Lucy 祝子琭's log 「EN, FR, ZH, JP, IT」

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
zhuzilu
Yellow Belt
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2016 10:09 am
Languages: Spanish (N), Galician (N)

English (C1-2), French (Upper-int), Chinese (Int),

Learning: Italian & Japanese

Stand-by: Korean & Portuguese

Lived in: Reims, France (4 months)
Durham, UK (1 year)
Taipei, Taiwan (6 months)
Firenze, Italy (1 month)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2618
x 86

Re: Lucy 祝子琭's log // Super challenge「EN, FR, ZH」// TAC // Japanese & Korean false beginner

Postby zhuzilu » Mon Oct 31, 2016 3:34 pm

I've decided that tomorrow, I'm going to start with the 6wc for Japanese, I have a few false starts with the language but never get nowhere. So I've decided to set up some goals for this next 6 weeks:
- Learn Kana for real (especially katakana)
- Finish Genki 1 book
- Do at least 5 new Assimil lessons a day
- Review and learn some Anki cards while commuting

And this is basically what I want to do, Japanese related.

Regarding other languages, I've been mostly doing Super Challenge stuff (films + books) and mostly in English, which needs to change. I need to get on reading Chinese, and in general, doing things in French. But I would focus on that after the 6wc.
0 x
Super Challenge 2022/2023
English
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Chinese
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Italian
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

User avatar
zhuzilu
Yellow Belt
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2016 10:09 am
Languages: Spanish (N), Galician (N)

English (C1-2), French (Upper-int), Chinese (Int),

Learning: Italian & Japanese

Stand-by: Korean & Portuguese

Lived in: Reims, France (4 months)
Durham, UK (1 year)
Taipei, Taiwan (6 months)
Firenze, Italy (1 month)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2618
x 86

Re: Lucy 祝子琭's log // Super challenge「EN, FR, ZH」// TAC // Japanese & Korean false beginner

Postby zhuzilu » Tue Nov 08, 2016 9:39 pm

-------------CHANGE OF PLANS----------------

Due to recent events, in which I was asked to "certify" my language levels with language diploma and in which I would have more options to win a scholarship had I known more European languages I have decided to drop Japanese and Korean, and start focusing in Portuguese.

Portuguese is a language that is really close to my native tongues (Spanish and Galician), I will say that I can understand a lot, I might be even able to read books or watch films in Portuguese right now, even if I haven't studied a single lesson in my life... So I thought, it will be perfect to go for it, with the goal of getting my "shared" passive knowledge and turn it into active knowledge, and also get a C1-C2 diploma.

I have already finish my English Half challenge, although I think I'll end up getting a full one, because I have some books that I want to read, and I'll watch some films as well... But I will try to slow it down, and get something done in French...

I'll upgrade my half challenge in Chinese to a full one (at least the film part) I'm not sure I'll be able to do a full challenge on the reading part.

Also, I wanted to try to do a Super Challenge in Portuguese.

Because, I want to see how much you can improve a language by reading books and watching films, especially in a more related language in my case, and with no previous academic knowledge. I took a book from the library "entre nós 2", it's supposed to be a B1-level, we will see.

Portugal is a really close-by country, but I have no idea about Portuguese cinema & literature. Actually, I think I haven't read/watch anything apart from Paulo Coelho or Cidade de Deus, and both are Brazilian... So shame on me! [Well, I do know Saramago!]

So, my third goal is to get to know more of the culture of my neighbour country.

Films:

I will be following these two lists for the film part.

http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2014/20-essential-films-for-an-introduction-to-portuguese-cinema/

http://www.imdb.com/search/title?languages=pt%7C1&sort=moviemeter,asc&title_type=feature

And for the books part:

I will start with some Saramago, and continue with this list:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/366.Best_Literature_in_Portuguese
1 x
Super Challenge 2022/2023
English
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Chinese
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Italian
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

kottoler.ello
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2016 4:30 pm
Languages: various
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=4801
x 4

Re: Lucy 祝子琭's log // Super challenge「EN, FR, ZH」// TAC // Japanese & Korean false beginner

Postby kottoler.ello » Fri Nov 11, 2016 3:52 am

Hey Lucy,
加油!Looks like you're making some good progress!
I'm wondering as I stumble through my own SC (and also work on Japanese a bit on the side), how are you approaching the reading in Chinese? I always vacillate back and forth between reading extensively and intensively since 一方面 looking up characters is tedious, but 一方面 I also don't like not even knowing how to pronounce one of those scribbles on the page in front of me. And I always feel like I should keep up with the vocab I learn from reading with flashcards (Anki for me), but all that takes much longer than just breezing past the words I don't know. Not sure what the optimal strategy is here. What are you doing?
1 x

User avatar
zhuzilu
Yellow Belt
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2016 10:09 am
Languages: Spanish (N), Galician (N)

English (C1-2), French (Upper-int), Chinese (Int),

Learning: Italian & Japanese

Stand-by: Korean & Portuguese

Lived in: Reims, France (4 months)
Durham, UK (1 year)
Taipei, Taiwan (6 months)
Firenze, Italy (1 month)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2618
x 86

Re: Lucy 祝子琭's log // Super challenge「EN, FR, ZH」// TAC // Japanese & Korean false beginner

Postby zhuzilu » Mon Nov 14, 2016 1:27 pm

kottoler.ello wrote:Hey Lucy,
加油!Looks like you're making some good progress!
I'm wondering as I stumble through my own SC (and also work on Japanese a bit on the side), how are you approaching the reading in Chinese? I always vacillate back and forth between reading extensively and intensively since 一方面 looking up characters is tedious, but 一方面 I also don't like not even knowing how to pronounce one of those scribbles on the page in front of me. And I always feel like I should keep up with the vocab I learn from reading with flashcards (Anki for me), but all that takes much longer than just breezing past the words I don't know. Not sure what the optimal strategy is here. What are you doing?


Hi Kottoler.ello,
that's exactly my struggle as well. That's why I started reading some 漫画 (that I have physical) and it's being more doable, that starting with a regular novel. For the 漫画 that I'm reading, I'm doing a more kind of extensive approach, but if a character appears 2 times I'll look it up, or if it's a character than I can't remember, because the reading is quite easy.
In the other book that I'm reading, 《小时代1.0》 by 郭敬明, because I read it online, I can rely on "perapera chinese pop-up dictionary" which is an amazing tool, it could be a little bit distracting, and it's quite tiresome to read on the computer, that's why it's taking me forever to finish the book. Plus the story is really boring hehe. I need to find some more recommendations.

Sorry, I didn't help you that much, basically wheter I read intensively or extensively, depends on my mood and where I'm reading it (physical copy or online).

As for Anki, I only use it in my free time with already done decks, because I don't have to patience to do my own. I use to them though, when I was studying in Taiwan, but right now I just use the ones that are on the web. 加油 with your challenge!
0 x
Super Challenge 2022/2023
English
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Chinese
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Italian
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

User avatar
zhuzilu
Yellow Belt
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2016 10:09 am
Languages: Spanish (N), Galician (N)

English (C1-2), French (Upper-int), Chinese (Int),

Learning: Italian & Japanese

Stand-by: Korean & Portuguese

Lived in: Reims, France (4 months)
Durham, UK (1 year)
Taipei, Taiwan (6 months)
Firenze, Italy (1 month)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2618
x 86

Re: Lucy 祝子琭's log // Super challenge「EN, FR, ZH」// TAC // Japanese & Korean false beginner

Postby zhuzilu » Tue Dec 13, 2016 10:50 pm

Well... I was going to watch/read "real portuguese" stuff, but instead I'm just watching and reading Harry Potter, because I'm so busy right now, and I need some light entertainment and something easy. And I've read/watched Harry Potter countless times and in several languages (Spanish, English, French and Galician). I'm in page 50 of the first book, and halfway of the film, which I believe is dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese.

Results at the moment: reading is really easy, I understand I would say around 90% or more. The only difficult thing that I see, would be to produce a text (the active skill), because of all the different ortography, conjugations, etc.
Normally I read without pronouncing the words in my head, although I've tried to read a little bit pronouncing, but I should learn first how to pronounce Portuguese well... haha I mean... I more or less know... But I should check it before that.

As for the watching/listening part, it's really bearable as well, although some times they kind of speak really fast or something and I miss things, and also all the Harry Potter related names are completely different hahaha

I'm going to write a list of names, that I find confusing, new or amusing (because sound like something similar to Spanish but completely different meaning):

Portuguese, English, Spanish

Beco Diagonal (BR) / Diagon-Al (PT), Diagon Alley, Callejón Diagon.
Trouxas, muggles, muggles.
coruxa, owl, búho.
pena, feather, pluma (Although in Spain you can say "penacho" which means crest or the American Indian plumes.
Tebras? (tinieblas)
com licença (BR), excuse me, disculpe. (At the beginning, I thought that's how you call policeman, because literally means "with licence" and he was asking what I thought it was a policeman, but turn out to be the person that works in the train station, or a guard, I can't remember... But later, they say it a lot).
hortelã, mint, menta.
Grifinória, Gryffindor, Gryffindor.
Lufa-Lufa, Hufflepuff, Hufflepuff (This is my favourite translation, it sounds so funny).
Corvinal, Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw.
Sonserina, Slytherin, Slytherin. (This sounds funny too).
Taça da casa, House cup, Copa de las Casas (That sounds funny, because taza/taça is used more for the breakfast type in Spain... Most likely to Portuguese/Brazilian people they'll find amusing that we use Copa as in a Wine/Champagne glass kind, but still was unexpectedly funny)

And lastly the Quidditch terminology which it's to die for:
Let's start with Quidditch (same in Spanish), in BR Portuguese is Quadribol (4 bals)

And my favourite word at the moment, apanhador (seeker or buscador), because in Spanish that means that someone made a jury-rig, like a lame fixer haha.
And artilheiros (chasers or golpeadores), because it sounds like artilleryman.

The ball's name are goles (quaffle), balaços (bludgers) e pomo de ouro (golden snitch/snitch dorado).


Well, that's my English/Spanish/Portuguese Harry Potter masterclass. I'm really enjoying Portuguese at the moment. It's being forever since I haven't attempt to learn a language in which the understanding was zero or less than 5% (Chinese, Japanese, Korean), being able to enjoy all sorts of reading books and watching films, is going to help me improve quite a lot. After watching and reading the first book/film, I'll try to study maybe a little bit of grammar, although I think I'm going to keep the lazy/passive approach. We'll see how it goes.
3 x
Super Challenge 2022/2023
English
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Chinese
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Italian
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

User avatar
zhuzilu
Yellow Belt
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2016 10:09 am
Languages: Spanish (N), Galician (N)

English (C1-2), French (Upper-int), Chinese (Int),

Learning: Italian & Japanese

Stand-by: Korean & Portuguese

Lived in: Reims, France (4 months)
Durham, UK (1 year)
Taipei, Taiwan (6 months)
Firenze, Italy (1 month)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2618
x 86

Re: Lucy 祝子琭's log // Super challenge「EN, FR, ZH」// TAC // Japanese & Korean false beginner

Postby zhuzilu » Mon Jan 23, 2017 1:24 pm

Happy New Year!!

I haven't updated this log for such a long time...

I was checking my Super Challenge stats and it's quite embarrasing, I've reading and watching mostly things in English, because right now I'm more confortable with the language, but my other languages are falling behind, and I'm almost doing anything French/Chinese/Portuguese related... Well Portuguese I finished my first book and I loved reading it, it was so much fun and super easy to follow along, I was mostly doing ... how do you say... Reading and listening the audiobook at the same time.... I remember reading something here or in HTLAL about this method... But well, I have to say it's amazing, that way I can learn how to pronounce words properly and not just in my Galician way :lol: :lol:

For French, I've read "Bonjour tristesse" which was a fairly easy book to read fast and I'm working with the Asterix BD, because I loved them as a child and I wanted to read the French version. In the film part, I've watched the 1st season of How to get away with murder, and it was so addicting, but I want to watch more real native stuff and not just American dubbed films and TV series.
1 x
Super Challenge 2022/2023
English
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Chinese
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Italian
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

User avatar
zhuzilu
Yellow Belt
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2016 10:09 am
Languages: Spanish (N), Galician (N)

English (C1-2), French (Upper-int), Chinese (Int),

Learning: Italian & Japanese

Stand-by: Korean & Portuguese

Lived in: Reims, France (4 months)
Durham, UK (1 year)
Taipei, Taiwan (6 months)
Firenze, Italy (1 month)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2618
x 86

Re: Lucy 祝子琭's log // Super challenge「EN, FR, ZH, PT」

Postby zhuzilu » Tue Jan 31, 2017 1:49 pm

I'm doing great with Portuguese, I've finished another HP book using the simultaneous reading-listening to audiobook and it's been great. I've done Duolingo for a week now and I have already reached 50% fluency which seems to be the highest score you can have, and it's getting quite boring, it doesn't work for me. I make a few typos, because in writing I mix Spanish and Galician with "what I think Portuguese is" :lol:
But it's not my goal, I want to get a certificate DUPLE or DAPLE, first of all I need to download or find in my library if they have mock test to see if it will be doable.

English: I also want to sit for a Cambridge test, I'm still unsure about which one CAE (C1) or CPE (C2)... I will say my level is quite high, I understand 95 to 99% of everything that I read or listen to, although my Speaking and writing skills are not really formal, even though I studied in Durham University in the UK and I did fairly well in my essays ... :roll: My point is the exam is not really cheap (and I want to take some other exams) and I'm not sure, if it will be better to "settle" with the CAE and get a C1, or try for the CPE and maybe fail or get a worse score.... But well, I'll start first doing some work with the books that I picked from the library.

Chinese: Same thing but with the HSK5 and HSK6 XD although in this one I'm trying for sure with the HSK6 because it's cheaper and I can take it once a month in Madrid. I can sit for the exam in my hometown, but only once a year and the "manual" version, instead of the "computer" version that you can do in Madrid. So I prefer to travel to the capital to take the test and just type the essay... I also have some books to work with.

Korean: I'm going to start again to do the 바른 한국어 course (Quick Korean) from the Cyber University of Korea. I started doing it ... last year or so, and reached the 1st level, and I really loved it. So I hope I can finish the 4 levels (it will be a total of 93 lessons and 42 hours), and I want to study 30min or 1 hour a day. If you finish the course, it's supposed to reach an old Topik 3 in the vocabulary section and old Topik 4 in the grammar section.

It may seem that I'm going crazy with the titles (and maybe I am :D ) but this is my last year of uni and I want to start looking for a good job... and well here in Spain employers have what we call titulitis (oh, it actually appears on the RAE dictionary)
1. f. despect. coloq. Valoración desmesurada de los títulos y certificados de estudios como garantía de los conocimientos de alguien.
Títulos is diplomas, and -itis is a suffix that means "disease" (you can add it to almost anything "cuentitis" when you fake a disease").
So it means that people just care about the diplomas that you have not the knowledge that you may possess... For example, in some jobs they may ask for the First Certificate and I might be fluent and above that level, but if I don't prove it with the diploma I won't be valid for the job... :roll:


- PT: Find DUPLE/DAPLE mock test.
- EN: Work with my "Grammar for CAE and CPE" and "Objective Proficiency".
- Chinese: HSK5 and HSK6 books.
- Korean: 바른 한국어 Quick Korean
0 x
Super Challenge 2022/2023
English
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Chinese
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Italian
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

User avatar
zhuzilu
Yellow Belt
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2016 10:09 am
Languages: Spanish (N), Galician (N)

English (C1-2), French (Upper-int), Chinese (Int),

Learning: Italian & Japanese

Stand-by: Korean & Portuguese

Lived in: Reims, France (4 months)
Durham, UK (1 year)
Taipei, Taiwan (6 months)
Firenze, Italy (1 month)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2618
x 86

Re: Lucy 祝子琭's log // Super challenge「EN, FR, ZH, PT」

Postby zhuzilu » Sun May 21, 2017 11:51 am

Wow time flies! Last time I posted on my log was at the end of January! Lots of things have changed except that I keep being the most indecisive person on Earth. I'm always dancing around Korean and Japanese, not settling with one to really improve it, but just playing around with the idea of learning both... But also, I play around the Romance family Portuguese and Italian. I studied Italian for a year, and right now I was supposed to be doing the Portuguese SC (even though I think I just did a couple Harry Potter books and films...) What a fail!

On the good news... I would be staying in Florence, Italy (Firenze) for a full month (August) learning Italian with an scholarship that I have been awarded :D :D :D So, I would be doing again some changes on my Super challenge and language learning routine.

Italian: I would like to attempt a Full super challenge. Until July 10th, I would be quite busy with Uni exams and such. So I have calculated that from July 10th to December 31st there would be 175 days or 25 weeks. If I want to accomplish a Full SC, I would have to read 28.5 pages a day (200 pages per week), and watch 51 minutes a day (359 minutes per week). I will try to aim for the moon (aka Full challenge), but if not I will land on the half challenge (14.2 pages per day and 25.5 minutes per day).

Apart fom that, I would be joining the intensive 6wc in August at the same time that I would be learning Italian in school. I'm not sure what level is my Italian... Because I studied it 3 or 4 years ago... As most romance languages, it's quite transparent to understand... But in terms of talking/writing it must be a mess, full of mistakes.

French: I don't know why... Lately I've been loathing everything French... :? I want to do more things in French, because I have a B2 certification exam next June 15th, which should be fairly easy. But I need to revise and practice to get a good mark.

Chinese: I'm done with the film part of the SC. But for the reading part, I'm truly struggling... I do most of my reading on the computer using pera pera pop-up dictionary, but it is really overwhelming to try to read a parragraph and not knowing most of the keywords. I need to put some more work to get to the point where I can read more fluently.

English: I have lots of books on my TBR pile that I need to get to, but basically it shouldn't be a problem to get a the double challenge.

Portuguese: I think I'm going to drop Portuguese... Because I want to focus on Italian and take fully advantage of this opportunity... But I'm not sure... We'll see...
0 x
Super Challenge 2022/2023
English
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Chinese
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Italian
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

User avatar
zhuzilu
Yellow Belt
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2016 10:09 am
Languages: Spanish (N), Galician (N)

English (C1-2), French (Upper-int), Chinese (Int),

Learning: Italian & Japanese

Stand-by: Korean & Portuguese

Lived in: Reims, France (4 months)
Durham, UK (1 year)
Taipei, Taiwan (6 months)
Firenze, Italy (1 month)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2618
x 86

Re: Lucy 祝子琭's log // Super challenge「EN, FR, ZH, PT」

Postby zhuzilu » Tue May 23, 2017 10:04 am

I have made some calculations there are 223 days left until the end of 2017 and the end of the Super challenge, or 32 weeks.

Chinese:

Films: 1.260 minutes left for a full challenge. I would need to watch 5.65 minutes per day or 39.5 minutes per week.
This would not be a problem, because I watch a Taiwanese drama episode weekly which I believe is about 50 minutes long.

Books: 1.900 pages left for a half or 4.400 pages left for a full. I'm not really sure I'll be able even to finish a half reading challenge... But when you split it in daily tasks 8.5 or 19 pages sounds quite doable...
Half: 8.5 pages per day or 50.5 pages per week.
Full: 19.7 pages per day or 138.1 pages per week.

French:

Films: 4.770 minutes left for a full challenge. I would need to watch 21.4 minutes per day or 149.8 minutes per week.
I need to rewatch Buffy :lol:

Books: 3.850 pages left. 17.3 pages per day or 120.82 pages per week.

English:

Films: 3.150 minutes left. English doesn't feel like a task, and I believe I have watched loads of minutes that I haven't counted or I've forgotten about. 14 minutes per day or 98 minutes per week.

Books: I've already finished it. Although I haven't really done my read more classics goal... But I need more time to read in Chinese, French and Italian... So I'll have to slow down reading in English.

Sadly, I'll be quitting Portuguese. I'll attempt again next year. Maybe I'll do a Romance language now that suddenly I'm "learning" 3 languages from the same family hehe
0 x
Super Challenge 2022/2023
English
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Chinese
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Italian
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

User avatar
zhuzilu
Yellow Belt
Posts: 81
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2016 10:09 am
Languages: Spanish (N), Galician (N)

English (C1-2), French (Upper-int), Chinese (Int),

Learning: Italian & Japanese

Stand-by: Korean & Portuguese

Lived in: Reims, France (4 months)
Durham, UK (1 year)
Taipei, Taiwan (6 months)
Firenze, Italy (1 month)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2618
x 86

Re: Lucy 祝子琭's log // Super challenge「EN, FR, ZH, PT」

Postby zhuzilu » Thu Jul 06, 2017 6:59 pm

I'm finally free from my obligations!! I've started to learn Italian again (I've studied it a little bit a few years ago, but I've forgotten most of what I knew). Yesterday I watched Harry Potter e la pietra filosofale, the first movie and I was fairly impressed that I could understand almost everything! I mean I speak some other romance languages so it's given that my comprehension levels would be better than in other family languages and also I've watched the Harry Potter films quite a lot heheheh. Nonetheless I'm loving this feeling of getting to learn a not so "foreign" language, as opposed as Chinese, Japanese or Korean.

By the way, now that I'm talking about Japanese. I also want to focus on learning Japanese from now one. I've made a "bet" with a couple of friends that we could be able to achieve a N5 level before December by means of self-studying. We all have tried to learn Japanese in the past and wanted to start siriously to learn it again, so this way we could be partners in crime and be accountable to keep going! I'll try to write my Japanese and Italian planning for this summer in the next post!

I hope you're having an amazing summer!
0 x
Super Challenge 2022/2023
English
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Chinese
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50

Italian
Books: 0 / 50
Films: 0 / 50


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: DaveAgain, Tumlare and 2 guests