Cito's Disloyal Daily (French, Russian, + now Cantonese!)

[cito]

November 21
I did a lot yesterday, even though I'm posting about it today (will have separate post for today)!

Most of what I did was watching French youtube and TV, though....

I think that the one language a day approach is what is right for me! For some reason, studying languages is kinda making me nauseous on paper, so if I just do one a day I can manage! If I make around 20 Anki cards or so, I can spend two days going through "1" day of studying, allowing my other language to come in on the day the first is taking a break (in this case, it will be alternating between Russian and OE). I just need to get in the habit of doing French vocab every day again... it's been a while!

I think that speed will have to slow down next semester when I also have OE classes, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there!

French
15 minutes reading (ouch... Rowling)
130 minutes watching (Youtube + 5 Episodes of HXH )

Russian
35 minutes studying (ASSIMIL Lesson 23)

[cito]

November 22

French
45 minutes reading (Stendhal and Rowling)
60 minutes watching (3 episodes HXH)
Old English
25 minutes studying (TYS)

[cito]

Past few days + November 26
Hey everyone. Fell behind on my log, but I have been somewhat keeping up with my studies. Just took a break from posting due to how hectic the end of the holiday was. Going back to Uni tomorrow.

Not sure if I want to continue making Anki cards for Complete Old English- I might just go through it without Anki because I really don't have a super long study endurance .

French
50 minutes reading (Rowling)
20 minutes watching (HXH)

Russian
30 minutes studying

[cito]

Dec 1 (and the past few days)
I've been quite busy being back at school now, and I'v been playing too many video games rather than studying languages! I need to control myself . I'm done with gaming (CIV V) for today and figured I'd write on here. I think I'll make this a semi-daily log, because when I was doing it consistently I felt like it kept me honest about my reading and daily habits. I never write down listening times or anki reps, but usually just actual watching and reading.

I'm half way through the second chapter/lesson of Mark Atherton's Complete Old English, and I've just finished lesson 25 of ASSIMIL's Le Russe; I've also started using the speakly app for daily Russian, and I'm really enjoying it! I'm having fun with these languages along with French, but I have a French exam tomorrow, so I am not allowing myself to study them until after classes on Friday (excluding Anki and Speakly). I feel like they aren't inhibiting my French but I still need to learn how to limit myself with other media and get some French reading done! I've been slacking lately, unfortuantely. I've also just realized I really gotta catch up on my French reading for this year's challenge!!!!! Holy crap! I still have 3.5 books to go and its December 1st!

Wish me luck!

[cito]

December 15

Well... two weeks later. I have finished Harry Potter, started listening to Le Tour sombre by Stephen King, and started reading Voyage au centre de la terre. Still doing Stendhal, haven't progressed too much. Just picked Russian back up and as of today I'm on lesson 26. A snails pace but any quicker and my French would suffer! I'll do some Old English tomorrow. I finished my last final today, so freedom here we are!

I'd like to finish Le Rouge et le noir by January 14th, and I think I can do it if I do 2-3 chapters a day for vocabulary, aiming for around 10-15 words each day. I haven't done it yet so I'll do that after I write.

I've been doing Speakly every day for Russian and I'm really enjoying it. IMO its the only language learning app that works (for me).

French
60 minutes reading (Verne)

Russian
45 minutes studying (ASSIMIL)
15 minutes Speakly

[cito]

December 16
Got up to 150 words in Russian on Speakly, unlocking the second listening exercise. All I use the app for really is vocab + the listening exercises, from which I might take a few phrases and edit the audio in Audacity to make Anki cards. I'm having trouble sticking wiht all the vocab and I don't like having to spell out Russian because it's tricky and all I am looking for currently is passive comprehension .

Stendhal is getting pleeeeenty interesting. I love the intrigue and the book is hilarious, I swear... even if I'm going at a snail's pace.

French
30 minutes watching (Youtube)
60 minutes reading (Stendhal / Verne)

Russian
45 minutes studying (ASSIMIL Review/Speakly)

[cito]

December 18 & 19

Had some friends visit from NYC visiting my brothers apartment over the weekend and I had an amazing time. Unfortunately, I did not have enough time for language learning the 17th, but while they were out I was able to sneak 30 minutes of a nature documentary in French yesterday.

I was supposed to study Old English on the 17th/today, but I've been enjoying Russian a lot more, honestly, and whatever I don't end up learning over break will be covered in my course this upcoming semester. I think I'll study tomorrow and the day after.

Today I did some rock climbing and hung out with my friend who goes to school across the country. I've missed her so much! I read today and my brother came over after work. I also listened to more of the Dark Tower, but only 30 minutes or so and it was hard to follow, so I might rewind (even though I already know what happens). I studied a good amount of Russian, doing ASSIMIL lesson 27 and Speakly, I also chopped up the Speakly Audio and made Anki cards with it. It's so convenient they let you download it. I made 45 Russian cards today, so I'll rep 9 per day for the next 5 days, and I'll probably add 11 more (as there are that many sentences for the review lesson, 28), but I can do those in a day (and probably won't have to do all 11).

I feel like I'm certainly making progress with Russian, even if it's quite slow. I think a "multi-track approach" combined with Anki is the best way I can study a language without it interfering with French. My French is also getting to a level where if I spent actual time immersing in Russian it might not affect it as much as it would have 6 months or a year ago. I think I'll try and finish ASSIMIL by the end of next summer, and then start immersing with sentence mining around 1000-1500 cards at the start of next semester. If I end up getting to that point, I'll likely put my French words per day at around 5 as a goal rather than 10, which will be the goal for Russian. That might put me at a point where I can start reading Harry Potter/Haruki Murakami in around a year to a year and a half from now, which isn't too bad! I'll just need a kindle and a lot of patience .

French
18th:
35 minutes watching (Documentary)
15 minutes reading (Verne)

19th:
20 minutes watching (youtube)
95 minutes reading (Stendhal, Verne)

Russian
18th:
10 minutes Speakly

19th:
30 minutes study (ASSIMIL)
15 minutes Speakly

[cito]

December 20

French
30 minutes reading (Verne)

Russian
15 minutes Speakly

Old English
20 minutes TYS

[cito]

June 16

Cantonese
Still in the process of figuring out how I want to study Cantonese. I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed but I think getting a tutor to see once a week for a few months might be a good idea, just so I don't fossilize any mistakes. At this point, as cool as it would be, I have no intention of reading Cantonese.

I did still study a bit, yet nonetheless inefficiently, this evening, for about 45 minutes.

Russian
I had a pretty strong day for Russian, as well: Pimsleur in the morning, then LWT for reading/vocab, then NPRC for grammar, then Russian with Max podcasts while at the gym, and some LWT review at home in the evening.

Currently going through my first full text, one of Kato Lomb talking about how she learns languages. This morning I watched a Luca Lampariello video in Russian with tips for learning Russian, and I'm proud to say I was able to understand just a little bit with Russian subtitles!

French
Decent day for French, as even though I read French for about 2 hours at work, I am hesitant to put it down, but I will nonetheless, and I'll count it as 1 hour, since it's very start and stop. I was able to listen to 25 minutes of L'Heure du Monde at work while scanning things too.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to read some Victor Hugo and either watch some Anime in French or read one of the 2 comic books I bought, and maybe make some Anki cards.

Time

Cantonese - 45 Minutes
45 Minutes Study/prep (Anki, FSI, TYS)

Russian - 2 hours, 30 minutes
30 Minutes speaking (Pimsleur)
45 Minutes listening/watching (Russian with Max, YT Videos)
30 Minutes Grammar study (NPRC)
45 Minutes LWT (Kato Lomb)

French - 1 hour, 25 minutes
1 hour reading
25 minutes listening (LHDM)

[cito]

June 17

Not much done today. Lazy day/I wasn't feeling well, but I did read some of Watchmen in French and practiced speaking French to myself. No LWT today and I wasn't really feeling Cantonese today.

Edit: Studied a smidgen of Cantonese after I wrote this, did my Russian Anki, and watched some Russian Videos. I've been using the sentences from Sheik to make Anki cards of the level 1 sentences, since they are simple phrases and have audio/explanations.

Time

French - 30 minutes
Reading - 30 Minutes (Watchmen)

Russian - 1:30
Grammar - 30 Minutes (NPRC)
Speaking - 30 Minutes (Pimsleur)
Anki - 10 Minutes
Videos - 20 Minutes

Cantonese - 10 minutes
Anki - 10 minutes (making / repping).