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Rdearman Super Challenge Log

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Clarity
Groupie
United States
Joined 3281 days ago

85 posts - 107 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 129 of 158
22 April 2015 at 5:29pm | IP Logged 
I just read the rant too. Hilarious! I like the idea of recording yourself while cooking your favorite recipe. It seems like a very good way to video your language output. Plus, you get to eat a scrumptious meal at the end of it.   
2 persons have voted this message useful



rdearman
Senior Member
United Kingdom
rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4995 days ago

881 posts - 1812 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin

 
 Message 130 of 158
22 April 2015 at 5:57pm | IP Logged 
Mohave wrote:
I am just getting caught up on logs after being away from the forum for a while, but your rant really made me laugh out loud and put a smile on my face! Congrats on the job offer - that is awesome! As always, you are doing a great job on the SC!!


I'm glad you found it funny, but the odd thing, it is true! Thanks for reading. It is great to get back to work, I'm actually looking forward to the dreary commute now, and getting some more Mandarin learning done.
1 person has voted this message useful



rdearman
Senior Member
United Kingdom
rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4995 days ago

881 posts - 1812 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin

 
 Message 131 of 158
22 April 2015 at 6:00pm | IP Logged 
Clarity wrote:
I just read the rant too. Hilarious! I like the idea of recording yourself while cooking your favorite recipe. It seems like a very good way to video your language output. Plus, you get to eat a scrumptious meal at the end of it.   


It was actually very tasty. I put the link up on the Output Challenge Thread, but I suppose I should put it here too for completeness sake.

Output Challenge Video (Arancini Recipe)


1 person has voted this message useful



rdearman
Senior Member
United Kingdom
rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4995 days ago

881 posts - 1812 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin

 
 Message 132 of 158
23 April 2015 at 4:59pm | IP Logged 
--- Weekly Update ---
Well the numbers don't reflect much of a change this week, but I have done a lot more work. Basically I've read 2+ books in Italian and 1 book in French. I've one-and-a-half films in Italian as well. So not doing to badly this week. I'm trying to keep the momentum up and to do 3 books a week from this point on. That should get me over the finishline by December! Fingers crossed anyway. I've done some work on Output as well, and I've managed a little bit of Mandarin this week also. I feel that I've accomplished quite a lot really along with 4 hours of lessons in Italian/French and 2 hours of language exchange in French. I keep kicking myself for not taking Solfid's advice and only doing one language.

In reality I have to read (at this moment) 2.785 books per week to complete the challenge, so if I can stay on target and read 3 books (150 pages) per week then I'll be golden, and in theory complete the challenge at Christmas. Easier said than done of course, especially with more things coming at me to steal my time away.

Probably should mention what I'm reading:
Le soldat chamane, tome 1 : La déchirure: Robin Hobb (French)
La Peau Sur Les Os by King, Stephen (French)
Utili consigli per il buon investigatore - McCall Smith Alexander (Italian)



--- SC Statistics ---
French : 53.0 books : 112.3 films
Italian : 46.7 books : 88.4 films

Reading Averages Change
French: 1.023 books per week --> 1.019 books per week
Italian: 0.864 books per week --> 0.898 books per week

The number of French books at the end of challenge at current rate: 89.68
The number of Italian books at the end of challenge at current rate: 79.03

--- Output Challenge Update ---
OK! The recipe video allowed me to up my video by 10 minutes and the script which I didn't follow very well was 420 words. So I've done a very small increase in output this week! Yay me!


--- Output Challenge Statistics ---
Italian : 1177 words : 80 minutes


---
Good luck everyone with your language learning and your own challenges.
1 person has voted this message useful



rdearman
Senior Member
United Kingdom
rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4995 days ago

881 posts - 1812 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin

 
 Message 133 of 158
30 April 2015 at 2:02pm | IP Logged 
--- Weekly Update ---
Yay! I've managed to get over the halfway mark in all my languages! I seriously don't think I'm going to be able to manage 3+ books a week, which is what I need to complete the challenge before December. I have managed three plus books this week, but don't know if I can maintain that pace. But just 10 films to go in Italian.


--- SC Statistics ---
French : 54.1 books : 112.3 films
Italian : 50.6 books : 90.0 films

Reading Averages Change
French: 1.019 books per week --> 1.020 books per week
Italian: 0.898 books per week --> 0.954 books per week

The number of French books at the end of challenge at current rate: 89.80
The number of Italian books at the end of challenge at current rate: 83.99

--- Output Challenge Update ---

No output this week. Perhaps a new mini-challenge will spark some movement!


--- Output Challenge Statistics ---
Italian : 1177 words : 80 minutes


---
Good luck everyone with your language learning and your own challenges.
1 person has voted this message useful



rdearman
Senior Member
United Kingdom
rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4995 days ago

881 posts - 1812 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin

 
 Message 134 of 158
07 May 2015 at 1:53pm | IP Logged 
--- Weekly Update ---
I have made a lot of progress bringing the Italian book count up and managed to slip in a couple of TV shows and podcasts. So all in all looking better, although at this rate I will still not complete either challenge in books. However there is some good news. If you're a long time reader then you'll know that I have been periodically taking an online assessment of my reading in French. This system seems very comprehensive and I think it was written for the US Government (DLI) initially, but seems to be free online now. Regardless the website is: https://oda.lingnet.org/.

When I started the Super Challenge my scores were pretty poor at a 1+ on the ILR which is around B2 on the CEFR. My score this time however was a 2+ which works out to a high B2. I think I could have probably gotten a 3 (or low C1) if I hadn't gotten sick of the test and just skipped about 12 questions at the end. The test is a long one, I started at about 9:30 at night and it was at ten minutes to midnight when I said screw this and skipped a load of questions. The problem with this test is that the more you get right, the more questions you have to answer! So the test takes longer. They've now put in a thing where you can start at the level you were tested at before, so that means it dropped a load of questions at the front I didn't have to answer.

However the point is that I've made definite, testable progress in reading thanks to the Super Challenge, and I'm only 1/2 through the books! Hopefully I'll be able to get a C1 score when I take the test again in December.

They have also implemented a listening test in French, so I might have a go at that, even though I don't have a score previous to completing all the films.

My "sub-scores" were:
- Content score 77.78% (target was 44.44%)
- Linquistic Questions score 63.64% (target 15.15%)

I've very happy about this result, and I suspect Italian has a similar progression, although they didn't have a test for Italian.


--- SC Statistics ---
French : 55.2 books : 112.3 films
Italian : 52.1 books : 93.7 films

Reading Averages Change
French: 1.020 books per week --> 1.022 books per week
Italian: 0.954 books per week --> 0.964 books per week

The number of French books at the end of challenge at current rate: 89.94
The number of Italian books at the end of challenge at current rate: 84.87

--- Output Challenge Update ---

No output this week. But I have the software for the crossword puzzles and I've selected some words, so just a matter of doing the work now.


--- Output Challenge Statistics ---
Italian : 1177 words : 80 minutes


---
Good luck everyone with your language learning and your own challenges.
2 persons have voted this message useful



rdearman
Senior Member
United Kingdom
rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4995 days ago

881 posts - 1812 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin

 
 Message 135 of 158
14 May 2015 at 2:42pm | IP Logged 
--- Weekly Update ---
I've managed to read two books this week, but since I need to be averaging three a week to complete the challenge sucessfully it isn't very good. This means I am going to have to make up the difference next week or beyond. I should probably complete the film section this week in Italian, so then I'm only down to getting the required reading in. (Only!). I haven't been reading as much as I should have, because I found a lexicon of the Italian language available for download at the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies. So like EMK did with the French lexicon, I have put all this into an sqlite3 database and I've been messing around looking at patterns like ratio of nouns to verbs in the most common words, etc, etc. I don't have a conjugation table, so can't reproduce everything EMK did, but I can certainly pump out a list of most common words for my anki deck.

I've gone back to basics a bit and I've printed out the most common irregular French verb conjugations and trying to do a better job of memorizing them. I am constantly flipping back and forth between frustration at my lack of progress, and enthusiasim for almost reaching C1 level in French reading. Other than that it is just reading and more reading!


--- SC Statistics ---
French : 56.0 books : 112.3 films
Italian : 53.3 books : 97.4 films

Reading Averages Change
French: 1.020 books per week --> 1.018 books per week
Italian: 0.964 books per week --> 0.969 books per week

The number of French books at the end of challenge at current rate: 89.60
The number of Italian books at the end of challenge at current rate: 85.28

--- Output Challenge Update ---

No output this week. But I have the software for the crossword puzzles and I've selected some words, so just a matter of doing the work now. <-- still being lazy and not doing the work!


--- Output Challenge Statistics ---
Italian : 1177 words : 80 minutes


---
Good luck everyone with your language learning and your own challenges.
2 persons have voted this message useful



rdearman
Senior Member
United Kingdom
rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4995 days ago

881 posts - 1812 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin

 
 Message 136 of 158
21 May 2015 at 2:33pm | IP Logged 
--- Weekly Update ---
YAY Me! I have completed the film portion of the challenge in Italian now too. So this means all the easy stuff is done, and now I have to read. I'm seriously considering just picking one language and put all me reading efforts into that one. I really don't think I'm going to have time to complete both of them. I start a new job in June and my commute is via car. If it was audio books I'd be golden, but I've got no hope of working all day and reading 3-4 books per week in a foriegn language. So now I'm thinking it would at least be nice to have completed one challenge fully, and next time not be so stupid as to sign up for two at a time. I have no idea how Serpent manages to do like an 11 language Super Challenge. She must not sleep.


--- SC Statistics ---
French : 56.8 books : 112.3 films
Italian : 54.3 books : 100.3 films

Reading Averages Change
French: 1.020 books per week --> 1.014 books per week
Italian: 0.964 books per week --> 0.969 books per week

The number of French books at the end of challenge at current rate: 89.24
The number of Italian books at the end of challenge at current rate: 85.30

--- Output Challenge Update ---

No output this week. Still being lazy and not doing the work!


--- Output Challenge Statistics ---
Italian : 1177 words : 80 minutes


---
Good luck everyone with your language learning and your own challenges.


1 person has voted this message useful



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