Lemus Log-2021 (and 2022 and 2023!)

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Lemus Log-2021 (and 2022 and 2023!)

Postby Lemus » Sat Jan 02, 2021 5:35 pm

I have decided to start a new log for the new year. My old log was here (https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9179) if anyone is curious, but I think it is time to start anew.

To reiterate goals that I have also posted elsewhere, this year is one in which I anticipate needing to put a great deal of time and mental energy towards the graduate program I am currently enrolled in so I cannot get too ambitious with languages. There is also a great deal of uncertainty with the world in general so I think I will have to play things by ear a little more than most years.

My goals this year are as follows:

Three books in Russian.
500 words in Anki in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and German.

Not the most ambitious goals you might note, which is on purpose. I hope to naturally consume enough content in my four maintenance languages that I do not need to set specific targets for any of them.

Things you will note are not in my goals:
Anki targets in Russian.
Exams of any sort
Other languages

For whatever reason Anki works better for me with Latin scripts so I am not sure what to do about Russian. Right now I am leaning in the direction of actually making written notecards on paper but we will see about that. I would like at some point to get some sort of certificate for Italian and Portuguese but I have no immanent plans to do so. Finally, while I am tempted by numerous other languages, notably Persian, Serbo-Croat, and French, I do not want to start anything new until at least 2022.

And with that, I begin my new log!
Last edited by Lemus on Sat Jan 28, 2023 2:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
7 x

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus Log-2021

Postby Lemus » Sun Jan 10, 2021 5:52 pm

So far, things are going reasonably well.

I am working through a very challenging, but enjoyable Italian book, Danubio, by Claudio Magris. Roughly 500 pages of fairly dense literary and historical references but it is beautifully written. In Anki I am already at 460 words for Italian (against my goal for the year of 500). I will clearly overshoot that given that even if I just finish the book and add my average of a couple of words per chapter.

In the interest of transparency, I will note that I did start adding words into Anki before the calendar year actually began.

I have also watching through some movies on Netflix in Italian as well although I've pretty much cleared them out at this point (there aren't really all that many). I'm not sure once I finish the book what I will do with Italian next. I have more books I could read but I have already hit my targets for the year and this work on Italian is clearly distracting from the Russian that I wanted to be my focus.

The challenge with Italian is that it is the least relevant to anything I have use for personally or professionally. There is a beauty to it though that none of my other languages have and that makes it satisfying to work with, even though it also triggers a sense of guilt at times.

As for Russian I have attempted another TV series, Sparta, but it is slow going. I cannot sit and relax when watching it. I need to be watching it closely and pausing frequently or I quickly lose the main plot threads. The challenge is just the vocabulary. Even with subtitles there are too many unfamiliar words for me to read in time before the subtitle disappears from the screen.

My focus is therefore going to be English-language content with Russian subtitles and continuing to write down words I don't know. It's slow going but I have so very many words to learn and I can tell it is helping.
3 x

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus Log-2021

Postby Lemus » Sun Jan 17, 2021 5:27 pm

So far, so good two weeks into 2021.

I still haven't finished Danubio but I should get there this week. Apart from the fact it is in beautifully written Italian it is also a very interesting book from a language perspective. The author likes to mention most cities he visits have three or four names which different ethnic groups use. Claudio Magris is a specialist in German literature so there are a number of interesting stories about Hungarians, Romanians, etc. and their complex relationship with the German language for historical reasons. He is very nostalgic for the vanished culture of Mitteleuropa. Perhaps not for the Austro-Hungarian Empire as it actually existed, but the idea of an amicable, polyglot Europe that it represented for optimists.

I am thinking of doing a couple more books in Italian after this even though I've already hit my Anki targets. I'm kind of on a roll at this point and I have neglected Italian for so long.

Sometimes I am throwing in a little German too. I don't like mixing the Romance languages but German is easy to do a little off for a change of pace without causing any confusion with Italian or Russian. It's also a nice confidence builder since my German is considerably better than either one of those two. If I turn on Russian subtitles for a 20 minute sitcom I will end up with a page full of words I don't recognize, while I recently watched a German stand-up special on Netflix and found there were two words after a whole hour where I wasn't sure of the meaning.

Russian is, as per usual, challenging. Not much new to report. I'm still trying with Sparta but I can't watch a full episode. It is too mentally draining with how close of attention I need to pay to get even the basic plot contours. I know rationally that I am improving a great deal but still it's over a year since I started Russian seriously and I just wish I was better at it by now. The problem is I think that I'm comparing it to Portuguese, which I picked up relatively quickly. Obviously it is completely unfair to compare learning Portuguese after Spanish with Russian with no Slavic background.

On the plus side, I had a dream in which I definitely spoke several phrases in Russian. That's always a good sign.
6 x

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus Log-2021

Postby Lemus » Sun Jan 24, 2021 5:29 pm

My spring semester of graduate school has begun so my time and mental energy for languages are down somewhat. It's also just generally a sluggish time of year given the weather. I really can't walk outside and listen to podcasts for at least the next month or so, which cuts off a source of potential language time.

I finished my Russian tv series, which admittedly only had four episodes, but still that's something. Still very frustrating how much I'm not getting. When I pause it and read the subtitles I usually get the gist of what the characters are saying but I am really struggling at natural spoken speeds, even with matching subtitles. I know that only gets better with practice but it's still very frustrating.

I think I'm sticking with Italian for a while. I am very near the end of Danubio but finishing it will require a bit more energy than I can summon most days so I downloaded a thriller on my kindle and have been reading that instead. It's just less taxing. I am still adding lots of vocab words into Anki and have already blown past my annual goal of 500. Following the two books I'm currently reading my current plan is to keep doing Italian for a bit. It just feels like I am on a bit of a roll with it.
4 x

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus Log-2021

Postby Lemus » Sun Feb 07, 2021 5:47 pm

As I expected this semester is proving brutal so I have very little time or energy for languages.

Mostly I hop around a variety of content on Netflix in my various languages, sometimes writing down words for Anki sometimes not. I've pretty much cleared out the Italian content I'm interested in so I've been doing the occasional German but mostly Spanish. Spanish is something of comfort food for me since it is the language I have spent the most time with (and it also has by far the best selection of native content on Netflix).

Russian is suffering, no question. I rarely have the energy to watch anything in Russian or even English with Russian subtitles to follow along. On occasion I still do, but it has gone from an every day thing to a few times a week. I also listen to fewer podcasts since I spend very little time outside (winter has turned quite brutal).

740 Italian cards in Anki though, which is pretty good, and I continue to make headway in my lengthy Italian thriller. I think once I finish this book though I will seal off Italian for a bit and just dive into Spanish and German until the semester is over.
2 x

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus Log-2021

Postby Lemus » Sun Feb 14, 2021 5:54 pm

I've really been diving into Spanish again as a comfort language. I finished a whole season of La Casa de Flores in a week. I am not bothering with Anki or anything but also there are very few words I don't recognize (the exception being a lot of the specific flowers mentioned, but I can't talk about those in English with any competency either!).

Sometimes I get the urge to make Russian flashcards with real pen and paper. Combined with the English stuff I watch with Russian subtitles I am certainly improving my vocabulary so that is something. I am hopeful that if I keep doing this slowly but steadily it will make a big difference when I jump into full Russian content. Maybe by that point I will have enough vocabular I can follow what's going on and start to appreciate how the words fit together.

I have not given up on Italian but I still cannot finish my novel. I will, I swear! I just rarely go faster than a few chapters every other day or so.
3 x

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus Log-2021

Postby Lemus » Sat Feb 27, 2021 10:27 pm

I finally finished my Italian novel and am basically signing off on Italian for now. I end with 790 cards in Anki, two books finished, and a fair amount of TV shows and movies watched. Altogether, not too bad.

With my classes still occupying my real energy I am moving towards Spanish more heavily. When I am ambitious I have started on Jorge Luis Borges's Ficciones. When I am not, I just watch Netflix (season three of La Casa de los Flores already). I started adding words into Anki too but am only at a couple dozen.

A word on Borges. The Spanish itself is not difficult and the short stories themselves are relatively, well, short. It is a challenging text though because of its ideas. Highly recommended, although I have found you have to read one story and then put the book down for a bit. There is a lot to think about after each one.

Not that I have given up on Russian by any means. The battle of vocabulary is endless. Sometimes I make flashcards, sometimes I just write lists, but always I am frustrated with how little vocabulary I know. Many of the words I look up though now I see and then say to myself "You knew that! Why are you looking it up?" but I know from experience that, as frustrating as that is, it is a sign that word is nearing the stage where it bakes in permanently. I remember a similar time with German.

As frustrated as Russian leaves me I am confident that after the semester, when I have more time and energy for languages, I will be ready to attempt a novel and more native audio-visual content.
4 x

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus Log-2021

Postby Lemus » Sun Mar 28, 2021 5:29 pm

Wow I had not realize that it has been a month since I posted anything on this log. Honestly that's because I have not accomplished much of note. I've just had a lot to deal with between work and my graduate classes and it is limiting my time and energy for languages.

I'm watching a lot of things in Spanish on Netflix and occasionally writing down words I don't know but other than a series that was Argentinian (Southern Cone Spanish has always been harder for me) it's getting rare to not recognize a word. On occasion I do a short story of Borges but I have to be in a very particular frame of mind for that. Only 92 cards in Spanish Anki, well below the 500 I am aiming for the year.

Lots of working with Russian vocab though. I watch a lot of English content subtitled in Russian and I write down words as they come up. There are still a ton of them I'm not recognizing but I can tell I am making progress. When I get ten minutes here or there sometimes I just copy the word lists onto odd bits of paper and I think it's really helping reinforce a lot of these words. When I'm mentally less exhausted I will jump back into Russian audiovisual content and hopefully start a novel after the semester ends in May.
2 x

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus Log-2021

Postby Lemus » Sat Apr 17, 2021 10:18 pm

Little to report but I am on the verge of reaching a somewhat more active phase. My semester is nearing the end and in a few weeks I will have time to engage more actively again with languages.

Spanish continues to be my focus in terms of time spent because it is the most relaxing. Since having finished Borges all I do is watch Netflix. I still keep the captions on, which I feel a little bad about but it's easier to zone out with those rather than try to follow everything purely through listening. I most recently finished Who Killed Sara, which I highly recommend. There are some novels I plan on reading but I am in no current rush to start them.

Russian then occupies my focus mentally. I am still just plugging away on vocabulary. Some days it feels as though I've learned nothing and some days like I could finish a novel no problem. In early summer I plan on actually attempting a novel and then we will see how much I've actually retained. I suspect that will be brutal but the first one is always the hardest.

It's difficult also to sketch out the rest of the year since there are so many questions about what the fall and winter look like with the pandemic. US vaccination is going well but I don't think anyone knows what things really look like in six months. I am trying to keep my goals flexible for that reason. The more social distancing needed in the fall/winter the more time I will have for languages so I am in the somewhat paradoxical situation of hoping I don't end up spending too much time on languages this year!
4 x

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus Log-2021

Postby Lemus » Sun May 23, 2021 4:37 pm

It seems I have let more than a month pass by without updating my log. For much of that month I was not doing all that much but the last few weeks have been far more productive.

Having finished off my semester my amount of free time and mental energy have both increased dramatically.

I started a series in Russian again for the first time in a while. I have been pleasantly surprised by how much more I am understanding after several months of working primarily on vocabulary. It's still not unusual for sentences to fly past me without registering at all but I am now generally able to follow plot lines. This is objectively major progress and I'm very happy with it.

With German I am trying something new. Rather than set targets based on numbers of books or Anki cards I am diving into a specific author for a while. What I want to do now with my German is not to advance it but to use it to understand great ideas and literature (and hopefully of course, advance it as a side benefit). I have chosen Rilke as a beginning of this effort. I finished Briefe an einen jungen Dichter, which, though short, was a very challenging (and rewarding) read. I wrote down some words for Anki but it is not the vocabulary which is challenging but the writing style and the ideas. Consider, for example, this sentence which I underlined:

"Und das noch: Glauben Sie nicht, dass jene grosse Liebe, welche Ihene, dem Knaben, einst auferlegt worden ist, verloren war; koennen Sie sagen, ob damals nicht grosse und gute Wunsche in Ihene gereift sind und Voersatze, von denen Sie heute noch leben?"

(And this as well: Do not think that every great love that came upon you as a young man was in vain, perhaps it could be said that you still live from the wishes and intentions that were then only ripening).

The number of clauses Rilke packs into a single sentence is truly remarkable. The English version (of my own translation) is beautiful to be sure, but it does not have the sense of building tension the German has. It is very notable in complex German how often the major idea of the sentence comes at the end after a great deal of preparation and how that really cannot be captured in English. It could be translated by stacking dependent clauses together so it looked like the German, but no one writes that way and that feels like a disservice to the original.

Also doing a fair bit of Spanish TV watching. Having done so much active focus on Spanish now when new seasons of Netflix Spanish shows come out I'm emotionally invested in seeing how they turn out. It's less about the desire to practice Spanish and more about finally finding out Quien Mato a Sara.
3 x


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests