Episode VI: A New Hope, Cavesa strikes back

[Cavesa]

So, today I accidentally passed an exam I had wanted to give up on. Tons of luck (examiner, questions, friends convincing me to stay). As you may have noticed, the last few weeks sucked for my studies. But I think I have identified the problem and will be able to do something about it. I hope.

Kwiziq is great. A lot of the A2 units have been more difficult for me than the B1 ones. I think I am improving some of the "small" mistakes that have become to fossilize. My comprehension skills are very good, nothing in the course is new to me, I have done almost all of it in one coursebook or another. But this is a very good kind of drill and I think I will leave this Kwiziq week enriched. And will gladly return (despite the payement, which is more expensive than WoW), if they add a lot of stuff to the Spanish course, so that it matches the French one.

Kwiziq is more for the drill part of grammar learning of course. But that is where I am having more trouble. The context and usage parts are more for extensive input.

Speaking of input, I should call the bookstore I had ordered six or seven books at in December. They should have been here in a month and it's been one and half already.

My score update:
A2 99.70% (I still can't get preterito indefinido of andar right enough times in a row , I am glad I got to practice a lot of irregular verbs)
B1 33.95% (some parts are hyper easy, and I have no problem with presente de subjuntivo in general, at least for now, but there are some tricky points coming)
B2 15.22%

Btw, I got to the top of one of the leaderboards yesterday

[Cavesa]

Score update (I got home a bit earlier, so I managed to study a bit before I return to the hospital for the evening, yay!):

A2 100% (they added one new unit today. and the one carried from yesterday was taking me ages for some reason. I always got it right a few times and then I stupidly messed up)
B1 50.39% (yay, a bronze shield! the lessons are well mixed here. Many are very easy. Tons of extensive input make stuff like pronouns and prepositions and verb constructions very easy. A part of the verbs are easy too. But there have been a few challenging units, which is great!)
B2 15.22%

[Cavesa]

Italian: a few episodes of the Mentalist

Spanish:
Kwiziq: B1 79.39% and B2 22.80%

And I translated for a Spanish patient today It is nice to know I am more or less able to do the basic medicine stuff in Spanish too, even though I have a lot of reserves in this area

[Cavesa]

Again a bit of Mentalist in Italian.

And Kwiziq Spanish.
B1 99.14% (a few lessons were hard. And in a few others, I didn't understand the algorhytm, as I needed several repetitions to get the last few % that normally get done in one or two)

B2: 60.61%
This doesn't mean Im hyperawesome or not doing anything but Kwiziq now. There are too few lessons in the B2 level (and none for C1), so it is easy to hoard the % here (unlike A2 and B1). I believe they'll be adding more, as there are beginnings of various complicated issues being started and not too much detail or practice offered.

[Xenops]

Perhaps I will give kwizig a try when I want to resurrect Spanish. Are you considering moving to Spain? It looks like you are taking a break from German.

[FrannieB]

Thanks for the recommendation for kwizig - I really enjoyed it and went through my 10 quizzes in no time. I was supposed to be working today and didn't feel it - so I binge watched Olympics and did kwiziq and will be upgrading to a 1 month account to give premium a full go.

Kwiziq found all my weaknesses and while somewhat crushing confirmed what my teacher has been telling me. Believe it or not I scored at a A1 level - mostly because I spell like crap and don't pay attention to the little details.

This site is everything I wanted doulingo to be but isn't.

[Cavesa]

Hi again.

Yesterday or the day before, I finished Kwiziq. The Spanish version. And I really enjoyed it. Except for one B1 lesson, where I always climbed to 90 or more %, and then made one stupid typo or read the instruction wrong or simply messed up, and went back under 50. So, I didn't enjoy that one lesson. And I am not actually sure I mastered it despite the time I was spending on it.

Yes, I find the testing method of Kwiziq to be very good. I think one of the reason is their honesty about the product. Honesty towards both the users and themselves. They don't claim to test and teach everything, they are doing just one thing and they are doing it well. I'd just need many more B2 lessons and the C1 to pay for a month. Once they'll add those, I'll sign up. And I think the need to use my 25 euros to the fullest and not to need further payments will be an awesome bit of motivation to study intensively

It is funny I scored C1 in French despite making several mistakes. My main mistake tends to be not reading the instructions well but that has more to do with my English

FrannieB, I'm glad you like it Sure, it always hurts to find our weaknessess. But it is the best way to improve. And I think having grammar as the weak point is actually good news, as it is much easier to fix than most issues. And if not paying attention is a problem (it is certainly mine at times, I sympathise with you here), and "spelling like crap", I think you will notice a HUGE jump forward, once you'll have fixed this.

Xenops: there is a very simply reason why I've been prioritising Spanish lately. There is no German Kwiziq. Really. It was so refreshing and gave me a nice practice boost and info on my troubles, that I am much more confident to keep studying. I think I may have gotten through some of my traditional obstacles. As far as German goes, the obstacles stand. I have to work on my German, but I also have to study for an exam, and to rest a bit to not fall ill.

About Spain: I am considering trying their medical exams, because it might fit into my schedule, but I don't know whether I'll do it. My study plan is so broken and chaotic, and has been changing so much, that I simply need to think about my options flexibly. I would like to try that exam, if the investments needed aren't too high. Just to practice the stressfull situation, the kind of an exam. So that I am better prepared for the French one. And because I am curious. I'm curious how I would do in such an exam, but I really doubt I could succeed, only the top half gets some job, and few get the kind of job I'd like. And I couldn't move there anyways. It is very far and it is not just my decision. I am lucky to have an open minded boyfriend, and we are deciding this together, no matter what the options are. There is the issue of his studies. And how would he get a job in a country with such a high unemployment rate?

[Cavesa]

Btw I started a new book today. Asalto a la virreina by Andreu Martín and Caroes Quílez. It looks like a thriller.

It is so hard to use the Cervantes library in Prague. Yes, they have a lot of books, at least when it comes to fiction. One room is filled with language teaching, non-fiction, cds, dvds and so on. The other is fiction and there are two tiny bookcases, if I remember correctly, and a huge wall. There is a beautiful huge wall filled with fiction. It looks like a wall over two floors but it is probably not so, but you already need a ladder. A photo of it is impressive on every PR leaflet or website. But it is extremely impractical!

Either you know exactly what you want, or you are out of luck. I love to walk among the bookcases and choose among what I accidentally find. I love those bookworm adventures! Here, I cannot do it. All the genres are mixed together. And all the covers look "classic". This book is one of the few that looked "thrillerish". I am under the impression the library is run by the conservative idea of serving "quality stuff" above all. Ok. But the needs of language learners are different from those of the literature students. I already know there are almost no fantasy books (I tried to find stuff that really could have been there some time ago), I get that. (even though there is good fantasy and scifi originally written in Spanish).

But why can't I choose in a bookcase of thrillers and crime novels? Those are very popular in Spain like everywhere!

And I cannot even properly look at the upper shelves, as I would need a ladder.

There is an ebook library, which looks great at first. I am sure there must be a lot of great stuff for me there. But I really love the paper books. And the elibrary has the same main problem as the physical one. I cannot search it the way I want. There is no way to choose by genre, so I need to look stuff up precisely elsewhere and then try whether they have that one book in question. And again and again. I wonder why don't such libraries have a search and recommendation system like amazon or goodreads....... a few experimental searches later: no, I no longer think they will have that much awesome stuff. It looks like I'll need to spend more time looking for a good book than actually reading it.

Back to Asalto a la virreina: I am on page 15 and I already think I'm gonna love it. A thriller, the authors have a sense of humour, it starts with a strong situation. I guess this will be a good one and i am lucky I accidentally found it. It was in the lower part of the wall, under M, and it is a (dark) colourful paperback

[Cavesa]

A few notes:

A bit less time for languages now, but I think Kwiziq has helped me find some new... how to say it? Energy? Motivation? No. It's as if I was standing at the edge of a swiming pool, and Kwiziq gently pushed me. So, now I really feel like learning, even though my time is limited. And good news: I am not enjoying WoW that much now (oversaturated), so I'll have a wow-free half year, before I really miss being elfo de la noche cazadora or tauren druida again (P.S. am I the only one not excited about Pandaria at all? What's so great about it? Or will I discover it later during exploration of that part of the game? Right now, I am enjoying Draenor and Rasganorte.)

I need to find more audio based activities. No, this is not any attempt to tackle the fact I just like to read too much and may be approaching learning too visually. My eyes have been aching for a week and today I consulted a doctor. It should be rather easy to fix (I hope so. I am focusing on the diagnose variant A: too much effort, too much reading and studying, added to the usual risk factors of everything like stress). But I need to spend more time without either books or a computer. Or lectures (the fact the powerpoint is at much bigger distance than a book doesn't matter, it is still a pain). Or forum reading/writing

That's why I am considering Assimil German. That could be mostly audio for me, with a bit of reading and lots of listening and repeating after audio.
And finally making some Spanish and French recordings for the Output challenge.
The Mentalist is quite ok as I am partially treating it like a tv and partially like a radio show. It is fun either way.
I might try the LT German again and see how far it is. I am not fond of Pimsleur or MT, so I won't be looking for those anywhere.
And I've borrowed a fonética workbook that I should get to really soon.
I am not too fond of podcasts in general, I have no clue where to find some that I'd find interesting. Perhaps TED talks in various languages?

What I am postponing are any other language coursebooks, workbooks, more than one kwiziq a day, tv shows, memrise, anki, and so on. Not sure about that paper book I've started. Perhaps I'll be allowed to prolong the time I can keep it for. And I am limiting my forum time and similar activities.

Any other ideas for a less eye torturing learning diet?

[rdearman]

https://librivox.org/