An Opsimath's Log: DA, LA, NL, FR

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Elsa Maria
Blue Belt
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:20 am
Location: USA
Languages: English (N), Intermediate Danish.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6009
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Re: Elsa Maria's Log: Danish + (PT, LA, NL, NO)

Postby Elsa Maria » Tue Apr 20, 2021 10:52 pm

lingua wrote:Are you watching O Sábio on rtp.pt? Thanks for mentioning it. I need something like that.

Yes!

If you start watching it, please let me know what you think. On the one hand, I feel like it is too soon for me to begin, but on the other hand there are 300+ episodes. I'm thinking I might just give it a try, struggle, and then decide. After I finish the second hour of Peppa Pig, lol.

You might want to watch this YouTube video. She went through RTP's catalogue and found the shows that have both worldwide rights AND closed captions.

--
Today's update:
20 April Tuesday

After a LE/class/italki session, all I want to do is spend the rest of my day on that language. And then I think about tomorrow, which has a LE/class/italki session in a different language and feel like I should instead be preparing for that. But I'm going with enjoying the excitement that follows the LE/class/italki session. Which does sometimes leave me frantically prepping just before the next LE/class/italki session, and that is not the best feeling and then comes why-didn't-I-do-this-yesterday. Circular thinking :)
4 x
Corrections are always welcome.

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lingua
Blue Belt
Posts: 951
Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2016 11:23 pm
Languages: English (N)
Maintaining: italiano (B2/C1ish)
Studying: português, Latina
Dabbling: siciliano, Deutsch, français, piemontèis
Abandoned: ไทย, español
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=12257
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Re: Elsa Maria's Log: Danish + (PT, LA, NL, NO)

Postby lingua » Wed Apr 21, 2021 12:08 am

If I were you I'd go ahead and listen/watch it. I watched Filha da Lei on MHz Choice some months back. I could barely make out a word in the first episode but by the end I could hear individual words and understand many of the short sentences. And there were only 20 episodes.
2 x
Super Challenge 2022-23:
DE: books: 0 / 2500 film: 1654 / 4500
IT: books: 3065 / 5000 film: 5031 / 9000
PT: books: 2921 / 5000 film: 5010 / 9000

Output Challenge 2023:
IT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 84 / 3000
PT: write: 0 / 50000 record: 0 / 3000

PT: Read 100 books: 28 / 100

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Elsa Maria
Blue Belt
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:20 am
Location: USA
Languages: English (N), Intermediate Danish.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6009
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Re: Elsa Maria's Log: Danish + (PT, LA, NL, NO)

Postby Elsa Maria » Thu Apr 22, 2021 12:44 am

21 April
Wednesday

PT:
I was not well prepared for this morning's italki session, and it showed. Boo. I had set aside some time in advance, but a stressful situation landed in my lap this morning and took over both my prep time and my concentration.

I re-listened to a Pimsleur lesson, and tested out the soap opera. If I continue with the soap opera, I am going to need to increase my ability to tolerate ambiguity.

Everything Else:
I had some Latin homework to take care of today, I fiddled with my NL Anki deck a bit, and listened to part of a Danish podcast. Now I am going to go watch an episode of Danish TV (Borgen). I have a new Danish book to start in the morning.
3 x
Corrections are always welcome.

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Elsa Maria
Blue Belt
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:20 am
Location: USA
Languages: English (N), Intermediate Danish.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6009
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Re: Elsa Maria's Log: Danish + (PT, LA, NL, NO)

Postby Elsa Maria » Fri Apr 23, 2021 9:41 pm

23 April
Friday

I forgot to update yesterday, which isn't particularly important. I'm still going to try to keep with daily updates until May.

Today, I had an italki Danish trial lesson. I think it went well, and that she understood what I am looking for. I have a pretty good idea of what my problems are, and I just need to start addressing them. I am really advanced proficient in some things, and am lacking the basics in some beginner things. We were able to conduct the entire session in Danish, and I was quite comfortable with that. Why are actors in TV shows so much harder to understand than actual people?!
Last edited by Elsa Maria on Sat Apr 24, 2021 9:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
5 x
Corrections are always welcome.

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Elsa Maria
Blue Belt
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:20 am
Location: USA
Languages: English (N), Intermediate Danish.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6009
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Contact:

Re: Elsa Maria's Log: Danish + (PT, LA, NL, NO)

Postby Elsa Maria » Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:37 pm

24 April
Saturday

The weather is not nice today, and I am going to stay inside and study/read/watch Netflix. The only other plans I have for today are some yoga (in Danish) and maybe to bake a cake.

PT

I am almost finished reading my grammar: Basic Portuguese: A Grammar and Workbook (Routledge). I have not done any of the exercises yet - I'm just trying to get an overview of how the language works.

Things that scare me about Portuguese:

All those verb tenses! My only encounter with a Romance language was high school Spanish, and I doubt we ever got to all those tenses. And that was many decades ago anyway.

The contractions. Prepositions + articles, prepositions + demonstratives, combining IO and DO pronouns, etc.

But I have my first real Portuguese story to read, and I can't wait to get started: O Fada Oriana by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andersen. I have both the Portuguese original and an English translation. I've glanced at the original, and it does not look impenetrable!
6 x
Corrections are always welcome.

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Elsa Maria
Blue Belt
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:20 am
Location: USA
Languages: English (N), Intermediate Danish.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6009
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Re: Elsa Maria's Log: Danish + (PT, LA, NL, NO)

Postby Elsa Maria » Sun Apr 25, 2021 9:09 pm

Summary for the week:

Wow, I did better than I thought this week.

25h28m

35% PT
25% DA
23% NL
13% LA
4% NO
4 x
Corrections are always welcome.

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Elsa Maria
Blue Belt
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:20 am
Location: USA
Languages: English (N), Intermediate Danish.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6009
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Re: Elsa Maria's Log: Danish + (PT, LA, NL, NO)

Postby Elsa Maria » Mon Apr 26, 2021 10:37 pm

26 April
Monday

First thing this morning: Dutch reading. I am reading fairy tales.

I did a lot of Latin homework today. Most days, I don't do any Latin at all.

Every week, I am tempted to quit Latin. This is where A-Tracker's data comes in handy. Because the reality is that quitting Latin would only give me a tiny bit of extra time. My daily average is a mere 18 minutes per day. Considering how long it took me to get this far (which is in fact not very far at all), I always decide to keep going. In a blink, I'd probably forget everything that I worked so hard to learn. I don't feel like Latin is something I could pause for very long. If I quit, I'll quit.

And then I listened to a podcast interview with the Queen of Denmark, and that was such a delight.
6 x
Corrections are always welcome.

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Elsa Maria
Blue Belt
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:20 am
Location: USA
Languages: English (N), Intermediate Danish.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6009
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Contact:

Re: Elsa Maria's Log: Danish + (PT, LA, NL, NO)

Postby Elsa Maria » Tue Apr 27, 2021 3:13 pm

27 April
Tuesday

I think I said something confusing and contradictory yesterday. I said both that I have worked very hard on Latin and also that I only spend minimal time on Latin! I have been working on Latin for many years, but very slowly. I don't know a lot of Latin, but I know the low-level things thoroughly.

Anyway...
I just finished my NL-EN exchange, and it was both fun and useful. It is not easy to find a Dutch person who wants to work on English, so I recognize that I am very lucky. My LEP is trying to move from Advanced to Very Advanced, and I am trying to reach A2 so we are not balanced in that way :)
4 x
Corrections are always welcome.

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Elsa Maria
Blue Belt
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:20 am
Location: USA
Languages: English (N), Intermediate Danish.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6009
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Contact:

Re: Elsa Maria's Log: Danish + (PT, LA, NL, NO)

Postby Elsa Maria » Thu Apr 29, 2021 8:22 pm

29 April
Thursday

I missed updating yesterday because I was very busy with something. Today, I am very tired from yesterday.

Nevertheless, I did quite a bit of listening yesterday:

NL 1h
DA 30m
PT 1h


Portuguese needs to be my top priority, and I don't feel like I am giving it that slot. Hopefully, the 6WC will help with that.
5 x
Corrections are always welcome.

User avatar
Elsa Maria
Blue Belt
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:20 am
Location: USA
Languages: English (N), Intermediate Danish.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6009
x 1275
Contact:

Re: Elsa Maria's Log: Danish + (PT, LA, NL, NO)

Postby Elsa Maria » Fri Apr 30, 2021 10:48 pm

Friday
30 April

I signed up for the 6WC: European Portuguese

I don't normally try to guess at my CEFR level, but let's assume that I am A0.
Playing around with the study calculator, I should be able to get to A1 within six weeks with 1.5 to 2.0 hours per day.

OK, since I am probably between A0 and A1, I'm declaring my six week goal as solidly A1 Portuguese. I hope it will be fun!
8 x
Corrections are always welcome.


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