Russian and Polish log

[Serpent]

Welcome to the new forum
CEFR levels can be misleading. A1-A2 are good specific standards for getting a fairly low level recognized officially, but most A2 tasks can be achieved by learning a phrasebook (though A2 classes and exams are more profound than that, and probably provide a good base for B1). Basically I think it's better to set your own custom goals, like what you want to say/write/understand. The difficulty doesn't have to be linear - colloquial conversations are actually harder than formal serious texts on familiar topics. (Professional literature is easier than fiction, for example, at least in a language with a reasonable amount of loan words - and Polish/Russian have many compared to Finnish or Japanese)
You may like the progress bar feature

[guiguixx1]

This argument (CEFR levels aren't that important, what's important is what you want to be able to do in a language) has already been proposed, and is indeed worth mentioning again ^^

Basically, I want to be able to speak Italian with a certain ease, without looking for words, being able to converse with people, even if I make loads of mistakes. But I think it's more or less B1 level, which is why I keep mentioning this level for Italian I would also like to be able to read Harry Potter (which I do for each language), to get a good basis with grammar and have a good vocab. I did it with Spanish (and English and Dutch, obviously), and it helped me tremendously !

Concerning Polish, my main goal is to be able to converse with a very basic level, orally and by writing. It is indeed to converse with a friend, and as you mentioned, Learning a language for this reason isn't always the right thing to do, but I've been enjoying Learning it so far, so I would study it even if it were not for my friend But if my interest decreases, I might change my goal and change language. After all, we study for fun (and I study because I'm addicted to it), so if the fun for Learning Polish vanishes, I will seek it in another language

[guiguixx1]

It's been a while I haven't posted here, because I've had an exam cession, and prefered to slow down on languages to avoid getting a burnout and to stay focused on my studies. I finished my exams a couple of days ago and took some days to rest. Although I'm not totally rested, I feel like it's time for an update and for some language learning again!

I haven't studied much Polish for weeks, mainly because the Tips&Note sections on Duolingo are still in making. When I try a lesson, I mainly get by by chance, since the grammar is not clear/not explained, and I find the right answer by luck rather than by applying the rules. I thus prefer to wait a bit for the course to be further developped. Thus, I'm now using Duolingo for Italian, which I wanted to brush up. I would like to finally get to B1 (have a good command of the tenses, speak with ease. I realize that when getting to B1, I don't need to revise the language anymore, and can use it whenever I want. I talked to a Spanish speaker last week, while I hadn't spoken it for months, and after 5 minutes it was almost easy to use the language). I've decided to try again reading Harry Potter. My problem with this book is that my command of the grammar and the various tenses (and moods) is still quite weak, and I don't know how all these tenses are used. I guess I'll have to pick it up while reading. The differences between the imperfect and the past simple for example is not really clear... I plan on focusing on Italian for a short period of time, and am then going to dive into Polish again, in the hope that the Duolingo course will be more complete. Furthermore, I went to a secondhand bookshop today and found the book "Polish in 4 weeks" with 2 CD's, which could be useful as additional study material. I've also found an Italian grammar book, a Portuguese grammar book, an Italian bilingual book and "le portugais d'aujourd'hui en 90 leçons et en 90 jours". I lacked Portuguese books (I didn't have any)

This morning, on Facebook, I've heard of a Chinese-learning app on the android market. It's called "hellochinese" and seems to work a bit like Duolingo. People's opinion on the android market seem very positive. According to the app, having a conversational level of Chinese is only a couple of months ahead (with only 10 min a day), which is of course impossible. I might give it a try nevertheless, just for the fun of it

[guiguixx1]

I keep on practising some Italian on Duolingo, but as I'm on holiday this week an have plenty of time, I'm finding it hard not to use it on multiple languages. For now I want to study some Chinese, although I know it's only temporary...

I've tried reading Harry Potter 1 in Italian and am finding it harder to read than in Spanish, I don't know why...Is my level so weak, or it this book harder in Italian than in Spanish? Has anyone tried it in these two languages?