Jeff's language log

[Cavesa]

If lack of listening material in Czech was the only problem, I could think of a few links to solutions

[Brun Ugle]

If lack of listening material in Czech was the only problem, I could think of a few links to solutions

Where? Where?

[jeff_lindqvist]

So why not start all three anyway, then it doesn't matter which one you do for the study

Busted!

I had already planned to do Czech, Cantonese is there anyway, and Catalan... yeah, why not at least try some podcasts (maybe there are some with transcripts?).

[zenmonkey]

So why not start all three anyway, then it doesn't matter which one you do for the study

Busted!

I had already planned to do Czech, Cantonese is there anyway, and Catalan... yeah, why not at least try some podcasts (maybe there are some with transcripts?).

Good, I need someone to be able to point to and say "see, I'm not obsessive, I know someone studying all the languages that start with 'C'."

I'm not studying Slovak this month because because I've just been given the stinky eye for adding another language. Misery may love company but my companion will make me miserable if I add too much language love.

[jeff_lindqvist]

Can you write Cantonese? If so, you can Skype with me if you like. Or just to ask me questions once in a while, or to help you search stuff (maybe via PM). You've helped me a lot with Swedish because I use LingQ lessons made by you

Another one! I was once approached by a guy at the Polyglot Gathering (in Berlin) who had studied Swedish with my lessons from LingQ.

Thanks for the Cantonese offer! I'll have this in mind!

[Elenia]

Another one! I was once approached by a guy at the Polyglot Gathering (in Berlin) who had studied Swedish with my lessons from LingQ.

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I did too. It's also thanks to you that I found out about HTLAL. Thank you!

[Brun Ugle]

So why not start all three anyway, then it doesn't matter which one you do for the study

Busted!

I had already planned to do Czech, Cantonese is there anyway, and Catalan... yeah, why not at least try some podcasts (maybe there are some with transcripts?).

I think I will probably sign up with all four of the languages I mentioned in my log. I wouldn't mind being in either group for any of them. I plan to study them all, but none of them are so important that I feel the need to use a particular method at the moment. I imagine I will probably be in the study group for some and the control group for others. So basically, I'll just have to start tracking my time again and maybe doing TV-Anki cards in a few languages instead of FSI or other courses.

[jeff_lindqvist]

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I did too. It's also thanks to you that I found out about HTLAL. Thank you!

Wow, three distance learners! The circle became complete when I met Steve Kaufmann (founder of LingQ) at the hotel.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2017 - Summary of week 27

Another OK week for languages, albeit mostly receptive skills.

Anki - if you ever import decks or make decks from Tatoeba lists, be prepared to edit out strange inline HTML-formatting. Every now and then (at least in the Esperanto deck), I find br, div, span style colour tags etc. around prefixes/infixes/stems/suffixes, links to images... And nothing is displayed correctly.

Duolingo - I reached level 17 in French but I'm still on level 16 for Italian and Portuguese.

A lot of reading in Swedish and English.

GD: At last we got unlocked lessons! There was no time for any Gaelic during the week(end), but maybe now.

PT: I continued with Paolo Coelho's "O Alquemista" (5 unknown words per page). I finished another ten children's books. I shadowed my old course material (Portugese XXI, Ana Tavares) during my walks. If you want native dialogues at lightning speed, this is the content for you.

RU: A few more chapters in Inferno/Инферно. When I'm at the computer, I sometimes log on to Bliu Bliu and click-read Путешествия Гулливера (Gulliver's Travels).

[jeff_lindqvist]

2017 - Summary of week 28

Anki - daily reviews in nine languages. Besides, I'm sort of mentally preparing for Rdearman's six month study. In two weeks I hope to have a deck based on useful phrases with superhero vocabulary.

Duolingo - finally a level up in Italian and Portuguese!

CS: I've started making an inventory of native content - to this day, I have two DVDs with Czech audio and (probably mismatching) subtitles. A blog post by Steve Kaufmann led me to ČRo Vltava, where I found the classic The Good Soldier Švejk and more. I also watched an interview (in Czech) with Steve and (his tutor?) Eva, just to get a feel for the language.

DE: I started listening to the audiobook Krabat (by Otfried Preußler). I know I have listened it to it before (seven or eight years ago?) - possibly several times, but as audio material to accompany me on my daily walks, no, it didn't work. Compared to my recent weeks of shadowing Assimil Le nouveau russe sans peine and the Portuguese XXI, I couldn't hear the narrator well enough. This German novel needs 100% focus, indoors, with no risk of surrounding noise.

FI: I found some weeded out children's books at the library. All in good time...

GD: I finished all (?) of the bonus material from Cainntear's project. I don't feel like digging out my old TY Gaelic (or any of the other dusty books and leaflets), so yesterday I spent some time hunting down material at BBC Alba and found a portal called Learn Gaelic - it looks like a collection of short videos with transcripts in Gaelic, English, Gaelic & English, and vocabulary lists. From now on, this will be my study material.

For some time now, weeks tend to have different focus languages. I do a little in most of them (through Anki and Duolingo, if nothing else), I spend some time shadowing (or listening to) one of them, I read in some...