A language learners’ forum

This is my sixth log on this forum and I intend to fill it with many more successes than the previous ones. Perhaps a few big ones, if I can achieve them. Surely many small ones, making me happier, as that is one of my long term goals.

Methods: courses/grammars, perhaps srs, readlang, lots of extensive reading and listening (I failed to finish the SC till the end of 2018, but I will complete those goals anyways) , and newly focus on writing! There is no time limit for my goals or this log, I'll see. This post will be updated as I progress. By the way, I am taking singing classes, so I may add here what I am learning to sing in each language.

I wonder whether I'll post my writing exercises here or somewhere else. Or anywhere at all.

My language learning goals, sorted by priority of each language:
(I.level and goals, II.courses planned and no more than three at a time, III.extensive activities or readlang, IV:larger goals)

1.German
I. probably what they call "a false beginner". Comprehension around A2/B1, actively A1 perhaps.
II. Německy s úsměvem (A1-B2), Großes Übungsbuch Grammatik (A2-B2), Assimil
III. 18000 listening minutes and 20000 bookpages left
IV: shorter term: Goethe B1, long term at least my Spanish, as it is now

2.Spanish
I.Active skills probably B2ish. Comprehension probably around C1.
II. Fiesta 2 (B1-B2), Gramatica de Uso del Español B, Učebnice Současné Španělštiny 2 (B1-C1)
III. 11120 pages left
IV: DELE C1

3.Italian
I.Comprehension between B1 and C1, depends on the type of content. Actively:it is very hard to judge, due to the influence of Es and Fr
II. Espresso 1, Una grammatica italiana per tutti (A1-A2), Učebnice současné Italštiny 1 (A1-B1)
III. 3276 minutes and 4315 pages left
IV. approximately the level of my Spanish now

4.French
I.C2, a part of my medicine studies happens in it
II.review of various stuff, something new perhaps
III. stuff that is not medicine
IV.Maintanance, improvement of my weak spot-writing, rust prevention

5. and 6. Russian and Polish
I.tiny bits of comprehension, thanks to my Czech (native) and Slovak (C2 comprehension, 0 production)
II.Učebnice současné ruštiny 1 (A1-B1), Cześć, jak się masz? I (A1)
III. starting with readlang asap, no clear numbers now
IV. reading comfortably in both languages

7. ?
Who knows. I think I will add a new language at some point, no clue when. Perhaps 10 years from now, perhaps next year.

Book and movie lists, course progress bars (if a part had been completed already, only the remaining units are in the bar):

German:
bookpages: 0 / 20000
movie or series minutes: 0 / 18000
[progress=N s ]1/22[/progress]
großes übungsbuch: 0 / 65
Themen Aktuell 2: 0 / 8

Spanish:
bookpages: 0 / 11120
GdUdE B: 0 / 34
Fiesta 2: 0 / 16
Usš 2: 0 / 18

Starting with German:

Last week (after my exam), my dad took me to Vienna. I loved the galeries we visited (Albertina and Leopold), the christmas markets were not that great (too many people, end at 9, Czech and Slovak being the majority languages among the visitors), the lights in the city were beautiful. But I felt so tied up due to my weak German. I know this feeling was strenghtened by the slow recovery from my horrible exam (I struggled even to remember lists longer than two things), but still. I hate the situations in which I cannot explain something in German, so the other person (an employee somewhere) knows only a few memorised phrases in English and treats me like a moron that cannot understand them. A complete and unnecessary language barrier.

So, German is a priority. I've been playing with it for too long, time to work on it again, so that I can enjoy the results asap. It is extremely probable I will visit German speaking countries again, for example the beautiful castles in Germany, or the Austrian Alpes! And there are so many unread German books in my bookcases, that is not acceptable!

Today, I started with a tiny bit from the Großes Übungsbuch. It is one of the red books by Hueber (there are so many it is hard to describe which is which), written by Dinsel and Geiger. I got it in a second hand bookshop, the answers to a few of the exercises are impossible to erase, others are possible, majority of the book is empty. Nice exercises, a good design (two colours, the pages are neither too dense nor too empty.) Three levels are included in the book. B2 exercises have a little nutcracker picture, the A2 and B1 are not distinguished, even though the chapters are supposed to start with the easier ones. I think it will be very helpful. I've dived into the very first chapter: präsens, so far it is easy. So far

Other than that:
I am reading a Slovak fantasy book Vládca vlkov by Juraj Červenák. I am in the second chapter and already loving it! And Slovak is beautiful, they should definitely stop translating Slovak books to Czech. I learnt a new word today: členok. In Czech, it is hlezno for the anatoms or kotník for the normal people (kotník is a bit different thing in anatomy). In English, it is ankle.

Welcome back to studying languages! May this log recount many successes.

Great title! I love your new log already! Reading it has made me feel inspired. Somehow this has been a rather bad year for language-study for me too, even though I'm not in medical school. I'm looking forward to making next year better. I need to get back to GdUdE too. I think I did the first 2 chapters in the C book and that was that. And my German is probably about the same level as yours, except I might get a little extra boost on vocabulary from Norwegian.

5. and 6. Russian and Polish
I.tiny bits of comprehension, thanks to my Czech (native) and Slovak (C2 comprehension, 0 production)
II.Učebnice současné ruštiny 1 (A1-B1), Cześć, jak się masz? I (A1)
III. starting with readlang asap, no clear numbers now
IV. reading comfortably in both languages

Provided you have a native knowledge of any slavic language, you automatically start from A2-B1 in other ones (as well slavic, of course).
I wish you best luck in learning and it's interesting to compare our experiences
And I'm solemnly subscribing to your log for further reading and support

I wish you an abundance of success on your brave new voyages into the linguistic unknown, and hope you reach all your goals in next to no time. May the course be with you, Cavesa!

Good luck with all your langauges

Thank you! You can't even imagine how much I appreciate your support, you are awesome!

I was getting up very early the last week and caught cold, so not much was done. But I am now in the middle of review of the first unit of German with a , and some of the exercises are a good way to refresh the rotten parts of my knowledge, I'll get back on track soon. What I really like about the good quality Czech based language courses of the TY type is the abundance of exercises. TY or Colloquial tends to have approximately 15 or 20, if I remember it correctly. This book has 40 per unit and of various types. Awesome! And I've been studying a bit in French and writing a bit on this forum in Spanish. Btw, I welcome corrections and would love to read any comments to my Spanish as I have absolutely no clue what level I am and what systematic mistakes should I work on. I suppose my writing will improve with studying the language properly again.

A few book tips for Czech and Slovak learners:

Vládca vlkov by Červenák is absolutely awesome. I asked my mom for the rest of the trilogy for this Christmas. A few new words. Some differences are pretty funny, for example the fog. It is mlha in Czech and hmla in Slovak very few words were really unknown and only one was hindering full comprehension (I don't know what the person was standing on and jumping down from, but who cares). I've been considering buying a Cz-Sk differencial dictionary. It looks like a good thing, as it really focuses just on the differences. I saw one normal dictionary too, but that is definitely not useful to most Czech or Slovak natives. Back to Červenák: he is one of the very few authors using slavic mythology. Everyone uses the egyptian or norse gods, sometimes the celtic ones. But almost noone the slavic ones, because we know little about them. The old slavs got a script with christianism, and the original christian writers obviously didn't want the pagan tradition to be well documented. But still, some bits are known and they are enough to stimulate Červenáks imagination. If you want something new to explore, something different from the overused Ra, Thor, or the greek/roman pantheon, this is it. If you want to explore Central Europe in the times of the Avar invasion, go for it. If you want to try a very good storyteller, Červenák is a good choice.

In nomine sanguinis by Žamboch is a great modern fantasy story. It uses some well known parts of the genre, mythological creatures living in the modern world, but definitely doesn't slide to the overused schema and kitsch of the Twilight and its copies. It is more like Clavel (French), which I recommended in some of my previous logs. There is a lot of action,and you get to explore a different part of the Czech Republic than Prague. Actually, the Beskydy mountains and region are unknown to me either, I've never been there. Žamboch is a real pleasure to read. I would call this book "urban fantasy" but it happens mostly in a few small villages and the mountains around them. "Mountain fantasy"?

Both authors are good examples of their genres. Even "low" literature can be written well or badly, and these are examples of the good approach. And btw, they don't avoid female characters. Their main protagonists are usually men, but the supporting women are well thought out, have various sides to them, and are no less heroic.

Finished unit 1 and started unit 2 of the German with a A huge downside of this book: it is meant for self teaching students as well as for those in classes, but it doesn't have key to all the exercises, just the translation ones. Ok, I can do without most probably, but it is still annoying.

I made a 2018 resolution in Smallwhite's thread: some German twice per week, Spanish and Italian once each, as the minimum. And I mean real studying, not just extensive input or a short SRS session.

This week, I think it is realistic to aim for one or two more units of German with a , and at least half a unit of Es and It.

I am also reading a French fantasy novel, part of a trilogy I told you about in my previous log. I need to complain about my former favourite bookshop in Prague. I ordered several Spanish fantasy/scifi books in July and they didn't deliver them. I'll ask about them again after Christmas (I don't have spare money now anyways). The last time I asked, they were trying to resell me a book I had ordered and bought earlier instead.

I am playing with the idea of a Goethe Zertifikat in 2018. I am now thinking just about B1. I may reconsider later and wait a bit more for B2. A DELE has been in my plans for so long that not even I take myself seriously about it anymore. Perhaps SIELE would be a better option for next year. A good and motivating goal, but much less pressure. In both cases, I'll have plenty of time to prepare, no need to say stuff like "definitely March" now, that would only bring another dose of bad luck my way.