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Jvv426’s log - TAC 2015 - ES/EO/DE | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| jvv426 Newbie United States Joined 3832 days ago 7 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto, German | Message 1 of 4 25 December 2014 at 1:59pm | IP Logged |
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Hello. My main purpose for this log is to stay consistent throughout the year and have some accountability to help if I manage to lose focus like last year.
Spanish I had begun studying this in 2013 after many years in school feeling as though I had learned very little. I kept focus in 2013 and developed a B1 base in Spanish. During 2014 I only studied the first 2 months and did not pick my studies up until August. This time around I only studied for a couple of weeks and did not resume until November. In spite of these rather large gaps of little to no exposure, I have logged ~180 hours in Spanish this year and felt like I made some solid progress and gained back all that I had "lost" during the time off. My main goals in the short term are to finish Glossika mass sentences and FSI basic. I cannot believe the progress I have made in only a week using the Glossika method; for me it was even faster than FSI. Recording my voice has also helped me improve my accent and made the vowel shapes and other sounds 'feel' correct and more relaxed when I speak. My active skills, in particular speaking, are lagging due to lack of practice (no excuses) but I feel as though I may surprise myself with what I know. Later I plan to have language exchanges with speakers to become more acquainted with Andean Spanish (place where I plan to spend the most time in the future). I'd also like to sentence mine and continue to consume native materials. At some point all Spanish related posts will be in Spanish. Esperanto Recently, Esperanto has caught my attention. What made it most attractive to me was its global value at a low (time) cost. I have just started Esperanto this month and can already understand a fair amount due to knowledge in Spanish and English. The fact that most speakers are not natives makes it like an exclusive club where you have to put in the time to join. My goals for Esperanto include finishing some beginner courses on Lernu, going over A Complete Grammar of Esperanto by Ivy Kellerman Reed, finishing Pasporto al la Tuta Mondo and using Assimil Esperanto for the dialogues. My French is basic enough to understand the grammar points, but I am not sure if I will stick to this considering the audio really not that great. I have difficulty at times picking out their uvular trills in place of alveolar taps. German I am learning German as I would like to have the option of working as a translator in the distant future. (If anyone can suggest better alternatives then please say so) There are also other reasons which I want to learn German including access to German language literature, film, and Switzerland. At the moment I am working through Assimil German Without Toil and Linguaphone at a very relaxed pace (30 min/day). Later I want to go through Assimil El Nuevo Aleman Sin Esfuerzo. I don't plan on German being a major focus until after August. When I do this I will have a more comprehensive list of resources/goals. Goals Spanish : Achieve a solid B2 bordering on C1. Esperanto : Not sure if you can rate Esperanto on a CEFR scale but I would like to be able to hold a conversation by June and by the end of the year achieve a B1/B2 level. German: I would like to have my passive skills be where my passive skills in Spanish are now. That is I would like to be able to read books/articles/newspapers without too much strain. At the moment I can only pick out certain words and the outlines of sentence structure. I may update these goals at the half year mark, especially the German one where I will have a better idea of where I am. Edited by jvv426 on 25 December 2014 at 3:59pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jvv426 Newbie United States Joined 3832 days ago 7 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto, German | Message 2 of 4 25 December 2014 at 3:52pm | IP Logged |
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I am doing some experiments with the languages I plan to learn to see which styles and methods work best for me. With Spanish I did not really know what I was doing and didn't approach it with a certain type of learning in mind. With Esperanto I plan to learn the grammar first and start using more advanced techniques sooner than I normally would for a different language. With German I am using minimal/near zero grammar instruction. I want to see if I can internalize the grammar without resorting to charts/tables and see what I can intuit on my own. I sort of did this with Spanish but had many forgotten years of schoolwork (ie verb conjugation charts just writing the endings not knowing what I was writing aka handwriting exercises) In the past I have fallen victim to wanderlust and spent significant hours on French, Italian and Greek. I don't think they or any other languages on my eventual hitlist will go extinct in the next few years. :)
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| jvv426 Newbie United States Joined 3832 days ago 7 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto, German | Message 3 of 4 06 January 2015 at 3:29pm | IP Logged |
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I think I will update this log every Monday from now on. For the next 10 weeks Esperanto will be my main focus. Spanish will be secondary and for German I will only do one 30 min session a day. Also some weeks I may not study languages as much as I would like since I am also studying for some professional exams. I would like to hit 600 hours total by the end of the year. I hit 277 hours last year even with the long breaks I took.
Esperanto I am now on lesson 15 of Assimil. The recordings have become more listenable. Also now on episode 9 of Pasporta al la Tuta Mondo. Somewhere around episode 6/7 I started having trouble hearing every word and there were some small stretches where I didn't understand much. I will rewatch the series when I am done and I'm sure I will be able to pick up much more. I've finished almost half of A Complete Grammar of Esperanto. I haven't been doing the translation exercises, just reading the notes and the examples. When I finish going over it the first time I will go over it again at a slower pace and do the exercises. Also on lesson 4 of Jen nia IJK. The exercises in that course are quite good. Spanish I've been slacking here a bit. I haven't done much except for watched some TV, listened to the radio and read a little. Currently I'm reading the Chronicles of Prydain series in Spanish. I'm a couple of chapters into it and I am not taking the time to look up unfamiliar words, just reading through and trying to gauge meaning from context. In the past looking up words while reading has slowed me down to the point of not enjoying the reading. German Been pretty consistent sticking to 1 lesson a day. I'm on lesson 25 of German Without Toil and Lesson 3 of Linguaphone. I like both courses; the end of the lesson FSI style exercises in Linguaphone are real good. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jvv426 Newbie United States Joined 3832 days ago 7 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto, German | Message 4 of 4 24 January 2015 at 12:13am | IP Logged |
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Not good at all. Some other events have cut in on my free time so I haven't been able to do very much lately. It should be better for the next few months now.
I've only done 5 lessons of Assimil Esperanto since last time. I decided to rewatch Pasporta, paying closer attention to every word being said. Sometimes when you don't fully understand the words will become muddier even if you already know the words. I didn't do anything with Spanish, very bad I know. German I am on lesson 28 and in the same place in the Linguaphone course. Interestingly enough German doesn't seem to be hurt as much by my lack of recent study. It could be since I was never intensely studying it. I need to try to stick to schedule better. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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