The Bee's Knees: Lianne starts the 20s with French and Italian

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Lianne
Green Belt
Posts: 457
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:29 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: Speaks: English (N)
Actively studying: French (low int)
Dabbling in: Italian (beginner), ASL (beginner), Ojibwe (beginner), Swahili (beginner)
Wish list: Swedish, Esperanto, Klingon, Brazilian Portuguese
Has also dabbled in: German, Spanish, toki pona
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Re: The Bee's Knees: Lianne starts the 20s with French and Italian

Postby Lianne » Sun Jan 12, 2020 9:41 pm

French
Jan. 9:
30 minutes watching L'Alchimie de Noël (The Knight Before Christmas)

Jan. 10:
30 minutes reading Miss Peregrine et les enfants particuliers (11 pages)

Jan. 11:
42 minutes reading Miss Peregrine et les enfants particuliers (13 pages)


Italian
Jan. 9:
34 minutes Assimil le Nouvel Italien Sans Peine, lessons 0 and 1

Jan. 10:
32 minutes Assimil le Nouvel Italien Sans Peine, lesson 2

Jan. 11:
29 minutes Assimil le Nouvel Italien Sans Peine, lesson 3
15 minutes Memrise Italien 1

I started Assimil! I'm very glad, because now I finally have a routine going. Before I was bouncing around trying out different things (which is good because I do want to see what works and what I like), so each day I was like "what should I do for Italian today?" It's a lot easier thinking "OK, time for my daily Assimil lesson!" Lesson 1 was easy, and lessons 2 and 3 have been more challenging. I don't know whether I really know them as well as I'm supposed to before moving on, but I really want to keep up the one lesson a day to keep me moving. I do want to start some textbook learning alongside this, because I really cannot learn verb conjugations and the like just from context. I have to study them too.

Basically I've been following the steps outlined here, slightly adapted:
1) Listen to the audio without looking at the book.
2) Listen to the audio while reading the French translation.
3) Read the Italian text out loud, with the aid of the pronunciation guide as necessary. Compare to the translation as required to make sure I understand each sentence.
4) Read the Italian text again, without looking at the translation this time.
5) Listen to the audio twice: once while reading the French translation, then once while reading the Italian text.
6) Listen to the audio again with the book closed; at this point I should be able to understand it. (It's hard to tell sometimes whether I really understand the words I'm hearing, or just remember what the sentence means because I've been studying it.)
7) Listen to the audio, pausing after each line to repeat it out loud. (I do this while looking at the text. I quite simply do not have the working memory necessary to do this without looking. I could probably manage such a task in English. In a foreign language, no way.)
8) Read all the notes, making sure I understand them.
9) Do all the exercises.

I generally don't understand much in the first step (just listening), but I'm pleased with how well I can follow along in step 2, matching the Italian audio up with the French text. Everything that's basically the same in Italian as it is in French is so encouraging!
5 x
: 3 / 100 French SC (Books)
: 7 / 100 French SC (Films)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Books)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Films)

Pronouns: they/them

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Lianne
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Posts: 457
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:29 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: Speaks: English (N)
Actively studying: French (low int)
Dabbling in: Italian (beginner), ASL (beginner), Ojibwe (beginner), Swahili (beginner)
Wish list: Swedish, Esperanto, Klingon, Brazilian Portuguese
Has also dabbled in: German, Spanish, toki pona
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Re: The Bee's Knees: Lianne starts the 20s with French and Italian

Postby Lianne » Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:47 pm

French
Jan. 12:
30 minutes reading Miss Peregrine et les enfants particuliers (11 pages, up to pg. 346)

Jan. 13:
30 minutes Pimsleur French V, lesson 21

Jan. 14:
45 minutes watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Tough Love)

Jan. 15:
30 minutes Pimsleur French V, lesson 22

Jan. 16:
45 minutes watching Angel (Belonging)

Getting back into Pimsleur after hardly touching it on winter break was tough, but it helped that I had done so much Kwiziq! So when I came back to it I couldn't remember the words for car parts (those weren't sticking anyway), but if anything I was doing better with conjugating in the future tense!


Italian
Jan. 12:
30 minutes Assimil le Nouvel Italien Sans Peine, lesson 4

Jan. 13:
35 minutes Assimil le Nouvel Italien Sans Peine, lesson 5

Jan. 14:
26 minutes Assimil le Nouvel Italien Sans Peine, lesson 6

Jan. 15:
30 minutes Assimil le Nouvel Italien Sans Peine, lesson 7

Jan. 16:
30 minutes Assimil le Nouvel Italien Sans Peine, lesson 8

Assimil continues! No time/energy for anything else, but I'm proud of myself for being consistent with this at least.
2 x
: 3 / 100 French SC (Books)
: 7 / 100 French SC (Films)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Books)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Films)

Pronouns: they/them

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Lianne
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Posts: 457
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:29 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: Speaks: English (N)
Actively studying: French (low int)
Dabbling in: Italian (beginner), ASL (beginner), Ojibwe (beginner), Swahili (beginner)
Wish list: Swedish, Esperanto, Klingon, Brazilian Portuguese
Has also dabbled in: German, Spanish, toki pona
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Re: The Bee's Knees: Lianne starts the 20s with French and Italian

Postby Lianne » Sat Jan 25, 2020 3:12 am

French
Jan. 17:
30 minutes Pimsleur French V, lesson 23

Jan. 18:
36 minutes reading Miss Peregrine et les enfants particuliers (13 pages)

Jan. 19:
38 minutes reading Miss Peregrine et les enfants particuliers (16 pages, up to pg. 376)

Jan. 20:
30 minutes Pimsleur French V, lesson 24
45 minutes watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Spiral)

Jan. 21:
30 minutes Pimsleur French V, lesson 25
45 minutes watching Angel (Over the Rainbow)

Jan. 22:
30 minutes Pimsleur French V, lesson 26

Jan. 23:
30 minutes Pimsleur French V, lesson 27

Jan. 24:
45 minutes watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (The Weight of the World)


Italian
Jan. 17:
27 minutes Assimil le Nouvel Italien Sans Peine, lesson 9
5 minutes Memrise Italien 1
45 minutes textbook work, Une grammatica italiana per tutti 1, most of chapter 1

Jan. 18:
31 minutes Assimil le Nouvel Italien Sans Peine, lesson 10

Jan. 19:
23 minutes Assimil le Nouvel Italien Sans Peine, lesson 11 (didn't quite finish the exercises)

Jan. 20:
none, did extra French instead

Jan. 21:
none, did extra French instead

Jan. 22:
30 minutes Pimsleur Italian 1, lesson 2

Jan. 23:
30 minutes Pimsleur Italian 1, lesson 3

Jan. 24:
30 minutes Pimsleur Italian I, lesson 4

All I can say about this week is "oof". On Monday, I had super high anxiety and just generally felt terrible. This prompted me to do extra French instead of Italian (to keep my 366 Day Challenge going), since French is so much easier. The next day I still felt terrible so I did the same. After that I still didn't feel ready to get back into Assimil, so I did the far more relaxing Pimsleur lessons, so that at least I was doing Italian again. This weekend I will definitely return to Assimil, once I've had a good night's sleep. But yeah, all this week I've basically been useless in the evenings.

On the subject of Pimsleur, I'm always amazed by the effect of starting a new language with Pimsleur lessons. It's the only time I get German interference! :lol: Honestly, the way the early Pimsleur lessons use the exact same sentences in every language really messes with my brain. If I just tried to remember, casually, how to say "Are you an American?" in German, I probably couldn't tell you, but as soon as that Pimsleur voice asks me how to say it in Italian, a very-not-helpful part of my brain pipes up "Sind Sie Amerikaner?" :lol: It's so ridiculous. Like a little bit of French interference during my Italian lessons is normal, but the wacky combination of French, German, and Italian that pops into my head when doing the earliest Pimsleur lessons is just hilarious.
9 x
: 3 / 100 French SC (Books)
: 7 / 100 French SC (Films)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Books)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Films)

Pronouns: they/them

StringerBell
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Languages: English (n)
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Re: The Bee's Knees: Lianne starts the 20s with French and Italian

Postby StringerBell » Sat Jan 25, 2020 1:20 pm

Lianne wrote:On the subject of Pimsleur, I'm always amazed by the effect of starting a new language with Pimsleur lessons. It's the only time I get German interference! :lol: Honestly, the way the early Pimsleur lessons use the exact same sentences in every language really messes with my brain. If I just tried to remember, casually, how to say "Are you an American?" in German, I probably couldn't tell you, but as soon as that Pimsleur voice asks me how to say it in Italian, a very-not-helpful part of my brain pipes up "Sind Sie Amerikaner?" :lol: It's so ridiculous. Like a little bit of French interference during my Italian lessons is normal, but the wacky combination of French, German, and Italian that pops into my head when doing the earliest Pimsleur lessons is just hilarious.


I experienced a similar issue when I first started with Italian - French and Spanish kept popping into my mind. I never formally studied Spanish, and I hadn't studied French in over 10 years - I couldn't speak either language if I wanted to. But I remember saying at the time that I was surprised by how much French and Spanish I knew every time I started trying to speak Italian! :lol:
2 x
Season 4 Lucifer Italian transcripts I created: https://learnanylanguage.fandom.com/wik ... ranscripts

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Lianne
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Posts: 457
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:29 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: Speaks: English (N)
Actively studying: French (low int)
Dabbling in: Italian (beginner), ASL (beginner), Ojibwe (beginner), Swahili (beginner)
Wish list: Swedish, Esperanto, Klingon, Brazilian Portuguese
Has also dabbled in: German, Spanish, toki pona
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Re: The Bee's Knees: Lianne starts the 20s with French and Italian

Postby Lianne » Sat Jan 25, 2020 6:06 pm

StringerBell wrote:
Lianne wrote:On the subject of Pimsleur, I'm always amazed by the effect of starting a new language with Pimsleur lessons. It's the only time I get German interference! :lol: Honestly, the way the early Pimsleur lessons use the exact same sentences in every language really messes with my brain. If I just tried to remember, casually, how to say "Are you an American?" in German, I probably couldn't tell you, but as soon as that Pimsleur voice asks me how to say it in Italian, a very-not-helpful part of my brain pipes up "Sind Sie Amerikaner?" :lol: It's so ridiculous. Like a little bit of French interference during my Italian lessons is normal, but the wacky combination of French, German, and Italian that pops into my head when doing the earliest Pimsleur lessons is just hilarious.


I experienced a similar issue when I first started with Italian - French and Spanish kept popping into my mind. I never formally studied Spanish, and I hadn't studied French in over 10 years - I couldn't speak either language if I wanted to. But I remember saying at the time that I was surprised by how much French and Spanish I knew every time I started trying to speak Italian! :lol:


Literally all the German I think I ever did was part of Pimsleur I and some Duolingo, like I barely got started, yet there it is, fresh in my mind at all the wrong times. :lol:

And then there's the pronunciation issue I'm having: In French, I really struggle with what is now the most common way to pronounce the letter R. I trill them like in Italian most of the time, because that's how I was taught growing up. So when I started Italian, I was like, well at least I know I can trill my Rs well! I cannot even believe how many times I have suddenly managed to do the French R... while speaking Italian. :lol: :(
1 x
: 3 / 100 French SC (Books)
: 7 / 100 French SC (Films)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Books)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Films)

Pronouns: they/them

golyplot
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Re: The Bee's Knees: Lianne starts the 20s with French and Italian

Postby golyplot » Sun Jan 26, 2020 5:52 am

I'm not sure how much you like watching cartoons, but the Italian cartoon Monster Allergy is available for free on Youtube, in case you're looking for ways to practice listening comprehension.


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Lianne
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Location: Canada
Languages: Speaks: English (N)
Actively studying: French (low int)
Dabbling in: Italian (beginner), ASL (beginner), Ojibwe (beginner), Swahili (beginner)
Wish list: Swedish, Esperanto, Klingon, Brazilian Portuguese
Has also dabbled in: German, Spanish, toki pona
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Re: The Bee's Knees: Lianne starts the 20s with French and Italian

Postby Lianne » Sun Jan 26, 2020 11:29 pm

golyplot wrote:I'm not sure how much you like watching cartoons, but the Italian cartoon Monster Allergy is available for free on Youtube, in case you're looking for ways to practice listening comprehension.

I don't think I'm quite there yet. I'm trying to get some basics down and then start in on Peppa Pig for some absolute beginner listening practice. But I will definitely save this for a bit later! Looks entertaining!
0 x
: 3 / 100 French SC (Books)
: 7 / 100 French SC (Films)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Books)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Films)

Pronouns: they/them

golyplot
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Re: The Bee's Knees: Lianne starts the 20s with French and Italian

Postby golyplot » Mon Jan 27, 2020 7:18 am

The good news is that since you already studied French and dabbled in Spanish, you start halfway to the finish line. You should be able to build your Italian skills relatively quickly.

Another show I watched while starting out was Maggie & Bianca: Fashion Friends on Netflix. Plotwise, it's pretty generic, but it's notable for having accurate Italian subtitles (as far as I can tell), which was a big help when I was starting out, since I could see what they were saying and hear it at the same time.
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Lianne
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Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:29 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: Speaks: English (N)
Actively studying: French (low int)
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Wish list: Swedish, Esperanto, Klingon, Brazilian Portuguese
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Re: The Bee's Knees: Lianne starts the 20s with French and Italian

Postby Lianne » Fri Jan 31, 2020 12:33 am

French
Jan. 25:
30 minutes reading Miss Peregrine et les enfants particuliers (10 pages)

Jan. 26:
30 minutes reading Miss Peregrine et les enfants particuliers (8 pages)

Jan. 27:
30 minutes Pimsleur French V, lesson 28

Jan. 28:
30 minutes reading Miss Peregrine et les enfants particuliers (7 pages, up to page 402)

Jan. 29:
45 minutes watching Angel (Through the Looking Glass)

Jan. 30:
45 minutes watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (The Gift)


Italian
Jan. 25:
30 minutes Pimsleur Italian I, lesson 5

Jan. 26:
30 minutes Pimsleur Italian I, lesson 6

Jan. 27:
30 minutes Pimsleur Italian I, lesson 7

Jan. 28:
30 minutes Pimsleur Italian I, lesson 8

Jan. 29:
30 minutes Pimsleur Italian I, lesson 9

Jan. 30:
30 minutes Pimsleur Italian I, lesson 10

OK, I lied about returning to Assimil last weekend. I tried, but one look at those lesson 10 exercises sent me running back to Pimsleur. Up to that point, the exercises had been difficult enough that I wasn't getting them all, but it felt like I got the gist, enough to move on. (That's hard for me but seems to be how Assimil works, right?) But suddenly in lesson 10 the exercises are impossible. And I just felt exhausted by the whole thing. Pimsleur is so nice and gradual! With plenty of repetition. Assimil is more like "hey I've casually mentioned some numbers over the last week so you should obviously be able to translate any number now, eh?" :evil:

Anyway, I'm still dealing with pretty serious burnout, daily sensory overload, and just basically crashing mental health, so I figure my daily Pimsleur lesson and Buffy episode or whatever is ok for now. Anything worth doing is worth doing badly, as they say.
7 x
: 3 / 100 French SC (Books)
: 7 / 100 French SC (Films)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Books)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Films)

Pronouns: they/them

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Lianne
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Location: Canada
Languages: Speaks: English (N)
Actively studying: French (low int)
Dabbling in: Italian (beginner), ASL (beginner), Ojibwe (beginner), Swahili (beginner)
Wish list: Swedish, Esperanto, Klingon, Brazilian Portuguese
Has also dabbled in: German, Spanish, toki pona
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Re: The Bee's Knees: Lianne starts the 20s with French and Italian

Postby Lianne » Fri Feb 07, 2020 3:59 am

French
Jan. 31:
30 minutes Pimsleur French V, lesson 29

Feb. 1:
10 minutes reading Miss Peregrine et les enfants particuliers (failed day)

Feb. 2:
45 minutes watching Angel (There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb)
15 minutes reading Miss Peregrine et les enfants particuliers

Feb. 3:
30 minutes Pimsleur French V, lesson 30 (woohoo!)
5 minutes reading Miss Peregrine et les enfants particuliers

Feb. 4:
50 minutes reading Miss Peregrine et les enfants particuliers
10 minutes reading La vie compliquée de Léa Olivier, tome 3: Chantage

Feb. 5:
20 minutes listening to Duolingo French Podcast (Le magicien des baguettes)
40 minutes reading La vie compliquée de Léa Olivier, tome 3: Chantage

Feb. 6:
35 minutes reading La vie compliquée de Léa Olivier, tome 3: Chantage (30 pages, ending on pg. 76)

Italian
Jan. 31:
25 minutes Pimsleur Italian I, lesson 11
18 minutes watching Peppa Pig

Feb. 1:
none, missed day! :(

Feb. 2:
none, did extra French instead

Feb. 3:
25 minutes Pimsleur Italian I, lesson 12

Feb. 4:
none, did extra French instead

Feb. 5:
none, did extra French instead

Feb. 6:
25 minutes Pimsleur Italian I, lesson 13

Soooo, ok! I definitely had to try to piece that together from very fuzzy memory, lol. So some stuff might not be on the right days. But I know for sure I hit my 1 hour of daily study every day except Saturday (the 1st). That day, I realised at 2:30 in the morning that I hadn't actually done any studying that day. :shock: I tried, exhausted, to at least get my French in, but only made it to 10 minutes before I had to accept defeat. My perfect streak, gone!

On the bright side, I completed Pimsleur French V! Honestly I could see myself returning to it for review. There's good practice of the futur, imparfait, and conditionel in there that I could benefit from going over, and there are also a lot of really useful phrases introduced in French V (I know because I keep running into them in my reading and TV!).

In other news, I finally finished Miss Peregrine, which I will finally admit was too hard. It was just SO MUCH vocabulary. Which I didn't really learn because I was reading extensively. Now I've gone back to the Léa Olivier series, and wow, what a difference! I forgot what relaxing French reading felt like!

In Italian news, Italian is hard. I needn't have worried that starting a new language would distract me from French! All it's done is make me like French more! Any time I try to do Italian I'm like "OK but think how much easier and more pleasant this would be in French". :lol:
7 x
: 3 / 100 French SC (Books)
: 7 / 100 French SC (Films)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Books)
: 0 / 50 Italian Half SC (Films)

Pronouns: they/them


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