Jeff's language log

[smallwhite]

> I'm still not sure how to track a mixed-language podcast where...

The tracking is not meant to track just L2 time. It is meant to track all study time. A Teach Yourself textbook is mostly English but you track 100% of the time you spent reading it just the same.

[jeff_lindqvist]

Alright, I see! Study time it is.

(If I didn't take part in the study, I'd just regard everything related to lessons/vocab study/grammar exercises as "analysis". No difference if the lessons were visual, live or pure audio as long as the "learning" element was in focus. If I would watch something in the target language (or listen to something) for enjoyment and/or comprehension, I'd count it as "listening". In real life, it's more important which sense I'm using, and the focus. There is a lot I'd never track.)

[jeff_lindqvist]

2017 - Summary of week 36

A reasonably good week for languages!

Anki - nothing new here. Daily reviews.

Duolingo - I've managed to increase my time there day by day.

CS: No lessons! Instead, I've listened to Český rozhlas which is the Czech radio. Mixed content, e.g. shorter chapters from novels (~8 minutes) and longer radio interviews from Radio Junior. Comprehension is still low, but I'm not surprised. My vocabulary comes from the podcast lessons, and I don't have much listening experience at all. The comprehension scale suggested in the spreadsheet goes from 1 to 9. I understand a few words here and there, sometimes more when there's transparency with Russian. 1? 2?

IT: Yes, Italian! Nothing spectacular besides shadowing the Assimil dialogues from the Apprendre L'Italien series (mentioned a few weeks ago). I'm halfway through, so far.

YUE: No lessons here either. I've tried various resourses, with mixed results. Cantonese radio at this stage - not useful at all. Easy Cantonese (a Youtube series of four clips) - not much better (so I glanced at the English subtitles). Then I found cartoons! Shorter videos and easier/narrower vocabulary. Much better comprehension (maybe a 2). I also watched a movie (Election, with English subtitles) and occasionally understood a whole sentence.

I think I'll continue with this kind of input-based content for some time now, despite the low comprehension.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2017 - Summary of week 37

A really bad week for languages.

Anki - it seems that I'm out of "new" cards in Chinese. (Still 254 reviews today, though, but the number should become lower and lower over time.)

Duolingo - just before the weekend, there was an app challenge, which resulted in another 100 XP for the same amount of real points.

CS: Still no lessons! More interviews from Radio Junior and also some Peppa Pig - now in Czech.

YUE: Still no lessons here either. More Peppa Pig mixed with Patrick & Friends.

I lost a few days of study due to a hell week. Headache galore. Despite all this, I managed to squeeze in some deliberate guitar practice (it rarely happens...).

[jeff_lindqvist]

2017 - Summary of week 38

An even worse week for languages.

Anki - no news.

Duolingo - this weekend I got some extra lingots by earning 150 XP through the app. I don't know what you use the lingots for other than the "Streak Freeze" (still unused) and the weekly "Double or Nothing" power-ups. There are no skills to unlock, no gadgets...

CS: One interview from Radio Junior, that's it.

YUE: A few episodes of Patrick & Friends.

A bad week indeed. This must change.

[Brun Ugle]

Duolingo - this weekend I got some extra lingots by earning 150 XP through the app. I don't know what you use the lingots for other than the "Streak Freeze" (still unused) and the weekly "Double or Nothing" power-ups. There are no skills to unlock, no gadgets...

In most courses there are a couple of extra skills you can buy like "idioms" or "flirting". Or you can buy Duo the owl a nice outfit so he looks more fashionable. We owls like to look our best.

[jeff_lindqvist]

In most courses there are a couple of extra skills you can buy like "idioms" or "flirting". Or you can buy Duo the owl a nice outfit so he looks more fashionable. We owls like to look our best.

Yeah, I know about those and have already bought everything I could.

By the way, I just earned 50 lingots for reaching a 500 day streak.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2017 - Summary of week 39

A slightly better week for languages!

Anki - still a couple of hundred reviews for three of my languages. I haven't added anything to my Cantonese and Czech decks for some weeks.

Duolingo - this weekend I got some extra lingots by earning 200 XP through the app (notice a pattern?). I also was tested (?) on my skills in Spanish and earned 15 XP.

CS: Two interviews from Radio Junior, that's it. Now and then I understand something (thanks to my Russian, no doubt).

YUE: The last (?) episodes of Patrick & Friends - I have now watched an impressive number of 19 short cartoons, ~6 min each.

Tomorrow I will sort my notes and update my spreadsheets for the study experiment. While August was podcast lessons, most of September was radio/video (and no lessons at all).

I've finished two books in Swedish. I won't be able to focus a lot on languages next week because of an upcoming mini-holiday. But if history repeats itself, I'll hear a lot of Finnish, and have the opportunity to speak Irish and maybe a few other languages. Four days till take-off.

[lavengro]

2017 - Summary of week 39
...
Duolingo - this weekend I got some extra lingots by earning 200 XP through the app (notice a pattern?).
...

That is a sick amount of XP to push through in one go!

[jeff_lindqvist]

You don't have to do it in one setting (although that's definitely possible). I did a few sessions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But on a good day, I've earned ~300 points (maybe up to 400).