Hedgehogs: Creatures of the Night (ES)

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
coldrainwater
Blue Belt
Posts: 686
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 4:53 am
Location: Magnolia, TX
Languages: EN(N), ES(rusty), DE(), FR(studies)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7636
x 2381

June Update

Postby coldrainwater » Fri Jun 09, 2017 5:11 am

I held off a bit on updating my journal in favor of additional language practice. Tonight that changes though!

Listening

Living life with a language attached to your forearm is an interesting experience. Tuning in and tuning out, I rifle through podcasts at an acceptable clip. As a rookie podcast listener, what I noticed is that the days passed much faster as listening hours increased, almost as if life during the last week or two passed by at a jog rather than a walk. I tend to miss the thinking time that I am accustomed to having and I appreciate that time more when audio is off than I did with virgin ears. The listening becomes more habitual with relative ease and I tend to feel that there is little to no warm up period required when I hit play. Podcast comprehension increases modestly and acceptably for hours invested as I blitz a given podcast. My comprehension percentage may not be high enough right now for me to learn deeply from podcasts, but there should be a smell the roses moment soonish where I hone the podcast themes to the type of advanced material that I plan to use in the long-run. As irony would have it, it takes thinking time for those notions to mull and surface and the melody of ES pods will need to see silence long enough to grab the fresh materials. Listening hours fluctuate somewhat daily but have generally fallen between 2 and 6. Average has likely been 4+ of late though that may need to change as I have reason to employ the noggin for problem-solving and catching up on life.

As promised, I tried incorporating cartoons, anime, and puppet shows to my listening routine as podcasts. The background noises and many sound effects rendered the experience far less useful than it might have been otherwise. Additionally, I would love to use podcasts to acquire new knowledge (often academic style) and those audio types seem to diverge substantially from my area of interest. Therefore my tentative conclusion is to follow the more traditional route of using podcasts for podcasts and (every once in awhile) watching cartoons or movies up to my very limited visual tolerance.

Grammar

I have been reasonably disciplined and am making slow but steady progress through the Practice Makes Perfect grammar series. The good news is that my grammar is every bit as weak as I thought it was so my nightly time invested appears worthwhile. I cheat substantially and invest more time in areas that I deem tougher and less familiar. On said material, I have consistently written out many of the answers by hand, still cheating as needed to keep the pace reasonable. At the moment, I'd say that several efforts that I have made to pick up grammar indirectly are not even close to a good substitute for a series like Practice Makes Perfect. I am seeing far too many concepts and language usage points that feel shiny and new. I feel good about my decision to attack grammar now that I have identified the state of affairs. That is granting me substantial motivation to plow through material that I might have benefited less from at other times. I like the language patterns but am subject to similar boredom rules as are we all. A smarter me might have hit grammar somewhere around the 3-8 month mark on studying, but I have to keep in mind that I had major work priorities then and no listening skills.

Reading

Going back to the fundamentals and touching grammar takes patience, but I can smell blood. If I had planned anything from the beginning, it was very much that I had no intention of firing on grammar until I could the see the whites of its eyes. The grammar pass will quickly allow for extensive reading and it has been more than 9 months since I have really allowed myself to read Spanish at length as a dedicated priority. I am not sure how long it will take me to finish that first grammar pass, but I suspect I'll be done with it by sometime in August as long as life does not get in the way. I am planning a trip with my father at the end of August, so that should shake up the world a little. With stronger vocabulary relative to grammar, I developed what I consider to be a bad reading habit of understanding the reading material quite acceptably without the grammar. This has some major downsides and can often lead to misunderstanding. Reading is a long-term top priority of mine and I don't plan on giving the grammar part short shrift.

Speaking
Last weekend, I did 90 minutes with an italki tutor that I had 1-2 prior sessions with last Decemberish. I suppose that adds up to about 270 minutes of formal tutoring. My tutor was skilled enough that he was able to keep 98% of the conversation completely in Spanish where I could fully understand what he was saying and respond in Spanish without using English. We both had a decent capacity to keep the conversation balanced and I would say we both spoke roughly half the time. We conveyed a few concepts in English via writing when it made sense to do so. I could see tutoring as a substantial benefit if I had even half a mind to jump on italki with regularity.
1 x

User avatar
coldrainwater
Blue Belt
Posts: 686
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 4:53 am
Location: Magnolia, TX
Languages: EN(N), ES(rusty), DE(), FR(studies)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7636
x 2381

Dialang - la primera prueba (escuchar) = A2 (mi nivel)

Postby coldrainwater » Sat Jun 17, 2017 10:25 pm

As far as online tests are concerned, I am impressed with my first experience using Dialang (thanks reineke for the link). Of the different areas offered, I completed the listening test first. Some bullets:

    Out of 30 questions, I answered 15 accurately scoring an overall A2 in listening comprehension.
    It appears my strongest area is general comprehension and my weakest area may be inference.
    I used ES as my interface language for testing so any questions asked or answers written by me were provided in Spanish.
    I answered 9 questions correctly in the last half of the test but only 6 correctly in the first half.
    I had my boombox speakers on for the very first question and could not comprehend any aspect of it. Similar to English, it just sounded like a thudding bass.
    I used suboptimal earbuds for the rest of it and improved the sound quality by making sure they were pressed into my ears.
    Traffic noise outside was quite heavy and that is why I took the measures to improve hearing.
Based on that data and my own subjective thoughts, I believe my test taking skills improved as I was moving through the questions and that likely accounted for the higher score at the end of the lesson. I also did not properly follow the instructions on 1-2 early questions. Retakes might confirm or deny if they have a large enough question bank to avoid repetition. I am very happy that my self-evaluation so far matches my test scores. See images for actual score distribution. I exited the results window before getting all snapshot results but did manage to jing the first two so you can see.

Image
Image
Last edited by coldrainwater on Sun Jun 18, 2017 6:09 am, edited 5 times in total.
1 x

User avatar
coldrainwater
Blue Belt
Posts: 686
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 4:53 am
Location: Magnolia, TX
Languages: EN(N), ES(rusty), DE(), FR(studies)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7636
x 2381

Dialang - la segunda prueba (comprensión lectora) = B2 (mi nivel tentativa)

Postby coldrainwater » Sun Jun 18, 2017 12:34 am

La prueba

    Out of 30 questions, I answered 28 reading comprehension questions correctly and missed two.
    I believe one question I missed was a joke and I simply didn't follow the punchline. The other was likely an error I made of some type.

Resultados

Image

Comentarios (edited after I realized the mistakes I made taking the test)

    In short, I botched this test.
    The difficulty of the questions is determined on how I answered the self-assessment.
    As a result, I believe I was given a test that was too easy due to my lack of concern in filling out the early portions of the form (my mistake).
    I realize that question difficulty on some tests is based on the test taker's initial guesses, but I wasn't really expecting that here.
    I was expecting the full spectrum of difficulty and that is not how this test is designed.
    After glancing at the list of real/fake, it looked like some of the same words were showing up as were provided on the listening section so I ignored it (mistake)
    My overall score was B2.

Since I have largely ignored vocabulary, I believe I might try that test next to establish a baseline before starting my extensive reading. I'll make sure to actually pay attention to the real/invented list and give it an honest effort. The grammar/writing portions would be fun to take as well to see what difference one month+ of dedicated daily grammar study (1-2 hours daily) has made.
Last edited by coldrainwater on Sun Jun 18, 2017 6:08 am, edited 5 times in total.
0 x

User avatar
coldrainwater
Blue Belt
Posts: 686
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 4:53 am
Location: Magnolia, TX
Languages: EN(N), ES(rusty), DE(), FR(studies)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7636
x 2381

Dialang - la tercera prueba (vocabulario) = B2 (mi nivel)

Postby coldrainwater » Sun Jun 18, 2017 2:13 am

La prueba

    Out of 30 vocabulary questions, I answered 18 correctly and missed 12.
    My overall level is B2 in Dialang's vocabuarly section.
Resultados

Image
Image
Image

Comentarios

    Placement
    My placement test was 923/1000, putting me in a tougher question bucket.
    I was able to recognize real/invented words at a level that was near native.
    I attribute this to having seen the words before in question that were real and marking the rest as fake.
    Clearly, I mismarked some but this tactic worked overall.

    Vocab test itself

    My reaction while taking the test was, wow(!), I didn't think this is what a vocabulary test would be like.
    Some of the questions were over idioms that I had never laid eyes on.
    I missed one question due to another case of not being familiar with the testing format. My fault.
    I'd say Dialang nailed it again and B2 could be right where my vocabulary is now.
    I don't have a strong reason to doubt it as a baseline.
    The test (but not the words) felt unfamiliar.
Last edited by coldrainwater on Sun Jun 18, 2017 6:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
1 x

User avatar
coldrainwater
Blue Belt
Posts: 686
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 4:53 am
Location: Magnolia, TX
Languages: EN(N), ES(rusty), DE(), FR(studies)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7636
x 2381

Dialang - la cuarta prueba (escribir) = B1 (mi nivel actual)

Postby coldrainwater » Sun Jun 18, 2017 6:08 am

La prueba

    Out of 30 questions, I broke even again and answered 15 correctly and 15 incorrectly.
    My overall writing level was measured as B1.
    My placement score went down to 840/1000 (despite it likely being the very same test I took earlier).
Resultados

Image
Image
Image

I noticed that they were testing 'appropriacy' while I was taking it and I felt more confident of those answers. That was my strongest section, while general writing skills were by far my weakest.

Comentarios

I felt almost totally lost taking this one. Either this was their advanced test (they have beginner, intermediate and advanced and the questions don't rotate) or I am simply that bad at writing. It is coin toss either way. There were many professional letters to read and I have done next to no preparation for those types of formal addresses. More often than not, I was guessing on a rough hunch. I could read the text fairly well, but there were some common phrases that I either did not understand or was forced to infer. I'd say the test was still pretty accurate though my actual level may be upper A2 or super low B1 in writing. I don't feel particularly confident writing unless I have my fully editing entourage handy. This was the fourth test I took today and I'll freely admit to skimming the last 5-10 questions to get it over with. Given my pattern of guessing, I doubt the rush negatively impacted the final score.

Pensamientos conclusivos

I have been studying now for about one year, so this was a good time to take the assessment and see where my level is currently. I believe having (and sharing) these results gives me a more accurate look at my language level than my subjective thoughts. I should be able to come back to these notes in x months or next year and reassess progress (or plateau/regress as the case may be). A quick note on listening. I am happy that Dialang only lets you listen to the recording one time, but for those who have not used it, it that may be a point to note. On all the sections, I had as much time as I needed to reread and decipher the data. Just as in real life, if you miss hearing something, it is often not repeated. My listening score of A2 is based on listening in dedicated fashion from March 1, 2017 thru June 17, 2017. Date math says that is 109 days including end points. If I estimate 2-4 daily hours of listening, that yields roughly 220 - 440 listening hours. My listening style is highly aloof and I tend not to listen well in any language. Thus, calculating hours for me would be exceptionally tricky. My listening technique seems to yield good slow steady progress, but it doesn't go easy on the estimation engines.
0 x

User avatar
coldrainwater
Blue Belt
Posts: 686
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 4:53 am
Location: Magnolia, TX
Languages: EN(N), ES(rusty), DE(), FR(studies)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7636
x 2381

Irlanda en coche

Postby coldrainwater » Mon Jun 19, 2017 6:24 am

Tonight, I watched a series of 11 short YouTube videos on Ireland made by a couple from Madrid. It offered about two and a half hours of quality listening practice. I had substantial trouble catching what the female was saying (did much better when she spoke up more) but followed the male without much difficulty. They have a small selection of additional videos, so I may come back to them at a later date. My overall understanding was acceptable and likely in line with my A2 assessment earlier. Amidst a partial dream state, I also tagged about an hour and a half of podcast listening per my usual method.

I feel like I am about midway through the Practice Makes Perfect grammar series and I believe the next 2-3 books will see me reading them rather than writing out most of the of answers as I have been. Most of it will be review and my hands could use the break. I haven't written this much since elementary. My technique thus far has involved a strong amount of rote drilling, combined with paying careful attention to the patterns and reading the answers to make sure it clicked. I may forget much of this first pass, but the good thing about the series is that it is well explained and at least there is an element of repetition and understanding to form a basis for future grammar work.
2 x

User avatar
coldrainwater
Blue Belt
Posts: 686
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 4:53 am
Location: Magnolia, TX
Languages: EN(N), ES(rusty), DE(), FR(studies)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7636
x 2381

Nails Malenko

Postby coldrainwater » Tue Jun 20, 2017 6:24 am

Listening - I yawned through what was actually a fairly interesting 40-minute video on living and working in Ireland. I meant to aim for vacation planning like a good tourist but went adrift. Next stop was Nails Malenko. His channel is unique in the sense that he manages to create good videos with veritably random levels of variety (amongst the insane variety that is YouTube to begin with). I bookmarked Nails Malenko since the extreme variety and his consistent voice would likely give me good exposure to a wide range of topics. One hour of quality listening in total. Tacked on about 3 hours of podcasts closing with four hours listened on the day.

Grammar - Read four chapters in my intermediate Spanish text. I am glad I made the switch away from writing as it reminded me of all the reasons why put down the pen. My understanding of information was head and shoulders above the prior weeks where I focused on the physical aspect of writing out the answers. For a brief second, I could experientially glimpse the trade-off I was making between output and deeper understanding. Sometimes it is nice to see that sort of thing experientially. I also enjoyed the process of formulating answers in my head and making sure I had the right notion in mind (as usual, I didn't).
0 x

User avatar
coldrainwater
Blue Belt
Posts: 686
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 4:53 am
Location: Magnolia, TX
Languages: EN(N), ES(rusty), DE(), FR(studies)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7636
x 2381

Trip to Europe

Postby coldrainwater » Wed Jun 21, 2017 5:11 am

Dates are set. My main accomplishment tonight was booking a trip (flight + auto) for my father and me to Ireland for August 19 - September 5, inclusive. It will be our first time to Europe and his first flight. Outward bound is IAH-EWR-DUB. Tonight was his birthday (76), so I figure on that being a reasonable gift to start off the summer.
0 x

User avatar
coldrainwater
Blue Belt
Posts: 686
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 4:53 am
Location: Magnolia, TX
Languages: EN(N), ES(rusty), DE(), FR(studies)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7636
x 2381

Scheming over the next 60 days

Postby coldrainwater » Wed Jun 21, 2017 6:01 am

I have about 60 days before I leave the US on vacation, so I figure why not muse a bit and make a study plan? It is rare that I have hard coded dates set for much of anything, so I might as well craft a challenge while it's hot. Nights and weekends are where the options are and if I were to dream up a challenge, those are the most fertile implementation grounds. Since it is an unknown avenue, I think I'll start with a focus on YouTube for listening practice. I have a laughable string of failed listen/watch attempts:

  • Telenovelas - later possibly, drama + romance + comedy -> A nauseated hedgehog
  • TV Series - Interest isn't really there.
  • Movies - I might hope for a movie binge trigger of some sort at an unknown future date. Not vital now.
  • Cartoons - Tried this in podcast style. Square peg, round hole. Will come back to it again later.
  • Comics/Anime - Reading yes, watching, not as likely.
Analysis - For the next 60 days....YouTube it is for night and weekend listening. I'll make a call on what to do with grammar and reading after I finish the Practice Makes Perfect series and will update my log with those details then. I have some very enticing grammar options including Aragonés works (Gramática de uso del español) as well as a mountain of interesting books to read.

Plan
- With respect to time splits, I feel my best bet is to hedge directly. Grammar/Reading alternated with YouTube listening. Forum work in ES for any trip research. When in doubt and all options open, I should choose to listen.
1 x

User avatar
coldrainwater
Blue Belt
Posts: 686
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 4:53 am
Location: Magnolia, TX
Languages: EN(N), ES(rusty), DE(), FR(studies)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7636
x 2381

Alan por el mundo

Postby coldrainwater » Fri Jun 23, 2017 5:45 am

I just finished watching Alan's most recent 18 video series on Argentina. I was very impressed. His Spanish was as clear as a Colombian and I am happy with my time invested as I find the videos quite educational from the perspective of world travel and tourism. I'd love to make a trip out to the cold jungle.

https://www.alanxelmundo.com/
0 x


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: DaveAgain and 2 guests