Re-Inventing the System: Systematiker repeatedly changes his plans

[Systematiker]

Yeah when they try to get you to subscribe to that plan it’s annoying.

Lehrbuch der georgischen Sprache I find for like 45€, the Einführung looks out of print ... not that I just googled them at all...shame the Einführung one isn’t on as a pdf somewhere digitalized, but I didn’t look hard

[Systematiker]

I’m never committing to cutting back again. Look what happens when I do! I fell in love with Persian, started reading a Georgian text, and just expressed my willingness to learn Haitian Creole.

And I’m doing all the things I wanted to focus less on, because apparently the magical time fairy heard me say I have to cut back and sprinkled magical time dust on me and now I’ve got time. (Not that said magical time fairy ever bothers to listen when it’s something important, noooo, only when it’s my hobby)

[Systematiker]

Update time!


Spanish
ES Reading: 6391 / 10000 ES Listening: 192 / 200
FSI: 28 / 53
Ticking along, watching and reading, but not reading Pedro Páramo like I'm supposed to be
Finished Unamuno, plenty to watch, but I'm lately getting restless before one of those long peninsular episodes is over (seriously, Spain, why must you have 75 minute TV episodes?) or watching movies in halves.

French
FR Reading: 3756 / 10000 FR Listening: 95 / 200
More French video was short-lived, but I'm happy with small amounts and getting back to it when I can.

Portuguese
PT Reading: 875 / 10000 PT Listening: 16 / 200
Almost done with my novel, listening to a lot of music lately.

Catalan
CAT Reading: 245 / 10000 CAT Listening: 7 / 200
Reading my novel, and enjoying it.

Galego
Yeah, I just bought the novel and started, I understand fine, I'm not finishing clozemaster. Read about five chapters so far.

Swedish
SV Reading: 1289 / 10000 SV Listening: 34 / 200
FSI: 8 / 16
Nothing since the last update.

Danish
DK Reading: 130 / 10000 DK Listening: 7 / 200
Watched some of The Rain.

Latin
LAT Reading: 50 / 10000
Actually I read some Caesar but I didn't track it so it's not in the bar.

Ancient Greek
GK Reading: 70 / 10000
Weekly stuff.

Hebrew
Pimsleur: 15 / 30 FSI: 1 / 40
LR Psalms First Pass: 27 / 150
Jenni: 7 / 30
Hit a bit of a breakthrough on Pimsleur, and thought I might need a change of methodology, so I did the first unit of FSI, which went pretty well.

Korean
Video: 11 / 200 TTMIK 2: 6 / 25
FSI: 1 / 19
Not a lot, going to do some more TTMIK today.

Persian
Pimsleur Farsi: 1 / 10 Pimselur Dari: 0 / 10
Moving along on Chai and Conversation, I've done 7 or 8 lessons (several more than once). I started the Pimsleur compact that I have and there's a Dari version at the library so I'm going to do both.

Czech
CZ Pent: 9 / 70 Video: 1 / 200
Not terribly much here - I actually used Czech, I was looking up something about my knee hurting when I run and google offered me a page in Czech, so I read the article, and clicked through to a couple more. Not perfect understanding, but I could follow the gist of what was going on.

Ukrainian
Still working on the podcast, and I've been listening to a lot of Ukrainian music lately. I could probably stand to do a bit more, but I want to get a little better foundation through this podcast before I start something else.

Russian
MT Foundation: 8 / 8 MT Advanced: 2 / 5
Assimil: 60 / 90 Reading: 0 / 10000
RU NT: 25 / 90
I kind of neglected Russian the last week or so, and I'd like to get back to it - I'm just a little pressed for time at the moment. I read Expug saying something about using Assimil in chunks and returning to it at various points, which makes me feel better about taking so long to do what I'm doing with it, and I still hope to transition to a regular course by the end of this month. Oh and I watched a ridiculous number of Russian videos on Youtube, but flashmobs and folk songs do not language study make.

German
Finished Die Wahlverwandschaften - I don't think I've ever finished it this early in the Summer before. So it actually doesn't feel right to start Werther yet!

Everything else
So, I'm dabbling in Haitian Creole now, and I've done a bit with the Bible (the audio does NOT match the text! What's up with that!), but nothing concentrated.
Edit: Oh yeah dabbling in Georgian as well, and I've almost learned the alphabet, because I certainly need another language with no immediate connection right now, but it's fun


I'm back in kind of a language slump - the last few days even when I've had time, I haven't really felt like doing much of anything.

[zjones]

Last month you mentioned dabbling in Swahili as a group. Are there no Swahili speakers on the forum? I've been lusting after it for awhile, and I did a search hoping to find someone on the board that has learned Swahili, however all I've found is talk about a Swahili group eventually happening.

[Systematiker]

Last month you mentioned dabbling in Swahili as a group. Are there no Swahili speakers on the forum? I've been lusting after it for awhile, and I did a search hoping to find someone on the board that has learned Swahili, however all I've found is talk about a Swahili group eventually happening.

We keep talking about it...

There was a Finnish group project that went pretty well (although I abandoned it), and then we all got sidetracked on Czech/Slovak, which almost everyone abandoned pretty early (I think Rick and I are the only ones from that constellation that kept one, I could be wrong). Part of it is trying to accommodate the schedules of the people that have wanted to do Swahili together - off the top of my head, Elenia is getting married, Cavesa has mad crazy med school stuff, Brun Ugle is killing it in Spanish this year, and Expug has to be ready for a new language when we are. I’m not sure I could do even another dabbling language right now, and I’m the one who chases every ball that’s thrown...well...depends on who else is on board....

[Xenops]

For what it’s worth, I prefer the Farsi Pimsleur to the Dari one. The speakers on the latter sound bored or annoyed. I also like the approach better on the Farsi one. Of the Pimsleurs I’ve tried, Farsi and Japanese are my favorites.

[jeff_lindqvist]

(...)and then we all got sidetracked on Czech/Slovak, which almost everyone abandoned pretty early (I think Rick and I are the only ones from that constellation that kept one, I could be wrong).

You had the same thoughts 31 Dec 2017, and I was still studying Czech by then (mentioned a few posts below). If anyone is interested, I'm still working on it.

[Systematiker]

(...)and then we all got sidetracked on Czech/Slovak, which almost everyone abandoned pretty early (I think Rick and I are the only ones from that constellation that kept one, I could be wrong).

You had the same thoughts 31 Dec 2017, and I was still studying Czech by then (mentioned a few posts below). If anyone is interested, I'm still working on it.

Crap, and I read your log regularly and know this, too...I don't mean to forget you!

[Systematiker]

So, the update for this week (since I manage about weekly), which was a week of getting a ton of stuff done, just not much of it language-study-related. But it means that in a few weeks when I go on vacation, I really will have a clear plate to go!

Spanish
ES Reading: 6391 / 10000 ES Listening: 193 / 200
FSI: 28 / 53
I actually have trouble focusing on Spanish at this point - I've got some growth still to do, and I'd like to be better, it's simply that Spanish has reached a point where I'm really not at all studying, and what I do doesn't feel like study - so on one hand I just randomly do things that I enjoy, and transition with Spanish, English, and German pretty fluidly, and on the other hand, have the same sort of guilt-feelings when I use "language time" for Spanish as I do when I do stuff in German or English, like, "you could be studying languages here", which is kind of odd considering that while I'm quite pleased with my abilities in Spanish (and my recent test results, I'm actually pretty sure I could take and pass at least the next level), it's nowhere near what I can do in German and English. All that to say I'm still too lazy to write out all the stuff I've been reading and watching lately, and I'm still not back to Pedro Páramo. Lots of music across lots of genres, too.

French
FR Reading: 3756 / 10000 FR Listening: 96 / 200
Cutting back on French has meant I only do stuff in French when I want to either do French, or do the specific thing that happens to be in French - and I find myself wanting to listen to French podcasts more often, and at times when I watch the couple of French-language shows make it pretty high in the consideration. So that's good for the language. I'll even see progress with this level of "cutting back"

Portuguese
PT Reading: 875 / 10000 PT Listening: 16 / 200
One more chapter in Padre Amaro, and I'll have it done. Still not done with Bras Cuba, either, though that's because I want to finish it as L-R; I've started Casa Velha as an audiobook but I know my comprehension could be better and finishing Bras Cuba like this would really help. I'm also still watching 3%, and I can do it without subtitles (though I choose not too, I just tested it. I usually have subtitles on even in English or German, unless it's an intentional stretch like I do in Spanish). And music, always music. I'm a Stan Getz fan, and have been for years, but all of a sudden, I can understand João Gilberto, which was a really cool surprise.

Catalan
CAT Reading: 245 / 10000 CAT Listening: 7 / 200
Actually nothing, I've stalled on La Plaça del Diamant after the first chapter or two. A fair amount of music in the last few days, mostly jazz, but hey plenty of Catalan lyrics.

Galego
Haven't read any more on that novel, so nothing.

Swedish
SV Reading: 1289 / 10000 SV Listening: 34 / 200
FSI: 8 / 16
Nothing here either, just some music. But you know, for a language I hardly ever speak and never write in, and picked up for the heck of it, and really most of the things I do in it are "Do X because X is in Swedish" and not "Do X because you want to do X and X happens to be in Swedish", I'm pretty happy with where I'm at in the language. At some point I should wrap up FSI, but that's probably all the effort I want to put into it any more other than maintaining what I've got and the occasional cool or useful thing that I get access to because Swedish.


Danish
DK Reading: 130 / 10000 DK Listening: 7 / 200
See: Swedish, with less ability and no FSI

Latin
LAT Reading: 50 / 10000
Yeah I didn't do anything here.

Ancient Greek
GK Reading: 70 / 10000
Regular pensum for Sundays, but that's it.

Hebrew
Pimsleur: 16 / 30 FSI: 1 / 40
LR Psalms First Pass: 27 / 150
Jenni: 7 / 30
Did another Pimsleur while I ran 5k one evening, but haven't done any more FSI. It's a time question mostly.

Korean
Video: 11 / 200 TTMIK 2: 8 / 25
FSI: 1 / 19
A bit more TTMIK, which is fine by my at this point. Slow progress is still progress, and it's just about right without having more time to focus on Korean.

Persian
Pimsleur Farsi: 1 / 10 Pimselur Dari: 0 / 10
I've gotten through the first 10 lessons of Chai and Conversation, some of them a couple times, and did the review lesson (lesson 10) twice. There's a couple things I'm weak on productively, but receptively I've got it down. Going to work a bit more on the Pimsleur, Farsi first (though honestly I'm more likely to encounter Dari), and down the road start the 100 days book in earnest (OK I did the first couple of days and wrote out some words, but I'm not pushing it and I'll re-do it later).

Czech
CZ Pent: 9 / 70 Video: 1 / 200
Ahoj, language I have forgotten about for the past week, how are you? I'll maybe finish that movie this weekend.

Ukrainian
I've done about 10 of the Ukrainian podcasts as well, and progress here is slow and steady. Between Russian cognates and synergy, and cognates from other languages (food words!), I'm at the "well-meaning tourist navigates local market, meets friendly natives" level, more or less. That means there is a plateau coming, one which I shouldn't be at but am (at least receptively), so slow and steady progress is what I've got to look forward to as well.

Russian
MT Foundation: 8 / 8 MT Advanced: 2 / 5
Assimil: 60 / 90 Reading: 0 / 10000
RU NT: 25 / 90
Without actually doing a lot of active work, Russian has had a bit of a breakthrough. Watched some comedy sketches that I got from Ogrim's log, with pretty good understanding, and read a bit of the reader. I could live, but not work (and certainly not in my field!), in Russian, and if I had it in me to get a good 3-4 hours of Russian input daily over the next year or so with some at-need grammar work, I could probably be quite comfortable. Not that I'm going to do it that way, mind you. I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing, on the plan I've got, and watch random stuff on Youtube when I can't bring myself to do other stuff.

Everything Else
Haitian Creole, I started dabbling, but is it dabbling if I'm not actually learning anything and just using e.g. lavwadelamarik on the strength of cognate understanding? Maybe. That's what I'm doing, anyway...
Georgian, I've done nothing. I don't even know the whole alphabet. This is definitely a low-involvement dabble.

[Expugnator]

Great to read about the breakthroughs in Portuguese and Russian!

As for Swahili, I'm all for starting it next year.