SalzSäule's Multilingual Mess

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SalzSäule
Orange Belt
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:17 pm
Languages: English (N), German (C2), French (?), Czech (Beginner)
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Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby SalzSäule » Sat Aug 14, 2021 10:03 pm

Today was a hot one :oops:. Okay it was only like 31'c but I hate any temperature over 25, because I am British and melt.

Carried on with some more Don Quijote. The frequency of newer words is dropping off massively now and it's becoming easier to guess based upon context. I did, however, learn Aderlass which means blood-letting or phlebotomy, so that's nice..., as well as geziemt (context-dependent but usually to be fitting/behooving) and I eventually (thanks DeepL) got the hand of the sentence:

aber ob meiner großen Liebe zu Ihm will ich die Schuld vergrößern, um die Bezahlung zu vergrößern.


which was confusing only because I forgot about the archaic meaning of 'ob' (for those learning: ob used to be a preposition as well - meaning 'because of', like wegen. It's now outdated.)

I also finished recording down some words from a book I read/completed? a while ago. It's called "Schalg den Duden" and it's essentially a quiz book all to do with the German language and honestly I enjoyed it a lot. The new words I've written down on flashcards there are: verscherben, verschachern (to flog off, to barter away), beflügeln (to inspire sb, +Hoffnung), Koryphäe (luminary), Töle ("cur" pej. for dog), zuckeln (to stutter forward, usually of vehicles), affig (vein, dandyish), geschraubt (stilted, bookish), hochgestochen (high-brow, pompous, highfalutin), Suada (harangue, tirade), Mischpoche (bunch of people but pej.), Ramsch (junk), hanebüchen (outrageous/-landish), jdn. an die Kandare nehmen (take a hard line with sb).

Besides that I've been helping out on Wiktionary and Tatoeba a lot, as well as doing some other productive things which may be discussed later :P.
5 x
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.

DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1961
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:26 am
Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... &start=200
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Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby DaveAgain » Sat Aug 14, 2021 10:23 pm

SalzSäule wrote:Today was a hot one :oops:. Okay it was only like 31'c but I hate any temperature over 25, because I am British and melt.
Temperature should never start with a three, 30, 3, -3, -30 all bad! :-)
1 x

SalzSäule
Orange Belt
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:17 pm
Languages: English (N), German (C2), French (?), Czech (Beginner)
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Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby SalzSäule » Mon Aug 23, 2021 11:53 am

Bonjour à tous! N'inquietez pas — je suis déjà ici ! Je parlerai un peu de français aujourd'hui. :o

I went travelling again about a week ago (Braunschweig/Brunswick, Bremen, and Hannover. I also visited Marburg ereyesterday) so I haven't been here much. I am also going to Strasbourg tomorrow hence why I have not been doing a lot for German, and instead just absolutely binging all the French content that I can. I now bitterly regret starting French in Jan/Feb and then doing practically nothing besides the occasional France24 channel watching and listening of songs since then :D.

I'm now approaching the end of Lingvist's French collection (currently at 4,800 words out of 5,091) and Lingvist is honestly the only paid programme I would recommend to people. If you do decide to pay, do it on the website because it's cheaper than on the App and then you can just download the app anyway. I should probably list the major other things I've done with French over the year:

* Easy French/Super Easy French YouTube Kanal
* There was a German TV series for learning French called 'Bon Courage', and a follow-up called 'C'est ça, la vie' which I've been binging.
* I've been reading story books tailored to A1, then A2, and now I have an A2-B1 one which is not so easy.
* I like to go through the Duolingo Stories and Podcast sometimes. I don't do the tree so much, only when I want to force myself to practice some kind of writing.
* I read through a few chapters of French by the nature method (sorry forgot the exact title). I didn't mind this but it can be very dry to read sentences like "Elle est Madame Duclot. Ils sont Madame et Monsieur Duclot. Il est le fille de Madame et Monsieur Duclot." for several pages. I would rather use something like this for a language which is much more difficult to start off in.
* I have the app Apprende Le Français by TV5Monde and do the exercises there sometimes.
* (I'm too lazy to find the circumflex sorry) Le fete des Mots on Netflix and some Peppa Pig on YT.
* I also found this nifty little textbook in a public bookcase ''cours de Langue et de Civilisation Françaises'' by G. Mauger. I've been flicking through it to re-inforce the basics from time to time.

I didn't completely forget my French between March-Aug thankfully, but it definitely got very rusty. Unlike when I learnt German, this time I have completely lost the worry to be perfectionistic about it all. I make so many mistakes still, because I am but a débutant, and I'm just gonna have to roll with it in France. I've also dedicated little time towards the active skills because I know my vocabulary and deep understanding of the structure of the language is just too shallow for me to be able to form sentences quick enough and to know when something sounds quite off. I'm not sure who it is who recommends you don't try to speak straight away, but I kind of understand and appreciate that theory somewhat now.

Oh and after France I'm off to Luxembourg where I will also need French, so the necessity and stress are quite high at the moment :lol:
2 x
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.

DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1961
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:26 am
Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... &start=200
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Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby DaveAgain » Mon Aug 23, 2021 12:22 pm

SalzSäule wrote:* I've been reading story books tailored to A1, then A2, and now I have an A2-B1 one which is not so easy.
* I like to go through the Duolingo Stories and Podcast sometimes.
I think the first French books I read were Enid Blyton's "Le club des cinq", and "Petit nicolas".
* (I'm too lazy to find the circumflex sorry) Le fete des Mots on Netflix and some Peppa Pig on YT.
A French cartoon I liked was Blake et Mortimer, then I watched an old sitcom, Les filles d'à côté.
* I also found this nifty little textbook in a public bookcase ''cours de Langue et de Civilisation Françaises'' by G. Mauger. I've been flicking through it to re-inforce the basics from time to time.
That is often mentioned as a very good course.
1 x

SalzSäule
Orange Belt
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:17 pm
Languages: English (N), German (C2), French (?), Czech (Beginner)
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Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby SalzSäule » Wed Aug 25, 2021 4:07 pm

That is often mentioned as a very good course.


Oooh, I had no idea. I just found it by random in a public bookcase and thought it was neat so I borrowed it. :lol: Guess I'll have to speed through it before I leave the country!
1 x
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.

german2k01
Green Belt
Posts: 467
Joined: Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:16 pm
Location: Germany
Languages: English, Urdu, and German
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Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby german2k01 » Wed Aug 25, 2021 8:53 pm

How did you reach the C1 level in German? What resources did you use? How many books did you read up to that point? Roughly, how many dedicated listening hours did you spend on your own?
Thanks.
0 x

SalzSäule
Orange Belt
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:17 pm
Languages: English (N), German (C2), French (?), Czech (Beginner)
x 352

Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby SalzSäule » Wed Aug 25, 2021 9:06 pm

german2k01 wrote:How did you reach the C1 level in German? What resources did you use? How many books did you read up to that point? Roughly, how many dedicated listening hours did you spend on your own?
Thanks.


It's not actually such an easy question to answer. I had months and months of breaks where I just did absolutely nothing for German because of a lack of interest, but to get to the point at which I first tested for C1 it would have been around 2.5 years.

I prefer to read newspapers and websites far more than books, but I believe by that point I had actually read about 10 books in German. Newspapers, magazines, and academic papers (for uni) much, much more.

Listening, I couldn't give you a number. Music was what got me into German and I have easily listend to 10,000s of German music alone. On a lazy week I maybe only listen to 5-10 hours of German; in a week where I try harder 20-30.

What mostly dragged me through the process was my interest for grammar. I used to really love learning about grammar for some reason. A fair few flashcards dragged me through it as well.

My learning process of German was very disjointed, which is why it's been hard for me to try to learn a 3rd language in my spare time, because I'm not super sure how I did it the first time. I just sort of try now to integrate French into my life as much as I can and hope it works.
5 x
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.

german2k01
Green Belt
Posts: 467
Joined: Mon Aug 09, 2021 8:16 pm
Location: Germany
Languages: English, Urdu, and German
x 573

Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby german2k01 » Wed Aug 25, 2021 9:37 pm

How did you approach German grammar? Any tricks under your sleeve.
0 x

SalzSäule
Orange Belt
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:17 pm
Languages: English (N), German (C2), French (?), Czech (Beginner)
x 352

Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby SalzSäule » Thu Aug 26, 2021 5:11 pm

german2k01 wrote:How did you approach German grammar? Any tricks under your sleeve.


Just practice and practice. Back in the days when tumblr was relevant I used to be part of the 'langblr' community and would create posts in which I explained the aspects of German grammar. It's always useful to try and explain a grammar concept (well any concept really) to someone else and is one of the best ways to see if you know your stuff, to teach it to others.

Aside from that I read many websites on the same grammar topic over and over. Dartmouth had a good german grammar page, Hammer's book was good, and there was another page by a uni (maybe in Texas?) that was a good shout too.

Honestly German grammar is not too extensive compared to other European languages. It's a bit of a pain with the adjectives, which I still can't automatically produce because the schema is too complicated for me to know it completely off by heart, but the tenses are much more pleasant than the romance languages.
2 x
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.

SalzSäule
Orange Belt
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:17 pm
Languages: English (N), German (C2), French (?), Czech (Beginner)
x 352

Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby SalzSäule » Thu Aug 26, 2021 5:12 pm

Today I had to call a hotel in Paris and explain to them my card had been declined repeatedly on their website and that I wasn't sure why.

They said on their website they spoke English.

They did not.

Many a tear was shed trying to explain with my basic-ass French the situation.

But we got through it, relatively unscathed.

Durch Fehler wird man klug.
3 x
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.


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