Stelle's log (Spanish, Italian, Tagalog)

[Stelle]

Yesterday I watched the first of episode of Club de Cuervos on Netflix. While it's not at all the kind of show that I usually watch, I think I'm going to enjoy it! Most of my favourite shows are pretty bleak, with elements of science fiction or the supernatural (think: The Walking Dead, Black Mirror, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things). I don't know if anything like that exists in Spanish - I'm very open to suggestions if you know of anything! But in the meantime, I'm going to start working my way through Club de Cuervos, with a goal of watching at least two episodes per week.

I was thinking about the Super Challenge last night. I stopped logging, and I regret that now. I'm sure that I would have met the Super Challenge goal for Spanish. I watched several TV series and movies, and read more than enough books, I'm sure of it. However, I will have to say that I lost the Challenge this time around, since I simply didn't keep track.

I will definitely join the Super Challenge again next time around, with a goal of taking on more difficult literature in Spanish. I'm admittedly coasting with my reading right now, and have been for a while. The only literary novel that I've read in the past year was La Sombra del Viento - and I only got about half-way through before my Kobo died and I stopped reading. When I do pick up that book again, I think I'll have to start again at the beginning. I'd also like to watch more films, since the bulk of my last two Super Challenges have been TV shows.

[Stelle]

I've started tracking the time that I spend on languages, just out of curiosity. While I'm definitely motivated to work on my languages again, I'm also pretty busy with work (which spills into my evenings and weekends most days) and with my cute dog Toby, who needs a lot of time and attention (which I don't at all resent...having a dog is really good for my mental and physical health, as well as for my husband's).

Toby's been with us for a little over two months now, and he's settled in to our family. He's a pure-bred mutt who looks absolutely nothing like any other dog we've seen. He came to Canada at the end of August from Iran, where he was living in a foster family after being picked up as a street dog. He was being brought over for a man who paid for his flight, but one day before the dog arrived, the man changed his mind due to work-related travel. Our vet knew that we were looking to adopt a local dog, and called us to ask if we would like to adopt Toby. So we picked him up from the vet office, sight unseen, and brought him home. Luckily he's a very gentle and chilled out dog who fits perfectly into our life (or at least it will be perfect, once we get his separation anxiety dealt with).

Anyway, I realize that this is a long dog story, but it does have a language component to it, I promise!

While Toby is affectionate and very easy to live with, he's hard to train. He isn't food-motivated and doesn't really respond to learning new commands. His house manners are perfect, and his little brain has been busy with settling into a new home, but still...the only thing that he's learned to do after two months is "sit" - and even then, it's iffy.

Well, at the dog park with the dog walker the other day, Toby met an Iranian man. The dog-walker told us that the man spoke to him in Persian, and Toby sat, came, laid down... As it turns out, my dog is trained. He just hasn't learned English yet. So he's either going to have to take some ESL classes, or I'm going to start learning Persian.

Anyway, here's my language breakdown over the past week:

Tagalog - 125 minutes. I cracked open my Elementary Tagalog textbook and reviewed pre-lesson-one, which is greetings. I had fun with JP acting out the dialogues in silly voices. I've also been spending about five minutes per day on the paper flashcards by Tuttle, a few minutes on anki (which is a mix of sentences from Rosetta Stone Unit one and the ET lesson - target-language on the front, nothing at all on the back), and working through the stories with audio on RS online. I cancelled my tutoring session at the last minute because some guests dropped over unexpectedly.

Spanish - 115 minutes. I watched episode one of Club de Cuervos, and enjoyed it, although I didn't make time to watch any more episodes during the week. I also read Divergente a few times during the week, and am now at 34% (according to ReadLang).

Italian - 185 minutes. I spent a few minutes on Duolingo and on Memrise most days. I also read Io Non Ho Paura, but only twice. I need to read more often so that I can finish the book! Other than that, I listened to a few episodes of Al Dente and a few episodes of America 24.

So overall, I spent 425 minutes on language-learning, which averages out to about an hour a day. That's a huge improvement over the zero minutes per day that I was doing just a few weeks ago.

I know that I would be better off focusing on one or two languages, rather than trying to do all three, but I just don't want to pick right now! I want to keep improving - or at least solidly maintain - my Spanish. I enjoy learning Italian, and I understand so much now. It would be a shame to stop. And if I don't at least try to learn some Tagalog, I'll never be able to communicate with my in-laws in their language. They're getting older. It's now or never.

So for as long as my motivation lasts, I'll keep splitting my focus amongst all three. It really doesn't matter if this slows me down overall, since language-learning is a hobby for me.

Here are my goals for the coming week:

- Log 540 minutes for the week, which will be about 3 hours per language. (this is an increase of 115 minutes over last week)
- Watch at least one episode of Club de Cuervos.
- Do a half-hour tutoring session in Tagalog.
- Read at least 50 pages of Io Non Ho Paura.

[LinguaPony]

So he's either going to have to take some ESL classes, or I'm going to start learning Persian.

It must be hard enough on the poor creatures to deal with one human language, and to discover that the incomprehensible two-legged giants can actually communicate in more ways than one must be totally brain-splitting. Imagine having to learn to speak Dog.

To you, on the other hand, adding yet another language to the already impressive list would be but a trifle.

[Stelle]

It must be hard enough on the poor creatures to deal with one human language, and to discover that the incomprehensible two-legged giants can actually communicate in more ways than one must be totally brain-splitting. Imagine having to learn to speak Dog.

To you, on the other hand, adding yet another language to the already impressive list would be but a trifle.

If only Assimil offered Dog With Ease! Of course, the whole thing would be written in smell, so I'd have to learn a new alphabet...

[LinguaPony]

But Persian, hopefully, is easier.

[Jar-Ptitsa]

Hi Stelle

Maybe you can learn the Persian words for what you want to say to your dog. I don't think that you need so many, but for him it would be easier to understand, then when you talk to him in general it can be in your own languages.

My dog is food motivated but he loves to cuddle as well. He's a very good dog, but he had a lot of training. I don't know who I love more between my dog or my boyfriend hahaha

Good luck wiht your dog.

[Brun Ugle]

Any excuse is a good excuse to learn a new language.

[Stelle]

Win of the Week

Inspired by Rhian's post, I'm going to make an effort to look for something in my learning every week that gives me a sense of achievement. This week: I held up my side of a 30-minute conversation in Tagalog, without using any English at all. I answered and asked questions, and - although it felt clumsy and a bit stilted at times - the time flew by. This was my first Tagalog conversation in a very long time, and I definitely feel a sense of relief that I haven't quite forgotten every single thing that I learned!

My goals for last week:
- Log 540 minutes for the week, which will be about 3 hours per language. Done! In all, I logged 561 minutes, although those minutes weren't evenly spread through all three languages.
- Watch at least one episode of Club de Cuervos. Done! Never mind that it was last night at 11:00 when I realized that I wouldn't meet my goals unless I watched immediately...
- Do a half-hour tutoring session in Tagalog. Done!
- Read at least 50 pages of Io Non Ho Paura. Done! I read 51 pages.

Spanish – 150 minutes

I only did input this week, which is fine, because I think that's exactly what I need to maintain my Spanish at its current level (and maybe even improve imperceptibly). I watched the second episode of Club de Cuervos, which was funny and fast-paced. It really isn't the kind of television that I usually watch, but I enjoyed it. I don't think that I could marathon it, but I could definitely watch it at a nice, slow pace. From time to time I turned on the Spanish CC, because there were some slang words that I couldn't catch (namely: "güey" and "no mames").

I also read up to 53% of Divergente, which is a very silly book, but also surprisingly enjoyable.

Tagalog – 194 minutes

I had a really good half-hour session with a Rosetta Stone tutor on Sunday. She started out by showing me pictures and asking me questions, then she said that I was too advanced for that and that we should just talk. So we talked about family, pets, favourite foods...overall, a challenging but enjoyable conversation.

I kept up with anki six out of seven days, and the Tuttle flashcards four out of seven days. I also reviewed up to unit 2 lesson 2 in Rosetta Stone, creating new anki cards for all of the sentences. I worked on listening and reading with the audiostories four times this week. My current approach is: listen once without reading, listen once while reading along, read once without audio, listen again without reading. Then I practise reading it aloud and recording myself until I'm satisfied with my pronunciation. This works best if JP is in the same room as me, since he'll correct my pronunciation.

Italian – 217 minutes

I spent some time on Duolingo, Memrise and anki five out of seven days. I still have a pretty big backlog on Memrise, especially since I only do about 50 reviews per day. I don't want to do too many at once, because I eventually want my reviews to be manageable. I don't want them all to come due on the same day. I'm now officially out of new cards on anki. My anki cards for Italian are very different from my Tagalog cards. In Tagalog, I just read and review sentences without any active recall. In Italian, I use cloze cards which require me to actively recall words, mainly verbs. I made my cards from the Italian Grammar Workbook that I used to use. I haven't even opened that book in months, so I haven't made any new cards in a while.

Other than that, I listened to one episode of America 24 and one episode of Al Dente. I also sat down with Io Non Ho Paura four times this week. What a good book! I'm aiming to finally finish it next week.

My goals for next week:
- Log 540 minutes for the week.
- Watch at least one more episode of Club de Cuervos.
- Do a half-hour tutoring session in Tagalog.
- Hold a one-hour conversation in Spanish.
- Finish reading Io Non Ho Paura.

[Stelle]

So I just had a nice long chat with Auri, my italki tutor-slash-friend, after months of radio silence on my side. She told me that she had a student who found her through a post of mine on a forum (LLORG, I assume!), and that she mentioned that she hadn't heard from me in a while. Her new student offered to look through the forum to see if I was still alive. If you're that student...I am, indeed, alive.

[Stelle]

My goals for last week:
- Log 540 minutes for the week - yes, and then some. Mainly because I got hooked on a new Spanish TV series. In all, I logged 945 minutes with my languages, which is almost 16 hours.
- Watch at least one more episode of Club de Cuervos - no. But we watched six episodes of a different TV show, so I'm counting that instead.
- Do a half-hour tutoring session in Tagalog - no. I don't know what happened, but apparently I got distracted and forgot to book.
- Do a one-hour tutoring session in Spanish - yes. So nice to reconnect with Auri!
- Finish reading Io Non Ho Paura - no. I only have about ten pages left, and I have to return it to the library today, so I'll be sitting down to finish it as soon as I finish writing this update.

Tagalog - 125 minutes
Slow and steady, slow and steady. I spent between 10 and 30 minutes on Tagalog most days, a combination of RS, anki and Tuttle flashcards.

I've made my own spaced repetition system for the Tuttle cards. I have a small expanding folder where I sort cards into "tomorrow", "Monday and Thursday" and "Saturday". Then, I use the box that they originally came in, which has four sections, to sort further into "first week of next month" and "two months from now". Eventually, I'll use the last two sections for six months and one year, and then retire cards at that point. I'm really enjoying my low-tech leitner system. I add ten new cards per day, and then go through whichever cards are due. It only takes me about five to ten minutes per day, and it's pleasant and low-stress. The cards themselves are very well-made, with a Tagalog word (and pronunciation) on the front, and four sample sentences (with English translations that I try not to use) on the back.

I've also connected with a Tagalog-speaking French learner, and we might start corresponding as pen pals.

Italian - 299 minutes
No big wins to report! I spent a few minutes on anki, Memrise and Duolingo six out of seven days. I've started listening while walking the dog in the morning, so I also listened to America 24 five out of seven days. I understand it very well, but the topic itself isn't of huge interest to me. I need to find some more - preferably shortish - Italian podcasts to listen to. Al Dente is pretty easy now, and I'd like something aimed at natives. Any suggestions?

I should have finished Io Non Ho Paura this week. I have no good excuses! Oh well. I only read in Italian three times this week, and I didn't read in Spanish at all. Too much time on the internet, not enough time with books...I need to read every single day.

I also watched an episode of dubbed Star Trek TNG. I'm still on season one, which is - let's face it - kind of cheesy and campy. I need to get into later seasons, which are much better, but for some reason I can't seem to make myself skip ahead.

Spanish - 521 minutes
Listening, listening, listening. I listened to Radio Ambulante while walking. I also watched a few interesting TED talks:

https://www.ted.com/talks/eduardo_saenz_de_cabezon_math_is_forever - a funny talk about the beauty of math
https://www.ted.com/talks/cristina_domenech_poetry_that_frees_the_soul - a writer talking about poetry workshops in an Argentian prison

I understood 100% of the TED talks. It felt as though I were listening in English. I was feeling pretty good about myself.

Then we started watching Mar de Plástica, a Spanish crime series that we found on Netflix, and I could barely understand a word. Ha! After six episodes, I'm feeling much more comfortable, but it was a bit of a shock to the system when I started watching episode one! I really wanted to watch El Ministerio del Tiempo, but I couldn't find a way to watch it legally online. Likewise with Carlos Rey Emperador. So we ended up finding a completely different show starring Rodolfo Sancho. It's kind of ridiculous, but also pretty compelling! It helps that I'm watching it with my husband, who generally wants to binge TV shows, so most night he says "Fernando?" and we watch an episode. (Rodolfo Sancho played Fernando in the period drama Isabel.) Unfortunately, we have to watch with subtitles so that he can follow, and I have a really hard time ignoring subtitles, even when we're using CC with English shows. I'm trying to train myself to ignore the subtitles. Either way, I'm focusing on listening and trying to hear every word - not easy when Nya de la Rubia's character speaks. For some reason, I have a really hard time understanding her.

Duolingo bought ReadLang, which means that I expect some content to be taken down. There's a lot of copyright-infringement on ReadLang right now, with full novels uploaded to the site's libraries. I'd like to finish the silly teen lit that I'm reading in Spanish before it gets taken down, because I'm enjoying Divergente despite myself, and I certainly won't buy the books if I can't access them on ReadLang anymore.

Win of the Week
I love that I can now enjoy TED talks in Spanish with the same level of ease as in English.

My goals for next week:
- Log at least 540 minutes for the week - and it can't all be binge-watching Spanish television!
- Do a half-hour tutoring session in Tagalog
- Study Tagalog for at least 30 minutes, at least five days out of seven
- Study/practice Italian for at least 30 minutes, at least five days out of seven
- Do a one-hour tutoring session in Spanish
- Read in either Italian or Spanish every single day
- Watch at least one more episode of Star Trek in Italian