JIK’s TAC14 Log: Teams Spaß & Lobo (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

JIK’s TAC14 Log: Teams Spaß & Lobo
Tags: Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) \| German \| Spanish
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24 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3

JIK
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Bahrain
Joined 3891 days ago
58 posts - 58 votes

Speaks: Estonian, English*
Studies: Spanish, German

Message 17 of 24

07 January 2014 at 4:19am | IP Logged

Emme wrote:

JIK wrote:

[...] Another thought I'm having is that I need to try to space them out over
the course of each day so I'm not doing them back to back (which is what I've been doing). I find that
doing them back to back means I can't really get into the flow of either one for long. Maybe German early
in the day and Spanish in the evening? I'll try that tomorrow.

That sounds like a good idea. It’s quite demanding switching from one TL to another very quickly and our
brains usually take a little time to warm-up. ;-)

Anyway, I dropped by to wish you good luck with TAC ’14: we’re in the same team (Lobo) so I’ll be
following your progress!

Yeah! I tried it today and it was pleasant :) I think I'll do it again!
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JIK
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Groupie
Bahrain
Joined 3891 days ago
58 posts - 58 votes

Speaks: Estonian, English*
Studies: Spanish, German

Message 18 of 24

07 January 2014 at 4:46am | IP Logged

Day 5:

Spanish:
¡Madre mía!, el español es tan bonito :) Finally finished reviewing unit 17 of Platiquemos today. Since I
had taken almost 2 months off Spanish before this year started, my mouth feels a bit "stuffy" when I try
to speak it. After about an hour of just reading along with the unit, I started to feel a bit better. I also
watched yet another episode of the Big Bang Theory en español.

German:
Finished unit 2 of Assimil today and reviewed unit 1. I also finished disk 4 of Michel Thomas today. That
German "r" would be a lot easier if it were a bit more consistent. Having it sound completely different
depending on where it is in the word is a bit frustrating, particularly in words that end in a vowel+r... It
just feels sort of wrong to pronounce that R as an "a"/"uh." Other than that, it was a relatively
straightforward day for German. On a side note, my wife being from Ecuador means that Spanish is very
welcome in this house... but she really doesn't like German very much :D I have to study it when she's not
home haha. I'm used to hearing people talk about German sounding unattractive, but I just can't agree. I
love the way it sounds.

Edited by JIK on 08 January 2014 at 1:41pm
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JIK
Diglot
Groupie
Bahrain
Joined 3891 days ago
58 posts - 58 votes

Speaks: Estonian, English*
Studies: Spanish, German

Message 19 of 24

08 January 2014 at 4:27am | IP Logged

Day 6:

German:
Today I finished Michel Thomas disc 5 in German. Since I've heard a ton of German, Michel Thomas's
accent is frustrating me a bit (ironic, cause I have much higher standards for a German accent than I
myself can match haha...) I also finished unit 3 of Assimil and reviewed units 1 and 2.

Spanish:
I listened to a bit of Michel Thomas Advanced Spanish today for review, and worked on unit 18 of
Platiquemos (listening to the dialogue and reading along mostly). I also watched about 35 minutes of
Friends in Spanish. I had a thought that I've had quite a few times before... I am trying to figure out of it
would be best to try for a particular regional accent or just a very basic, clean sounding accent. I know I
strongly prefer "s" over "th;" I prefer ustedes to vosotros, I actually like differentiating between "b" and "v"
and I prefer the plural ending of "n" instead of "is" ("estan" vs. "estáis"). So, the northern part of South
America seems like a pretty safe bet? I like the sound of Spanish spoken in Catalonia (when it doesn't
include a lisp). Not sure what this leaves me with haha.

Anyway, on to day 7! Tomorrow I get to do one of my all time favorite activities in Spanish... watching
Spanish football (soccer).
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Evita
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Latvia
learnlatvian.info
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Speaks: Latvian*, English, German, Russian
Studies: Korean, Finnish

Message 20 of 24

08 January 2014 at 11:19am | IP Logged

JIK wrote:

That German "r" would be a lot easier if it were a bit more consistent. Having it sound completely different depending on where it is in the word is a bit frustrating, particularly in words that end in a vowel+r... It just feels sort of wrong to pronounce that are as an "a"/"uh."

This sounds very familiar. I'm also coming back to German after a long pause and the "r" is giving me the most trouble.
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JIK
Diglot
Groupie
Bahrain
Joined 3891 days ago
58 posts - 58 votes

Speaks: Estonian, English*
Studies: Spanish, German

Message 21 of 24

14 January 2014 at 6:57pm | IP Logged

Evita wrote:

JIK wrote:

That German "r" would be a lot easier if it were a bit more consistent. Having
it sound completely different depending on where it is in the word is a bit frustrating, particularly in
words that end in a vowel+r... It just feels sort of wrong to pronounce that are as an "a"/"uh."

This sounds very familiar. I'm also coming back to German after a long pause and the "r" is giving me the
most trouble.

So, if I may ask, what are you doing to get better at it? Anything specific?
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JIK
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Groupie
Bahrain
Joined 3891 days ago
58 posts - 58 votes

Speaks: Estonian, English*
Studies: Spanish, German

Message 22 of 24

14 January 2014 at 7:01pm | IP Logged

I'm starting to feel like posting a couple times per week is a more realistic plan. Doing two languages a
day is taking more of my time than I thought it would.

Day 14:

German:

I have now worked through Assimil unit 8 and Michel Thomas CD 6. It's a bit weird to do things at this
level, because I know almost all of the material already. The only issue is that when I used to study
German, I didn't put nearly enough effort into gender, so it doesn't matter what words I know, since I
have no idea what gender they are... So, I'm keeping myself at a low level and focusing on getting the
gender right on all of the words I come across.

Spanish:
...I have yet to do any Spanish today.
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JIK
Diglot
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Bahrain
Joined 3891 days ago
58 posts - 58 votes

Speaks: Estonian, English*
Studies: Spanish, German

Message 23 of 24

21 January 2014 at 5:34pm | IP Logged

It's nice to come back to German when I actually WANT to study it. It seems that all the grammar rules
that used to really give me trouble are not so hard at all now that I'm actually interested in them :)
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JIK
Diglot
Groupie
Bahrain
Joined 3891 days ago
58 posts - 58 votes

Speaks: Estonian, English*
Studies: Spanish, German

Message 24 of 24

21 January 2014 at 8:53pm | IP Logged

Day 21:

German:
I'm now done with unit 10 of Assimil German. I'm working through it using a derivation of Luca
Lampariello's Assimil method. I must say, I really am not happy with myself for not caring to learn the
proper genders for each noun in the past. It's really biting me in the butt, and there doesn't seem to be
much method to the madness. Oh well :) Also, the "r" is still bothering me.

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