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Kanewai 2015: Team Caesar

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kanewai
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/kanewai
Joined 4679 days ago

1386 posts - 3054 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese
Studies: Italian, Spanish

 
 Message 33 of 331
16 February 2012 at 10:03pm | IP Logged 
Thanks for the movie recs! I really liked Indigènes, and will add Hors la
loi
to my queue. I have Halfaouine (Boys of the Terraces) at home now. I
don't know much about it, beyond that they used a hammam I want to visit as one of
their locations.

Meanwhile:

Crunch Time

I leave for Europe in 40 days, and am shifting away from learning new material towards
cleaning up my conversational skills, and solidifying what I know.

For me, conversation=Pimsleur, but the thought of doing Pimsleur lessons in three
different languages each day sounded awful. Instead, I've decided to try rotating my
language. One day everything will be in Italian, one day French, then the next Arabic.

I don't think this is a sustainable method, but I think it'll work for the next six
weeks. I have so many resources for French and Italian (movies, podcasts, music
Pimsleur, Michel Thomas, Assimil, novels, and graphic novels!) that it's kind of fun to
immerse myself. I figure, as long as I do one or two "real" course lessons each day,
the rest can be the fun stuff.

This will be more of a challenge for Maghrebi Arabic.

Edited by kanewai on 16 February 2012 at 10:28pm

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blackdahlia
Pro Member
United States
Joined 4519 days ago

64 posts - 66 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, French
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 Message 34 of 331
17 February 2012 at 7:16pm | IP Logged 
You may have said earlier, but where are you going in Europe?

I'm jealous! I hope you have fun. I'm hoping to get over there next summer, not sure where, but somewhere I can practice my French.
1 person has voted this message useful



kanewai
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/kanewai
Joined 4679 days ago

1386 posts - 3054 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese
Studies: Italian, Spanish

 
 Message 35 of 331
18 February 2012 at 4:19am | IP Logged 
It's an epic trip: 6 days Barcelona, 6 in Rome, 10 days Tunisia, and 6 days Paris. It's
been my incentive to study hard! And, since I really need to not spend any money
between now and then, studying gives me a good excuse to stay home at night.


Edited by kanewai on 18 February 2012 at 4:22am

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blackdahlia
Pro Member
United States
Joined 4519 days ago

64 posts - 66 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, French
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 36 of 331
18 February 2012 at 7:32pm | IP Logged 
kanewai wrote:
It's an epic trip: 6 days Barcelona, 6 in Rome, 10 days Tunisia, and 6 days Paris. It's
been my incentive to study hard! And, since I really need to not spend any money
between now and then, studying gives me a good excuse to stay home at night.


Good for you!

And I know about not spending money. I swear everything looks attractive when you're on a tight budget
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kanewai
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/kanewai
Joined 4679 days ago

1386 posts - 3054 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese
Studies: Italian, Spanish

 
 Message 37 of 331
21 February 2012 at 11:50pm | IP Logged 
I'm not sure where my weekend went. I had such grand ambitions, too! Instead, I'm just plugging away here.

I listened to some Tunisian podcasts. The speakers seem to mix up French and Derja in equal measure. I actually understood a few phrases - wiin el-flous? (where is the money?) and fi beit Lady Gaga (in the house of Lady Gaga ... hmmm ... I might not have gotten that one right) .

In the Romantic Zone, I'm finishing up Pimsleur French III, which has been helpful as a review, and have started Pimsleur Italian II. I've also done a bit with the FSI FAST courses in each. FAST really is fast! They introduce a concept and move on. I don't have a lot of time for Italian, so it's been a great way to get a lot of exposure in a short amount of time.

For French I feel like I'm in a holding pattern. It's time for me to get over there and start speaking 24-7 so that I can judge where I'm really at, and what I need to work on.

I don't think I'll attempt three languages at one time again, although it's been a good experience in learning 'how to learn.' It's definitely easier for me to focus on one language per day, and to rotate days. I find that I can ramp up better, and then settle in and find a groove. I just have to keep a calendar to remember which language is on for that day!


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kanewai
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/kanewai
Joined 4679 days ago

1386 posts - 3054 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese
Studies: Italian, Spanish

 
 Message 38 of 331
22 February 2012 at 9:12pm | IP Logged 
Yesterday was "French Day." I finished up Le Petit Prince, and am ready to start the next book on my list. I re-visited Assmil Using French (Chapters 20 and 21), but found that I really wasn't that interested in the course. Odd. I think I'm impatient now for the rewards of either conversation or good writing; I don't want to plod my way through another course!

Today is "Arabic" day, which is the challenging one. There aren't good recordings for Maghrebi a la Pimsleur or Michel Thomas, so on my commute I listen to vocab and phrase lists from my Assimil Tunisia Kit. It's not quite the same as listening to a conversation. This makes my Arabic day a bit harder than my Italian or French days.

Now, I've done parts of FSI and Assimil and Teach Yourself and Arabic Podcast for MSA, and it feels like I've studied four related but different languages. And I've studied with Maghrébin Modern and the Assimil Tunisian Guide de Poche, and these feel like they involve two different languages on top of that.

I do like the Tunisian Guide, though, and wish that Assimil's Catalan Guide also had recordings. Ah well.


Edited by kanewai on 22 February 2012 at 9:16pm

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blackdahlia
Pro Member
United States
Joined 4519 days ago

64 posts - 66 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, French
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 39 of 331
23 February 2012 at 4:42pm | IP Logged 
ETA: I read your post on my log right after I posted here and it answered my question. :)

Edited by blackdahlia on 23 February 2012 at 4:46pm

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kanewai
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/kanewai
Joined 4679 days ago

1386 posts - 3054 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese
Studies: Italian, Spanish

 
 Message 40 of 331
25 February 2012 at 2:04am | IP Logged 
I can barely handle three languages, so why not do five? There's a flaw in my logic somewhere. My thinking went something like this:

1. Studying three languages is hard! I think I'll only do it this one time ...

2. But I really should brush up on my Spanish, so maybe I'll work in a few Pimselur lessons right before I go ... maybe I'll do a five-day Spanish intensive ...

3. I'm at a comfortable place with French, and I've learned far more than i thought of Italian; maybe I should think about trying to do ten days focused on Spanish.

4. And ooh, the new Teach Yourself Catalan is only $27, I can squeeze some Catalan in there, I think ... I wonder how much I could learn in a week?






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