Rdearman 2016-24 You Can't Have Your Kate and Edith Too.

[Caromarlyse]

I liked this documentary on Arte about the reversal of the Flynn effect: https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/104841-001-A/sommes-nous-de-plus-en-plus-betes/

[rdearman]

Italian
Still doing language exchanges in Italian, and reading my Italian book.

French
I've done 3-4 LE in French this week, and I am due another one in a couple of hours. I really must not be so lazy and focus on speaking French only when my time is due, but I am frequently chatting along and don't bother to switch languages. Which is fine if we start in French, but not so good for me if we start in English.

Korean
I screwed up and haven't done a diary entry for 2 days. I don't know if I should make up the dates or just skip it and start again today with a gap. I think I'll just live with the gap. I've been pestering leosmith about his Korean B1 in a year, and I think I'm going to reset a little and do what he did with Pimsleur and speaking. I have been taking classes and I learned a lot about the language. More grammar than I have ever learned about a language (outside English) and that is a problem. Like Leosmith, I'm only really interested in speaking Korean. I'm not going to write a novel in Korean, nor read books. In French and Italian, I only read books to improve my vocabulary for speaking. So while reading his journey about Korean, it did make me question the methods I'm using for Korean. I only want to speak, so why am I wasting time reading a lot of grammar books when I could be talking?

So this week, I'm mostly mulling over how I'm going to proceed with my Korean studies. Leosmith got to the point of having conversations at a B1 level in 12 months from nothing. I've spent well over a year and I can't even put more than 3 sentences together in a row.

General Stuff
Went to the Dentist for a teeth-cleaning yesterday, and I'm actually happy about spending the time to memorise stuff. Although I've mostly stopped with the mnemonics and memory stuff, it was nice to sit there and run through the poem, "High Flight" and a couple of Robert Frost poems in my head while she was scrapping away in my mouth.

There is a good chance I'll be back at work soon, which means I'm going to have squandered the time I had not working and not improved or moved my languages forward.

[iguanamon]

...Leosmith got to the point of having conversations at a B1 level in 12 months from nothing. I've spent well over a year and I can't even put more than 3 sentences together in a row. ...

Comparing one's self to other learners is not something we should do. Not to take anything away from his language-learning skills, but you forget what leosmith had done to reach that level after a year.

...I started Korean in 2016 because I really wanted to learn the last of the big three Asian languages. I studied like mad for 1 year; averaged about 7hrs per day. I had Mandarin and Japanese under my belt, vastly improved study methods and vastly improved resources. The biggest change was using Italki teachers daily, L2 only 1 hour conversations, for the final 9 months before going to Korea. Unlike the first time I went to Japan and China, my conversation was already a solid intermediate when I arrived in Korea. I stayed there for a month, and have returned twice since then. I maintain it twice per month, and my level stays about the same, but I want to do a long spurt to get it up to the level of my Japanese.

So... high level of (to some extent) related Mandarin and Japanese. 12 months of 7 hour average per day study of Korean. Daily, L2 only, one hour, conversations on Italki for nine months. You're putting in an hour a day. Cut yourself some slack.

[rdearman]

You're putting in an hour a day. Cut yourself some slack.

I'm not that bothered really. I do know that I can use my lazy wandering method of learning and I will eventually be able to speak Korean. But, since I'm planning on going back in about 10 months, I've begun to wonder how quickly I could progress and if I can get near a B1 by September. I'll cut myself some slack though as you suggest.

[rdearman]

OK! Well I finally managed to complete another Italian book. (Thank goodness)

Una torma di donne dai cappelli enormi, in marcia



It is good. It is a story about the massive march for women's votes in 1908 as told but a 90-year-old man who was 7 years old at the time. The language is easier than most of the books I've read in Italian recently. It is a translation of an English story.

Next up!

Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno.

[rdearman]

Italian
Still doing language exchanges in Italian, and reading my Italian book.

French
Done a couple of language exchanges this week. I was thinking I need to do more work and challenge myself a little. All I do is chat with people for a couple of hours, and it really isn't difficult. Of course, this is a good thing! I don't struggle to hold conversations in French for a couple of hours. Since this is supposed to be in maintenance mode, not actual learning, I need to turn off the little voice in the back of my head saying (You're not progressing! Work harder!)

Korean
Diary entries are still sporadic at best. I have been focusing on doing Pimsleur again. I'm doing each 30 minute track at least 3 times per day. I will just continue to bang my head against Korean until some of it penetrates. I'm not depressed about this, btw, I'm simply frustrated that it takes so long for me to learn stuff. I do know why, I am lazy, and I would prefer to just sit around reading a book or sleeping. If only there were a pill or injection I could get.

So other than Pimsler and watching a bucketload of Korean YouTubers and K-Dramas, I'm not really doing much.

General Stuff
I have decided I am an anomaly. Most of the people I meet here or at Polyglot conferences love learning and studying languages. I hate learning language! I love knowing another language, but I hate studying them.

Read an article in the paper yesterday. "I've used Duolingo for 9 years, and I am still not fluent" - Yeah... What's your point? That Duolingo is rubbish, or that you didn't take the requisite 5–10 days to do some research on how to learn a second language before sinking 9 years into something a simple web search would tell you wouldn't be enough?

[daveprine]

Italian
I have been focusing on doing Pimsleur again. I'm doing each 30 minute track at least 3 times per day. I will just continue to bang my head against Korean until some of it penetrates. I'm not depressed about this, btw, I'm simply frustrated that it takes so long for me to learn stuff. I do know why, I am lazy, and I would prefer to just sit around reading a book or sleeping. If only there were a pill or injection I could get.

As you know, I'm a big Pimsleur fan, especially since they offer a monthly subscription rate for all the languages that I binged on. Cheaper overall than the physical CDs or downloads (although you can get 5-lesson packs from Audible when they offer a free month through Amazon). I usually listen to one lesson on Day 1, listen again on Day 2 and then lesson 2 that same day. I find that taking a break ("sleeping on it," literally) and then reviewing works well. I find that even when I don't feel like I digested something well, once I get further in, it sinks in while I struggle with the newer stuff. There's always a delay for me. I tried a few of the Korean lessons. Yeah, those were a bit harder than I expected.

Italian
So other than Pimsler and watching a bucketload of Korean YouTubers and K-Dramas, I'm not really doing much.

As if that (and the stuff you do with other languages) isn't enough.

Italian
Read an article in the paper yesterday. "I've used Duolingo for 9 years, and I am still not fluent" - Yeah... What's your point? That Duolingo is rubbish, or that you didn't take the requisite 5–10 days to do some research on how to learn a second language before sinking 9 years into something a simple web search would tell you wouldn't be enough?

I have mixed feelings with Duolingo. Yeah, it'll never make you fluent, and some of their workflows are tedious and useless. But as a supplement to other methods, it has some benefit. I'm doing the Hungarian, Dutch, and Ukrainian modules, and they all are so different. They updated their format and I found last year's format so much more likable. I guess the gamification and community/competition helps lure the user to stick with it. It keeps me motivated, especially after seeing my 2022 progress report--makes me want to go for a longer streak.

Barely used Clozemaster this year, but it's a similar sitch for me as well. You?

[Le Baron]

I hate learning language! I love knowing another language, but I hate studying them.

Me too. It feels like a waste of life, I only like knowing them.

[rdearman]

Barely used Clozemaster this year, but it's a similar sitch for me as well. You?

Clozemaster put caps on the amount of phrases available to non-paying users. So I stopped using clozemaster completely. Too many free options to bother. It is annoying because I used it for a solid year for Italian and then started for Chinese but then they made HSK level pay only. I understand people want to get paid for the things they do, but if what you are offering is available in other places for free people are not going to pay. The sentences all came from Tatoeba? Or similar, so I could stick them into anki myself. I don't care about "gameification", so that aspect isn't important to me.

I used Duolingo for about an hour in total? Didn't find it very useful and it was taking me forever to get to the point I had already reached with my tutor and anki decks.

Although I generally come to hate anki after a couple of months, I normally come back after a break and start again. Actually thinking about it, I should bring back my french deck and start plowing through them again...

As you know, I'm a big Pimsleur fan, especially since they offer a monthly subscription rate for all the languages that I binged on. Cheaper overall than the physical CDs

You can get some good deals on CD on eBay or in charity shops here in the UK. I would say 99% of the language resources I have bought came from charity shops. Especially for French and Italian. Lots of people like the idea of having learnt a language. Just like I like the idea of being slim and muscular, but not willing to do the work. So the weights and the pull-ups bars and all that makes their way to the charity shop for some other poorslob to use. I just pick up a Czech dictionary and a couple of French novels while I get shut of the fitness stuff.

[rdearman]

<RANT>
I am officially sick and tired of being sick and tired. I've not done much of anything other than listen to Pimsleur, and I'm frequently switching between feelings of homicide and suicide. I remember now why I hated FSI French drills and Pimsleur. I have listened to over 9 hours of some creepy git hassling co-workers for lunch. Everytime creepy man says: "Do you remember how to say ... "

NO! No! No! I don't *&^$ing remember how to say it! Screw you creepy guy!

Then some smiling woman popped up in a video on my YT home page, "I learned Mandarin studying at home for 6 months." Well, good for you, I hope you rot in hell. Thanks, YouTube algorithm! Just what I needed today, some smarmy cow telling me how smart she is and highlighting how stupid I am.

Screw languages! Why did I ever start this crap to begin with? I should just throw all this crap in the rubbish bin and just be like everyone else and sit around watching porn and eating pizza in my underwear. ARRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!


</RANT>