Super Challenge discussion thread 2014 (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

Super Challenge discussion thread 2014
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Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log

432 messages over 54 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 12 ... 53 54 Next >>

Emily96
Diglot
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 4234 days ago
270 posts - 342 votes

Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Spanish, Finnish, Latin

Message 89 of 432

11 February 2014 at 12:29am | IP Logged

Nicely stated =) Sorry if i came off as upset or anything. I agree that stars are the way to go, since they allow
everyone to 'customize' their own challenge to an extent without getting as confusing as last time. I also think that
anyone who completes enough stars should be on the winners list, even if it wasn't all in one language. After all, I'm
definitely planning to sign up with two (maaaaaaybe three!).

EDIT: and, if i've interpreted correctly, i think that most people in this thread agree with the star thing. i guess
there's no rush for a decision, but if anyone else is as anxious as i am (just got 20 new french books... can't wait!!)
maybe they could throw out a poll to see what the rest of the forum thinks?

Edited by Emily96 on 11 February 2014 at 12:35am
2 persons have voted this message useful

Kerrie
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/Kerrie2
Joined 5201 days ago
1232 posts - 1740 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 90 of 432

11 February 2014 at 12:32am | IP Logged

Serpent wrote:

But "some recognition" isn't enough for me. I don't want my goals to be considered less honourable than the default ones.

But the thing is, the Super Challenge is (or at least originally was meant to be) a significant challenge in one language, to push you over that intermediate "hump." The only language you did (with that goal in mind) seemed to be Polish.

Don't get me wrong, you made significant progress in your other languages as well, but your goals seem to be different from what this challenge was about. When you start counting 300 pages of "spam" to get your count up, I think you're missing the point of the challenge. Just my opinion.

There are a lot of us here who have serious respect for you, but - at least as far as the original idea of the challenge - I don't think it "fits" with your multi-multi-lingual goals. And since you want to do everything (and more power to you for it!), you are trying to fit your studies around this challenge, instead of fitting this challenge into your studies.

But what I don't understand is your need for recognition from everyone else. We all learn languages for our own reasons, and generally that involves communicating and understanding the language. So go out and use your languages. Enjoy them. Do the challenges that fit you, your languages, and your study goals. But I think you are selling yourself short by trying to do something that isn't really the right challenge for you. (At least not eight of them!) The 6WC is perfect for you. Tadoku is perfect for you. But I think trying to fit your studies around a challenge as focused as the Super Challenge, for long-term goals with a limited number of languages, just doesn't jive with your goals.

And to be fair, I think we both over-did ourselves signing up for eight languages. LOL. It's just that I realized it earlier, and decided to focus on one so I could actually complete the challenge.

Serpent wrote:

Right now it's as if I need the approval of Cavesa and Kerrie for my goals to be considered challenging enough...

Haha, you don't need my approval for anything. You rock, Super Challenge or not. :)

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Kerrie
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/Kerrie2
Joined 5201 days ago
1232 posts - 1740 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 91 of 432

11 February 2014 at 12:35am | IP Logged

Emily96 wrote:

I agree that stars are the way to go, since they allow everyone to 'customize' their own challenge to an extent without getting as confusing as last time.

I like the stars, too.

I wonder if it would be hard for Surrealix to program is so we can "aim for" a certain number of stars in a certain language and category. That would be really cool. :)
1 person has voted this message useful

Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6403 days ago
9753 posts - 15779 votes

4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, Finnish^C1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

Message 92 of 432

11 February 2014 at 12:49am | IP Logged

Emily96 wrote:

Serpent wrote:

I don't want my goals to be considered less honourable than the default ones.

Serpent, I don't think anyone considers your goals less honourable.

Edit: i'm not actually sure what we're disagreeing on here. What do you want the challenge to look like?

I'm fine with whatever rules that make the (reading) challenge doable in more than one language. I devoted 20 months of my life to it, I'd be the first to know. I'm not ready to give it such a high priority again, though.

And I know that most members will consider a partial win more of an achievement than I myself do. But I'm against having a goal pre-chosen for me just because that's what other people need to feel sufficiently challenged. What's in the rules is more important than the attitudes. Sorry that I can't come up with a less loaded example, but it's like the politicians that say "yeah I respect black people/women/gays/etc" but then fail to notice/listen how the laws they pass might disadvantage them.

EDIT:

Emily96 wrote:

Aw no worries, your post wasn't there yet when I was replying.
Yeah, seems like everyone agrees about having stars (although we still need to agree about... movie stars lol). The thing is that some want to have an official goal per language in addition to that (but just one since we all seem to agree that the half, major, advanced and duper challenges were a mess), while I view that as turning the stars into some useless consolation prize. Unless the goal is multilingual and star-based.

You can start a poll yourself at http://www.easypolls.net/. Note however that just because people want it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. Cf the fact that nobody read 100 "books" in something like Polish, Italian or Dutch, and even 50 was something very few people did.

Edited by Serpent on 11 February 2014 at 2:35am
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Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6403 days ago
9753 posts - 15779 votes

Message 93 of 432

11 February 2014 at 12:56am | IP Logged

I had a job in spam analysis for almost a year so I've read more spam than most of you did in your whole lives :)

edit: btw I'd be fine with counting only book pages and not articles, random stuff online etc.

Edited by Serpent on 11 February 2014 at 1:44am
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Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6403 days ago
9753 posts - 15779 votes

Message 94 of 432

11 February 2014 at 1:36am | IP Logged

Kerrie wrote:

Serpent wrote:

But "some recognition" isn't enough for me. I don't want my goals to be considered less honourable than the default ones.

Read the first post here. Most people signed up with more than one language and I don't think it's a good idea to basically tell them to try again but with just one language. They can choose for themselves.

Polish was actually the only language I did pretty much from scratch. But the Italian reading challenge was in no way trivial. I had literally read nothing in Italian, though I had watched a lot of football. Also, no need to make assumptions. I definitely had the same goal in German, but I was reading some awesome stuff in Polish and I got to visit Malta in November, so it made more sense to focus on these two, also because I was so close to completing Polish.

Quote:

you are trying to fit your studies around this challenge, instead of fitting this challenge into your studies.

I was fitting my life around this challenge. I don't want to be pressured to do that again.

Quote:

The 6WC is perfect for you.

No, it isn't. I love it but it's not perfect, and I'm glad it's not more than 6 weeks.

Quote:

And to be fair, I think we both over-did ourselves signing up for eight languages. LOL. It's just that I realized it earlier, and decided to focus on one so I could actually complete the challenge.

That's not how I see it. The only thing I didn't complete and wish I did was the Danish audio-only challenge where I reached 94 on New Year's Eve. Even as it is, I was missing Portuguese insanely at the end of 2013. Reminds me on Prof Argüelles' comparison: favourite language? you mean which limb I would rather keep if I had the rest of them removed?..

As for wanting recognition, well, for example I want it because I know there will be people who aim for the Big Thing but do less than me despite focusing on just one language. You also didn't address the fact that the only languages with one or more reading challenge(s) completed were English, Spanish, French and German. It's simply not realistic if the language is more difficult and/or there are fewer resources. And I'd say also if one is starting from scratch.

Edited by Serpent on 11 February 2014 at 2:36am
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patrickwilken
Senior Member
Germany
radiant-flux.net
Joined 4339 days ago
1546 posts - 3200 votes

Studies: German

Message 95 of 432

11 February 2014 at 6:10am | IP Logged

Serpent wrote:

You also didn't address the fact that the only languages with one or more reading challenge(s) completed were English, Spanish, French and German. It's simply not realistic if the language is more difficult...

So do you think the original SC is impossible to complete in Russian, Polish, Japanese etc?
1 person has voted this message useful

Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6403 days ago
9753 posts - 15779 votes

Message 96 of 432

11 February 2014 at 8:00am | IP Logged

Well it's not downright impossible but it puts the learners of these languages at a huge disadvantage compared to French, Spanish etc. And I'm speaking about the reading part here.
When the only person who's completed a challenge in a Slavic language is Russian, you know there's a problem.

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