What next? (learning Spanish, maintaining German, random dabbling...)

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gsbod
Blue Belt
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Re: Alors, ab jetzt Französisch? (German, French, SC, other things...)

Postby gsbod » Sun Jul 31, 2022 12:24 pm

After managing to avoid it for over two years, Covid finally caught me. For a few days, I was about as rough as you can get while still suffering from "just a mild illness". It also ruined a few holiday plans for good measure. I'm getting better now, but the lingering fatigue is really quite a nuisance. I'm just trying to focus on the fact that every day I feel slightly better than the day before, and build up my stamina again without overdoing it.

No languages until I feel a bit better. I'm not even ready to read English books again yet.
6 x

Caromarlyse
Green Belt
Posts: 387
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Re: Alors, ab jetzt Französisch? (German, French, SC, other things...)

Postby Caromarlyse » Sun Jul 31, 2022 6:55 pm

gsbod wrote:After managing to avoid it for over two years, Covid finally caught me. For a few days, I was about as rough as you can get while still suffering from "just a mild illness". It also ruined a few holiday plans for good measure. I'm getting better now, but the lingering fatigue is really quite a nuisance. I'm just trying to focus on the fact that every day I feel slightly better than the day before, and build up my stamina again without overdoing it.

No languages until I feel a bit better. I'm not even ready to read English books again yet.


Sorry to hear that, and hope you feel better soon.
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gsbod
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Re: Alors, ab jetzt Französisch? (German, French, SC, other things...)

Postby gsbod » Sun Aug 07, 2022 4:20 pm

It's taken longer than expected, but I'm finally feeling like my normal self again. I can walk to the shops again without it feeling like an ordeal. And more importantly, I can read again, even in German!

I am thinking about picking up another language again now, but I am having a bit of a "what language?" dilemma. Thinking about which languages would make most sense to study, in terms of opportunities to use them, availability of materials, the possibility of doing a course with face to face tuition in the autumn, and potential future travel plans, I can narrow things down to Welsh, French, Spanish and Italian. The objective case for Italian is maybe slightly weaker than the other three, but that is counterbalanced by my subjective feelings towards it being slightly stronger. Other than that, there's not really very much to choose between them. I do know that I'll have to pick one and stick to it (at least for a few weeks) as trying to actively study more than one language at a time never really works out for me.

Or I could just throw caution to the wind and sign up for a beginner Polish course in the autumn.

I don't know.
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DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
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Re: Alors, ab jetzt Französisch? (German, French, SC, other things...)

Postby DaveAgain » Sun Aug 07, 2022 4:44 pm

gsbod wrote:I am thinking about picking up another language again now, but I am having a bit of a "what language?" dilemma. Thinking about which languages would make most sense to study, in terms of opportunities to use them, availability of materials, the possibility of doing a course with face to face tuition in the autumn, and potential future travel plans, I can narrow things down to Welsh, French, Spanish and Italian. The objective case for Italian is maybe slightly weaker than the other three, but that is counterbalanced by my subjective feelings towards it being slightly stronger.
I'm on an Elizabeth von Arnim reading spree at the moment that was kicked off by watching the 1991 film adaption of Enchanted April, so I can completely sympathise empathise with your positive feelings towards all things Italian. :-)

PS Glad you're feeling better.
Last edited by DaveAgain on Sun Aug 07, 2022 9:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Caromarlyse
Green Belt
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Re: Alors, ab jetzt Französisch? (German, French, SC, other things...)

Postby Caromarlyse » Sun Aug 07, 2022 4:51 pm

gsbod wrote:It's taken longer than expected, but I'm finally feeling like my normal self again. I can walk to the shops again without it feeling like an ordeal. And more importantly, I can read again, even in German!

I am thinking about picking up another language again now, but I am having a bit of a "what language?" dilemma. Thinking about which languages would make most sense to study, in terms of opportunities to use them, availability of materials, the possibility of doing a course with face to face tuition in the autumn, and potential future travel plans, I can narrow things down to Welsh, French, Spanish and Italian. The objective case for Italian is maybe slightly weaker than the other three, but that is counterbalanced by my subjective feelings towards it being slightly stronger. Other than that, there's not really very much to choose between them. I do know that I'll have to pick one and stick to it (at least for a few weeks) as trying to actively study more than one language at a time never really works out for me.

Or I could just throw caution to the wind and sign up for a beginner Polish course in the autumn.

I don't know.


Glad you're properly on the mend. I increasingly think that if my gut/heart says "because I want to", that's what I should do. I really have zero reason to learn Russian, but am obsessed. If I try to explain rationally, I can never really do justice to what I feel. Why do we do anything (beyond the essentials), really? In the absence of any real need, I'd say go with your gut.
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gsbod
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Re: Alors, ab jetzt Französisch? (German, French, SC, other things...)

Postby gsbod » Sun Aug 07, 2022 8:03 pm

Caromarlyse wrote:In the absence of any real need, I'd say go with your gut.


Generally great advice. However these days my gut is mostly saying "Hey, I want some cake!"
3 x

gsbod
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Re: Alors, ab jetzt Französisch? (German, French, SC, other things...)

Postby gsbod » Sun Aug 14, 2022 7:19 pm

I've got as far as ordering myself a new Spanish grammar book, the Anaya A1-A2 book, which looks like it will help with a rapid review of A1 grammar so I could then restart where I left it last time, at the beginning of A2. First impressions are that it's less comprehensive than Gramática de Uso del Español, but the topics are ordered in a better way. It also comes with some audio on 2 CDs, which is a nice addition.

In general, I feel the happiest I've felt since before the pandemic. The low level gnawing anxiety I've been carrying since March 2020 has finally dissipated.

This week we've been enjoying a few days of unusually warm temperatures. Last month we had a shorter period of even more intense heat, which was deeply unpleasant with a COVID fever. This time we've had a week in the low 30s with clear blue skies and since I'm feeling healthy and happy again I've been absolutely loving it!

The weather is predicted to break tomorrow, so maybe that'll be time to stop lounging around and start reviewing my Spanish...
5 x

gsbod
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Re: Alors, ab jetzt Französisch? (German, French, SC, other things...)

Postby gsbod » Tue Aug 30, 2022 1:31 pm

I packed away a load of my language textbooks because I needed some shelf space to store some craft materials. Do I even belong here any more? :lol:

More importantly, is the realisation that the status of my German has most definitely gone from "learning" to "using". I've kept out my German reference books, but unless I have a moment of madness and sign up for a C1 exam, I genuinely have no use for my textbooks. And really, I think the moment has passed for doing a language exam anyway. I was definitely ready back in 2018/19, but the exam date clashed with a work event. And then the pandemic happened and now my skills have settled again in a way which suits my needs well, but doesn't suit the requirements of an exam paper. With a bit of practice I could get exam ready again, but I simply have no motivation to do so. I am satisfied with where I'm at, which is the best place to be!

I still haven't made any time for Spanish, but I have kept some room on the shelves to keep the books out, just in case. I'd like to sign up to a class or two in the autumn, just to get out of the house and meet people, but haven't decided what yet. Spanish is an option. Also curious about Polish. Or there are some other options in non-language related areas too.
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gsbod
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Re: Alors, ab jetzt Französisch? (German, French, SC, other things...)

Postby gsbod » Fri Sep 09, 2022 3:59 pm

I've signed up for a Spanish class. I couldn't do the Polish as it clashed with something else I wanted to do.

The level I've signed up to is A2, so it should meet me where I left off when I completed an A1 course on my own back in 2020. The course pace is slow (A2 over 2 years) but actually, this suits me. I'm happy for now just taking my time over getting used to the miriad of verb forms which seem to be a feature of romance languages. There's no rush. I don't need another books and TV language (I'm a slow reader and not much of a TV person), so really the only goals are a better experience next time I go to Spain (hopefully next year?) and in the short term it's a nice excuse to get out of the house and meet people, something I really need to start doing more of.
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gsbod
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Re: Alors, ab jetzt Französisch? (German, French, SC, other things...)

Postby gsbod » Sun Oct 09, 2022 5:01 pm

The Spanish class started this week. It may not be the most time efficient way to learn a language, but it was just so good to get back in the classroom, face to face with real people. The class seemed like a really friendly group too. It was social, fun, and educational!

I also loved the feeling of warming up the language. I ended up not having time for any preparation before class other than looking up how you say my job (as I figured, correctly, that self introductions would be part of the lesson). At the start of the lesson I could barely remember anything, so it really felt like I went from A0 to A1 in the space of about 90 minutes. Vocabulary I couldn't remember at the start of the class was easily accessible towards the end, without any prompting from the lesson itself. It's weird how the brain works.

I'm not getting any interference from German, maybe because I have fully upgraded it from learning to using, and also no noticeable interference from French, but weirdly got a bit of interference from Italian, a language I know even less well than Spanish. Yup, it's weird how the brain works.
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