Jeffers' German, French and Hindi

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jeffers
Blue Belt
Posts: 848
Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:12 pm
Location: UK
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Hindi (A2-B1)

Learning: The above, plus French (A2-B1), German (A1), Ancient Greek (?), Sanskrit (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=19785
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Re: Jeffers' German, French and Hindi

Postby jeffers » Thu Jun 24, 2021 11:03 am

Another long gap here, which seems to be my pattern currently. On again, off again. My work-life cycle seems to be the largest factor that pushes me off the wagon. I started working gently on all of my languages while recovering from Covid in January, but when schools reopened the added time and stress ate into my language habits. Although I continued with occasional listening while walking, I stopped watching TV series and all reading in all my target languages. I also realize, on reflection, that I wasn’t enjoying the book I was reading in French, and yet I felt compelled to push on with it.

The thing that has pushed me back to more serious language study was one of the regular emails from Kwiziq. It wasn’t that the email said anything particularly interesting or encouraging, it’s more that I read it at the right time to go on and take a test, and it reminded me of what I want to achieve. This was coupled with the fact that the academic year is coming to an end, my exam level students have left, and the summer holidays are looming. And Netflix gave me a notification of the release Lupin series 2.

Having done a few Kwiziq tests, I remembered that I had hit a wall on something really simple: using the correct prepositions with cities, countries and regions. What happens is that I get it wrong on a test, so I review the facts, sort of get it, try again a few days later and still make the same mistakes. It’s a classic example of getting stymied by lack of confidence which causes me to second guess myself every time it comes up. This is compounded by the fact that examples don’t occur all that often in my reading and listening, and in any case receptively the meaning is always obvious without even knowing the rules. What I have done this week is that I’ve made rough notes on the rules, and reviewed them a few times when I’ve had a few minutes free. Next I’ll try to write out the rules on Word and make a visual chart of them. After a bit of review I’ll take another Kwiziq test and see how it goes. I’m also considering making an Anki set of sentences I get wrong on Kwiziq, but for these rules it may be best to make a set of cards of the most common examples and focus on learning the common uses rather than beat my head against the rules. I find sometimes when a rule has a limited number of applications it’s more useful to learn a dozen or so examples rather than the rules themselves.

Another problem is that my car only plays CDs and the CD burner on our laptop has stopped working. The result is that I was getting in to a listening rut on my drive-time, and by default I’ve just been listening to Radio 4. I like Radio 4, but that’s 60-75 minutes of listening practice lost per day! So this week I ordered a cheap external CD burner and downloaded a bunch of new InnerFrench podcasts to burn for my commute. Once again I can make mp3 CDs of podcasts and my recent audible purchases. I also bought some paper sleeves for my burned CDs because Audible only allows you to burn an audiobook once, and my CDs quickly become unplayable sitting around in my glove compartment.

So where does this leave me? Earlier in the week I did some lessons on Kwiziq and am considering a subscription for the summer. Tuesday evening I picked up my Kindle and continued with the French book I had been reading. I realized that I really wasn’t enjoying this book, and that was part of the reason I dropped my reading habit, so I’m going to drop it and look for something more engaging for now. Possibly I’ll return to my “go-to” for fun French reading: a Petit Nicolas book. Meanwhile, I’ve also spent a bit of time nosing around a few language learning blogs, looking for inspiration.

Currently, I have decided to focus on small steps, and to focus only on French for the next month or two. I want to focus on keeping it fun and interesting, which means mostly reading, listening and watching things that I enjoy. I also know I need to continue to shore up my foundations, for which I am planning using Kwiziq; it’s not super-fun but it is interesting enough to work on in regular small doses. I currently have about 6 free Kwizzes available, and there’s just a week left in the month so I’ll stay free for now, and if it goes well over the coming days I’ll consider subscribing for July.

This morning I found a related blog post, which I found helpful: “Fallen off the Language Learning Wagon? 9 Gentle Ways to Get Back to it” from http://joyoflanguages.com/learn-a-language-after-a-long-break/

I plan to read a bit every evening, or almost every evening. For listening, I’m starting with new InnerFrench podcasts on my commute. For watching I’ll begin with Lupin, in French with French subtitles. I may download the subtitle files and review the dialogues a bit more intensively and then rewatch without any subtitles. For grammar I’ll use Kwiziq and a bit of review of key examples.

My current plan in summary:
  • Only French
  • Read something fun (probably a Petit Nicolas book)
  • Watch something fun (Lupin first, then maybe Apelle mon agent)
  • Listen to podcasts or audiobooks on my morning commute, maybe on the way back as well
  • Regularly practice a bit of grammar with Kwiziq, make some notes, learn some examples

That seems to me to be reasonable, interesting, achievable as well as effective. Only time will tell!
5 x
Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (roughly, the perfect is the enemy of the good)

French SC Books: 0 / 5000 (0/5000 pp)
French SC Films: 0 / 9000 (0/9000 mins)

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PeterMollenburg
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3229
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:54 am
Location: Australia
Languages: English (N), French (B2-certified), Dutch (High A2?), Spanish (~A1), German (long-forgotten 99%), Norwegian (false starts in 2020 & 2021)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18080
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Re: Jeffers' German, French and Hindi

Postby PeterMollenburg » Thu Jun 24, 2021 12:02 pm

Jeffers,

I remember you very well from among my first postings on HTLAL and some supportive exchanges in those early days. It was some years ago now and I have loosely followed your journey ever since. I hope your French re-investment powers your French along and has you reach those goals in due course! Bonne chance, mon ami !

Monsieur le Premier Ministre.
2 x

DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1968
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:26 am
Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... &start=200
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Re: Jeffers' German, French and Hindi

Postby DaveAgain » Thu Jun 24, 2021 12:34 pm

jeffers wrote:Currently, I have decided to focus on small steps, and to focus only on French for the next month or two. I want to focus on keeping it fun and interesting, which means mostly reading, listening and watching things that I enjoy.

My current plan in summary:
  • Only French
  • Read something fun (probably a Petit Nicolas book)
  • Watch something fun (Lupin first, then maybe Apelle mon agent)
  • Listen to podcasts or audiobooks on my morning commute, maybe on the way back as well
  • Regularly practice a bit of grammar with Kwiziq, make some notes, learn some examples

That seems to me to be reasonable, interesting, achievable as well as effective. Only time will tell!

Lawyer and Mom recommended Gilles Legardinier as a good read
Now liking Gilles Legardinier is not exactly an offbeat choice. He’s the third best selling author in France. He’s translated into 20 languages. I just think he’s ideal for the language learner. His language is straightforward without being simple. His plots move steadily along, something happens in each chapter, and the chapters are short, only four or five pages each in my current book. And he’s funny. Not laugh out loud funny, but I have snorted appreciatively a few times.


https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 70#p189861

Culturetheque.com have an audiobook copy of Mr Legardinier's Une Chance sur un Milliard.
3 x

jeffers
Blue Belt
Posts: 848
Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:12 pm
Location: UK
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Hindi (A2-B1)

Learning: The above, plus French (A2-B1), German (A1), Ancient Greek (?), Sanskrit (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=19785
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Re: Jeffers' German, French and Hindi

Postby jeffers » Sat Jun 26, 2021 2:12 pm

So far, so good. I've gotten going on most parts of my mini plan. I've sorted my commute listening for now with a new CD of some recent episodes of Inner French. For reading, I decided to go with "fun and familiar" to get back on the horse, so I went to my Petit Nicolas folder on my kindle and chose the on I last read the longest time ago: Le Petit Nicolas et ses voisins. I've gotten a transcript of the first episode of Lupin series 2, both printed and on my kindle.

I feel I've cracked my problem with Kwiziq by using a physical notebook, and that seems like a huge breakthrough. Instead of simply reading or re-reading the lesson for questions I've gotten wrong, I started taking notes on the lessons. I have no intention of formally reviewing these notes, I feel the process of making the notes is the useful part. This morning, after making notes on a couple of sections I took my recommended test and got 10/10, which was definitely a boost to my confidence. I'll post this image of my A0/A1 brain map as a sort of baseline and see how it progresses:
A0 and A1 brainmap 2021-06-26.JPG.png


In addition, in some "spare time" moments I have done a couple A1 dictations on the Dictées FLE section of https://dictee.orthodidacte.com/, and found that the TV5 Monde Apprendre app is better than I thought when I tried it a year ago. I really think working through the dictations will be helpful because my issues with grammar are often based on my passive knowledge which doesn't distringuish between homophones very well.

That brings me to the thing that seriously frustrates me about my current plan: most of what I'm doing are things I could have handled 4 or 5 years ago. So what has happened to all that time, all the learning I have done? Partly, I've focused too much on passive learning and input. I am certainly better at understanding what I read and what I listen to in French, but I think after I "finished" my beginner materials I ignored grammar basics to my detriment. Or rather, I got on brief kicks of working on grammar which didn't last long enough. This is why it was important to me to get a simple plan together that I could continue with.

So, I'll keep doing one or two kwizzes per day, followed up with making notes on any mistakes. I think I will just take the plunge and try a month long subscription. I've shied away from it before because the longer subscriptions are better value, but the problem is I then wonder if I would keep at it so I haven't subscribed. And round and round. :lol: My current plan seems sustainable, and I can imagine ramping it up during the summer "staycation" time, so I'll use up my free kwizzes and then subsribe for a single month. If at the end of that month Kwiziq still seems like it is a useful part of my studies I'll go for a longer subscription.
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3 x
Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (roughly, the perfect is the enemy of the good)

French SC Books: 0 / 5000 (0/5000 pp)
French SC Films: 0 / 9000 (0/9000 mins)

jeffers
Blue Belt
Posts: 848
Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:12 pm
Location: UK
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Hindi (A2-B1)

Learning: The above, plus French (A2-B1), German (A1), Ancient Greek (?), Sanskrit (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=19785
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Contact:

Re: Jeffers' German, French and Hindi

Postby jeffers » Sat Jun 26, 2021 2:25 pm

I just did another dictation, focused on the different accents over the letter e, and got 100%! The words were:
café élève écrire école mère matière bébé agréable problème vérité

This is just the sort of thing I feel my learning has let me down on, so I am pleased with myself!
6 x
Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (roughly, the perfect is the enemy of the good)

French SC Books: 0 / 5000 (0/5000 pp)
French SC Films: 0 / 9000 (0/9000 mins)

User avatar
iguanamon
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2352
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 11:14 am
Location: Virgin Islands
Languages: Speaks: English (Native); Spanish (C2); Portuguese (C2); Haitian Creole (C1); Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol (C1); Lesser Antilles French Creole (B2)
Studies: Catalan
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=797
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Re: Jeffers' German, French and Hindi

Postby iguanamon » Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:11 am

jeffers wrote:...Another problem is that my car only plays CDs and the CD burner on our laptop has stopped working. The result is that I was getting in to a listening rut on my drive-time, and by default I’ve just been listening to Radio 4. I like Radio 4, but that’s 60-75 minutes of listening practice lost per day! So this week I ordered a cheap external CD burner and downloaded a bunch of new InnerFrench podcasts to burn for my commute. Once again I can make mp3 CDs of podcasts and my recent audible purchases. I also bought some paper sleeves for my burned CDs because Audible only allows you to burn an audiobook once, and my CDs quickly become unplayable sitting around in my glove compartment. ...

Good to see you back and getting serious about French again, jeffers. Another work around for podcast, audio books and streaming broadcasts is to buy an fm bluetooth transmitter. The device plugs into the cigarette lighter port in the car. It communicates with your phone receiving its audio via bluetooth and sending it to your car's radio via fm. They are sold for under 4 pounds on ebay. I drive an older car and use mine everyday, even though I don't have a long way to commute here on this much smaller island.

Of course, you need to find a clear frequency for the bluetooth to work. I use 87.7 mhz here. Burning audio to a cd is time consuming, annoying, more expensive and there are bumps in the road to make them skip, not to mention having to label and keep up with them. Your phone can hold significantly more data than any cd and will offer you more choice. Spend the 4 quid and use bluetooth with your smartphone. Then when you arrive at your destination, continue to listen on your smartphone. I didn't even know burnable cd's were still available.
7 x

jeffers
Blue Belt
Posts: 848
Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:12 pm
Location: UK
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Hindi (A2-B1)

Learning: The above, plus French (A2-B1), German (A1), Ancient Greek (?), Sanskrit (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=19785
x 2774
Contact:

Re: Jeffers' German, French and Hindi

Postby jeffers » Wed Jun 30, 2021 5:52 pm

The reading and study in French are still going strong. I used up my 10th free Kwiziq lesson yesterday and today decided to subscribe for one month. Making notes on the Kwiziq lessons has been really helpful, and I have already filled up 15 pages of my notebook with my scrawls! It looks awful, but the notes are there to help me while reviewing, not for use reviewing later. I'm around halfway through Le Petit Nicolas et ses voisins, and as expected I'm enjoying every minute of it. I haven't actually started Lupin, but I have listened to around 10 hours of Inner French in the past week, mostly while commuting but I also had a walk around a nature reserve while listening.

As I'm back on the wagon, I've taken a look back at my Super Challenge progress. My French Film portion was still in the green zone, but this isn't surprising since I watched all of Engrenages, series 1-8, since the challenge started. French reading was down in the red zone, and what that means is that I now need to read an average of 18.5 pages per day to complete that section. My German half challenge is in the yellow zone for both books and films, while my Hindi half challenge is in the red for both. As I said in a recent post, I have decided to focus only on French for the time being, so I am not going to bother pushing for my Hindi and German challenges. More positively, this will give me the opportunity to work on more French reading, and it may be that I will finish a complete SC for the first time! My French dashboard only is pictured below.

SC dashboard 2021-06-30.png
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6 x
Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (roughly, the perfect is the enemy of the good)

French SC Books: 0 / 5000 (0/5000 pp)
French SC Films: 0 / 9000 (0/9000 mins)


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