Motivation and Discipline: Spanish and Japanese Log
Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 1:31 pm
I have been told that keeping a log of my learning progress would be helpful in keeping my motivation. I hope that by doing so I can accomplished my goals this year.
A brief introduction of myself, I come from Hong Kong, where most people there were trilingual - native in Cantonese, with compulsory English and Mandarin education. (But frankly not most of us can speak English and Mandarin well.) I consider myself fluent in Mandarin (can communicate with Mainland Chinese if they're not speaking with heavy accent) and got a C1 to C2 level in English (tested in public exams and IELTS).
I consider myself a hardworking person (if I'm really into that matter) but rather impatient. I often want to achieve a lot within short period of time and clearly this poses a challenge for me in learning new languages, which ought to be a slow process.
Language learning experience
I have tried to learn 2 different languages, namely french and german, at university for 1 semester each but both attempts failed horribly. I have basically forgotten all I have learnt. I must admit that I only study in 2 1-hour classes every week and although I pass the tests in flying colour. They were taught in the traditional manner, grammar and vocab drill, which is a good thing for me as I have an okay memory. But I don't feel like "getting hold of the language" at all even after a year. Then I was distracted by life and other things and eventually forgotten everything.
It was until February this year I have decided to start learning new languages. I have a full time (and often needs to work overtime) job (You might have heard that working hour in Hong Kong is rather long comparing to other places), but I started to work at home due to the epidemic. Having nothing else to do, I decided to learn new languages.
Main language: Spanish (Aim: start preparing for B1 exam by September)
I decided to learn Spanish for 2 reasons. (1) La Casa de papel (and other Spanish shows in netflix) (2) For work (not really useful in my work, but it's the third most widely used language in the world). I know nothing about Spanish at the start.
Being a person who focus a lot on the right methods, I have started with conventional grammatical approach (using an app call Lingodeer) together with Duolingo. After a few days, I feel like learning programming instead of language. I glued pieces together but not really "using" the language at all.
- Stage 1 (First 2 months): Pimsleur + Lingodeer + Frequency List
Then, I came across a few polyglots on youtube, including Luca. I have spent hours (of time which I should be working) researching on the methods and Eventually I decided to use a mixture of methods.
I followed the recommendation by a youtube guy named ikenna and tried Pimsleur (Castillian Spanish one, because I want to go to Spain for travel). I used it in tandem with Lingodeer as I think that in the end I still need a good introduction to the grammar items and vocabularies. I also used some frequency list to memorize new words. Pimsleur gave me a solid introduction of the pattern and structure of the language without much introduction of grammar. Lingodeer and Duolingo and Anki list, on the otherhand, taught me a lot of basic vocabularies.
I did 1 lesson (or 2 lessons) twice every day (usually on my way to work and at lunch) for Pimsleur. Lingodeer and Duolingo if I have extra time in the weekend. Anki List also (on my way to work). I tried a DELE A1 sample paper last week and can easily deal with the Reading and Listening parts. Also, as I know that immersion is importan or essential, I also watch tonnes of youtube videos, Netflix shows and listen to tonnes of music. All of these allow me to memorize a bunch of sentence patterns and vocabularies.
However, In hindsight, I would have done these instead:
- although the vocabularies I learned from doing frequency list and Lingodeer and Duolingo help me achieved an early A1, the process was too time consuming (spent 4-5 hours learning every day, and completely soak myself in Spanish).
- Instead, I might only do Pimsleur + a frequency list only and read up some simple grammar items on web such as basic conjugation rules or how many tense are there).
- I think 1 Pimsleur lesson 2 times a day + writing down sentences I've learnt is too much for me. I might be too perfectionist in doing a Pimsleur lesson and aim to score perfect in a lesson. I will aim doing 1 - 2 Pimsleur lessons once for me only and leave the vocab drill later.
- Stage 2: Assimil all the way (Currently)
Then, I have decided to use Assimil. I use Assimil the conventional way (following the dutch instruction) and prepared a timetable for doing bidirectional translation method (as recommended by Luca). Thanks to the solid foundation laid by Pimsleur, I can go 2 lessons a day at least now (it's day 4 using Assimil and I'm now at lesson 8) and I am rather comfortable with the structure of the language right now.
However, I feel rather insecure and do not have a strong feel of learning and absorbing the material (because it's very different from Pimsleur). Sometimes I just skim through the comment and probably would have forgotten 80% of the grammar notes the next day. I always have a strong urge to memorize everything and sometimes felt burnout and frustration when I can't really any word I've learnt. I also examine the sentences available but don't dwell too much into the grammar item if it's not mentioned in the note. Hope I'm doing it right.
Furthermore, I feel like I have much more free time available (1 Pimsleur lesson takes me 1 hour or so per day and usually I may spend extra 30 mins more doing vocab list and writing down the sentences I've learnt).
My current method is a mixture of the conventional method (with some shadowing) + Luca's bidirectional translation + Anki method by Pau, trying to get the most out of the book.
- I will do two lessons (may down to 1 lesson if the material start to get difficult or long) the conventional way + shadowing (at least it's feasible within the lunch time), usually at lunch time
- I also do anki card for new sentences (like I will some too basic setences such as "Gracias", "Buenos Días", or sentences repeated from previous lessons) with front being the audio mp3 + Spanish, back being English (but with some twists to show the structure of the language). So the cards are only "passive" and the sentences I learned on day 1 will be the "new cards" I'll be learning on day 2. Usually I'll get about 15 cards per 2 lessons
- I will do anki card every morning on my way to work (just listen to / shadow the sentences few times and see if I understand what it means + review the book, usually it takes 15 mins or so)
- Sometimes I just take out some random lessons when I'm strolling and listen to it, just to get the feel of the language
- I will do a L2 --> L1 translation 4 days after the lesson and a L1 --> L2 4 days thereafter
- I also put vocabs introduced in the note on another deck (usually 2-3 words at most every lesson)
- My plan is after doing a L1 --> L2, I will change all passive cards to a two-way card so as to introduce an early active phase card (on this point, do you think I should instead create an "active phase" deck instead of shuffling the "active phase" cards with passive phase card?)
Future Study Plan
I will have completed the Assimil session by the end of July (assuming I'll slow down to do 1 lesson per day) and my plan is to absorb tonnes of Spanish media and (probably not sure if it is working) do 1 month of Glossika. Hope I can get to the "clicking" point by September. Then I'll proceed with Speaking and Writing exercise using italki.
Am I worrying too much or doing too much? I don't want another year wasted for not using the appropriate method
On the otherhand, before "clicking" in spanish I will spend less time on my second language Japanese (which I adopted a completely different method for reasons I'll mention in my next post).
A brief introduction of myself, I come from Hong Kong, where most people there were trilingual - native in Cantonese, with compulsory English and Mandarin education. (But frankly not most of us can speak English and Mandarin well.) I consider myself fluent in Mandarin (can communicate with Mainland Chinese if they're not speaking with heavy accent) and got a C1 to C2 level in English (tested in public exams and IELTS).
I consider myself a hardworking person (if I'm really into that matter) but rather impatient. I often want to achieve a lot within short period of time and clearly this poses a challenge for me in learning new languages, which ought to be a slow process.
Language learning experience
I have tried to learn 2 different languages, namely french and german, at university for 1 semester each but both attempts failed horribly. I have basically forgotten all I have learnt. I must admit that I only study in 2 1-hour classes every week and although I pass the tests in flying colour. They were taught in the traditional manner, grammar and vocab drill, which is a good thing for me as I have an okay memory. But I don't feel like "getting hold of the language" at all even after a year. Then I was distracted by life and other things and eventually forgotten everything.
It was until February this year I have decided to start learning new languages. I have a full time (and often needs to work overtime) job (You might have heard that working hour in Hong Kong is rather long comparing to other places), but I started to work at home due to the epidemic. Having nothing else to do, I decided to learn new languages.
Main language: Spanish (Aim: start preparing for B1 exam by September)
I decided to learn Spanish for 2 reasons. (1) La Casa de papel (and other Spanish shows in netflix) (2) For work (not really useful in my work, but it's the third most widely used language in the world). I know nothing about Spanish at the start.
Being a person who focus a lot on the right methods, I have started with conventional grammatical approach (using an app call Lingodeer) together with Duolingo. After a few days, I feel like learning programming instead of language. I glued pieces together but not really "using" the language at all.
- Stage 1 (First 2 months): Pimsleur + Lingodeer + Frequency List
Then, I came across a few polyglots on youtube, including Luca. I have spent hours (of time which I should be working) researching on the methods and Eventually I decided to use a mixture of methods.
I followed the recommendation by a youtube guy named ikenna and tried Pimsleur (Castillian Spanish one, because I want to go to Spain for travel). I used it in tandem with Lingodeer as I think that in the end I still need a good introduction to the grammar items and vocabularies. I also used some frequency list to memorize new words. Pimsleur gave me a solid introduction of the pattern and structure of the language without much introduction of grammar. Lingodeer and Duolingo and Anki list, on the otherhand, taught me a lot of basic vocabularies.
I did 1 lesson (or 2 lessons) twice every day (usually on my way to work and at lunch) for Pimsleur. Lingodeer and Duolingo if I have extra time in the weekend. Anki List also (on my way to work). I tried a DELE A1 sample paper last week and can easily deal with the Reading and Listening parts. Also, as I know that immersion is importan or essential, I also watch tonnes of youtube videos, Netflix shows and listen to tonnes of music. All of these allow me to memorize a bunch of sentence patterns and vocabularies.
However, In hindsight, I would have done these instead:
- although the vocabularies I learned from doing frequency list and Lingodeer and Duolingo help me achieved an early A1, the process was too time consuming (spent 4-5 hours learning every day, and completely soak myself in Spanish).
- Instead, I might only do Pimsleur + a frequency list only and read up some simple grammar items on web such as basic conjugation rules or how many tense are there).
- I think 1 Pimsleur lesson 2 times a day + writing down sentences I've learnt is too much for me. I might be too perfectionist in doing a Pimsleur lesson and aim to score perfect in a lesson. I will aim doing 1 - 2 Pimsleur lessons once for me only and leave the vocab drill later.
- Stage 2: Assimil all the way (Currently)
Then, I have decided to use Assimil. I use Assimil the conventional way (following the dutch instruction) and prepared a timetable for doing bidirectional translation method (as recommended by Luca). Thanks to the solid foundation laid by Pimsleur, I can go 2 lessons a day at least now (it's day 4 using Assimil and I'm now at lesson 8) and I am rather comfortable with the structure of the language right now.
However, I feel rather insecure and do not have a strong feel of learning and absorbing the material (because it's very different from Pimsleur). Sometimes I just skim through the comment and probably would have forgotten 80% of the grammar notes the next day. I always have a strong urge to memorize everything and sometimes felt burnout and frustration when I can't really any word I've learnt. I also examine the sentences available but don't dwell too much into the grammar item if it's not mentioned in the note. Hope I'm doing it right.
Furthermore, I feel like I have much more free time available (1 Pimsleur lesson takes me 1 hour or so per day and usually I may spend extra 30 mins more doing vocab list and writing down the sentences I've learnt).
My current method is a mixture of the conventional method (with some shadowing) + Luca's bidirectional translation + Anki method by Pau, trying to get the most out of the book.
- I will do two lessons (may down to 1 lesson if the material start to get difficult or long) the conventional way + shadowing (at least it's feasible within the lunch time), usually at lunch time
- I also do anki card for new sentences (like I will some too basic setences such as "Gracias", "Buenos Días", or sentences repeated from previous lessons) with front being the audio mp3 + Spanish, back being English (but with some twists to show the structure of the language). So the cards are only "passive" and the sentences I learned on day 1 will be the "new cards" I'll be learning on day 2. Usually I'll get about 15 cards per 2 lessons
- I will do anki card every morning on my way to work (just listen to / shadow the sentences few times and see if I understand what it means + review the book, usually it takes 15 mins or so)
- Sometimes I just take out some random lessons when I'm strolling and listen to it, just to get the feel of the language
- I will do a L2 --> L1 translation 4 days after the lesson and a L1 --> L2 4 days thereafter
- I also put vocabs introduced in the note on another deck (usually 2-3 words at most every lesson)
- My plan is after doing a L1 --> L2, I will change all passive cards to a two-way card so as to introduce an early active phase card (on this point, do you think I should instead create an "active phase" deck instead of shuffling the "active phase" cards with passive phase card?)
Future Study Plan
I will have completed the Assimil session by the end of July (assuming I'll slow down to do 1 lesson per day) and my plan is to absorb tonnes of Spanish media and (probably not sure if it is working) do 1 month of Glossika. Hope I can get to the "clicking" point by September. Then I'll proceed with Speaking and Writing exercise using italki.
Am I worrying too much or doing too much? I don't want another year wasted for not using the appropriate method
On the otherhand, before "clicking" in spanish I will spend less time on my second language Japanese (which I adopted a completely different method for reasons I'll mention in my next post).