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Slow Learning: FR, HI, ancGR TAC 2015

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Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4690 days ago

2151 posts - 3960 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German

 
 Message 25 of 164
27 April 2014 at 5:21pm | IP Logged 
I'm winding down the Learning Based Challenge (have learnt 312/300 vocab, and done 18/20 Assimil lessons), and gearing up for the SUPER CHALLENGE! Meanwhile I've still been reading Les vacances du Petit Nicolas (I have two stories left).

Here is a rough idea of some of the things I plan to use for the Super Challenge. I have signed up for the full challenge in French, and half challenges in Hindi and Ancient Greek (although I will only do the reading half for Ancient Greek). This means in 613 days I will have to read 200 books (@50 pages/book) and watch 150 films (@90 mins/film). That means I have to read one book every three days and watch 1 film every four days. Put differently, I have to read 16.3 pages per day, and watch 22 minutes per day.


Books in Hindi, French and Ancient Greek
I have the Bible and Harry Potter I in French, Hindi and Ancient Greek. My audiobook of Harry Potter I in French arrived yesterday. From the Bible, I will probably read the New Testament only.

I'm not sure if reading the same thing in all 3 of my SC languages will be helpful or get boring. I'm counting on helpful. Also I'm not sure if I should read them all at the same time. But what I'm thinking of doing is reading a chapter in French (which I think will be the easiest), then the same in Hindi, and finally the same chapter of Greek, and then move on to the next chapter in French again. For Harry Potter, I'll start by listening through the whole audiobook (which would count as 5.3 films), then go onto working through reading all three languages.

One more difficulty is that the page numbers for the same texts are all different in the different languages. I was thinking about finding an average count, but I think I'll keep it simple and just count the pages as they come.

French reading
Le Petit Nicolas- I'll probably start with the first Le Petit Nicolas book, since it's quite fun but also familiar. I'll probably read it while listening to the audiobook, and I'll try to read it in the first week. I have Les bêtises du Petit Nicolas and Les Vacances du Petit Nicolas, and when I'm done with them I'll probably buy and read each of the remaining books available on kindle.
Easy readers- I also have several A1 and A2 readers which I will probably read again. I might even re-read a few children's books to give me a gentle start.
BDs- I have about 9 BD's in French, which I'll probably read in the first month or two. I imagine I will read a lot of BDs for the challenge, whether free ones on offer at Izneo, or others that take my interest.
Le Club des Cinq- I have the first three Club des Cinq books (translations of the Famous Five). I expect they will be pretty simple reads, although I never read any of them in English. If they go well I might buy a few more, hoping the "series effect" will benefit me.
Other booksI have a few Maigret stories, which I find quite enjoyable and not too difficult to read. I also have two policiers on Kindle by Vincent Remède: Pas d'oscar pour l'assassin, and Jus de chaussettes, both of which have mp3s as well. At some point I plan to finally read Le Petit Prince, and L'Étranger (which I have as an audiobook as well). I had both of these for the last SC, but didn't get around to them. Finally, I have the transcript of Amélie, which I'd like to read probably twice before I watch the film again.

French watching
DVDs- I have a dozen or so French films on DVD, most of which I'll watch again. Highlights include Le Dîner de cons, Amélie, MicMacs, Panique au village, Jean de Florette/Manon des sources, Le Placard, Delicatessen and Rien à déclarer. I also have two DVDs of Les P'tits Diables (cartoons), and Le Peuple des océans + Océans (two documentaries). I will probably watch most of these at least twice.
TV series- I have been recording several TV series on my Sky box. Highlights include Les Villages de France (I love this series), Un village Francais, and 7 jours sur la planète. I intend to re-watch all 4 series of Engrenages on netflix (and I'm really hoping they'll come out with the 5th series in the next 20 months!)
French in Action- I plan to rewatch the whole series again. I count 3 episodes as 1 film, so at 51 episodes in French (1st episode doesn't count as it's in English), that comes to exactly 17 films.
Audiobooks- I have audiobooks of many of the books I have. When I have a book with audio, I generally prefer to listen to the book at least twice before tackling the book. Then I read the book at my own pace. If I'm ready for speed, I then like to read the book while listening. Using this method I will listen alone 2 or more times to the book, and read it 2-3 times.

Hindi reading
Children's books- I have about 50 children's books in Hindi. I will start with these, but I don't know for sure if I will bother to read them all. But I will start with some of these to get my Hindi reading back up to speed.
Adolsescent books- I have about a dozen books for adolescents, mostly biographies from Indian history published by CBT (Children's Book Trust), and I would like to read all of them. I also have नीली छतरी (The Blue Umbrella), by Ruskin Bond.
Substantial books- As Harry Potter I (हैरी पॉटर और पारस पत्थर) is much longer, I'm not considering it "adolescent". I'll probably start this about mid-way through the challenge, and read it at the same time as HP in my other languages. There is audio of someone reading some of this on YouTube, so I might listen to that first. Besides this, the only "grown up" book I have in Hindi is the Hindi Bible, of which I intend to read the New Testament.

Hindi watching
Films- I think I have about 40 Hindi films on DVD, although I doubt I will re-watch all of them. Some I am sure I will watch include: Sholay, Taare Zameen Par, 3 Idiots, Dil Chahta Hai, Bheja Fry (a remake of Le Dîner de cons), Awaara and Shree 420. I have several old Amitabh Bachchan films, which are always fun, such as Coolie, Zanjeer, Deewaar, Chupke Chupke, etc. I am also likely to go to the cinema in Leicester a couple times (depending on what they get in), and there are always a few Hindi films I haven't seen on Netflix and Love Film.
Audiobooks- I don't have much here. Some of my children's books have CDs, and I may listen to these several times. I also have the film Sholay on audio cassette, and if I can manage to I'll try to transfer these to mp3 (previous attempts have sounded a bit rough).

Ancient Greek reading
The New Testament- This will be my main focus for reading Ancient Greek. The NT I have counts as 17.9 books, but I will be impressed with myself if I manage to complete the whole thing. Previously I have probably read about 1/4 of the NT, but very intensively, looking everything up and taking notes, reading and comparing commentaries, etc. This time, I intend to just read it.
Harry Potter- Whenever I am ready to read HP I in Hindi and French, I'll follow along in my Ancient Greek version as well.
Other books- If (and that's a very big if) I finish the NT and HP, I have a few other options. I have The Apostolic Fathers, edited by JB Lightfoot, which includes many important writings from early Christianity. I also might consider reading the Reading Greek text from JACT (about 113 pages of actual text), or my Loeb Classical Library edition of Epictetus I (about 210 pages of actual text). I may just be dreaming about these, but I have been planning to read them for years-- I read about half of Reading Greek way back in abou 1988, and I bought Epictetus in 2004. While I'm dreaming, I also have a old edition (1875) of Arrian's "Alexander the Great in the Punjaub", which brings together my interest in both ancient Greece and India in 38 pages.

Ancient Greek watching
Unfortunately, I doubt I will do much of this. I do have an audio cassette to accompany some of the readings from Reading Greek. Other than that, I've got nothing. I know of readings available of the whole ancient Greek NT, but the accent is strongly American, so I won't be using that.



When laid out like that, that is a huge amount of material I am hoping to get through in the next 20 months. I am certain I will manage the full challenge in French, but less confident about my Hindi and ancient Greek half challenges. But maybe I just have to remind myself one more time about the pages and minutes per day I need:

French: 8.3 pages per day, 15 minutes watching/listening per day.
Hindi: 4.2 pages per day, 7.5 minutes watching/listening per day.
Ancient Greek: 4.2 pages per day.

There, that's not so bad is it???

Edited by Jeffers on 27 April 2014 at 5:29pm

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songlines
Pro Member
Canada
flickr.com/photos/cp
Joined 4990 days ago

729 posts - 1056 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French
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 Message 26 of 164
27 April 2014 at 7:17pm | IP Logged 
Jeffers wrote:
I'm winding down the Learning Based Challenge (have learnt 312/300 vocab, and done
18/20 Assimil lessons), and gearing up for the SUPER CHALLENGE! Meanwhile I've still been reading Les
vacances du Petit Nicolas (I have two stories left).
.... Highlights include Les Villages de France (I love this series), Un village Francais, and 7 jours sur la
planète.

When laid out like that, that is a huge amount of material I am hoping to get through in the next 20 months. I
am certain I will manage the full challenge in French...
There, that's not so bad is it???


Not too shabby at all..!

And congrats on your Learning Based Challenge achievements. A long while back, I made a start at reading
the Bible in both English and French. Had a good beginning with Genesis, but unfortunately left the project at
Exodus. I might follow your suggestion and try the New Testament first.    

I love having the captions for "7 Jours...", and will have to check out "Les Villages de France". Thanks for
telling us about them.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4690 days ago

2151 posts - 3960 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German

 
 Message 27 of 164
27 April 2014 at 8:17pm | IP Logged 
Thanks for the encouragement. Just so you know, each episode of Les Village de France is about 15 minutes long, and tells a bit about an interesting village. It involves both narration and discussion with local residents, and is a quiet and pleasant way to spend a bit of time.

About 7 Jours, I was on the website yesterday, and they episodes there don't have French captions. I hope that's just the website, because they are really the only reason I watch the series.
1 person has voted this message useful





songlines
Pro Member
Canada
flickr.com/photos/cp
Joined 4990 days ago

729 posts - 1056 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French
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 Message 28 of 164
27 April 2014 at 8:29pm | IP Logged 
Jeffers wrote:
Thanks for the encouragement. Just so you know, each episode of Les Village de France
is about 15 minutes long, and tells a bit about an interesting village. It involves both narration and discussion
with local residents, and is a quiet and pleasant way to spend a bit of time.

About 7 Jours, I was on the website yesterday, and they episodes there don't have French captions. I hope
that's just the website, because they are really the only reason I watch the series.


Thanks for the further info on Les Villages...

Re. "7 Jours..." I subscribe to the "7 Jours..." feed/channel on Youtube (and watch it on my iPad). The
captions aren't Youtube captions (you know, the "CC" ones which people can edit, but often get rendered as
gibberish or humorous and wildly inaccurate nonsense), but instead captions which seem to be part and
parcel of the broadcast itself. - I don't know if this makes sense? - But I can send / maybe post a screen
capture to show you what I mean if you like. So perhaps if you try going through Youtube instead of the "7
Jours..." site?


1 person has voted this message useful



Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4690 days ago

2151 posts - 3960 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German

 
 Message 29 of 164
27 April 2014 at 8:38pm | IP Logged 
songlines wrote:
Jeffers wrote:
Thanks for the encouragement. Just so you know, each episode of Les Village de France
is about 15 minutes long, and tells a bit about an interesting village. It involves both narration and discussion
with local residents, and is a quiet and pleasant way to spend a bit of time.

About 7 Jours, I was on the website yesterday, and they episodes there don't have French captions. I hope
that's just the website, because they are really the only reason I watch the series.


Thanks for the further info on Les Villages...

Re. "7 Jours..." I subscribe to the "7 Jours..." feed/channel on Youtube (and watch it on my iPad). The
captions aren't Youtube captions (you know, the "CC" ones which people can edit, but often get rendered as
gibberish or humorous and wildly inaccurate nonsense), but instead captions which seem to be part and
parcel of the broadcast itself. - I don't know if this makes sense? - But I can send / maybe post a screen
capture to show you what I mean if you like. So perhaps if you try going through Youtube instead of the "7
Jours..." site?



I know exactly what you mean, and that is what I'm used to on the TV show. I just checked on my Sky box, and the episodes I have there have the built-in subs as well. I just don't get why they didn't include these on their own website?
1 person has voted this message useful



conroy
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United Kingdom
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36 posts - 51 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 30 of 164
27 April 2014 at 11:47pm | IP Logged 
Jeffers wrote:

Le Club des Cinq- I have the first three Club des Cinq books (translations of the Famous Five). I expect they will be pretty simple reads, although I never read any of them in English. If they go well I might buy a few more, hoping the "series effect" will benefit me.


I read a few of those after having read Les Ames Vagabondes, a science fiction book by Stephanie Myer aimed at young adults. I actually found the Enid Blyton more taxing, although still not difficult.

Jeffers wrote:

Jean de Florette/Manon des sources


Fantastic films. They have beautiful countryside and a fantastic story which carries over from one film to the next. In the late 80s there was a boom in tourism to Provence which has been attributed the beautiful photography. I envy you not having seen them yet :)
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PeterMollenburg
Senior Member
AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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821 posts - 1273 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: FrenchB1

 
 Message 31 of 164
28 April 2014 at 2:25am | IP Logged 
conroy wrote:


Jeffers wrote:

Jean de Florette/Manon des sources


Fantastic films. They have beautiful countryside and a fantastic story which carries
over from one film to the next. In the late 80s there was a boom in tourism to Provence
which has been attributed the beautiful photography. I envy you not having seen them
yet :)


I actually read about these two films a few months back in my French learning magazine
Think French. It sparked my curiousity as I'd never heard of them before. 2 days ago I
watched them both with my wife. Interesting films and rather well done. I generally
find it harder to appreciate older films but I'm certainly willing to give them a try
when learning a foreign language is involved. I wouldn't 'rave about' these films but I
could certainly understand the appeal back in the 80s. The second film I found more
'riveting' towards the end. I might add I find a lot of modern movies rubbish, so
perhaps I ought to give some older classics more of a chance, as an explosion here and
corny line there, and some unbelievable shyte over here is the way most Hollywood
action flicks tend to go these days, and that certainly doesn't do much for me.

Jeffers you've got array of material to get through there. I'd love to get a hold of
that villages of France that you mentioned in the near future too. Good luck!
1 person has voted this message useful



Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4690 days ago

2151 posts - 3960 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German

 
 Message 32 of 164
28 April 2014 at 12:38pm | IP Logged 
conroy wrote:

Jeffers wrote:

Jean de Florette/Manon des sources


Fantastic films. They have beautiful countryside and a fantastic story which carries over
from one film to the next. In the late 80s there was a boom in tourism to Provence which
has been attributed the beautiful photography. I envy you not having seen them yet :)


I have seen them, but I'm looking forward to seeing them again!


1 person has voted this message useful



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