Vegantraveller's 2020 Adventures with Languages (DE, EN, FR, IT, JA, SV)

[vegantraveller]

Hi Vegantraveller, I bought the first two issues of Græs last week. I thought the first issue was only okay. I enjoyed the second issue on dialects a lot more.

Yes, the second issue is way better than the first one. I can't wait for the third one!

[vegantraveller]

I could study less last week, as I started again my job after my operation.

Week 44
26th October - 1st November

English - 3h25'
I watched two films: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm by Jason Woliner and the 2004 underrated movie The Garden of Earthly Delights by Lech Majewski.



French - 1h35'
Some Anki flashcards and reading, as well as a review of lesson 7 from Assimil. This was a summary lesson mainly devoted to verbs which are pronominal in French but not in Italian, and viceversa, as well as some rules about the past participle agreement for these verbs.
I also watched an episode from the YouTube channel Le monde des langues, which I've been following for a few years now (Faux polyglottes: la chasse aux sorcières inutile).

German - 1h
I went through old notes about an article on light, and did some Anki flashcards.

Italian - 2h25'
I watched an Italian movie, Capri-Revolution. It's a great film, and interesting from a linguistic point of view, because it also has dialogues in Neapolitan, English, French, German, and Russian. Set on the island of Capri at the beginning of World War I, is a tale of liberation and free-thinking.



I also started 12th canto from Orlando furioso.

Japanese - 4h50'
I revised and inserted into Anki some new expressions from a Line-text sent by my host mother in Japan and from two articles I read in the past, and watched the first two episodes from the drama グッド・モーニング・コール　(Guddo Mōningu Kōru): set in a high school, is the perfect show to get a good dose of contemporary, casual language.

Swedish - 2h30'
A review of lesson 54 from Assimil, as well as the numerals in lesson 2 from Complete Swedish.
I also went through my grammar book, revising definite plurals and doing some exercises on indefinite plurals.
I read the first chapter of the last short story Blodig helg i Stockholm, and I could follow the plot pretty well.

[vegantraveller]

I haven't posted for a while (basically two months!), but November was quite tough to me, since my father contracted coronavirus-related pneumonia, went to hospital, struggled a few weeks, and finally passed away at the end of the month. He was relatively young (69), slim, fit, and with no illnesses, so we were quite sure he would make it. But he didn't, and so I have realised how easy it is to die (considering he was also very careful about the virus). Work and language learning, as well as physical activity, have helped me go through, so, even if I didn't post what I did, I tried to be consistent in my study or my daily exposure to languages.

Here a short summary of what I did during November (from 2nd) and December. I will also start a new journal for 2021.

English - 29h
Assimil - lesson 6 (Visiting).
Films and series: Rebecca (2020), Knives Out (2019), Antebellum (2020), and two brand new Netflix series, The Queen's Gambit and Bridgerton.
Did also some casual reading and podcast listening.

French - 5h05'
Assimil - lesson 8 (La circulation).
I also went on with my reading (Les 120 règles d'or du travail), and watched some videos on YouTube, including an Arte documentary about shop photography in Paris at the beginning of 20th century.

German - 16h20'
Assimil lesson 53 (Er ist auf den Mund gefallen), some YouTube videos, podcast listening and some casual reading from Der Stern.

Italian (native) - 5h45'
Reading: Orlando Furioso - 12th canto.
Films watched: La vita davanti a sé (with Sophia Loren), Il talento del calabrone (on Amazon Prime, highly recommended), and the good horror movie Il legame.

Japanese - 37h30'
Assimil - lesson 67 (富士山).
I also restarted my kanji revision at the end of December, after a three-month hiatus (because of my handwriting, which has greatly improved). Kanji revised: 洗・使・歌・習・思・言・通・渡
I watched season 1 of グッドモーニング・コール, and half of season 2, as well, and I also read and finished book 1 of となりの外国人, and started book 2.

Swedish -22h10'
Assimil lesson 55 (Lotta har blivit stor), and started the review in lesson 56, as well as some podcast listening while driving to work.
I've also been reading a newspaper article which has been discussed here on the forum (Sveriges 100 största språkhändelser).
I only read two chapters of my easy reader, I hope to be more consistent in 2021.

I also went through Anki and had some conversations on Italki for all of my foreign languages, and I purchased German Tutor, 5 graded readers in Swedish, as well as a couple of DVDs (万引き家族 and Det sjunde inseglet).

Happy New Year everybody and see you in 2021!

[Elsa Maria]

I am so sorry to read the sad news about your father, and I offer my condolences.

[vegantraveller]

I am so sorry to read the sad news about your father, and I offer my condolences.

Thank you very much for your condolences, I really appreciate that!

[vegantraveller]

Summary of 2020:

English - 178h10'
French - 56h10'
German - 109h10'
Italian (native, media) - 14h40'
Japanese - 228h15'
Swedish - 202h55'

For a total of 789h15' (+102h in comparison to 2019), with a daily average of 2.16h.