Gotta Catch'em All

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
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bpasseri
White Belt
Posts: 37
Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2017 8:57 pm
Location: United States
Languages: .
Native: English
Advanced: Spanish, French
Intermediate: Italian, Portuguese
Beginner: Mandarin Chinese
Dabbled: Japanese, Greek, German, Esperanto
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7995
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Gotta Catch'em All

Postby bpasseri » Thu Apr 20, 2017 12:26 am

Hi everyone!

I figured that since I'm new to the forum I'd start a language log as a good way to keep myself more dedicated to studying my languages (you've all definitely inspired me to work a lot harder! :D ) I've had a lot of wanderlust recently (Arabic, Greek, Cherokee... so many cool languages to learn!) so I figured I should start logging/focusing on the languages I have already learned in at least somewhat formal setting.

Spanish:

Currently watching Ingobernable on Netflix... loving it so far! Going through all of Gran Hotel really helped my listening comprehension and now that I finished Narcos I needed a new Spanish show to watch. I'm also reading A orillas del río Piedra me senté y lloré by Paulo Cohelo. It's definitely below my level, but it's been nice to have an easier read where there's only about a word per page that I'm unfamiliar with, and I'm writing down those words to put into Anki later.

French:

Looking for a series/podcast if anyone has any suggestions ;). Also reading Harry Potter à L'École des Sourciers and writing down vocab for that as well... I grew up reading the Harry Potter series and it's really funny to see the way they "translate" things like Hogwarts and various spell names into other languages. I studied abroad in Paris 3 years ago and was in a B2 language class but I can feel how much it's atrophied since then (actively, at least, the passive is still there). Hopefully I can find some sort of local language meet up group to work on speaking since, unlike Spanish, it's difficult to find French speakers in the States.

Mandarin:

Took for a semester in college and then had to drop it the second semester because of time conflicts... I don't have any delusions of ever "mastering" this one but I'd like to get to a basic (maybe A2-B1) knowledge of the language and be able to have at least some basic conversations. Part of it might be sunk-cost fallacy but I really do miss it! I've been reviewing using Mango via my local library and it's all been coming back pretty quickly. It has 72 languages, though, which definitely isn't helping reduce my wanderlust!

Italian and Portuguese might have to be on hold for now... I'm still at a pretty basic level in both (somewhere in the A ranges) but have a much better passive knowledge of both because of Spanish and French. Considering trying to find some TV shows or podcasts in these just for fun/to keep them at least somewhat active.

Also reading The Loom of Language just because :)
3 x
: 1900 / 2500 ES Books
: 390 / 4500 ES Movies

: 480 / 2500 FR Books
: 90 / 4500 FR Movies

: 0 / 2500 IT Books
: 0 / 4500 IT Movies

: 250 / 2500 PT Books
: 360 / 4500 PT Movies

User avatar
bpasseri
White Belt
Posts: 37
Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2017 8:57 pm
Location: United States
Languages: .
Native: English
Advanced: Spanish, French
Intermediate: Italian, Portuguese
Beginner: Mandarin Chinese
Dabbled: Japanese, Greek, German, Esperanto
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7995
x 51

Re: Gotta Catch'em All

Postby bpasseri » Sun Apr 23, 2017 3:43 pm

I've been working a lot on my languages lately, but I can feel myself getting too disorganized because I want to do everything at once, so I'm going to try to set more attainable goals for myself.

Spanish:

Talk to my Puerto Rican friend only in Spanish. Also try to talk via voice message instead of text whenever possible. My writing has improved a lot in the past year, but my speaking not so much. I'd also like to do some more extensive/intensive reading, since I have a number of books in Spanish I have yet to read.

French:

I haven't used French regularly in so long. I downloaded the second Harry Potter book in French and want to go through and add all the words I don't know into Anki. I'd also like to go to some meetups at the Alliance Française closest to me but it's still quite a distance from my house so idk how realistic a goal that will be. At the very least I'd like to find some podcasts/series to watch/listen to in French to keep it alive.

Mandarin:

I'd like to get to the HSK 2 level by the end of the summer. I have the HSK1 vocab pretty much memorized and know a good chunk of the HSK 2 vocab but I'd like to be able to sight read each of the 300 characters and continue working with Mango to work on grammatical constructions/additional vocab.

Italian:

I probably have an A2 level vocab but I'd like to work on writing/speaking. I know the grammar consciously but it hasn't "sunk in" and I always have to think about it in terms of general Romance grammar (i.e., I can do verb conjugations and know the rules but couldn't spontaneously produce them in writing/speech). Would like to do some more formal grammar exercises to work on this.

Portuguese:

On the back burner for now. One day though!
2 x
: 1900 / 2500 ES Books
: 390 / 4500 ES Movies

: 480 / 2500 FR Books
: 90 / 4500 FR Movies

: 0 / 2500 IT Books
: 0 / 4500 IT Movies

: 250 / 2500 PT Books
: 360 / 4500 PT Movies

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MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
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Re: Gotta Catch'em All

Postby MamaPata » Sun Apr 23, 2017 6:42 pm

Those look like really interesting goals - I look forward to following your progress!
1 x
Corrections appreciated.

User avatar
bpasseri
White Belt
Posts: 37
Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2017 8:57 pm
Location: United States
Languages: .
Native: English
Advanced: Spanish, French
Intermediate: Italian, Portuguese
Beginner: Mandarin Chinese
Dabbled: Japanese, Greek, German, Esperanto
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7995
x 51

Re: Gotta Catch'em All

Postby bpasseri » Thu Jul 06, 2017 7:03 pm

Summer is here and I can finally get back to more (at least, more than usual ;) ) language learning!

Spanish: My friend from Puerto Rico is taking a year off from medical school to do an MPH and will be around a lot starting in August and we've made a pact to only talk in Spanish when she gets back (we usually talk in a mix of Spanish and then English when my sadly-monolingual boyfriend is around, but he'll just have to deal haha). I haven't been able to find another good series since Gran Hotel that I like watching in Spanish, so I'm open to suggestions! Also working on my Anki deck where I've been adding words I think would be useful from my 5-language visual dictionary which is amazing and I would completely recommend to everyone, especially on this forum! It covers pretty much every topic and has translations in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German.

French: I've been trying to watch shows I would normally watch on Netflix dubbed in French or Spanish, but I've kind of fallen out of love with French the past year or two. I don't want to let it atrophy completely but I'm only really interested in keeping it somewhat active for the moment, so I probably won't work on it anymore at least for the time being.

Italian: I started a night class an I'm so excited about it! I haven't taken Italian since my freshman year of high school so this is really helping me reactivate what I used to know and hopefully with a lot of self-study on my part I can get myself up to an intermediate level. I have family in Italy and loved it when I visited, but my need/desire to know it is pretty superficial so I think I'd be happy with an intermediate conversational level for Italian.

Mandarin: haven't been working on this one recently, but mostly since I have no one to practice with! I would really like to eventually get good at Mandarin, but it's so difficult to stay motivated when the reward is so much smaller in comparison to time spend on another romance language that I can make huge progress in with very little effort. I still have my books from college I'd like to revisit again, but this one also seems to be on the back burner for now. Looks like this summer with be Spanish/Italian focused for the most part!
1 x
: 1900 / 2500 ES Books
: 390 / 4500 ES Movies

: 480 / 2500 FR Books
: 90 / 4500 FR Movies

: 0 / 2500 IT Books
: 0 / 4500 IT Movies

: 250 / 2500 PT Books
: 360 / 4500 PT Movies

User avatar
bpasseri
White Belt
Posts: 37
Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2017 8:57 pm
Location: United States
Languages: .
Native: English
Advanced: Spanish, French
Intermediate: Italian, Portuguese
Beginner: Mandarin Chinese
Dabbled: Japanese, Greek, German, Esperanto
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7995
x 51

Re: Gotta Catch'em All

Postby bpasseri » Thu Jul 13, 2017 2:51 am

This past week has been really listening focused (my nice way of saying I've basically just been watching TV :lol: )

Spanish: I tried starting La Niña but the first episode didn't interest me all that much, not sure if I'll continue.

French: Started Marseille, which is somewhat interesting but I honestly can't stand Gerard Depardieu so we'll see whether I finish :roll:

Italian: I've been watching a ton of E Arrivata La Felicita, which I'm really enjoying even though my level of Italian isn't that high. My class has been really dragging on and I wanted to try something a little more advanced and I really got hooked on it even though it really depends on the character whether or not I can understand them.

I also ordered to textbooks; one for Italian and one for Portuguese, which I can't wait to get here! I'm such a nerd when it comes to language textbooks... I'm definitely more of a traditional learner when it becomes to the beginning stages of a languages, at least until I'm ready to tackle native material.
2 x
: 1900 / 2500 ES Books
: 390 / 4500 ES Movies

: 480 / 2500 FR Books
: 90 / 4500 FR Movies

: 0 / 2500 IT Books
: 0 / 4500 IT Movies

: 250 / 2500 PT Books
: 360 / 4500 PT Movies

User avatar
bpasseri
White Belt
Posts: 37
Joined: Fri Apr 14, 2017 8:57 pm
Location: United States
Languages: .
Native: English
Advanced: Spanish, French
Intermediate: Italian, Portuguese
Beginner: Mandarin Chinese
Dabbled: Japanese, Greek, German, Esperanto
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7995
x 51

Re: Gotta Catch'em All

Postby bpasseri » Wed Jul 19, 2017 12:49 am

I'm currently on vacation in South Carolina, so I haven't been able to really buckle down and study a lot recently.

Spanish: Continuing to talk to my friend via audio messages on Telegram. I need for her to come back from Puerto Rico so we can have real conversations again! I definitely have noticed my oral ability on the decline, although all the other skills seem to be safe. It's crazy how fast language skills can atrophy if you're not using them everyday!!!

Italian: Continuing to watch E Arrivata La Felicita. I feel like already I've noticed myself better able to understand the show, which is really exciting! :D There are definitely certain characters that I understand better than others depending on their way of speaking (I can only really understand the characters that speak clearly and in Standard Italian) but overall I'm enjoying the show and seem to be learning in the process, which is the whole point right?! I'm also working on a Memrise deck called [Audio] Intermediate Italian, which I'm almost through.

Mandarin: I'm not sure whether I can classify this as "Wanderlust" since I've already worked on the language before and took a class in college, but I started the HSK 2 deck on Memrise, which is slow but really stresses learning radiclas, which I suppose is pretty important for reading. I guess I just don't imagine myself ever able to read in Chinese, so it seems pointless to me now :lol: I only have one friend that can speak Mandarin, and not natively, so I don't have too grandiose plans for Mandarin anyways, although it would be cool to be able to read a book in Chinese someday.
0 x
: 1900 / 2500 ES Books
: 390 / 4500 ES Movies

: 480 / 2500 FR Books
: 90 / 4500 FR Movies

: 0 / 2500 IT Books
: 0 / 4500 IT Movies

: 250 / 2500 PT Books
: 360 / 4500 PT Movies


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