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

[Elsa Maria]

Mange tak, Iversen. I have heard of Diderichsen's schema, but obviously I still don't have it internalized. I had bookmarked this set of videos some time ago, and I really should study them. I have my workarounds, but they are terribly limiting and I am tired of needing them.

What are the workarounds? Avoid adverbs when producing bisætninger

Or I might write it like this, since I don't know for sure where to put elendig endelig: I dag er jeg modig nok at skrive en lille smule på dansk. Elendig! Endelig!

I have plenty of room for improvement, yes indeed. See corrections, lol.

--
I was busy all day today, but I have done a few things so far:

Danish
30 minutes of Danish reading. I am reading Billedhuggerens Datter, a memoir of Tove Jansson's childhood. Tove Jansson is best known for the Moomins (Mumitroldene på dansk), but I love her books for adults just as much.

Dutch
A few duolingo rounds

Polish
Pimsleur #8

I'll probably get some more listening done today. I think I'll start tracking hours again on August 1. I diligently tracked my language learning from January 1 til mid-May, and then I just stopped.

[Iversen]

not "elendig" ... use "endelig"! Otherwise you will be denigrating yourself to an unwarranted and undeserved degree.

[Elsa Maria]

not "elendig" ... use "endelig"! Otherwise you will be denigrating yourself to an unwarranted and undeserved degree.

Oops! That's funny. And that is a perfect example of why I keep saying that my writing is my weakest skill. I know both of those words just fine, and I know how to pronounce them. I would not make that mistake speaking.

Thanks, Iversen. Jeg er taknemmelig!

[Elsa Maria]

I did not follow-through with daily log updates, but I did update Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.
I am giving myself until August just play around. The only thing I am committed to is the 365-Day challenge for Danish.

DANISH

I am still reading Billedhuggerens Datter by Tove Jansson. Beyond being just an interesting book, it is a good one for a learner. It is a book for adults, but it is a first-person child narrator so the language is relatively simple.

I have been texting daily with a friend. I have not been looking anything up, and I have made loads of mistakes.

DUTCH

I am struggling with motivation here. I really love the language and the culture. I have two trips planned to the Netherlands over the next twelve months.

But I still do not feel like I will ever need this language. I have been to the Netherlands many times, and am fully aware of the level of English proficiency. Yeah, I do find it difficult to silence this nagging internal critic. It whispers pointless to me.

Duolingo daily. Not much else, unfortunately.

SPANISH

There are so many reasons that I am drawn toward Spanish.

It would useful. I am an ESL volunteer and could easily put Spanish to use on a regular basis. I admire Spanish - I think it is a beautiful language. And I can think of PLENTY of places to go where Spanish is the native language and English proficiency is not high.

I already know some Spanish. There is a conversational Spanish class that is cheap and convenient. I would like to meet more people who are interested in languages.

If I put European Portuguese on the "Not Now" shelf, I can let Spanish take its place on the "Discovery" shelf.

LATIN

I am signed up for my (very low-key, online) class. It starts mid-September. I have not bothered with Latin since the class ended in mid-May. It is time to refresh my Latin brain, and I pulled out Lingua Latina yesterday. Once upon a time, I thoroughly covered Chapters I through X. I am going to revise them a bit, and then see what I can do with Chapter XI forward.

I know that this new class is going to start with the future tense, and I don't know the future tense. I can't remember where I read it, but I think that Lingua Latina stays in the present tense all the way up to Chapter 17. I'm not sure when it introduces the future tense. I'll probably turn to Latin for the New Millennium for help.

POLISH

Wow, I love Polish. I never felt this way about Russian when I was dabbling in it. I have been using Pimsleur daily, and I have to listen to a lesson many times before it sticks. But to keep from getting bored, I move forward and then do some revision.

[cjareck]

I have been using Pimsleur daily, and I have to listen to a lesson many times before it sticks

Since you learn Latin also, I'll put some ancient wisdom repetitio est mater studiorum
If you need some help, I just write here, I've subscribed to your log.

[Elsa Maria]

I spent time watching cartoons in Dutch last night. I could understand quite a bit of both Peppa Pig and nijntje. That boosted my motivation for Dutch again.

When I was trying to fall asleep, I started thinking about the brilliant book Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It is aimed at creative writers, but there are take-away points that can be applied elsewhere. It has been a long time since I've read it, but one of the parts of the book that I have never forgotten was the visualization of silencing the inner critic. I couldn't remember the specifics, but it had something to do with visualizing that critical inner voice as a mouse that you drop into a jar. Brutal, I know. But effective? I found the passage this morning. You can read it here, if you are interested. Scroll down about half way.

And I read this thread this morning: Would you learn a useless language?

Now I can happily report that I have squashed the inner critic for now and instead I can visualize myself finally understanding all of the train announcements when I am in the NL I can't wait for my Assimil Dutch to arrive!

I'm still fine-tuning my study plan that will kick in mid-August. Until then, it is catch-as-catch-can. My college kids are home for the summer, which is absolutely the best thing ever. My studies can remain playful for now.

[Elsa Maria]

This week, I went from having three young adults at home to two. Very soon there will only be one here, and and by next week there will be none. For the first time ever, they will all be away at school. It is going to be so strange. I'm counting on my intense language study plans to help me through the transition!
(Edited because I can’t count to three)

But for another week, it will be all I can do to keep up with my 365 Day challenge for Danish. I have been tempted to quit every day this week, but so far I still have a perfect score. I've never done daily updates about my 365 day challenge, but I think I'll try that for a bit.

Sunday: Listened to the latest podcast episode of Klog på Sprog. This is the only Danish podcast that I listen to faithfully every week. This week's episode was about lists: "To do-lister, top 10-lister, bucket-lister og indkøbslister." I am a list-lover, and I really enjoyed this episode. 57 minutes.

I am consciously trying to think in Danish, but that is not easily quantifiable

[IronMike]

This week, I went from having three young adults at home to two. Very soon there will only be one here, and and by next week there will be none. For the first time ever, they will all be away at school. It is going to be so strange. I'm counting on my intense language study plans to help me through the transition!

So not looking forward to this. We have boy #2 (kid #2) here for the summer, but dammit if he isn't leaving this week already. Then there will be only kid #4 (girl #2). I went on vacation to Texas and for a very small time (24 hours) I had 3 of 4 kids all together! Then for a weekend I had 2 of 4.

I miss the noise! The house is so quiet with only one.

[Elsa Maria]

This week, I went from having three young adults at home to two. Very soon there will only be one here, and and by next week there will be none. For the first time ever, they will all be away at school. It is going to be so strange. I'm counting on my intense language study plans to help me through the transition!

So not looking forward to this. We have boy #2 (kid #2) here for the summer, but dammit if he isn't leaving this week already. Then there will be only kid #4 (girl #2). I went on vacation to Texas and for a very small time (24 hours) I had 3 of 4 kids all together! Then for a weekend I had 2 of 4.

I miss the noise! The house is so quiet with only one.

I am bracing myself. I have PLENTY to look forward to, but I'm not gonna lie. I expect it to be hard. Very very hard.
--

Monday (yesterday):
365 Danish challenge daily report
Listened to Anne Franks Dagbog (audiobook). 15 minutes.
Listened to and read (but not in the official LR manner) the short story "Søndeneng" by Astrid Lindgren. 30 minutes

I might re-start Dutch tomorrow and jump into the current 6WC.

[Elsa Maria]

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were a mix of Anne Franks Dagbog and the news. I averaged 45 minutes per day on Danish.

I have both the book and the audiobook for Anne Franks Dagbog. I usually listen to a few diary entries then read them to see how much I understood.

For the news, I sometimes watch the DR TV broadcast. That is about 25 minutes. I also have a subscription to Nordjyske, the newspaper that covers the northern part of Denmark.

This morning (Friday), I started my book club book: Den, der lever stille by Leonora Christina Skov. This novel won the Danish literature prize "De Gyldne Laurbær," which is a bookseller's award. I read the first 5% today. I certainly do not know every word on the page, but I can follow the story without looking anything up.