Postby coldrainwater » Wed Apr 05, 2017 4:49 am
Thanks to each of you who have responded for providing such a wealth of information, advice and shared experience. I will do my best to contribute something as well (and ideally follow through with some experiential notes along the way).
In turn:
As luke mentioned, I definitely listen while I workout and so far this has been safe. I tend to run stairs at lunch for roughly 40-60 minutes and get about that much listening in plus a ten minute cool down. Training at lunch is a good match for listening and it knocks the inches right off of any food-based alternative. Listening quality however, is lower at lunch for me because some of my training is very intense and I get other distractions as well since we train as a group. I also often take a second one hour run later in the evening as a work break to clear up my mind. That is used partly to let my brain stew on and solve work-related problems. This is probably my best time of the 'work day' to listen to my TL as well. When I get back to the office, I do have solutions to many problems that I am working on without devoting 'conscious' and focused time them (not to mention a fresh mind with some cerebral blood flow from the jog.)
Adrianslong, yes I am currently using my commute time for listening practice. I have a seven minute commute to work via car, but may be able to extend it somewhat by jogging in to work. There is much to be said about language listening and driving, but in my case, it is probably a net detriment (for my specific commute currently). I am pinching minutes at that point. I definitely would like to see a whole thread on listening while driving as it has many facets to explore. I even think it is an interesting idea to intentionally use a weekend day every now and again and drive on a long straight road with no end in sight and TL on the buds. I'd give it a go if I thought my old junker would actually make the distance. I supposed there is always Hertz.
Whodathunkitz, I put up a complete list of ZombieLand rules (in English) and it was quite a success at the office. I will likely get one all in my TL if I can snag it. On a similar note, I have thought about posting the best lyrics I can find and then playing an awesome song in TL on repeat for overlearning. I have a tough time seeing major language learning from that though (inefficient on multiple levels). As a side note, that will likely be how I introduce myself to my L3 since I happen to really enjoy their music.
Adrianslong, I agree with you about avoiding phone conversation whenever possible. I have to be pretty desperate to initiate a phone call, and due to the well-known importance of working memory when writing computer programs, I am as considerate as possible to others as well.
Systematiker, I have a strong feeling that my listening proclivities are very similar to what you describe. Viz., as Spanish gets easier for me to listen to, I will have fewer issues incorporating it. Intensive flows to extensive (or rather intensive primes extensive). My Day 0 experience today pretty much had me tuning out the music that was playing completely in order to do my work. Music and podcasts are both a step up for me in difficulty and I am only in month two of my dedicated listening practice. It will be interesting to see how the cards fall.
Aozora, I think you have a really good idea. It may boil down to mindfully noticing and taking advantage of times when listening is possible without sweating the times when it is not. That may be the very best action plan. Simply be mindful and aware of the opportunities (even if you cannot predict when they surface). In your case, you might benefit by downloading a ton of content in advance in mp3 format and simply throwing them all in a big playlist, so that, long or short, you never have to hit pause. It possibly depends on what audio resources you choose and specifically how you are trying to challenge yourself (where your exact weakest point is, which is something that may shift often). Rolling your own playlist has the advantage of listening to 'exactly' what you want and need to hear.
qeadz, I live in SQL and to a lesser extent Visual Studio. I have found ways (multiple) of integrating language learning with programming, but not via listening. I may post a few of the things I have thought of for the programming inclined if there is interest. In a strict work environment, I would imagine most of what I do would not work well.
Steve, I know what you mean. When I put on my sysadmin hat, I absolutely have been in the same boat. Some things just need to be monitored and that is perfect listening minutes. My list of nightly jobs may be longer than my working L2 wordlist. (Hmmm.... this seems to be taking longer than 5 minutes....let's make an agent job for it (and another job to make sure the agent does not fail)).
I'll see if I can muster some additional writing energy and scribble a few of the things I have done on my own in a subsequent post.
-Erizo
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