Suzie learns languages...every now and then

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Sonjaconjota
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Re: Suzie learns languages...every now and then

Postby Sonjaconjota » Tue Aug 31, 2021 4:53 pm

Suzie wrote:I went to a short trip to the Dutch coast, discovering to my surprise that we picked a spot where Dutch was the only language spoken. During the past 20+ years, I had finally concluded that learning Dutch was - while enjoyable - the most useless hobby I had ever pursued, as any Dutch or Flemish person I had encountered happily insisted on speaking flawless English or native-like German with me. So finally meeting people struggling with German and readily conversing in Dutch with me was an unexpected delight. I am still pondering whether this was a local experience or is a sign of a more general development in the Netherlands. For very selfish reasons, I would welcome the latter.

Would you care to tell us where you went?
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Suzie
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Re: Suzie learns languages...every now and then

Postby Suzie » Tue Aug 31, 2021 4:59 pm

Sonjaconjota wrote: Would you care to tell us where you went?


It was a lovely place south of Rotterdam, called Rockanje.
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Super Challenge French:
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100 films: 100 / 100 complete

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Sonjaconjota
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Re: Suzie learns languages...every now and then

Postby Sonjaconjota » Tue Aug 31, 2021 5:54 pm

I would love to visit the Netherlands again, maybe I could give Rockanje a try next time and speak some Dutch.
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Suzie
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Re: Suzie learns languages...every now and then

Postby Suzie » Wed Sep 08, 2021 8:59 am

After a week of "consolidation" by reading more than 400 pages and watching more than 5 hours of videos in French, I am now ready to return to more intense practice. The thing is, I continued to take notes on unknown words, and now there are more than 400 Anki cards in the "waiting room", even though I am only reading Harry Potter. :( And I did not add each unknown word to my deck...

Currently, I prefer efficiency over fun; I'd like to get to the "being fluent in French" part as quickly as possible. In my current position, with weak grammar skills and obviously also some major gaps in my vocabulary, I believe the more intensive activities push me further than just reading and listening in the moment. I will not skip the extensive activities, but just shift the focus back to my Anki deck.

I do see the risk of feeling overwhelmed yet again, and I am also struggling to balance my desire to be fluent in French by tomorrow afternoon with the need to get other stuff done (house and garden chores, health, career). As someone craving for instant gratification, I have now designed a little reward system that allows me to add new cards to my leaning deck after completion of one of the more sensible activities. I do hope this motivates me not to neglect my non-language-related duties while preventing me from burning out too quickly.
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Suzie
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Re: Suzie learns languages...every now and then

Postby Suzie » Fri Oct 01, 2021 5:11 am

Summary September - French:
1) Anki: 1281 "mature" cards and 714 cards "Young and Learn" (=665 new cards in September); approximately 50 % sentences and 50 % words
2) Reading: ca. 650 pages; fiction, rtbf.be, lemonde.fr, sciencesetavenir.fr, fr.euronews.com
3) Grammar and structured learning: Continued my review of A2 grammar, adding sentence cards to my Anki deck.
4) Listening: ca. 24 hours of videos; mostly Stargate Atlantis (completed season 1), but also YT stuff
5) Speaking: speaking to myself for a few minutes, which I found brain-melting.
6) Writing: 2 short texts (approx. 400 words in total) (for the assessment mentioned below)

Great streak in the moment. I do not think I missed a single day since July where I did not at least did some Anki revisions. The silly little reward system described in my previous post really did a great job, not only for my progress in French, but also for my other life goals. I cannot remember working that actively on my to do list as I did in the past weeks. :lol:

Also, it looks like I am closer to B2 than I thought - I planned to join a B1 course at the local Institut français next week and had to have my (written) French tested. They said it was closer to B2 than to B1. The course is cancelled, unfortunately, but I was offered a conversation course, starting end of October instead - on B2 level! :shock: Not sure I am ready for that. I have two weeks to chicken out. Need to ponder a bit in the next days....

I also decided to do the DALF C2. One day. I do not need it for my career, and a part of me is opposed to the idea of spending precious time to prepare for an exam instead of doing more fun or valuable stuff. But. Despite numerous attempts in the past three decades, I have failed miserably to make significant progress or becoming "operational". The DALF would provide a measurable goal, a sense of achievement, giving me back the necessary self-confidence.

This last quarter of the year will provide a lot of leasure time; I have plenty of holidays left. A good time to work on my French!

In October, I plan to

- continue the grammar review, hoping I'll move from A2 to B1 in my current first review round by end of the month.

- keep reading and adding vocabulary to my Anki deck. I am bolstering my deck with expressions from the CLE Vocabulaire Progressif series from time to time. As indicated above, I am aiming for a 50/50 mix of sentences (mostly from the grammar review) and vocabulary in my learning deck in the moment. Aside the CLE series, the main source for new words are news articles. This is supported by light reading (Harry Potter in the moment)

- keep watching Stargate Atlantis. I still have trouble understanding the conversations despite the subtitles and slowing down the speed to 90 %. Maybe it is more difficult than other TV shows I had been watching. I want to see them winning over the Wraith and then move back to the far more easier Star Trek Franchise.

- start said course????
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Super Challenge French:
100 books: 100 / 100 complete
100 films: 100 / 100 complete

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Suzie
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Re: Suzie learns languages...every now and then [Fr]

Postby Suzie » Sun Oct 31, 2021 9:21 am

Summary October - French:

1) Anki: 1971 "mature" cards and 494 cards "Young and Learn" (=464 new cards in October); approximately 50 % sentences and 50 % words
2) Reading: ca. 400 pages; mostly Harry Potter V
3) Grammar and structured learning: finished revision of A2 Grammar
4) Listening: ca. 15 hours of videos; Stargate Atlantis (completed season 2) and Dr Who
5) Speaking: 1.5 hours of tutoring sessions
6) Writing: 2 short texts and some emails (approx. 600 words in total)

Despite a little Anki burnout, and a one-week break overall, October was a again good month for learning French. I finally experienced some break-through moments, too.

I ended up not subscribing to the B2 conversation course at my local Institut français. Instead, I booked some one-on-one tutoring lessons there until end of the year. During each lesson, we focus on a certain topic that we agreed on before. My homework consists of preparing a text that my tutor corrects during the session, and we have a chat on said topic afterwards, so my tutor asks me to prepare the necessary vocabulary for this conversation aside the text. I am choosing the topics that are either relevant to my life, of current general interest, or both. Next topics therefore will be Covid, the pros and cons of remote working, and animal testing.

I am honestly surprised about the ease I feel when speaking French during the sessions. Given my track record, this really comes unexpected. It's actually fun and feels more like an interesting chat rather than a lesson. I am quite talkative in general, but expected the usual brain melt after a few minutes. I am wondering whether it is not the "speaking French" bit that causes this distress, but rather the speaking environment (i.e. the (perceived) need to "function" with native speakers). So, as hoped, I believe the tutoring lessons will not only help me practice my conversation skills but also give me some more confidence for my next visit to Belgium (which will take place in a few weeks if Covid allows). I hope the lessons will enable me to follow a B2 conversation course next year.

I also finally felt some progress on the listening bit. I watched some of my favourite Dr Who episodes; comprehension was not a problem here as I know the content by heart. Also at Stargate Atlantis, there are often moments where I can finally follow the discussions without subtitles (but still at 90 % speed). After a few minutes, I often get lost and have to repeat the dialogue with subtitles, but one evening, I could follow nearly a whole episode without any subtitles. It felt great.

By year end, I plan to focus on the following:

- Grammar: I have just subscribed to a three-month Kwiziq session and will attempt to get everything to Gold level within the next two months. I feel this could be possible - I have seen and learned so much during the past thirty years (sigh), but in a rather unstructured way. I have various gaps from the very basics to the advanced levels. Those next months are meant as a wrap-up period so that I can put the grammar bit aside and start using the language. In the long run, I could then move to the CLE books for revision every now and then, and/or look up certain grammar bits in a more targeted way.

- Speaking and Writing: Get the most out of the tutoring sessions. Use the newly acquired/solidified grammar structures (see above) as much as possible; push me outside my comfort zone.

- Reading: Finish up Harry Potter V (which should be no problem - just 150 pages left).

- Listening: Finish Stargate Atlantis (3 seasons left) before my next visit to Belgium, and benefit as much as possible from a one-month subscription to Netflix. Once the grammar part is out of the way, listening will officially become my weakest skill, deserving much more attention in 2022. Since I love watching videos, I am actually looking forward to tackling this!

No plans for Anki this time; I still feel a little burnout. I do not plan to stop the revisions completely, and will keep adding vocabulary, but will focus on the other bits.
6 x
Super Challenge French:
100 books: 100 / 100 complete
100 films: 100 / 100 complete

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Suzie
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Re: Suzie learns languages...every now and then [FR]

Postby Suzie » Tue Nov 30, 2021 5:43 am

Summary November - French:

1) Grammar: Brought A1 and A2 to Gold, B1 to silver and B2 to Bronze at Kwiziq
2) Speaking and Writing: Continued weekly tutoring sessions.
3) Reading: Finished Harry Potter V and started book VI of the series (260 pages in total)
4) Listening: a few hours only

I achieved the bare minimum of what I had intended this month, as I was struggling with some health- and work-related issues. Which really is a shame, as I tremendously enjoy learning French. Still, both the tutoring sessions and the Kwiziq exercises have become somewhat burdensome in the past weeks. I will push through those and then probably keep things light in 2022. Listening practice was very poor, French was just too much for me when I was tired, and I binge watched a lot of UK game and panel shows on YT instead. Crashing my external DVD hard drive did not help either with progressing with Stargate Atlantis season 3. I subscribed to a month of Netflix with good intentions but got stuck at Downton Abbey instead. My Anki deck had a restful month as well.

The tutoring sessions are great for conversation practice, but I cannot really see any progress in my speaking abilities. I am struggling so much, make a lot of errors, and am anything but satisfied with my speaking skills. But then, I should probably not expect too much from a few hours of talking. And maybe I see this all too negative; we do talk about a broad variety of complex topics after all, and I usually do manage to pass on the message that I intend to give, even though not in perfect French. Still, I think the continuing grammar drilling (including Kwiziq exercises) has been of tremendous help to reduce errors in speaking and increase fluency; I even feel it has been far more useful than the tutoring lessons themselves. Which is an interesting discovery, confirming that the recent shift to a more grammar-centric learning journey was a good idea. I am not sure if I will stick to my original plan to speak French with my friends when meeting in Belgium in a few weeks. A bit maybe. Due to the Covid news, the meeting will be short (we'll just meet for a one-hour walk near Brussels), and I haven't seen most of them since the start of the pandemic, so I'd rather catch up and enjoy the little time with them instead of abusing them for French practice.
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Super Challenge French:
100 books: 100 / 100 complete
100 films: 100 / 100 complete

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Suzie
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Re: Suzie learns languages...every now and then

Postby Suzie » Sat Jan 29, 2022 4:29 pm

Update December 2021 / January 2022

There I am, after a two-month-break, shamefully admitting that not much has happened to my French in the past weeks. Work issues, health projects and life in general took priority. I had my last tutoring session yesterday and announced a longer break until I have sorted out my current work and health mess. I don't intend to pause for too long, but have lost the momentum for now and have to find an equilibrium to incorporate language study into my life on a weekly basis without overwhelming myself or shifting priorities. The weekly tutoring sessions added too much stress to the mix, and I now see my initial plan to participate in the (hopefully) upcoming Super Challenge with some mixed feelings. However, so much can change until May....

I end this current session with a happy result though: When I nervously asked my tutor about how much work I still would need to invest to not fail miserably at a B2 conversation course at IF, she looked surprised and stated that I was B2 already. If I took the exam today, she said, I would succeed - not with a terribly high score, but I would not fail. She highlighted my broad vocabulary, and that she sees behind my multiple errors while talking sufficient grammatical foundations. It's all there, she said. Such great news. B2 8-)

What a happy ending in this season's finale, with a cliffhanger as well: Will Suzie be able to develop a healthy relationship with French in the coming months, embracing continuous exposure and grammar studies at a sufficiently low pace in near future? Will she in the end achieve a more advanced level? Will she even feel the courage to finally converse with her Wallonian friends in (*gasps*) French one day? Coming soon.... (I hope)
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Super Challenge French:
100 books: 100 / 100 complete
100 films: 100 / 100 complete

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Suzie
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Re: Suzie learns languages...every now and then

Postby Suzie » Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:39 am

A little update on French learning...

I am slowly continuing, trying to find a sustainable way to include French practice in my daily routine while fighting the upcoming ambition and urge to intensify my studies.

I realized another Super Challenge may not be a good fit at this point, for capacity reasons. I want to solidify my grammar studies first, and the Super Challenge would bind too much time to advance in this area. Also, I like the flexibility of switching between intensive and extensive reading whenever I feel like it. A time-restricted challenge would not allow for such flexibility. Also, I fear that the added pressure would result in exhaustion and burn-out; and I'd rather not have that. However, I was immensely looking forward to this, believing this will benefit my progress and being excited about the opportunity to have an excuse for tons of low-key entertainment. After reaching a major career goal last year, I promised myself I would make the time for this. So I have decided to commit to my own Double Super Challenge at my own pace. 10'000 book pages and 300 h of DVDs to go!

Nearly all of the existing 2500 cards in my Anki deck are long overdue, and I have restarted the revision - very slowy though; maybe 300-400 cards in the past month in total. This is the utterly boring maintenance job that needs completion before I can start adding new cards (either vocabulary or grammar). Until then, listening and reading is for pleasure only with the aim of adding as few new words as possible to my deck.

Listening: I have restarted season 3 of Stargate Atlantis and am really enjoying the series. However, I feel my comprehension has suffered a bit from the four-month break, and I am back to relying far too much on the subtitles, even at reduced speed. On the other hand, watching the stories feels less like work and more like relaxing entertainment than it did last year. Last time, the desire to switch of subtitles came naturally, so I hope the same will happen soon and otherwise re-evaluate at the end of the current season. When Stargate Atlantis (5 seasons in total) is done, I'll move back to my old Star Trek DVDs. Based on a rough estimate, the listening part of the challenge could be covered solely by my Star Trek and Stargate DVDs... :D

Reading: I started the challenge when I was at page 124 of Harry Potter V. I am progressing slowly with the book, for relaxation and entertainment only. The lack of time pressure allows me to stop from time to time and admire an expression or a grammar construction, but nothing goes into my Anki deck. I intend to continue this "reading for fun" until I am done with the series. I have 3-4 books that I would like to include in the challenge for intensive reading: Firstly, Christian Jacq: Le crime de la momie. I got the audiobook for this one, too, so will use it as a work book for intensive listening and reading. Afterwards, Ken Follet: La Chute des géants. During my last Super Challenge in 2014/2015, I gave up after 40 pages due to too demanding vocabulary. Not this time! And then I am targeting two non-fiction books; one with a European politics focus, and one on the history of Belgium. For extensive reading, I have tons of unread crime novels and thrillers on my shelves; probably starting with Tess Gerritsen's Rizzoli and Isles series first.

I'll check in again when I have either finished Stargate Atlantis or the Harry Potter series.
9 x
Super Challenge French:
100 books: 100 / 100 complete
100 films: 100 / 100 complete

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Suzie
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Languages: German (N), English (C-ish), French (B-ish), Dutch (B1)
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Re: Suzie learns languages...every now and then

Postby Suzie » Fri Apr 08, 2022 6:50 pm

It's update time!!

Suzie wrote:I'll check in again when I have either finished Stargate Atlantis or the Harry Potter series.


Ah well, not quite there yet. But I did make good progress during the past four weeks and hit some minor milestones. A rheumatoid flare has immobilized me on my couch, which is not great overall but did help pushing forward my French-related activities.

I continued clicking through my neglected Anki deck; 1000 of the 2500 cards have now been reviewed and re-learned if needed. Overall, I still remembered about 60 % of the cards after a five-month break. Considering that half of the cards were L1->L2 whole sentence translations, and many of those had just been added in October (and not been reviewed since November), this is an outcome I feel content about. I am still not really rushing through the reviews; I dread having more than 50 cards due per day, and try not to spend more than 30 minutes per day with the software. So the pogress on intensive activities is slow but still measurable.

Listening is much more fun and by far my most extensive activity these days. Just finished season 4 of Stargate Atlantis. 9 % of my Suzie-Super Challenge completed so far!
I hang down my head in shame: The subtitles are still on, and I am still listening with 90 % speed. But the activity has become more and more relaxing overall, and there have been multiple instances where listening felt easier than reading the subtitles. (Mostly when I did not wear my glasses ... 8-)) I am ok with keeping the subs on for now; I do not think this crutch is hindering my progress to great extent.

I am still busy with Harry Potter VI; read more than 400 pages since my last entry (= corresponding to 4 % of my own Super Challenge). Reading this series really makes me think how boring, unadventurous and compliant I was as a child and teenager. I am amazed how often they "font le guet" all the time (not only those heroic fights against "Celui-Dont-On-Ne-Doit-Pas-Prononcer-Le-Nom"). I don't think I ever did that in my childhood! Is this something I should regret?
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Super Challenge French:
100 books: 100 / 100 complete
100 films: 100 / 100 complete


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