Your Language-related New Year's Resolutions 2018

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coldrainwater
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Re: Your Language-related New Year's Resolutions 2018

Postby coldrainwater » Wed Dec 27, 2017 8:05 am

If I had to post exactly how many hours elapse between the time I approach a concept and actually grasp it, I am not sure I could explain where it all went (even to myself). I am a slow thinker and a slow learner and oddly take pride in that or at least I accept it freely. After a year and a half of study, I am at a solid B1 in Spanish now. Having said that, it might be a bit easier for others to understand that my plan for 2018 is to spend the entire year at B1, ideally without advancing to B2. That is not to say I don't aim to improve. 2017 was all Spanish for my extracurricular studies. 2018 I plan on splitting my time evenly between Spanish and computer programming (so in effect one human language and one or more computer languages). With respect to Spanish, rather than working on my weak points (speaking, writing) which would bump estimated CEFR the most, I plan to throw all my hours into massive input as a likely mix of:

Reading my second 5000 pages.
Listening in 100-hour/episode chunks to audiobooks, documentaries.
Watching educational material on Youtube (university lectures) to supplement my personal studies.
Keeping up with my usual 1-2 hours daily podcast listening (while training)

In contrast to 2017, where I had an abundance of free hours for language learning, 2018 looks to be jam-packed with a very tumultuous and stressful work schedule that generally involves very high weekly hour commitments. The key to making something out of this resolution statement is likely a matter of balance and doing what I can not to overwork at work. I have reached an intermediate stage in Spanish that many others describe where input, although challenging, is more or less a matter of pure pleasure (provided I choose resources that I like). It is likely that I may be able to use my language studies in a new way to balance out stresses in other areas of life. With respect to programming, I am making an open and concerted effort to watch/read/listen to materials in Spanish so that my education in that regard is bilingual (partly anyhow).
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MarkLondon
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Re: Your Language-related New Year's Resolutions 2018

Postby MarkLondon » Wed Dec 27, 2017 9:41 am

coldrainwater wrote:
Reading my second 5000 pages.
Listening in 100-hour/episode chunks to audiobooks, documentaries.
Watching educational material on Youtube (university lectures) to supplement my personal studies.
Keeping up with my usual 1-2 hours daily podcast listening (while training)



If you do all that then I think your goal of staying at B1 without advancing to B2 is going to fail, as you will definitely improve a heck of a lot! But with “failures” like that, who needs successes. ¡De todas formas, buena suerte!
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Re: Your Language-related New Year's Resolutions 2018

Postby Colorblend » Wed Dec 27, 2017 9:17 pm

My resolution is to study Russian not hours and hours per day, but consistently. No bloody straying away from flashcards to Facebook browsing and whoops, now you haven't studied for 10 or 12 days and now you lost the momentum you had. Consistent studying and consistent progress.
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Re: Your Language-related New Year's Resolutions 2018

Postby Xenops » Wed Dec 27, 2017 10:25 pm

coldrainwater wrote:If I had to post exactly how many hours elapse between the time I approach a concept and actually grasp it, I am not sure I could explain where it all went (even to myself). I am a slow thinker and a slow learner and oddly take pride in that or at least I accept it freely. After a year and a half of study, I am at a solid B1 in Spanish now.


I stole this quote from Carmody's log:

MorkTheFiddle wrote:Today I am playing a bit of catch up. Your log shows admirable dedication and progress. You talk about being slow. Yitzak Perlman, the concert violinist, advises that the slower you learn the slower you forget.


The original quote is this:
One must always practice slowly. If you learn something slowly, you forget it slowly.
Itzhak Perlman


There's a book by an engineer that I'm trying to find again, and it talks about the two kinds of learners: the quick-learners, who can memorize all sorts of stuff, but not deeply; and the slow-learners, who really analyze each part and in turn, understand the concepts really well.

Don't be discouraged!

Edit: Found it! https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Numbers-Science-Flunked-Algebra/dp/039916524X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
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Brun Ugle
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Re: Your Language-related New Year's Resolutions 2018

Postby Brun Ugle » Thu Dec 28, 2017 12:06 pm

1. Write in my log every week.
2. No new languages!
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Re: Your Language-related New Year's Resolutions 2018

Postby rdearman » Thu Dec 28, 2017 1:17 pm

Brun Ugle wrote:1. Write in my log every week.
2. No new languages!

Except Slovakian and Finnish. Oh and Mandarin, and Russian, and French, and Italian, and ...
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Brun Ugle
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Re: Your Language-related New Year's Resolutions 2018

Postby Brun Ugle » Thu Dec 28, 2017 2:08 pm

rdearman wrote:
Brun Ugle wrote:1. Write in my log every week.
2. No new languages!

Except Slovakian and Finnish. Oh and Mandarin, and Russian, and French, and Italian, and ...

Some of those wouldn't technically be new...... :?
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Re: Your Language-related New Year's Resolutions 2018

Postby trui » Sun Dec 31, 2017 7:05 pm

Watch more TV--in Dutch. :D I've already made a good start! I watched three 90 minute episodes of this one show yesterday. Also read more and work on a novel.

I love language learning, especially at the mid-high intermediate level and upwards. You get to watch tv, read fiction, and other fun activities and feel like you're doing something productive! :lol:
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Re: Your Language-related New Year's Resolutions 2018

Postby Ольга » Sun Dec 31, 2017 8:19 pm

smallwhite wrote:What are your New Year's resolutions for 2018?

Will you start a new language?
Will you set new goals?

Will you track your progress with progress bars in your signature? Or streak calendars on your wall?
Are your goals S.M.A.R.T.? Or do you prefer K.I.S.S.?


I won't start new languages, I have too many of them on super-low level :D
Now I have only two active languages: English and German.
I don't have enough time to continue learning French, Greek, and Portuguese.
I think it is all because I don't have a serious reason for learning these three languages, I cannot use them in my profession or studies, and I don't travel a lot.

Of course, I set my new goal: CPE. It is a bit old goal because after my failure on the TOEFL test I did not want to try any international exams anymore. But then my university started to ask these certificates and I have to begin my preparation now. Besides, I have shown CPE Past Papers to my father (he has a Ph.D. in Education Studies) and he has told me that all these exams (toefl, ielts, cpe, etc) are based on cultural knowledge, logic skills, and test mostly intelligence, not the language itself. I was surprised why I did not get that earlier and why I did not train these basic skills before and did not try to do Past Papers as many as possible before taking my first test.

My other goal: to finish the second semester at my university successfully. In the summer of 2017 I have got a state-funded place and now I am doing my Master's degree in Linguistics at the evening department at the local university.

One more goal (connected with the previous one): to dedicate some time to doing research on idiolects and idiostyles in American literature, for example, the individual style of Elizabeth Gilbert as a writer in her bestseller "Big Magic".

My goals are KISS---"Keep it simple, stupid" because I don't know the real level of my languages (all the tests are specific and I don't rely on them because Oxford Placement Test says that my English Listening Skill is a C1 and TOEFL says that it is a Beginner Level.)

Well, I am going to track my progress using my signature and all cool things which forum suggests, for example, I want to try new challenges which may be suitable for my goals.
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Re: Your Language-related New Year's Resolutions 2018

Postby MrPenguin » Mon Jan 01, 2018 12:56 am

My goal for this year is to achieve a solid B2 in Finnish reading and listening. The other day, I tested as B2 in reading comprehension in Dialang, but it doesn't quite feel like it, when comparing myself against the level descriptions of the CEFR, so I guess I may be a weak B2. I've previously tested B1 in listening, though I had some problems getting the Dialang listening test to work this time, but B2 seems like it could be achieveable in a year, based on my reading level.

My new year's resolution: spend less of my free time on reddit and twitch, and more time listening to Finnish radio and audiobooks.
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