Il viaggio di Shandra

[shandra]

...non ho la disciplina per studiare...

Let's found the group "The Undisciplined", aka the Language Learning Rebels With the subtitle "They know what they should do, but they don't apply themselves"

I find it difficult to write in Italian

Considering that you've devoted most of your time to French, that now you're committed with Tswana and that you're focusing on spoken Italian, your writing is clear and understandable. (Probably I forgot Mandarin).

I think that our weak point is this urge to explore more language at a time. I can't speak for you, but I need it

[Neurotip]

Eccomi ancora qui non invitato sul tuo log ma mi sentivo costretto a rispondere (e a sfruttare l'occasione di scrivere in italiano). Forse ciascuno di noi due abbia ragioni diversi per imparare la lingua dell'altro/a, ma per me devo dire che sono fermo anch'io a un livello intermedio di conoscenza (dell'italiano) e ne sono contentissimo. Ho scelto anch'io di imparare per leggere, e un pochissimo per ascoltare, e ho parlato italiano meno di cinque ore nella mia vita, ma quando si presenta l'occasione riesco di parlare un po' e questo mi piace tantissimo.

Non è la prima volta che l'ho detto, ma mi sembra che tu sottovaluta la tua competenza nell'inglese. Non riempi i tuoi post di errori, o almeno i più veniali. Inoltre credo che usando una lingua si migliori anche se non sia ovvio, soprattutto quando si trova a un livello intermedio.

Coraggio!
(e se trovi tempo di correggere quello che ho scritto...)

[shandra]

@Neurotip

Thanks a lot for your kind support!

I sent you a PM with some corrections. As you'll see, only some concordance.

[shandra]

Today I listened to the first two chapters of Peter Pan. Then I L/R in L2, catching some expressions previously missed.

I don't know if I'll listen to it further because that boy is one of my least favorite characters in literature

[shandra]

I've tried to take advantage of this day of holiday with:

• Clozemaster's Fast Track
• Swan's Practical English Usage
• Compact First

The train with my in-laws arrives this evening.
I'll have to leave my Fortress of Solitude and be sociable for an unspecified period of time. I fear for a week, at least.

[shandra]

I started my morning daydreaming about looking for language accomplices pals for a German A1 group. Total beginners like me, using as main textbook Begegnungen A1+.

Then I woke up completely

Although it could be a good idea in term of accountability, it would steal time to my English mission.

I do my exercises from Complete First, but I skip the Listening and Writing ones. I haven't loaded yet the mp3s on my phone. And I haven't found yet a good mood for improving my nonexistent writing skills.

For those two skills I think that I'll use dedicated textbooks.

I'm going to a Muji shop looking for coloured pens and highlighters. I want to fix in my mind new expressions instead of simply read them and go on to the next text. It will involve more handwriting.

Nice stationery makes me happy.

[dampingwire]

I started my morning daydreaming about looking for language accomplices pals for a German A1 group. Total beginners like me, using as main textbook Begegnungen A1+.

Nice textbook. I really should sit down and use it consistently rather than flip from resource to resource ...

[shandra]

They announced the date of the exam.

25 September in the morning, the preselection, and in the afternoon the real text (both consist of 30 multiple choice questions).
1637 people enrolled. The aim of the preselection is having only 300 sitting on the official quiz.
If I pass, I sit for the practical part (writing a short administrative document) after three days.
The last step will be the oral exam.

I can't wait to put a full stop on all this exam thing. I need a real pause (I mean without feeling guilty).

In my free time, I want to have fun studying languages.

[shandra]

Due to its connection to the new school year, September marks a sort of new beginning for me. It doesn't matter that my last year as a student was in 2007.

This time I have that law exam scheduled for the 25 and 28 of this month. So I hope I could spend my free time on language-related activities from October on.

Among my problem concerning time management: I can't spend the time I'd like on TV series because my fiance is not interested in languages. He doesn't like to read subs for series already dubbed in Italian. Sometimes he put a movie in the background while working without giving it enough attention, so he needs to catch the main plot points in our language. And sometimes our tastes simply don't match.
I could watch videos on my phone using headphones, but I am aware that it is really rude. You know, sitting together while in reality, I live in my own (language) bubble.
Anyway last weekend we watched a Japanese sub anime, a good thing for my official 6WC and for the time we share together.

My 6WC is going well, all in all, and I think it could be useful to continue to track my activities in my spreadsheet after its ending.

I know I will do two things: improve my English and waste invest precious time on new projects. For example something like Middle Egyptian (hieroglyphs), Hindi or Sanscrit (Devanagari), German. All without feeling guilty.

I think that books like Teach Yourself or similar could help me with those side projects. I can buy one for each language, put all on my shelf and spend half an hour with one of them, once in a while, when I need to escape from the English Realm.

It sounds relaxing: no fluency needed, only reading skill trained.

What do you think about it?
What would be your side project, having time?

[StringerBell]

mi sembra che tu sottovaluta la tua competenza nell'inglese.

Sono d'accorda! Mi piace leggere i tuoi scrittori e pensieri sull'apprendimento dell'inglese.