Super Challenge 2020-2021Meant to do a 'start-of-the-SC' post two weeks ago but I didn't so here it is now!
I've signed up for five Super Challenges; three full, two halves. That's a grand total of
20,000 pages and
36,000 minutes to be read and watched over the next twenty months, which is... achievable, right? Tbh, I know I won't get there with all of them—but it's the trying that matters!
German - FullTarget pages: 5,000
Target minutes: 9,000
This should be the easiest language with regards to reading but I know I have to put an effort in to watch things just because I don't find Netflix's selection
as good as it is for Spanish. There are plenty of other places to watch German-language shows/TV though and I do like listening to podcasts (of which I have a nice list I put together already). If I finish this with plenty of time to spare, I might push it up to a double challenge.
Mandarin - FullTarget pages: 5,000
Target minutes: 9,000
Okay, so watching is going to be easy—there's a lot of Chinese-language dramas out there and I really enjoy them, to the point where I almost managed this part of the Super Challenge last time around! Reading is going to be so,
so difficult but it's frustrating that I feel like I can't read anything and, guess what, practice is the only thing that's going to improve that at this point! I'll start with graded readers and work my way up but this is also going to involve a lot of vocabulary practice (on the side).
Spanish - FullTarget pages: 5,000
Target minutes: 9,000
So, obviously the Super Challenge has started already and so I've managed to get a bit done—and I think Spanish has kind of been the easiest so far. I mean, it's not easier for me to read Spanish than German (and so I am farther ahead with the latter) but I think I have more enthusiasm for it somehow? I'm hoping that combined with regular, if low-key, study, this will help push my Spanish up into the B-levels. There's so much out there for Spanish, too, that I'm excited to get through as much as possible!
Korean - HalfTarget pages: 2,500
Target minutes: 4,500
Starting off with a half on this but I think that, with regards to watching at least, I can definitely hit a full challenge. I'm not sure about reading. I don't think it's going to be as difficult as, say, Mandarin, because once I've got some vocabulary/grammar under my belt, it should be a bit like reading other languages that have alphabets—but I'm also well aware that I'm very much a beginner and that lots of people say Korean is a very difficult language to learn. For watching, though, I have a whole bunch of things lined up which should push me through!
Scottish Gaelic - HalfTarget pages: 2,500
Target minutes: 4,500
This is gonna be a tricky one. There are plenty of materials, but not an abundance, and I'm really not at a stage where I can do a lot yet. TV-wise, I do at least have access to BBC Alba, which seems to have a bunch of kid's TV that's been dubbed (yay!) but I'm not sure if they have subtitles (boo!). Not sure I'll manage this but hopefully it'll give me the incentive to keep plodding on.
Going to keep these progress bars here to track how I'm doing overall (not even sure I can fit much else in my signature at this point!) and I plan to do a formal update every month or two, which will track how I'm doing at that point.
DE reading: ZH reading: ES reading: KO reading: GD reading: DE listening: ZH listening: ES listening: KO listening: GD listening:
that sounds so interesting, will def check it out!
).