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

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jeff_lindqvist
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Re: Rdearman 2016/17/18/19 [Remember if we get caught, I'm deaf and you don't speak English]

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sun Feb 10, 2019 6:04 pm

rdearman wrote:If consistancy is the key to learning languages then I am well and truly screwed.


Hey, that's how I study! I make plans, hope for the best, but expect the worst. It will all even out in the long run.
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Re: Rdearman 2016/17/18/19 [Remember if we get caught, I'm deaf and you don't speak English]

Postby rdearman » Wed Feb 13, 2019 12:43 pm

Forgive me, for I have sinned. It has been three days since my last confession.

Not a lot of work done on languages. Language exchanges seem to be sucking up all my study time, and I don't really feel like studying at the moment. I've done 5 LE's, 2 on Monday, 3 on Tuesday. But only two more scheduled, until next week so a bit of a break. My neighbour flew back from China where she is teaching English and brought me two books. One is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the other is a Harry Potter book. Charlie is just characters, but the Harry Potter is a parallel text with English <-> Mandarin. So although I swore blind I would never look at another Harry Potter book I might end up using this one. I still need to puzzle out how to use a Chinese dictionary if you don't have, or know the PinYin. So Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will be a unused until I work that out.

While speaking with an Italian fellow he told me a quote from a famous French poet that made me laugh.
The French are just angry Italians. -- Jean Cocteau


I had another long drive today, but this time I did actually use Pimsleur Mandarin and did two hours. Which was about all I could take. So I switched over to music. I doubt I'm going to do well in this 6WC.
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Re: Rdearman 2016/17/18/19 [Remember if we get caught, I'm deaf and you don't speak English]

Postby javier_getafe » Thu Feb 14, 2019 7:31 am

It is always a rest seeing than others fail on their study targets.
Or as I would say in spanish : "Mal de muchos consuelo de tontos"

:twisted: :twisted: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Rdearman 2016/17/18/19 [Remember if we get caught, I'm deaf and you don't speak English]

Postby Brun Ugle » Thu Feb 14, 2019 7:54 am

You need to learn to find the radical and count the number of strokes. Characters are usually listed by radical and stroke count.
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Re: Rdearman 2016/17/18/19 [Remember if we get caught, I'm deaf and you don't speak English]

Postby rdearman » Fri Feb 15, 2019 11:02 pm

Thanks to Brun Ugle I made an effort to actually figure out Chinese dictionaries. I discovered it is easier with an app and you can just "handwrite" the character and pick it from a list. This is a lot easier for me, so I think I'll stick to that for a little while. Meanwhile, I've managed to secure a new job. It requires me to stay in a hotel 4 nights a week for a year. So looks like I'll have a lot of study time on my hands in the evenings! Yes, that is the plan. Study, study, study! I've cancelled all my LE's and I'll most likely pick some of them up again, but in the evenings. I haven't had a lot of time for any study this week with all the stuff I've needed to do in order to get ready to start next week. I should hopefully start racking up some real hours on studying, not to mention the 4 hours per week in the car listening to Pimsleur. :)
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Re: Rdearman 2016/17/18/19 [Remember if we get caught, I'm deaf and you don't speak English]

Postby rdearman » Sat Feb 16, 2019 10:38 pm

Most days I think this is me.

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Re: Rdearman 2016/17/18/19 [Remember if we get caught, I'm deaf and you don't speak English]

Postby javier_getafe » Sun Feb 17, 2019 10:16 am

rdearman wrote:Most days I think this is me.


:lol: :lol: This scene is really so humorous!! I couldn't stop laughing! I'm only starting with français, but it is being a real challenge not only to pronounce properly but also to recognice the most uncomplicated word.
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Re: Rdearman 2016/17/18/19 [Remember if we get caught, I'm deaf and you don't speak English]

Postby rdearman » Sat Feb 23, 2019 11:13 pm

Started a new job on Monday and it is a couple hours away from where I live, so I travel up on Monday and stay 4 nights per week. So on the drive up I listened to some Pimsleur Mandarin and then tried to do my chunks of 20 minutes study per night and speak to people on Skype.

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men
Gang aft agley,
An'lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!


I did manage to do 40 minutes of Mandarin study in a week, 40 minutes of Italian (clozemaster), and one 20 minute block of Setswana. I didn't speak to anyone via skype other then one Italian fellow who I spent an hour and half talking in English about politics. So, my "best-laid schemes" did "Gang aft agley". One saving grace however was that I did have a nice flatscreen TV in my room with a USB compatible media player. I watched about 3 hours per night of Italian TV shows which I have recorded onto a external USB drive. I basically binge watched 12 hours of Italian. It wasn't officially studying like I planned, but I'm sure it helped. Especially since I don't have subtitles on these shows and I'm forced to just figure it out.

I didn't get done any of the other things I'd promised myself I would do, nor did I manage to do this weeks podcast with Dave. I have to make up that time as well.

It wasn't really all that bad on the language front, since the binge watching TV was helpful, and to be honest it is enjoyable. Obviously by Thursday the TV shows were a lot easier to understand. I have a load of French TV shows on the external drive too, so wondering if I should alternate weeks of watching French & Italian. I seriously doubt that I'll be able to do the 100 minutes per day I need to do 20 minutes per language, and I don't count TV only study with a book, or with an app.

I haven't read my Italian book in over a week, so I'm seriously behind and I'll probably not complete the SC at this rate. Once again I could probably manage a double or triple SC if it was just watching films and TV! One of the shows I'm really liking is "Camionisti In Trattoria" which is basically a show about a guy who gets rides from truckers in Italy and they take him to their favourite roadside cafes. Gotta say there is some pretty damn good food being served up in these joints!
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Re: Rdearman 2016/17/18/19 [Remember if we get caught, I'm deaf and you don't speak English]

Postby rdearman » Fri Mar 01, 2019 9:49 pm

I'm finding it very difficult to study languages. I did manage a couple of LE which to be honest were probably 80% English / 20% French. I watched a lot of French this week. Using Netflix on my laptop I watched Call my Agent and turned off sub-titles. When I got frustrated not understanding I turned them on and re-watched a little bit. This really annoys me. All this time with this bloody language and I still have to turn on sub-titles. Part of the problem is on Netflix I have that ability. On the Italian shows I was watching I didn't have that option and just had to watch it and deal with it when I didn't understand.

I have spent most of this last week in a blue funk. I'm angry I don't understand entire scenes in a French TV show, then people tell me stupid shite like "Oh your French is good". Bollocks! My French is terrible. Je parle en française comme un vache espagnol. So I can speak in French, big fecking deal, I don't understand people, tv, films. My pronunciation and accent are rubbish. The only decent skill I have in French is I can read the bloody language, and even that is spotty. Which means it doesn't really matter if I turn on French sub-tittles or English ones, I still have to read because I have no bloody clue most of the time what the hell these people are mumbling.

Similar problem with Italian, although I don't get angry with myself for using sub-titles because I just don't have that option. But a lot of it passes me by. Still at least they don't slur the words together like une grosse bâton de merde.

I can confirm language exchanges do not fluency make. You just get better about talking about the same old subjects. So as the old adage says; if nothing changes, nothing changes. I need to do something else because I am just getting nowhere fast.

I was reading the thread about ALG with some interest. Maybe I just need to stop studying any other language except Italian and just watch heaps of Italian shows. I have the time, although probably not 800 hours of Italian content. I need to do something, because I am honestly tired of being shite at languages.

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Re: Rdearman 2016/17/18/19 [Remember if we get caught, I'm deaf and you don't speak English]

Postby zenmonkey » Fri Mar 01, 2019 10:37 pm

Can I make a suggestion for something you can try for two weeks and see if it helps create some automatisms? Take Pimsleur or Glossika or FSI and go through 30 min in the morning and 30 min at night of pure old listen and repeat, listen and repeat. Something not too easy but that forces you to produce. Really just learn those sentences and make them come out right. BUT REALLY SPEAK OUT LOUD LOUDLY LIKE LoudyMacLoudy!

If it doesn't help, sure go watch movies silently.
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