On and Off - RU, FA, (A)EL, etc... etc...

[cito]

I don't think I'll do log numbers anymore. Not really worth it, and some things don't need an official entry!!

Traveling/Brain F(r)og

I think I'm getting more used to being in the south of France, but I also realize that I may just not like the city I am in. I really enjoy the classes I am taking and the few friends I have made, but as I have visited a few other cities, I realize I just don't really like the vibes I get here, and after talking with other students, I think they feel the same. I also spent most of this week in my room. After classes I would go out to explore the city a little then return home and stay in my room, studying or doing a little reading. Next week I'll try and get out more and enjoy my last week here. Perhaps it is a waste to spend a lot of time in my room, but I think if it is the way I can emotionally/mentally handle it, that's my best option.

In other news, my brain fog has mostly subsided! I get it a little every once in a while, but it really got better with cutting out gluten. Perhaps it's the anxiety being a bit lower, but I think I'll just stay off the gluten for now!

Ancient Greek

On lesson 20 of Dobson... close to half way!

I ordered the Italian edition of Athenaze and the Exercise Book from Amazon. I'm planning on doing it along with Dobson (for as long as Dobson is useful). I also may purchase A Greek Reader: Companion to A Primer of Biblical Greek when I get back to the states (but I should also think about being frugal ). My plan is to try and read and reread Athenaze/A Greek Reader like graded readers, and do the exercises from Athenaze (also use Athenaze as a method for dipping my toes into Attic). I'll use them alongside Dobson until Dobson doesn't work for me, then maybe focus on Athenaze or get around to using JACT Reading Greek. I figure when I am back in France next February I'll think about Assimil's book, but until then, I'll probably hold off (unless Santa wants to get me that and a Bilingual or Readers Edition of the Septuagint ).

Recently I've been "reading" some of the New Testament, especially selections from The Gospel of John and John's Letters, and a bit of Mark. It's what Dobson prescribes but with Chapter 4 of John I went a bit before the selected reading and used an online interlinear to figure out morphology / common vocabulary I didn't know (I do this twice per passage, maybe, then I try not to again), write in little definitions/hints/notes, and then I slowly try and read. Over the next few days I'll reread and use the notes and avoid the interlinear/translations at all costs, unless I genuinely can't make heads or tails of what I am reading- and the idea all in all is to internalize what is happening through repetition. I have found this very fun and rewarding!!!

My motivation and excitement about Greek has been through the roof lately. Honestly, it's a feeling I had for French that I somewhat lost, but we'll get to French now, because there is good news!

French

I finally, FINALLY finished La Peste by Albert Camus. It took so long but the last 3 days I read the last third of the book. Wow. Great ending, great philosophizing, amazing characters, fantastic story. Definitely had certain moments that felt like a drag, but I think that was because I wasn't at 98% comprehension for the book. It's still great even if I can't follow every detail in descriptions, but I was able to follow what was going on and what was being spoken of.

I found that finishing the book was really rewarding, and I feel pretty satisfied. I'm thinking I might ask my French professor if we can do research next summer into Camus. I really like the way he talks about guilt and human responsibility, and I would find it very fun to go deeper into that aspect of his writing.

I realize I buy a lot more books than I read. I'm working on it. Currently I'm reading Le Pouvoir du moment présent by Eckhart Tolle. I started it in 2020, since quarantine was giving me a lot of anxiety, but I'm finding it more than in range for 98% comprehension. I'd highly recommend it to anyone studying a language with a translation of it if they are in that strong intermediate stage. My plan is to finish it today by listening to the audiobook and reading at the same time (found it on Youtube gratuit). I think I might do the same with Candide ou l'optimisme by Voltaire. Perhaps today, and if not, tomorrow. It's only 130 pages or 3 hours of audio book. I also have to work on an essay for the class I attended in England. It's 8 pages .

Spanish

I'm really enjoying Language Transfer (doing 2-3 a day), and I'm currently on Lesson 3 of Assimil. I'm spending 2 days on each lesson and taking my time. I'll show my (planned) Bidirectional translation / review schedule below, starting today as a good example.

Day 5: Learn: Lesson 3, EN->ES Lesson 1
Day 6: Learn: Lesson 3, ES->EN Lesson 2
Day 7: Learn: Lesson 4, EN->ES Lesson 2
Day 8: Learn: Lesson 4, ES->EN Lesson 3
etc.

Once I get far enough in, this will be my review schedule (listen to the audio 1-3 times, along with doing Bidirectional translation).

Learn Lesson 41: Review: 34, 27, 20, 13, 6
Learn Lesson 41: Review: 38, 31, 24, 17, 10, 3
Learn Lesson 42: Review: 35, 28, 21, 14, 7
Learn Lesson 42: Review: 39, 32, 25, 18, 11, 4
Learn Lesson 43: Review: 36, 29, 22, 15, 8, 1
Learn Lesson 43: Review: 40, 33, 26, 19, 12, 5

It looks like a lot/complicated, but really its about 5-10 minutes of review a day, and I go back 3 days on the second day of each lesson so I do not wait too long between each lesson. If i didn't do that, it would be reviewing each lesson every 14 days, which isn't the best for memory. After a while (once I'm on lesson 80, let's say) I might shed some of the earlier ones, as they will likely be ingrained in my memory and I won't really need to review them (as they also have simpler grammar / vocabulary). Once I hit lesson 50, I'll do a second set of bidirectional translation starting at lesson 1, in order to have a consistent review (sort of like an actual active phase ). I figure once I finish up language transfer I'll get some graded readers to supplement my learning with, or find some podcasts. We'll see.

Welp, I have reading, journaling, essay writing, and studying to do, wish me luck and have a good day y'all!

Also, HUGE thank you to księżycowy, einzelne, kundalini, and especially guyome for the advice on my post about Vernhes/Ancient Greek resources. Y'all are the best!

[cito]

General Notes

Unfortunately, the brain f(r)og has returned pretty strong since my last post (4 days ago). It's been pretty tough and makes me really anxious/makes studying really hard. I hope it's nothing serious because it does not seem to be gluten, as I have cut it out as much as I can for the past 3 weeks or so. I'm leaving in two days. I'll probably miss this part of France, but I think because I didn't make a ton of friends at my program it will be an easy goodbye to make. Here is a photo of my summer resources, though!

IMG_2708.jpg

French apparently B2

Finished Candide, ou l'Optimisme by Voltaire. It was really funny, and I watched a summary beforehand that really helped me follow the plot. Full of words I didn't understand but felt no need to look up. "Il faut cultiver notre jardin."

I tried to move on to Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné by Victor Hugo, but I'm finding it a little too difficult with it's descriptions. Perhaps it was the brain fog today that made it extra difficult, but I think I might try Vingt mille lieues sous les mers by Jules Verne first (I'll just skip any frivolous nautical details).

I've found "Iversen Style" wordlists very effective. Enjoying doing around 20-25 words per day, semi consistently. Not afraid to take my time and review words a decent amount, though. Much more enjoyable than making Anki cards. I think each has its own place.

Got an email today from the company I've been taking classes with. Apparently I've already completed 60 classes and I'm a B2. I have a certificate, and I would post it but I want to keep the company I'm with private and my name is obviously on it. I guess I'll put it in my languages section. I'm not sure if I really feel like a B2 but I mean hey, their words, not mine.

Ancient Greek

Just got Athènaze in the mail, and today I tried out the "7-Step Ranieri Re-Reading Technique" detailed here:



Definitely interesting, and I think I'll try and do a page or so a day with Athènaze using this technique (+ some revisions). Again brain fog is making things tough but I like it and with revisions I think it will be very effective.

Finished lesson 20 of Dobson, will probably do some revisions of Mark 11:27-30, John 4:1-24, and 1 John 5-7 + some grammatical revisions. Anki has been helpful but I think conscious grammatical revision is needed along with the sentence revision given by Anki. Only having to make cards for 1-3 days (and around 5-8 cards each day) per lesson is nice. Keeps the reviews low and relevant.

With Dobson I've found a good speed/method is the following (I try to follow it, but don't stress doing it to the T):

(day) 1. Learn the new content, do exercises (mark ones you want to make Anki cards out of, goal for 1 card per new form/conjugation/vocab word, average 10-15 per lesson), try and make minor sense of reading.
2. Do reading again with more attention, make 5-8 Anki cards
3. Anki cards, review a reading from GNT or Dobson
4. (make cards if any left, if not) review readings
5. review grammar points, review readings
repeat with next lesson.

Spanish

On lesson 20 of Language Transfer today and starting lesson 5 of Assimil. Reviews/Bidirectional translation has been nice and is working well, but it's too early to see. Watched 2 Luca Lampariello videos in Spanish and understood a surprising amount. It's amazing what dormant high-school Spanish + a familiar speaker/video can do for your comprehension .

Pomodoro Timers

I'm interested in this idea of the Pomodoro timer, and after some experimenting, I've found that 25 minutes on and 5 minutes off isn't enough for me. I think I hit my stride around ~20 minutes, so I think I'll search for a 30 + 5 timer. If I do a 4 round study session, I think I can get all my "sit down" language study done in around 2 hours. This would be the ideal order:

1. ASSIMIL Spanish (do Anki with remaining time, reserve Language Transfer for when walking places/lying down, not timed)
2. Dobson/Review or Create Anki (read passages or new content on non-Anki days)
3. Athènaze
4. French word lists.

Doing Spanish first and French last creates minimal clashing between them. I usually don't do this in 2 hours straight (scheduling wise), but I've found it helpful to sneak in the timer when I can.

[cito]

Hey y’all, it’s been a few weeks. That actually means though that I’ve been busy traveling and changing programs. I’m SO much happier at my new program. I’m living with a host family and taking courses at a university. Honestly, it’s the first time I’ve felt challenged during a French course, and I’m getting to learn about smaller grammatical details, like the pronunciations of plus and adverbs of quantity. I’ve actually made friends (even if they’re American I’m still okay with it!) and my best friend from home is here with me. I think she is having a bit of a tougher time but being together is helping us both with adapting. I think being happier and a bit messed stressed (even though I am doing more studying than I have since last semester!) and my brain fog has decreased greatly! I’m back to eating gluten and I’m doing well.

I stopped doing Spanish. I got really overwhelmed and I think I’m someone who needs to focus on fewer things at once and really putting some decent effort and focus into them. It was still a fun adventure!

You bet your bones I’ve stayed with Greek though!!

Speaking of:

Ancient Greek:

I am on lesson 21 of Dobson, and my God, everyone was right about his grammatical organization. It’s a bit horrifying. I haven’t done much work on it but rather I’ve been focusing on Athenaze, and I’m having a much more fun time with it. I slowed down a bit but I’m back on track now. I’m going through each chapter piece by piece and making Anki cards for the vocabulary.

The main struggle for me with Greek is of course verb conjugation, but it's also finding resources for audio. I really don’t want to buy any more books, but I honestly hate most pronunciation systems people have. I don’t care much about historical validity, but rather that a pronunciation system retains long vowels and differentiates ι | υ | η because ὑμας and ἡμας being the same makes no sense to me.

I think of all the ones I have examined, of Modern, Erasmanian, Randll Bluth (found audio on koinegreek(.)com, Christophe Rico’s Polis, and Lucian Pronunciations, I find Modern pronunciation the best sounding but Rico’s the one that appeals to me the most with my criteria. The problem I have is that honestly I really do not want to buy so many Greek textbooks, and Polis would be another 40 dollars to spend, but also not having audio/a consistent pronunciation system is starting to get to me.

My plan is already to buy the independent study guide for Reading Greek and possibly Aleksandros / Jeong’s A Greek Reader so it’s just really racking up a lot of things I’m not sure I even have time for. If I get Polis I might just have to settle at that and Reading Greek. I know the audio for polis is free online but it’s way less useful without the text I would be reading. However I can get both books used for around the same price as Polis new so I’ll probably just settle for that. I can just spend 30 minutes a day on Athenaze, 15 on Polis and 15 on Reading Greek (+whatever Anki will be).

With all that being said I'm glad I'm so excited about Ancient Greek. I'm looking forward to reading Ancient authors so much and I'm finding myself very excited by it.

French:

I’ve been enjoying my classes and reading a decent amount. I’m around 230 pages into Vingt mille lieues sous les mers and it’s tough but very enjoyable and quite exciting. I also started La course au mouton sauavage by Haruki Murakami and it’s also great.

I’ve started making Anki cards again for vocabulary. Combined with class and making cards for the books it’s a lot of work but also I’m quite motivated to do it.

Hope everyone has been well.

(Also! Writing this in editing over my post, but the weirdest thing in the world happened to me my last day before I changed programs. A friend invited me to go to a bookstore with her, so we went, and on top of the bargain books out front look at what I found!

athenaze2.jpg

I was honestly flabbergasted. It's a bit water damaged and beat up, but I'll take it for a single euro!)

[cito]

Well, well, well... if today isn’t a special day....

It’s been one year since I joined the forum! I have learned so much since I got here and I’d like to thank everyone for all the support, advice, and interesting conversation (even if I read it more than I partake in it).

For a quick update: I’m still on chapter 3 of the Italian Athenaze, I’m over half-way through La Course au mouton sauvage by Haruki Murakami (The Wild Sheep Chase), and I haven’t budged much in Vingt Mille Lieues sous les mers by Jules Verne (20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, I’m about a third of the way through). I just emailed an old philosophy professor thanking him for the course, but also asking for any genuine advice with Ancient Greek as well!

Also, I hit 2000 Anki Cards in my sentence mining/Migaku vocabulary deck!

Hope everyone’s studies are going well. Thanks for a great year.

[cito]

I got back from Europe yesterday. It was a long trip. I think I gained a lot, learned a lot, thought a lot. My French skills definitely got better, especially with regard to listening. I won’t lie that I’m happy to be home, but its weird talking to people in restaurants / public servants in English .

I’ve been enjoying rock climbing recently, and it’s something I did a decent amount of in France, actually.

My brain fog is still bad, I've just decided to study and read despite. If I get distracted and focused on something it feels a bit less overwhelming. Easy when I play guitar, draw, or use a screen, harder when I’m reading, but I do get there eventually. I am going to get a doctor’s appointment soon, hoping it’s not serious.

My brother’s wedding is this month! Can’t see any friends from home until the day after, but that’s okay. I’ve got some reading to do, as I’ve decided this month I’m going to try really hard to limit my technology use. I wanna wait till around noon to get on technology (other than some Anki reps in the morning, probably), because life is too short to spend all my time on Reddit or YouTube. I got books to read and loved ones to spend time with!

French:

Overall, bought lots of books in France, but I’m very excited to read them all. I actually bought 4 Murakami books, which is hilarious.

Finished La course au mouton sauvage by Haruki Murakami and L’éternité n’est pas de trop by Francois Cheng. Good book. A little too hard. Made some Anki cards from it. Tried reading La Maison Tellier today by Maupassant but it was just a bit too difficult, and I decided to save it for a later day after getting half way through. Close to being done with Verne, just still too many fish descriptions .

I am probably going to read Que ma joie demeure by Jean Giorno next. I was in Annecy and a bookstore owner said he was a good place to start (along with Camus) in French literature. After that probably Autoportrait de l'auteur en coureur de fond by Haruki Murakami. Might throw in a few plays I have laying around and try and find productions of them online.

Ancient Greek:

I’ve slowed down a lot with Ancient Greek, but I did a good amount today and made 13 Anki cards. It was nice being able to vary up my readings because now I have access to my copy of JACT’s Reading Greek.

I also made a decision. I bought a copy of Hansen and Quinn’s Greek, an Intensive Course, because there is an entire series on YouTube for it. Lectures for the entire book. Since I cannot take a class, and I am approaching Ancient Greek somewhat differently than I did with French, I’ve decided this is my best bet. I don’t wanna worry about reconstructed pronunciations and all that, I just wanna read Plato, Herodotus, Homer, Lucian, the Bible, the Apostolic Fathers, in the original. I wanna be precise and know the grammar well, so I figure I’ll try and go for a middle path between Grammar heavy and more CI-based learning, by doing lots of graded reading.

Other languages:

Had randoms spurts of curiosity towards Japanese and Russian. Nothing came of them. If only I had the time / brain to learn all these languages!

I picked up the Penguin Classics Deluxe edition of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens while at Shakespeare and Company in Paris, and I started reading it today. Saw a few words I didn’t know so I think I’ll put them in an Anki deck I have for English words I want to remember and ones I forget (I’ve been forgetting a few of them since I started learning French ). I am excited to start reading again now that I’m home and have my books. Really enjoying Great Expectations so far.

I have 3 other Penguin Classic Deluxe editions for On the Road, Anna Karenina, and the Odyssey, so I guess that might be an August reading list in English, no stress, though. But I’m really screwed if I end up really liking Tolstoy, since the desire to learn Russian might build up again! All it took was The Stranger for French and a little Plato and Biblical curiosity for Ancient Greek so we’ll see how I fair .

If I’m not back, hope everyone has a good August.

[cito]

Hey y’all, its been a while!

I’ve been super busy moving back to school, studying, reading (so much reading), and also in August health problems that killed my studying. I suspended almost all my Anki cards and took a 2-3 week break just to let myself heal and relax. I went to the hospital and got a CT scan because I was having trouble with written text, and thankfully, nothing came up! Blood + urine tests were also clear. Frustrating not knowing what it is, but I’ll take occasional brain fog over anything super serious any day of the week! I’ve also been having some mental health problems, but it is what it is.

Unfortunately, all that being said, I stopped doing Greek, and just read a little in French during August. I left my copy of Vignt Mille Lieues Sous Les Mers at home, but I’m going back in October and I’ll read the last 30 pages when I’m there. I’m about half-way through 4 books right now. Great Expectations, Call Me By Your Name, The Penelopiad, and Au Sud de la Frontière, Au Ouest du Soleil. My goal is to finish all these by the end of September (the latter 2 are short and not hard, I expect to finish the Penelopiad tonight).

I don’t feel too bad taking a pause on Greek, because I think I’ll come back to it some day. It’s nice not having too much stress with a ton of Anki reviews either. I have started making cards again from the book, and it’s nice and relaxing.

We did le passé simple today in class and it was fun. I think my French class (5th semester French) is a little too easy for me, but I guess it’s good to fill in the cracks and get my writing better, as the class is based heavily on writing. I’ve been practicing my passé simple by writing my exercises or responses or paraphrases with the passé simple en lieu of doing them in the passé composé. I dream of having a multi-lingual journal that combines language practice and reflection and I’ll be sure to put all my passé simple-s and “l’on”’s .

I’ve been dabbling in Russian for the 4 millionth time, now just making basic+reverse Anki cards out of sentences from ASSIMIL. I might get a book of short stories from Lingo Mastery and the audible recording to read for extra input. I’m taking it pretty chill however, since my schedule is pretty demanding and most of my classes (3 of my classes are literature classes) have me doing 30-70 pages of reading per day anyway, so the amount of time I have even for reading in French is usually not the much, especially since I’ve been running and rock climbing because I’d like to be more active and healthy! Best time to start is today!

Russian is a lot of fun right now and a good amount of excitement! I miss Greek however, especially since one of my classes is based on Feminist and Queer reimaginings of Greek Myth, and we read some of the Odyssey from Emily Wilson’s translation. We also read some Sappho, and it contained the Greek on the left as a bilingual text and I showed a friend of mine words that he knew in Greek without knowing it, stuff like βιος or χαρδια or θεος. I’m also turning that class into an Honors class (need it for my honors requirement) by getting assigned extra work, so I get to read Medea by Euripides and I’ll probably read The Oresteia Trilogy by Aeschylus also.

I’ve thought about trying to get a scholarship to a summer school for Ancient Greek and doing it after undergrad, so not this summer but the one after. I’m not in a rush to go into graduate school, and I’d really like to be sure of what I’m doing, since I am (quite evidently) flippant with my interests, but I am more than sure that whatever I choose (linguistics, philology, classics, ancient/modern language[s], English, comparative literature), I will be more than happy and satisfied to study. That being said If I go for comparative literature it is often required to know 2 modern languages other than English and a (or several) classical language(s), so I imagine Ancient Greek could be a worthy investment (along with a lot of fun and extreme personal reward!). Other useful languages for comp. lit include German and Russian (along with French, but we’re well on our way with that one!), so certainly a motivation.

I’ve begun speaking to my professors about applying for a grant to do research next summer, and I’m thinking I might apply to study the work of Henry James and write a paper on him and his writing, and present it at my schools Academic Symposium in the spring of my senior year. I’m having trouble deciding between Henry James or James Baldwin or James Joyce- lots of James’s, I know!

Exciting class news:

An English professor I have taken many classes with told me yesterday that if I can find 6 other students, she would do Old English as a class next semester! What a pleasure it would be! The goal would eventually be to translate Beowulf, which sounds like a blast! I think during winter break I’ll study some Middle English on my own, go through some texts (Sir Gawayn, Canterbury Tales, Margery Kemp, etc) and get a feel as an easier transition. Of course they’re quite different, but I think it would be a fun project over break to do anyways!

Also, a friend of mine who lived in Turkey has convinced me to take a free Turkish class online. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to keep up with it very well, given how much homework I have, but I figure if I can’t its no pity because it didn’t cost me anything, and school matters most right now. If I get really into Turkish, I’ll buy the ASSIMIL book and go at a snails pace through it with Anki just for some extra input. That friend is my only other pal who really likes languages, and he’s pretty good at German and Spanish, has rusty Turkish, and is taking Modern Greek this semester! I should try and get him on the forum! We’re planning on possibly taking a trip to Turkey and Greece after college, so I guess some Tourist vocabulary would be nice for Turkish.

I’m not sure if I would ever want to get to a high level in Turkish, however, but it will be exciting to study a non-Indo-European language. It’s funny when Russian has such a reputation of difficulty, but, in combination with (basic) linguistic knowledge and a few false starts, it feels not at all confusing compared to Turkish !

I’m thinking I might copy Bolaobo in his Anki+ASSIMIL+many languages strategy, though I’m not sure if I’ll ever be as brave/devoted as he in doing that many at once! Nevertheless, godspeed friend! I figure next year I’ll worry about maybe some Spanish, Latin, and or German. Latin I can (finally) take classes for, and Spanish and German I have ASSIMIL books of (and experience with the former). But it’s looking like this year my main focus will of course be increasing my French reading/listening ability (Flaubert in December!!!!!! + I am trying to read 4-5 books in French over the semester along with my classwork), then calmly going through Assimil Russian (with which I’ve been having a BLAST recently), doing some free Turkish classes (and maybe ASSIMIL, don’t really wanna stress it), and taking a class on Old English (which will fulfill a requirement for my major, actually).

Next year I’ll worry about next year, but if I can keep up with the Anki+ASSIMIL combo (as I have not in the past), I’ll do that, and if I can’t, it’s no big deal. I’m doing in total 10-20 new cards a day in Anki across 3 languages so it’s really not the worst, and if I need to slow down, I need to slow down… that’s fine! I’m gonna be learning these for a long time, so if I need to start making only 5 cards a day for French, that’s totally alright! I’m having fun and that’s what matters, and I literally cannot give up French!

I figure if I can get my research grant I’ll have some time for languages along with my readings in English. I’ve even been making some English vocabulary cards, as I love my mother tongue, man! It’s pretty and I think Old English will be a great way to get more familiar with my native tongue and my intellectual/linguistic heritage. The summer might be a great time to decide to start up some Spanish and/or German and defamiliarize myself. The good thing with those two languages is that there are people on my campus who speak them (a friend for each, actually) as mother tongues, so I can maybe get some conversational stuff out of the way in the summer and prepare a bit in order to have some decent conversations with them.

These are NOT concrete plans, but rather ideas I have, so take all this with a grain of salt. I am almost sure, however, that I will be taking Old English and that I will most likely continue with Russian throughout the semester, but we’ll see nonetheless. If Turkish ends up becoming too much, that’s totally fine with me, out it’ll go (and that’s why I’m going to wait to buy the ASSIMIL Book).

I’ve reflected on it and I know that Spanish is a language worth reading in, but for my interests, not one that I would say right now I will take the time to really master in order to read. I can see myself wanting to actually speak and read French, Russian, and maybe German, but other than those, other modern languages would be nice just to converse casually in. Maybe to the level of where I am currently in French (minus my growing literary vocabulary).

Speaking of… well… speaking, I met a few French speakers over the past few weeks up here in New England. Both some Québécois and some French folks, all quite nice. It’s making me a little less introverted and more willing to reach out to people and just say hello. Also had some small talk in Spanish with a friend of a friend, although we were both a little rusty!

Hope everyone has been well!

[cito]

Hey everybody! Hope everyone’s studies are going well!

And I hope everyone is well rested! Never forget your 8 hours.

Life Updates:

Unfortunately I contracted COVID, but so did a good friend of mine at Uni, so we spent a lot of time together, which definitely helped with the usual loneliness. I’m out of isolation, but I still feel pretty sick, so I’m keeping my mask on until the 25th. I didn’t do a ton of studying while I had covid, but I didn’t fall behind much. I read Medea by Euripides as an extra assignment for class, and it was great! Definitely making me miss Ancient Greek, however . For that same class I’m reading Circe by Madeline Miller, and I’m really enjoying it so far! I like her prose (which isn’t too common for me with contemporary authors) and I find her perspective refreshing and interesting.

French:

I’ve been doing around (maybe a little under sometimes) 1 hour a day of French outside of class, and I think it’s the perfect amount. I make a couple of Anki cards from my book, listen to a podcast, and read each day (along with class 3 days a week and homework, currently working on an essay). I finished Au sud de la frontière, A l’ouest du soleil by Haruki Murakami, and I’d give it 3 stars. The ending felt like it came a bit out of nowhere, but when the main “twist” (if you could call it that) of the story comes, if you’ve already read some of his works, you can easily predict it. I find some of his characters somewhat relatable in their tastes in music and feelings of solitude/lonliness, but I don’t like the way he writes women and sex. I’m finding his troubled male characters who are always supported emotionally by (2) women (who they choose between) to be a bit tiring at this point, but his melancholy and lonely writing has a strange comfort to it. I really suggest anyone who is interested in his work to listen to the History of Literature Podcast about him; I really liked the dialogue the two speakers had. Speaking of dialogue, I do still find his dialogue to be a great aspect of his work, and his characters backstories and the moments of supernatural events in his stories are always exciting and bizarre. He really is a David Lynch kind of figure but in a literary form.

Even if I have had mixed (yet still overall positive) feelings about the past 2 books of his I have read, I am going to read What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by him next, also in French, but I just don’t like how they translated the name , so I’ll be referring to it by the English name. It’s his memoire, so I think it will be different, although the one I just read is also about a man who owns a jazz club (which is what he did before he became an author), so we’ll be able to compare them.

I think learning French (or just languages in general) has allowed me to understand so much more about translation and the work that goes into it, and has made me so much more aware of word choice. If I knew Japanese, I’m sure I could elaborate much more on this topic, but it seems that his translators choose from there own unique vocabulary (the arsenal of there Idiolect!) to write, and I recognize this because I pay so much attention to words I do not know when I read in a foreign language! It has changed the experience of reading from just trying to enjoy and get something out of a book to also a treasure hunt for words I do not know and new phrases. By the end of La Course au Mouton Sauvage, I felt like I was reading the same passages I already had, since all the words I didn’t know stood out to me, since I had found them in the book and didn’t have to look up the words when he described mountains or streams or valleys. I’m excited to see what further studies in more distant languages (namely Russian if I keep up with it and Ancient Greek if I can return to it) will yield in terms of appreciating literature and particularly translation!

I’m glad learning languages has brought back a love of mine for reading and given it a new angle to work through and approach from.

Russian:

I’m doing lesson 15 in Assimil today! I’ve stopped doing basic + reverse because I’m finding it just a little too difficult for my tastes and the amount of time I can allocate each day to Russian (which is around 20-30 minutes). I’ve started just doing basic cards for each sentence on the first day of each lesson, then on the second doing each new vocabulary word to cement it in my memory. I think once I get further into the book I’ll try out those short stories I found and posted about in the study group using a service like LingQ or Language Crush, but for now I would just like to build my vocabulary and grammatical intuition through Assimil + Anki and take my time.

I don’t think it’s always useful to focus on goals far in the future, as we can loose sight of what is right in front of us when our sight is locked on the horizon, but I think I would like to be reading Harry Potter/Haruki Murakami novels by 2024 in Russian (if I keep up with it). I think my goal is to finish Assimil by May and maybe try out the Perfecting Russian Assimil book after. I don’t need to worry about that just yet, though, I’ve got plenty to work with and I’m super excited!

Turkish:

I started my Turkish classes this week! They were free and are 2 hours twice a week over Zoom. I was soooooo bewildered when I got in and all I heard was Turkish! I decided I need to put in time to get the most out of the immersion, but I definitely learned a decent amount of phrases given the lack of English, yet I think I’ll use dictionaries in class just to stay afloat.

I’m going to try and do Language Transfer and Assimil. I may have mentioned Pimsleur previously but I’m on the fence about it. It could be useful, but it would just be one more thing to pay for, and the Assimil book was already 70 dollars (including shipping), which is not cheap for a college student like myself .

That’s the thing about Amazon, though. The shipper “Foreign Books Illinois” has sales once or twice a month and sells Assimil courses (particularly ones where L1 is French) for around 60$ +shipping, which is such a steal. Croatian and Ancient/Modern Greek and Breton and Swahili and just about every other language looks so buyable and study-able, but I think it’s easy to deceive ourselves with such courses, as realistically, I wont learn any of those languages, except maybe the first 2, the former if I choose to travel to Croatia for vacation (which I have discussed with friends and family) and the latter for reading literature; all that being said, I should be smart with my finances! Greek I already have plenty of resources for, and Croatian can wait!

Turkish and Russian (and of course, French!) are on my plate and I’m super excited with them, whether they turn out to be longtime friends or just nice acquaintances, who, so-far, I’ve enjoyed spending time with! It doesn’t feel like a drag and that’s what’s important.

I’ve reflected recently on Dr Arguelles and his reflections on the languages he studied like Japanese and Chinese which he spent thousands of hours studying but nonetheless had to abandon, and his warning that we should think about how we use our time and spend it on that which matters. I think Turkish is a language I would like to speak and watch movies/TV shows of and engage in the living culture of, but not really read, but I think that’s okay! I think Russian is more something I am interested in literarily and historically (similar to French), so the skills are very different. I think keeping this in mind helps me focus on the present, but also being aware that I am enjoying the process of studying these languages is the most important part. Who cares about the destination if you hated the journey!

Be easy on yourselves and have fun!

[cito]

Random update:
I had a lot of free time today, so I am taking advantage of it by studying my languages! I am still a bit behind on work I missed from COVID but I’m just really in the mood to study!

French:
Ça va? Je n’ai pas grand-chose à dire en français mais un peu vaut bien la peine .

I have a French test on some grammar Friday, nothing too bad. I’ve been listening to L’Heure du Monde and Culture 2000 (listened to an episode this morning on my run) as always. I’m 30 or so pages through my current book and I’ve already made a decent number of Anki cards. I’m liking Haruki Murakami’s personal narration a little more than his characters, even if the language is just a bit tougher. I’ll try and read some more tonight before bed, and I’m gonna keep listening to Culture 2000 while I cook and meal prep for this week.

Our school French club is growing! Very exciting. We have a student who is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who I have yet to meet, but I’m excited to get to know him. He told our professor that he misses speaking French, so I think we might just get along! This Friday the French club is hosting an activity so maybe I’ll see him there!

Russian:
Это книга на русском языке мне очень нравится! Я на шестнадцатый урок из книги!

As you can tell I’m having a lot of fun (even with my limited knowledge of Russian, which I am very open to corrections on!)
Today I typed out the lesson, put it in LingQ, chopped it up on audacity, made Anki cards of it (and the first 3 exercises) and then repped them! Tomorrow I’ll do the vocabulary I don’t know and then I’ll be done. I think the next few lessons will only take me 2 days each because they are rather light on new vocabulary (at least for me).

I started using LingQ again and I’m finding it helpful for Russian and Turkish! I’m not doing any of the short stories today in LingQ (I did the first one yesterday), as I did the ASSIMIL lesson (and I want to limit myself to around 45 minutes a day in Russian, gotta keep the excitement there and look away from exhaustion ), but tomorrow I will probably review it, and maybe keep reviewing it every other day until I’m more familiar with the vocabulary. It’s much more advanced than ASSIMIL but I figure I might as well go through it to keep a streak going.

I had a blast though today studying! It felt really fun and I listened to some J Dilla beats while I studied. It was fun!

Turkish:
Merhaba arkadaşlar!

And as you can tell I don’t know much Turkish yet. I think the progress will be slow but my goal is around 2 lessons a week from ASSIMIL, which I received in the mail today! At a glance the lessons are a lot longer than the ones in the Russian book, so a slow and steady pace seems like the best idea. Turkish is just so different and even with Russian I can appreciate the Indo-European bones (I love + infinitive, lack of massive agglutination, etc). Russian just feels like a very distant relative, but Turkish feels like a new friend (yet one from a different nation!)

Today I got started with ASSIMIL and made Anki cards with audio. Luckily, the audio files have lyrics, so I can go into their “info” section on iTunes and copy and paste them directly into my notes app before typing out the French. Russian sadly does not have that (as I only have the Russian CD), so I also do not need to manually chop in Audacity. I also put the dialogues in LingQ and reviewed them. I'm not trying for a streak really.

My main idea behind both doing a class in Turkish and ASSIMIL (and doing short stories + ASSIMIL for Russian) is so that I am getting 2 sources of the language at once. I think this is a good idea, especially for more foreign languages, as if I was studying, let's suppose, Portuguese, I would just go for a course and maybe some input every day, but I'd like to have 2 separate instructions I follow each day, little by little, just so I can have a bit more variety and see words and grammar in multiple contexts. Having 2 things that aren't exactly the same I think is a good idea as well, and I think mixing Teach Yourself Russian and ASSIMIL Russian earlier wasn't the best idea, but I can imagine something like Pimsleur or Language transfer being a good thing to pair with ASSIMIL (though others on the forum have already spoken about that). As time goes by I might eventually decide to get loose one of the courses for input + another course, but I don't need to worry about that for now. I also have no deadlines! So if I loose a streak who cares .

Today I also have class, but I still need to do the exercises from my book and get ready!

Hope everyone has a good day!

[cito]

Hey everybody! Currently on break for school, figured I should write a log post!

General Updates:

My health has been a bit wobbly and school has been taking up all of my time! The brain fog is still here, and I think we’re in the middle of a peak. I’m looking into seeking out some treatments and things and trying new stress relieving habits. I saw my doctor over the weekend and we had some discussions, but overall, my mental health is a lot better than it was in August, even if my brain fog is bad.

I went to a wedding last weekend and it was a blast! It was a Celtic ceremony that involved the couple sealing their love in a knot which was tied over each of their arms. It took me around 5.5 hours to drive there from school, then another 5 or so to get home (for the Dr’s appt, since Telehealth over state lines is illegal, which is so frustrating!), and then another 4.5 to get BACK to school. I took the opportunity, however, to listen to all of the second Harry Potter book in French, which was a blast! I’m going to count it for my book count, this year.

from the wedding copy.jpg

I’ve been spending a lot of time with my significant other as well, but we’re both so overloaded with school so we decided that we’re still going to spend time together, but just not hours and hours each day, since we’re both so busy.

Turkish:

I chose to stop attending the classes and I think I’m going to return the ASSIMIL book. I just do not have the time and the extra 4 hours of classes and 2 hours a week or so of studying has been making me stressed. It was fun to dabble and I think I might dabble more in 2024 when I plan on going to Turkey with a friend of mine.

Russian:

Russian has also slowed down a ton, and I’m currently on lesson 22. I just haven’t had time since I went to the wedding over the weekend and again, So. Much. Homework. It’s still fun though, but currently I’m just on a bit of a lull while I catch up. I need to review my last few lessons and do some grammar research before I pick it back up again in full gear. I think after the weekend I’ll be bale to get back on a good schedule. My goal is to hopefully finish Assimil by the end of next semester, but we’ll see!

French:

Honestly all the dabbling and stress and brain fog makes me feel like my French has suffered, which likely isn’t true, since I have still been listening to my podcasts (granted, at a slower rate) but I just need to refocus myself a bit on French and I’ll feel better. I also need a new show to watch, so I’m going to start browsing.

Finally, FINALLY I finished Vignt Mille Lieues sous les Mers. It was a great book when it wasn’t about fish taxonomy, and I suggest anyone who reads it to skip every passage about dorsal fins!!! A lot of ship vocabulary I also didn’t need to learn, but picked up somewhat through context. Also, I made my way through a few more pages of Autoportrait de l'auteur en coureur de fond, and I’m about a quarter of the way through.

I’ve started reading En Attendant Godot very slowly, and I’m enjoying it. I’m going for an intensive reading strategy for it, and I think I’ll do it with Huis Clos or Que ma Joie Demeure next, but I’m not sure. I’ll also look for a performance online to watch once I finish it.

Picked up copies of Germinal, Le Rouge et le Noir, and the third Harry Potter book in French from the library. Great selection here! I really appreciate all the French literature they have. They have a decent selection of Latin, Greek, Russian, and Spanish as well. Not as many in Italian and German.

Hopefully I can slowly make my way through either Germinal or Le Rouge et le Noir. If anyone has suggestion as to which might be better or easier or both, please let me know! I want to really take my time to search up words I do not know and get through a French classic of the like. Especially since I want to read my copy of Madame Bovary over the course of winter break! A little practice would never hurt!

English:

Some Shakespeare and Bechdel for class! Also read a few other books, of them, Circe by Madeline Miller was worth noting.

Closing thoughts:

Of course, the health stuff is so tiring, but there’s only so much I can do. I want to get my French back on track, and today I’ll actually be working on an essay for my class and hopefully reading some more Murakami. Maybe I’ll do some vocabulary from Godot.

Hope everyone has a great day!

[cito]

Hello everybody! Hope you've all been well!

General Updates

My health is more or less the same as it has been... a constant back and forth. We're just in maintenance mode at this point, working through when its not good. I've been reading a ton (in English) for class, and doing a challenge to get myself to read more in French was the best idea I've had in a while. I've been feeling so much smoother with my French, especially after the Montréal overnight.

I was sick a week or two ago so that threw everything off, including my exercise, but I'm glad to say I got back on the horse with a climbing sesh and some running! I also finally studied Russian after being in a lazy rut!

French
As you can see from above or from my other log, I went to Montréal over the weekend for a night! It was a blast, and I saw a great movie called Champagne! I finished Murakami finally!!! and I bought a bunch of books.

books.jpg

I felt really... I hate using this word... but fluent over the weekend, but I don't think that's accurate. I just felt smoother and like it was a bit effortless- or maybe not effortless, but definitely easier than usual.

Also getting addicted to a show was a great decision for my French . Hunter X Hunter has been a great watch so far, and I'm sad to know I am half way through.

I've also been reading Le Rouge et Le Noir on my computer and making Anki cards for it. I'm trying to get a habit going of a chapter a day (there are 70 or so), so hopefully I'll be done by around the new year. Not sure what I am going to read next apart from Stendhal, probably some plays that I'll write about in a future log.

Russian

I haven't made Anki cards in like 3 weeks+, but thankfully today I got back on! I felt super anxious and overwhelmed by the lesson today, it was just the days of the week but something about it freaked me out and I felt some brain fog coming on. I kept going despite.

I think when I go home for thanksgiving I'll start up again with Teach Yourself and try and do a few lessons during break and a few by the end of the semester. I figure it would be good to alternate them back and forth! I'd like to be done with ASSIMIL lesson 35 or 40 and Teach Yourself Lesson 7 or 8 by the time winter break is over, if I continue with Russian.

Other

Not much other stuff to bring up. I did, however, order Teach Yourself: Complete Old English, since I'd like to get a head-start on my course next semester (and I just can't wait for it!).

I'm excited for break to come so I can get some time to study a bit and chill. Mostly excited to chill.

Hope everyone has a good day/night and good luck!