Stell's log: Russian and Spanish

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
stell
Orange Belt
Posts: 178
Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:25 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English (N1), French (N2), Spanish (advanced), Tagalog (perpetual toddler), Russian (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17696
x 996

Re: Stell's log: Russian and Spanish

Postby stell » Sat Mar 05, 2022 3:30 pm

Spanish Update

I just had a one-hour conversation in Spanish, and it was a struggle. I had a really hard time finding the right words, and past-tense verbs threw me for a loop today. I was able to communicate, but I didn't feel at all eloquent.

I know that there's only one solution to this problem: speaking more. It's just so much easier to listen and read, which I can do on my own time, without having to schedule it in advance. But I have no problems listening and reading, so listening and reading MORE won't really help me improve my speaking abilities. Also, I only have enough italki credits for one more hour-long session. I have to decide if I want to buy more credits, or if I want to look for a language partner. I'm afraid that I might be too flaky for a language partner right now, though, because every morning that I have a session booked, I seriously consider cancelling right up until the last minute. Once the session starts, I always enjoy it, but I'm never eager to actually get started.

This week in Spanish, I listened to Democracy Now every morning while doing my morning-getting-ready things. I also read most nights for 15-20 minutes. I'd like to read a bit more every day, but that requires getting ready for bed earlier every night. And getting to bed early is a struggle right now! So I'm book-ending my day with 10-15 minutes of Spanish listening in the morning and 15-20 minutes of Spanish reading before bed. I feel that this is enough to maintain (and slowly improve) my receptive Spanish.

If I want to improve my conversational Spanish, I know that I need to continue with Saturday morning conversations, and then spend at least an hour on Sundays watching unscripted Spanish-language TV (which, at least for now, will be the utterly ridiculous Nailed It Mexico).

I also need to do a quick review of past tense verbs, so that I can conjugate verbs automatically in the preterite.
7 x

User avatar
stell
Orange Belt
Posts: 178
Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:25 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English (N1), French (N2), Spanish (advanced), Tagalog (perpetual toddler), Russian (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17696
x 996

Re: Stell's log: Russian and Spanish

Postby stell » Sun Mar 06, 2022 12:00 am

Russian update

Friday March 4:
- Memrise: 9 minutes
- Duolingo: 9 minutes
- Pimsleur: 30 minutes. Unit 24, take one.
- Russian Made Easy: 20 minutes. Flashcards, audio exercises and videos from episode 23.
Total time: 1 hour and 8 minutes

Saturday March 5:
- Memrise: 5 minutes
- Duolingo: 12 minutes
- Russian Made Easy: 30 minutes. Episode 24, podcast, audio exercises, flashcards and media clips.
Total time: 47 minutes

Мне плохо. I don't have a virus or anything too serious, but I’m feeling really unwell today and I napped on the couch for three hours in the afternoon. I am not a napper, so this is very unusual for me! I’m honestly proud of myself for doing any Russian at all. I have to say that my streaks motivated me…I’ve done Duolingo and Memrise for 50+ days, and I’m also doing the 365 day challenge, so I didn’t want to drop any of those balls.

I went for a slow walk to get some fresh air, and Russian Made Easy made my life easy by giving me a short podcast with exactly zero new words. I listened to the podcast and did the audio exercises while walking, and then watched the video clips and ran through today’s flashcards in less than ten minutes.

I usually post updates in the morning so that I can capture any learning that I did in the evening, but I’m giving myself permission to stop here. No more Russian for me today!

(And as an aside, I'm also using feeling unwell as an excuse for my poor performance in this morning's Spanish conversation. :D)
7 x

User avatar
stell
Orange Belt
Posts: 178
Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:25 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English (N1), French (N2), Spanish (advanced), Tagalog (perpetual toddler), Russian (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17696
x 996

Re: Stell's log: Russian and Spanish

Postby stell » Mon Mar 07, 2022 10:10 pm

Sunday March 6
- Memrise: 7 minutes
- Duolingo: 16 minutes
- Russian Accelerator: 45 minutes. Flashcards and steps 1 and 2 of Unit 5 Lesson 3.
- Russian Made Easy: 17 minutes. Listened to episode 25.
Total time: 1 hour and 25 minutes

My flashcard reviews took me a long time yesterday. On one of the weekend days, it always takes me longer to go through my paper flashcards. I’ve mentioned before that I only make paper flashcards for Russian Made Easy and Russian Accelerator. I make about 25 cards for each lesson. A few of them are just words, but most of them are complete sentences. I run through them from English to Russian, which lets me continuously review the constructions I’ve learned. I have five ziploc bags (daily, Monday/Thursday, weekend, first of month, July/January), and I move the cards accordingly to create my own messy version of spaced repetition. My weekend pile gets pretty big, and my beginning of the month pile ends up huge. I honestly think that, come July, I won’t even bother with my twice-a-year cards, because it will just be too ridiculous.

Yesterday I did only half of a Russian Accelerator for the first time. Up until now, I’ve always completed an entire lesson in one sitting. But I was already up to 45 minutes, and I’m not sure how useful it is to force 80-minute sessions. I think that it will be more beneficial for me long-term to keep my Russian Accelerator sessions under an hour. I know from experience that more time in one sitting doesn’t always equal more learning. Spreading something out over two days is often more worthwhile. I also think that splitting a lesson in two will create more space for me to review outside of my flashcards, by re-reading my notebook or writing my own sentences. That said…it feels strange to leave a lesson unfinished.
5 x

User avatar
stell
Orange Belt
Posts: 178
Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:25 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English (N1), French (N2), Spanish (advanced), Tagalog (perpetual toddler), Russian (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17696
x 996

Re: Stell's log: Russian and Spanish

Postby stell » Thu Mar 10, 2022 1:44 pm

I’ve started dreaming in Russian. In my dreams, everything makes complete sense of course, and I wake up in the morning with a few random Russian words (which may or may not be real words) floating in my mind. I’ve always had very vivid dreams, but they disappear completely within a minute or two of waking up. I really should write down some of my dreams as soon as I wake up. I might be able to start counting sleep towards my Six Week Challenge minutes! :lol:

Everything is going as well as can be expected. Most days see me spending between an hour and two hours on Russian, and about 30 minutes on Spanish. This seems like a good balance between learning a new language and maintaining/reactivating one I’ve already learned.

I’m five lessons away from completing Pimsleur level 1 and four podcasts away from completing the free Russian Made Easy lessons. Both of these resources have been a huge help in getting me well settled into Russian, but it’s time for me to start thinking about what will come next. Russian Accelerator will continue to form the backbone of my learning until I’ve worked through all of the units, but I’ll need something that I can listen to while walking. I would love to start listening to Russian podcasts that aren’t half in English, but I think they’re all way beyond what I can understand. I have to do some digging!

I have the New Penguin Russian Course book, which I’m probably going to start once I’ve finished with Pimsleur 1 and Russian Made Easy. I also have Russe sans peine, but I’m thinking that it might be best to wait until I’ve finished Russian Accelerator. While I really like working on three main resources at any time, three sit-down resources are too many for me. I need something that I can do on the go, either in the car or while walking the dog.

Monday March 7
- Memrise: 7 minutes
- Duolingo: 6 minutes
- Russian Accelerator: 50 minutes. Unit 5 Lesson 3. Finished up the lesson and reviewed my flashcards. I think that splitting lessons into two sections will work well for me. I’ll also be more likely to work on Russian Accelerator every day if I don’t feel the need to carve out at least an hour before starting.
- Pimsleur: 30 minutes. Unit 24, take two.
- Russian Made Easy: 25 minutes. Finished up with episode 25 (flashcards, audio exercises, videos).
Total time: 1 hour and 58 minutes

Tuesday March 8:
- Memrise: 12 minutes
- Duolingo: 15 minutes
- Russian Accelerator: 45 minutes. Unit 5 Lesson 4, steps 1-3.
- Russian Made Easy: 17 minutes. Listened to episode 26.
Total time: 1 hour and 29 minutes

Wednesday March 9:
- Memrise: 5 minutes
- Duolingo: 11 minutes
- Russian Accelerator: 45 minutes. Finished up U5L4 and re-read several pages of my notebook.
- Pimsleur: 27 minutes. Unit 25, take one.
Total time: 1 hour and 28 minutes
8 x

User avatar
stell
Orange Belt
Posts: 178
Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:25 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English (N1), French (N2), Spanish (advanced), Tagalog (perpetual toddler), Russian (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17696
x 996

Re: Stell's log: Russian and Spanish

Postby stell » Fri Mar 11, 2022 11:05 pm

Someone posted this on Reddit, and I fell in love. I have never been one to read or seek out poems, but once in a while I come across one that speaks to me.

Vocabulary, by Wisława Szymborska, originally written in Polish, perfectly captures the frustration of not being able to express oneself in a second language. I imagine the narrator is meant to be an immigrant, which adds a whole other layer of meaning. I tried to find the original Polish so that those of us who are able to could read it in its original beauty, but I didn’t have any luck*. I did learn that she won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996.

*in the five minutes that I spent googling
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
9 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
x 17566

Re: Stell's log: Russian and Spanish

Postby Cavesa » Sat Mar 12, 2022 3:56 pm

Please, please, can I give that post a hundred hearts? Please!

I love it just so much! Thanks for making me laugh and finding something that expresses my feelings about two matters!

This is the perfect answer to many of the "just 500/1000/2000 words are enough to get the message across" opinions. Don't get me wrong, it is true, but many people actually want this. And feel this, when we fail. And there is nothing wrong about it. Frankly, when you kick someone's a.. in their own native language, it is extremely sweet. I wish I was good enough to never underperform in any of my target languages, compared to the native one. (And if I say something wrong, I want it to be the usual fault of my character or reaction to something, not of my language skills). And such beautiful irony and humour expressed by this writer would work much better than any rational explanation.

Another nice point is the ignorance expressed here. Pologne, it is so cold there, isn't it? I've heard the same ignorant things about my country. How dare a Belgian ask, whether it isn't too cold in Prague? Majority of Belgium hadn't seen normal daylight for like two months since the beginning of the year :-D The temperatures have been the same as in Prague. But you know, anything east of Germany must be Siberia :-D

Btw here is the word walrus in all langauges of mine (of course I had to use dictionary, I am not that cool!):
mrož (Czech)
le morse (French. It is fun to imagine walruses using the morse code)
il tricheco (Italian, sounds funny)
la morsa (Spanish)
das Walross (German. Boring)
4 x

User avatar
stell
Orange Belt
Posts: 178
Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:25 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English (N1), French (N2), Spanish (advanced), Tagalog (perpetual toddler), Russian (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17696
x 996

Re: Stell's log: Russian and Spanish

Postby stell » Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:10 pm

The forum has become almost unusable for me as of late. It takes several tries to read or post, and I often give up before getting in. I really hope that we can find a way to fix these problems! Much respect to the people running this place; please take my money if I can help keep it alive!

Spanish update

This week’s Spanish conversation flowed so much better than last week’s! We talked about politics and elections, and asked each other past-tense questions. Actually, I should say "question" (singular), because one question led to a half hour conversation. I learned some new words, but I’m not sure exactly what to do with them. I have zero interest in starting up a new anki deck, and I’m generally more interested in using Spanish than I am in studying it.

That said, I’m starting to look into options for refreshing my Spanish grammar after the Six Week Challenge is finished. So I guess I do plan on studying Spanish at some point, at least for a few months, so that I can use it more readily.

This week I listened to the Democracy Now Spanish report every weekday. My new habit is to listen on my phone with earbuds while I make coffee, feed the dog, and putter around the kitchen. The length (which is generally somewhere around 13 minutes) is perfect for morning stuff. That said, it’s only perfect because I’m working from home and my mornings aren’t rushed. Once I have to return to the office (which doesn’t look like it will happen for at least a few months), I’ll have to rethink my habits. For now, though, morning listening is working perfectly for me.

I only read four times last week. Sometimes reading at the end of the day just feels like too much effort, especially because the book I’m reading has long paragraphs and longer chapters. Even though I’m really enjoying the book, it’s taking me forever to get through it. I’d really like my next book to have shorter chapters, so that it’s easier to find a natural end point. It sounds silly, but I think that I would be more motivated to read if I didn’t have to keep flipping through the next few pages to find a good spot to stop. I want that feeling of “one more chapter before I turn off the light!” as opposed to “ugh, I’m tired, why are there still 25 pages left in this chapter?”. That said, I really am enjoying this book!

Russian Update

Thursday March 10
- Memrise: 7 minutes
- Duolingo:12 minutes
- Pimsleur: 27 minutes. Unit 25, take two.
- Russian Made Easy: 36 minutes. Episode 26 flashcards, audio exercises and videos.
Total time: 1 hour and 22 minutes

Friday March 11
- Memrise: 8 minutes
- Duolingo: 16 minutes
- Russian Accelerator: 48 minutes. Unit 5 Lesson 5, step one (preceded by some review of past sentences). This lesson had a really great video showing how to use an English-Russian dictionary effectively. I haven’t bought a paper dictionary in forever, but this lesson is making me seriously consider ordering one! I love this course. The pace, the content, the teaching style, the use of a variety of native speakers, the logical progression, the responsiveness of the company to requests and inquiries…almost everything about it is phenomenal. Almost everything. Why did they choose these particular stock photos? It’s really too bad, because the course is absolutely fantastic aside from that.
- Russian Made Easy: 16 minutes. Listened to episode 27.
Total time: 1 hour and 28 minutes

I’ve been sending little texts to my dear friend, who is a native Russian speaker. I’m mostly trying to make her laugh, and I’ve asked her not to correct them - not because I don’t like corrections, but because we taught together for years, and we’re both thrilled to have changed careers and eliminated homework and marking. I don’t want my texts to turn into homework for her! Anyway, here are three texts from this week. They’re silly and probably have mistakes. Since no one here is an ex-teacher friend, please feel free to post corrections! Also, for context, Toby is my dog.

Пока подруга! Я сейчас работаю дома. Мне нравятся моя работа. Я не учительница. Ура!

Это твой кот. Его зовут Ральфи. Ральфи хороший кот. Тоби и Ральфи друзья. Они любят спать и кушать. Я люблю мою собаку и твой кот.

Где мои коллеги? Они работают дома. Я тоже работаю дома. Мне нравится работать дома, но я не вижу коллег. Всё хорошо, потому что я очень люблю спать. Ой! Мой коллега там! Привет Тоби!

Cavesa wrote:Btw here is the word walrus in all langauges of mine (of course I had to use dictionary, I am not that cool!):
mrož (Czech)
le morse (French. It is fun to imagine walruses using the morse code)
il tricheco (Italian, sounds funny)
la morsa (Spanish)
das Walross (German. Boring)
I’m glad you enjoyed it as much as I did, Cavesa! And thanks for making me laugh with your list of words for walrus.
5 x

User avatar
Fortheo
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2015 12:03 pm
Languages: English (N), French (?) Russian (beginner)
x 911

Re: Stell's log: Russian and Spanish

Postby Fortheo » Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:30 pm

stell wrote:
Fortheo wrote:Thanks for the thorough review of the course! It sounds great. I'll try the 1$ trial after I finish Russian made easy. The best part of russian made easy this far is that I haven't felt confused or frustrated with anything yet, which is rare for me when it comes to Russian :D if it stays that way, I can see myself investing in Russian accelerator afterwards.

Anyways, I'm looking forwards to see how your Russian develops with all these different courses that you're doing. Good luck.

Thanks, same to you! Let me know what you think if/when you try it. Do you have a log?


No log that I keep at the moment, but I'll let you know if I end up investing in the accelerator course. Right now I'm only at lesson 9 of the Russian made easy course, so I have some time until I make the choice. Oh, and I agree with you, the stock photos are kind of out of place for a course this good.

I noticed that after pimsleur 1, you'll be looking for something else that you can do while walking. Out of curiousity, is there a reason why you won't do pimsleur 2?
2 x

User avatar
stell
Orange Belt
Posts: 178
Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:25 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English (N1), French (N2), Spanish (advanced), Tagalog (perpetual toddler), Russian (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17696
x 996

Re: Stell's log: Russian and Spanish

Postby stell » Mon Mar 14, 2022 9:15 pm

Saturday March 12:
- Memrise: 7 minutes
- Duolingo: 14 minutes
- Pimsleur: 30 minutes. Unit 26, take one. This one was hard! I might find myself doing this unit three times, depending on how it goes next time.
Total time: 51 minutes
First time in a long time that I spent less than an hour on Russian! I just wasn’t interested in any desk or computer study for some reason, but I still did a half-hour audio lesson while walking the dog, and spent a few minutes on each of my mobile apps. Not bad for a “day off”!

Sunday March 13
- Memrise: 8 minutes
- Duolingo: 15 minutes
- Russian Accelerator: 48 minutes. Unit 5, Lesson 5, steps 2-4. It took me 20 minutes to work my way through my big weekend pile of flashcards. I have to say that 20 minutes of paper flashcards is infinitely more enjoyable for me than 20 minutes of anki, even if it may be less efficient overall.
Total time: 1 hour and 11 minutes

Today’s Russian text to a friend:

Доброе утро подруга! Я сейчас пью кофе с молоком. Ты сейчас пьёшь кофе? Тебе нравится кофе или чай? Мне нравится чай, но я люблю кофе. Он очень вкусный. Я хочу пить кофе с тобой в кафе.


Fortheo wrote:I noticed that after pimsleur 1, you'll be looking for something else that you can do while walking. Out of curiousity, is there a reason why you won't do pimsleur 2?

Honestly, I'm just getting a little bit bored with the format! And because learning Russian is just a fun hobby for me, I give myself blanket permission to only do things that are fun. :D I haven't finished level 1 yet, but today I really wasn't feeling it, so instead of listening to Russian in my earbuds, I listened to the birds singing and the melted snow trickling. It felt very soothing to the soul, and I've decided that I'm not in a rush at all to either continue with Pimsleur or find a new audio resource. For now, I think I'll just listen to the world.
8 x

User avatar
Fortheo
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2015 12:03 pm
Languages: English (N), French (?) Russian (beginner)
x 911

Re: Stell's log: Russian and Spanish

Postby Fortheo » Tue Mar 15, 2022 3:14 pm

stell wrote:Honestly, I'm just getting a little bit bored with the format! And because learning Russian is just a fun hobby for me, I give myself blanket permission to only do things that are fun. :D I haven't finished level 1 yet, but today I really wasn't feeling it, so instead of listening to Russian in my earbuds, I listened to the birds singing and the melted snow trickling. It felt very soothing to the soul, and I've decided that I'm not in a rush at all to either continue with Pimsleur or find a new audio resource. For now, I think I'll just listen to the world.


Yeah, I don't blame you. Even with languages that are more closely related to my native language, I find that Pimsleur can be very dull, useful for sure, but dull. I actually tried pimsleur Russian many years ago and I found that the structure of pimsleur courses (no grammar instructions) is inherently a big flaw in regards to learning a language like Russian, whose grammar is so different than my native English. I could barely make it through a few lessons without being frustrated and ultimately dropping it.

Anyways, I think keeping russian as a fun hobby is probably the best option anyways. Good luck and enjoy your peaceful walks :)
3 x


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: tastyonions and 2 guests