GC1998's Language Log

[GC1998]

The week below was really good. University has now restarted, so I've not been able to do much this week, but hopefully I'll able to write up tomorrow what I've not done. (just Anki...)

Mon 23th:

Reading Spanish news (42)

Tues 24th:

Chinese writing practise (43)
Russian Peppa Pig (59)

Wed 25th:

Arabic L11 continue (37)
Chinese moodle listening (61)
Spanish reading "El Alquimista" (37)
Russian Peppa Pig (38)

Thurs 26th:

Chinese moodle listening (52)
Russian Peppa Pig (30)

Fri 27th:

French reading "20.000 lieues" (47)

Sat 28th:

Russian Peppa Pig (45)

Sun 29th:

Chinese writing practice (34)
Spanish reading (30)

The Peppa Pig experiment was going well while I was doing it (haven't watched anything this week). I felt like from episode to episode my listening comprehension was getting a little better. My comprehension is 87% according to the scripts, but I certainly don't hear all of that! I'm hoping I'll find time to watch at least one a week, but if not it's alright.

In Spanish news, I have finished El Alquimista and my next book will be Harry Potter 1, which I've read in English, so shouldn't be too bad, just something fun.

Now it is a new quarter and my two languages will be (again) Chinese and Russian. I'll leave Arabic for now. I didn't get too far in it, chapter 11/20 in my book, only about 500 flashcards made. I certainly hope to come back to it, but for now I definitely want Chinese as one of my languages and I'd like to keep improving at Russian.

Total time this week (of which is not spent on Anki)(of which is spent on Anki):
Russian - 266 minutes (172)(8+16+9+14+17+18+12=94)
Chinese - 223 minutes (190)(4+4+4+5+7+3+6=33)
Spanish - 133 minutes (109)(3+3+5+3+4+3+3=24)
Arabic - 76 minutes (37)(2+5+10+5+5+4+8=39)
French - 65 minutes (47)(2+1+2+2+4+3+4=18)

[GC1998]

It has been a very long time (over 2 years!) since my last language log. In that time I've done two more years at university and I've now finished my degree. In my penultimate year I did Chinese 3, but despite wanting to do Chinese 4 in my last year, I found myself with enough on my hands with my maths courses.

Recently I was thinking that tracking how many hours I do each week/the activities I do (like I used to) makes me study languages a bit more consistently. So last week:

In Chinese I watched a short Mandarin Click video.

In French I read some more of 20.000 Lieues Sous Les Mers, which I started so long ago I can't remember when but I'm still plodding through. I hope to pick up my reading pace after my long break of not doing many languages.

In Spanish I watched an intermediate Dreaming Spanish video all about tacos. I think it was too easy for me (very few words I didn't understand), but again after not doing many languages for a long time I wanted a calm introduction. My plan next week is to watch some more episodes of La Casa de Papel.

In Korean I've been working my way through howtostudykorean.com lesson 5.

I've also been dabbling in German with some comprehensible input videos by Natürlich German. I already know a bit so most of the beginner videos I can understand, but I can also pick up words in context. Like kaugummi in a recent video.

I know that some say get to a good level in one language before moving onto others but I'm just doing me and I like lots of languages! I didn't do any Russian last week, mainly because I can't find anything of a good level (halfway between beginner and intermediate), but I'll hopefully do some this week.

[GC1998]

Bit of a busy week last week. Probably could've snook a few more things in, but my other hobbies would then get jealous. I'm happy enough anyway. Still didn't do any active Russian learning but that may change next week/this week.

In Spanish I watched more intermediate Dreaming Spanish videos. These videos aren't challenging for me (a few new words per video), but they're good just to get some listening practise in. There are advanced videos as well, but I like being able to understand everything - it's a nice feeling.

In Korean, I carried on going through howtostudykorean.com. It's definitely slow going but enjoyable.

In German, I watched some more Natürlich German videos and did a lesson on Deutsche Welle (Nicos Weg). I find them both pretty fun.

[GC1998]

The week commencing the 29th November was a pretty good week for language learning. This past week (w/c 6th) was busier in general and I haven't managed to do any!

So two weeks ago now:
In Chinese I watched a Mandarin Click video that I kept thinking seemed familiar. Turns out I'd watched it previously. At least I recognised a few words that I didn't recognise last time eh? I'm sure it wasn't a waste of time because I was still practising my listening skills. I've also read some of the graded reader 如果没有你 which is at a really good level for reading because I can understand most of it. The only problems I get are when I understand all the words but they don't make sense together which I think is a frequent problem with Mandarin.

In French I've been reading more of 20.000 Lieues sous les mers. I'm getting closer and closer to the end now, but who knows how long that will take.

In Spanish I finished off an episode of La Casa de Papel. I've almost finished series 1 now and after that I'll rewatch it with my girlfriend with English subtitles for her and I'll try just listening as I already know what's going to happen. I find it so annoying that I can understand most with subtitles (in Spanish that is), but when I just listen it's a million times harder. However, if I look at the subtitles before the characters speak I'll hear them saying it clearly when they do speak. Anyway I think watching it again and forcing myself to not read the English subtitles may help me.

In German, I did a Deutsche Welle lesson and I listened/read a few Duolingo stories which were too easy but were still fun nonetheless.