Zgriptsuroica tries not to get distracted by the new shiny

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zgriptsuroica
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Zgriptsuroica tries not to get distracted by the new shiny

Postby zgriptsuroica » Thu Oct 28, 2021 8:36 am

I feel pretty happy with my abilities in Spanish and Portuguese, my French speaking/writing could use some work, and my Japanese kind of petered off to where I can read manga painstakingly slowing and not much else. Of course, the best thing to assist in fixing the last two and maintaining the first is getting distracted by yet another language to devote time to learning and improving and eventually maintaining as well. I've been taken with Icelandic for a bit over two months now, and enjoying it as much as one can enjoy melting their brain. I figure I can give myself a bit of accountability posting here once a week or so to keep doing the Icelandic lessons, as well as not deciding "Hey, I'm barely A1 in Icelandic, now is the time to pick up Basque." in a few weeks.

As of tonight, I'm up to Icelandic Online Course 2, Bálkur 5, Þráður 2, Siða 2, which is to say I'll have completed the second course once I finish the three units remaining in this section and complete the review section that rounds out the chapter! I feel like I've learned quite a bit in terms of passive recognition and vocabulary, but there's been a lack of much in the way of pure production exercises (understandable enough, given what the course is) that has left me pretty lost when it comes to remembering how nouns decline. I tend to get it right more often than not if there's a word bank for me to pick the right answer from, but struggle to come up with the same answer myself without looking it up in BÍN every time for the real "fill in the blank" exercises. I've also been keeping up with a self-made Anki deck based on words I encounter in the courses or reading since essentially day one, and I've got a 50 day streak going over on Clozemaster. I ordered a bunch of books from Forlagið to have stuff ready for when I feel like I can handle it, but the only one that isn't painfully slow at the moment is Spæjarahundurinn. Sjálfstætt fólk might have to wait a little bit. :lol:

I'm looking to complete IOL3 and 4 as soon as I can and then will reassess my plans, but I'm currently planning to do another textbook that will really get me writing and thinking about declensions and such as a means of driving them home. I already have a copy of Complete Icelandic: Teach Yourself, but I've also heard good things about Íslenksa fyrir alla, which has the perk of being available from the publisher free, so long as you don't mind working from PDFs. Aside from drills, I'm in an Icelandic learners Discord that seems decently active, though I'm currently nowhere near the level needed to participate in the Icelandic chats. I'm just happy when I can respond appropriately in English without having to look up anything at the moment.

I think for the coming week, I'd be pretty happy to finish IOL Course 2 and keep up my streaks for Anki and Clozemaster. I'd also like to read another 5 pages of Spæjarahundurinn. On the non-Icelandic front, I'm backed up on reading Le maréchal absolu by about 125 pages for the Untranslated blog book club, which I'd like to get caught up on. Will see how it goes, though, as I just saw the Dune movie tonight and now I want to re-read the book. Anything else language-wise will probably be gravy, and I need to fit in watching the USGP at some point in the schedule. Maybe I'll take a night off if I finish IOL2 early.
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eido
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Re: Zgriptsuroica tries not to get distracted by the new shiny

Postby eido » Thu Oct 28, 2021 7:11 pm

An Icelandic learner! Welcome to the forum! (Or maybe you were already here? Either way :lol: ) How’s it hanging? I’m learning Icelandic, too. Though I’m probably nowhere near your level.

I’m currently trying to tackle Harry Potter og Eldbikarinn.

I look forward to seeing your updates!
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zgriptsuroica
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Re: Zgriptsuroica tries not to get distracted by the new shiny

Postby zgriptsuroica » Fri Oct 29, 2021 8:48 am

eido wrote: Though I’m probably nowhere near your level.


Indeed, you're probably a few levels past me already if you're able to read that. :lol:

Spæjarahundurinn is a kid's book, and even so, I still find a page taking me 5 minutes or longer at times when I have a bad string of new words. On the plus side, I like dogs and I can feel slightly more accomplished when my "pages read in x minutes" gets a boost because of the full page illustrations.

I'd be interested to hear how the book goes for you and if you come across any good resources.
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zgriptsuroica
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Re: Zgriptsuroica tries not to get distracted by the new shiny

Postby zgriptsuroica » Wed Nov 03, 2021 5:42 am

I finished Icelandic Online Course 2 on Sunday! Woohoo! I also managed to keep my streaks going with Anki and Clozemaster throughout the week, which was nice for a relatively challenging week at work. I think I'll get back into Spæjarahundurinn tomorrow evening to get a few pages down for the week. I went to see the Dune movie last Wednesday night and my reading goals fell by the wayside as a result of picking up a re-read of the book. I do have a long weekend coming up, so I may make some progress catching up on Le maréchal absolu there, but I'll need to see, as I've also got to read Fugitive parce que reine for the November discussion of the Albertine book club. I've missed a couple now (though I did read the books at least), so I want to get back on track there. I think I'll reassess things tomorrow and edit in my goals for the coming week.
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zgriptsuroica
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Re: Zgriptsuroica tries not to get distracted by the new shiny

Postby zgriptsuroica » Tue Nov 09, 2021 6:42 am

So last week kind of petered out in terms of doing Icelandic Online, but I kept up my Anki and Clozemaster streaks despite a rough week at work. Tonight, I hopped back into Icelandic Online and started course 3. For the week to come, I'd be pretty content to just finish up þræðir 2 og 3 on in Bálkur 1, along with keeping up the SRS reps for now. I'll try and read a couple of pages of Spæjarahundurinn before I return to work in 3 more days, too.

I finished Dune, and now I need to get on reading Fugitive parce que reine if I plan on having it ready in time for the meeting a week from today. I also started reading 犬夜叉 again as an easy way to get myself back into reading Japanese. I'm aiming for a chapter a day or so, which seems like a decent pace. I never finished reading Inuyasha when I was younger, but I'm only in Volume 3, so I know the main beats of the plot already. Some of the period honorifics and certain characters' manner of speaking can be a bit odd for me, but nearly everything has furigana and I have fond memories of staying up late to watch the show in secret as a kid, so I guess it's kind of like a comfort series for me.
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zgriptsuroica
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Re: Zgriptsuroica tries not to get distracted by the new shiny

Postby zgriptsuroica » Thu Nov 18, 2021 5:24 am

The last week wasn't terrible, but also wasn't the best. Work has been a bit of a mess and I was feeling meh as a result, but I do also have to wonder if I'm not trying to do too many things at once, accomplishing none of them to my satisfaction as a result. I did get through a single section of IOL3 last week, but the last couple of weeks have followed a pattern of posting here on Wednesdays, getting a head of steam and "Woohoo, I didn't give in even though I was tired!" for Thursday and Friday, then fizzling out after making it through one section. Of course, I could be doing worse, but I would prefer to get a bit more consistent. I have still kept it up with my SRS and have watched the odd episode of Næturvatkin, so it hasn't been too terrible. At least I have easy room for improvement, and I can expect fewer demands on my time within the month as the F1 calendar wraps up for the year, as well.

Fugitive parce que reine is proving slower going than I anticipated from the blurb. It's not that bad, but I also don't find myself super gripped by it yet. Will probably give it another 50 pages and start considering a DNF if it's still not doing it for me by the halfway point.
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zgriptsuroica
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Re: Zgriptsuroica tries not to get distracted by the new shiny

Postby zgriptsuroica » Fri Nov 26, 2021 10:32 am

I went with smaller, but more consistent study over the last week. I felt like I probably got about the same amount done, really, but didn't feel like I'd let myself down quite as much with missing days. I at least got a little bit done on Icelandic Online every day except Tuesday and Thursday, and I'm up to Bálkur 2, þráður 1, should be þráður 2 tomorrow. I feel as though the vocabulary is sticking at this point, but nothing in terms of declensions is. I guess it makes sense given the minimal output you can do with the course, but it's still frustrating. I've kept up my Anki and Clozemaster streaks, and I bought the lifetime Clozemaster sub while it's on sale for Black Friday.

I've kept chipping away at Fugitive parce que reine, though it seems like I never quite get comfy with the author's vocabulary. I've also been using French more at work lately.

I'm coming up on finishing volume 3 of 犬夜叉, and I've been enjoying it so far. I think I might aim to alternate nights between raw manga and a page of Spæjarahundurinn to get the Icelandic reading going, but at the same time I don't want to mess with a good thing.

I'm starting to think about what I want to do for next year, and I'm hoping I'm not being too ambitious. I think I´d like to aim to read a book each month in Spanish, French and Portuguese, and squeeze in as much manga/Japanese books and Icelandic stuff as I can in between. I think I'd like to finish Icelandic Online by around March and move on to Íslenska fyrir alla to start focusing on production skills as well, eventually participating more in the Icelandic Discord. I think if it goes well I may loop back to a formal study of Japanese in 2023 and try to take the JLPT again and not crash and burn this time. I hope with plenty of reading under my belt, a refresher will cement grammar more firmly for me and I'll be able to at least clear N4/N3, but that's a bit far out.

Edit: Doing my daily lesson, I came across this story and couldn't help but think I could see this happening to some families I know:

„Ég herti upp hugann og hringdi í íslensku þjóðskrána. Ég hafði ekki miklar upplýsingar um Jón en mér datt í hug að þannig myndi ég finna stóru ástina mína aftur“ segir í vefútgáfu Aftenposten. Eva fann út hvar Jón bjó á Íslandi og skrifaði honum ástarbréf árið 1990. Þannig vildi til að móðir Jóns tók á móti bréfinu og lagði það í skúffu á skrifborði. Bréfið datt hins vegar á bak við skrifborðið og lá þar í sautján ár. Þá fann móðir Jóns bréfið aftur og hafði samband við son sinn.

:lol:
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zgriptsuroica
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Re: Zgriptsuroica tries not to get distracted by the new shiny

Postby zgriptsuroica » Sun Dec 05, 2021 10:11 am

I was sick since Wednesday, but I did manage to keep my streak going on Clozemaster and only missed one day on Anki, but I got it all caught up. Another section of Icelandic Online down, onwards and away for me. I'm increasingly thinking that, for all it does offer, Icelandic Online is a terrible resource for anyone who isn't already pretty dialed in grammatically. For #2.2.4 (6) of the third course, for example, it's teaching you to derive the adverbial form of a word from the adjective (and incidentally showing that adverbs don't decline except for comparative forms), but there's no real indication of it anywhere in the exercise. I'll take it for what it is, but I do think the site could be fleshed out a bit to make it more useful to masochists who decide to self-study Icelandic as their first foray into foreign languages.

I feel like my Icelandic is making some incremental progress. I'm doing my Clozemaster reviews mostly typing in the answers, rather than filling in the blanks, and I feel like I can understand more and more of the conversation in the Icelandic discord, even if I can't reply yet. I'll take it, just need to be realistic about how far I've come and not let myself get discouraged.

I did finally finish up Fugitive parce que reine and can't really say I was into it. It seemed like it was going to pick up for a bit, but kind of fell apart again at the end. It wound up being a portrait of a rather unsympathetic woman who deals with mental illness, but mostly just seemed to go from one person to the next making a mess of both their lives until some point after her daughters moved out where she seems to have calmed down a bit. I've already read this month's pick for the Albertine Bookclub, L'anomalie and didn't think it was much more than an okayish thriller, but I'll try to attend the meeting to see what everyone else is saying. They've managed to change my opinion on other books before. In the meantime, a co-worker lent me a book her husband wrote, so I'll give that a crack.

I'm also starting to get thinking about what else I'd like to study at some point, although I've kept myself from veering off with my Icelandic not even through the beginner stages yet. I think the primary contenders are, in a vague order subject to change:

  1. Finnish - I did start Finnish for Foreigners before COVID made work go crazy, but didn't get far enough into it. Folk metal, rally/F1 drivers and I'm sure some books, could be fun.
  2. Irish - Every once in a while, I think it would be cool to go and learn the language my family might have spoke 200 years ago. Lots of folktales, though not sure how much is readable without digging into Old/Middle Irish. Not sure about modern Irish literature or contemporary cultural products at large.
  3. German - Forgot this one initially. I did the whole duolingo tree at one point, started in on exercise books and even read a Goosebump book in it. Then Japanese took over and it feel by the wayside and has been neglected almost ever since. Tons and tons of books, they make some decent movies, and when I did make take a stab at getting back into it, I remembered things pretty quickly, but it took a backseat again in favor of other languages that clicked better. I'm kind of hoping that after Icelandic, the cases and three genders will seem less imposing, just need to get the right motivation together to finally tackle it.
  4. Euskara - The Basque language looks really cool, there's some good old punk and metal, could be a fun grammatical challenge. Don't know much about historical or contemporary literature and cultural output, could be hard to get my hands on.
  5. Mandarin - Lots of media out there, so cool books that I've seen, get a bit of carryover from kanji, though I'm aware there are plenty of characters whose meaning has changed substantially since they were imported to Japan. Might actually be useful in career opportunities.
  6. Russian - There's lots of old books I would enjoy reading in the original, but I don't know about contemporary stuff. I get the feeling it might be a bit of a Brazil situation where once I learned Portuguese, there was a ton of great content out there, just kind of off in its own lane that doesn't cross over too much into the anglophone cultural sphere.
  7. Arabic - Literary output from a huge range of countries, but I don't know if it would be enough to carry me through.
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zgriptsuroica
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Re: Zgriptsuroica tries not to get distracted by the new shiny

Postby zgriptsuroica » Mon Dec 13, 2021 11:17 pm

Another week sick, missed a couple of days of Anki/Clozemaster, but I've since caught up. Slowly trundling along on Icelandic Online, I was thinking "Man, I'm really dragging on this third course," but just checked and realized I'm halfway through it! I suppose it's also kind of natural for progress to slow down once you get the most easy and basic stuff out of the way.

I renewed my book store membership with Albertine and will be trying to keep up with the French book for 2022 as well. Some promising books in the calendar for next year, and I also looped back around to pick up Jean Giorno's Un roi sans divertissement, which we read last February or so. I couldn't get a hold of the physical book then, so I decided to pick it up now, may merit a re-read at some point.

I'm thinking for next year I'll try to keep all my manga consumption strictly in Japanese with the exception of Jujutsu Kaisen and Mashle, since I'm already reading them in English and am well into both series at this point. Currently reading the first volume of 古見さんは、コミュ症です。It's been pretty easy going aside from when Yamai goes full crazy and starts spewing walls of text. I'll probably try and finish up volume 1 before I have to return to work on Wednesday.
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zgriptsuroica
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Re: Zgriptsuroica tries not to get distracted by the new shiny

Postby zgriptsuroica » Wed Dec 22, 2021 7:40 am

Finally got around to finishing up bálkur 3, þráður 2 of Icelandic Online 3 today, will probably knock out þráður 3 tomorrow and move on to bálkur 4. I still feel a bit adrift here with picking up grammar stuff, and haven't got a good intuitive feel for conjugations, but I think it's sinking in somewhat. I've noticed it more on Clozemaster. I feel like, at least for reviews, the write in option instead of multiple choice is no longer a totally hopeless waste of time. In fact, I'm even starting to do better with getting the right declensions the first time, so I guess something must be clicking for me, even if it doesn't feel like it. I haven't always been advancing into new words, but at least I've been able to keep up my reviews there and in Anki.

As the year winds down, I'm reassessing my reading goals for 2022. This year, I aimed for 78 goals and, as of now, have read 60. Not quite where I wanted to be, but I'll take it, since this is also the year where I've read the most non-English content, by a long shot. The breakdown:

  • English - 31 books
  • French - 15 books
  • Spanish - 5 books
  • Portuguese - 4 books
  • Japanese - 3 volumes of manga and 1 novel

I realize I missed one book there in the count, but it probably went towards either English or French. If I can double my Spanish and Portuguese reading for next year, I think it'll be a pretty solid, but achievable goal. I'd like to substantially increase my Japanese reading with a focus on manga to get through plenty next year. I'm also going to try and finish out Spæjarahundurinn before New Year's and will be quite content with myself next year if I make it through a single adult novel in Icelandic. Anything beyond that will be gravy. I'm on the fence about trying the PopSugar challenge again this year, as I didn't find it particularly rewarding this year. I hit a certain point where all the prompts remaining seemed pretty arbitrary and uninteresting, like "A book by a blogger, vlogger, YouTube video creator, or other online personality." I'll take a look at it, but I don't think I'll go out of my way to bother with it.
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