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JIK’s TAC14 Log: Teams Spaß & Lobo

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24 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3  Next >>
JIK
Diglot
Groupie
Bahrain
Joined 3861 days ago

58 posts - 58 votes 
Speaks: Estonian, English*
Studies: Spanish, German

 
 Message 1 of 24
31 December 2013 at 3:51am | IP Logged 
Well, here goes TAC14! I'll (hopefully) be in team Lobo for Spanish and team Spaß for
German!

German:
I have had quite a bit of coursework in German (literally 10 years...), but it was years ago and I never
learned much. So I think it's fair to say I'll be starting out from somewhere between A1 and A2 (probably
closer to the former). My goal is to make it at least to B1, preferably to B2 by the end of 2014. I'm
planning on starting with Pimsleur and Michel Thomas before shifting to Assimil or FSI... I'm still not quite
sure what to start after the first two audio courses, but it will be a month or so before I have to cross that
bridge. (Suggestions are welcome!) At the moment, my plan is to dedicate a minimum of 30 minutes per
day to German for the first 6 months, though while I have extra time I'll be shooting for 1 hour per day.
For the second 6 months of the year, I'll shift more of my time to German, cause I expect I'll be more
comfortable with Spanish by then.

Spanish:
I've been in an on and off again relationship with Spanish for the past 2 years or so and would rate myself
at around B1. I have a relatively good command of grammar and conjugation, but really need to work on
being comfortable conversing freely and picking up some more colloquialisms. My plan is to continue
with Platiquemos (I'm currently on unit 21), and to move on to more native materials like easy books and
movies/tv shows. Once again, any suggestions are welcome! My goal with Spanish is to put in at least 45-
60 minutes per day for the first 6 months, after which I'll drop down to 30 minutes/day to make room for
more German study.

Edited by JIK on 31 December 2013 at 8:13pm

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tastyonions
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4424 days ago

1044 posts - 1823 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Spanish
Studies: Italian

 
 Message 2 of 24
31 December 2013 at 4:13am | IP Logged 
Buena suerte con tus estudios. :-)
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JIK
Diglot
Groupie
Bahrain
Joined 3861 days ago

58 posts - 58 votes 
Speaks: Estonian, English*
Studies: Spanish, German

 
 Message 3 of 24
31 December 2013 at 3:17pm | IP Logged 
tastyonions wrote:
Buena suerte con tus estudios. :-)


Muchas gracias. Voy a leer su "log" también!
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JIK
Diglot
Groupie
Bahrain
Joined 3861 days ago

58 posts - 58 votes 
Speaks: Estonian, English*
Studies: Spanish, German

 
 Message 4 of 24
31 December 2013 at 8:42pm | IP Logged 
Day 1:

German:
I started off TAC14 (yes, I realize it's still 2013, but...) with an hour of Michel Thomas. It was just the right
amount of time to finish disc 1 of the foundation series (the first 10 audio files). It was all quite easy and
straightforward. As it turns out, I remember more German than I thought and it looks like I'll probably
have to wait 'till the advanced discs to learn much. I don't plan on skipping ahead though, because MT
always seems to give great advice on conceptualizing grammar structures, so I'm hoping to pick up some
nice little tips along the way :) If I can go through one disc per day, I'll finish the foundation set by January
7th and can move on to Pimsleur + maybe Assimil. Does anyone happen to have any advice on other
good resources? Specifically, I'm looking for a book (+cd maybe) set that is more substantial. I'm not
quite as interested in podcasts or tv shows just yet.

Sidenote: I'm really looking forward to starting some Anki decks for German haha :)

Spanish
I started off my Spanish project by reviewing some earlier Platiquemos units. I previously left off at unit
21, but today even unit 17 seemed slightly frustrating for me... so I'll spend tomorrow's study time doing
my best to get back to a decent comfort level with the units before 21. In fact, the earlier units were so
encouraging that I finally switched to a Notes in Spanish intermediate podcast for comfort haha! Those
always seem to be really easy to understand and pleasant to listen to.

On another note, I found a website that streams the Big Bang Theory in Spanish. This year just got a
whole lot better!

Edited by JIK on 31 December 2013 at 9:45pm

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JIK
Diglot
Groupie
Bahrain
Joined 3861 days ago

58 posts - 58 votes 
Speaks: Estonian, English*
Studies: Spanish, German

 
 Message 5 of 24
02 January 2014 at 4:14am | IP Logged 
Day 2:

German:
Well, today I did about 40 minutes of Michel Thomas in German. Just like yesterday, it was quite easy...
I'm having a little more trouble with the "r" than I used to. Hopefully that won't last long! I also found my
old Assimil German book, so I'm excited to use that soon! Really not much to say about German today.

Spanish:
Spanish was a lot more fun today than yesterday... Mostly I just worked through a bit of review with
Platiquemos, and then spent about 40 minutes watching the Big Bang Theory in Spanish. They talk quite
fast so the only saving grace is that I've watched it so many times in English that I know what it's all
about. Even so, I think I miss about 50% of it...


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Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 4768 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 6 of 24
02 January 2014 at 2:14pm | IP Logged 
Hi JIK,

we are on two teams together! I wish you good luck and lot of fun and success during the whole TAC'14. I'm looking forward to reading you, you have obviously started really well :-)
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JIK
Diglot
Groupie
Bahrain
Joined 3861 days ago

58 posts - 58 votes 
Speaks: Estonian, English*
Studies: Spanish, German

 
 Message 7 of 24
03 January 2014 at 4:21am | IP Logged 
Cavesa wrote:
Hi JIK,

we are on two teams together! I wish you good luck and lot of fun and success during the whole TAC'14.
I'm looking forward to reading you, you have obviously started really well :-)


Haha, nice! Thanks and best of luck to you as well! I'm sure we'll be running into each other quite a bit
this year then!
1 person has voted this message useful



JIK
Diglot
Groupie
Bahrain
Joined 3861 days ago

58 posts - 58 votes 
Speaks: Estonian, English*
Studies: Spanish, German

 
 Message 8 of 24
03 January 2014 at 4:22am | IP Logged 
Day 3:
Well, I failed today... The day was quite hectic and I had a lot of work to get done, so only 30 minutes of
Michel Thomas German for me and about 20 minutes of the Big Bang Theory in Spanish.. I'll try to do
some language overtime tomorrow to compensate...

Edited by JIK on 05 January 2014 at 1:58am



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