Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian/Welsh)

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Caromarlyse
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:31 pm
Languages: English (N), French (C1-ish), German (B2/C1-ish), Russian (B1-ish), Portuguese (B1-ish), Welsh (complete beginner), Spanish (in hibernation)
(All levels estimates and given as a guide only)
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Caromarlyse » Mon Dec 19, 2022 10:32 am

DaveAgain wrote:
Caromarlyse wrote:This week really set me behind on my steps goal because there was snow then freezing temperatures, and the pavements were so treacherous that any walk took me double the amount of time that it does usually. I'm going to have to try to catch up - we now just have rain, and getting wet is not a good enough excuse not to get out and walk ;). Other than that, workouts took place as usual.
Rain is a big improvement over cold! :-)


Because it messes up your hair but at least your toes don't fall off?!
3 x

Caromarlyse
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:31 pm
Languages: English (N), French (C1-ish), German (B2/C1-ish), Russian (B1-ish), Portuguese (B1-ish), Welsh (complete beginner), Spanish (in hibernation)
(All levels estimates and given as a guide only)
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Caromarlyse » Sat Dec 31, 2022 4:13 pm

Time for the end-of-year round-up!

FRENCH
TOTAL: 138.27 hours
I spent almost double the amount of time on French this year compared with last. I definitely feel closer to the language now. I still have no desire to get back to “studying” it, but I am very happy to be having regular contact. In particular, I have really enjoyed a lot of the books that I have read in French this year.

I read:
    - L’Anomalie by Hervé Le Tellier
    - Changer l’eau des fleurs by Valérie Perrin
    - La poule et son cumin by Zineb Mekouar
    - Les victorieuses by Laetitia Colombani
    - Chanson douce by Leïla Slimani
    - Les impatientes by Djaïli Amadou Amal
    - Tout le bleu du ciel by Mélissa Da Costa
    - Les oubliés du dimanche by Valérie Perrin

I’m ahead of target in terms of the reading part of my personal Super Challenge (43.94% when on-target would be 40%). I’m pretty pleased with my achievements here, even though my goal was to read one novel a month. Looking back at my records, I was a diligent reader when I was on holiday during the year, but much less so when I was not…

I also listened to and watched a fair bit over the course of this year, though I’m slightly behind my SC target (36.41%). I have a huge list of what I have listened to/watched, but it would be dull to list out! It was mainly podcasts, some (online) television news, and some Arte programmes and documentaries.

GERMAN
TOTAL: 192.65 hours
I did significantly less German this year than last, principally because in 2021 I was trying to listen to an hour of German a day - a goal that I dropped for this year. I still think that I did enough to keep my hand in, and of course to get enjoyment from the language. I didn’t read as much as I would have liked, or should have, in the sense that I really like reading in German. When stressed throughout the year I forgot that reading would help, and stopped for huge swathes of time altogether. I need to remember to read next year!

Anyway, I read Todesmaerchen, Togesregen, Todesmal, and Todesschmerz, all by Andreas Gruber

These were all pretty long books, so I’m not too far behind my SC target (35.04%). It was maybe a bit of a “same-y” diet though…! I have one more to read in this series and I will then move on to something else. I thought this time last year that that point would come sooner, but never mind.

I did a lot of listening/watching (ahead of SC target here: 52.42%). Again, I won’t list everything out. I do seem to be able to find a lot in German to enjoy listening to/watching, though.

As planned, I did no “study” of German ;-). I’m still happy with that decision, even if given unlimited time and (mental) resources I’d focus on the language more.

PORTUGUESE
TOTAL: 228.62 hours (including 39.5 hours of classes)
I spent a lot less time on Portuguese this year compared with last. This was mainly because I pretty much dropped the language from May/June until sometime in November. That said, I’ve picked it back up well, and feel happy at the moment with where I am. I have finally got a good routine going, whereby I am working through quite an academic textbook and, in parallel, working with authentic, less formal, texts (oral and written). At the same time, I’m listening to/watching stuff on my own (and in fact am not too far behind target on my SC: 31.59%), as well as trying to read (here it’s still early days… I’m only at 8.12%).

I read:
    - Falando com estranhos by Malcolm Gladwell
    - A era dos muros by Tim Marshall
    - As cinco pessoas que você encontra no céu by Mitch Albom
    Plus a couple of false starts that I might try again with in 2023.

Portuguese is the only language in which I’ve consistently watched a lot of serials and films, rather than relying chiefly on podcasts. I watched all of 3%, the first season of Bom dia, Verônica, and the films 7 Prisioneiros, M-8, and Tudo bem no Natal que vem.

RUSSIAN
TOTAL: 865.80 hours (including 133 hours of classes and another 6.17 hours of speaking in a group)
I did a lot of Russian this year, meeting my aim to make Russian a focus! I also appear to have executed the plan I outlined at the start of the year :-). I still feel pretty frustrated a lot of the time with the language, though, because it is so hard and progress is slow.

Anyhow, I did get some reading done, even if it wasn’t as much as I would have liked (and I abandoned some books midway through). I'm only at 10.58% in terms of my personal SC because they were all short graded readers.

I read:
    - Преступление и наказание by Dostoevsky
    - Анна Каренина by Tolstoy
    - Гранатовый браслет by Kuprin
    - Дама с собачкой by Chekhov
    - Пиковая дама by Pushkin
    - Ионыч by Chekhov
    - Азазель by Akunin
    - Первая любовь by Turgenev
    - Белые ночи by Dostoevsky

I also listened to the Russian with Max podcasts and videos very diligently, and added in some other sources of listening/watching as the year went on. I'm 63.84% of the way through the listening portion of my personal SC.

I kept up with classes, and experimented with a number of different teachers. I definitely find a lot of value now in meeting with a variety of teachers. All of these classes gave me a lot of speaking practice. I *must* have got better, even if I still don’t really feel as though I’m a confident Russian speaker. I have to say that the standard that Russian teachers hold you to is, in my opinion, very high! I've written little essays quite frequently too. I've also done bits of other reading and listening as part of these classes, in addition to my independent work as described above.

I also did quite a lot of study on my own. I’ve reviewed vocabulary and gone over grammar independently. It mainly feels as though it flies out of my head the minute I think I’ve retained it, though… I'm very nearly finished going through volume 1 of Let's Improve our Russian (about five pages left) and I'm almost halfway through Russian: From Intermediate to Advanced.

OTHER 2022 GOALS
I was pretty successful here! I was generally quite consistent over the course of the year with stretching, I kept up with my workout schedule, and I got an average of 10k steps a day within each month of the year. I've definitely got stronger, because I'm using heavier weights than a year ago.
12 x

Caromarlyse
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:31 pm
Languages: English (N), French (C1-ish), German (B2/C1-ish), Russian (B1-ish), Portuguese (B1-ish), Welsh (complete beginner), Spanish (in hibernation)
(All levels estimates and given as a guide only)
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Caromarlyse » Mon Jan 02, 2023 9:56 am

For 2023, I don't want to have language goals as such. But I will stick around here, if that's allowed ;)

Instead I want to focus on being nice to myself. As clichéd as it is, I think, long term, it will do me more good than hurrying myself along to better language proficiency.

I won't go into the completely non-language related intentions here, save to say that I have a couple of habits I want to do daily. I will also keep up with the fitness goals from last year, though I'm not going to stress too much about the 10k steps a day (I don't think extra walks around the block just to get to a number really did much).

The other goals are not focused on language, but will bring languages in. So, I want to read for an hour each day. This is chiefly for wellbeing reasons, though I will do it in languages other than English, so will get some language "learning" in by the back door. I also want to listen to "valuable" stuff on my walks, i.e. no real trash that a tired brain can sometimes think it wants. Again, this will bring in my target languages.

Other than that, I will continue to do classes in Portuguese and Russian, but I am not setting myself any targets beyond booking them, doing the work for them, and showing up. Progress can take care of itself!
12 x

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Le Baron
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Le Baron » Mon Jan 02, 2023 11:44 am

Nothing amiss with this plan. It's really what I should be doing instead of spending a good portion of the limited free time either language learning or online. The only other activity I ever keep up is physical exercise. A rest is as good as a holiday.
1 x

Caromarlyse
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:31 pm
Languages: English (N), French (C1-ish), German (B2/C1-ish), Russian (B1-ish), Portuguese (B1-ish), Welsh (complete beginner), Spanish (in hibernation)
(All levels estimates and given as a guide only)
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Caromarlyse » Tue Jan 03, 2023 11:26 am

Le Baron wrote:Nothing amiss with this plan. It's really what I should be doing instead of spending a good portion of the limited free time either language learning or online. The only other activity I ever keep up is physical exercise. A rest is as good as a holiday.


It should play to my strengths. If I insist on being achievement-focused, then make rest the thing I should be trying to achieve!
2 x

Caromarlyse
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:31 pm
Languages: English (N), French (C1-ish), German (B2/C1-ish), Russian (B1-ish), Portuguese (B1-ish), Welsh (complete beginner), Spanish (in hibernation)
(All levels estimates and given as a guide only)
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Caromarlyse » Mon Jan 09, 2023 7:43 am

First week done.

French
I'm halfway through Normal People by Sally Rooney (translation into French). I found this book as I was going through lists of "best" books; I chose it because I didn't want anything too demanding ;-). It's been a good read so far. I have also listened to/watched some stuff on Arte and from the Géopolitique and Easy French podcasts.

German
Taking inspiration from @Radioclare, I decided to try the Vanitas series of books by Ursula Poznanski. I started and finished Schwarz wie Erde, the first one. A good Krimi pageturner! I then just listened to a couple of Easy German podcasts.

Portuguese
I read A próxima pessoa que você encontra no céu by Mitch Albom, the sequel to the book I read at the end of last year. I did enjoy these books, though in this one in particular it felt a little as though it was a lot of "meaningful quotes" strung together. Perhaps that's just me being a bit cynical. Anyway, it was good for my Portuguese. Words I'd studied the previous day miraculously quite appearing. I also did a couple of classes (plus prep etc). And I've discovered the podcast Modus Operandi, and this week I listened to three episodes. It's a true crime podcast, and choosing stories that I am already quite familiar with has been a good way of getting into listening pretty long podcasts made for Brazilians.

Russian
This got a little neglected (based on my high expectations) this week. I did a couple of classes and all the associated prep etc. I listened to a podcast from Давай поговорим and another one from Сделано с нуля. The latter was a new one for me; it was ok from a comprehension point of view (i.e. I could follow most of it, but occasionally there were bits where I got lost) but I found the argument of the presenter a bit confused - I couldn't quite understand what he was trying to get at. I think this was more to do with logic than language, though. I also watched a Deutsche Welle news broadcast and a Russian with Max video. I also did a bit of grammar review on my own and a bit of vocabulary review (on health).
8 x

Caromarlyse
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:31 pm
Languages: English (N), French (C1-ish), German (B2/C1-ish), Russian (B1-ish), Portuguese (B1-ish), Welsh (complete beginner), Spanish (in hibernation)
(All levels estimates and given as a guide only)
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Caromarlyse » Sun Jan 15, 2023 6:41 pm

You know you spend too much of your time reading crime fiction and browsing this forum when your dream consists of you having to bring down some ne'er-do-wells and you have to try to text Radioclare without giving too much away (in case the message gets intercepted) that Le Baron is actually one of the good guys after all.

Anyway, moving on...

French: I finished Normal People, watched the latest episode of Le dessous des cartes, and listened to a podcast about the push to bring back regular dictations at school to reverse falling standards of spelling and grammar.

German: Just some podcasts: Easy German and Der Tag.

Portuguese: Just my classes and all the associated prep, but that is now quite a lot and includes long podcasts and (quite long) short stories. The short stories are by quality Brazilian writers, which is nice and makes a change!

Russian: I've started reading a novel in Russian! I wanted to get into reading something in long form (and not a graded reader) for pleasure. I have attempted to do so in the past, but have aborted all attempts. I therefore needed something easy. My litres account was suddenly offering me some books for free, and I opted for If She Knew by Blake Pierce translated into Russian. I have reservations about the (literary) quality of the book but I can read it in Russian quite easily, which feels like a big step. I'm 16% of the way through. I want to finish it by the end of the month, just because I need to build momentum (and don't want it to be another one to add to the pile of failures).

Other than that, Russian classes (and prep) went on as usual. Some days I feel good about my progress, some days terrible, so nothing new to see here!
10 x

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Radioclare
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Radioclare » Mon Jan 16, 2023 8:43 pm

Caromarlyse wrote:You know you spend too much of your time reading crime fiction and browsing this forum when your dream consists of you having to bring down some ne'er-do-wells and you have to try to text Radioclare without giving too much away (in case the message gets intercepted) that Le Baron is actually one of the good guys after all.

That sounds like it was quite some dream :lol:
1 x

Caromarlyse
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:31 pm
Languages: English (N), French (C1-ish), German (B2/C1-ish), Russian (B1-ish), Portuguese (B1-ish), Welsh (complete beginner), Spanish (in hibernation)
(All levels estimates and given as a guide only)
x 1611

Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Caromarlyse » Sun Jan 22, 2023 6:56 pm

No weird dreams to report this week.

French: just one episode of Le dessous des cartes

German: just a couple of Easy German podcasts.

But I was pretty active (and successful!) in the two languages I'm actively studying at the moment.

Portuguese: I did some close reading of a couple of journalistic texts. I listened to an episode of Modus Operandi about the death of Lady Di. I read the short story Aqueles dois by Caio Fernando Abreu and had a very in-depth discussion about it. I watched (twice) the film O matador, and spoke about that too. I also started reading O desejo de Kianda by Pepetela, an Angolan writer. I needed something to read in a window I had before a Portuguese lesson (I didn't want to get Russian into my head right beforehand); I am enjoying it so far, but will try to finish my Russian book first before returning to this one. This short description definitely does not do what I have done this week justice, but I am tired so it will have to do ;)

Russian: I listened to/watched various Russian with Max and Easy Russian content. I had a couple of good lessons in which I felt I was able to speak spontaneously on not-so-familiar topics pretty well. I also continued reading my crime novel, which is definitely not as pleasurable a leisure activity as reading in any of my other languages yet, but I am getting there. Again, I am too tired to write much more here, but I have worked hard on Russian too this week!
8 x

Caromarlyse
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:31 pm
Languages: English (N), French (C1-ish), German (B2/C1-ish), Russian (B1-ish), Portuguese (B1-ish), Welsh (complete beginner), Spanish (in hibernation)
(All levels estimates and given as a guide only)
x 1611

Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Caromarlyse » Tue Jan 31, 2023 9:01 pm

JANUARY REVIEW
A month of the year gone already!

My focus this month was to read more, and I've done that: I've read a book in each of French, German, Portuguese and Russian, and am also partway through two books in English (one paper book and one audio book). I've been slightly less good at listening to stuff other than utter trash, but during the last few days of the month I started the audio book (having remembered that I bought a couple a while ago and never got round to listening to them), and I think that this will be a good solution. I also seem to have failed in taking things easy: I kind of overcommitted on the language front, and then just had to find time to get everything done.

French
    - 11.17 hours total
    - Read Normal People by Sally Rooney (in French translation, even if the title - confusingly - isn't translated)
    - Bits and pieces of listening/watching. My highlight was the new-to-me podcast Ta meilleure vie - I listened to the episode entitled "Comment aller bien dans un monde qui va mal"

German
    - 16.85 hours total
    - Read Schwarz wie Erde by Ursula Poznanski
    - Bits and pieces of listening/watching, mainly Der Tag and Easy German podcasts

Portuguese
    - 42.12 hours total
    - Read A próxima pessoa que você encontra no céu by Mitch Albom
    - Watched the films O matador and Cabras da peste, listened to various podcasts, including one from Cartas de um terapeuta that I quite enjoyed. I seem to like most Brazilian podcasts I come across, which is handy!
    - 8 hours of classes, half of which were quite formal going through a fairly academic-style textbook, and half were discussion of a podcast/text/video. Another 3 and a bit hours of freer speaking practice
    - Various prep for those classes, involving a little writing but mainly preparing for discussion

Russian
    - 64.37 hours total
    - Read Если бы она знала by Blake Pierce (translation). This was my first full proper book in Russian (i.e. not a graded reader). It feels like a big achievement. It takes me about twice the time compared with my German reading speed, but overall I was pleasantly surprised at how freely I can read in Russian now. I think I need to stay with this kind of level of difficulty for a while, but I'm definitely going to continue
    - Listened/watched to some stuff from Easy Russian, Russian with Max, Deutsche Welle, Давай поговорим and Сделано с нуля.
    - 12 hours of classes, plus another 2 and a bit hours of a speaking club (with other learners)
    - Various prep for those classes, involving some writing, some grammar, some preparing for discussion
10 x


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