Stelle's log - Spanish, Tagalog and Esperanto

[PeterMollenburg]

Excellent post on easy reading on page 5 of this log! I'm going to apply some tweaks to my French learning with the insight gained from your advice on easy (extensive) reading. Thanks Stelle!

[Stelle]

Excellent post on easy reading on page 5 of this log! I'm going to apply some tweaks to my French learning with the insight gained from your advice on easy (extensive) reading. Thanks Stelle!

Thanks for the kind words! What books are you thinking about reading in French?

[Stelle]

This week I started with a new first grade French immersion class. My little ones come to me with no French at all. Many of them speak a language other than English at home, so this is a third language for them. Watching them grow over the course of a year, until they speak nothing but French amongst themselves, is an absolute pleasure!

I don't buy into the nonsense that an adult can learn like a child. But I do think that we can learn a few things from five- and six-year-old language learners!

Don't worry too much if you don't understand every word, so long as you get the gist of things.
Repeat stuff. A lot.
Move around. Keep your brain and body fresh and awake.
Don't do one thing for too long. Stop before you get too frustrated. Take a break when you need one.
Read a little, listen a little, talk a little, write a little, draw a little, sing a little, watch a little - and then start over again.
Have fun.

Now to apply that to my own learning!

(But first, a nap. Oh, how I need a nap.)

[neofight78]

(But first, a nap. Oh, how I need a nap.)

I think napping is much underrated as a language learning tool. However it's one I use extensively and without it a lot of study would have been left undone!

[Stelle]

After several weeks of slap-dash hit-and-miss language learning, I've settled into a routine that works for me. In the past, I've generally just studied whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, but with that strategy, Tagalog keeps getting put on the back burner. Sometimes, it misses the back burner altogether and gets tucked behind the stove.

My Esperanto dabbling has turned into a genuine interest, which means that I'm now learning three languages. Two months of Esperanto has me at a higher level than a year and a half of Tagalog, which is both fun and a little bit sad.

We're planning on a long-term trip next July, starting with nine months and possibly extending beyond that if we decide to work overseas. The Philippines is one of our destinations, so I really would like to be at a solid conversational level before then.

My current approach is to focus on two languages every day for 45 minutes each (more when Spanish is a focus), and then do a minimum of 10 minutes in the third, alternating which languages receive more attention each day. I've been doing this for the past week, and I find it highly engaging and challenging. I put on a timer and focus steadily until the time is up. Here's a sample of the past few days:

Sept 28 (focus: Spanish and Esperanto)

85 minutes Spanish, spread out through the day: listening to podcasts, anki reviews, reading news articles, 2 reviews on Duolingo (I'm currently slowly regilding my Spanish tree at the rate of two reviews per day. I have no idea why this is important to me, since it's really not a good use of my time in Spanish. But it's fun, and not very time-consuming, so I'll keep doing it until I stop.)

45 minutes Esperanto, right after work: 3 Duolingo lessons (two reviews, one new lesson, which is my current Duolingo routine), anki reviews, Ana Pana lesson 6 on Lernu

15 minutes Tagalog in the evening: anki reviews, short news video (watched once)

Sept 29 (focus: Tagalog and Spanish)

45 minutes Tagalog right after work: short news video (watched twice), anki reviews, listening/reading intensively a few very short stories

95 minutes Spanish in the evening: episode of Isabel, anki reviews, two Duolingo reviews

15 minutes Esperanto at lunchtime: two Duolingo reviews, anki reviews

Sept 30 (focus: Esperanto and Tagalog)

45 minutes Esperanto, right after work: an episode of Mazi en Gondolando, 3 Duolingo lessons (two reviews, one new lesson), anki reviews, a quick note to an italki penpal, and then a few minutes on bliubliu

45 minutes Tagalog, in the evening: working through lesson vocabulary with JP's help, anki reviews, short news video (watched twice), and then a few minutes on bliubliu

10 minutes Spanish, at lunchtime: two Duolingo reviews, anki reviews

Today's focus will be on Spanish and Esperanto. I plan on watching another episode of Isabel tonight. I have to find out what happened to poor Juana!

I haven't been reading enough. I usually read in bed before I sleep, but I haven't been going to bed early enough lately. I'm four chapters behind in the Spanish book club that I started! Oops. This coming weekend, I plan on dedicating a good chunk of time to reading El tiempo entre costuras.

Anyway, overall I'm pleased with how my current schedule is working for me. By keeping my study sessions (in Tagalog and Esperanto) relatively short and focused, I'm getting quite a lot done in 45 minutes. I feel both tired and energized at the end of a study session. And I'm not neglecting Spanish by any means, but I'm reigning it in a bit, so that I have more time to advance in Tagalog.

[Expugnator]

Sounds impressive, Stelle! Nice to see you keep going with Tagalog. One of the risks of not having a schedule is neglecting the weaker languages as studying the better languages always feels easy and tends to be more fun. I see this in just one week when I haven't been able to study at a computer and thus have mostly worked on my stronger languages.

[PeterMollenburg]

Looks good Stelle!

I've been using a timer myself for years. I'm not implying it's the be all and end all, but it's certainly worked well for me in distributing my time (in the past between languages), now between activities in French. I focus intensely until my timer reaches my alotted time. Being accountable to do a set period of time each day means you're (in theory) inclined to get it out the way earlier so that you can also do some other things in your day.

Good luck with your routine! Stick at it for long enough and it will become automatic. Your trip sounds great too!

[BAnna]

I was in the doctor's waiting room yesterday paging through a mostly, but not exclusively English language, newspaper aimed at Filipinos living in the US and saw the below (and of course immediately thought of you!). There's a few words from some other languages mixed in there, too of course:

[Stelle]

Oh, hi. It's November 21. How did that happen?

Language learning has slowed to a trickle. Everyone's busy, so no need to explain. November's a tough month!

Very brief update on my languages:

español

I've continued with weekly Skype sessions with the fabulous Auri. They're engaging and challenging, but I'm starting to make conjugation mistakes that I didn't used to make. I think that increased speed and fluency sometimes come at the expense of correctness. I have to think about how I want to tackle this beast.

I finished watching Isabel season 3 and loved it. The last few episodes were so sad. I wanted it to end differently - but obviously it couldn't!

I'm a terrible book club host, and completely bailed on the group that I started on the Spanish board. I was enjoying El Tiempo entre costuras, but it just wasn't addictive enough to make me want to read at the end of the day. I've decided to put it aside for now and return to it later. I started reading Apocalipsis Z instead, and it's the kind of brain candy that I have enough energy for at the end of the day.

I will have absolutely no problem finishing the Super Challenge before the deadline. Yay!

I've abandoned anki.

Esperanto

I finished Bildoj kaj demandoj and Ana Pana on Lernu quite some time ago. I didn't really like bildoj kaj demandoj, but I enjoyed Ana Pana! I like the story-based learning, and I enjoyed interacting with my tutor via email. I'll go back to Lernu for Ana renkontas when I finish the Duolingo tree.

I'm about halfway through the Duolingo Esperanto tree. I normally don't think that Duolingo is useful as a primary resource for learning a language (although it can be useful as a supplementary resource). But the Esperanto course is pretty fantastic, and I feel quite happy using it as a primary resource! At this point, I'm only using it 3-4 times a week, for 20 minutes at a time. I'm progressing slowly but surely - which is just about the speed I'm aiming for, especially since I consider myself nothing more than a dabbler in Esperanto.

I started Speak Esperanto Like a Native on Memrise. I spend no more than five minutes per day on Memrise.

I finished watching Mazi en Gondolando. It's silly and fun, and builds at a nice pace. Highly recommended.

I've abandoned anki.

Tagalog

I've been speaking quite a lot with my in-laws. I'm learning very slowly, but I'm learning.

I've put aside most formal language study in Tagalog. I'll come back to it eventually, when I feel the itch. I only spend about 45 minutes per week (in one or two sessions) working through my textbook.

I've abandoned anki. Noticing a trend here? Unlike with Esperanto and Spanish, I actually feel that abandoning anki is holding me back in Tagalog.

And there you have it. Happy November, everyone!

[arthaey]

I started reading Apocalipsis Z instead, and it's the kind of brain candy that I have enough energy for at the end of the day.

¿¿En serio?? ¡Ese libro era mi preferencia cuando votamos por el club de lectura!

Lo he dejado en la mitad, hace quizás un año — leí las primeras 184 páginas (de 430). (La verdad, ahora no recuerdo por qué dejé de leerlo, ¡me estaba gustando bastante!) Cuando nuestro héroe entra en el otro barco*, me dices y empezaré a leerlo otra vez, contigo.

*Espero que esta frase es suficiente vaga que no es un spoiler, pero también es distinta para que sepas cuando logres en ese punto.