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Stelle’s Log (TAC15 Spanish and Rare) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3936 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes  Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 17 of 87 25 January 2015 at 4:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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This video about a "standard franco-ontarian accent" made me laugh out loud:
l'accent franco-ontarien standardisé ...although it might not be even mildly funny to anyone who isn't franco-ontarian. Which makes me wonder...I know there are French Canadians from Quebec on HTLAL. I wonder if there are any other franco-ontarians here? In other news...reading! I've been mostly reading ebooks for the past few months, but I finally found time yesterday to browse through my local library's foreign language section. The collections are based on demographics, so there's a huge selection of Russian, Chinese and Arabic books. The Spanish collection was a bit smaller, but still fun to browse. I took out three non-fiction books, since I have more than enough fiction on my shelf at home to last for the next six months. I'm currently reading a dog training book by César Millán, and I'm surprised at how much more quickly I read non- fiction! I also started reading a book in French. Now, I know that it's not exactly HTLAL-y to talk about reading in your native language. But I can count on one hand the number of French books that I've read for pleasure in my entire life, and that's a sad state of affairs. I'm currently two chapters into Chambre 426 by Madeleine Robitaille. I'm fully expecting it to end up being a cheesy horror, but so far it's very engaging. Which brings me to my dilemma: How can I possibly read extensively in three languages? I want to read many books this year, both fiction and non-fiction, in English, French and Spanish. (At this point, my Tagalog is not yet at a point where I'm even contemplating reading novels. Maybe in eight or ten years.) But I've always been a "one book at a time" person, and now I'm trying to figure out how to make it work in multiple languages. I used to read in English for hours at a time, finishing a book in as little as a day or two. Since I started learning Spanish, I became a person who reads for half an hour a day, taking up to a month to finish a book. I very rarely read in English now - something that I want to change. Here's what I'm thinking (well, after I finish the last 75 pages of Sinsajo, that is): Read two books at once, one fiction and one non-fiction. Set aside a minimum of 30 minutes twice a day for reading. Alternate books by language - so I rotate through languages in fiction and non-fiction. This might mean that right now, I'm reading: a non-fiction book in Spanish (Guía para un perro feliz) a fiction book in French (Chambre 426) When I finish the César Millán book, I start reading an English non-fiction book. When I finish that one, I read a French non-fiction book. When I finish Chambre 426, I start reading a Spanish fiction book. When that's finished, I read a novel in English. This means that sometimes I might find myself reading only in French and English for a few days. But since I read so much faster in French and English, I don't expect that I would spend all that long without a Spanish book in my hands. My goal is to be a well-read person overall - not just to be a person who reads young adult fiction in Spanish. I would love to hear about how other learners balance their reading - not only in their target languages, but also in their native languages! Edited by Stelle on 25 January 2015 at 4:52pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| eyðimörk Triglot Senior Member France goo.gl/aT4FY7 Joined 3891 days ago 490 posts - 1158 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French Studies: Breton, Italian | Message 18 of 87 25 January 2015 at 5:39pm | IP Logged | ||
Awesome question! Let me know if you figure it out! ;) The way I do things, I read several books at once. It's useful for moments when you feel burnt-out by a particular language or a particular story. I used to think that when I was too tired to continue with my Breton novel, I was too worn out to read at all, but I've found that this is not true at all. Switching to French refreshes the mind for a while. Sometimes having two books going at once in French has been useful. I don't do that a lot, but switching stories from literary (physical) to genre (e-book) can also refresh the mind and let you read more than you thought you had the energy for. I also listen to audio-books while walking the dogs or biking somewhere. That's one more story, with the added bonus that even if you don't want to read several novels at once for fear of mixing them up or not getting fully engaged, the audio aspect and the fact that you only access the story in a particular setting will help you keep the stories separate. ETA: I don't actually read in my native language. The audio-books are almost exclusively in Danish or Norwegian, though, which is close enough (especially since they're not languages I study or have ever studied). I guess that's how I keep my "balance" and stay in touch with Scandinavia... stolen moments, in audio. Edited by eyðimörk on 25 January 2015 at 5:42pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4958 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 19 of 87 27 January 2015 at 8:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've been taking my time to give you a reflected answer, Stelle. I'm reading in at least 8 languages in varied levels and thus varied techniques.
I read 20 pages of French, 10 of Norwegian and 10 of German. They take about the same time. I read the German with the original in French (so, that means I read 10 more pages in French). I read French and Norwegian straightaway, but I save German for another period of the day, after I have studied other subjects, watched films. It is hard to keep going on when it is boring, but it is also hard to stop when it is interssting. I always stick to the plan, though, as I remind myself other activities can't be neglected. I don't read in English or Portuguese during my study hours. I only do this before bed. This means I have a lot of books to read, because I don't always manage to do this reading. What I do the most in order to find a compromise is to read what I want but in French or German instead. I mostly read on spiritual themes, behavioral economics or globlization analysis. All of these three themes abound in French, and fortunately also in German. So, I schedule stuff I'd like to read anyway in English or Portuguese for the studying time. Does that mean I will read more slowly? Not necessarily. At least I'm assured a minimum of 10-20 pages a day. By doing this I managed to finish a lot of books last year while keeping up-to-date with the world. I have to resort to ebooks, but that makes it even easier to find the parallel versions when needed (i.e. German). On my weaker languages, I'm still mostly reading translations of commercial contemporary fiction, and in a slower pace, 3-5 pages a day, but I'm learning quite a lot. The day I improve my skills in Chinese or Russian I may start alternating authentic native literature with translated non-fiction, so I can read even more books (now I'm daydreaming). 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3936 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 20 of 87 29 January 2015 at 1:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you @Expugnator and @eyðimörk for your thoughtful responses! Expugnator - I can't imagine reading in
eight different languages. I can barely handle three! Ha! I've been asking around, and it seems like many language learners don't read much in their native languages anymore. I can totally see that! The past year and a half have been all-target-language-all-the-time for me! But I really want to read more in English and French this year, as well as keeping up with my Spanish. This is what I've been doing over the past week, which has been working out very well for me. I'm reading two books at once (which is completely new for me!), one in Spanish and one in English/French. I'm setting aside two half-hour blocks for reading every day, one in Spanish and one in either English or French. It's so much less complicated than my original plan to alternate fiction and non-fiction, and alternate languages...bah. Who am I kidding? I can barely stick to the simplest of plans. No need to make things more complicated. Ha! Anyway, last night I finished Sinsajo (the third Hunger Games book). It was...ok. Not as good as the first two, definitely a downer, but very readable. Last night I read 40 pages, which is a lot for me to read in Spanish in one day! I think that I'm going to finish reading the Dog Whisperer book before reading another novel. I also finished Chambre 426 by Madeleine Robitaille. For any French learners who like creepy books - this is a decent story. Despite the cliche ending, it's a page-turner. In 2015, I'd like to read at least one book per month in each of Spanish, English, and French. Despite the fact that I'm only learning one of these languages officially, I'm going to keep an ongoing book log here. Books - 2015 Spanish Sinsajo (young adult novel) English Walking Dead Volume 20 (comic/graphic novel) French Chambre 426 (novel) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3936 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 21 of 87 01 February 2015 at 4:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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It was a very quiet week for language learning. Work is kicking my butt right now. I'm always so far behind, and now
I'm writing report cards, which means that I have absolutely no life outside of work for a full week. Report cards are due on Monday, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to breathe a bit and find more balance in my life - a balance that includes both time for exercise and for language learning. The only thing that I've been able to do really consistently over the past week is read. Seeing as how my only real New Year's Resolution is to read more, I'm (mostly) ok with that. Jan 25-Jan 31 overview: Spanish - 60 minute conversation with Auri over Skype - finished Sinsajo - read the first 3 chapters of Guía para un perro feliz by César Millán (and very timely, since our little rescue dog has started growling a bit) - watched season 2 episode 2 of El Internado. I'm really loving this show! I'm currently at 56.6 books and 29.8 films for the Super Challenge. I'm not at all concerned about hitting 100 books, but if I'm going to watch 100 90-minute films before the end of 2015, I have to watch an average of 132 minutes per week. It's just a question of making the time and prioritizing watching. Tagalog - about an hour of Rosetta Stone, broken into 10 minute segments. I'm currently nearing the end of unit 6, which will put me at the half-way point of the entire 12-unit program. - read some children's stories - 25-minute RS live tutoring session, which is always fun and very useful - some informal conversation with my in-laws (mostly me saying things like "I really like Dad's caldareta!" and them laughing and saying "You're good at Tagalog"! Ha! Having a loving Tagalog-speaking family is pretty much the best thing for a language learner's self-esteem.) ...and that's about it! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3936 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 22 of 87 02 February 2015 at 1:48am | IP Logged | ||
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Kumakain kami ng pizza ngayong gabi, at manonood ang pamilya ko ang Superbowl. Ayaw ko ng football, pero
gustong gusto ko ng pagkain! Nagsusulat ako ng report cards para sa mga estudyante ko. Mahirap ito, dahil mas gusto ko umakyat kasama ang asawa ko at ang mga magulang niya at mga pamangkin namin. Maghihintay ako para sa pizza, at magbabreak ako. We are eating pizza tonight, and my family is watching the Superbowl. I don't like football, but I really like food! I am writing report cards for my students. It's hard, because I'd much rather go upstairs with my husband, his parents and our niece/nephew. I will wait for the pizza, and I'll take a break. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3936 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 23 of 87 07 February 2015 at 5:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've decided to commit to taking the C1 exam this year. I just had a first session with a Spanish teacher on italki who
is a DELE tester. I booked a B2 session because I didn't want to overestimate my level, but after chatting informally for half an hour, she told me that the B2 test might not be enough of a challenge for me, and that she thought that I could prepare for the C1 test instead. Wonderful news! While I'm enjoying reading and watching in Spanish enormously, and I'm having lots of fun with the language, I'm also excited about preparing for something more formal and bumping up my study a notch. I would also love to be able to add a tiny little C1 next to Spanish on my profile. So my plan for now...keep doing what I'm doing. Read and watch and read some more, and talk to Auri every Sunday just for fun. On Saturdays I'll work with Alex, spending half the hour on informal conversation (but slightly more structured, talking about articles and current events), and half the hour on formal test preparation. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5054 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 24 of 87 07 February 2015 at 5:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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Stelle, have a look at the C1 exercises over at the Centro Virtual Cervantes Aveteca. I found them quite useful.
3 persons have voted this message useful |
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