Stelle's log (Spanish, Italian, Tagalog)

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Stelle
Blue Belt
Posts: 580
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:37 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English (N1), French (N2), Spanish (advanced), Tagalog (basic), Russian (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=13312
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Re: Stelle's log (mostly Spanish and Italian, with forays into Esperanto and Tagalog)

Postby Stelle » Tue May 30, 2017 11:13 am

Whodathunkitz wrote:How do you find the language transfer course?

I'm doing the Spanish one and I like it (31 of 90).

I haven't done many courses, so I don't have much to compare it to. I like the fact it's listening, interactive, has a real student (competition when joining in/answering) and it explains WHY something happens and links to other languages.

I like it a lot! I feel like it's great at building confidence and it's very logical. ⎌I think that I would get a lot more out of it if I did it daily. As it stands, I do several tracks at a time, once or twice a week. I really don't think it's the optimal way to use the program.
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Whodathunkitz
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Languages: English (N), Cebuano (basic spoken daily, best L2), Spanish (beginner, but can read), Esperanto (beginner and not maintained). Sometimes dabble with Dutch, Serbian, Slovak, Czech, German and Arabic.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5133&start=30
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Re: Stelle's log (mostly Spanish and Italian, with forays into Esperanto and Tagalog)

Postby Whodathunkitz » Tue May 30, 2017 10:49 pm

Re language transfer, I'm actually on 39 out of 90, so I'm getting close to half way on the 'complete' spanish course.

I like it but it's a struggle to get going with it for some reason and just 2 or 3 feels quite tiring.

So I'm not making the most of it either.

I have over 80 days streak on Duolingo. If I'd managed one Lt episode a day I'd be nearly finished.

They're only 5-15 minutes long as well.

Compared to that I've done 2 hours of L-R of audio Bible each night for the last 3 nights.

Weird, I think it's the concentration level needed which is hard when I get free time, invariably late evening.
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2018 Cebuano SuperChallenge 1 May 2018-Dec 2019
: 150 / 600 SC days:
: 6 / 1250 Read (aim daily 2000 words):
: 299 / 9000 Video (aim daily 15 minutes):

Spoonary
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Re: Stelle's log (mostly Spanish and Italian, with forays into Esperanto and Tagalog)

Postby Spoonary » Wed May 31, 2017 8:21 am

Stelle wrote:
Spoonary wrote:I bought a copy of that in Florence and haven't opened it yet. That settles it. You just let me know when you feel ready and we can go on that adventure together! :)

How does July sound? I'm going to spend the month of June reading Geronimo Stilton books. Looking forward to a read-along! :D

You're on! Yeah, I'm looking forward to it too. :)
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Whodathunkitz
Green Belt
Posts: 416
Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2016 7:40 pm
Location: UK
Languages: English (N), Cebuano (basic spoken daily, best L2), Spanish (beginner, but can read), Esperanto (beginner and not maintained). Sometimes dabble with Dutch, Serbian, Slovak, Czech, German and Arabic.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5133&start=30
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Re: Stelle's log (mostly Spanish and Italian, with forays into Esperanto and Tagalog)

Postby Whodathunkitz » Sat Jun 03, 2017 12:56 pm

Replied to pm. But it's my first time so not sure if it worked.

Short answer "bible.is"
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2018 Cebuano SuperChallenge 1 May 2018-Dec 2019
: 150 / 600 SC days:
: 6 / 1250 Read (aim daily 2000 words):
: 299 / 9000 Video (aim daily 15 minutes):

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Stelle
Blue Belt
Posts: 580
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:37 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English (N1), French (N2), Spanish (advanced), Tagalog (basic), Russian (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=13312
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Re: Stelle's log (mostly Spanish and Italian, with forays into Esperanto and Tagalog)

Postby Stelle » Sat Jun 03, 2017 3:50 pm

Whodathunkitz wrote:Replied to pm. But it's my first time so not sure if it worked.

Short answer "bible.is"

Received! Thank you!
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Stelle
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Posts: 580
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:37 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English (N1), French (N2), Spanish (advanced), Tagalog (basic), Russian (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=13312
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Re: Stelle's log (mostly Spanish and Italian, with forays into Esperanto and Tagalog)

Postby Stelle » Sat Jun 03, 2017 4:26 pm

This week in Italian, I...

- watched several videos on EuroNews
- listened to two episodes of Al Dente
- finished reading Il Misterioso Ladro di Formaggi
- listened/responded to Language Transfer tracks 16-17
- worked on Duolingo and Memrise every day
- did a a few pages of Italian Grammar Drills
- had a half-hour Skype conversation (!!!)

I have to say that my study time has decreased dramatically since I had to return Assimil to the library. I think that the idea of getting through the book was really motivating me to study every day, and - at least for me - studying begets more studying. I think that this coming week, I'm going to aim for at least 15 minutes per day with Italian Grammar Drills. I definitely need to keep building my active vocabulary, and I feel that the Drills book is a huge help.

on reading Geronimo Stilton...

What a fun book! It was silly without being stupid, and - although I found it easy to read - I learned a lot of new vocabulary. Because it's illustrated, new vocabulary is very easy to pick up. I'm planning on starting a new Geronimo Stilton book this evening, something about a Cat Gang, if I recall correctly. Riveting stuff, I'm sure.

While I'm really looking forward to reading Io Non Ho Paura with Spoonary (and perhaps some other forum members, if I can drum up some interest?), I'm also looking forward to reading a bunch of silly Geronimo Stilton books. My library has 17 of them available, and while I'm not committing to reading all of them, I would like to read at least five. I'm interested in seeing how my reading improves from book to book.

conversation

Today was my first time speaking Italian in nearly a year. It was really difficult! This is the first time that my receptive skills far outpace my productive skills as a language learner, and there's definitely a layer of frustration there. When I started learning Spanish, I started speaking quite early on in the process. This time around, I've studied far more Italian before starting my speaking sessions, and Spanish gave me quite a discount with regards to my receptive skills. It's strange to understand every word that my tutor says, but find myself fumbling over the simplest responses.

That said, my tutor was patient and let me work through my thoughts, which was really helpful. I've come to realize that my number one priority in a tutor is someone who allows me wait time. Nothing else helps me more as a beginner speaker than being allowed the time necessary to process my thoughts, put my words together, and repeat the same idea multiple times until I feel confident. I must have said "My dog loves going for walks, but he gets angry every time he sees another dog or a bicycle" a half-dozen times before I felt satisfied! And through it all, my tutor smiled, nodded, and waited until I was finished before she made any suggestions.

I've booked half-hour sessions for every Saturday morning for the next month. I'm interested to see how much I can improve between now and the end of my five-lesson package.

Edited to add a question:

Does anyone know of a good source of long-form journalism in languages other than English? I sometimes check out longform.org or longreads.com for English articles, and I know which publications tend to offer good long-form journalism, so I'll also go directly to their sites. I'd love to read some high-quality long-form journalism in Spanish, Italian and/or French. Any recommendations?

(I'll also post this question in its own thread.)
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Stelle
Blue Belt
Posts: 580
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:37 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English (N1), French (N2), Spanish (advanced), Tagalog (basic), Russian (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=13312
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Re: Stelle's log (mostly Spanish and Italian, with forays into Esperanto and Tagalog)

Postby Stelle » Sun Jul 02, 2017 1:15 pm

Oh, hello summer.

School ended on Friday, and I suddenly find myself with an abundance of time and chocolate (thank you, lovely parents who send your children to school with boxes of chocolate on the last day). I haven't been doing much language-related at all lately, and yesterday was all about barbecues and fireworks (happy 125, Canada!). So now I have to decide how I'm going to spend my time over the next few months.

Some things are already scheduled - a week of camping, a few visits to my parents, a weekend at the cottage, a week taking care of my nieces. I'm also moving on July 28th, so of course that's going to take a great deal of mental and physical energy. I have a few teacher workshops that last between 2 and 4 days each. I'm switching grades for next year, and am feeling very motivated to do some thinking and planning related to that. Aside from that, I want to start running again (hello, Couch to five k program), and I'd like to work on increasing the time that I spend meditating (as of now, a brief four-minute period first thing in the morning and then again before bed).

But even with time for all of that, the amount of time that I'll have for language learning has increased enormously!

I'm actually thinking about experimenting with pomodoros, since I don't really like getting into the flow of one thing and then hopping to the next. I'm thinking that I'll aim for two pomodoro rounds each day (with four sessions each of 25 minutes work and 5 minutes rest), and alternate what I focus on, cycling through Italian, Spanish and teacher stuff. I think that two 2-hour blocks of focused time per day are very doable, especially since I tend to get up a few hours before anyone else in the morning.

So an example of a few days might look like this:

DAY ONE
Pomodoro Round 1 (7:00-9:00): Italian (Assimil lesson, catch up on Duolingo and Memrise, write a paragraph for my tutor)
Pomodoro Round 2 (4:00-6:00): Spanish (one lesson in GdUdE, read long-form article, write a response)

DAY TWO
Pomodoro Round 1 (7:00-9:00): teacher stuff (one chapter of a professional book, write and print some activity cards, gather resources for a science unit)
Pomodoro Round 2 (4:00-6:00): Italian (Assimil lesson, catch up on Duolingo and Memrise, intensive listening to a podcast)

...and so on.

In the evening before bed, I'll alternate reading in Spanish and Italian, with some French and English books thrown in for good measure. I'm going to aim for 45 minutes of reading every evening before sleeping.

This will let me focus on one thing at a time, enter a state of flow (which is one of my main focuses for the coming year - finding and nurturing flow), and still have enough time for everything else that I need to do. The morning block will be easy since my husband sleeps in and my in-laws are quietly waking up and drinking their coffee. The bigger struggle will be convincing everyone to leave me alone for a few hours in the afternoon! Ha!

Anyway, I'm ready to get back to work. My last tutoring session with my Italian teacher was AWFUL. It's amazing how much my productive skills deteriorated after the 6 week challenge, when I went from 2 hours of Italian per day to basically nothing.
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Spoonary
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Re: Stelle's log (mostly Spanish and Italian, with forays into Esperanto and Tagalog)

Postby Spoonary » Mon Jul 03, 2017 8:27 pm

That looks like a really good plan and I hope you stick to it because I'm sure you'll see real results if you do. :)

P.S. When do you want to start reading Io non ho paura? I'm still reading a book in Spanish and I have quite a lot to get through but I don't mind reading that at the same time if need be.
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Stelle
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Posts: 580
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:37 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English (N1), French (N2), Spanish (advanced), Tagalog (basic), Russian (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=13312
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Re: Stelle's log (mostly Spanish and Italian, with forays into Esperanto and Tagalog)

Postby Stelle » Tue Jul 11, 2017 1:18 pm

I've been anxiously awaiting Assimil Italian With Ease from the library. I previously completed the first 53 lessons, and I was looking forward to carrying on where I left off.

Well, I finally received it yesterday. And my only reaction was "meh". I have zero interest in starting up again. Very surprising. But since I prefer to follow my interests, I'll leave the book unopened - at least for now. I've been listening a lot lately, and it's interesting to see Italian audio becoming more and more transparent. I've also finished my third Geronimo Stilton book. They're still funny and silly and entertaining, but I think I'm ready to try something more challenging.

On that note:

Spoonary wrote:That looks like a really good plan and I hope you stick to it because I'm sure you'll see real results if you do. :)

P.S. When do you want to start reading Io non ho paura? I'm still reading a book in Spanish and I have quite a lot to get through but I don't mind reading that at the same time if need be.

I'm sorry, Spoon, I didn't see this until today! I'm ready to start whenever you are. Do you want to read together (ie on a schedule), or would you rather we each read at our own rhythm and discuss?

Anyone else interested in reading Io non ho paura with us?
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Spoonary
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Location: England
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Re: Stelle's log (mostly Spanish and Italian, with forays into Esperanto and Tagalog)

Postby Spoonary » Tue Jul 11, 2017 6:08 pm

Stelle wrote:On that note:

Spoonary wrote:That looks like a really good plan and I hope you stick to it because I'm sure you'll see real results if you do. :)

P.S. When do you want to start reading Io non ho paura? I'm still reading a book in Spanish and I have quite a lot to get through but I don't mind reading that at the same time if need be.

I'm sorry, Spoon, I didn't see this until today! I'm ready to start whenever you are. Do you want to read together (ie on a schedule), or would you rather we each read at our own rhythm and discuss?

Anyone else interested in reading Io non ho paura with us?


Oh don't worry, Stelle. I still have loads of El fin de los sueños to read, as I haven't dedicated much time at all to reading so far this month. However, I am also itching to crack on with Io non ho paura, so I say let's get going! Well, every time we have tried to read with a schedule in the past, it sucked all of the fun out of reading, so maybe we should just each go at our own pace. I'm hoping that knowing I'm not the only one reading the book will keep me reading at a decent pace. :P

I asked the Italian study group if they would be interested in reading along with us a while back and there was some interest. I'll go give them another nudge. :?
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