the Diaries of a Caffeinated Squirrel

[Brun Ugle]

Swahili
Russian
Finnish
Dutch
Mandarin
Greek
Japanese
Mongolian
Hebrew
Arabic
Cantonese
Swedish
Haitian Creole
Ancient Greek
Toki Pona
Welsh
Romanian
Italian
Slovak

A WANDERLUST DRIVEBY !!! MWAHAAAHAHAHA!

What? Have you given up on me, and now you're trying to corrupt Cavesa instead?

[gsbod]

Yes, the verb system is a bit weird at first sight. For example, Ive looked in my coursebooks to see what is the plan. And there are often things II being mentioned before the same thing II. Partizip, Koniunktiv, something else perhaps? Well, I'll finish TA1 and see.

The II is used to denote that the verb form relates to the past tense rather than the present tense, which is denoted with a I. The reason they teach the II forms first is because they are a lot more common.

[tiia]

Yes, the verb system is a bit weird at first sight. For example, Ive looked in my coursebooks to see what is the plan. And there are often things II being mentioned before the same thing II. Partizip, Koniunktiv, something else perhaps? Well, I'll finish TA1 and see.

Futur I + Futur II

The form I and II of Konjunktiv, Partizip and Futur are usually different in form and meaning. Though there is an exception for the usage of Konjunktiv I and II, where II is used instead of I.

I'd say that for Konjunktiv and Partizip the II-form is actually the more important one, while Futur II is pretty uncommon. So probably that's why they are mentioned earlier. For instance Partizip I is the participe presens, but for the perfect tense you need a participe perfect, which is called Partizip II.

Numbering gramatical forms is not always done in the most useful order from a learner's perspective. (Finnish has the same issue with numbering their five infinitive forms. You'll start learning I (the normal infinitive), then III and IV and some day you might also learn II and V.)

edit: I'm far too slow with typing.

[Cavesa]

Yes, the verb system is a bit weird at first sight. For example, Ive looked in my coursebooks to see what is the plan. And there are often things II being mentioned before the same thing II. Partizip, Koniunktiv, something else perhaps? Well, I'll finish TA1 and see.

The II is used to denote that the verb form relates to the past tense rather than the present tense, which is denoted with a I. The reason they teach the II forms first is because they are a lot more common.

tiia's message

Thanks!
Now it makes sense and I don't need to be worried about the I forms jumping at me from behind the corner. Thanks for the explanation, it looks logical now. This is the kind of thing I need to know, I need to see the bigger picture before diving into "details", why didn't the courses mention it?.
....
Now I just need to solve a few technical issues with my new macbook, so that I can study in peace. I really dislike iTunes, so I am now looking for alternatives. Probably Winamp, or I don't know. I want an app that will trully react, when I click the pause button. It is kind of important for langauge learners, dear Apple. I dislike the design of Itunes, I feel lost there, everything is too shiny, too many functions displayed, it is more a shop than a player. Sure, it is great for many uses, I am likely give it another chance, but simply not for playing an imported copy of a CD. I have a problem setting an alternative as the default mp3 player. And I need to go to the settings and manually check "yes, play that damn mp3 despite not having sold it in your shop, no it is not an app", I somehow cannot switch the settings to "always play mp3s from wherever I want in whichever app I want". There must be a better way, I just need to learn how to use my new Mashine.

Perhaps I am too old fashioned. I want my mp3 player to just play what I've got in the folder. Not to primarily sync it with half the known universe, put it into a weird looking library, and then not let me pause it.

I am excited about my new computer, don't get me wrong. I just need to get used to a few things, or rather learn how to get around them. The Apple's way to push users to their agreed developpers only their itunes store only, and so on, that is becoming uncomfortable quite soon.

Speaking of old fashioned :there is one tiny thing I dislike about the TA books. Vocab like die Musikkassete, der Discman, die Telefonzelle... they are in the exercises, so I need to waste neuron connections on them. The books are not that new, obviously. I know it is not a big problem, I know. It reminds me of a French teacher, who didn't know what an mp3 player was in 2005. Not only she couldn't tell us the word, she tried to convince us we were just describing a discman wrong.

[Elenia]

:twisted: Swahili
Russian
Finnish
Dutch
Mandarin
Greek
Japanese
Mongolian
Hebrew
Arabic
Cantonese
Swedish
Haitian Creole
Ancient Greek
Toki Pona
Welsh
Romanian
Italian
Slovak

A WANDERLUST DRIVEBY !!! MWAHAAAHAHAHA!

I hand over my crown to you, bad sir!

[rdearman]

Yes, the verb system is a bit weird at first sight. For example, Ive looked in my coursebooks to see what is the plan. And there are often things II being mentioned before the same thing II. Partizip, Koniunktiv, something else perhaps? Well, I'll finish TA1 and see.

The II is used to denote that the verb form relates to the past tense rather than the present tense, which is denoted with a I. The reason they teach the II forms first is because they are a lot more common.

tiia's message

Thanks!
Now it makes sense and I don't need to be worried about the I forms jumping at me from behind the corner. Thanks for the explanation, it looks logical now. This is the kind of thing I need to know, I need to see the bigger picture before diving into "details", why didn't the courses mention it?.
....
Now I just need to solve a few technical issues with my new macbook, so that I can study in peace. I really dislike iTunes, so I am now looking for alternatives. Probably Winamp, or I don't know. I want an app that will trully react, when I click the pause button. It is kind of important for langauge learners, dear Apple. I dislike the design of Itunes, I feel lost there, everything is too shiny, too many functions displayed, it is more a shop than a player. Sure, it is great for many uses, I am likely give it another chance, but simply not for playing an imported copy of a CD. I have a problem setting an alternative as the default mp3 player. And I need to go to the settings and manually check "yes, play that damn mp3 despite not having sold it in your shop, no it is not an app", I somehow cannot switch the settings to "always play mp3s from wherever I want in whichever app I want". There must be a better way, I just need to learn how to use my new Mashine.

Perhaps I am too old fashioned. I want my mp3 player to just play what I've got in the folder. Not to primarily sync it with half the known universe, put it into a weird looking library, and then not let me pause it.

I am excited about my new computer, don't get me wrong. I just need to get used to a few things, or rather learn how to get around them. The Apple's way to push users to their agreed developpers only their itunes store only, and so on, that is becoming uncomfortable quite soon.

Speaking of old fashioned :there is one tiny thing I dislike about the TA books. Vocab like die Musikkassete, der Discman, die Telefonzelle... they are in the exercises, so I need to waste neuron connections on them. The books are not that new, obviously. I know it is not a big problem, I know. It reminds me of a French teacher, who didn't know what an mp3 player was in 2005. Not only she couldn't tell us the word, she tried to convince us we were just describing a discman wrong.

VLC
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.en_GB.html

[Cavesa]

Thanks! I'll download it. I got winamp for music, but VLC should be for movies, perhaps for music too. My homework, when it comes to the "learn to use your Macbook" challenge, are the keyboard shortcuts. Some are pretty intuitive, others will take a moment to get used to. One thing I love about my Macbook: the keyboard. Sure, I need a specific French one (and yay! The Spanish one is organized ore or less like the French one, less stuff to relearn), but I can write German with my Czech keyboard, and I am finally learning to use the alt key well to use some special symbols, instead of the longer way. And I love the light under the keyboard, which I can make brighter or dimmer. It's very practical.

I've just spent an hour with my little sister and her English. It's a disaster. She is not improving, quite the opposite, her teacher is a trolloc. You know, I've always been fan of the idea of combining the strengths of the traditional and the modern classroom teaching method, therefore having plenty of conversation practice AND clear and systematic grammar explanations and vocab acquisition. Nope, this lady and many other teachers have chosen to combine the inconveniences of both approaches. Grammar chaos, almost no speaking in class, badly organized vocab learning. They are using a very crappy coursebook, The English File. As my sister said: "If we were learning vocabulary just from the coursebook, we wouldn't know anything!". True. So, the teacher teaches other vocabulary as well, which would be great, but the kids don't have any lists, or overviews, or example lists, to review from. I have absolutely no clue what vocabulary to use with my sister, to prepare her for her tests.

Fortunately, she is a clever girl and responds well to explanation of the grammar. She does think logically, at least when she forgets to remind herself it is "impossible". I have no choice but to explain grammar mostly in Czech, as that is what her teacher tests. She can use some stuff from the years of "immersion classes" (which were horrible, but at least she was listening to natives quite a lot), she can understand quite a lot, she reads in English. But she is losing those skills, she is forgetting all that because of an old bat at school. They have conversation classes too. That sounds great, doesn't it? If only the "teacher" wasn't a Croatian Erasmus with bad pronunciation, comprehension, and behaviour towards the students (such as shouting at a student for her own mistakes). I can spend time with her, but it is a bit complicated given my own workload. But still possible and quite fun. And she trully makes progress under my guidance, that is encouraging for both of us. Now I just need to remind our overworked father to finally buy her the grammar and vocab books I chose for her months ago.

Given all this, I am worried that she's starting a second foreign language in September. German, French, Spanish, and Russian are being offered. Of course Russian was not even considered, learning it is still a bit of a political issue (and these days perhaps more than a few years ago). German teachers tend to be the best language teachers in czech schools, but most kids are going for German, the groups may be a bit bigger, and my sister is not interested in the language (I may have accidentally been a bad influence here). So, it is either French or Spanish. Unfortunately, the French teachers tend to be the worst of the language teachers in czech schools. Either I'll have an opportunity to have a closer look at the teachers (check whether they have passable pronunciation, find out which coursebooks they want to use, whether they appear at least intelligent and not assholes), or I'll recommend her Spanish as the least risky option.

End of rant. Back to German. I had been continuing my adventurous journey through Lektion 9, when she called.

[Cavesa]

Overview of the 1st week:
I was ill, which means I actively studied languages less than I had planned (but still more than I am used to), but I consumed more input.
NYR:Less than 2 hours on Spanish, that is not too good, neither are 9 doublepages of the Blue book, I need to work harder. German is a nice surprise. Over 5 hours of German, that is not bad. I finished Lektion 8 and dived into Lektion 9, + I've started a Memrise deck with vocab from my coursebook and I am now in one fifth of it.
SC:Lots of Spanish reading and watching (Águila Roja), a tiny bit of German reading.

The goals for the 2nd week are the same. Let's see whether I can fulfill them this time.

[aokoye]

I second VLC for audio. I use it for almost all of my language learning listening related things.

[Cavesa]

Today, I broke my decision not to write or read this forum before having already reported some progress here.

Here it is. I haven't finished yet, but I can already count in almost an hour of German. I am fighting my way through Lektion 9, and Memrising. Yesterday, I did quite nothing. My insomnia had kept me awake the whole night before, so I was a real zombie.

I need to work harder during this week and the next, as my boyfriend is coming at the end of January! Yay! We have given ourselves his plane tickets for Christmas, as we wished nothing more than chopping the rest of our time apart in half and spending time together. But my studies will suffer