Amanda's 2020 Log: Spanish, French, and Occasionally Ancient Greek

[philomath]

Goals for January 2 to January 10

Spanish (low priority this month)
[X] Continue reading Harry Potter y la cámara secreta.
[X] Start keeping a diary in Spanish again.

French
[X] Do 1 hour of listening practice.
[X] Do Colloquial French Chapter 3 and start Chapter 4.
[ ] Do Pimsleur French I Lessons 11-14.
[X] Do Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French Grammar Chapters 1-3.
[X] Have another iTalki lesson, or maybe even two!
[ ] Write 250 words.

Accomplished

Spanish
- Read 30 pages of Harry Potter y la cámara secreta.
- Wrote 973 words in my journal in Spanish.

French
- Did 1 hour of listening practice (to the innerFrench podcast, episode 1).
- Did Colloquial French Chapter 3.
- Did Pimsleur French I Lessons 11-12.
- Did Practice Makes Perfect Chapters 1-3.
- Had one 45-minute iTalki lesson.
- Wrote 156 words.

Goals for January 13 to January 19

Spanish
[ ] Continue reading Harry Potter y la cámara secreta.
[ ] Write two more journal entries in Spanish.

French
[ ] Do one hour of listening practice.
[ ] Do Colloquial French Chapter 4.
[ ] Do Pimsleur French I Lessons 13-16.
[ ] Do Practice Makes Perfect Chapters 4-5.
[ ] Have another iTalki lesson.
[ ] Learn 100 new words.
[ ] Write 300 words.

[philomath]

Today I did Pimsleur French I Lesson 13. I also continued my homework assignment for my iTalki tutor, which is to write a detailed description of my weekend. I had to look up a lot of words, and I'm not really sure if any of it is correct. In addition to showing it to my iTalki tutor, I might post it on iTalki as a notebook entry when I'm done. (And I'll post it here as well!)

I really want to learn more words in French. Today I made 25 Anki flash cards for words related to things around the house. However, I'm not sure if making random flash cards is the way to go. Maybe I just should make word lists in my notebook instead and review them from time to time.

[philomath]

Today I finished my homework assignment for my iTalki teacher. Here is what I wrote:

Bonjour. Je m’appelle Amanda et je suis américaine. Je viens de New York, mais j’habite à Boston depuis cinq ans. J’étudie le français parce que je veux voyager. Est-ce que tu veux aussi voyager? Le mois dernier je suis allé à Québec. J’ai essayé de parler français mais je dois apprendre plus.

Ce matin je me suis levé à huit heures. Je me suis brossé les dents, j’ai me maquillé, et après je suis allé au centre ville afin de rencontrer mon amie. Nous avons mangé dans un restaurant des fruits de mer. Ensuite nous sommes allé au musée. Nous habitons à Boston, et il y a beaucoup de musée d'histoire dans la ville. Après le musée, nous sommes allé au magasin de la glace. Il y avait beaucoup de gens, ainsi nous avons attendu depuis longtemps, mais les glaces étaient délicieuse!

Ce soir, mon copain m'a dit qu’il voulait aller au parc parce que le temps faisait très bien. Nous nous sommes promenés dans le parc pendant une heure et après nous sommes allé au supermarché faire les courses. Ensuite nous sommes rentrés à l'appartement et nous avons cuisiné un curry avec de riz. Après le dîner, j’ai étudié le français pendant une heure, j’ai regardé la télé, et je me suis couchée à minuit.

I had to look up a lot in order to write those paragraphs, and I'm not very confident that what I wrote is correct. (Also, I realized at the end that maybe I should've been using 'on' instead of 'nous'?)

I think I need to make a couple of changes to my plan for learning French:

1. Go through Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French Grammar (or another grammar book) as quickly as possible. I don't care about memorizing every detail of French grammar right now, but I need a good overview if I want to be able to write in French sooner. I especially need to figure out French articles, prepositions, other verb tenses such as the imparfait, etc.
2. Stop using Anki for everything and start keeping a French notebook. I think Anki is useful sometimes, especially when I have flash cards with audio because they help reinforce correct pronunciation, but I think I've been making too many of them. I shouldn't be afraid of forgetting words because I'll learn them naturally through repeated exposure to French.

[cmia11]

I hope I'm not intruding but I can help you on your paragraph as I am native French.
It is quite good actually, I just wanted to point a few mistakes:
- Le mois dernier je suis allé à Québec. (au Québec)
- j’ai me maquillé : je me suis maquillé
- un restaurant des fruits de mer : un restaurant de fruits de mer
(I put the corrections in parenthesis)
"Ce matin je me suis levé(e) à huit heures. Je me suis brossé(e) les dents, j’ai me maquillé, et après je suis allé(e) au centre ville afin de rencontrer mon amie. Nous avons mangé dans un restaurant des fruits de mer. Ensuite nous sommes allé(es) au musée. Nous habitons à Boston, et il y a beaucoup de musée(s) d'histoire dans la ville. Après le musée, nous sommes allé(es) au magasin de la glace. Il y avait beaucoup de gens, ainsi nous avons attendu depuis (pendant) longtemps, mais les glaces étaient délicieuse (s)!"
- le temps faisait très bien = sorry, I never heard that, maybe it is more Canadian French. Otherwise, I would say, "le temps était magnifique"
- nous sommes allé au supermarché = allés
- un curry avec de riz = du riz

No worries about "on" and "nous", it is used in the same way and it does not make any issues. I hope I was useful and good luck for your next trip in Québec!

[philomath]

I hope I'm not intruding but I can help you on your paragraph as I am native French.

Thank you! This gives me a good idea of what grammar I need to work on.

[philomath]

Tonight I had another iTalki lesson with my French tutor. I spent the whole time practicing how to describe my day. My tutor wanted me to form sentences with 'on' rather than 'nous', which was difficult because I haven't practiced using 'on' as much. I need to practice the passé composé more in general because I was speaking veryyy slowly. Fortunately the slow pace helped my tutor notice some pronunciation errors I was making! To be specific, I was pronouncing 'de' with /ɛ/ rather than /ə/. Overall I think my pronunciation is getting better, but I'll definitely have to pay attention to the little details like that.

My tutor said that we'll continue practicing the passé composé in our next lesson. I want to work on it a lot before our lesson though, so we can move on to something else.

[philomath]

I haven't made great progress on my French goals this week. :/ I think I'm bored of Colloquial French right now because I want to improve my conversational ability, and the tourist phrases taught in Colloquial French aren't super relevant to me. I also spent more time this week hanging out in the common areas of my apartment, which isn't a great place to do Pimsleur lessons. Maybe I'm just feeling a little bit burnt out though. Usually when I experience burnout it's because I'm trying to do too many different language-related activities. So next week I'll try to cut back a bit and focus on a smaller amount of activities that will really improve my French.

Tonight I had 155 Anki cards to review. A lot of them were conversational phrases that I'd learned with my iTalki tutor. I like reviewing those flash cards because I hope that they'll help make my responses more automatic when I speak. I also did another page or two of Colloquial French. Chapter 4 introduces how to discuss professions, which wasn't really interesting to me because I already listened to the Coffee Break French episodes on that topic. Also, I don't really feel like memorizing how to say bank clerk, mechanic, postman, etc. in French. There are definitely higher-frequency words that I should be learning instead.

Oh well, maybe tomorrow will be a more productive day learning French! This weekend is a long weekend because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday. I'll have to go to work for a bit to deal with one of the bioreactors but I should have a lot more time for French than usual.

[philomath]

Goals for January 13 to January 19

Spanish
[X] Continue reading Harry Potter y la cámara secreta.
[ ] Write two more journal entries in Spanish.

French
[ ] Do one hour of listening practice.
[ ] Do Colloquial French Chapter 4.
[ ] Do Pimsleur French I Lessons 13-16.
[ ] Do Practice Makes Perfect Chapters 4-5.
[ ] Have another iTalki lesson.
[ ] Learn 100 new words.
[ ] Write 300 words.

Accomplished

Spanish
- Read 25 pages of Harry Potter y la cámara secreta.

French
- Began Colloquial French Chapter 4.
- Did Pimsleur French I Lessons 13-14.
- Had one 45-minute iTalki lesson.
- Learned 25 new words (probably more, but I only counted words I made into Anki flashcards).
- Wrote 102 words.

Goals for January 20 to January 26

Spanish
[ ] Continue reading Harry Potter y la cámara secreta.
[ ] Write two more journal entries in Spanish.

French
[ ] Do one hour of listening practice (innerFrench podcast, French Netflix, etc.).
[ ] Practice speaking for 30 minutes.
[ ] Finish Colloquial French Chapter 4 and start Chapter 5.
[ ] Do Pimsleur French I Lessons 15-18.
[ ] Make a list of important verbs in French and practice conjugating them.
[ ] Schedule another iTalki lesson.
[ ] Write 250 words.

I know I said that I got burnt out last week because I gave myself too many different activities to do in French, but I wasn't sure which activities to remove from my goals this week! I think I might try to separate my French study sessions into three different "types":

• Type 1: During my commute. Listening practice.
• Type 2: While I'm hanging out in the common areas of my apartment, i.e., around people but still doing my own thing. Colloquial French, conjugation practice, writing.
• Type 3: When I'm actually alone. Speaking practice, Pimsleur.

Maybe this will help me narrow down what to do whenever I start studying French. Right now I'm sitting on the couch in my living room, so I should be doing the "Type 2" activities.

[philomath]

Tonight I did the following:
- Did Pimsleur French I Lesson 16. Lately there is a little arithmetic quiz in French at the end of each lesson. Today's quiz was kind of hard!
- Reviewed 154 Anki flashcards in 19 minutes.
- Practiced talking about my day in French. Then I had some questions about French grammar, so I wrote down what I wanted to say and posted it on iTalki to receive corrections. This is what I wrote:

Ce matin je me suis levé a six heures, j'ai mangé, et j'ai pris le métro au travail. Quand je suis arrivée au travail, j'ai acheté un café et aprés j'ai commencé à travailler. J'ai travaillé dans le laboratoire pendant trois heures, et aprés je suis allée a une réunion avec des collègues. Aprés la reunion, mes collègues et moi, on est allé a la cafétéria pour dejeuner. A une heure, j'ai rentré au labo avec une collègue et on a travaillé jusqu'à six heures. Ensuite, je suis partie du travail et je suis allée au gym. Là j'ai fait de l'exercise pendant quarante minutes. Aprés le gym, j'ai pris une douche et j'ai rentré chez moi. J'ai fait du français pendant une heure et je me suis couchée a onze heures. Ç'était un jour très bon.

- Finally I watched an episode of The Hookup Plan. It's so exciting being able to pick out words here and there, but I'm still far from being able to understand most of it.

[cmia11]

Can't help so here are my corrections:
Ce matin je me suis levé(e) a (à) six heures, j'ai mangé, et j'ai pris le métro au travail. Quand je suis arrivée au travail, j'ai acheté un café et aprés (après) j'ai commencé à travailler. J'ai travaillé dans le laboratoire pendant trois heures, et aprés (après) je suis allée a (à) une réunion avec des collègues. Aprés (Après) la reunion (réunion), mes collègues et moi, on est allé (allés)a (à) la cafétéria pour dejeuner (déjeuner). A une heure, j'ai rentré (je suis rentrée) au labo avec une collègue et on a travaillé jusqu'à six heures. Ensuite, je suis partie du travail et je suis allée au gym (à la gym). Là j'ai fait de l'exercise (exercice) pendant quarante minutes. Aprés le gym (Après la gym), j'ai pris une douche et j'ai rentré (je suis rentrée) chez moi. J'ai fait du français pendant une heure et je me suis couchée a (à) onze heures. Ç'était (c'était sans ç)un jour très bon (un très bon jour).

Nice to see that you are working in a lab, are you doing some research?