Lilly's log - French, Russian, Spanish and Italian

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blaurebell
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Re: Lilly's log - French, Russian and Spanish

Postby blaurebell » Tue Jun 06, 2017 12:39 pm

Today I got totally side-tracked and randomly ended up checking out degree programs in French. First I was just looking for reading lists for Lettres modernes on a whim and ended up on the website of the university in Toulouse. Why Toulouse? Well, I know a photographer there and recently we talked about meeting up at some point to shoot some rolls. My own German university also has a partnership with them, so it was just at the back of my mind. After I found what I was looking for, I started randomly looking through their degree programs and thought that one or two looked fairly interesting. Well, I have dreamed about studying in France for like 10 years, but back when I had the chance it simply would have taken far too much time to learn French up to C1 and I had no time whatsoever. So, looking at that university website got me dreaming again. Toulouse is actually 4h away from here, so I decided to look for something closer instead. I stumbled over a university campus in Bayonne which is about an hour from here, went to the website of the university, found a pretty amazing Master related to art research and practice and for a glorious few moments I thought that studying this in French would be absolutely fantastic. It looked a tad better than the theoretical master in Spanish that I was considering too. I already saw myself driving to Bayonne, until I looked at the contact details for the course and realised that this course is actually taught in Pau like most courses of that university. They only teach business stuff in Bayonne! Pau is 2h away which is way too long a commute :cry: So, very quickly I was back at the websites of the two master programs I was considering over here in Spain - both in the next bigger town - and it turns out one of them even offers stipends now!

But then, can someone explain to me why I'm looking at master programs when I'm in the middle of a PhD and have no time whatsoever for the next 2-3 years? And all because I was looking for French reading lists for which I don't have time right now either. I really have the attention span of a 5 year old :roll: Oh look a butterfly ...

At least my little excursion confirmed that focussing on Spanish rather than French is the right choice now. I realise more and more that French is my favourite language right now and I can't get enough of it, so focusing on French is actually very tempting. We also live right at the French border, so it would be totally conceivable to use just as much French as Spanish once we have a car. With these future options in mind I better focus on Spanish first though! It's already a bit laughable that my reading comprehension in French is better than my reading comprehension in Spanish now, so I really need to get my act together! Besides, it's not as if I plan to keep French and Russian passive forever. After I get my Spanish up to an all around solid C1, I will follow the same plan for French and over a longer period also for my Russian. I actually expect to have Spanish and French at C1 and Russian at B2+ at the end of my PhD. And who knows what changes 2-3 years might bring! Maybe we even move away from this region altogether!

In any case, I have another confirmation why FSI Spanish Basic is the way to go right now. I simply see no other way of getting to a level of Spanish solid enough for Master level study programs. I made so many mistakes with learning Spanish that grammar gulag is the only way out now! Fingers crossed that I can stay motivated long enough!
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blaurebell
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Re: Lilly's log - French, Russian and Spanish

Postby blaurebell » Wed Jun 07, 2017 12:54 pm

The other day we booked the flights for the visit of my in-laws in October. They are coming over from Argentina and are staying for a whole month. This means that I will get full-on speaking practice for a month! My parents are coming too, so it will be a bit of a mess, translating back and forth between Spanish, German and English. I'm fairly used to switching between two languages, but three not so much! And then there is also a Paris trip planned for about 5 days, which will be my first time in Paris! I've been dreaming of going to Paris for so long, I'm very much looking forward to it! The last few days since we planned the trip I've been wondering whether I should make some effort to activate my French until then, but frankly between my husband and his mother who can sort of get by in French I don't think there is much need for me to speak. And if there is a pressing need and I'm surrounded by French it starts to sort of pour out of me anyway. I think my energies are better spent continuing with my Spanish mission, since I'm likely to use much more Spanish during our Paris trip than French.

In the last 10 weeks I've spent more than 300h on Spanish and I definitely feel a difference. Watching stuff in Spanish is now thoroughly relaxing again and I don't have to make any effort to understand unless there are special circumstances - crying children, singing with bad audio quality, that sort of thing. I also make less mistakes when speaking. I still have quite a bit of work in front of me - several grammar courses and 5000 pages intensive reading challenge this year, output challenge next year - but I think I'm already about a third of the way through my Spanish to C1 mission. I think I might even do the actual C1 exam at the end, just so that I have the piece of paper in case I ever need it for some sort of university application.

I'm also really comfortable reading in French at the moment and I can read about 40 average novel pages in an hour. Every day I give myself 2h of PhD related reading and these happen in French right now. They will continue to be in French until the break in August when I will focus all my energies on Russian, but when I take up PhD reading again in September I will continue in Spanish for the rest of the year, so that I can finish my Spanish intensive reading SC before the end of the year. My plan for this Super Challenge is actually quite ambitious: 10,000 pages French (81% done), 300h French audio (96% done), 5000 pages intensive reading Russian (5% done), 5000 pages intensive reading Spanish (4% done), 300h Spanish audio (83% done). I think I can make it, but it will definitely take until the end of the year. Right now I'm mostly watching stuff in Spanish and reading in French for work and pleasure. Once I'm done with the Spanish audio SC and the French reading SC I'll switch things around to Spanish reading and French watching, although I will probably stick with French reading at bedtime. My Russian reading SC will take a bit more effort and I will try very hard to finish it before the end of the year. If I manage earlier I might also make a stab at a Russian audio SC, but I doubt very much that I'll manage that too. So, my page numbers should ideally look like this at the end of 2017: French, Spanish: 10,000 pages, Russian: 5000 pages. I will then continue with 5000 pages for each language per year until I hit 20,000 in 2019 for French and Spanish, 2020 for Russian. I will also attempt to get to 1500+h audio for each language by that time and also add grammar (FSI + progressive grammar books) + output mission for each language.

So, right now I'm on track. I just need to continue with what I'm doing and I will reach all my language learning goals.
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Re: Lilly's log - French, Russian and Spanish

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Wed Jun 07, 2017 4:56 pm

blaurebell wrote:(...)I will then continue with 5000 pages for each language per year until I hit 20,000 in 2019 for French and Spanish, 2020 for Russian. I will also attempt to get to 1500+h audio for each language by that time and also add grammar (FSI + progressive grammar books) + output mission for each language.


Wow, this is what I call goal setting. Impressive.
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blaurebell
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Re: Lilly's log - French, Russian and Spanish

Postby blaurebell » Thu Jun 08, 2017 11:33 am

Actually it's less of a goal and more of an observation, at least for my input plans. I read about 15,000 - 25,000 pages a year even when I'm not pushing too hard (2h in the morning, 1h at night) and I'm just switching my PhD to full time which will add another 2h of reading to my schedule. I need Spanish, Russian and French for it, so I'll just choose my sources to maximise my TL reading and my estimates might actually be somewhat conservative. I also procrastinate with TV and do all sorts of photography stuff with audiobooks, radio documentaries and podcasts in the background and I already have about 1200 of those 4500h audio done! Again, it might actually be somewhat of a conservative estimate! The only effort is to direct my reading and watching/listening in such a way that I get equal exposure instead of reading most stuff in French and watching in Spanish or something like that. Once I get my Russian to B2 comprehension the only actual language learning that will require any additional effort for the next few years is the grammar + output missions, 1h a day. So, 1h of additional effort and I'll hopefully have 3 languages at C1 at the end.

The funny thing is: I never even planned to do this PhD, I was just reading stuff, noticed it was going into a particular direction, happened to be talking with an old friend of mine who just got a professorship and he talked me into doing the PhD instead of simply writing a collection of articles independently. I'm actually a photographer by profession and write for a photography magazine. Why am I switching to full-time then? Well, I have some time-constraints because my parents will be retiring in 2020 and moving away from my university, which will make supervision more difficult. I'm also noticing more and more that I've reached the limit of what I can do photographically in this town until I get my foot into some doors. And to open those doors I need to get my languages up to speed and definitely beyond "good enough". People need to take me seriously and that's difficult to achieve when you speak like a 5yr old :roll: I deliberately chose my PhD topic for Spanish and Russian, the French just sort of happened accidentally on the side and by chance it's actually super useful.

I was always like that, killing 2 birds with 1 stone whenever I could. During my first degree I noticed that I had 30% overlap with the philosophy program in the school, so I enrolled in both courses and actually got 1 1/2 degrees for the price of one. I also did a lot better in my main degree because of the additional courses and had a much richer social life. The strange thing is that this time I'm killing two birds with one stone I hadn't planned on tackling, at least not in this way. I've been wondering whether I've not been roped into something that is wrong for me, but the last few months I've actually been rather enthusiastic about it, mainly because of the language learning aspect. And I was quite frustrated with my long-term photography project here that has me groaning with boredom lately. I think I'm better off reducing that project to 10-15 rolls a month rather than pushing for 30 and going nuts over uncooperative weather and circumstances. Preserving my sanity.
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Re: Lilly's log - French, Russian and Spanish

Postby blaurebell » Thu Jun 08, 2017 2:45 pm

I just found out that the photography technique course I signed up for was cancelled because there weren't enough people interested. It's a 19th century technique - rather specific -, so I shouldn't be that surprised. But then, this stupid little town does really nothing but sabotage my photography ...! It's so annoying! I was so much looking forward to it also because it would have been 12h of speaking practice, meeting people, maybe getting some photography contacts over here! Ah, well. So much for having a social life with actual people in 3D :roll:

The course was also an additional motivation to get through FSI Volume 1 and 2 this month and now I kinda don't see the point. My in-laws are coming in October, but that's months away, so why am I torturing myself with it now? You know the usual kind of doubts that annoy us when we have to do something less than enjoyable ...! In the end I still sat down and did my hour of FSI. 11 units done. Bad mood though and for the nth time questioning why I'm here in the first place. Really, I'm doing my best to try and make my life here more sustainable, but this damn town isn't making it easy at all.
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Re: Lilly's log - French, Russian and Spanish

Postby blaurebell » Fri Jun 09, 2017 2:16 pm

Motivation is a tricky beast. Internal motivation, external motivation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation. On those particularly tough days when absolutely nothing seems to make any sense and one simply wants to stay in bed and let the day pass without moving, there is simply nothing that helps. I actually have a pretty good system of routines that keeps me going even when I'm in low spirits, but on days as low as yesterday and today I feel like it all is a little bit of a joke. I mean, what's the point of improving my Spanish when nobody wants to speak to me anyway? :roll: I won't bore you with the details, but I'm painfully aware that most of my goals drag a whole bunch of reasons for existential crises in their wake. I'm even more painfully aware that I'm simply in the wrong place and that I have no means to change my situation. All I can do is get up and carry on, no matter how stupid it all feels. And since I've been dealing with existential crises repeatedly for many many years I actually logged 5.5h yesterday anyway.

As for the details: I finished another Irène Némirovsky book which was again very good. I read in Russian for about an hour and reached 10% of my second book in Russian. I did an hour of FSI Spanish and watched some Mar de plástico. The longer it goes on the more the typical TV writing is coming out: pretty much everyone is a suspect at some point and it's getting ridiculously unbelievable. I also somehow convinced my husband to watch an episode of The revenants with me. I wonder whether that was just a fluke or if he will want to continue watching. To me it looks very interesting though!
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Re: Lilly's log - French, Russian and Spanish

Postby coldrainwater » Sat Jun 10, 2017 1:20 am

blaurebell wrote:Motivation is a tricky beast. Internal motivation, external motivation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation.


Motivation is crazy fickle but luckily deeply engrained habits tend to offer more consistency. This may not flow in the direction of your thoughts, but one factor we typically do have control over is our structural motivation. When I was stuck temporarily in an apartment that I wasn't fond of, I took a few steps that might or might not help you. One of my favorites was to do tripping or staycations where I would literally Hotwire a room each weekend (it could be quite random indeed). Within my apartment, I would tend to move the furniture around in some very odd ways to create refreshing differences (same with temperature control for example). Making the right call at any given moment leading to a decent motivational situation feels like a skill that can be developed. For sure there are days where it just doesn't seem to work out!
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Re: Lilly's log - French, Russian and Spanish

Postby blaurebell » Sat Jun 10, 2017 11:27 am

coldrainwater wrote:Motivation is crazy fickle but luckily deeply engrained habits tend to offer more consistency. This may not flow in the direction of your thoughts, but one factor we typically do have control over is our structural motivation. When I was stuck temporarily in an apartment that I wasn't fond of, I took a few steps that might or might not help you. One of my favorites was to do tripping or staycations where I would literally Hotwire a room each weekend (it could be quite random indeed). Within my apartment, I would tend to move the furniture around in some very odd ways to create refreshing differences (same with temperature control for example). Making the right call at any given moment leading to a decent motivational situation feels like a skill that can be developed. For sure there are days where it just doesn't seem to work out!


Thanks for the suggestions! The opportunities for changing my current situation are somewhat limited sadly because my health is often too precarious for air travel. Otherwise I'd just travel more. The next bigger city and airport can actually only be reached by coach efficiently and that journey gives me terrible motion sickness - mountain roads. And flying from here is especially annoying too because of mountain winds, small planes and all that. I still try to get out for city trips 2 or 3 times a year, but it's a bit of a problem when every city worth photographing is about 3-6h away by train. And that's maybe 2-4 weeks at most a year. For the rest of the time I'm pacing like a caged animal and feel like I can't work.

I've lived in less than ideal situations for years, dangerous neighbourhoods, extremely annoying flatmates or neighbours, cramped living conditions, not enough money for food and/or furniture. I don't think I've ever lived in as good conditions as these. We've got enough space for our books, the city is safe and pretty, there is a beach 10min down the road. It's all very good ... on paper. Sometimes I feel really annoyed at myself, because these seem like such first world problems in comparison to my previous problems. But then, having almost no real social contacts and being pretty much unable to work in my chosen profession are not such small problems when I think about it.

I think the solution might be to get a car. That way I could at least drive to all the little towns in the region and to the next city without the motion sickness - I don't normally get motion sickness in cars especially not when I'm driving myself. Coaches and certain trains are terrible though! So far I've resisted the car idea because I don't need a car in the city - I walk mostly - and I didn't want to / couldn't deal with a driving instructor in Spanish either. Also, one needs a way to fold space-time to find a parking space here, so my husband was always somewhat against it. He's getting less reluctant now because he sees that I'm going a bit nuts over being stuck in this small town. I guess in November when I'll be through most of the basic grammar mission and lots of speaking in Spanish I will be in a better position to deal with all the driving licence red tape. That at least should make working around here a lot easier. I have no idea how to solve the social contacts problem though. I've pretty much tried everything apart from doing a 1-2year course. I only have time for that in about 3 years though, which means another 3 years of being pretty much completely isolated. That thought totally scares me.
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blaurebell
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Re: Lilly's log - French, Russian and Spanish

Postby blaurebell » Sat Jun 10, 2017 12:20 pm

Coming back to language learning: Since I wasn't too motivated I just focussed on French yesterday, reading and watching stuff. French is definitely my favourite language at the moment. I'm almost done with the French translation of the first Expanse book and I'm reading another very interesting Irène Némirovsky book, Suite française, her most famous one. We also watched more of Les Revenants and I'm enjoying it a lot. Interestingly my brother is now also trying to improve his French which was one of the subjects he hated in school. One of his friends is married to a French guy and I think that helped to make him see what a nice language it is! And of course seeing me pick up French so easily might also have helped to make it seem less "impossible" to him. By the way, if it was up to me I'd be doing FSI French rather than FSI Spanish right now. It's killing me that I'll be going to Paris this October before having activated my French. But well, if I want to overcome some of my problems living here in Spain, I really have to focus on that right now. I'll get to FSI French eventually and then I'll make sure to arrange for a month long visit to Paris afterwards, probably scheduled around some photography workshops or immersion school.

And even though I wasn't really motivated I still did another half hour of FSI Spanish, so not entirely bad for a day where I thought I wouldn't do anything that was proper studying. I have now finished 12 units and I will continue with it according to my schedule - FSI Spanish Basic Volume 1 and 2, GdUdE B, FSI Volume 3 and 4. Three more units to finish volume 1.
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Re: Lilly's log - French, Russian and Spanish

Postby blaurebell » Sun Jun 11, 2017 2:37 pm

Yesterday I got some fantastic news about work I submitted for some exhibition calls. I was hoping for succeeding in one call and instead got in with two! This means I already broke my record and have work in at least 3 exhibitions this year, all of them in the US so far. You can imagine that I was busy with a bit of red tape and celebration yesterday instead of focussing much on language learning. In the end I even went out to take some pictures, but it's getting closer and closer to summer, which means that I need to walk a lot to catch anything beyond the usual hordes of tourists. 5.5km to be exact! It's like pulling teeth these days and the project keeps being somewhat stuck. But then, it has been stuck since I started it 2 years ago, so not exactly new. Later today I'll go grind another roll and maybe something happens then. Probably not, but I guess I have to keep trying.

By the way, most of this success with exhibitions is helped along by the contacts I make and this is another reason why I desperately need to improve my Spanish. If I want to have any success around here instead of across the pond or in Germany I actually have to get my foot in the door somehow and connect to some more of the local community. I actually know photographers in Barcelona, but I'm not particularly close with them, because we have a language barrier in two directions: I'm embarrassed by my Spanish and they are embarrassed by their English. It's obvious that we won't be speaking much. So, better work on my Spanish to get that barrier out of the way! Speaking of language barriers, today I actually requested an interview for the magazine in Spanish! Tells you how much I want that interview when I'm willing to do the extra work of writing the questions in Spanish and then translating the whole thing into English. The 278 words of the request took me about 50min. I made only two little mistakes and didn't always use the most common way of expressing things, but generally not bad at all for someone who never writes in Spanish. And, here comes the big triumph: I used all the tenses correctly and even got pretty much all my subjunctives right. Image The only subjunctive I missed was one that wouldn't necessarily be used in spoken language, but I was wondering about whether I shouldn't use it there. I should probably listen to my gut feeling more. In any case, with a bit of luck I'll be writing some more Spanish soon if the interview works out.

Other successes: I managed to finish Unit 13 of FSI Spanish. A couple more units and I'll be done with Volume 1. I sometimes have to grind my teeth about all the sexism, but I'm progressing through it at a good pace. Not too terribly unbearable actually, although it's of course repetitive.

I also finished the French translation of the first book of The Expanse which was really enjoyable. It took me a while, because it's about 600 pages long and I threw in some comics in between, but generally I never thought of abandoning it. With this long book done, I'm now up to 8967 pages! There might even be a chance that I will finish my first 10,000 pages before the 11th of July. Why is that date significant? Well, it will mark one year since I started learning French! I have 5h left to finish my first 300h of French audio and just about 1000 pages to read. I think it might be doable, which means that I will have finished a Double SC of French in a year although I started from scratch, not bad at all!
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: 20 / 100 Дэвид Эддингс - В поисках камня
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: 17 / 55 FSI Spanish Basic
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