zenmonkey's multilingual adventures of a traveller

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zenmonkey
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2528
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: California, Germany and France
Languages: Spanish, English, French trilingual - German (B2/C1) on/off study: Persian, Hebrew, Tibetan, Setswana.
Some knowledge of Italian, Portuguese, Ladino, Yiddish ...
Want to tackle Tzotzil, Nahuatl
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=859
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German reading / Hebrew

Postby zenmonkey » Mon May 01, 2017 4:17 pm

German: Finished Erste englische Lesestücke / First Reader. - Read this for German content as a B2 learner. This is certainly not a first reader but rather a collection of children stories or fairy tales. Vocabulary is light but higher than first reader level. It's a quick read and kept my attention for a few hours. And the format of short stories, poems, etc... works as an exercise text. Mostly extensive reading but did pull about 10 words for vocabulary building.

However, this is very light reading, maybe would make sense as reading material for reading out loud to children.

Anki glut with Hebrew - it will clear out over the next days. Finally feel I'm learning something here.
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I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar

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zenmonkey
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2528
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: California, Germany and France
Languages: Spanish, English, French trilingual - German (B2/C1) on/off study: Persian, Hebrew, Tibetan, Setswana.
Some knowledge of Italian, Portuguese, Ladino, Yiddish ...
Want to tackle Tzotzil, Nahuatl
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=859
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Re: zenmonkey's multilingual adventures of a traveller

Postby zenmonkey » Fri May 05, 2017 8:55 am

German Exam in less than two weeks. :shock:

As I am finding Hebrew more interesting I am also struggling a little with time management. Ideally I should be spending an hour a day and, well, that isn't happening everyday. In fact, I'm seeing the rise of some old bad habits - where I pull out the material, get ready to start and ... go do something else. Need to think about this.

Weekend in France - am taking German/Hebrew material and the drive should be good for a few hours of study.
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I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar

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zenmonkey
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2528
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: California, Germany and France
Languages: Spanish, English, French trilingual - German (B2/C1) on/off study: Persian, Hebrew, Tibetan, Setswana.
Some knowledge of Italian, Portuguese, Ladino, Yiddish ...
Want to tackle Tzotzil, Nahuatl
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=859
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zum mich widmen auf Deutsch...

Postby zenmonkey » Fri May 05, 2017 12:43 pm

Ich glaube, es ist Zeit, alles auf Deutsch zu machen, was auf Deutsch möglich ist. Das scheint eine solche Grenze zu haben. Aber ich weiß nicht, wie man anders vorankommt. Gulp....
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I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar

User avatar
zenmonkey
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2528
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: California, Germany and France
Languages: Spanish, English, French trilingual - German (B2/C1) on/off study: Persian, Hebrew, Tibetan, Setswana.
Some knowledge of Italian, Portuguese, Ladino, Yiddish ...
Want to tackle Tzotzil, Nahuatl
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=859
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Contact:

Re: zum mich widmen auf Deutsch...

Postby zenmonkey » Thu May 11, 2017 6:36 am

zenmonkey wrote:Ich glaube, es ist Zeit, alles auf Deutsch zu machen, was auf Deutsch möglich ist. Das scheint eine solche Grenze zu haben. Aber ich weiß nicht, wie man anders vorankommt. Gulp....


Yeah, well, that didn't last long.
Exam is next week, and I've done nada, zilch, this last week. Time for a little cramming.

Instead, I spent a good amount of time with my daughters practicing their English, speaking French and working on Hebrew (so slow, so very very slow). Some German has been injected here or there, a call, a short convo with my daughters but no real study time.

I did listen to about an hour of native podcasts - and I understood 99% but these were not good quality so I gave up after that. I need to find some really top quality German podcasts - something like The Moth or This American Life or Criminal but in GERMAN!

Hebrew lessons continue, reading is incredibly hard and slow - I think spend a lot more time with L-R exercises. A lot more, Until-the-heat-death-of-the-universe time, or at least this is how it feels right now.

להתראות!


(exclamations in rtl are a pain to get right on the site.)
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I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar

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PeterMollenburg
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3229
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:54 am
Location: Australia
Languages: English (N), French (B2-certified), Dutch (High A2?), Spanish (~A1), German (long-forgotten 99%), Norwegian (false starts in 2020 & 2021)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18080
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Re: zenmonkey's multilingual adventures of a traveller

Postby PeterMollenburg » Thu May 11, 2017 9:49 pm

A bit of moral support...

I'm also sitting an exam next week (French DELF B2) and just wanted to say good luck, I hope you do really well!
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zenmonkey
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2528
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: California, Germany and France
Languages: Spanish, English, French trilingual - German (B2/C1) on/off study: Persian, Hebrew, Tibetan, Setswana.
Some knowledge of Italian, Portuguese, Ladino, Yiddish ...
Want to tackle Tzotzil, Nahuatl
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=859
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German podcasts

Postby zenmonkey » Sun May 14, 2017 7:16 pm

PeterMollenburg wrote:A bit of moral support...
I'm also sitting an exam next week (French DELF B2) and just wanted to say good luck, I hope you do really well!


Thanks, you too! Honestly, I'm stressing a bit as my exercise book is full of words I don't know. Normally that is a good thing.

On the positive side - I've gone and searched for a load of podcasts and have found enough to keep me busy. And my target for the rest of the year is to have a level sufficient to enjoy them.

Here is my current collection...
German podcasts

WDR - Die Sendung mit der Maus
http://www.podcast.de/podcast/4131/
Since the 1970s the WDR has been producing this show for children. The broadcast is broadcast with the mouse in all major national radio stations. Posts from the broadcast with the mouse are broadcasted in nearly one hundred countries.

Kack & Sachgeschichten - Der Podcast mit Klugschiss!
What philosophical approaches represent the figures in Watchmen - and where does Spongebob poop? The Kack and Sachgeschichte throw an analytical view on pop culture, games, series and pursue a goal: the perfect mix of crap and surplus value.
http://www.podcast.de/podcast/613365/

ARD - Radio Tatort
Goose bumps of criminal podcast. High quality.
http://www.podcast.de/podcast/13063/

WDR 2 - Kabarett Podcast
Comedy and satire from WDR 2 short casts.
http://www.podcast.de/podcast/4437/

GEO Audio
Background stories, interviews with GEO reporters and experts - travel focused. New podcast every Thursday.
http://www.podcast.de/podcast/2166/

Puls
In depth topics - "No topic, no event or fate is too far off, too slanting or too complex for our reporters and moderators. Expect the unexpected!”
http://www.br-online.de/podcast/mp3-dow ... zial.shtml

Sanft & Sorgfältig
Jeden Sonntag diskutieren Musiker Olli Schulz und Entertainer Jan Böhmermann über die Probleme der Welt mit sich selbst und mit den Hörern. Dabei sind nicht alle Gespräche wirklich zielführend.
http://www.radioeins.de/archiv/podcast/ ... hasen.html

Dittsche
The full title of the show is "Dittsche - Das ist real Leben". The main actors Olli Dittrich, Jon Flemming Olsen and Franz Jarnach improvise the roles of their performers in this comedy broadcast of WDR Television. Olli Dittrich, the inventor of the art figure Dittsche, philosophizes as a jobless at the bar of a fast-food hamburger about life and current events. The figure Dittsche invented Dittrich for the Bühnenshow nonsense comedy club.
http://www.podcast.de/podcast/4489/
3 x
I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar

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zenmonkey
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2528
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: California, Germany and France
Languages: Spanish, English, French trilingual - German (B2/C1) on/off study: Persian, Hebrew, Tibetan, Setswana.
Some knowledge of Italian, Portuguese, Ladino, Yiddish ...
Want to tackle Tzotzil, Nahuatl
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=859
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Gah to the n'th

Postby zenmonkey » Mon May 15, 2017 10:23 pm

Gah.

Doing practice exercises today for the test tomorrow and I honestly feel I'm far from prepared. I've improved these last days but the elements testing grammar are ... opaque. Having aced the B1 last month I'm hoping that I have some momentum in tomorrow's test but somehow...
:lol: :shock:

...into the pit of doom we go.

In any case, whatever the outcome, I have a strong feeling I'm going to spend some timer with the so-aptly named Hammer's German Grammar and Usage. <insert swearword>
0 x
I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar

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Elenia
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1888
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 1:22 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), Swedish (C1), French (Massively Atrophied) German (lowly beginner, somehow learnt to read)


Finnish?!
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Re: zenmonkey's multilingual adventures of a traveller

Postby Elenia » Tue May 16, 2017 9:17 pm

I hope the test went well!

In (late) response to your question about the European Bookshop, it has moved - to Kensington, if I recall correctly. It took me ages to figure out that it had moved - I'd thought that I'd simply been misremembering where it was.
1 x

User avatar
zenmonkey
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2528
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: California, Germany and France
Languages: Spanish, English, French trilingual - German (B2/C1) on/off study: Persian, Hebrew, Tibetan, Setswana.
Some knowledge of Italian, Portuguese, Ladino, Yiddish ...
Want to tackle Tzotzil, Nahuatl
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=859
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Contact:

Re: zenmonkey's multilingual adventures of a traveller

Postby zenmonkey » Wed May 17, 2017 2:26 pm

Elenia wrote:I hope the test went well!

In (late) response to your question about the European Bookshop, it has moved - to Kensington, if I recall correctly. It took me ages to figure out that it had moved - I'd thought that I'd simply been misremembering where it was.


Thanks, I hope so too! :lol: I have no idea if I passed or not. We will see in a month when the results come back.

I'll have to plan another trip to the UK to visit that bookstore, well, London was just great and it is wonderful to see a city that does not shut down on Sundays.

--------
German - well, the tests drove home the need to focus on a few things and to work on the usual suspects - listening, reading and writing. I do see that I've had some improvement over the last year but also have to move from my osmotic attitude to this language to really getting back to intensive study.
1 x
I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar

User avatar
zenmonkey
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2528
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: California, Germany and France
Languages: Spanish, English, French trilingual - German (B2/C1) on/off study: Persian, Hebrew, Tibetan, Setswana.
Some knowledge of Italian, Portuguese, Ladino, Yiddish ...
Want to tackle Tzotzil, Nahuatl
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=859
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Contact:

Mac Excel export and Anki import

Postby zenmonkey » Wed May 17, 2017 10:05 pm

So, a little note to clarify how to export from Mac Excel for importing into Anki. The issue is that with Hebrew the csv file export function does not provide a file that can be imported into Anki. The issue is related to UTF-8 / UTF-16 versions.

The solution is easy.

Select the text, copy, go to google docs and create a spreadsheet, paste.
Save file onto drive.

This new file can be imported into Anki.

Took me a while to figure out.
2 x
I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar


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