And I need to write, write, write! Spanish: I need to review and to write a few emails asap. Really! ASCR: Still reading some French books, too little time to watch something. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4795 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 120 of 161 18 November 2014 at 8:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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What am I upto:
German: I finally really got into the 6wc. 5 and half hours or so doesn't look like much but I'm working on it! Klipp und Klar: currently at lesson 16. Most of what I see is revision but it is well worth spending time on. Conjugations aren't as hard for me as for someone knowing only English or another language totally without such a tool, yet I need lots of practice. Themen Aktuell: Revision of lesson 7. I am struggling with Perfekt. There is a lot to learn, I still don't remember many verbs and sometimes I struggle with those with hat and those with ist. I need a good list of those with sein. On the other hand, my listening isn't so bad. I am sooo looking forward to being able to watch a tv series in German! Assimil-the French one: Did some review and progressed to lesson 24. Not that hard, there is still no Perfekt or such grammar. It is pleasant. Assimil-the Spanish one: It is obviously a newer version. It is less funny than the older one but not bad. I am keeping it for on the go learning. It fits into a handbag nicely. Currently on lesson 20, nothing new so far apart from a few words. The practice is very helpful for me. If anyone is interested in a small comparison of the two assimils: The older (French) version is more funny, and and sometimes differs in ortograph from the newer (Spanish) version. The new one however has got more complex grammar review lessons and extra dialogs included in those which I am grateful for. So in general, I think both are a good choice for a German learner, neither appears to be significantly shorter or worse made than the other one. So far, both have been a pleasant introduction. I'll give another report by the time I am at lesson 100, or at least 50 ;-) some external practice: Yesterday, I was on a demostration. We commemorated the 17th November 1939 and more importantly 1989 and there was a series of various happenings. And one of the ways to commemorate the return of freedom was to finally gather and show out loud we are disgusted by our president, who doesn't understand politeness, and we are unhappy there is quite no way to get rid of him and that foreingners do not notice he is a useless powerless "represenative" figure approximately one half of the nation doesn't agree with. He shames our traditions and important days, he puts the republic to shame abroad, he is an alcoholic (showing up drunk when it is really not appropriate) who loves Putin and doesn't support much the human rights. Noone understood a single word of his, we didn't let him be heard this time. But we listened quietly to other presidents speaking and sharing with us both general ideas and personal memories. We didn't actually need the Polish or German translator. Even I understood almost everything said in Polish and vast majority of what was said in German. Yet we waited with applaus for the translation when the Hungarian president spoke as the language was beyond our abilities ;-) We gave a minute of silence for the victims of communism, we sang the slovak anthem right after the czech one as it used to go during the times of Czechoslovakia. No matter what some of the media here or abroad say, no matter the few stupid people (like the shameful person hitting the German president with a piece of egg, I think most people who were there feel ashamed for this moron being among us), I think the foreign presidents understood us. They are all keeping the westwards direction and trying hard to keep the ideals those revolutions were fought for while our Shame is finding the best ways to make us all look like Putin's or chinese dogs. Sorry to bring in politics, yet it was a strong international experience and I think such days belong to personal logs. So, this experience only strenghtened my belief that the central european region should learn languages of each other. We share a lot of history, we have a huge bonus when it comes to difficulty of each other's languages, we are in need of unity when it comes to many important questions of today. Why so few people admit to themselves they can understand Polish without lots of trouble? Instead, they prefer both sides to use broken English when speaking to each other. Even some students coming to the (calm) debate after the demonstration were complaining the presidents don't all speak English instead of having their "unintelligible" languages interpreted. Well, English is not a native language of a single one of those men. They are freer expressing themselves in their languages and that is up to their interpreters to make up for. So, get over your stupidity, dear "friends", if you want to understand directly, learn another language than English, don't be so lazy. I've got another source of motivation for my studies of German. We are closer to each other than we are to people from different corners of the world no matter some stupid morons (often commemorated) in the 19th century thought otherwise. I really wish those fools in the 19th century never have had the stupid idea to revive the Czech language :-( The history would have been very different. And Polish is now pretty high on my hitlist. But first I need to finish some others. French: A large trouble. As I am meeting my French tutor, I am subconsciously putting in less and less efforts outside the class. I need to work harder on that. I need to write more, I need to finish my reading books and so on. I need to work on my weaker grammar points, I need to work on my "attention span". While writing in any language(I noticed the same thing in both French and German recently but it applies anywhere), I tend to make mistakes at the end of words. It is not ignorance of grammar rules connected to the verb or noun. It is just the fact I am already thinking about the next sentence. I need to calm down and be more focused on everything. It is of vital importance not only for my exams. ASCR: +1 French movie: 2 episodes of Profilage Well, I though ep.10 was first part of a larger piece but it wasn't. It was cut right there and episodes 11 and 12 were leading the season to another cliffhanger, even though worse than the last one. Not a good course of action in my opinion but I am not a maker of the series, who knows if it doesn't work well in the end. For the books:still reading, still reading. I'll report as soon as I've finished something. Spanish:unfortunately nothing. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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