Carpe Coffeam

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Cavesa
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Carpe Coffeam

Postby Cavesa » Mon Mar 14, 2022 12:43 am

This is not a Latin log. My long forgotten Latin basics are still peacefully gathering dust. The Latin name (which I hope I've made no mistake in) is supposed to catch the spirit and continue my personal tradition of coffee named logs.

This is a new and merged log. It will continue with the good stuff from both the Intensive German log (so, goal oriented, achievements, progress, seriousness) and the Back to the roots and water them with coffee log (so, hopefully notes on culture, tv shows, books, travelling, living abroad, music. And hopefully mostly positive ones!). I am trying to finally make a part of my dreams reality, and languages are a part of that path. Hopefully, year 2022 (ok, 3/4 of it) will be the breaking point. No matter what is happening overall.

Carpe Coffeam, is a variation on Carpe Diem, of course. There will only be less and less time in my life (I hope to get a more rewarding but also more time consuming job, I hope to get a family, and one day, hopefully in a very long time, I will die), so I need to use it more wisely.
..............................................................................

I've promised myself not to start (or dabble in) any new language until I'll have passed a C1 exam in one of the current Target Languages.

German, Italian, Spanish. I've gotten a nice idea about the time and schedule from a very useful online tool.

I will limit some kinds of distractions (I've made a challenge for that, so far I'm a bit lonely there, but I don't mind :-D ). I will need to maintain my current languages, of course.


Goals:
German: 730 hours hours: 225 / 43800
The desired weekly minimum is 14 hours a week, in 3-5 sessions.
That's what the clever tool (which is of course to be taken with a grain of salt) designed for me to reach C1 in less than a year.

Italian: 450 hours hours: 0 / 450
The desired weekly minimum is 10,5h, in 3-5 sessions.
The clever tool says this should get me to C1 in a year and 3 months. Perhaps, a B2 certificate (the minimum for the Swiss authorities) would be worth taking.

Spanish: 450 hours hours: 0 / 450
The desired weekly minimum: 5 hours, again in 3-5 sessions.
That should get me to C1 in a year and 9 months.

For the purpose of the planning, I "underestimated" myself, so it might go a bit faster, but I prefer to count with more.

Totally in line with this logs name, I'll just try to do my best (for real this time), until any life change forces me to adapt my schedule :-)
Last edited by Cavesa on Sun Mar 20, 2022 11:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Cavesa
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Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
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Re: Carpe Coffeam

Postby Cavesa » Mon Mar 14, 2022 12:43 am

post for progress bars , book lists, and stuff

GERMAN
Completed learning resources:
A Grammatik -Completed!
DaF kompakt Memrise course words: 2158 / 4086
DaF kompakt coursebook:
DaF kompakt workbook:
Erkundungen B2 units: 1 / 24
B2 class units at language school units: 15 / 16
Speex A2-B2.2 units: 45 / 120

Super Challenge: full
Current level:B2
Comments, links: fiction (mostly translated) and medical books (mostly original), movies/series will be mostly or only dubs.
Completed books:
Completed tvseries/movies:

ITALIAN
Completed learning resources:
Nuovissimo Progetto Italiano 1 coursebook: units: 12 / 12
Nuovissimo Progetto Italiano 1 workbook:units: 13 / 17
Perfetto 1 units: 37 / 37
Una grammatica italiana per tutti 1 units: 40 / 67 (28 are review)
Nuovissimo Progetto Italiano 2 coursebook: units: 2 / 12
Nuovissimo Progetto Italiano 2 workbook:units: 0 / 17


Challenge: full
Current level: B1ish?, comprehension B2/C1
Comments, links: fiction books (hopefully mostly originals), movies/series mostly originals (40% dubs max)
Completed books:
Completed tvseries/movies:

SPANISH
Completed learning resources:
Language:Spanish
Challenge: full
Current level: very rusty B2, comprehension rusty C1/C2
Comments, links: fiction books (hopefully mostly originals), movies/series mostly originals (20% dubs max)
Completed books:
Guardias! Guardias! by Pratchett. 400 pages
Completed tvseries/movies:

FRENCH maintenance
Language:French
Challenge: full
Current level:C2
Comments, links: mainly fiction (100% originals), medical books still count (mostly originals), watching mostly original stuff (aiming for 10% dubs max)
Completed books:
Completed tvseries/movies:
7x40min Les sept vies de Léa



Stuff to be completed
Kompakt Wissen: Anatomie Physiologie Erkrankungent -extensive AND intensive reading, anki
Innere Medizin -extensive and intensive reading of selected chapters, anki
Italian: Italština (a nice coursebook with a rather steep learning curve, great for review. Supposed to go from A1 to C1)
Spanish: Kwiziq (restarting the Spanish grammar course)
Grammatik Aktiv: 8
German: DaF kompakt completion:
Last edited by Cavesa on Mon Nov 21, 2022 4:59 pm, edited 35 times in total.
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Ogrim
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?t=873
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Re: Carpe Coffeam

Postby Ogrim » Mon Mar 14, 2022 9:21 am

Good luck with your language and life goals. I wish you lot of success.

As regards the name it looks good to me, the Smith & Hall online Latin dictionary gives coffee as Coffēa Arabica and you put it in accusative as it should be after the verb carpo.
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Ich grolle nicht

Cavesa
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Re: Carpe Coffeam

Postby Cavesa » Tue Mar 15, 2022 1:05 pm

Thank you!

First week is gonna be incomplete, but starting on Tuesday is ok.

I didn't get to my goal of 50 hours during the 6wc. But on my defense, I was simply too brain tired yesterday, having beaten my personal record. 45 patients. And yes, I could have done more German on Sunday, but I was a bit too lazy. So, writing my first motivation letter was the maximum I could do on Sunday-Monday. Still no results of my second B2 exam.

So, week one of this adventure, with progress bars to count minutes. Because I find that the 6wc bot counting every little thing is extremely motivating for me. It's not the pomodoro "do one minute less and you'll have failed the whole pomodoro" thing (especially the dying trees in the Forest app are so sad), but you know, if I manage to get just 18 minutes in a row, or just 6, it still counts! So, the progress bars in minutes are meant to do do that. But yes, those numbers are scary! I think I may have been punished for failure far too many times during my education, it is simply no longer motivating, it is normal. I need the opposite.

German minutes: 225 / 840
grammar: 120 min
tutoring: 30 min
videocall:40 min
emails reading and writing: 15 min
extensive reading 20 min

Italian minutes: 0 / 630

Spanish minutes: 0 / 300

The five resources I am gonna stick to:
German: A Grammatik (still like 12 pages left), DaF kompakt Memrise course, the first medicine book
Italian: Italština (a nice coursebook with a rather steep learning curve, great for review. Supposed to go from A1 to C1)
Spanish: Kwiziq (restarting the Spanish grammar course)
Last edited by Cavesa on Sun Mar 20, 2022 11:05 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Cavesa
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Re: Carpe Coffeam

Postby Cavesa » Tue Mar 15, 2022 9:44 pm

This log will probably include an unusual amount of post editing, as the weekly goals will need me to update progress bars, and I'll probably list there activities by time. Comments on the activities in normal posts.

Today: some German grammar, and also a speaking tutoring lesson. Yep, it may seem impossible, but I actually found and exceptional teacher. I looked at italki (too lazy and previously disappointed to bother with more platforms) and there was mostly the usual stuff. But among that, there was one doctor with C2 German. I got the sample 30 min lesson today and I am extremely pleased.

It is obvious what we are working on: speaking about medical topics, with corrections of absolutely every problem, no false encouragements. Corrections of grammar, vocab, and pronunciation. A shared google doc with notes fits me very well.

One thing I really loved: no typical introduction chit chat, just two sentences on what I want, and we could start. No need to explain myself, no questions on my learning methods and attempts to change them, and so on. Perhaps later, a discussion on the "interview" topics might be useful, I could ask for that. But no time wasted like with all the previous tutor attempts across languages.

There might be writing later, but we haven't spoken about that yet (and speaking burns me more now). As he did his residency in Germany (now lives in Mexico, so he can give any needed bilingual hits or translations in Spanish, which fits me well), he is not only excellent at German, but also at the real communication, and distinctions of the proper registers (so, which word for normal communication with colleagues, and which for normal communication with the patients etc).

I make grammar mistakes of course, I am not that solid yet (just a weak B2. And I really need tons of exercises and use and input etc) and I lack practice of all that on the medical vocabulary. I miss the vocabulary too, of course. I am still at the beginning of my Medical German learning, just started my first textbook. And German is unforunately much less Latin based than the more Cavesa friendly languages (yep, that's probably the best term to use, to avoid any discussion about what language is "objectively" harder or whatever).

We agreed on the topic for the next lesson, I need to study. It's also great for my overall medicine reviewing. My current job (and the previous one too) are actually burrying a large part of my knowledge (it wouldn't be a problem, if I didn't desire to change my path so radically). And the struggles with finding a new one are very discouraging.

And "big" news: I have a parasitic word! I hate it. It's "doch". I overuse it all the time. The tutor was really surprised, where could I have gotten it. So was I! I hadn't really spoken with people, so how is that possible? :-D I'm pretty sure the crew of the Voyager doesn't have this problem! But I found out later today: textbooks are to blame :-D Several of the sources, including A Grammatik and Themen Aktuell, are presenting Redepartikeln really thoroughly, and making it look like the most German thing ever. A must. So, my brain might have accepted that too much :-D
......................

A huge public Thank You to Tiia! She corrected my motivation letter, so I'll rework it with the corrections and send the better version in. She's awesome! Thank you so much!

While some of my mistakes are pretty basic (you know, the mistakes that are supposed to get rarer and rarer with each level you pass), some are stuff I haven't even touched yet, such as the use of commas, or how to decline abbreviations of organisations.
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Cavesa
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Re: Carpe Coffeam

Postby Cavesa » Tue Mar 15, 2022 10:38 pm

The provisory results have arrived! They weren't there earlier today.

I am a bit disappointed. I had expected a much better impact of those three weeks of studying :-D
The results are not much different. At least it proves that my first success was not just a coincidence, I am really officially B2. Twice. Ok.

Hören: improvement from 73 to 77. As expected. Listening was not a priority during those three weeks.
Lesen: improvement from 70 to 77. The biggest improvement. I think the vocab made a difference, but a too small one.
Schreiben: improvement from 61 to 67. Ok, a bit disappointed here.
Sprechen: I worsened! From 70 to 68. It is not a big difference really, but still.

It is still sort of cool, given a few facts:
1.I had barely leafed through one preparatory book, and that was before the second attempt.
2.I hadn't completed any B1 or B2 coursebook, just like one third (and read another third) of the B Grammatik
3.I was just rusty A1 at the beginning of September :-D

But now I am free to focus on Medical German (the most important thing for me, I am doing all this "just" for a job), and of course grammar (an important part of speaking and writing), pronunciation (I am quite good, but can be much better yet)
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Cavesa
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Re: Carpe Coffeam

Postby Cavesa » Sat Mar 19, 2022 9:39 pm

Open the champagne, I've just finished the last pages of A Grammatik! Finally! It took so much time. I had to take micro breaks after nearly every exercise :-D Finishing stuff is hard.

I also had a video interview with the job agency in the Switzerland today. In German. It was hard! In a rather friendly atmosphere, but really, really hard. I felt so stupid, as I am definitely not as free and clever in German, as in my better languages.

We talked about quite a lot of stuff. There were some surprisingly personal questions (a question on my religion really surprised me. I am a rather passive catholic, one of the many people with lots of questions in the faith, lots of issues with the church, and I don't go to church too regularly etc. But I guess the simple answer "catholic" is a good one in the Switzerland or many european countries. I don't think I'd ever get the question in France or Belgium, it would be probably seen as inappropriate. In the Czech Republic, questions on religion are usually seen as impolite, and most people admiting any kind of faith are considered dumb by many people). Questions on my fiancé were a bit surprising too, but I think I handled that well. I should have expected those on the gaps in my CV (but you know, Covid related administration problems are a good reason to have a gap, and I had some activities, but not in medicine). Questions on what I'd want in a job were good, I think my expectations are not too wild. I don't need to have everything, but I need at least some of my needs to be met. I need to finally break the wall confining me to do just the very unpopular jobs.

On the language part: Yes, I got a confirmation of what I had known already: B2 is good to pass the minimum obligatory level of the state and taking the exam in spite of my doubts was an excellent decision. But most hospitals want C1, and I wholeheartedly agree with their demand. My experience confirms that such a level (with specific job oriented knowledge) is necessary for full professional activity. The lower ones can be extremely useful, whenever you have no better means of communication, but not for full value full time work.

I was asked whether I could learn it and on my methods. There was a bit of scepticism on my progress without any Sprachschule, but my main argument about them being slow was well taken. I know I can do that, I know how, I am learning. I need to intensify my learning though, I am behind my goals (but first week of a new study plan is a sort of test run).

I was also asked about my Italian. Yep, I speak it significantly better than German, but I have no Prüfung. So, I'll work on that as a totally secondary goal too. But this time, it was clearly seen as something that could add a bit of value to me as a candidate, which is positive.
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Cavesa
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Re: Carpe Coffeam

Postby Cavesa » Sun Mar 20, 2022 11:10 pm

First and incomplete week, a sort of testing run: failure, I managed to put in like 1/4 of the needed German time and nothing for the rest.

So, I definitely need to reorganise my learning and my schedule, in order to reach my goals. Seeing a very concrete data on how much I am falling behind, that is a bit sad, but also very motivating.

As I've finished one resource, time to update the resource list:

German:
DaF kompakt Memrise course -priority (2158 / 4086 words learned)
Kompakt Wissen: Anatomie Physiologie Erkrankungent -extensive AND intensive reading, anki
Innere Medizin -extensive and intensive reading of selected chapters, anki

(Further coursebooks etc from next week on.)

Spanish: Kwiziq
Italian: Italština coursebook
..................................................................

German minutes: 192 / 840
Memrise: 40 min +22 +25
Intensive reading+anki: 45 min
tutoring: 60 min

Italian minutes: 0 / 630

Spanish minutes: 0 / 300
Last edited by Cavesa on Thu Mar 24, 2022 7:53 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Cavesa
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Re: Carpe Coffeam

Postby Cavesa » Tue Mar 22, 2022 8:05 am

Yesterday: 40 minutes of SRS. Which is pretty good for a Monday! With my current work and life schedule, "weaker" mondays and fridays are to be expected, 40 min are still pretty good! I was working on the DaF kompakt vocabulary.

A note: I am back to logging even French media. My French is really worsening, and has been since my moving to Belgium. I hate it and of course I blame the neighbourhood I work in. So, time to put in time spent with real French speakers, even if it is a tv show. The tiny % of time I speak with normal natives or normal immigrants (=the ones with very high level of French after real efforts) is simply far from enough.

And I hate seeing even my pronunciation and accent worsened (but I am forgetting also vocab and getting used to bad grammar). I had a good (extremely good for a foreigner) and rather neutral accent before moving to this stupid country. But being constantly exposed to the patients and their low level French, and having to dumb my level down for them too, that simply affects my level a lot.

I hope moving out of this "francophone" country will save my French level :-( Together with the same activities I had been doing before moving abroad.

News about the concours here in Belgium have arrived, such as the exam dates. I have no chance, I counted the number of candidates (it is not any official number, I counted the email addresses to have at least some idea). Given the discrimination in the exam (the best placed EU citizen gets sorted after the worst belgian or belgian immigrant), I have no chance. Even if I managed to be the best among the non-belgians (and I have no clue about their level and experience, so I don't see that as too probable), I'd still need at least 6 privileged spoilt brats to give up or die, in order to get any place. And with no guarantee it would actually be a good post and not some worst hospital with bad work and learning conditions.

So, more and more reasons to keep working very hard on my German and on qualifying for a better country. Just like most days at my current job. REDACTED Belgium. I hate it so much, it really should be kicked out of the EU, because they don't understand or share the ideas at all and it shows in most aspects of life here.
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Cavesa
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Re: Carpe Coffeam

Postby Cavesa » Tue Mar 22, 2022 10:29 pm

Today's German progress:

1.Intensive reading and Anki. There is no way around it. While I am a firm believer in extensive reading and listening (it really does have some advantages that nothing else offers), I am now in desperate need of fast vocabulary acquisition. And I don't have the luxury of time, that I had with French. Intensive reading and Anki are the way to go in this situation, no matter how little I like it, and how much I risk burn out (I am seriously motivated, hopefully my growing hate towards general medicine will be sufficient fuel :-D ). Today, I got my Innere Medizin book by Herold. It is an ugly book with unattractive design, but it is very practical and seems to be well organise, it is top quality (one of the main german references), and it also comes with ebook or something like that. So far, I was using a pirated previous edition for anki for a few days (copying is faster and I couldn't wait for my book. Also, I couldn't even find an official sample chapter anywhere!), but I might either type (I like the slight differences in the new version and typing is good for memory!), or try the official e-book that came with it. This will also help with my very much needed medicin reviewing to impress in better specialties!

2.A new tutoring lesson. Very useful, very hard. 60 intensive minutes like no language tutoring before (except for me being the tutor for my little sister, that was similar intensity, just focused on something else and on a different level). It is a huge effort and sort of "multitasking". German is hard, my base is not that solid (especially when applied on totally different stuff than what has been in the general coursebooks), my vocab is weak (and everything Latin based is not "patient talk" in German. The distance between the two registers is much bigger in German than in the romance languages for obvious reasons), but it will get better. And thinking about the topic itself and trying to not sound dumb, that's hard too. We also talked very briefly about some not topic related stuff, including some answers to personal questions (it seems that foreigners are really held to a different standard, some of the questions I've been getting are usually not asked so strongly. So, practicing acceptable answers is good.)

3.Memrise- I need to finish that DaF kompakt course asap. Those 4000 or so words are good, I need them, and I also need to make space on my limited resource list for something new!!! Grammar books are waiting!!!
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