I Like Languages [German, French, Urdu]

[Peluche]

"Eigentlich werde ich von deinem Log inspiriert!"

1. I was trying to use werden as "to become" and "inspiriert" as an adjective!
Sample sentences on linguee seem to suggest that I could have said either, "Eigentlich werde/bin ich von deinem Log inspiriert."
Maybe it would have been better for me to say, "Eigentlich wurde ich von deinem Log inspiriert." Hopefully a native can

If a native comes upon this question, lemme tack on another one:
Can the partizip verb forms be used as standalone adjectives?
This link: https://deutsch.lingolia.com/en/grammar ... articiples
says "attributive adjective (with an adjective ending)" whatever that means.

[EmmaC02]

I have watched more video games in these past two weeks than I have ever previously in my life. They have been so so useful in my German Super Challenge thus far though! There are so many games, with so many different vocabularies that get repeated over and over in the target language, that it's truly been a great tool for me. From dialogue and story heavy games such as Witcher 3 and Uncharted 4, to games with specific, but practical vocabularies like Cities:Skylines and Minecraft, there's so much useful content, presented in a very relaxed and easy way for a beginner like myself to digest. I honestly can't recommend it enough, and that's coming from someone who's never been a 'gamer'.

That all being said, I'm very pleased with my Super Challenge progress so far, particularly my German. I've been focusing on listening, and will continue to do so for the remainder of the month, and then I'll start to even it out. I've definitely been seeing an improvement in my understanding. Anyways, I just wanted to quickly rave about the Super Challenge. It's no secret that I'm loving it thus far.

[EmmaC02]

Last night I finally recieved the German book I ordered, "Eine kurze Weltgeschichte für junge Leser," and I am very excited to finally get started on the reading portion of my Double Super Challenge. I skimmed through the book a little earlier today and it seems to be at a good level for me to be able to pick vocabulary and structures out of, without being overwhelming. I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to tackle intensive vs. extensive reading, but I'll do some poking around the forum later to get ideas.

Apart from that, I've continued to watch and listen to a crap tonne of German content, both native and dubbed. The dubbed stuff I use for extensive listening, and native content I go over more intensively... finding transcripts, watching once while looking up unknown words, etc. Then watching a second time, trying to understand as much as possible without looking back to the transcripts. I've also been continuing slowly with Assimil (so boring), and drilling my grammar with the Practice Makes Perfect books that I got my hands on.

Starting in July I plan on finding an informal tutor on iTalki to help with my pronunciation and general speaking abilities.

[Elenia]

I'd say the thing to do is to read small chunks intensively periodically. So, maybe a page or two of intensive reading (depending on how long the book/how much you need to look up) and then fifteen or twenty pages extensive? It might be easier to do based on time.

Personally, I hardly ever make a distinction between intensive and extensive reading. I tend to make notes of words and phrases, but I rarely look things up while reading. Most of the things I take note of, I can guess the meaning from context. I have read some things purely extensively, save the odd word look up when something really wasn't making sense. Afterwards, I have gone back and read intensively. I actually tend to read Tintenherz extensively, despite the fact that German is my weakest language. I have been L-Ring German audio and English text, but I am further behind in English. I was struggling a lot, but after a hundred or so pages of the book I reached a point where it just clicked and I follow the plot and even get finer details. This was without any other study - reading Tintenherz (and occasionally playing a German game) are the only things I do for German. So take comfort in the fact that, even extensively, things tend to soak in!

[EmmaC02]

I haven't been able to focus on anything language related all day (or anything really), despite my best efforts. This is the most private place I can think of to shortly express the confusion and pain that I feel tearing from my chest straight down into the pit of my stomach, making me utterly sick. I'm well aware of the absolutely terrible things that happen daily on this planet, but whether right or wrong, it just hurts differently when it happens to your community. I just don't know how to process it.

[EmmaC02]

I have until Saturday off from work, so I've been throwing myself head first into German. I'm still pushing through Assimil, despite the fact that it bores me to death (sorry!). I've finally gotten started on the reading portion of the Super Challenge, and I'm glad I spent the first month just listening.

I'm now very comfortable with how the language is built and flows, so reading, apart from the vocabulary I lack, feels natural. I've been reading through, sometimes aloud, only looking up words that I can't guess and that negatively affect my understanding of the sentence/paragraph. I haven't read this book in English, so the content is completely new to me. That being said, I'm really happy with the amount I understand. I do think that as I'm reading, I should be making notes of things to SRS. From the little I've used Anki, I can tell it works for me.

I've also gotten my hands on the parallel texts of quite a few books, spanning quite a few levels of difficulty, so I've considered doing some LRing. I've never done it before, but it seems like the type of thing I'd enjoy doing. I really struggle with textbooks and courses.

I'm definitely learning how to learn, as much as I'm learning a language.

[EmmaC02]

I know it's been a minute since my last post, but here's a short update. There's just over 5 weeks left until I fly to Germany. I'm excited to say that I found a flatshare and will be moving in with two German gals, and from our Skype convos, they're not afraid to speak German to me, despite knowing that their English is better than my German. Before the semester starts, I'll be participating in a 5-week-long intensive course, which I'm hoping will end up pushing me close-ish to B2. From looking through Goethe Institute exams (as well as the framework) I reckon I'm around B1 reading and listening, and A2 writing and speaking. I've decided to say screw it, and take all of my university courses in German.

I'm currently still reading through "Eine kurze Weltgeschichte fuer junge Leser", as well as the Harry Potter series. I don't really need to look anything up anymore, and my brain is adjusted to the structure of the language. I no longer struggle with longer sentences with multiple components, and words that I've studied in Anki are standing out to me while I read, and sticking better. I don't want to say I've had a breakthrough, but it kind of feels like it. I feel like I can read these YA novels for pleasure, which is huge for me. I'm also not bothering to submit the read pages to the Super Challenge until I finish the book, as it's much easier that way. With this increased focus on reading, I haven't watched too much TV or film, but I do have a couple of Tatort episodes waiting for me that I'll probably watch over the weekend.

Once August hits, I'm going to formally go over some of the grammar concepts that I haven't "learned" yet, but still understand and recognise when I see them, in preparation for my course in September. Until then I'm going to continue to devour content and beef up my vocabulary.

Lastly, I've decided to study Russian...in German. I was torn between Russian and Swedish, but ultimately chose Russian because Swedish is not as "useful", and would probably be easy to teach myself later on anyways, once my German is up to snuff!

[EmmaC02]

Wooooow, has it ever been awhile since I last posted. I'm now all settled in Germany, with my paperwork done, and with (almost) the first week of my German course under my belt. It's been a wild month and a bit. The move to Germany snuck up on me so quickly that I don't think I had time to process the fact that I won't see my family or dogs for at least a whole year.

Luckily I've settled in really nicely in Germany. My apartment is absolutely gorgeous, I've been out almost every night with friends at beer gardens and cocktail bars, and the town is very easy to navigate. That being said, I'm mentally and physically exhausted. The town I'm in is incredibly hilly, so my body hurts all over from walking many kilometers a day, and my mind is mentally exhausted from speaking and thinking in German. I was placed in the B1 course, which I'm pleased with considering I have not done a lick of German studying since June. The classes are fun and go by quickly. It'll be interesting to see what kind of routine I get into once the university school year starts. I hope that it doesn't throw me for too big a loop.

Now that I'm settled, I hope to write more posts on here, maybe in German (when I'm not sick of German already for the day)! Ciao!

[EmmaC02]

Oh man... Endlich bin ich wieder zuHause! Letzte Woche bin ich nach Blaubeuren und Ulm gegangen. Die Excursion war ein Teil des Kurses, deswegen war ich nie allein. Jede Nacht habe ich in einer Kneipe getrunken. Ein bisschen verrückt, gel? Wenn ich nicht vorsichtig bin, werde ich vielleicht ein bisschen dick werden. Aber vielleicht nicht, weil wir jeden Tag viel gelaufen sind. z.B, Blaubeuren ist in den Schwabian Alpen, und wir haben eine Wanderung gemacht. Wir sind ganz ganz oben gewandert. Die Wanderung hat fast 4 Stunde gedauert, aber die Aussicht lohnt sich. In Ulm sind wir oben im Ulm Münster fast 800 Treppe gestiegen. Na ja, es hat Spaß gemacht.

Natürlich hatten wir morgens Unterrichte und Tutorien, nicht nur Spaß ! Eigentlich habe ich am Montag einen kleinen Grammatiktest zu schreiben. Ich bin ein bisschen nervös dafür, weil meine Grammatik nicht so stark ist. Ich bin in einem Hoch-B1 Kurs, aber ich habe vorher nur A1 Grammatik in der Schule gelernt. Natürlich habe ich mir selbst während des Jahres beigebracht, aber ich habe die wichtige Grammatiken priorisiert. z.B, Ich hatte Futur II (ich werde gegessen haben) noch nicht gelernt, und im Kurs haben wir nur 5 Minuten darüber gesprochen. Es war eine Überraschung zu bemerken, dass ich besser als meine Kommilitonen sprechen kann, aber ihre Grammatik ist besser als meine. Hoffentlich kann ich bis Montag meine Kommilitonen einholen! Ich glaube, dass es möglich ist.

But yeah! I feel like I'm making progress, I'm happy in Germany, I've made some amazing friends. What more could I ask for? The only thing I wish is that my friends would stop tempting me to learn different languages! Earlier I had decided on Russian over Swedish, but the Swedish friends I have made are making that very hard to stick to.

[EmmaC02]

So I have my schedule made for this first semester, and I made some questionable decisions. I decided (half out of necessity) to take all but 1 of my classes in German. I also couldn't pick between Swedish and Russian, so I made the silly decision to take both... Either this semester will really see me flourish, or it'll end with me disintegrating into a ball of stress. Either or.