Stefan's log [DE] [FR] [DK]

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Stefan
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Re: Stefan's log [DE] [FR] [DK]

Postby Stefan » Sun Jun 18, 2017 3:01 pm

Er ist wieder da

Image

Adolf Hitler (Oliver Masucci) wakes up in present-day Berlin with no memory of anything that happened after 1945. It's a big transition for him but when he comes to term with it, he quickly sees the potential in internet and 24/7 TV. People first assume that he's a performance artist and his comedy is a huge success. As time goes by, a growing number of people are starting to see it as accurate critique of our society and praise him when they meet...

The film is based on a satirical bestseller and became a financial success. One of the teasers sold it to me with its documentary style and meetings with real people. Unfortunately it's also a very uneven comedy. I found a few of the conversations to be really funny and the film toed the line of what you can joke about but at times they regressed to boring slapstick humor. The storyline with Fabian Sawatzki (Fabian Busch) also leaves a lot to be desired with a cliché so common and hated that Family Guy made fun of it years ago.

It's an interesting idea but the execution was poorly done. I'm told the novel is better.

Read more about it on Wikipedia.
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Stefan
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Re: Stefan's log [DE] [FR] [DK]

Postby Stefan » Mon Jun 19, 2017 12:08 pm

Eva über Bord

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Eva (Julia Hartmann) is a journalist looking for her big breakthrough. She joins a big cargo ship under the pretext that she wants to write about life onboard but secretly she's hoping for a story about modern pirates. In a twist of fate, she gets kidnapped by pirates and has to work together with a smuggler named Nik (Stephan Luca) to survive.

It's the classic adventure comedy from the eighties and reminds me of Romancing the Stone. The fighting scenes go along the line of throwing something into the air and then taking the opportunity to punch them in the face while everyone stares at the object. The comedy and storyline isn't great so you probably need to love the genre to really appreciate it. Personally I don't, but I'm willing to try any movie that isn't just another crime drama.

Read more about it on IMDb.
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Stefan
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Re: Stefan's log [DE] [FR] [DK]

Postby Stefan » Tue Jun 20, 2017 8:53 am

Nicht mein Tag

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Till (Axel Stein) is a family man and the perfect employee at a bank for 15 years. He loves hard rock but his own life is a in a boring rut until one day when a bank robbery turn into a kidnappning and he starts to wonder if this might be a blessing in disguise.

Nicht mein Tag is a well-made action comedy directed by Peter Thorwarth, known for his involvement in Die Welle and Bang Boom Bang. The story isn't deep or unique (road movie) but the actors had good chemistry together. As I pointed out earlier, action isn't my favourite genre and they went overboard at times with unrealistic events but I still enjoyed it.

Read more about it on Wikipedia.
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Stefan
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Re: Stefan's log [DE] [FR] [DK]

Postby Stefan » Thu Jun 22, 2017 8:15 am

My resources for learning French

After consistency, I reckon my main issue when learning German was that I jumped between courses and spent more time looking for material than actually studying. To avoid this when learning french, I will be more strict with the plan and only allow myself to use the courses included here.

It's a bit depressing though to see what a huge task language learning is.



My material

Dover Essential French Grammar
A more advanced grammar book?

Assimil Französisch ohne Mühe [with Anki] (113 lessons)
Assimil Using French (70 lessons)
Assimil Business French

French in Action part 1 & 2 textbook (52 lessons)
French in Action part 1 & 2 workbook
French in action part 1 & 2 audio
French in Action part 1 & 2 study guide
52 video lessons

LWT (or similar)
Graded readers
Subs2srs (Avatar, ...)
Lingvist (5000 words)

Native books (Kindle)
Native movies (rePlay)

Backup

Since I can't predict the future, I'm also listing backup material. This is not included in my current plan but if my conditions change and I need to spend three hours a day in a car or want to abandon FiA, then I have alternatives to stay productive.

FSI
Pimsleur
Hugo in 3 months



My plan

The first goal will be to finish Assimil by doing a daily lesson and reviews. The first two courses could be completed at the end of this year (not likely). Then I'll move on to French in Action. I'm still blissfully ignorant about the difficulty of FiA but ideally I'll be able to complete one lesson a week while entertaining myself with subs2srs. If I get this far, it shouldn't be a problem moving on to native material.
Last edited by Stefan on Thu Jun 22, 2017 2:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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schlaraffenland
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Re: Stefan's log [DE] [FR] [DK]

Postby schlaraffenland » Thu Jun 22, 2017 8:42 am

Stefan wrote:It's a bit depressing though to see what a huge task language learning is.


Right there with you, both with French learning and with this sentiment :lol:

I'm excited to watch your progress as the second half of the year unfolds!
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PeterMollenburg
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Re: Stefan's log [DE] [FR] [DK]

Postby PeterMollenburg » Thu Jun 22, 2017 1:09 pm

Just looking at your ressource list for French. Do you have the audio content for FIA as well? It's a pretty important component of the course.

As for being depressed about the big task of learning a language, my advice is to take in one day at a time and enjoy the moment. Easier said than done perhaps, but still not a bad way to look at things, imo. Good luck with your French Stefan!
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Stefan
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Re: Stefan's log [DE] [FR] [DK]

Postby Stefan » Thu Jun 22, 2017 3:14 pm

schlaraffenland wrote:I'm excited to watch your progress as the second half of the year unfolds!

Don't be too excited though, I have a bad track record. :)

PeterMollenburg wrote:Just looking at your ressource list for French. Do you have the audio content for FIA as well? It's a pretty important component of the course.

Thanks. I do have the audio and updated the post now but I'm still missing the study guides. I'm not sure how important those are?
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Re: Stefan's log [DE] [FR] [DK]

Postby PeterMollenburg » Thu Jun 22, 2017 11:39 pm

Stefan wrote:
PeterMollenburg wrote:Just looking at your ressource list for French. Do you have the audio content for FIA as well? It's a pretty important component of the course.

Thanks. I do have the audio and updated the post now but I'm still missing the study guides. I'm not sure how important those are?


They're not essential. They are written entirely in English. They're useful mainly because of these reasons-
1. To a first time language learner who might feel lost being thrown in the deep end in an immersion program, as they are entirely in English.
2. To those who love detail and want more information behind each of the exercises in FIA in terms of detailed explanations.
3. They help you understand the objectives of the course (what you should be doing and how) and the objectives of each exercise.

I use them when using FIA. They were useful when I first started using the course, as a first time serious language learner- there is a little more detail on things such as phonetics and syllable division, which can even be useful to people who have already learned another language. There is a tad more detail on some of the documents (usually writings related to French literature), explaining there origins and such.

You are likely to be able to find a second hand copy for of each of the study guides for pretty cheap on amazon, if interested. At a quick glance the first one can be bought for under 3 US dollars, but not sure if it can be posted internationally, while the second for a tad over $10. If you feel you might need every bit of extra information to assist in making it to the end of FIA, a pretty massive course, then I'd recommend them as 'support measures'. But, as I said, they're not essential.
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Re: Stefan's log [DE] [FR] [DK]

Postby Xenops » Fri Jun 23, 2017 2:06 am

I'm also here to cheer you on. :D Let's conquer French together!
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Stefan
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Re: Stefan's log [DE] [FR] [DK]

Postby Stefan » Mon Jun 26, 2017 2:20 pm

PeterMollenburg wrote:If you feel you might need every bit of extra information to assist in making it to the end of FIA, a pretty massive course, then I'd recommend them as 'support measures'. But, as I said, they're not essential.

Alright, thanks. You convinced me to buy it once it's time to start the course.
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