Cito's Randomly Dispersed Updates

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cito
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Cito's Randomly Dispersed Updates

Postby cito » Wed Jul 21, 2021 5:35 am

Hey everybody! A few-day-long lurker here- really think there is a great community that I can connect to, so I would like to get my foot in the door by starting with a log.

I am currently working at a summer camp, so I have don't have a ton of time to study, but I honestly try and spend as much time as I have off (I work around 12-13 hours a day, since my priority is maintaining the safety of children), studying or immersing!

For my first post, I figure I will just record what I try and do every day, or aim to do every day.

French

It was spur of the moment, but I simply decided (3 years or so after a trip to Paris) I should learn French. It is simply beautiful, and the culture and cities of France draw me into learning it. Knowing I could take it in school, I transferred into a French class for next semester, and decided to switch my energy from Japanese into French.

I started learning french maybe 5 weeks ago- my Duolingo (I know, gross, but still) streak says 37 maybe, but I am on day 1 of Pimsleur level 2 (while having missed yesterday). I am on lesson 9 of Assimil as of today, will write about how I use it. Overall, I'd say I am about a month into learning French.

-Pimsleur: I just follow the directions as listed in the first lesson. One lesson a day, usually do not repeat them. Plan on completely level 2, and stopping after that.

-Duolingo: I simply do it daily for fun, do a unit a day or so, sometimes less. Try not to spend more than 20 minutes on it a day.

-Assimil: I listen to each conversation multiple times, always starting without the words or translation; then I move on to listening with the TL text once or twice; next comes reading the translation with the conversation playing; then reading the TL aloud without the audio; re-listen; read notes, do exercises; listen with reading TL, then whisper-shadow and pause after each line to repeat; close book, listen a last time and hopefully comprehend the conversation. I then add each sentence (other than basic ones that are simply not worth the effort) and unknown vocabulary into an Anki deck with the audio included on the USB. I also add some of the translation or fill in the blank lines, if I think they will be useful to know.
The Anki deck brings me next to Anki; but first, a few more words on Assimil:
I really like it! It is making me excited to study, as, even though the content isn't as engaging as some TV shows, I find it very rewarding to be confused by a dialogue, and then in 30 minutes I know I will understand it. I think by putting it into Anki I can really drill the sentence structure into my mind, and remember the vocabulary in the long term. Once the active phase starts, I will go from FR-EN to EN-FR, having two Anki decks going simultaneously for Assimil.

-Anki: I have been using Anki for nearly a month (with French), and I am about 272 cards (as of writing this) deep into the "5000 most frequently used French words [v. 6.0]" deck, and I am excited to keep using it. I don't really worry too much about Anki: I make sure to do it every day, but I don't torture myself over it.

-Immersion: Usually, I just try and watch youtube videos in French, so far Cyprien, French Morning's with Elsa, and InnerFrench. If you have any to recommend, I would really love to hear them!

I like listening to podcasts or radio when I am not doing anything, but I also try and re-listen to Assimil conversations randomly throughout the day to keep them in circulation in my brain.

Furthermore...
Soon I will return back to school and I will actually be taking French in school! Yay!!! Uni language courses can be really difficult, but honestly, I think if I study hard enough, I will be able to survive the class (which according to my brother, who took the same class at the same Uni, was the toughest class he had taken).

Japanese

My language learning journey started with Japanese a few months ago- while I am ashamed I gave up on it, I do not want to let my changing ambitions sink because of some semblance of guilt and "wasted time." I shall enjoy my youth and intellectual curiosity as much as I can, till' the skies unfurl in jasmine!

Spanish

Studied it in high school, practiced with my Puerto Rican uncle, and actually was decent at producing the language. Hilariously, my best skill was speaking, which frustrated mi Professora, but was alright with me. One day I might pick it back up again. So far, combined with my fluency in English (and knowledge of English mechanics/linguistic history in general) with my knowledge of Spanish grammar / vocabulary (especially with verbs), it has allowed me to learn a great deal faster in French than had I not studied Spanish prior.

Overall a beautiful lanugage, yet not one that draws me like French does.

Arabic (MSA, Egyptian)

My high school had a teacher who was from Morocco, and he taught classes for French and MSA. I don't remember much of anything from it, and now I would really like to learn Egyptian Arabic anyways. I plan to delay learning Arabic at least until Winter 2021 or even Spring 2022, in order to allow myself to reach a strong level in French.

As the days get closer to when I can start to learn this language, I slowly begin to gather my resources: so far I'm planning on Anki, LanguageTransfer, Sentence mining (eventually), Pimsleur, iTalki, and drilling the DLI similar to how I do Assimil with Anki.

To Conclude:

I am excited to start recording what I do on the daily. Expect nothing more than French for now. Not sure if this will be weekly or daily. We shall see, may you all have a good evening!
Last edited by cito on Fri Jan 20, 2023 10:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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cito
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Re: Cito's General Log

Postby cito » Sat Jul 24, 2021 12:01 am

Log Entry #1
23 juillet, 2021

Yay!!!!!! First post in the log where I am actually updating about progress! How exciting!

These past few days I have only studied French, as will be the theme for the next few months (though I did get an ebook for Egyptian Arabic... resources are being gathered for the assault 8-)). So, here we go:

Pimsleur
Level 2, Unit 4 Completed
In this past week I have completed a few Pimsleur lessons. I actually missed a day, which really sucks, but it ended up happening after I finished level 1 (nice), so I guess it was just a break between levels ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I think Pimsleur would be better if I reviewed the lessons more often, so if I can, I am going to try and do a new lesson everyday, then after review the lesson from the day before; I think this will help me build automaticity with the phrases. I definitely still think I will stop once I finish level 2.

Duolingo
39 Day streak, nearly done with French Unit 2
Well, I haven't been doing a full skill a day, because... well... it's not really worth the time, but today (Friday) I had my day off, so I was able to finish one skill and complete an entire other one. Streak says 39 as of today.

Also something cool that happened during Duolingo today: I was able to answer like really quickly in a way that I usually can't with French, and while I know that Duo is very easy, I still think it's a sign that the language is starting to settle in my brain.

Assimil
Twelfth Lesson Completed (passive phase)
Assimil, oh Assimil, how much I appreciate you. While I know it isn't the same kind of sentence mining, it's essentially what I do for sentence mining (complete the lesson as regular, put all unfamiliar sentences and vocabulary in the deck with the audio, if possible). I think this approach will give me the benefits of doing Assimil as it is, but with an even greater rate of retention- a way to hack the "passive assimilation" process by also reinforcing the information via Anki's algorithms and the natural repetitions that I receive by doing both Assimil itself, and by immersing in content.

Sadly I missed yesterday for making flashcards, but today I made em'. It's the only thing I haven't done for today (drilling Assimil Anki), but know it will be done once I finish writing this :) (and boy are those 46 new cards looking a little rough).

Anki
French 5k Running Total: 300 words
The French 5k is going well, definitely some words that trip me up (today it was ainsi, fête, and a few others), but for the most part I know them from consuming content, Pimsleur, or similarities with Spanish or English.

Assimil I fell a little behind on creating new cards but I think it is still going well overall. I have been trying to read out the cards after the audio plays and before I flip to the translation.

NEW PLAYER HAS ENTERED THE FIELD: LINGVIST
Word's known apparently 1578? (seems high :shock: )
Yes... random subscription buy last night and I already like it. It's kind of like Clozemaster but dumb sexy in its design. Very easy to use/figure out... so far I am happy. I started doing a vocabulary list on emotions, and I also used one of the sickest features I have ever found on a language learning app/tool... the automatic deck maker.

SO GET THIS: I have an ebook of l'Etranger by Albert Camus, as I have read it before (and really enjoyed it), and I have heard it isn't the worst book to read for a French learner; I open the PDF, export pages 8-15 as their own PDF (which are the pages of chapter 1), and then upload it into Lingvist. It then makes a vocabulary deck of words that I most likely do not know from that chapter, and then teaches/quizzes me on them in different contexts in order to build the vocabulary and prepare me for reading the text.

ABSOLUTELY MENTAL.

I am definitely going to do that for the Dark Tower, by Stephen King, which is a favorite book series of mine. In French the first book is Le Pistolero, and the series as a whole is La Tour Sombre... nice.

Immersion, and other notes

I haven't started counting up the time I spend immersing, mostly because I also am learning to turn that time into active learning by rewatching 3 minute chunks of youtube videos with subtitles in English and in French, and then without any at all, and I find it very beneficial for my learning. This aspect of my French needs improvement: there are definitely times when I could just be doing whatever I am doing during my time off, just in French. It is a much easier thing to change but it definitely is tough after a draining day working with children to just not watch something in English...

but hey, I only have 4 more weeks of work this summer before I can get home and spend two weeks or so doing essentially what I did today (which was study for about 4-5 hours, and feel really good about how much time I was spending learning) before I go back to Uni. Days like these (my days off) I feel like I learn a lot and really get involved with the language. Sometimes it is draining, but using techniques like the Pomodoro help a lot. I feel good about today and the last few days... my growth is continuing and it feels good :)

Anyway... I have some Anki to do... what are you doing? Stop reading and get back to studying!
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Re: Cito's General Log

Postby jeffers » Sat Jul 24, 2021 5:05 pm

cito wrote:SO GET THIS: I have an ebook of l'Etranger by Albert Camus, as I have read it before (and really enjoyed it), and I have heard it isn't the worst book to read for a French learner; I open the PDF, export pages 8-15 as their own PDF (which are the pages of chapter 1), and then upload it into Lingvist. It then makes a vocabulary deck of words that I most likely do not know from that chapter, and then teaches/quizzes me on them in different contexts in order to build the vocabulary and prepare me for reading the text.

ABSOLUTELY MENTAL.


I had the same idea about 6 years ago, and even got one of my Computer Science students who was studying French to make something like thiat for his A-level programming project. It's a great idea: upload a book and get a list of words to study before reading it. However, I never got around to using it. :lol:

Your plan looks great, but beware of burnout! Finishing courses isn't the goal, using them to learn French is. So therefore, if you need to skip a resource one day, skip it. If you need to repeat a lesson instead of doing the next one, do it. Once I got to Pimsleur 2 I would do the lessons in groups of 5, and repeat those 5 lessons three times before moving on to the next 5. Also, level 3 is when Pimsleur gets good, just saying!
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Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien (roughly, the perfect is the enemy of the good)

French SC Books: 0 / 5000 (0/5000 pp)
French SC Films: 0 / 9000 (0/9000 mins)

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Re: Cito's General Log

Postby cito » Sat Jul 24, 2021 5:16 pm

jeffers wrote:
cito wrote:SO GET THIS: I have an ebook of l'Etranger by Albert Camus, as I have read it before (and really enjoyed it), and I have heard it isn't the worst book to read for a French learner; I open the PDF, export pages 8-15 as their own PDF (which are the pages of chapter 1), and then upload it into Lingvist. It then makes a vocabulary deck of words that I most likely do not know from that chapter, and then teaches/quizzes me on them in different contexts in order to build the vocabulary and prepare me for reading the text.

ABSOLUTELY MENTAL.


I had the same idea about 6 years ago, and even got one of my Computer Science students who was studying French to make something like thiat for his A-level programming project. It's a great idea: upload a book and get a list of words to study before reading it. However, I never got around to using it. :lol:

Your plan looks great, but beware of burnout! Finishing courses isn't the goal, using them to learn French is. So therefore, if you need to skip a resource one day, skip it. If you need to repeat a lesson instead of doing the next one, do it. Once I got to Pimsleur 2 I would do the lessons in groups of 5, and repeat those 5 lessons three times before moving on to the next 5. Also, level 3 is when Pimsleur gets good, just saying!



Wait... Level 3 is when it gets good??? I heard it was pretty mediocre after the first two or so, like that the later lessons weren't as good.... I will take your word on it though!

And yeah, I agree, burnout is a b word... but I honestly really enjoy my studying- it's a way to relax after work ironically. Thank you very much for the advice and the reply!
1 x
50 French Books: 20 / 50
LLPSI-FA: 33 / 35
Greek ASSIMIL: 29 / 100
Russian ASSIMIL: 43 / 100
(On Pause)
Latin ASSIMIL: 29 / 101
Spanish ASSIMIL: 40 / 100

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Re: Cito's General Log

Postby cito » Thu Jul 29, 2021 5:40 pm

Log Entry #2
29 juillet 2021


I've had a pretty meh week in regards to some of my language learning. I feel like I am definitely improving but the burnout from my job has been hitting really hard lately and has bled into hurting my learning. I know my goals are pretty big given the amount of time I spend working (Pimsleur, Assimil, Duo, Lingvist, Anki), but I have been able to manage them for a while, just this week really hit me (really just the past two or three days)... but I sitll have some good news to report!

I opened up my old Japanese short stories book and was able to actually... figure... out... the... grammar! Like it was totally spur of the moment and it just kinda *clicked* in a way it completely didn't when I was actually studying Japanese. I figured out where adverbs went, verb modifications, how particles were used, much more in depth than when I was actually studying the language everyday, and I think it is because I never really sat down with a story line by line and just comparing it I really figured some of it out. I think taking a break and going into French was a good decision- it allowed me to gain a lot more understanding how I learn.

But it hasn't been the best. Missed a day of Anki for both my decks (only 60 or so cards to review each, but still, I wanted to have a streak and I lost it!), and I stopped doing Pimsleur. It just takes too much energy out of me that I don't have from my job. That, and my Assimil lesson from yesterday (#18) was difficult, because it had a bunch of numbers and days of the week, and my ability to comprehend them isn't as good as I thought. I listened back on it today and it helped.

I've also had a little personal stuff that has made my studying just a wee bit less focused- summer flings are funny things and maybe that's part of the reason it was a bit tough this week. Not sure, though. I think I will get back on track!

I also just ordered Le Petit Prince, Arsène Lupin, and some poems by Rimbaud. I think it will be nice to study without always being on a screen.

Wish me luck and energy! I have Anki cards to make. Au revoir.

-cito
5 x
50 French Books: 20 / 50
LLPSI-FA: 33 / 35
Greek ASSIMIL: 29 / 100
Russian ASSIMIL: 43 / 100
(On Pause)
Latin ASSIMIL: 29 / 101
Spanish ASSIMIL: 40 / 100

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Re: Cito's General Log

Postby cito » Mon Aug 02, 2021 10:22 pm

log #3

2 août

Man... you remember when Laoshu used to talk about "leveling up"??? Today, I feel like I'm doing that. I know I probably have some false sense of confidence, but French is going smooth, buttery smooth, and so is this 6 Week Challenge. I'm neck and neck with Brun Ugle, and I am aware that it has just started... but wow I'm feeling good. I've been listening to a ton of France Culture, and a little bit of Le Cottongue Podcast. I definitely prefer the former- I love InnerFrench, but he speaks too slow... I want more words per minute- more challenge! I have also been going full steam ahead with Assimil, and I'm really liking it. I got a few books in the mail, mainly, Le Petite Prince, and I have been reading and re-reading it every day. I'm trying to do about a chapter a day. Reading in French, then back to English, then back to French, over and over again. Sometimes chapter by chapter, at least once per day paragraph by paragraph in order to really drill in the meaning. My goal is around 5 chapters a week, so by the end of the 6 Week Challenge I can complete it.

I also left my job. That has given me a lot of free time. I'm glad to not be there. I would elaborate but a lot of it is personal.

Anyways, I was able to pick up a few plays by Camus, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, and a textbook called "Advanced French" from the library in my town (also Sir Gawain and the Greek Knight in Middle English and Modern English- huge win). Now I know I know, I'm a beginner in French, but dipping my toes in the deep end is as sweet as it is scary, and who minds more immersion?

Other than that I have been doing Lingvist, and I am planning on trying to do a lesson a day from this textbook, just to get me ready for my class this fall. At the rate I am going... things should be good.

I am well aware that this long process is full of highs and low, but darn it, I'm enjoying this high!

Good luck to everyone on your language learning journeys! A bientôt !
6 x
50 French Books: 20 / 50
LLPSI-FA: 33 / 35
Greek ASSIMIL: 29 / 100
Russian ASSIMIL: 43 / 100
(On Pause)
Latin ASSIMIL: 29 / 101
Spanish ASSIMIL: 40 / 100

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Re: Cito's General Log

Postby cito » Tue Aug 10, 2021 10:14 pm

log entry #4

10 août

Well, it's been a week since the last entry so here we go! This week has had it's ups and downs, but for the most part, I have studied a ton and really immersed myself in French, and while of course I am not seeing these great leaps and bounds (this takes time, I must trust the process) it is nice that now I am able to sit and watch more French content without getting bored. Without further ado, let's begin.

French
3354 minutes since August 1

Since the 6WC started I have studied 55.9 hrs of French. Nice. I have multiple hours from today not logged yet, so we'll see. I'll break 60 today, maybe even 61 if I am up to it. I feel pretty good about the direction of my general comprehension. I've tried speaking a few times and I am a little disappointed but honestly it is where I have spent so little time, and for language to actively be produced I need hundreds of more hours of immersion, so for what I have so far and what I have worked towards, I am happy!

Video Immersion
900 minutes since August 1

I have been watching street interviews by Easy French, videos from InnerFrench and Français Authentique, a few documentaries from ARTE, maybe 10 or so episodes of the French Pokémon dub, and just a little bit of the Hook-Up Plan on Netflix. For the first three channels mentioned, I have spent around 30 minutes to an hour watching content of each day, with my goal being to spend time with content that is both around at my comprehension level, and content that is above it, which is why I am watching ARTE documentaries and the Hook Up plan. My comprehension is definitely going up a lot, as now I can really spend time watching these longer shows that are definitely above my level, but they hold my interest, as often I can pick up many things they are talking about, for example yesterday I watched a fascinating documentary about the lives of people in Afghanistan in areas under Taliban control. To think that a month ago I could barely sit through a 8-10 minute video without getting bored because of the ambiguity is crazy. I'm enjoying the process, though it is definitely a bit tough.

Listening Immersion
964 minutes since August 1

I have actually returned to the Intermediate French Podcast for when I go on walks! I have found that the later episodes of it are better than the first few, in my opinion, as Hugo speaks faster. I also took time today to listen to Assimil lessons while I was mowing the lawn. I have heard from Steve Kauffman that repetition of familiar content helps the brain get used to the sounds of the language, and eventually helps pronunciation. I figure I might as well take time to review them anyways, as I want the phrases/phrasing that they use to sit in my brain pretty well anyways.

I noticed a lot of my listening becomes passive as I walk or do work outside, I think a lot about a lot of random things so I should probably make a greater effort to focus while I walk and while I am doing other things.

Reading
546 minutes since August 1

I think I was doing better with reading earlier in the Challenge, and I am ashamed to say that I didn't stick with the Little Prince- but honestly, it had so much language that was just uncommon and committing that kind of stuff to memory just might not the best for my learning. I don't feel too bad though. I know I will love to get to it some day.

Other than that I have been still reading Le Malentendu by Albert Camus, mostly rereading the first Act. I might delve further tonight. A friend of mine also let me borrow a few books by Sartre too; might be too hard, but honestly with Le Malentendu and Sartre's works I plan on just treating them like I do the ARTE documentaries- just reading them for the sake of reading them and not even bothering to look stuff up. Like geez, it's not all about studying and knowing every detail. I think it is useful just to read for the sake of reading, gathering what I can and enjoying the beauty of the language/just absorbing minor details and patterns as I go.

However, I do want to spend more time doing intensive reading, where I look at the definition of each word I don't know and try and understand everything to completion, and I plan on doing this with LingQ. I think I have figured out how to use it and I want to get back to it. I realize that a lot of my early learning came from it, so I'll try it again, and if I don't like it, so what, I'll just put more time into immersion.

Lingvist
114 minutes since August 1

It's alright. I missed a day yesterday, but I think it is going well. Planning on seeing how I feel a month after using it to see if I would like to continue with it.

Lessons
180 minutes since August 8

Yeah, I started taking lessons on Lingoda. One a day for an hour. They are alright so far. I am really just doing it to get myself ready for when school starts and I begin to encounter academic French. It's a good way to get started with a little speaking too, and hearing natives speak when they aren't getting payed to read a script helps also.

Assimil
464 minutes since August 1

Assimil has been going well. I've been chipping away lesson by lesson. I do it over the course of the day. Start the day off figuring out what it means and listening to the dialogues a bunch; middle of the day I do the exercises and make the Anki cards; end of the day I review them on Anki. It feels like the thing I have been the most consistent with. I think it is maybe my favorite "studying" resource I use, but honestly I don't know.

It is nice to have a thing I do consistently though, as sometimes I kinda feel all over the place with my learning, always trying new things and not sticking to them. It freaks me out, not going to lie, because I get all excited to do something and then I just find another thing to get excited about and I do that, and the cycle continues. I'm just afraid of not making progress at all, though I know I am doing alright so far.

But I think that's the thing about finding languages interesting (though, I've reflected and I'm not sure I would call myself a 'language learner' in the sense that this is a hobby I want to do for the rest of my life, but I guess we'll see), it's so exciting to learn about literally any language. You could write a paper for literally every language about why it is so cool, and why everyone and their mother and their dog should learn it in the spoken, written, and signed forms. It's so.... frustrating! It makes it so hard to just buckle down and stick to one. And then you feel like a doofus and you find yourself studying Persian after saying you were interested in Egyptian Arabic, and also later that you wanted to see what's up with Japanese.... Which is kinda what I'm doing.

I mean I guess that brings us here:

Persian

I think the best way to introduce this is that I have found Persian interesting for a while. It's contradictory to me saying that I wanted to start learning Arabic in December, as I don't want to be learning 3 languages at the same time before I have mastered any of them, same goes for Japanese, which I was tempted to start again. But honestly, I don't have strong reasons to learn Persian, I just find it beautiful, I love the poetry and literature of Persian, and I find Iran to be an extremely interesting country. So in order to tame this part of me that wishes to adventure about in the world of languages, I've decided to just dedicate around 30 minutes to an hour a day just reading on LingQ for a month or two. If I discover after a month that I really love it and want to continue with it, thats great! I'll think about investing in Le Persan by Assimil eventually (I mean eventually, eventually, like once I am at a level with my French where I can understand the book) and trying to spend time immersing a little in it. If I don't like it, that is okay! If I feel like it's cool but my motivation won't keep me going, that's cool too. I might as well try and stick to a regiment just to test the waters.

Other people in my life know that I am studying French, and I think I made the mistake with Japanese where I just jumped right into it very impulsively, telling people "I'm learning Japanese!" and getting my pat's on the back- what a mistake. French, at the end of the day, is a requirement, I must do it for Uni, and I really, really want to do well in the class, so I have my external motivation (I also loved France when I was there, and I love French authors already). Persian is now the experiment- the cherry on top. I haven't told anyone I know in person that I want to, honestly because I am unsure if it will just be a dabble, or something that is thrilling and exciting and special to me (as I don't have anything pulling me strongly to Persian other than Rumi and the lovely sound of the tongue).

Also, it would be so worth it just to surprise people, like I know that is somewhat immature, but if your friend randomly walked up to you speaking Pashto or Ojibwe or Slovene when you thought they just studied a little bit of Spanish on the side, you'd be pretty amazed, right? Just a thought, might end up being some fun :P.

On the other hand/other thoughts

I've found language learning is really lonely when you go really hard into it. Luckily a close friend of mine is back in town for a few weeks, so I will have someone else to spend time with. These French goals are important, but so is this brain, baby!

Make time for languages, and make time for friends, everybody.

Anyways, enough rambling about commitment to languages and motivation: I've got to start this Persian Challenge and make some Assimil Flashcards. Hope everyone is doing well and is having a good August.
7 x
50 French Books: 20 / 50
LLPSI-FA: 33 / 35
Greek ASSIMIL: 29 / 100
Russian ASSIMIL: 43 / 100
(On Pause)
Latin ASSIMIL: 29 / 101
Spanish ASSIMIL: 40 / 100

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Re: Cito's General Log

Postby cito » Fri Sep 17, 2021 6:17 pm

Hey y'all! Back for a little.

Burn out is a b word!

That 6 week challenge kinda killed my motivation. I felt like having to record everything was such a burden, and it made me really hate Assimil, not gonna lie. I have been mostly keeping up with my Anki since my last post, watching some Youtube nearly daily, reading a bit daily, and listening to the radio definitely daily. I find that being able to listen to it is really nice, as when I do my French homework at night, I can passively listen while I do my mindless exercises.

I think I could have tested into Second Semester French, but I felt like my academic abilities with the language wouldn't permit me. So I'm at a point when I can understand a lot of what I hear with intermediate content, but I can't really write or chat for sh*t! I did, however, call a good (francophone) friend of mine recently, and him and I spoke for around 10 minutes about his classes, languages, the crappy food at Uni, and a few other topics. He said my grammar and pronunciation could be a bit funky, but I had a good width of what I was talking about.

I didn't end up keeping up with the Persian, I lost interest. That's whatever though! Happens. I think it's really easy to fall in love with a language for just a moment or an hour or a week, and then lose interest when you realize your motivation and discipline might not be up to the task. I'm glad I'm keeping with the French, but if I want to advance, I know that I need to do more with it.

Today has been good so far, in my school library I found a book from 1920 called "Étudies Grecques" and it is a written history of Greece and some stuff about Ancient Greek grammar. It's weird, I can understand a lot of it. Today I also put France Culture on (my favorite French radio station), and kinda understood what they were talking about: it was about TikTok and how local students were using it, and I think there was something about censorship involved. This is so cool! I have found that my listening has gotten to a point where I can hear almost every word, but not always piece together what they are saying, and that isn't bad, given the fact how tough French pronunciation is, and how it is not a phonetic language.

I can also kinda understand Le Petit Prince! It's such a cute little book, and very funny (I'm on the part with the business man who keeps telling the Little Prince that he owns the stars). I don't really look anything up when I read or listen or watch, except with Netflix, as I have the language learning with Netflix extension that makes it too easy not too.

I guess me in the beginning of August would be pretty disappointed that I didn't keep up with all my stuff, but if I kept going and ended up hating languages, then it would be worse than just slowing down and taking it day by day. I realized I'm in no rush... who cares! It was going to take a long time to learn, and it still is going to take a long time to learn. Better to let the knowledge sit in your brain and delve into your subconscious.

As you may have seen, I was reading a book about Ancient Greek. That Francophone friend of mine has to learn it for his school curriculum, and we were talking about it in my History of Christian Theology class today (I was proud, I recognized the word θεός in the sentence from the Gospel According to Mark: Ἀρχὴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ θεοῦ). I don't know if I would learn Ancient Greek, and my university doesn't seem to offer courses for it anymore (unfortunately) and the minor isn't available either. It would be cool to read all that ancient stuff, whether in Attic or Koine! But they do offer Latin (and I do have a copy of LLPSI)... hmmm....
I also found a copy of Athenaze Vol. 1 and another book called "Learn New Testament Greek" https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Testament- ... 0801017262 (second edition, link is the third) with a handy "Begin Reading the Greek text in 10 Days!" on the front. Two different approaches, but maybe holistic if I tried it.

I was amazed, my Uni used to offer courses in Japanese, Mandarin, Italian, Russian, and German, as well as the French, Spanish, and Latin they offer currently. At least, I'm pretty sure, based off the large number of language learning resources in the library. Funnily enough, Russian and Japanese seem to have the best selection: there are graded readers, textbooks, numerous dictionaries, and novels in both of the languages. German, Spanish, French, Mandarin, and Cantonese (of all languages haha) all have either old or new Living Language courses or something of the sort. It would be cool maybe in a year or two once I am more comfortable with French to try something like a "Free German Challenge," just using online content and stuff from the library.

I think I'm gonna check these Ancient Greek Books out, as I am literally writing this from the library with all the books next to me, just to browse and check it out. If it isn't my thing, that's totally cool, and if it is, that's great!

Hope everyone is doing well and feeling disciplined and motivated.

Au revoir <3

- Cito
5 x
50 French Books: 20 / 50
LLPSI-FA: 33 / 35
Greek ASSIMIL: 29 / 100
Russian ASSIMIL: 43 / 100
(On Pause)
Latin ASSIMIL: 29 / 101
Spanish ASSIMIL: 40 / 100

User avatar
luke
Brown Belt
Posts: 1243
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2015 9:09 pm
Languages: English (N). Spanish (intermediate), Esperanto (B1), French (intermediate but rusting)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16948
x 3631

Re: Cito's General Log

Postby luke » Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:56 pm

cito wrote:I think I could have tested into Second Semester French.

I can also kinda understand Le Petit Prince! It's such a cute little book, and very funny (I'm on the part with the business man who keeps telling the Little Prince that he owns the stars). I don't really look anything up when I read or listen or watch, except with Netflix, as I have the language learning with Netflix extension that makes it too easy not too.

Good job!

On testing into 2nd semester French, I'm one of those who might council, no, do the easier track and fill in all the cracks.

That's what I did when I started College with math. Math and foreign languages are both cumulative. A solid foundation is essential.

So when I had the chance to take the equivalent of 11th grade algebra, which was like 1st semester college algebra, I took the easy route. Got an A. The beauty though is I took several math courses in college after that. 3 semesters of calculus and 3 semesters of calculus based physics. There may have been something between 1st semester algebra and 1st semester calculus, and of course I would have taken that.

My point is, even though I did well in 11th grade algebra and might have been able to muscle through calculus, it wouldn't have been as fun as it turned out to be. I loved calculus. All A's. (same with calculus based physics). I think the solid foundation made it more interesting, more sensible, more logical and more fun.

I did the same thing with Spanish. Had 2 years in middle school, none in high school, but started college with 1st semester Spanish and once again did well.

It's a smart strategy for cumulative subjects you want to learn.

You've found Le Petit Prince on Netflix too? Modernized, at least the one I watched. Changed. But good for "I'll listen to this in my target language", since I like the story too.

Bonne chance!
2 x
: 124 / 124 Cien años de soledad 20x
: 5479 / 5500 5500 pages - Reading
: 51 / 55 FSI Basic Spanish 3x
: 309 / 506 Camino a Macondo

User avatar
cito
Orange Belt
Posts: 185
Joined: Wed Jul 21, 2021 4:35 am
Languages: EN (N) //
FR LT ES
OE EL RU
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17064
x 734

Re: Cito's General Log

Postby cito » Wed Oct 06, 2021 7:55 pm

luke wrote:
cito wrote:I think I could have tested into Second Semester French.

I can also kinda understand Le Petit Prince! It's such a cute little book, and very funny (I'm on the part with the business man who keeps telling the Little Prince that he owns the stars). I don't really look anything up when I read or listen or watch, except with Netflix, as I have the language learning with Netflix extension that makes it too easy not too.

Good job!

On testing into 2nd semester French, I'm one of those who might council, no, do the easier track and fill in all the cracks.

That's what I did when I started College with math. Math and foreign languages are both cumulative. A solid foundation is essential.

So when I had the chance to take the equivalent of 11th grade algebra, which was like 1st semester college algebra, I took the easy route. Got an A. The beauty though is I took several math courses in college after that. 3 semesters of calculus and 3 semesters of calculus based physics. There may have been something between 1st semester algebra and 1st semester calculus, and of course I would have taken that.

My point is, even though I did well in 11th grade algebra and might have been able to muscle through calculus, it wouldn't have been as fun as it turned out to be. I loved calculus. All A's. (same with calculus based physics). I think the solid foundation made it more interesting, more sensible, more logical and more fun.

I did the same thing with Spanish. Had 2 years in middle school, none in high school, but started college with 1st semester Spanish and once again did well.

It's a smart strategy for cumulative subjects you want to learn.

You've found Le Petit Prince on Netflix too? Modernized, at least the one I watched. Changed. But good for "I'll listen to this in my target language", since I like the story too.

Bonne chance!


No I have the book of The Little Prince!! Just when I watch anything on Netflix I look stuff up. Also if I read on LingQ, of course, but that goes without saying.

And as far as school goes, I've found you're right about filling in the cracks, as there are definitely certain grammatical nuances that I have trouble with from self-teaching, especially prepositions, but honestly my French classes are quite boring, and I really feel like a know-it-all, as I get all excited to answer, simply because I've been studying really hard, and sometimes I think it comes off the wrong way to the other students. I just really love languages and French in particular, but I'm afraid they take it as me being a snob, especially because there are some students in my class who are really struggling, which is unfortunate.

I haven't committed to anything for French on Netflix except for "The Hook-Up Plan" (and I'm not much of a rom-com guy, but it was kinda addicting :lol: ), but I still need to finish the second season.

Also just found the Cowboy Bebop French dub.... so see you in a few days :shock:
1 x
50 French Books: 20 / 50
LLPSI-FA: 33 / 35
Greek ASSIMIL: 29 / 100
Russian ASSIMIL: 43 / 100
(On Pause)
Latin ASSIMIL: 29 / 101
Spanish ASSIMIL: 40 / 100


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