Jeff's language log

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Tue May 16, 2017 9:26 am

2017 - Summary of week 19

It was a chaotic week with a lot of unexpected incidents. My daily (physical) regimen was thrown out of the window, but speaking of binge-activities, I managed to catch up on the Saturday and Sunday WHILE doing a number of lessons from FSI Italian Headstart.

-Lavora alla NSA, Signor Smith?
-No, lavoro alla NATO.

My perfect solution. Multi-tasking works for me. Doing just one activity makes me zone out (kind of), but doing two keeps me alert. Last year, I did a couple of scriptorium sessions (Dutch, Irish, Portuguese) while listening to an audiobook.

Duolingo: I levelled up in German (19), Italian (16) and French (16). I reached a 365 day streak.

I read another ~100 pages of Inferno/Инферно.

I finished Peak (K. Anders Ericsson) and got a lot of inspiration.

I spoke German three times at work (all within the same hour). There was a cruise ship in town, and the library usually attracts some of the passengers.
2 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord

User avatar
jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Thu May 25, 2017 2:53 pm

2017 - Summary of week 20

Time for a late update. Another chaotic week. Work and life got in the way, and suddenly it was Saturday. I went for a short holiday and got back on Tuesday afternoon. The only language-related activities I did while I was away consisted of daily Duolingo sessions, a visit to a second-hand bookstore (where I found titles like Universalgeschichte der Schrift by Harald Haarman for €2.5, and the 1965 print of Colloquial Arabic for €1), and finally spending an afternoon in a bilingual Finnish-Swedish setting. Not much reading or listening in any language, except for a few lessons from FSI Italian Headstart (before the trip).

Now it's time to catch up. Today it's Ascension Day which means a day off. I've finished one book and one movie.
1 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord

User avatar
jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Wed Jun 07, 2017 5:40 pm

2017 - Summary of week 21

Time for a very late update. I was preparing mentally for the trip and mostly had time for Duolingo, Anki and FSI Headstart (about halfway through the course).

No Dan Brown - I had to return the English original to the library and decided to return the Russian translation as well. Because of my current (low) level of Russian, I still want to read in tandem. I might change my approach after I've finished this book.

I didn't even read in Swedish during the whole week.

Considering that the dates and location for the Gathering had been out since late 2016, I felt I was in bad shape for polyglottery. I really should have been able to do more for the past five-six months. :oops:

Next chapter: week 22, i.e. the days in Bratislava.
2 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord

User avatar
jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Fri Jun 09, 2017 10:49 pm

Polyglot Gathering chapter 1 - In which our hero crosses the Danube

Wednesday May 31st

As always, I had to get up very early to catch the first flight. After that, a mere two hour layover before the flight to Vienna. I found the bus to Bratislava pretty quickly, but when I arrived at the final destination (Hlavná stanica) I realised that I probably should have taken another one. I was nowhere close to where I was supposed to stay (a hotel near the Petržalka railway station). The staff gave me directions and instructions like "Take trolley bus number blabla, then change to bus number blabla then another bus...". OK, I'm going to walk (I said to myself). What I didn't know was that I literally was in the other side of the town (and on the wrong side of the river), and following signs which said Petržalka didn't really help, nor did the sun and the heat. Eventually I could spot some bridges and knew roughly where I was (thanks to my analogue GPS - a map). After crossing the third one, I was fairly close to my goal. I asked a lad about the way, and he spent some 15 minutes guiding me to the hotel (apparently he lived in the neighbourhood). Yeah, I could have taken a taxi, but choosing the awkward route resulted in actually seeing a lot of the city. There had been some major confusion regarding the hotel reservations but in the end it went OK.

One hour later I was at the Ekonomická univerzita, got my bag and looked around for people I might know. I met Vlad, fellow Scandinavian Kris, and was suddenly approached by another Swede whom I hadn't met before. Then our own Tarvos showed up! After a while I met half a dozen of Llorg members (all of whom have already written their summaries). On the way to the Aula I spoke with a German guy who had learned Swedish on his own. Outside EFIGS and some other big languages such as Esperanto/Russian/Chinese, I saw Swedish flags on peoples' name signs wherever I went. I don't remember how long I stayed after the opening ceremony, but on the way to the bus I met a quartet whose common language was... French. Time to activate my A1. I was super tired when I reached the hotel and fell asleep as soon as I turned off the lights.
12 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord

User avatar
jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sun Jun 11, 2017 10:23 pm

Polyglot Gathering chapter 2 - In which caffeine runs through our hero's veins

Thursday June 1st

I woke up as tired as the day before. At breakfast, I spoke with Steve Kaufmann (of LingQ fame) and two other hotel polyglots.

This is what my schedule looked like:
The Slavic languages - Matthieu Desplantes. Very interesting, but the samples (and the applauses...) were too long. At the end there was no time for the smaller Slavic languages.
Chinese Languages: Comparison and Acquisition Tactics - Michael Campbell. This was a Skype lecture.
The power of language in politics - Radoslav Štefančík. This was in German.
Brexit and languages in Europe - Seán Ó Riain. He recited a poem about St Patrick and also sang a song - all in Irish.
Lunch
Simultandolmetschen ist nur ein Handwerk - Elisabeth Dörrer.
Using TV, Anki, and subtitles to learn a language - Rick Dearman.
De skandinaviska språken - Karl-Erik Wångstedt, Irena Dahl, Kristoffer Broholm. Some hilarious attempts at mimicking the neighbouring languages whilst reading the first lines from Harry Potter.
Dinner
Culinary festival
Concert with JoMo

I was very tired throughout the day (too little sleep two days in a row, travelling, the heat, the noise, the impressions), and occasionally zoned out during the talks. There was free coffee/tea/water in one of the rooms, so based on my drowsiness, I felt I was in heaven. I filled my cup after nearly every talk. Not a wise decision. (For any health experts out there - I changed my strategy and mostly drank water the rest of the week, much better.)

I'm really glad I went to the two talks in German. Both presenters spoke a very clear German which I could understand pretty well despite the circumstances. During the concert we were a few Llorg members who relaxed in the bean bag area, far from the music.
8 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord

User avatar
jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Mon Jun 12, 2017 10:06 am

Polyglot Gathering chapter 3 - In which three gamers make plans to eventually play D&D in French

Friday June 2nd

After two days I started feeling somewhat OK again. Not too tired, and no headache.

The first talk I went to this morning was Using Deep Learning (a.k.a. Deliberate Practice) To Accelerate Grammar Acquisition - Bartosz Czekała. He presented a clever method to use Anki for grammar.
During the coffee water break, I bumped into Rdearman and Zenmonkey and we all chatted about languages and games instead of going to another lecture.
Then I listened to Assimil – a century dedicated to language learning - Daniel Krasa & Philippe Gagneur. It was a historical presentation in French and English. Good for my listening comprehension.
Finally Yes, You Can Be The Person Who Talks to Anyone! - Kerstin Cable.

After lunch I listened Timothy McKeon's lecture called Languages, not dialects: the diversity of Chinese. A really good presentation with loads of input from the audience.
Next talk on the program was Gender Pronouns in Language: A Guide for LGBTI Polyglots And Their Allies by Joanna van Schaïk. Swedish recieved a gold star for the neutral pronoun hen.
Finally Lightning talks - some of them were good.

After dinner followed Mentalist Florian Heller’s multilingual show and after that a multilingual concert by Jessie Ann de Angelo.
7 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord

User avatar
tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
x 6093
Contact:

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby tarvos » Mon Jun 12, 2017 11:22 am

After lunch I listened Timothy McKeon's lecture called Languages, not dialects: the diversity of Chinese. A really good presentation with loads of input from the audience.


This was one of my favourite presentations too.
0 x
I hope your world is kind.

Is a girl.

User avatar
jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Mon Jun 12, 2017 10:12 pm

Polyglot Gathering chapter 4 - In which seven from the Fellowship of the Llorg enter the Goblins lair Pub

Saturday June 3rd

Finally a day when the lectures didn't start at 9AM! I had my breakfast at 8 and then a second breakfast at 9 when the other polyglots at the hotel showed up.

Idahosa Ness is one of those Youtube stars in the polyglot world, and at 10AM he gave a talk called Learning by Eye vs. Learning by Ear: Which is better?. As a musician I could really relate to the importance of learning by ear.
“Fluent in three decades?” The joys of life-long language learning for beginners….and old hands - I can't remember the details of this talk by Gareth Popkins, but it was funny as always.
The last presentation before lunch was Tim Keeley's The Making of a Hyperglot, his own story about when he learned the languages, why, how, where etc.

Right after was the group photo and then a Llorg photo. The Assimil guys sold their material opposite the aula. I couldn't stand five minutes in that heat, and they remained there for hours.

During lunch I was asked to explain the intricacies of the ABC notation system.

After that followed Language learning for the lazy, minimize effort, maximize impact with Gabriel Gelman. The room was packed with lazy language learners.
Santiago Diossa Muñoz presented Introducción a la pragmática in a very clear Colombian Spanish.
The last talk for the day was Introduction to Klingon with Philip Newton and Kelvin Jackson. Apparently Philip is into Klingon from a purely linguistic interest.

After dinner everyone was eager to attend the International culture evening. Some acts were really good, and some... well.

During the Bulgarian dance, some of us went to the old town to have some drinks. I was home after 2 in the morning.
6 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord

User avatar
jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Tue Jun 13, 2017 12:52 pm

Polyglot Gathering chapter 5 - In which our hero buys a bottle of ice tea at the local Tesco

Sunday June 4th

Way of the Peaceful Bookworm (How to read and read and read – and learn some languages) - Ivan Kupka. This attracted many readers. Ivan was calmness personified.
Niels J. L. Iversen gave a talk called Trees and waves and the Germanic mess. This man is a living encyclopedia, I tell you.
Life in multiple languages - Richard Simcott. It seemed liked everyone in the room took a picture of his impressive list of languages.

It rained on the way to lunch, and on the way back. Then I listened to the multilingual presentation Strange and fascinating things from the zoo of languages with Cesco Reale and Dimitris Polychronopoulos. I had a great time listening to these guys.
Lightning talks - I wasn't really up for anything else so I chose the easy path and stayed in the same room. Among the talks were two about configuring your keyboard, and one with a funny title: the Metric system of languages (a.k.a. Esperanto).

Closing ceremony and setting of Slovak record - 125 spoken languages under one roof! Half a dozen conlangs such as Esperanto, Ido, Toki Pona, Klingon, Lojban and... Sindarin!

Most of the Llorg people had dinner at the same table. Some of us got the largest piece of veggie lasagna you could imagine. By 19 I was back at the hotel and zapped between the TV channels until I found a western movie with Lee Van Cleef, dubbed into Slovak. Yeah. A perfect way to end the gathering.
6 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord

User avatar
jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Tue Jun 13, 2017 10:28 pm

Polyglot Gathering epilogue - In which not much happens

Monday June 5th

I woke up long before the first alarm. To make sure I got to Vienna airport in time, I opted for the 8AM bus, which meant I had to be at the bus station before that. The hotel receptionist checked how long the bus trip would take, and let me have breakfast before everyone else. Karma points to her. In less than ten minutes I had two glasses of orange juice, a cup of coffee, a pancake and a hard boiled egg. I grabbed a couple of yoghurts, apples and eggs and put all in my bag before I left. The bus line offered free drinks and newspapers (in Slovak!). The trip was over in no-time and I had my second breakfast at the airport. All of a sudden I met Vlad and we talked for an hour, then it was time to find a check-in automat to get my boarding card. In the duty free zone I met Steve Kaufmann again, but there wasn't time for any longer conversation. I spent two hours in air, and the flight attendants served me coffee etc. in German, but used English with most of the other surrounding passengers. It happens to me all the time. After a couple of more hours at Arlanda airport, I was on the plane back to my hometown.

Believe it or not, but I think I managed to catch up on lost sleep the following days.

+
Meeting friends, old and new
Lectures
Language practice
Evening programmes
Free public transport
Free coffee/tea

-
Logistics
Accomodation mess up
Number of participants - it's great that +400 polyglots can get together, but somehow I missed the Berlin atmosphere
(I also couldn't stand the heat, but maybe that was just me...)

Of course the plusses outnumber the minuses, but there were several times I thought to myself "Never again".
7 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: garyb and 2 guests