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Super Challenge discussion thread 2014

 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
432 messages over 54 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 7 ... 53 54 Next >>
Eagle32
Groupie
New Zealand
Joined 6261 days ago

56 posts - 83 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 49 of 432
27 January 2014 at 2:14am | IP Logged 
C sounds like a goal I'd be more likely to achieve, but B sounds more "super" and would probably be more of a challenge.

With regard to the multi-language vs. single language approaches; does a super challenge need to be in a specific language? If someone completes a super challenge but splits it however they like between their target languages it doesn't seem to me like that needs to be treated any differently than someone doing the challenge with only one target language.

If someone covered enough material to have completed the equivalent of 4 super challenges in several languages they could just say they completed a 4X Super Challenge or something similar.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 4769 days ago

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

 
 Message 50 of 432
27 January 2014 at 2:36am | IP Logged 
I think One language per SC is the better approach.For these reasons:

1. I think I am not the only one around htlal who reads a lot. In several languages. So, just reading a lot is not challenge for me at all.

2. A much bigger reason. The one language per sc approach doesn't allow our stronger languages to "bully" our weaker languages. Having separate SCs for languages X and Y shows me quite clearly things like "I've been neglecting reading in X this month while rushing up reading in Y" which is, in my opinion, an important piece of information for anyone learning more than one language. In a mixed SC, it would be far too easy to miss a disbalance and find out too late we've been practicing only our stronger language(s) since it was easier and went faster.

3. The Super Challenge is supposed to be a challenge and a huge opportunity. For me, it wasn't about completing a few challenges, it was THE Advanced French Super Challenge and THE Advanced English Super Challenge. I think it wouldn't feel proper to just mix that up and count super challenges like potatoes.

//A few posts back: I don't agree 100/100 should be considered the double challenge, Serpent. Truth be told, 100 movies is totally different from 50 movies in my opinion. I could clearly see the difference when it came to my French listening. I started with quite good listening comprehension and no huge trouble to understand but it was far from the effortless pleasure I take as my goal. After 50 or so, I could see a difference, a noticeable one, but it was nearing the end (I guess after 80) when I finally crossed the final line. I think having 50 movies (or 100 episodes) as the standard challenge could lead to worse results and wouldn't be much of a challenge. It would be only 2,5 movies per month!

Sure, the book units are worse but I think 10000 pages are actually ideal. Yes, it will be tough for us who want to take more SCs in a round (I plan two, perhaps three) but 5000 would be too little of a challenge for those taking one SC and too small progress to strive for for most of us, I believe.

And, this is a bad reason, I know, I just feel both numbers should be the same, to keep the spirit. 50/50 would be really too little in my opinion, 200/200 is hell a lot. 150/150 is an ugly number and still too much. I think 100/100 is as close to the ideal as we can get, given the current rules (such as 100 pages is a book unit).
7 persons have voted this message useful



milesaway
Triglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
Joined 4091 days ago

134 posts - 181 votes 
Speaks: French, English*, Russian
Studies: Finnish, Sign Language

 
 Message 51 of 432
27 January 2014 at 5:29am | IP Logged 
I would love to do the Super Challenge this time around.

I'd vote for keeping the 100/100 version, or the stars. I believe that 50/50 is too
little. I'm doing the Tadoku Challenge this month, and my book page total is over 2000,
so I'd be done the Super Challenge in just over 2 months, which seems to be a little less
than super. (This is my experience, yours may vary).
2 persons have voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6357 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 52 of 432
28 January 2014 at 6:09am | IP Logged 
I agree about the movies, especially as most learners don't do enough listening (I do so much of it that I can't say I noticed a difference between 50 and 100). I was mostly talking about the book part, really. 100/100 is NOT doable in several languages, yet most of us signed up for at least two languages, so... :)

100/100 is totally doable if the books are changed from 100 to 50 pages, though. milesaway, you're miles away from me :-) But bear in mind that this was intended for the languages you're B1 in at most. There's no way a beginner can read 2000 pages in a month. And we really shouldn't discourage beginners from participating, because one of the main points is that it's very beneficial to start reading and listening early, especially in a related language.

Edited by Serpent on 28 January 2014 at 6:10am

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milesaway
Triglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
Joined 4091 days ago

134 posts - 181 votes 
Speaks: French, English*, Russian
Studies: Finnish, Sign Language

 
 Message 53 of 432
28 January 2014 at 9:55am | IP Logged 
No Serpent, I'm positive your Russian is miles away from mine. :)

If it in fact lowered to 50/50, I might consider doing it for Finnish, although I can
barely string together a sentence at the moment.

The star system would work really well for me. I could aim for 2 stars in Finnish, and a
whole constellation in Russian (as a stepping stone to the C1 exam).

Edited by milesaway on 28 January 2014 at 10:02am

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Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 4769 days ago

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

 
 Message 54 of 432
28 January 2014 at 10:07am | IP Logged 
I think the stars could be an awesome solution. Keeping 100/100 would be ideal in my opinion (I think what I said about listening will apply even more to reading since it is quite easy to improve fast and then you hit the plateau before you improve further) with the stars on the way. One star per 25 book units and one star per 25 movies (or 50 episodes), that sounds really nice to me. It would allow people to aim for a number of stars and therefore nicely solve the individual differences of what each of us considers a lot or too little.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6357 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 55 of 432
28 January 2014 at 8:33pm | IP Logged 
I agree with emk that it's better to have one star for 50 movies than for 25, though.
My main problem with 100/100 is being set up for failure. One big problem here are the stats for goals - they are very motivating... unless they tell you that you need to read 500 pages per day (like it said in late December about my Croatian). And I don't want to be listed as 25/100 when I've actually done 25/25.

Aiming for a specific number of stars is something I suggested on the previous page already :)
2 persons have voted this message useful



YnEoS
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4014 days ago

472 posts - 893 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Russian, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish

 
 Message 56 of 432
29 January 2014 at 2:26am | IP Logged 
I'm a beginner and I've never participated in one of these before, and I would really love to try to use this to push myself to reach a semi-comfortable reading level in Russian. I don't think I'll be ready to dive right into books come May, but I have a number of intermediate resources to use aimed at helping learners get through pieces of Russian literature with the aid of various supplements such as definitions for difficult vocabulary, and contextualizing discussion between passages. Would I be able to count these towards my books read, so long as I adjust it to reflect the actual amount of Russian content I've read? (IE: only count the pages with reading passages, if a reading passage is broken up by English notes count it as half a page, etc.)


1 person has voted this message useful



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