Re: Languages vs Time
Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 10:23 pm
I'm getting to the point with French where I wish I could just fast track the amount of grammar I know. Thankfully I'm at least finding learning French grammar pretty easy so it's really just impatience regarding the sheer amount of energy or lack thereof that I have. The only thing I've really had trouble with so far is irregular verbs. That could change when I start learning more prepositions...
As of now I'm a little over half way through half way through the grammar book. One of the reasons I've been able to work through it so quickly is because it don't have to focus on it really intently. That is to say, I can watch TV or hang out at my favorite coffee shop (which typically involves chatting with the staff) and do the exercises. I'd like to get another 3 or 4 chapters done today. Two is probably doable, 4 is a stretch bot potentially doable. Note that I don't do all of the exercises in the chapters that are on a grammar topic that I've already been introduced to. The ones that I want to finish today are all stuff that I've already learned but need to firm up my knowledge on.
I went to Powell's (the downtown location) this afternoon and ended up buying a memoir written by an Iraqi journalist about his time in Baghdad after the US invasion. It'll likely be a rather intense but interesting. This will definitely be a good exercise in extensive reading. I also looked for children's books but their children's section for foreign languages in general (save for Spanish) is miniscule at the moment - or at least for books aimed at children 10 and up. They moved all of the foreign language children's books to the children's book room (logical enough) and I wasn't willing to spend time looking at the early reader books. Mind you, I will likely end up buying my friends' 5 year old some French books as she's starting kindergarten at a French immersion school and I'll be taking care of her every other Friday starting in September or October. Said 5 year old (as well as her younger brother) is all about having adults read to her at the moment, which is great, so I see a lot of French early readers in my future.
As of now I'm a little over half way through half way through the grammar book. One of the reasons I've been able to work through it so quickly is because it don't have to focus on it really intently. That is to say, I can watch TV or hang out at my favorite coffee shop (which typically involves chatting with the staff) and do the exercises. I'd like to get another 3 or 4 chapters done today. Two is probably doable, 4 is a stretch bot potentially doable. Note that I don't do all of the exercises in the chapters that are on a grammar topic that I've already been introduced to. The ones that I want to finish today are all stuff that I've already learned but need to firm up my knowledge on.
I went to Powell's (the downtown location) this afternoon and ended up buying a memoir written by an Iraqi journalist about his time in Baghdad after the US invasion. It'll likely be a rather intense but interesting. This will definitely be a good exercise in extensive reading. I also looked for children's books but their children's section for foreign languages in general (save for Spanish) is miniscule at the moment - or at least for books aimed at children 10 and up. They moved all of the foreign language children's books to the children's book room (logical enough) and I wasn't willing to spend time looking at the early reader books. Mind you, I will likely end up buying my friends' 5 year old some French books as she's starting kindergarten at a French immersion school and I'll be taking care of her every other Friday starting in September or October. Said 5 year old (as well as her younger brother) is all about having adults read to her at the moment, which is great, so I see a lot of French early readers in my future.