Languages vs Time

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aokoye
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Languages vs Time

Postby aokoye » Sun Feb 24, 2019 12:58 am

That is to say - time in the day/week.

After a hiatus from the forum but not from languages, I'm back - at least temporarily. Right now I'm focusing on, in alphabetical order, Biblical Hebrew, French, and German. The issue, of course, is that there is only so much time in the day and I also have to juggle that with applying for grad school, going to school/doing homework, doing various other activities (ie choir), and dealing with my mental health which often deals a major blow to my productivity.

How I'll be able to actually juggle all three languages I'm not sure - I would love to add Dutch to the mix, but I don't know that it's practical. I might try it out for a week or two, but we'll see - it is worth a try. It's also becoming clear that I need to create some sort of loose schedule of sorts which I'll try to talk (or rather write) through in my next post.
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Speakeasy
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Re: Languages vs Time

Postby Speakeasy » Sun Feb 24, 2019 1:14 am

Welcome back!
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PfifltriggPi
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Re: Languages vs Time

Postby PfifltriggPi » Sun Feb 24, 2019 1:26 am

Heureux de vous revoir!
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aokoye
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Re: Languages vs Time

Postby aokoye » Sun Feb 24, 2019 1:42 am

What languages am I focusing on and why:

Biblical Hebrew - I'm Jewish and am feeling a constant pull to study Biblical Hebrew for the sake of being able to understand prayers and the Torah portion without always relying on a translation. I'll be using Prayerbook Hebrew the Easy Way as my textbook. Ideally working through 2 chapters a week which would allow me to get through it in 10 weeks. I've worked through part of it before, but then took a long break.

French - I'm taking French 101 right now, after a rather unfortunate experience with Chinese (Mandarin) 101 (I did pass it with either an A- or B+). It's fun, I like the professor, and I like the language so far. There's also a very high potential of me being able to spend time in French speaking areas, at least in terms of vacation, within the next 2 years. The class is very easy for me, but I'm augmenting it well enough with self study (mainly grammar right now) and tutoring. There's a French student in one of the ESL courses that I TA for and once a week he and I get together for a language exchange for typically two hours (an hour of French and an hour of English).

German - I am hoping to go to grad school in Germany, though the programs I'm applying to are in English so I won't have to take TestDaF or the DSH. That said, my German is somewhere around the C1 level, though I could always stand to work on my grammar. I would like to somehow work in time to really work on grammar and reading, but this year I've primarily been working on listening by way of watching TV shows on ZDF. I also read the news in German from time to time.

Dutch? - I'm also applying to two MA programs in the Netherlands. Studying dutch is probably more fun for me than the rest of the languages listed, it's really just an issue of time. If I continue studying it, it will primarily be via the B1 textbook Nederlands in Actie.
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aokoye
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Re: Languages vs Time

Postby aokoye » Sun Feb 24, 2019 1:43 am

Speakeasy wrote:Welcome back!

Thanks! I've been lurking in the shadows every so often, but I figured now would be a good time for me to come back in full :)
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aokoye
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Re: Languages vs Time

Postby aokoye » Sun Feb 24, 2019 4:18 am

Potential scheduling things:

Sunday: French, Hebrew
Monday: French, German
Tuesday: French, Dutch
Wednesday: French, Hebrew
Thursday: French, German, Dutch (?)
Friday: French, German
Saturday: French, Hebrew, Dutch

I review French vocabulary and I do homework three days a week. I also have tutoring/language exchange once a week, typically Fridays. Outside of vocabulary and homework, I also am using a few grammar books (depending on what we're working on in class) and it turns out I like the Connexions A1 textbook.

German will likely be a mix of watching TV shows and reading. I also have way too many textbooks that could be useful. Perhaps too many. Until the end of the current school term, any Monday German stuff will be listening and/or reading on the streetcar. The other days will likely be reading, grammar, and/or TV.

My focus with Hebrew will be working through Prayerbook Hebrew the Easy Way. I need to figure out what I want to do for reviewing the vocabulary. Memrise was working well, but given that that'll end sooner rather than later, I need to figure out a new option. I might have to settle for Anki and hope that I can manage to maintain it.

Dutch, if I can manage it, will be reviewing from the last textbook I used and then starting Nederlands in Actie.
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aokoye
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Re: Languages vs Time

Postby aokoye » Sun Mar 03, 2019 6:47 am

This past week I've been great about studying French and Biblical Hebrew and less so with the two Germanic languages. I've been able to keep up with studying vocab for French and Hebrew quiet easily, especially Hebrew because I'm learning it at a slower pace and I know fewer words. I also got my chapter test back on Friday (from a test taken the previous week) and I scored 59/60 points! The main things I need to focus on this upcoming week, with regards to French, are (in order of current difficulty for me) telling time, learning vocabulary, and practicing conjugating -er verbs in the present tense.

Hebrew is going very well. I'm moving at a faster pace than I had intended and am currently on chapter 5 of 21. So far I'm really enjoying the structure of the book. I don't always do all of the English -> Hebrew exercises because is not my focus, or at least I don't always write them out. I typically will do the orally.

German - I've been fairing ok in terms of watching German TV shows and listening to the news when I remember to. I don't think I did any reading this week though. It's hard because the only stuff I really read is for school. I can't find the time or the emotional energy to read for pleasure which sucks.

Dutch - I need to figure out how best to tackle a very large backlog of words.
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aokoye
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Re: Languages vs Time

Postby aokoye » Wed Mar 06, 2019 11:32 pm

I think the new plan for Dutch is to SRS function on Quizlet Plus to quickly reacquaint myself with vocabulary. The University of Groningen, who I took the A2 Dutch course through last year, put the vocab lists for the two textbooks I have on Quizlet and actually I like Quizlet. Once I get through that, I'll try to start Nederlands in actie. It'll be a very quick run through of the last half of the textbook which will involve reviewing nearly 700 words. We'll see how this goes. I'm very tempted to rush through it and see how much receptive knowledge I've retained.

French 101 ends in a week and a half or so after which I'll have I think a week off of school. My goal during that week will be to learn the words for at least the 4th chapter of the textbook, if not the 5th as well. We only cover three chapters a term which is frustrating for me, but it's very clear that the majority of the class wouldn't be able to keep up with a faster pace. I'll probably focus on grammar as well.

Hebrew - I just need to stay the course. Keep learning/reviewing vocabulary and going through the textbook that I'm using.

German...we'll see how I figure out this [lovely] beast while also trying to do all of the above, school, and applying for grad school (among other things). I should probably spend most of my time focusing on grammar because that is at the root of most of my difficulties/errors in writing. I also know that if I take a German proficiency test within the next year, it will be what trips me up the most. Grammar, however, is one of my least favorite things to work on.
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白田龍
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Re: Languages vs Time

Postby 白田龍 » Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:43 am

I'm currently trying to find time to work on my beginner Japanese and Arabic, and advanced Persian and Mandarin...
My advanced languages are worked through narrow reading (in order to minimize the number of new words) and haphazard listening/watching schedule. I add the new words to SRS for reinforcement, but the cards are deleted after I can remember it past a few days. Lower level languages, however, are too much of a drain, I really don't have the time for this anymore... I will work intensively when I on vacations from work, and through the rest of the year I will just passively watch some media every once in a while for maintenance.
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Elenia
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Re: Languages vs Time

Postby Elenia » Thu Mar 07, 2019 3:55 pm

Hello! Good to see you back :)
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