Back to the roots and water them with coffee

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Ale
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2021 4:48 pm
Languages: Spanish (N), English (B2), French (beginner?)
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Re: Back to the roots and water them with coffee

Postby Ale » Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:38 pm

Sorry you are going through that, Cavesa. I hope things turn around soon.

I'm new here, but I have been reading this forums for a long time and your posts have always been very useful to me due to my particular interest in French. Just wanted to let you know that. Thank you! :D
1 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
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Re: Back to the roots and water them with coffee

Postby Cavesa » Thu Mar 04, 2021 12:55 pm

Thank you.

Some news: I sent in my application for the medical residency. If everything goes well, they'll pick me for an interview in a few weeks, and I'll be allowed to start in October. Fortunately, the thing is done. Writing a motivation letter was a torture :-D

On the other front, the fight is still fierce. The insane person from airbnb keeps harassing me. Last week, I refused to pay over 200 euros for things I had not damaged. So, she asked almost 600 euros for the same things yesterday, and one more that I had not damaged in any way (I was not even allowed to use it). It is exhausting and horrible. I really hoped this would be over as soon as I'd get out of there. So, I am also looking into ways to get some legal help. Fortunately, she is also objectively stupid, otherwise the problem would be even worse. Her stupidity was making all the communication with her very hard, but now it is a blessing, because she could cause much more damage, if she was more intelligent.

Always take possible proofs of everything. Adding to my list of recommendations: When you move in, take not only photos of the appartment, but also stuff outside. The door, the doorhandle, the mailbox, the bell, any lights,...

But I feel such a relief, as I sent in my dossier. I am now applying for some internship, some jobs, and so on. And I've strarted learning again and it is actually nice.

I am apalled at all I have forgotten from the medical basic sciences. But it will come back, I am relearning the stuff relevant to my new job that I am looking for.

And when it comes to language learning:

Speakly: German and Spanish, I restarted both. Spanish goes fast, it is really just a nice review. German goes slowly, despite of being mostly review at the beginning. Finishing Beginner 2 in German and am in the middle of Beginner 3 in Spanish.
Kwiziq: curiously, you cannot restart the course. Not at all. So, if you do what they suggest ("just pick what you like to review"), you don't get all the useful tracking options. So, they are fortunately willing to transfer my Spanish account to a new email, which is good, as I paid for it till November.
SuperChallenge:I am in season 2 of the American Gods in Spanish. The dubbing is good, but I want something original. I just cannot find anything fitting the mood right now. I am trying Patria, but it is a bit too serious.

Two Spanish issues:

1.a Spanish question: Speakly is showing me this card: Tengo que encontrar piso nuevo. Without an article. Is it correct? I've been trying to look it up, but to no success. I suspect they forgot a word, because I find similar examples online with "un", and the general rule written in the reference books doesn't seem to leave an exception like this. Please, is it correct?

2.an old joke that I found just recently. I love it, so I want to share:
-No sé cómo cambiar la llanta
-Usa el gato
-Tampoco sabe qué hacer
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Kraut
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
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Languages: German (N)
French (C)
English (C)
Spanish (A2)
Lithuanian
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Re: Back to the roots and water them with coffee

Postby Kraut » Thu Mar 04, 2021 1:31 pm

"Tengo que encontrar piso nuevo."
Butt: "Reference grammar ....: "this happens when the generic or universal features of the noun are emphasized"

No tengo coche.
Tienes novio?
4 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
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Re: Back to the roots and water them with coffee

Postby Cavesa » Thu Mar 04, 2021 1:57 pm

Kraut wrote:"Tengo que encontrar piso nuevo."
Butt: "Reference grammar ....: "this happens when the generic or universal features of the noun are emphasized"

No tengo coche.
Tienes novio?


Thanks!!! I clearly need to work on my searching skills! I was unsure about it, thought I had seen something relevant, but couldn't really make the connection.
0 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
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Re: Back to the roots and water them with coffee

Postby Cavesa » Sat Mar 06, 2021 2:44 pm

My return to more consistent language learning is very pleasant.

I have tons of problems to solve, but some of them are fortunately now behind me.

I am rather happily continuing with Speakly, which is excellent as review, but I really do mind their bugs and other such issues. The one with lost progress was very unpleasant. You can see my progress on the first page of this log, in the Progress Bar Garden. It goes rather well. I am not spreading myself too thin, I am now putting language time mostly into Spanish and German on Speakly, and watching American Gods in Spanish dubbing. Found myself a few books to read in Spanish, and reattack the super challenge. A few originals, and also translated Prattchett. He's always a good choice, when you need to look at the weirdness of the world from a more cheery side :-)

How I use Speakly:

For Spanish, it is a review, so I just go through the main content, I'll return to the Dialogues later. I appreciate how it puts the grammar into the exercises too, and the notes, too bad the main grammar section is so bad. Speakly will serve well. But if I didn't buy a whole life long subscription package, one payment for all the languages, I don't think I'd do it here.

For German, I might be exagerrating how slowly and "tediously" I use it.

1.the main part: I do the exercises, I am rather strict when deciding "ok" "too hard" (when I am given an option), I write every new example down, by hand. I have a notebook for that. It is not well organised, the pages are just walls of text. It is a place for doing the activity of writing by hand and employing the appropriate circuits in my brain, it is not meant to be a review resource. I also rewrite things in which I make mistakes.

2.the dialogues: I do them as I should at first, I write them all by hand, harder sentences a few times. I put them all to anki. Some of the sentences do indeed appear in the main study section, but not all of them, and later. So, I turn them into cloze deletion cards, practicing vocab, grammar (articles, prepositions, correct conjugation or declination). Raconteur has recently written a nice review of Speakly, and takes the too short dialogues (or absense of longer ones) as one of the faults. I don't. I have longer dialogues in a coursebook, these are exactly enough for replaying, for even memorising some parts. And these tiny dialogues of four lines each are turned into 1-9 cloze deletion cards.

Perhaps my writing is similar to the "scriptorium" technique, if I understood it well. Writing things by hand, saying the stuff out loud.

I use a sort of Leitner system for reviews. So, it is a bit of a chaos, but it serves. I have a sheet of paper with dates (a sort of a calendar), and I plan reviews based on how well I remembered the dialogue this time. Horrible:the day after, sort of ok:three days, almost perfect:7days. Then it leaves. I am considering how to make them leave the list faster :-D The anki cloze cards are definitely helping!

3.I don't use the grammar part at all (I find it to be horrible and the only main problem of Speakly), and I haven't been using the long texts so far.

German is very resistent to my brain, so I am trying to use all the means at my disposal. I don't want to spread myself too thin though. I've recently realised, that I am learning this language out of spite. Yes, Germany is the plan B, or rather plan Z for my career. It doesn't attract me much. But I despise the fact that this language has resisted me for so long. I first started learning it in 2012, if I remember well, and I still have nothing to show for it!

No idea how it will go in the coroworld, but it looks like I really have to sign up for a language exam, in order to be efficient. Either a German or a Spanish one. So, I hope they will be held.
7 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
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Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
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Re: Back to the roots and water them with coffee

Postby Cavesa » Wed Mar 10, 2021 9:51 pm

Speakly has a huge disadvantage, like most digital tools. It requires the internet. And there's been a problem in the street, so I lose connection a few times a day. Not for long (mostly), but it is still pretty discouraging, it broke my streak. Add to it also problems with heating, an attempt on burglary or something like that yesterday, and a broken plane my bf was supposed to arrive in, and you get the image of my everyday life :-D And I'm waiting for an answer to my candidature to a university, whether they invite me to the interviews or not (I signed up for two specialties, each comitee now decides whether I am worth further examining).

Anyways, I need to get out of the bad moods. So, some music helped today, also I have a recommendation on a very old and awesome tv series (animated one): Smolíkovi. It is perfect in Czech, and probably just as good (or better) in the original Hungarian (just guessing). I appreciate good comedies more and more these days. It breaks the routine, brings good mood for any work.

And I'll buy some video dancing classes, in Spanish. Getting to connect two hobbies at once, that's cool. I was fed up with video stuff some time ago, but it is time to rediscover it. I also feel better in my body, now that I've lost 7kg (7 to go!). So, I'll get to practice my dance terminology, and get a rather authentic experience (as much as video allows). It's been ages since I've danced bachata and salsa. It will be fun! Just putting the dance shoes on makes me feel better.
7 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
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Re: Back to the roots and water them with coffee

Postby Cavesa » Wed Mar 10, 2021 10:39 pm

hmm found video classes in French too, so I am curious. But those are the moments, in which I really appreciate my languages.

One huge disadvantage of the preparation for my interviews: I have no clue what they will look like. Sometimes, they are normal job sort of interview. Sometimes, they are more of an oral exam of the specialty. I don't know at all :-( Hard to prepare.
2 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
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Re: Back to the roots and water them with coffee

Postby Cavesa » Sat Apr 03, 2021 4:29 pm

Lots of news:

I am starting an internship this week. An unpaid one, so you see the obvious issues, but it is the dream job that will not only change my CV. It is the thing I have done all this for. The reason for which I sacrificed my youth to medicine. I am excited but scared, worried I'll make a bad impression or will be found too dumb for it. It's exactly the kind of patients I want to work with as my priority, it's a research group developing exactly the kind of methods I want to learn and actively use, and which are still mostly ignored in my country of origin.

I've also gotten the first of the two answers concerning my concours. I am preparing an interview, and have a chance of getting into the residency program. How big or small? No idea, a few things are rather worrying (I knew right away that they don't know the number of places to be opened themselves. Now it looks like the foreigners are a little bit more at a disadvantage, than I had thought, some of the things mentioned in the email are rather strange. And the list of issues could go on, but I simply have to try) Waiting for the other specialty's answer.

So, my reading and studying capacity should be mostly devoted to this. But I still enjoy digital resources for languages as a way to relax and I should be more consistent (too bad my internet connection problems destroyed my streak and motivation on Speakly. Really, streaks are too counterproductive for me, because their loss is too demotivating. I'd prefer a system like a streak of weeks, in which I manage to study at least five times, something like that).

And I've been enjoying some tv series in Spanish!

For the Super Challenge:
10x35 min: Quién mató a Sara (it is excellent! A Mexican thriller, surprising, playing with some old ideas in new ways, well made. A bit telenovelesque setting, but it really fits here. I hope the second season will be at least as good)

And now I am watching Los favoritos de Midas, and I love it. It is based on a short story by Jack London (one I probably haven't read) but set in today's Madrid.

Oh, and I've been neglecting reading fiction. A lot. I still love books, but not sure I am still as much of a bookworm as I used to be. I am a bit burned out by all the studying in the last few years, but I hope to return to this. If you want a wonderful bookworming log to follow now, Maiwenn's log is the place to go! She's awesome!
16 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
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Re: Back to the roots and water them with coffee

Postby Cavesa » Wed Apr 07, 2021 1:57 pm

So, los favoritos de Midas didn't have a happy ending. It's a very good series, but I simply need some artificial optimism in my daily life.
But it's 6x45 minutes for my super challenge!

I am progressing with the digital tools for my review. Spanish is always fun, right now the priority is finishing Speakly.

But Italian always comes back. In the new team I am joining, there are several Italians. :-D Got to practice right away, I am rusty. I should really work on it.

In general, I am much more motivated for medicine, that I've been in years. of course the beginnings are hard anywhere, especially due to the organisation in the middle of pandemia, with some distance work etc. But I am actually interested in medicine again, which is a miracle.
11 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
x 17565

Re: Back to the roots and water them with coffee

Postby Cavesa » Tue Apr 13, 2021 3:47 pm

My intership is going really well, the concours progresses with some a bit weird mixed messages (which seems to be totally normal in the Belgian academia and public institutions, I'm not giving up). But it is awesome to go in a normal hospital again, even if it is "just" less often and as part of research, not exactly in the role of a doctor for now. And it looks like I will get to learn various kinds of the everyday scientific work in the field (from literature review to working on a prospective study of dg methods evaluation etc), which is great. It's exactly what I've wanted and the best use for my time now.

A lot to do, which is great.

To my language learning: I am mostly using some SRS to review and sloooowly improve. I find out that I need both my Spanish and Italian. Every time I focus too much on one of them, I encounter some natives, or great media, or something like that in the other one. And yes, I still don't understand why German and I don't seem to be like a good match, in spite of how useful it would be to me.

Interference is a thing, but it will go away.

For now, I am using Speakly quite a lot,a bit of Clozemaster, will return to Spanish Kwiziq. Yes, paper resources are superior, but I don't have the capacity for now.

You may have notice my Glossika thread, asking others for experience and sharing my recent impressions and info. I think Glossika might be good by the end of the year, if they really add some of the promissed stuff. And it is certainly great for the less popular languages with fewer resources. But for the price, I would expect more active recall (it is mostly about repeating and copying. Which is useful, sure, but it is not as great as if there was also real active recall activity), either an external pronunciation check (promissed in some way later this year) or at least an easier access to my own recordings for self-evaluations (they are stored separately from the main review area), and also the same quality from both English and other bases. So, it is not worth my money for now. But later this year (if they add the pronunciation check and much more content for levels B1-C1 in my langauges), it might be. Or when I finally start a language with few resources.

On the input front, I am doing quite well with tv series. Watching Lucifer in Italian again, I'll count it in the SC at the end of the season.
Btw the third season of Quien mató a Sara will be out in approximately a month. And if everything goes well, the premiere of the Kaamelott movie is planned for July!

As Speakly is the main activity now, here is an overview of how far I am:
Spanish:930 (it goes noticeably slower now, the srs also give me plenty of reviews of the earlier stuff)
Italian:102 (started a few days ago)
German:305 (already described my method for this one, of course it goes slowly! :-) )
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