3 Day Projects (2019-2023)

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Teango
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3 Day Projects (2019-2023)

Postby Teango » Tue Oct 08, 2019 8:32 am

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source: pixabay.com (wagrati_photo)

Céad míle fáilte! (ga: a hundred thousand welcomes)

This post marks the beginning of a new approach: 3 Day Projects.

My personality being what it is, I quickly lose interest in trudging toward some lofty destination over the distant horizon. After a while, I become restless and bored, increasingly tempted by shortcuts and vendors along the road. Inevitably, I end up finding new adventure elsewhere, hot on the trail of a few dozen pet procrastinations.

Another issue is that it's almost impossible to predict where I'll be, or what state of health I'll be in, several weeks, months, or years from now. Life is simply littered with bumps and potholes. And as many of my previous projects turned out to be long or overambitious, it only took one serious health setback, domestic crisis, or demanding deadline to break the chain of past successes and watch good intentions fall apart.

I believe the solution lies in how I choose and define projects. Long and overambitious projects make easy targets for life's bumps in the road, and the cost to each project in terms of momentum and motivation adds up. Essentially, the longer the project goes on, the more likely it will get derailed or overturned at several points. At least for me.

If I break language learning down into much shorter achievable wins, I think I'll make greater progress in the long-term; mini-projects that are just long and challenging enough to break free of the shadows of past ambitions, but short, easy, and flexible enough to remain highly resilient and low risk over the test of time. With enough of these under my belt, I hope to leave the days of wishful horizons behind me.

Ke aloha,
T.
Last edited by Teango on Tue Jan 16, 2024 6:31 pm, edited 12 times in total.
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Guidelines (revised for 2024)

Postby Teango » Tue Oct 08, 2019 8:33 am

  1. Prepare
    Choose the languages you want to improve this week and can realistically fit into your schedule. Each language will be a separate project. Then set aside a suitable personal space and learning environment for this purpose, conducive to language study and practice. This includes reserving a simple set of materials, tools, and activities for each project, which should ideally be very easy to start and ready to go.

  2. Days 1, 2, and 3 (any time during the same week): Improve
    Work on each project for at least 20 minutes on 3 different days this week. The goal here is to improve your competence and/or performance in that language, and if you can invest more time or more days, that's even better! This does not include deciding on a new project, finding material and resources, or notes and write-ups. If you work for less than 3 days, you forfeit the project and will have to start over.

  3. Post
    Write up your progress, challenges, and motivating thoughts in a short post after completing a project. This is also a good opportunity to update readers on what you're doing to maintain any other advanced languages, share interesting linguistic encounters, and keep track of how you're generally getting on in terms of health and fitness. Then repeat the cycle next week.
Principles

The key ideas here are to build incrementally on micro-projects, make activities easy to start, maintain an ongoing journal of your language learning experiences, and invest in some level of social accountability and connection. Don't worry if you get derailed or can only invest the minimum amount of time into a project. It's far more important to progress on a regular weekly basis and include time for recovery in that equation, and if life gets in your way, get back on track as soon as you feel well enough and able to do so. It's also essential to the long-term success of your language learning, or any goals for that matter, to respond swiftly and appropriately to changes in personal motivation, and ultimately, develop progressively rewarding skills and habits over time.
Last edited by Teango on Mon Jan 29, 2024 8:15 pm, edited 431 times in total.
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Projects

Postby Teango » Tue Oct 08, 2019 8:34 am

Oct 2019 - Sep 2023 (Pilot: 12+ languages, 91 projects, 477 hours, 4 years, avg. 20 minutes/day)
American Sign Language (ase: 3h) 1
French (fr: 14h) 1 2
German (de: 5h) 1 2
Irish (ga: 8h) 1
Jamaican Patois (jam: 3h) 1
Japanese (ja: 209h) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34
New Zealand Sign Language (nzs: 8h) 1
Russian (ru: 144h) 1 2 3 4-5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30-31 32 33 34-35 36 37 38-39 40
Spanish (es: 5h) 1
Tagalog (tl: 15h) 1 2
Toki Pona (tok: 15h) 1 2
Turkish (tr: 43h) 1-3
Other (-: 5h) 1
Last edited by Teango on Tue Jan 16, 2024 6:49 am, edited 168 times in total.
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Progress

Postby Teango » Tue Oct 08, 2019 8:34 am

Major Milestones
  • ...
Monthly Progress
Motivating Moments
  • Hawaiian: 1
  • Japanese: 1
  • Romanian: 1
  • Russian: 1 2
  • Tagalog: 1 2 3
New Year's Greetings
Disclaimers
  • All CEFR levels posted in this language log are self-estimated and unofficial, unless otherwise indicated.
Last edited by Teango on Tue Jan 16, 2024 6:50 am, edited 79 times in total.
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1. Perdidos en la Tribu (es).

Postby Teango » Wed Oct 09, 2019 9:55 pm

Interpret 5 episodes of Perdidos en la Tribu into English for my wife: 5 hours.

Considering I only ever studied Spanish for a month back in 2010, I was delighted to be able to interpret the gist of this Chilean reality tv show for my wife. I felt like a UN interpreter sitting on our sofa, and as there were Spanish subtitles provided, I learnt several new words and phrases along the way (including some racy Chilean slang).
Last edited by Teango on Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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2. Relearn kana (ja).

Postby Teango » Sat Oct 12, 2019 8:51 pm

Relearn the 228 characters and modified forms used in Japanese to represent sounds (hiragana + katakana): 3 hours.

With little time to spare this week, I chose to fast-track proceedings by downloading a pre-made deck on Flashcards Deluxe, which I studied in rounds of 20 cards at a time during dead time. I've wanted to do this for absolutely ages but never got round to it, and thanks to this project, I'm now able to translate loads of words written in kana on shop windows and buses for my family who are visiting.
Last edited by Teango on Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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3. Notes from St Petersburg: Part I (ru).

Postby Teango » Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:36 am

Review 300 words and phrases taken down during my last trip to Russia (2016), including notes from iTalki lessons leading up to my visit: 5 hours.

Sifting through this eclectic bundle of scrap paper, words and phrases reignited happy memories. Vocabulary gleaned from my wife dealt primarily with shopping, while words from my father-in-law tended towards DIY, and my mother-in-law proved once again to be a boundless source of rare herbs, berries, and mushrooms (many of which I hadn't the faintest clue how to translate into English without a helping hand from Wikipedia).
Last edited by Teango on Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: 3 Day Projects (3DP)

Postby Decidida » Wed Oct 16, 2019 12:15 pm

I really like this idea!

Life really does have a way of trashing checklists, doesn't it. LOL.
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4. Notes from St Petersburg: Part II (ru).

Postby Teango » Sun Oct 27, 2019 4:22 am

Go through the next 300 words and phrases noted down during my trip to Russia: 8 hours.

I’m a proud dad again (my wife gave birth to a handsome baby boy)!! And given that my feet have barely touched the ground, nor my head enjoyed the gentle caress of a pillow since, fitting in this project marks a monumental achievement.
Last edited by Teango on Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:17 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: 3 Day Projects (3DP)

Postby lavengro » Sun Oct 27, 2019 6:20 am

Congratulations!
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