Aozora's Log for Japanese and French

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Aozora
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Location: Canada
Languages: English(N), Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17971
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Re: Aozora's Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Fri Sep 16, 2016 3:38 pm

Japanese

I'm about finished Kagerou Days vol 3 (227 pages total). It was good, but the last chapter was kinda weak. I still have most of the vocab to study. I collected 141 unknown words this time around. It's a surprise and a relief that there were only that many unknown words. The first volume I had to looked up 350 words, and I had even skipped looking some up. And with Suzumiya Haruhi vol 1 I found over 400 unknown words. So I wasn't sure if I'd need to study 3-400 words per light novel every time for a while. Next I'm reading Suzumiya Haruhi vol 2, we'll see how that turns out. I'll probably abandon Memrise decks for Japanese as this source is working much better for me now.

French

In another thread Reineke linked some French cartoons. I ended up looking for more on Youtube and found a number of French dubbed anime movies and episodes. Which is good because I'm not very interested in cartoons for very young children. I can watch a bit of Peppa Pig or Magic School Bus or whatever, but it's only mildly entertaining and I'm not motivated to watch it very often. I watched one movie (La Foret de Miyori) yesterday while working, and the amount I understood was pretty motivating. Just a few words and sentences here and there, but it reminded me of when I used to watch anime in Japanese at a lower level. I'm starting to feel like I might actually get something from watching a lot in French now. I had French subtitles for it--they didn't match the dialogue, but it gave me hints.

I also found a Youtuber who plays JRPGs and translates the English text to French as he goes. It might be interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPLhFqQ ... LtqGLiMx-_
2 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

User avatar
Aozora
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Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English(N), Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17971
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Re: Aozora's Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Sat Oct 01, 2016 4:03 pm

Japanese

I haven't been reading much lately, partly because the first few pages of Suzumiya Haruhi vol 2 are really dense and not so easy (or interesting) to read. Tadoku starts today, so I'll have to get through it, and I'm sure it will be fine after a few pages.

I started watching season one of Haikyuu, I'm up to episode 16. Haikyuu is one of my favorite anime, and I've watched it a few times before. I have the bad habit of watching anime with English subtitles, so this time I'm watching without subs. It helps that I already know the content of the show and remember a lot of the lines. I'm picking up and making sense of words and phrases that I hadn't grasped with English subs turned on. It feels good and my comprehension is really high.

French

I watched a few episodes of Digimon Fusion. Unfortunately I didn't really like the show, so I'm not too motivated to watch more.
I read chapters 5, 6, and 7 of "Le français par la méthode nature." Chapters 1-6 focus so much on introducing the families and their relationships to each other; it's not very interesting, just useful for expressing and getting used to basic grammar. Chapter 7 talks about trees, fruits, seasons, etc and was a better read. So far the new words introduced are easy to grasp.
0 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

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Aozora
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Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English(N), Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17971
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Re: Aozora's Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Sat Oct 08, 2016 2:04 am

Japanese

I read ~45 pages of Kagerou Days 4. I'm behind on my reading, but hopefully I can get a lot in over the weekend.


French

I read chapters 8 to 11 of "Le français par la méthode nature." It's going well.
0 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

User avatar
Aozora
Orange Belt
Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English(N), Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17971
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Re: Aozora's Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Fri Oct 14, 2016 2:50 pm

Japanese

I read 76 more pages in Kagerou Days 4, and I reviewed some flash cards. I've reached 100 films worth of watching/listening for the Super Challenge! I'm half way into Haikyuu season 2-- I'll upload my minutes when I'm done the season.
0 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

User avatar
Aozora
Orange Belt
Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English(N), Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17971
x 203

Re: Aozora's Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Wed Oct 19, 2016 3:12 pm

Japanese

I finished Haikyuu season 2. I'm going for a double Super Challenge, so I'm only half way to my film goal. At this rate, getting 200 films worth of material won't be a problem. Reading on the other hand, if I don't pick up the pace, I won't reach 200 "books". I read about 15 pages since my last update.

French

I watched some more cartoons in French with French subtitles. I also subscribed to Frenchpod101 hoping for some good material to listen to while I work. I was disappointed to find that there are only a few seasons of beginner and intermediate lessons. I was hoping for a ton of material like Japanesepod101 has (8 seasons of beginner lessons, 12 seasons of intermediate, 6 seasons of advanced, plus more extra lessons overall).

I started listening to the beginner lessons, and right now I have mixed feelings about them. I don't like the American host at all, and they all speak way to much English (really just chatting about various topics in English most of the lesson), and the dialogues are incredibly short. I hope I don't have to wait long for the dialogues to get longer.
0 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

User avatar
Aozora
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Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English(N), Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17971
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Re: Aozora's Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Sun Oct 23, 2016 12:55 am

Short update on my progress so I don't forget.

French

I did about 60 words in Memrise, and I read chapter 12 of "Le français par la méthode nature." I also listened to Frenchpod101 up to lesson 13 of beginner season 1.
0 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

User avatar
Aozora
Orange Belt
Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English(N), Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17971
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Re: Aozora's Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Tue Nov 01, 2016 2:55 pm

Japanese

I finished reading Kagerou Days volume 4 and I'm half way through volume 5. I'm behind on my vocab and reviews. Unfortunately I'm starting to forget many of the words I haven't reviewed. I entered about 25 words (old ones I drilled with paper flashcards) into Anki, but the thought of getting them all in there is daunting. I added one example sentence per word.

French

I'm still listening to Frenchpod101, I'm up to lesson 20 now of beginner season 1. Hopefully the intermediate lessons will be worth it. The hosts have started using more French in the discussions, but they still chat in English too much.
0 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

User avatar
Aozora
Orange Belt
Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English(N), Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17971
x 203

Re: Aozora's Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Mon Nov 14, 2016 2:22 am

French

I've continued studying vocab in Memrise. The course I'm using has 5000 words, and I'm about 800 words in overall. I've ignored about half of those words because they are very close or identical (in spelling and meaning) to the English. I've also been working on Practice Makes Perfect's Complete French Grammar book. I've made my way to chapter 3. I'm hoping to get a stronger basis in French grammar. I'm sure if I glaze over the grammar and just do input I'll be useless at output.


Haven't worked on Japanese study-wise, just passive watching listening.
0 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

User avatar
Aozora
Orange Belt
Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English(N), Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17971
x 203

Re: Aozora's Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Thu Dec 29, 2016 7:24 pm

I've been pretty distracted from language learning lately.

French

I've been doing some reading on Lingq. I really like how it has lots of material at beginner levels (unlike Readlang), and how there's audio for everything. I got a 6 month subscription at a discount so I can use it more--the free lingq limit pretty much stops you from using the site once you hit the limit, and this time I couldn't delete lingqs to get back under the limit.
Yesterday I started playing the old Pokemon Red game in French. The language is simple and straight forward, although there's slang and contractions. I thought it would be a good starting point for games because I know the game well and the language is simple. I know what a lot of the characters are saying even if I didn't understand the French. It's going pretty well.
I have to say that overall I'm disappointed in my slow progress in French. I just haven't been putting enough time in.

Japanese

I haven't been doing any reading, just listening and watching. My Super Challenge consecutive streak was broken because one week I waited too long to upload my minutes. That's pretty frustrating since I actually was active that week, I just didn't tweet it.
In other news, some time in January I will take the J-CAT test and compare to my score from last January.
0 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100

User avatar
Aozora
Orange Belt
Posts: 234
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2016 3:46 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English(N), Japanese (N2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17971
x 203

Re: Aozora's Log for Japanese and French

Postby Aozora » Sun Jan 01, 2017 11:33 pm

French

Played some more Pokemon Red. I've also been working on my Memrise course.

Japanese

I'm going through my many paper flashcards and reviewing them. I went a long time without review, so at first I can't even remember most of the words. I write 13 words down on a sheet of paper, then flip through those cards. By the time I flip through the cards, I can remember the word. After about 25 words I listen/read something on Lingq, and then go back to reviewing flashcards.

It's also time for another round of Tadoku, and I've got a lot of reading to catch up on! I thought I might reread some of my children's novels and light novels. It'd be nice to re-enforce the difficult vocabulary by seeing it in context, and to read without piling up new vocab to learn. I'm considering abandoning Anki altogether as it always becomes a pain. It'd be nice not to have it hanging in the back of my mind when I've got so many things demanding my attention.
0 x
Super Challenge Books: 14 / 100
Super Challenge Films: 63 / 100


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