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Rem [TAC’15] Rätsel/東亞/French/Czech

  Tags: Czech | Mandarin | German | French
 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
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Rem
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 3517 days ago

66 posts - 96 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Mandarin, Czech, French

 
 Message 1 of 73
01 December 2014 at 2:58am | IP Logged 
EDIT: This thread will now be my TAC 2015 Log covering my four core languages; German,
Mandarin, French and Czech


About me

I’ve tried this ‘log keeping’ thing in the past, but never managed to stick at it. I’m
easily distracted and it all just seems to fall away. :(

I also have a tendency to succumb to ‘wanderlust’. I’ll start a language and then,
after a few weeks (or even a few days), I’ll get distracted by another one that I want
to learn and basically think “ohh...shiny...me want”. As a result, I know tiny bits of
different languages but not enough to be considered ‘fluent’ in any (jack of all
trades and all that).

Part of the challenge for me here will be sticking to the languages that I’ve chosen
and not getting sidetracked by others. Although I expect that some distractions along
the way will be inevitable, I intend to do my best to keep them to a minimum.

Speaking and listening are by far my weakest skills. I’m rather self-conscious and a
bit of a perfectionist. If I can’t say something perfectly then I don’t like to try
saying it at all. This is pretty limiting because, obviously, it’s impossible to say
everything perfectly. People make mistakes in their native languages every day (at
least I know I’m prone to). If I’m ever going to learn a language to a decent level
then this is a problem that I’m definitely going to have to overcome. :(


My Languages

After giving it some thought I’ve finally been able to narrow down my list of
languages to just four. I know it will be hard work studying multiple languages
together but, at the same time, I hope it will be manageable.

If I do need to drop a language it will (sadly) be Czech as it is the one that I have
the least practical use for (I’m learning it just because I like it). The other 3 I
have classes for etc. Hopefully it wont come to this though.


German
Status: ‘Main’ Language (Active)
Level: Late beginner (Post A Level for any Brits here who know that means)

Main Resources: University classes, Michel Thomas, Some G.C.S.E books that I
ordered from Amazon. Audio tapes and DVD’s.

German is currently the only language that I have at a level where I can listen to
‘proper’ materials and not get completely lost. I don’t understand all of what is said
(not even close), but I can generally get the gist of it.

The G.C.S.E stuff is obviously aimed more towards kids, as they are the ones who would
normally use them. Topics like “my favourite classes” and what my opinions about
school uniforms are, aren’t exactly useful, but there’s plenty of other good stuff to
get out of these (I particularly like the little grammar boxes with hints and tips).

__________________________________

Mandarin

Status: ‘Main’ Language (Active)
Level: Beginner (Pre-G.C.S.E)

Main Resources: University classes, New Practical Chinese Reader

My classes give me much needed speaking and listening practise, but I also like
learning the characters and I’m finding that the NPCR has a nice balance and selection
of them.

_________________________________

French

Status: ‘Secondary’ Language (Active)
Level: Beginner (tried a few times in the past and took 1 year at school)

Main Resources: Classes, Michel Thomas

It would be nice to get this one up to a decent ‘tourist’ level. I’d like to visit
France in the future (I haven’t been since I was a kid) and, somehow, being able to
say “au revoir” and “merci” just isn’t as cute when you’re all grown up (for some
reason people seem to expect more from an adult). :P

_________________________________

Czech

Status: ‘Secondary’ Language (Active)
Level: Beginner (tried before and quit)

Main Resources: Czech Class 101, Lonely Planet Phrase Book, Colloquial

I have no real need to learn Czech, I just really want to (which is enough of a reason
for me). :)

The marketing strategies of 101 suck, but Czech resources for English speakers are
limited and beggars can’t be choosers. :P

Apparently there’s a Czech Assimil with a German base, so maybe that will be worth
looking into for me.


____________________________________________________________

FYI: This is not my first account on this forum, but I no longer have access to the
email and have forgotten my password. Even if I could log in, I know from past
experience that changing the email will just lock the account and I won’t be able to
post anyway. :(

I didn’t post much on here though, so no real loss there. :(

I hope this isn’t a problem?


Edited by Rem on 16 June 2015 at 8:55pm

2 persons have voted this message useful



Xenops
Senior Member
United States
thexenops.deviantart
Joined 3585 days ago

112 posts - 158 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Japanese

 
 Message 2 of 73
01 December 2014 at 9:05am | IP Logged 
Hello again! I'm pretty sure I remember you posting about the forum. :)

I think it's a good idea to have a small list of dedicated languages, unless you are Serpent or Expug. To keep myself from wanderlust (from languages to random items I don't need) I practice the mantra "no lookie, no wantie". If you don't have money (or time) to shop, don't shop.

Quote:
FYI: This is not my first account on this forum, but I no longer have access to the
email and have forgotten my password. Even if I could log in, I know from past
experience that changing the email will just lock the account and I won’t be able to
post anyway. :(

I didn’t post much on here though, so no real loss there. :(

I hope this isn’t a problem?


I wouldn't think that would be a problem? You have a legitimate reason, I think.
1 person has voted this message useful



Rem
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 3517 days ago

66 posts - 96 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Mandarin, Czech, French

 
 Message 3 of 73
03 December 2014 at 4:51pm | IP Logged 
Xenops wrote:
I think it's a good idea to have a small list of dedicated languages,
unless you are Serpent or Expug. To keep myself from wanderlust (from languages to
random items I don't need) I practice the mantra "no lookie, no wantie". If you don't
have money (or time) to shop, don't shop.


Ahh...if only it were that easy for me. I see languages everywhere and they're all so
interesting. I'm easily tempted. :)

I'm trying to be more disciplined this time though. I wonder how long I'll
last...???...


___________________________________________________________

Mini Rant

A definite downside to Uni courses is exams...lots and lots of exams. Tests,
assessments, portfolios etc. and, when there aren’t 'real' tests, there are mocks.
Honestly, sometimes you spend more time in class being tested or preparing for being
tested than you do on learning the information that you are going to be tested on.

I realise that you’re expected to put in self-study time on your own (and I do), but
classes started less than 3 months ago and we’ve already had 3 assessments so far (and
that's 3 for each language studied, not 3 overall).
The rational side of me says that the exams/assessments should come at the END
of the year (of course we have those too). It all feels a bit excessive and stressful
at the moment.

I know they have to do it, but it’s such a pain sometimes. :(


/rant over


Edited by Rem on 03 December 2014 at 4:59pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 4769 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 4 of 73
03 December 2014 at 8:41pm | IP Logged 
I think millions of students worldwide could sign under your minirant :-D
I totally agree tests being the goal and not just a tool, that is a bad approach.
Fortunately, you are free to do whatever you want in order to pass and get far beyond
what is required of you ;-)

What might help is finding common points of your Uni's goals and yours. Yes, there are
assessments every month but it is up to you how to get the knowledge. What you learn on
top of your immediate obligation may not be useful in the next test but it will surely
come handy some time later.
1 person has voted this message useful



Rem
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 3517 days ago

66 posts - 96 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Mandarin, Czech, French

 
 Message 5 of 73
04 December 2014 at 4:25pm | IP Logged 
Cavesa wrote:
What might help is finding common points of your Uni's goals and yours.
Yes, there are
assessments every month but it is up to you how to get the knowledge. What you learn
on
top of your immediate obligation may not be useful in the next test but it will surely
come handy some time later.


True. There are some definite good points to my course. The tutors are fantastic and
give great feedback. :)

There’s a lot of focus on grammar (which I absolutely love), so that’s great
motivation for me.

I get to learn a lot vocab as well, which is a big hole in my learning at the moment.
Focusing on subjects that, outside of Uni, I probably wouldn’t even consider looking
at (because they’re not the sort of topics that interest me), is a bit boring
sometimes, but it broadens my learning so I guess it’s not too bad. :)

1 person has voted this message useful



Rem
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 3517 days ago

66 posts - 96 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Mandarin, Czech, French

 
 Message 6 of 73
04 December 2014 at 4:32pm | IP Logged 
German

Word order

This is a thorn in my side at the moment. It doesn’t seem to matter how well I know
even the simple rules like “weil kicks the verb to the end”, I seem to forget
it the moment I open my mouth. :(

Writing is a little better because I have more time to think about it, and I can go
back over what I’ve written and double-check it. I usually notice it on the second or
third read-through, so I guess I can at least take some comfort in the fact that I
know it’s wrong?

Just practise, practise, practise I guess.



Mandarin

Character work

I’m spending some time going back over the earlier chapters of the New Practical
Reader to pick up any characters that I missed the first time round and reinforcing
the ones that I already know.

Some people swear by using stories to learn characters but, in my opinion, the best
way to learn them is just to make the time to practise writing them out (at least it’s
working for me so far).



French

I’m looking at reflexive verbs (and thanking German for making this a far less
daunting prospect). I’m also focusing on learning vocab for my current class topic
(daily routines).



Czech

I’m doing Chapter 1 of the Colloquial Course and taking another look at the
pronunciation guide (I’ve glanced at it before, but I think I need to spend more time
on it).

1 person has voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 4769 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 7 of 73
04 December 2014 at 6:08pm | IP Logged 
I think the pronunciation is easier learnt when you listen a lot. For exemple
forvo.com is an awesome resource on pronunciation of words in many languages. I
believe all four of yours are there. So, you might like to listen to some more
exemples to all the trouble points in the pronunciation guide and you can for exemple
imitate the speakers. What is really easy about Czech pronunciation is the regularity.
Unlike in English, every letter represents one sound. And it represents the sound
every time. The stress is always on the first syllable, quite everything is pretty
regular. So, once you get the basics, you are pretty much ready to read anything out
loud correctly. And while some of the sounds are a bit different from what you are
used to, the natives are usually very understanding and do not mind even a strong
accent. So, you can progress in this area without any stress ;-)

Do you already use native input for German? I believe it might help with internalizing
the correct word order and such things. I am so looking forward to using it as just
the courses are not enough for me sometimes :-)
2 persons have voted this message useful



Rem
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 3517 days ago

66 posts - 96 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Mandarin, Czech, French

 
 Message 8 of 73
05 December 2014 at 6:55pm | IP Logged 
Cavesa wrote:
What is really easy about Czech pronunciation is the regularity.
Unlike in English, every letter represents one sound. And it represents the sound
every time. The stress is always on the first syllable, quite everything is pretty
regular. So, once you get the basics, you are pretty much ready to read anything out
loud correctly. And while some of the sounds are a bit different from what you are
used to, the natives are usually very understanding and do not mind even a strong
accent. So, you can progress in this area without any stress ;-)


That’s definitely good to know. One of the things I’m finding difficult about French
is the irregular pronunciation. I’m never sure whether or not I’m reading something
correctly (which is one of the reasons I signed up for classes; I need the feedback).



Cavesa wrote:
Do you already use native input for German? I believe it might help
with internalizing
the correct word order and such things. I am so looking forward to using it as just
the courses are not enough for me sometimes :-)


I’m just starting to get to the point where I can use native German materials without
getting completely lost. I miss a lot of the nuances, but can (usually) get the
general idea of what is being said (as long as I pick something on a topic that I’m
already somewhat familiar with).

I like watching some of my favourite TV show with German dubs. Because I already know
the storylines they’re much easier to follow and I can focus more on what’s being
said. I find that DW is good for short clips as well.



1 person has voted this message useful



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