There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
x 1807

Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Postby MamaPata » Thu Aug 15, 2019 8:09 pm

I want to have a look at the Super Challenge and where I am with it, and what I will need to do in order to manage it. I had a look back at the registration thread and apparently I signed up for half challenges for all three languages: Russian, French, and Spanish. However, I was always sort of aiming for a full challenge for at least one and ideally all of them.

I'm definitely not going to manage a full challenge for Russian. As of today, my official scores are as follows, though for all of them I have some odds and ends I haven't added yet:

Russian: 36.1 books and 10.3 films
Spanish: 41.4 books and 96.1 films
French: 79.6 books and 101.1 films

So realisically, I have finished the films for French and Spanish. It won't take me more than a couple of weeks to finish the French reading. Spanish reading is coming a bit easier now, though there are still so many words I don't know. I am hopeful that I could finish it, but maybe I am being too hopeful. It works out at over 20 pages per day, which is a lot. And from October, I am going to be crazy busy as I will start my masters in addition to working. If I can get through a couple of books by early September, it might be doable. I am hoping to do some Spanish stuff for my masters, so I need to push on with my Spanish anyway. I don't really know, I am quite torn.

My Russian scores... wow. :roll: I don't know what it is! I do enjoy Russian, I swear. Maybe. I do really enjoy Russian film! I'd like to think that I can make it to a half challenge but who knows. In the last challenge, I did actually manage the watching section, finishing with 198 hours. But I only made it to 1748 pages (about 34 books, so at least I've surpassed that). I was studying Russian film at the time, which obviously helped, but I'm still interested in that. I don't really know what the issue is. I use Russian for work, my academic interests are Russia related, it's always going to be a big part of my life. So why isn't the super challenge reflecting that?

There is an internet access issue. It is harder to read in Russian, so I prefer to read with Readlang or LWT. I also just don't have that much offline Russian content. And I do most of my reading and watching on trains or buses. If I have internet access, there are two many other things I could be doing. Maybe this weekend, I will do some work to build a library of stuff I can access offline. And to collate materials I really want to use. But there's definitely something else. I have a huge list of Russian films I want to watch, why aren't I watching them?

Some of the problem is about lightheartedness. The SC is my downtime and I don't really have access to that much lighthearted Russian content. I do want to watch more Russian films, but they sure as hell aren't going to be comedies! Similarly, I think Russian feels like more work - both because of difficulty, but also because it is much more useful. I have no real skin in the game for French or Spanish, whereas there's a lot more Russian in a big way in my life. Paradoxically I think that sometimes makes it harder, even though it means I should be more motivated. I think I think that I ought to be paying full attention for Russian film, I ought to be taking notes, etc. So I think it is harder to push myself to choose Russian over French or Spanish. I can let go of the perfectionism with those much more easily.

If I want to do a half challenge for Russian, I have to watch 30mins a day. I'm not that far off the books, just 5 pages a day. That would definitely be doable.

We have a big work thing happening in the middle of September and after that everything is happening. So for the next month, I am going to set myself a mini challenge. Every day, I have to do 20 mins of Russian. 10 mins watching/listening and 10 mins reading. It's not going to make any real difference to the challenge. It's a very baby challenge - it would be peanuts for most of you. But as someone who is not good at doing anything little and often, but rather does everything to the extreme, I think it will be good for me. It'll help me just bring Russian a bit more present, without putting any real pressure. Hopefully I'll be able to find a bit more of the fun with Russian.
7 x
Corrections appreciated.

User avatar
MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
x 1807

Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Postby MamaPata » Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:08 pm

Languages continue, though in a reduced form. September is slightly mad (as is the rest of the year) so who knows the extent to which I will achieve them. We have a big work thing coming up this month, then I am on holiday (thank God), then I start my Masters, then my manager goes on maternity leave so my level of responsibility will have to increase, at last temporarily. Juggling work and the Masters is going to be a great opportunity for me and I am very grateful, but it's going to be a challenge! I am hoping to also have some other small academic projects.

French

French has actually been doing alright recently, solely because I got a big bit of translation work. A lecturer friend needed some old documents translated from French into English, so I have translated about 15,000 words of short reports. It was interesting to see that there are very minimal changes to the language between the 1890s and today. A lot of it was very repetitive, but it has been a really fascinating and useful exercise for me. I still need to go back through them all and edit, but the basics are done.

I have been reading a short book I got in Paris last year about Putin. It's a bit dry for commute reading, but it's short and I am down to the last two chapters. I started reading Il pleuvait des oiseaux, a French Canadian book that I also got in Paris last year. I was enjoying it, but it feels like more of an autumn read, so I've put it on hold for now. Because everything is so busy and I am quite distracted and tired, so I really just need page turners.

Don't think I have watched much, a few podcasts here and there. Lots of Youtube.

Spanish

I have signed up for the next Lingoda half marathon, so that should be a good way of keeping up my Spanish. My Spanish level is all over the place, so the structure of the course is definitely going to be good for me. I will also be doing a Spanish culture module next year, so will need my Spanish to be ready for that.

I finished reading La Ciudad de las Bestias. I have some issues with it, but YA is exactly what I need right now. Need to get going with something else asap if I am to get anywhere with the Super Challenge. I also finished watching Chicas del Cable, which I enjoyed a lot. Total trash, but very watchable. I'll start something else at the end of September.

Russian

I totally failed in my Russian challenge to myself, but I did watch the first season of Desperate Housewives in Russian, which was really useful. Read a few pages of The Northern Lights. So it was a success in making me get some contact with Russian.

I have stopped doing translations from Russian into English at work, which I am really happy about. I am sure there are some uses, but I don't think it's a great thing, either for translations or as a learning tool. I may still get the opportunity to do some translations from Russian to English, which I will enjoy.
7 x
Corrections appreciated.

User avatar
MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
x 1807

Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Postby MamaPata » Sat Sep 28, 2019 12:21 pm

This week I’ve been on holiday, hopping around a bit in France and briefly in Spain. I’m hoping to do more holidays like this in the future - I’m trying not to fly, so it’s all been trains and buses, which is a lovely way of getting some time to think and seeing the countryside. It’s been really lovely and I definitely needed a break! Not quite ready to go back into the swing of things.

There’s been a lot going on and there’s a lot coming up, so my brain has felt a bit overwhelmed. I’ve been taking it pretty easy, trying to reset ready for year to come. But I’ve done a bit of language work.

French

I finished reading « Il pleuvait des oiseaux », which I actually got last time I was in France, in the French-Canadian bookshop in Paris. I was intrigued to see it being highlighted in a bookshop in Toulouse as there is apparently a film version. I’d be quite interested to see it and how they’ve adapted it. It was an interesting book, I enjoyed it. After that I read about 25% of « Liaisons Dangereuses », which I just found pretty boring. Unless anyone can make a strong case otherwise, I’m abandoning it! After that, I read « Cora », which is a short story by George Sand. I’ve never read anything by Sand and I’m not sure it was really the place to start, though if anyone is looking for a very short text, it’s a good one to go for.

Listened to a couple of podcasts and watched « Arctic Heart » on Netflix. It’s a sort of romance and honestly, it’s terrible. At least it’s no longer in my To Watch list! Mostly though, I haven’t felt like I really have the attention to watch stuff. When I’ve been on trains and buses, I’ve wanted to look out of the window and in the evenings, I’ve just been tired.

Spanish

I read a crappy romance that I picked up in the hostel I was staying at, which was reassuringly easy. I’ve also been reading « La Diosa Ciega » by Anne Holt. I read her book 1222 in Spanish because my local library had it, so I decided to read this, but I haven’t loved either of them.

I have picked up a two books and I ordered two YA books which will be waiting for me when I get back. I think I really just need to push vocabulary in Spanish, that’s my biggest weakness.

Russian

Chatted to two Russian speaking Ukrainians briefly on a coach, who were doing the Camino. Otherwise maybe a podcast?

——

It is interesting being on holiday in a country where your TL is spoken because it really highlights where you are. I haven’t spoken a huge amount of French/Spanish other than for transactions, just because I wasn’t really in a chatty mood. I’m here on my own, I’ve just been wandering around and amusing myself, I wasn’t visiting anyone.

I did start reading « avec mon meilleur souvenir » by Françoise Sagan, which I read probably two years ago and it’s mad to see the difference. I knew what was going on when I read it then but there was so much new vocabulary. (I didn’t read it intensively). There are still words I don’t know but it’s a whole different ball game.

This gives me a pretty mixed view of my languages. I really struggle with shop/restaurant French, just because I know I’m not using the phrases people would. (E.g. I really want to say « est-ce que je peux avoir... » because that feels most natural and polite, but that’s because it’s what I’d say in English. I don’t think it’s what the French say). That would be very easy to fix - I could just do one or two Iessons doing role plays in a shop/gym/etc. But I don’t really care enough for that - it doesn’t feel like a useful use of time or money.

In general, people have been very complimentary about my French. Several people have asked if I learnt French here or lived here because I have a good accent. (This was really nice to hear! I think my accent is good for an English person but pretty crummy overall. So many people on the forum are really working on their pronunciation and I know mine is very lacking but I just don’t have the patience/care enough to do anything). Most people have interacted with me in French/Spanish without switching to English.

But also, it really proves how weak my language are. I’m struggling to find the words, I can hear that I’m messing up grammar. Most of what I do is extensive listening/reading. And that’s great! It makes a huge difference! To a point. I know somewhere on the forum someone was recently talking about how at about B2, extensive reading stopped really having the returns and they had to move to intensive reading. And I do think that I am missing that close work - my passive skills are so ridiculously ahead of my active. If I want to change that, I need to go back to doing more active vocab work and intensive reading (especially for Spanish where my vocabulary is much smaller). Similarly, if I want to improve my speaking, I need to speak more. You have to work that skill if you want it to improve.

But I don’t know if I want to do that.

No, I’m not particularly happy at B2/C1 for my languages. I’m increasingly aware of how much there is left for me to learn and how weak my skills are. But also, the amount it bothers me isn’t equal to the work it needs to deal with that. I use my languages for work, I am able to read and watch the things I want to read and watch, I can do research in these languages (well, Spanish would be hard work but I could, very slowly). No, I couldn’t give a speech/write a paper in these languages, but that’s not in my plans for the next few years. I’m happy to keep treading water where I am.

I do need to get my Spanish to the same level as French and Russian, and I do want to speak a bit more in those languages. I’ve signed up for this lingoda marathon. I don’t love lingoda but I do think it fulfils what I need at this precise moment and I think it will bring me to a comfortable B2. I’m tempted to do a DELE exam at some point next year as it would genuinely be useful for me to have the qualification, but I haven’t decided. I also want to have an Italki lesson for French/Russian semi regularly (e.g. every few weeks). I enjoy lessons, they make a lot of difference for me, it’s worth the investment of a small amount of time and money.

But I’m also not going to get pressured about it. I want to prioritise health decisions, uni, work, friends, etc. If I just keep doing languages passively, that’s fine. I am making progress through that.
9 x
Corrections appreciated.

StringerBell
Brown Belt
Posts: 1035
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2018 3:30 am
Languages: English (n)
Italian
x 3289

Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Postby StringerBell » Sat Sep 28, 2019 1:40 pm

MamaPata wrote:I’ve signed up for this lingoda marathon. I don’t love lingoda but I do think it fulfils what I need at this precise moment and I think it will bring me to a comfortable B2.


Have you done a Lingoda marathon before? I don't know anything about it, so I read whatever info they had on their website. I'd love to hear about your experiences with it. It seems strange that the goal is to get 100% refund by attending an online class every single day for 3 months - I wonder how many people accomplish it?
2 x
Season 4 Lucifer Italian transcripts I created: https://learnanylanguage.fandom.com/wik ... ranscripts

User avatar
Olekander
Orange Belt
Posts: 205
Joined: Fri Jun 17, 2016 4:00 pm
Location: Moscow
Languages: Speaks: English (Native), French, Russian.
Studied: Latin, Catalan, Spanish, Mandarin, Czech, Ukrainian

Studying: Turkish
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2995
x 194
Contact:

Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Postby Olekander » Mon Oct 07, 2019 10:10 pm

I'm a teacher at a school that is more business than school, and I might hazard a guess that students who don't attend classes have a high drop out rate, which in turn affects their long term business plans. As for the product itself, no idea. Let us know your thoughts. It looks jolly expensive if the refund is up to 1400!
0 x
Да нет. :roll:

: 1000 / 1000 1,000 Russian words: started 15/06/2016 :)
: 15 / 365 365 scriptorium transcriptions: started 19/06/2016
: 2 / 1010 Russian books: 4/06/2016
: 3 / 2121 units of Parla.cat

User avatar
MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
x 1807

Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Postby MamaPata » Fri Oct 11, 2019 9:15 am

Yes, this is the last time they're doing the marathon (in this format at least) and they have put their prices up, so I suspect there is some struggle to keep people on. I don't know that I'll stay with it after this, though I would definitely consider it if I was going to learn German from scratch. I suspect most people don't get the refund - they have quite strict and fussy rules, and it is very easy for something to come up in your life.

I do like it - the classes are often quite small, though when there's more than 2 people, I do start to find it pretty useless. I don't love the materials, though I don't think they're bad as such. For me, the advantage is that is covers a proper organised system - different topics, helping you build through the level, working on different skills within each topic etc. I find that with italki, I tend to talk about the same sorts of things. This isn't a bad thing in itself - this is what I talk about most in English - but it does mean that when I don't know stuff, I really don't know it. Rick was talking in his log about an exercise he did with a language exchange about naming tools and I 100% couldn't do that. (Though in fairness, I would also struggle in English).

I wouldn't recommend it to everyone (and I don't think it would suit a lot of people on this site) but I would recommend it strongly to some people. I've gotten my mum doing it.
4 x
Corrections appreciated.

User avatar
MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
x 1807

Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Postby MamaPata » Mon Oct 21, 2019 6:32 pm

I went to see the Ukrainian film Homeward today, which is a) very good and b) linguistically interesting. It is very political, so I won't discuss the plot, but in terms of language, three langauges are spoken throughout: Crimean Tatar, Russian, and Ukrainian. I am also pretty sure that they speak some Arabic. There was a five minute introduction where I saw it and the guy said that he thinks this is one of the first films to be (largely) in Crimean Tatar. Does anyone know if that is the case or know of other films? Personally, I have to admit that I hadn't realised that there were multiple Tatar languages, so I now have several wikipedia tabs open!
1 x
Corrections appreciated.

User avatar
MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
x 1807

Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Postby MamaPata » Sun Oct 27, 2019 2:33 pm

Life continues. I'm not really doing much in Russian or French, but Spanish is going strong. In addition to the Lingoda, I'm doing an evening class about Spanish through films and books. It's not amazing (there's about 15 of us) but the teacher is very good. Maybe some people will drop out and it will be a bit more manageable! I thought about trying to swap, but I don't want to do a lower level, I don't have the time or brain space to start something new, there's not an appropriate Russian class and I can't make the French equivalent. This will do. It's not expensive, it'll be a useful cultural introduction, and the teacher is great.

I did listen to a couple of Russian podcasts. New to me: Boom Clap, which is about the history of music. I listened to the episode on the Byrds. I also met a Russian speaking friend, so he chatted to me in Russian a bit (which made me want to go and book some lessons!). My plans for next year have changed a bit to be more Russia focused but paradoxically, that means Russia has less of a place this year. I'm really trying to push some of the other areas this year, in order to have a wider basis in case I do end up with quite a Russia focus next year. (But also, given that possibility, probably should do a bit more work on my Russian!)

Not much of interest to report, sorry!
3 x
Corrections appreciated.

User avatar
MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
x 1807

Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Postby MamaPata » Thu Dec 26, 2019 7:48 pm

Happy Holidays! I hope everyone is doing well!

Well, it has apparently been two months since I posted. :oops: Everything has just been a bit intense. I finished the first term of my Masters (new university, new city), which I am doing full-time. I also got promoted at the organisation I work for three days a week and ended up being the only person in my team. This has been really great, but it also meant a huge increase in responsibilities and I was basically trying to cover everything that two of us were doing, while working part time. I am hoping that we will get someone else in February/March, but it's going to continue being a bit mad for a while.

Unsurprisingly, languages have slipped a bit. I didn't keep going to the Spanish course - I really liked the teacher, but it was such a huge class that I could tell I wasn't going to get enough out of it. But I finished the Lingoda half marathon (didn't "win" it due to some technical issues) and that has been really good for my Spanish. I have also been looking at Spanish cinema this term, so have been watching a lot of films in Spanish. (And a couple in Catalan, which was fun). My Spanish is slowly getting out of B1 level, which is nice. Still a long way to go before I'm happy with it though!

Russian and French have basically vanished, though they are coming back into rotation now that the marathon is finished.

In terms of the Super Challenge, it's not what I had hoped it would get to, though it's not bad. I am 250 pages off the reading challenge for French, finished both film challenges for French and Spanish, got to 68 "books" for Spanish. Let's not talk about Russian. :roll: I don't know if I will manage to finish the books for French, though I think it could be possible. I am visiting some friends though and my grandma is visiting, so no promises. I might do a wrap up post at the actual end of the year, we'll see.

2020

It feels a bit difficult to work out what I want from 2020. Until June, everything will be hectic with my studies and work. After June, it's all a bit up in the air. Things will quieten down a bit over the summer probably, but then I don't know. I have one potential option that I am working on, but it's not sorted on my end yet and I won't have any news for a few months.

Until June, the goal is just kind of to survive. I do want to keep languages up a bit more evenly than I have been, now that my Spanish is getting pretty close to the level of the other two (especially given that they have been so neglected!). I'm looking for some Spanish teachers to continue with now that Lingoda is finished, and I will be returning to my Italki favourites for French and Spanish. Russian remains very important for me, both professionally and academically, so I do want to get it halfway decent. And I love French and Spanish so they'll stay in play.

I think it is extremely unlikely that I will be able to pick up a new language, though I do one day want to return to Arabic and to learn Mandarin. Maybe I'll be able to do a bit for one of them over the summer when everything quietens right down.

Essentially, the plan for 2020 is to see what feels manageable and to work it out as I go. It's the sort of approach I hate, being someone who loves planning and goals, but it's all that's doable for now.
8 x
Corrections appreciated.

User avatar
MamaPata
Brown Belt
Posts: 1019
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 9:25 am
Location: London
Languages: English (N), French (C1*), Russian (B1), Spanish (B1).

Long lost: Arabic and Latin.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004
x 1807

Re: There are worse things I could do... (FR, RU, ES)

Postby MamaPata » Tue Mar 03, 2020 4:53 pm

Not much to report really as you can see from my 366-day challenge scores. As I've mentioned before, I'm currently doing a full-time intense Masters course and a part-time job (plus the day to day of life!). I also applied to a PhD programme, which has taken up a surprisingly large amount of time - these things are never as simple as you want them to be. As a result, I'm getting very burnt out. I have several deadlines coming up and I just don't have much left in me. Languages have therefore slipped a lot. I'm still getting bits and pieces but they're very limited.
5 x
Corrections appreciated.


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Sizen and 2 guests