Jeff's language log

[jeff_lindqvist]

2018 - Summary of week 27

Half a year has gone! I was thinking of letting this post be a summary of the first 6 months/26 weeks, but there is no time for that now. Last week was a week off (from work), but I was busy with things, so not as much study time as I hoped. (Music and football took some time.)

CA: Tenth week of Catalan - 9890 reps.

CS: More Anki aloud. I started adding vocabulary and sentences again.

GD: Eleventh week of Gaelic - 10940 reps.

RU: Some more Ангелы и Демоны, but not as much as I hoped. Plan: listen to it during my walks.

UR: I managed to squeeze in five or six 45-minute walks, during which I listened to maybe the first 14 units from 50languages.

YUE: Anki sentences aloud. This week, there were around 150 reviews every day. I also added content from one or two podcasts.

No Setswana. And no Romance languages. I still do a few short sessions of Duolingo in DE/GA/ES/PT/IT/FR (maybe one or two "lessons" in each), but the time that takes is almost negligible. Maybe 10-15 minutes in total. A lot of Anki reps in another half a dozen languages (Czech and Cantonese aloud, ~15 minutes tracked per language).

Possibly the laziest week in a long time.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2018 - Summary of week 28

CA: Eleventh week of Catalan - 10940 reps. I had a look at Iguanamon's post with resources.

CS: More Anki aloud. Time to do something else.

GD: Twelfth week of Gaelic - 11990 reps.

TN: I managed to squeeze in four 45-minute walks, during which I listened to all the 23 units from the Peace Corps material.

YUE: Anki sentences aloud. I must do something else.

Not as much study time this week either. Work, one finished book, three football games on TV, martial arts, two movies, one concert, and no fewer than three music sessions (two in the same day - at least 4+6 hours, a day's rest and then a third one yesterday, maybe 6.5 hours).

[jeff_lindqvist]

2018 - Summary of week 29

CA: Twelfth week of Catalan - 11990 reps. I also listened to Catalan radio online. Sometimes I thought it was Spanish. Maybe some of the persons didn't speak Catalan, or used a mix of the two languages.

CS: More Anki aloud. I downloaded Genesis from Wordproject and listened to it during 6 45 minute walks. I know that I'm really not ready for this (language-wise or content-wise), but I had this wild idea that I just might understand something thanks to Russian. Yeah right.

GD: 13th week of Gaelic - 13040 reps.

TN: I had a look at the Memrise course that Zenmonkey shared.

YUE: Anki sentences aloud. Two 45 minute walks during which I listened to Genesis. I understood the occasional word, number and proper name here and there. Impressive, I know. I just needed to hear the language.

I finished one crime novel in Swedish.

The recent threads about Learning a language with minimal study and Preempting Burnout have some interesting posts. Zenmonkey mentioned moving beyond a plateau only with intensive periods of study (has happened to me...), and Iguanamon suggests a no goal approach - which I also agree with. In fact, my forte (=not languages) has been almost 100% without goals, tracking system, tests, you name it - and it's also the only thing I can do for a long time (perhaps due to the no goal approach, I don't know).

[jeff_lindqvist]

2018 - Summary of week 30

CA: 13th week of Catalan - 13040 reps. Some more Catalan radio online (45 minutes?). I also had a look at this 4 cats channel which Iguanamon linked to in this post. I can't say that I understood a lot after just one view/listen, but with repetition + text, it got a bit easier. Apparently, you can also sort the videos according to level and accent. Not too bad.

CS: Anki aloud. A little less than 150 cards per day.

DE: Another go at Genesis. Finally something I understand! Four 45 minute walks.

GD: 14th week of Gaelic - 14090 reps.

TN: Memrise. Not every day, though.

YUE: Anki sentences aloud. ~120 cards per day. Another four 45 minute walks with Genesis. Not a lot of comprehensible input, but I wanted to "finish" it.

Two crime novels in Swedish.

A lazy week perhaps, but it's too hot here. Sweden is experiencing a heatwave at the moment (the worst in 74 years, it seems).

[lavengro]

A lazy week perhaps ....

I get the distinct sense that your definition of "lazy" is not shared by most humans.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2018 - Summary of week 31

CA: 14th week of Catalan - 14090 reps.

CS: Anki aloud. A little less than 150 cards per day. I also added some new vocabulary.

DE: Finished Genesis. Two 45 minute walks.

ES: More Genesis! 6x45 minutes. I haven't checked the duration, but when I listened to the Czech and Cantonese versions, I had just a few chapters left after finishing the sixth walk, and the German matched my walking speed pretty well. The Spanish must be ~15 minutes shorter, because Genesis ended long before I reached my home (and then it started over with chapter 1 etc.). Assuming the text is roughly the same, it must have to do with the narration speed (or the speed of the language itself...).

GD: 15th week of Gaelic - 14990 reps.

TN: Almost daily Memrise sessions.

YUE: Anki sentences aloud. ~120 cards per day, including some new ones.

I finished reading one book - the biography of the band Metallica (by Mick Wall).

For those who have listened to the 1970s band Bothy Band (with lots of Donegal ties), Donegal fiddle music in particular, or even Irish traditional music in general, there was sad news on Saturday: Tommy Peoples had passed away.

https://www.donegalnow.com/news/240785/240785

Yesterday was migraine day.

[zenmonkey]

TN: Almost daily Memrise sessions.
Yesterday was migraine day.

You should join us in the study session, if migraines allow.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2018 - Summary of week 32

CA: 15th week of Catalan - 14990 reps. Apart from the occasional radio programme a few weeks ago, Glossika is my only input. Sometimes I have a go at saying a new Catalan sentence before the audio, and sometimes I'm pretty close. Who knows, maybe I should read a book or something.

CS: Anki aloud. A little less than 150 cards per day. I think it's time for something else.

FR: I started and finished Genèse. I didn't enjoy the narrator's voice, and I found the audio (the language?) a bit difficult to follow.

GD: 16th week of Gaelic - 15890 reps.

RU: Next language for my walks. If German and Spanish (the first foreign languages, in that order) worked pretty fine, and French didn't (I only studied it for one year in high school), what could I possibly get from listening to Russian? A lot in fact. For the first time during this Bible experiment I could hear the syllables very clearly. Maybe I know the story by now? Maybe the Russian audio is the best so far? Maybe it finally clicked? Today (Monday), I went for my third walk with Russian in my ears, and it felt like I could be able to shadow this language better than any of the previous ones (including the ones I know). I became inspired to listen to the following books. In another couple of days, I'll know.

TN: Almost daily Memrise sessions. I'm nowhere close to the other Llorgers when it comes to points, but I do my best (which is 15 minutes per session, on a good day).

YUE: Anki sentences aloud. ~120 cards per day, including some new ones. I have to do something else.

I finished reading one crime novel (in Swedish).

Now I have two weeks' vacation. No plans (except: no travelling).

[Axon]

CA: 15th week of Catalan - 14990 reps. Apart from the occasional radio programme a few weeks ago, Glossika is my only input. Sometimes I have a go at saying a new Catalan sentence before the audio, and sometimes I'm pretty close. Who knows, maybe I should read a book or something.
...
GD: 16th week of Gaelic - 15890 reps.
...
YUE: Anki sentences aloud. ~120 cards per day, including some new ones. I have to do something else.

How are you finding this sentences-aloud method working with three very different languages? How is your ability to come up with sentences on the fly (regardless of accuracy)?

[jeff_lindqvist]

You forgot Czech.

Anyway, for Czech and Cantonese, I did podcast lessons for several months (August 2017 - March 2018), and then I got tired of that language101 format/ran out of lessons. Hence the Anki aloud approach (my light version of Glossika). I sometimes go back to podcasts.

Catalan and Gaelic - well, I just wanted to have a look at the two languages. To name a few reasons, both are offered for free by Glossika, both are minority languages, I speak releated languages, and I've been to the countries where they are spoken.

Almost all of my input for CA/GD comes from the sentences, so my production skills aren't too impressive, and that's part of the reason why I want to at add something else, maybe a book or something (still free and legal, if possible - I haven't touched my physical material for Catalan and Gaelic.)