Re-Inventing the System: Systematiker repeatedly changes his plans

[DaveBee]

French
FR Reading: 2456 / 10000 FR Film: 91 / 200
FR Bible without Pent: 40 / 90
FSI: 1 / 24
Listened a bit, and also working on a couple things I have started here (including Dumas, but also things I started a while back and still haven't finished for whatever reason). And podcasts.

I read a biography of Mr Dumas recently. The most surprising fact presented was that his grandfather sold his own children as slaves, and then bought one of them back back, Mr Dumas' father!

[Systematiker]

A whole week between updates - I lost a few productive days entirely this last week due to some other obligations, so the balance of the time had to be shifted to my normal pensum, and languages missed out a bit.

Spanish
ES Reading: 5880 / 10000 ES Film: 161 / 200
FSI: 28 / 53
Not much at all here. I've read the first two stories in Ficciones but I haven't posted in the read-along thread, in part because I do an awful lot of literature-analysis stuff when I teach, and I don't want to be that guy in a book group. A lot of music, some podcasts (I'd like to find a short news podcast), and some other rotational reading.

French
FR Reading: 2456 / 10000 FR Film: 91 / 200
FR Bible without Pent: 40 / 90
FSI: 1 / 24
Just the rotational reading and brief podcasts, plus prayers.

Portuguese
PT Reading: 875 / 10000 PT Film: 12 / 200
PT NT: 60 / 60
Finished the NT. Otherwise the majority of my listening this past week has been in Portuguese, there's been several 90+ minute things I've been looking forward to for long enough that I just listened to several of them to the exclusion of other things.

Catalan
CAT Reading: 15 / 10000 CAT Film: 7 / 200
Rotational reading, and daily clozemaster (where I'm not first on the leaderboard this week! This must be rectified!). Now that the Portuguese Bible reading plan is done, I'm thinking about whether I will do one in Catalan next or Swedish (or both? Not until I get through the initial push of the plan in Russian right now [see below] and figure out what I'm doing with that French plan I've been half-doing for a year now)

Swedish
SV Reading: 589 / 10000 SV Film: 31 / 200
FSI: 8 / 16
Röda Rummet is in the rotation, and clozemaster.

Danish
DK Reading: 130 / 10000 DK Film: 5 / 200
Morning prayer a couple times.

Latin
LAT Reading: 50 / 10000
Clozemaster to make the rotation work, otherwise nothing.

Ancient Greek
GK Reading: 65 / 10000
Not much here, either, but I've been working with some stuff for Sunday, so it's not like I've ignored it entirely.

Hebrew
Pimsleur: 8 / 30
LR Psalms First Pass: 27 / 150
Jenni: 7 / 30
At first glance this looks like I've done nothing - stalled on Pimsleur, and Jenni. But actually, I'm still making sure that the paradigms from chapter 7 are really going to stick - they're not unfamiliar, but I can't produce them from memory, so I've been returning to them to try to really get them down. I've also been reading out of Isaiah, which has required a fair amount of dictionary help, but hasn't been as painful as I had feared.

Korean
Video: 6 / 200 TTMIK 1: 22 / 25
FSI: 1 / 19
I wanted to repeat lesson 22 of TTMIK last Friday, and still haven't done it. I also didn't manage my phone conversation because my buddy ended up having to take a short trip. Maybe I can call him tonight.

Czech
I could have done more with Czech, but I didn't. Haven't really done much, aside from starting in Genesis, because I found poslouchamebibli.cz - I know the B21 translation is less than ideal, but this is my only option for OT with audio, and I don't want to do two low-ability Slavic languages at the same time in the NT (also due to the nature of the plan I'm using for Russian). Also clozemaster.

An aside: I use the NT for language learning rather than the OT because although both are familiar, I can quote large portions of the NT from memory in a couple languages. Iguanamon advises the OT because of the style of narrative, and he's pretty correct there, I just deviate personally because I've got more of the NT at my "mental fingertips" and I probably get more out of it. That said, I'm obviously not averse to using the OT, I just need to have the right resources and timing.

Ukrainian
Literally nothing in the last week. I'm encouraged by lawyerandmom's dive in to Russian clozemaster without being "ready" for it, so I might try that with Ukrainian clozemaster. Oh wait, I did listen to music, that counts, right?

Gaelic
Clozemaster

Russian
MT Foundation: 8 / 8 MT Advanced: 1 / 5
Assimil: 47 / 90 Reading: 0 / 10000
RU NT: 11 / 90
A bit more Assimil reading, and NT work. I'm thankful to Radioclare for talking about MT advanced and the second disk starting with rather difficult grammar, because now I don't feel so bad for starting it several times and bailing. I've found that I'm pretty able to handle the NT like this, having the text and audio, but without being so familiar with it I'd be lost for sure.
The plan I'm doing spreads things over 90 days, but it does so by doing one chapter from the Gospels and two chapters straight through starting from Acts daily. This means firstly that it spreads the Gospels out far enough that if I do another NT plan concurrently, I will double up a few times, so I have to be careful what else I'm reading/what other language I'm reading in (i.e. no Czech NT for now). Secondly, it means that the longest audio (days with a long chapter from Matthew and two chapters from the Acts) is right at the beginning, so reading three chapters can run to 40 minutes (this gets better in Mark, there are some long ones in Luke but I don't think they hit long chapters in the Epistles with them) in the first 10-15 days of the plan.
The downside is now that I feel like I'm getting benefit and comprehensible input from the NT, it's hard to motivate myself to do more than clozemaster and the L-R stuff.

Basque
Assimil: 1 / 90
Nothing

Dutch
NL Reading: 66 / 10000 NL Film: 20 / 200
Clozemaster, and I want to pick one of these novels back up...

Swabian
Nothing

German
I haven't even finished Babylon Berlin yet...

Everything Else
There hasn't been any else this week either

[jeff_lindqvist]

CAT Reading: 15 / 10000 CAT Film: 7 / 200
Rotational reading, and daily clozemaster (where I'm not first on the leaderboard this week! This must be rectified!). Now that the Portuguese Bible reading plan is done, I'm thinking about whether I will do one in Catalan next or Swedish (or both? Not until I get through the initial push of the plan in Russian right now [see below] and figure out what I'm doing with that French plan I've been half-doing for a year now)

What are you reading? Is it OT/NT? Or something else? I think I can achieve decent skills in Catalan fairly quickly (based on my other Romance languages) but I'm still looking for the right material. Any ideas are helpful!

[Systematiker]

CAT Reading: 15 / 10000 CAT Film: 7 / 200
Rotational reading, and daily clozemaster (where I'm not first on the leaderboard this week! This must be rectified!). Now that the Portuguese Bible reading plan is done, I'm thinking about whether I will do one in Catalan next or Swedish (or both? Not until I get through the initial push of the plan in Russian right now [see below] and figure out what I'm doing with that French plan I've been half-doing for a year now)

What are you reading? Is it OT/NT? Or something else? I think I can achieve decent skills in Catalan fairly quickly (based on my other Romance languages) but I'm still looking for the right material. Any ideas are helpful!

I’m currently reading Algú com tu by Xavier Bosch, which I saw over on Ogrim’s log.

I did Assimil for Catalan and didn’t make it through the whole thing, then kind of had it on the back burner for a while, just doing a bit of Clozemaster now and then. Around the 35-40% played mark on the Clozemaster set (no reviews, but without pro you get 1-2 review per session) I noticed a pretty significant jump in my reading comprehension. I think it was Christmas I decided to buy the novel, and I hesitated starting it for a while, but I’m at a good reading speed and understanding now (for reference, I’m in the high 50%s of the Clozemaster set). I follow Gran Nord well, better with Catalan Untertitel, Merlí less well (also no Catalan subs available there so...)

You could probably do something similar, realistically with just Clozemaster given your other abilities, and segue pretty quickly into novels.

[Fortheo]

Yeah, the last three disks of Michel Thomas advanced were, well, more advanced. Those three disks cover a lot. They're worth going through a few times. I had gone through the first nine disks a numerous times before I felt ready to tackle the last three disks.

[Systematiker]

I don't really have time for a full update - I actually mis-clicked today and ended up on the forum, and then saw a post about L-R and had to comment, so now I have to update, right?

L-R plans continuing. Russian is going well, still a decent chunk of time. Doing the first five books of the OT the same way in Czech, about 20 minutes at a time. Both of those plus regular Clozemaster seem to be a really good approach, at least for me and given the circumstances and availability I have. Doing the NT in Swedish, as an addition, blazing through to be done by Easter (which works because I now read Swedish about as fast as Spanish or French, if not quite as fast as German/English). And I've done the first two chapters of Matthew (a few times each) in Korean, mostly because the following occurred to me: I started the Russian NT plan when I wasn't sure I could keep up reading, and had hesitated, but it was easier for me to begin. Within a couple days of the plan my parsing of Cyrillic improved dramatically, and now I'm actually at 1.25 speed audio because I can read the script (and comprehend most of the content) faster than the dramatized narration. And Rick complained over in his log that "there's an awful lot of begetting in the Bible." And then it clicked for me - I know all those names, and at one point I had the genealogies in Matthew and Luke memorized. So I did L2-L2 L-R in Korean for the first chapter of Matthew five or six times, and guess what? I read Korean way, way faster and more accurately now. So I'm going slowly through at least the Gospels in Korean, repeating each chapter multiple times (and using both the bible.is app, which has the audio, as well as my computer so I can look up confusing words), also because the structure is different enough and my skills are weak enough that I wouldn't be getting gain from going through once, I'd just be riding on my knowledge of the text. It's a bit more "study" and a bit less "easy" than my normal NT engagement, but I'm pleased with it.

Other detailed updates will have to wait until I've actually got time to do it.

[Systematiker]

Well, it's been long enough without an update! If this is disjointed, it'll be because I'm going to have to save it as a draft and work on it several times before I get it done - I could do shorter updates, but then I woulnd't say everything.

Spanish
ES Reading: 5880 / 10000 ES AV: 164 / 200
FSI: 28 / 53
I was kind of disappointed in my ability to write what I wanted in the Borges thread. In one sense, sure, I can do a lot in Spanish. I can converse about pretty much whatever, I can preach with not much more prep than for German or English, I can read or listen to anything...but I can't take literature analysis or philosophical concepts and then turn around and speak about them casually, and still have my "voice" come through. Writing is hardest for me in every language (even English!), so perhaps that has something to do with it as well, because I feel like I could have gone for it if it had been an in-person conversation and wouldn't have been second-guessing so much. Other than that, due to being so busy lately, audiobooks have become my friend. I usually don't care much for audiobooks, but they seem to hit just the right spot for me in Spanish, and they're good for a productive commute that isn't too much effort.
I’ve seen Arturo Pérez-Reverte recommended several times here, and got one of his books last Christmas. I never got around to reading it much (El club Dumas) but started it back a few weeks ago because I was trying to work on all those things I’d started. It hasn’t been great, there’s something about the style that i wasn’t thrilled with (like the way I felt for the last third of El ultimo Catòn, it was just enough, even though I like Asensi all right, and why I didn’t read the sequel). But the same author, writing pretty much the same way, is much better as an audiobook (El capitán Alatriste). Go figure. I’m actually considering finishing the book as an audiobook (these two, plus several more by this author, are included in scribd). So I’m pleased with this as a balance to more “lit” stuff. I’ve also been increasing my “to read” in Spanish, and I’m barely able to resist starting the most recently added stuff. But if I finish one as an audiobook, the actual reading slot is open, right? (Eyeballing Unamuno, La agonía des cristianismo.)

French
FR Reading: 2456 / 10000 FR Film: 91 / 200
FR Bible without Pent: 40 / 90
FSI: 1 / 24
Correspondingly, I've done very little in French. Some news most days, as well as daily prayers most days, but that's it for now. I really should do more, I simply struggle with loving French (but it’s useful. And definitely sunk cost by this point!). Well, my wife lately would prefer that we use French when we don’t want our son to understand us, rather than my go-to Spanish, so I’m going to have to be using it more.

Portuguese
PT Reading: 875 / 10000 PT Film: 12 / 200
PT NT: 60 / 60
Portuguese audiobooks, Padre Amaro gets read even when I don't feel like the full rotation, and I've found some new music that I've really enjoyed (I'll eventually look for it on youtube and post it here). I want to get back to Machado de Assis as well, and I’m considering making it L-R, since there’s a ton of his on scribd.
I never really planned on doing this much with Portuguese when I started it...

Catalan
CAT Reading: 15 / 10000 CAT Film: 7 / 200
As of Wednesday I should have finished the entire clozemaster Catalan corpus, at least as played. My reading has increased by leaps and bounds, and I'm really enjoying this a lot. My listening comprehension is doing even better, as well, and that's without there being audio on clozemaster. I also ordered a new book,

And that book showed up today, about a week early. La plaça del Diamant, which was recommended to me as a Catalan classic by a forum member. Which means I’m now reading Algú com tu more so I can start my new book - I’ll admit that I initially started it because Ogrim recommended it and it had won a prize, but I mostly figured I needed to get at least one work of contemporary fiction down before I dive into what apparently is one of the more significant modern Catalan works. That said, I’ve really begun to enjoy Algú com tu, as the tale progressed, especially after the first few chapters.

Swedish
SV Reading: 589 / 10000 SV Film: 31 / 200
FSI: 8 / 16 SV NT: 43 / 46
On track to finish the NT by Easter (well, Holy Saturday, actually), and I need to knock out those last units of FSI. In other news, though, I listened to a Lenten sermon the other day and was truly amazed, because it used to be I would need full attention to listen to something familiar (and for less familiar things I would still miss things), but this one I could have on in the same way I have stuff in Spanish or even German, and follow the whole thing with only partial effort. I was even able to consider the pronunciation of the speaker (I guess it's dialect, the "sk"->"k" shift in certain words, and a strongly rolled "r"? I'll look it up eventually). Been doing some clozemaster as well, but not terribly much. Re-started a pulp novel, to be a balance to “lit stuff“, also because I’ve got to figure out what “one should have read” in Swedish, including in the sense of what everyone had to read in school (say, a Swedish librarian probably would have some advice here, right?).


Danish
DK Reading: 130 / 10000 DK Film: 5 / 200
A bit of clozemaster, that's all.

Latin
LAT Reading: 50 / 10000
Nix

Ancient Greek
GK Reading: 70 / 10000
I don't even know what I haven't tracked here in terms of NT reading, because I've still got six services to do in the next four days...

Hebrew
Pimsleur: 11 / 30
LR Psalms First Pass: 27 / 150
Jenni: 7 / 30
I've really stalled here, aside from working on some OT verses last week. I'll get back in the game after Easter. But I made half a sermon out of why that nifal matters!

Korean
Video: 6 / 200 TTMIK 1: 25 / 25
FSI: 1 / 19
Moved on to the second level of TTMIK, and...stopped. Too much going on to do it in my drive time, I have to have lower-threshold stuff there right now, but after Easter it will be besser. I've done a few chapters in Matthew that I want to repeat.


Czech
[progress=CZ Pent]9/70 [/progress]
L-R is going well, and so is doing 500 points worth of clozemaster daily. I'm really pleased with my receptive facility so far in Czech, and will probably be able to tackle a proper course (FAST or something, because FLC) by the summer.

Ukrainian
This has been hard. Clozemaster isn't sorted by frequency, duolingo annoyed me (but I need to go back to it), and it's something with not so many resources. Fortunately, I kept Spotify for streaming music in a modified FLC, and Reineke was so kind as to post a link to some learning recordings on Spotify over in Morgana's log (thanks!), so I've got that now - once I've got the time.

Gaelic
Clozemaster most days.

Russian
MT Foundation: 8 / 8 MT Advanced: 1 / 5
Assimil: 57 / 90 Reading: 0 / 10000
RU NT: 22 / 90
Still doing the L-R, missing some days. Doing 500 points daily on clozemaster. Tiny drips of Assimil. Ready to hit it again after Easter

Basque
Assimil: 1 / 90
Actually, I tried clozemaster here, and it's not miserable, but sometimes I'm getting it by process of elimination. I'm not realistically going to be able to do Assimil in any concentrated fashion until after the summer, but this is better than nothing.

Dutch
NL Reading: 66 / 10000 NL Film: 20 / 200
I've actually still been doing some clozemaster here as well, because why not.

Swabian
Nothing.

German
Reading Novalis and Goethe (started Die Wahlverwandtschaften early this year, did I mention that? Have I mentioned I read it every summer, and if I finish it early enough, I read Werther as well? One of my handful of rereading habits). Dong some planning about finally catching up on some of the “great works” that I didn’t manage years ago. Maybe 20 works or so still on my list? Listening to Fontane as an audiobook while writing this, Geschwisterliebe.

Everything Else
I want to do another experiment. Encouraged by the clozemaster effect on Catalan, I've decided that I will play the corpus in Galician (from Spanish, so just shy of 4k sentences) and then attempt to read modern literature. I've selected Resistencia by Rosa Aneiros, so I’ll give that a shot in perhaps a month or so.

[Lawyer&Mom]

Ugh. Unsorted Ukrainian Clozemaster sounds dreadful. Russian only manageable because I started with first 100 words.

[Elenia]

Swedish librarian? I wonder who that could be...

Well, whoever it is, it's obviously not me, but I would still throw out Selma Lagerlöf as a likely candidate. And I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes with Galician!

[jeff_lindqvist]

Been doing some clozemaster as well, but not terribly much. Re-started a pulp novel, to be a balance to “lit stuff“, also because I’ve got to figure out what “one should have read” in Swedish, including in the sense of what everyone had to read in school (say, a Swedish librarian probably would have some advice here, right?).

I'm a mere mortal (library administrator), but I'll bite.

Runeberg has a list of the top 100 titles.

As for myself, I mostly read crime novels (haha!).