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IBEP Bilingual Triglot Newbie United States Joined 3621 days ago 19 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English*, Kannada*, Spanish Studies: Mandarin, French
| Message 1 of 15 17 December 2014 at 3:52am | IP Logged |
I know the rules of the TAC stated to put your team(s) in the title, but there wasn't space, so I just put my (primary)
languages. Anyways...
(most of the below is copied from my UniLang log, and future posts may be duplicates of posts there as well)
French
So I had dabbled in the language on and off in late 2013/early 2014 but probably never spent more than ~30 hours
or so with the language. In the past month, I have really buckled down AJATT-style. I've been exposing myself to the
language as much as possible every day, via audiobooks (Le Hobbit, Jules Verne, Harry Potter), music, radio, movies
(dubs of American movies mostly), comics (Tintin and Astérix Le Gaulois), etc. Aside from this, I've also been using
the following materials for just old-fashioned "studying":
Pimsleur (Lesson 29)
FSI French Phonology (Lesson 10- finished)
Assimil French wth Ease 1998 edition (Lesson 7)
At some point in the near future, I'll throw in FSI French Basic as well.
Knowing Spanish to a high level (~C1) has helped tremendously, of course. It makes reading possible even from day
one, at least of comics (the pictures aid with the learning of new words). Listening is a different animal altogether,
but I'm starting to pick up not just isolated words but sometimes entire sentences and even
paragraphs/conversations.
The most exciting part of learning French will be that this is the first non-native language that will be almost
entirely
or entirely self-taught. I started learning Spanish in school, although I supplemented the poor quality instruction
with lots of native media and Anki when I realized just how slow classroom learning was. I started learning Chinese
by myself but then took classes on it in high school and college as well (before I realized I don't learn well that way).
On the other hand, I never have and never plan on taking a French class.
My goals are to reach at least B2, aka basic fluency, by July or August. Rather ambitious, but I think it's doable.
Chinese
I've been working with Mandarin on and off for some time, but life got in the way and I put it to the side. I still
occasionally skim Chinese texts, listen to Chinese music, etc., so my skills have not completely eroded away.
Anyways, I'm gonna get back to it sometime in late winter/ early spring, once my French is decently established.
I'd rate my current abilities at around an A2. I'd like to bring that to at least a B1 by the end of the year.
And on the back burner (languages that I have a solid command of, but that I will still be in contact with, just not as
extensively as my main languages):
Update: This language has been dropped for the time being, replaced with Korean, see below
Korean
Added on towards the end of January because I will be there from March onwards, for an indeterminate number of
months.
My course of study looks like something like this:
FSI Korean- by the way, the old FSI site is down; you guys can find the new one here: http://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/ In
fact that site includes some more remastered/improved courses, one of which is the Korean course
Concurrently, learn Hangul with some mnemonic system, perhaps Mnemosyne has something; alternatively, come up
with something on my own, perhaps utilizing the techniques I learned in Técnicas de Memoria Veloz (one of the
Spanish books I've read during this Super Challenge)
Towards the end of this course, hopefully my French will be at a level where I can use Assimil Le Coréen Sans Peine
And somewhere towards the end of FSI or the beginning of Assimil, add in a robust Korean textbook (I've seen several
recommendations here and around the web, not sure which I'm gonna settle on. Advice appreciated.)
And while in Korea, I will be taking an approximately 20 hr/week Korean language course.
Plus native media, graded readers, etc.
Spanish
I would rate myself around a C1, maybe even a C2 for listening and reading comprehension. At this point, being
with
Spanish never seems like work. It doesn't feel any different from just enjoying something in my native English. I have
a couple of TV shows I really like that I watch on a regular basis, I like to keep up with Spanish and Latin American
cinema, and I have a fairly large collection of Spanish music collected over the years. I'm also a huge fan of Jose Luis
Borges, so I've been reading through some of his poetry and prose. I also anki new words I find, usually literary
terms or occasionally slang.
Kannada
I'm a native speaker of Kannada, since I speak it with my parents, but I'm also illiterate, like heritage speakers
often are. This also means I suffer from many problems associated with illiteracy: a scant vocabulary and an inability
to understand the higher registers of the language (which are often heavily Sanskritized). Fortunately, Kannada has a
fairly intuitive abugida writing system, so it shouldn't be too hard to learn, and hopefully I can work through a
couple of books by year's end.
As of right now, I have started working on the Kannada abugida. I have about ~10 letters down pretty well.
So... there! Let's see how I do.
Edited by IBEP on 27 January 2015 at 6:33pm
3 persons have voted this message useful
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4678 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian
| Message 2 of 15 17 December 2014 at 4:32am | IP Logged |
Welcome to the forum and good luck in TAC 2015!
1 person has voted this message useful
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4899 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German
| Message 3 of 15 17 December 2014 at 8:09am | IP Logged |
That looks great, welcome to the forums!
1 person has voted this message useful
| yuhakko Tetraglot Senior Member FranceRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4622 days ago 414 posts - 582 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishB2, EnglishC2, Spanish, Japanese Studies: Korean, Norwegian, Mandarin
| Message 4 of 15 17 December 2014 at 2:33pm | IP Logged |
Welcome to the forum and good luck for 2015 teammate !
1 person has voted this message useful
| IBEP Bilingual Triglot Newbie United States Joined 3621 days ago 19 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English*, Kannada*, Spanish Studies: Mandarin, French
| Message 5 of 15 21 December 2014 at 9:07pm | IP Logged |
Plodding along! One Pimsleur and one Assimil a day for French, plus movies and comics.
En cuanto a castellano, descubrí el sitio de web sharedtalk.com, en el que se puede charlar con personas de todas
partes del mundo. Trato de usarlo al menos una vez al día.
También empecé a leer Harry Potter (en español, desde luego) y Platero y Yo por mi Kindle. Este último
porque el «Google Doodle» hace un par de semanas conmemoró el 100º aniversario de ese cuento.
With regards to Chinese and Kannada, nothing special.
Edited by IBEP on 21 December 2014 at 9:14pm
1 person has voted this message useful
| IBEP Bilingual Triglot Newbie United States Joined 3621 days ago 19 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English*, Kannada*, Spanish Studies: Mandarin, French
| Message 6 of 15 01 January 2015 at 8:16pm | IP Logged |
Alright, so the New Year is here and the TAC has officially begun. I hope to keep this log more active than it has
been now that things are in motion. I'd like to just make a few notes in this post about where I am and where I want
to go this year.
As of now I am signed up for Team French, Spanish, East Asian, and Rare, although the latter may (hopefully will) get
dropped in favor of Team Indic should such a team arise.
French: I have been plodding along at the rate described earlier: one Pimsleur and one Assimil a day for formal
study, plus Astérix, Tintin, etc. I also just finished watching the entire Le Seigneur des Anneaux (version longue)
movies, not to mention Potiche, and I have also begun watching Amélie. I am also on my fifth or sixth listen of Le
Hobbit.
Regarding Assimil, I am actually a few lessons behind due to travel, but Pimsleur is on point. Once that catches up
over the next two or three days, I am gonna add FSI French Basic to my routine, as planned.
As for what approach I am taking with this language, it is more or less Iguanamon's Multi-Track Approach,
described here:
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=37899
I would link directly, but it doesn't let new members do so.
My goal for this language is to bring it to at least a B2 level by July, as noted earlier.
Bon courage à tous!
Español: Quiero tomar y aprobar el DELE C2 este año.
Empecé a leer unos libros la semana pasada en mi Kindle. Los cito aquí:
Historia Universal Freak por Joaquín Baranao
Éste relata (o sea, pretende relatar) una historia completa del universo desde el Big Bang hasta el día de hoy, a través
de 13000 curiosidades. Desgraciadamente, como mucho libros de historia, se atreve a llamarse un libro de historia
completa a pesar de que se enfoca en la historia occidental, algo que me fastidia mucho, pero a diferencia de otros,
el autor lo confiese plenamente en el introducción del libro, así que es un poco más fácil tragarlo. De todos modos,
es un libro muy gracioso y divertido.
Técnicas de Memoria Veloz por Armando Elle y Rubén Robles Basurto
Un libro breve que se trata de como mejorar la memoria a través de algunas técnicas. Me interese mucho este tema,
y el libro me ha sido muy útil.
El Libro Negro de la Persuasión por Alejandro Llantada
Un título un poco sensacionalista, creo, pero de todos modos un libro muy interesante.
Harry Potter y La Piedra Filosofal por J.K. Rowling
Todos los Cuentos por Gabriel G. Márquez
No se necesita decir más de estos últimos dos libros, ya que son bastante bien conocidos.
¡Feliz TAC y qué la suerte esté siempre de vuestro lado!
Chinese:
My level is around an A2. It was definitely stronger earlier (but perhaps not quite a B1 either) but I've neglected
studying it. At some point in March or so, I'll get back to full time study of it, once my French is more solidly
grounded. I hope to bring it up to a B1 by the end of the year.
加油!
Kannada:
I've picked up a couple letters, but nothing serious. My goal is to be have a strong command of the abugida by the
end of the month, and to read a few books by the end of the year.
Edited by IBEP on 02 January 2015 at 5:35am
2 persons have voted this message useful
| Mohave Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Mohave1 Joined 3997 days ago 291 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French
| Message 7 of 15 01 January 2015 at 9:26pm | IP Logged |
Bienvenue and Bonne Chance! I look forward to following your progress! Here's to a great 2015!
1 person has voted this message useful
| tristano Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4037 days ago 905 posts - 1262 votes Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English Studies: Dutch
| Message 8 of 15 02 January 2015 at 9:32pm | IP Logged |
Hey, welcome and good luck teammate! :)
1 person has voted this message useful
|
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