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Bookworm’s adventures-TAC15 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4791 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes  Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 65 of 217 24 March 2015 at 2:53am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks Jeffers! And im glad to see you around again! I'll get to catching up with your log really soon as I am
curious :-) Gemuse: no, i don't. Perhaps exceptionally yes, such as after the long break that has ended recently but that is all. I revise the passive ones sometimes, when I know there is too much new information included. Why i don't review the active ones: -it might bore me to running away from German again -my active wave approach is quite thorough, i don't think a quick revision of the same lesson would make that much of a difference after the torture i already put myself through the first time :-D -there is already a review mechanism included in assimil, all the grammar and most vocabulary is being reused in the latter lessons -i don't believe in 100% mastering of one course. I always use a combination of things so, should i miss anything at least a bit important, i am sure to encounter it elsewhere -however,i would reconsider reviewing if i finally got the audio as i found that really helpful in past. It is possible i will get it after all but still not sure, i am catched in a net of technical issues, some of them even funny Peter, i believe the key ingredient connecting the barely-passed-b2 level with the new c2 (whether barely or "normally" passed is still a secret to me) was the mass of input during the five years. Now, to the update about my "progress" German: I am finishing just one active lesson and did just one passive lessoyesterday. That is half the desired dose but better than nothing. I am quite tired Spanish: Half a grammar lesson only in the two days. But i watched two episodes of isabel and finished reading el segador by pratchett. My extensive input works quite fine, i can see noticeable progress since the moment i returned to the SC. I've learnt some vocab, thinking in the language (probably with lots of mistakes and outdated tu/usted/vos distinction :-D ) comes quite naturally now. However, i think i'vereached a plateau and will need a huge chunk of the SC to notice more progress. By the way, why is everything and everyone tempting me to start Italian? Moods to listen to emma marrone and other Italian artists, garyb writing bilingual posts i understand really well, considering the detail i don't know Italian, something reminded me recently of books by emilio salgari i loved ten years ago... Stop that, you cruel world! Let me get further with my Spanish studies first! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4989 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 66 of 217 30 March 2015 at 1:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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Italian is tempting like that ;). My original plan was to learn Spanish first and then Italian, but after a few days in Italy I just couldn't resist any more so that changed! Spanish is always tempting too though, for its utility and accessibility. I just remind myself that the better I get at Italian the easier I'll find Spanish afterwards, so maybe you need to tell yourself the opposite if you want to resist the temptation.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4791 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 67 of 217 31 March 2015 at 3:10am | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, I keep telling myself that. And the rtve.es site is helping as well, just as the
awesome Spanish book I'm reading right now. I'll write a review as soon as I'll have finished. Apart from that, I am lagging behind again, especially on the Assimil German. A few days of headaches, lots of sleep to get rid of them, other duties and studies, all that is a horrible obstacle that would require much more discipline from me. I am late especially when it comes to the active wave. I'll try to catch up in the next few days. But my Spanish is going quite fine, I consider trying a DELE in the Autumn to motivate myself for more "hard work". Not sure which level. I'll probably contact the testing centre and try to get a level consultation. DELE B2 would certainly be a huge motivation, B1 might still be too much money for a too low level exam. I know I could understand B2 comprehension without much trouble even now, perhaps higher if the topic was right for me, but the rest of my skills is looooow under that. :-D I've successfully resisted the Hungarian wanderlust temptations, despite going to Hungary in a few weeks to attend the wedding of my boyfrend's best female friend.. Well, fortunately you can listen to Listz without knowing his native language at all :-) But, as there were a few more discussions on the wanderlust and long term plans lately, I've realized I've settled on a hit list that is unlikely to change in the next few years: 1.languages I am already working on or maintaining: German, Spanish, French, English 2.languages I am quite sure to start: Italian (as soon as I complete all my Spanish resources up to B2), Swedish (to be continued when I am more comfortable with German) 3.languages I trully want as well: Polish, Russian (both when I have the time) +one hyperdifficult language out of these:Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic, Turkish,Finnish. No idea which one, no idea when, no hurry. I think this list is not that unrealistic in the long run, if I keep learning. I can easily imagine myself in half a century as an old lady filling her retirement days with Heisig's Remembering the Kanji or Assimil Turkish, and watching tv series for maintanence :-). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4489 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 68 of 217 31 March 2015 at 3:33am | IP Logged | ||
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Mandarin grammar is the easiest thing I've come across, actually. It's just characters
and tones that give me a headache (actually mostly the characters), when it comes to the language. And actually the biggest problem for me is diglossia. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4791 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 69 of 217 07 April 2015 at 2:35am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, Tarvos, Mandarin can wait, I am in no immediate need of it, fortunately.
I am still resisting the Hungarian temptation, perhaps due to not having that much time and mood for active language studying in general. Yet, I am still continuing a bit (with languages but not Hungarian of course). Even though at a drunk snail's pace, that some of you may remember from the last year :-D German: I am soooo behind the schedule. Completed 19th lesson actively and 60th passively. I am moving forward but not as fast as I'd like to. And there are things that make studying every day quite impossible. But I am not giving up, at least I don't have a deadline. Spanish: A few bits of the yellow Gramatica de Uso, which is a good thing. But I am, again, behind my "schedule". What goes better is the Super Challenge. Not only my comprehension improves, I am thinking in Spanish at times, arguing with the tv series characters and so on :-D SC movie part: 48 "movies" Isabel is a great tv series, I have learnt a lot. A few more episodes, and adios. I'm slightly afraid the vos,vosotros etc use may be too infectious in my case, as it is more similar to the formal forms in French and Czech than the other variants. So, I'll really need something modern as well, to correct the habit. Second problem: I am near the end and I've read some spoilers on the historical pages on the Spanish wikipedia. It won't end well and I'm afraid there might even be no hope at the end of the last episode. I caught myself a few times arguing with the series/historical characters in my head lately, trying to make them make better choices :-D In Spanish, even though with mistakes. I need more grammar studies but I am still making at least some progress. SC book part: 31 "books" I finished El Fin de los Suenos by Gabriella Campbell and Jose Antonio Cotrina. I totally loved it. It is an awesome answer to people believing there is no original sci-fi in Spain or to those believing classical sci-fi to be dead. It is partly post apocalyptic, with bits of cyberpunk and totally resonating with so many things relevant to my life and to the questions I ponder frequently. Dreams, consciousness, life-death, and so on. I loved the way the book was writen, the characters, the world, everything. I plan to do some French maintanance. I could watch a movie or two and finish a book or two. After all, the ASCR craziness is still going on. By the way, a few people have recently mentioned test de nivel at the cervantes-ave site. So, I tried it. I filled in many things into sentences I am not yet capable to put together on my own but I just used both my explicit knowledge but much more my "feeling" acquired from the native sources. The test told me my level was C1.3-C1.4 :-D :-D :-D yet I am struggling with beginner grammar. I need to catch up, obviously. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4489 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 70 of 217 07 April 2015 at 2:49am | IP Logged | ||
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I am aware (as you know I live in China). I'm just saying people overrate difficulty of
languages like Mandarin and Japanese, and underestimate how much work it is to learn your first language. I am farther along in Mandarin after half a year than I was in French, German or Russian! (Not the others). 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3926 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 71 of 217 07 April 2015 at 3:53am | IP Logged | ||
Ooooh...this sounds really good! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4791 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 72 of 217 19 April 2015 at 5:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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Nearly two weeks without update. Nearly two weeks with nearly no German (I need to get
working on that). Firstly, the exams are drawing near. ANd there are lots of reasons why my nerves are not ok anymore. I am tired and lazy and so on. Soooo tired. There are awesome things happening in my life but I am not able to enjoy them fully it seems, at least not for a long time enough. I hate studying :-D I need summer holidays, rest, sleep, chocolate (I need to lose 5 kg but everytime I drop sugar significantly, my moods are worse). The best would be to give up the stupid school I hate and do something different but I cannot. There is no other degree I could get soon enough and there is no way I could survive and earn a living without a degree, especially as these days even the stupid ones get a degree. If you have a young friend or relative who considers medicine, advise them to do something else and better with their lives. What that means for my languages: I love the extensive activities, such as the SC, as that is relax and fun while I keep progressing somehow. Sometimes, I divide an episode in two or three parts if I don't have time to watch it at once but I still keep going this procrastination of mine. I need to push myself to formal studying (including assimil) and I fail usually. I am a bit sad as I feel like I am losing French, even though I suppose it's not true and I just need a few movies or to finish some books to be back where I used to be a few months ago What have I been up to: As I said, no German. I consider trying intensive reading and tying all the other things (including assimil, grammar book etc) to that. I think it might work. I have some basics already laid down. Perhaps, I will be able to continue more freely by the time I finish Eragon (my chosen first book in German). French: thinking in the language. I am not as fast as I need to be due to my focus on Spanish. But I can get back there fast as soon as I start. And the certificate hasn't come yet. It feels like a dream now, who knows. There may have been a mistake. Spanish: My loved one these days! Nearly no real studying, yeah one or two grammar doublepages, true. Other than that, the SC (52 "movies" and 49 "books") is going fine. And I keep thinking in the language more often and more easily. Read Harry Potter y la Orden del Fénix This one is probably my favourite of the series. The language is great. I am now making vocabulary notes for later ankiing for active use but I have quite no trouble understanding. It is good, everyday language. And it is not hard at all nowadays, yet still worth it. Finished Isabel I loved the series but the ending was quite sad. I had read some spoilers on the history pages found on wikipedia but still. I would love to see season 4, taking place after Isabel's death. The Middle Ages (or in this case rather middle ages/early modern times as that is exactly what is divided by Cristobal Colon) are among my favourite parts of history. But this ending, despite being quite probable historically, wasn't optimistic at all. Started Angel o Demonio A new tip for Spanish tv series watchers: mitele.es lets you watch some of the series from abroad. It looked like an average serie situated in highschool. Yeah, but it is quite a good one, there is quite a lot going on, the characters appear to be quite thought out and the fantasy setting: angels vs demons and good vs evil fight will hopefully take more time than the "temptation by a beautiful demon classmate" romance. I was recommended a potentially great vocabulary game on ipad. Pixwords. Basically crosswords with image hints in 19 languages. Great. But sometimes, I don't even know what the image wants to say. And I got bored by it easily, that's not a good way to learn. I think I haven't been really enjoying games since I decided to end the little addiction I used to have. It is probably a good thing. I don't know. Sometimes, the games are beneficial, I bought a few adventure games with German audio and text, that might be fun. By the way: new Italian temptation. I might get to visit Italy again this summer. But nothing is sure. I have no clue whether I'll have any summer holidays at all or I'll spend the months preparing for a second or third attempt on the pathology exam. Sorry about not sounding too positive today, it is better when I am responding to other logs. You people are awesome. The biggest thanks to the very inspirational and awesome Spanish team! We may not be a team of group challenges and overly alive team log but I think we continue just fine and live on the personal logs enough. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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