I was thinking about all the rather stupid things I've challenged myself with over the last few months, most of which I'm failing.
- 10 Language Exchanges or Tutor sessions per week.
- 25k words in French
- 100 actual books in Italian
- Super Challenge in Italian
- 6WC in Setswana
- FLC in Setswana
Some of these I've done OK in: LE, 6WC. But most of the rest are really behind the power-curve and unlikely to be completed by the time limit. I have watched a few TV episodes in Italian, but haven't bothered to log them on the SC since I more interested in the reading part really.
I took Professor Alexander Argüelles survey. I thought there was a lot of assumptions in the survey, which didn't really fit for me. I cannot remember off the top of my head, but I do remember thinking "None of the above" for a couple of answers because they just didn't fit into my profile. I also completely forgot that I'd attempted to learn Esperanto once upon a time. Should have counted that I guess. Don't know if I should have filled out the thing since I don't consider myself a polyglot.
I have a bucket load of books I need to read in English and I'm struggling to get through all the stuff I need to do. Another problem of course is the more stuff I procrastinate on the more stuff builds up to procrastinate on.
I'm more hopeful of getting the French writing done this time as opposed to posting the Roger the Dragon story I did here. This is mainly because I'll spend some time writing a snippet of a story, then send it off to a native speaker, who will spend an hour going over my errors with me and explaining where I have gone wrong. While everyone here was quite helpful in pointing out errors, I think it will be more helpful for me to ask questions about the errors in "real time" with someone. Anyway, that is my theory, we'll see how useful it is later.
I attempted to read 1 page of a French grammar book (originally the plan was read for 20 minutes). Contrary to popular belief I actually own about 5 French grammar books. Anyway, one page and I wanted to yank my eyes out so I never have to look at it again. I really seriously don't understand people who like grammar. So, I thought; Maybe it is just French, perhaps if I did Italian I could do the full 20 minutes I intended. No, no, no and hell no. I think the most annoying thing is to learn the grammar of a language you first have to learn the grammar and vocabulary of grammar. Things like; "The two past transferentives are followed by alternatives, which are mostly contrastives." I mean WTF does that even mean? Or; "If like is in the negative, a gerund refers to an action that we do but don't enjoy doing, while a to-infinitive means that we don't do something because we don't think it right to do" WTF !!!!
How can anyone understand this gibberish, let alone find it enjoyable? "The rule requires agreement between the past participle and the complement of the direct object (abbreviated as COD) in verbs conjugated with avoir (to have) – but only if the COD precedes the participle." AGAIN! WTF !?
One thing I have learned with LE's is that it is pointless to ask a native speaker for the grammar rule, because they don't know. They know it sounds wrong, and they know the right way to say it, but they don't know why. Which is good for me, because if the explanation they give me is: "The two past transferentives are followed by alternatives, which are mostly contrastives." then I'm out. Personally I'm completely OK with someone just saying, we don't say it like that, we say it like this.
OK, grammar rant complete and let me just say that if you are one of those people who love grammar books; Go get a CAT scan, there is something seriously wrong with your brain.