Humerusthings log: German & French Log through Assimil 2024

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humerusthings
Orange Belt
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2017 7:40 am
Languages: English (N), Chinese (GCSE A levels), Korean (~A2?), French (A1), German (Beginner), Icelandic (Beginner).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7372
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Re: Humerusthings' French Log - Road to B1 in 2018 + Korean Log - Seoul Searching 2018

Postby humerusthings » Sat Dec 23, 2017 5:53 am

This is rather frequent and enthusiastic posting I know but for reasons stated below, next year I might have less time to post so I guess it will even out eventually.

Saturday 23/12/17
French

Vocab: 100 words with Lingvist
Listening: 4 Coffee Break French podcasts - shopping, shopping at a deli, aches and pains, more aches and pains
(i especially liked the phrase faire du leche-vitrine ie to go window shopping haha)
Assimil - currently up to Lesson 12
I'm really liking the humor in Assimil French with ease! It makes the studying so enjoyable. So how I'm currently using Assimil French is this:
1) First I listen to the audio + read through the passage together, trying to figure out the meanings with the english translation
2) Listen to the audio, pause and repeat the sentence after each line
3) Make Anki cards for new vocab
4) Read through the grammar notes and do the exercises
5) Repeat older lessons the next day
____________________
Some thoughts about language studying in 2018 - it's probably going to be difficult because I'm going to a different department (eye). I'm really used to the emergency department (although there is still a lot to learn!), so it's not that stressful, plus when I'm off, I'm really off. So I have been thoroughly enjoying all of my off days spending time learning languages. A new department means I have to spend my off days learning the ropes of the new specialty just so I can function in everyday work. Plus, I have emergency medicine exams coming up in March 2018 which I just signed up for and paid for.

Nevertheless, I do love learning French and I'm currently in the honeymoon phase of language learning where I'm excited to learn something everyday! So it's hard to stop just like that especially when I just discovered so many new resources. Not to mention I'm loathe to let my Duolingo streak lapse just like that.

SO my plan for the rest of 2017 is to enjoy and learn as much as I'd like. But when 2018 officially starts, I'm probably going to do the following

1) 1 coffee break french podcast on the drive to work and the way back or maybe when waiting for gym classes to start (maybe can get 2 in if there is a lot of traffic? haha!)
2) 1-2 duolingo lessons per day just to keep the streak alive
3) 1 Assimil Lesson per day
4) Hopefully 1-2 Italki Lessons per month. It'll probably be 1 :( quite sad about this.

So that should add up to around 40mins to 1 hour of French per day? I probably shouldnt do the assimil or coffee break french on days of italki lessons. I should compensate a bit by doing... ten online exam question or watching a online video on respiratory emergencies or something. Haha.

I also have to a) study eye at least 1 hr per day and b) study emergency medicine at least 1 hour per day [after working pretty much 630am to 5pm] so... good luck to me HAHA, bonne chance as they say.
Even though all this sounds crazy I guess having loads of purpose in life and things planned makes things interesting :) It's true that surviving daily work and passing exams is more important but I guess at the very minimum one french thing per day would be good? Or maybe I'll do like one day CBF, one day duo, one day assimil and rotate like that? Another good idea! I'll see which one is more feasible :)
1 x
: 19 / 40 Coffee Break French S3
: 88 / 113 Assimil French With Ease
: 3 / 16 Easy French Step by Step
: 33 / 100 Assimil German With Ease
: 4 / 20 Easy German Step by Step

humerusthings
Orange Belt
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2017 7:40 am
Languages: English (N), Chinese (GCSE A levels), Korean (~A2?), French (A1), German (Beginner), Icelandic (Beginner).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7372
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Re: Humerusthings' French Log - Road to B1 in 2018 + Korean Log - Seoul Searching 2018

Postby humerusthings » Thu Dec 28, 2017 7:52 am

Despite the busy week I managed to get some French and Korean in! I also studied for eye and for emergency medicine so it's been a productive week :)

My half weekly update:
French

Duolingo: At 1066 words now. Have been doing a little each day even if just one short lesson per day. There are many lessons though so I am now aiming to finish it by June 2018.
Assimil French with Ease: Up to Lesson 21! I'm really enjoying Assimil. I'm beginning to think that maybe if I use Assimil right, I might be able to reach B1 at the end of it? Supplemented with the other resources of course! Then I need to check out Assimil Using French too. Looking forward to that!! I'm aiming to finish Assimil by June 2018.
Grammaire Progressive Du Francais (Niveau Debutant): I bought this on Christmas Day post-shift as my local bookstore (Kinokuniya) had a 20% off for members! I also bought a DELF A1 CLE book so looking forward to that, but I don't think my French level is quite up to doing exam questions yet... I've so far done the first 3 chapters for grammaire progressive. There are quite a few books in the series available in the bookstore but I'll wait a little while for new year sales and also perhaps I should finish this book first... ;p

Coffee Break French: Listened to a very seasonally appropriate CBF episode entitled Happy Holidays on my way to work on Christmas Day :)

Korean
Had a wonderful 1hr Korean Italki class with my favourite italki teacher Seulgi today. I haven't had a lesson for SOO long but amazingly still managed to communicate with her in Korean. We studied the grammar points "~던데요" and "~을 텐데 걱정이다". It's great because we do free talking and chat about our lives etc in Korean but we somehow also manage to hit all the grammar points for the class. We usually do 2 grammar points per class, which I pick from my Sogang books and then go through. I tried a few Korean teachers but so far Seulgi is the best. After a few classes she feels like a friend already haha. Like a Korean unni! :)

I've been stalking Kino for the longest time but there arent any Sogang 3b or 4a workbooks on the shelves :( So either I'll just study from the textbooks which I own or move to the Ehwa textbooks? Anyone used the Ehwa textbooks before and has any comments? It's sad though because I actually really like the Sogang series! It's the series that I first used to learn Korean from scratch and it's very user friendly as well as colorful and I like the cute little accompanying grammar book.

Hope everyone is having a good holiday season and Joyeux Noel and Bonne Année everyone!
크리스마스를 축하해요! 그리고 새해 복 많이 받으세요!
1 x
: 19 / 40 Coffee Break French S3
: 88 / 113 Assimil French With Ease
: 3 / 16 Easy French Step by Step
: 33 / 100 Assimil German With Ease
: 4 / 20 Easy German Step by Step

User avatar
PeterMollenburg
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3229
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:54 am
Location: Australia
Languages: English (N), French (B2-certified), Dutch (High A2?), Spanish (~A1), German (long-forgotten 99%), Norwegian (false starts in 2020 & 2021)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18080
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Re: Humerusthings' French Log - Road to A2 in 2018!

Postby PeterMollenburg » Thu Dec 28, 2017 10:42 am

humerusthings wrote:
Cavesa wrote:Welcome to the forum!

I am looking forward to following your log. Your goal is definitely possible, especially taking into account your previous achievements.

Emk's log is great, I also recommend joining the French study group, which is open to every learner interested. You'll find there interesting discussion, tips on resources, and also links to logs of other French learners. :-)

I'd recommend using some well structured resources too, covering the whole spectrum of what you need, and putting some order in your studies. Grammaire Progressive and Vocabulaire progressif, niveau débutant are a wonderful tool.

Duolingo is fine the complete beginning, but too superficial and the recordings are not a good model to follow. Memrise is great, except for the official courses. All those podcasts are definitely a good idea, as listening is super important.

Perhaps you should consider a normal coursebook with CD too, but I think you can avoid it, with good other resources. And later a preparatory book for the exam.

Italki is great, but you cannot rely on it too much, especially if you're taking just two lessons per month. It is great for practice, or questions. But waiting for the teachers to explain stuff, that would mean really slow progress.


Hi Cavesa! Thank you for the helpful suggestion of grammaire progressive and vocabulaire progressif! I checked it out and it looks really good :) I looked at your log and noticed you're a medical student? I'm a junior doctor, so I would loveee to learn the medical terminology in french haha. Do you have any suggestions for resources regarding medical vocab for french? :)


I realise it was addressed at Cavesa, but I found purchasing a book I already knew in English and it's French equivalent to be a useful way to go. Two such pairs that I have are:
Rapid Interpretation of EKGs

Lecture accélérée de l'ECG

and:
Human Anatomy and Physiology

Anatomie et physiologie humaines
1 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
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Re: Humerusthings' French Log - Road to A2 in 2018!

Postby Cavesa » Thu Dec 28, 2017 4:31 pm

humerusthings wrote:Hi Cavesa! Thank you for the helpful suggestion of grammaire progressive and vocabulaire progressif! I checked it out and it looks really good :) I looked at your log and noticed you're a medical student? I'm a junior doctor, so I would loveee to learn the medical terminology in french haha. Do you have any suggestions for resources regarding medical vocab for french? :)


Sorry about a late answer!
You are welcome! Yes, I am a medical student. I passed a medical French exam at my faculty (and found it hypereasy) and spent half a year on Erasmus in France. My medical French resource tips:

1.textbooks in French. Peter's recommendation of Lecture Accélérée de l'ECG is a good example, but I wouldn't choose it for you, as you are already well versed in this area.

Sémiologie Médicale by Guillevin, published by Lavoisier (or another sémio) is a very good choice for the various signs, symptomes, and exams.

Mikbook is a great book "all in one" that people use while preparing their ECN (the national exams at the end of medschool). It is not a full value text, but those colourful tables and overviews are the essence of French medical terminology.

And French medical literature in general. You don't need the books for students, but there is much more. Not only the French translations of stuff like Harrison, but also original stuff. In some areas, the French literature is even richer than the English literature (or more up to date), at least for some time. But those are rather specific and not too big areas (one of them is my favourite, that's why I know it). So, a part of your postgradual studying can be done with French resources.

2.textbooks of medical French. Those can be useful, but I'd say they are the least important point on my list.

Santé-médecine.com, published by CLE is a small book with exercises and various articles on stuff happening in hospital, or the human body.

Le français des médecins published by PUG comes with videos and has much more content. It is more focused on the doctor-patient situations.

3.TV series. Years ago, I passed my medical English exam just with Anki (one weekend and approximately 2500 terms, not a nice weekend) and a few seasons of House, MD. Some of the French dubbings are of very good quality and of course there are original French medical series too. I've watched much less of those in French, but it is still a great tool. Of course we cannot learn medicine from them (not every patient has Lupus Erythematodes :-D), and we cannot talk to patients like House, but that doesn't change the fact a lot of this language is transferable, with a bit of modification and practice.

I've just tried to find some series for you and google gave me this :-):
Le médecin dans les séries télévisées françaises des années 70 à nos jours
https://dumas.ccsd.cnrs.fr/dumas-00618718/document
4 x

humerusthings
Orange Belt
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2017 7:40 am
Languages: English (N), Chinese (GCSE A levels), Korean (~A2?), French (A1), German (Beginner), Icelandic (Beginner).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7372
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Re: Humerusthings' French Log - Road to A2 in 2018!

Postby humerusthings » Thu Dec 28, 2017 6:37 pm

PeterMollenburg wrote:
I realise it was addressed at Cavesa, but I found purchasing a book I already knew in English and it's French equivalent to be a useful way to go. Two such pairs that I have are:
Rapid Interpretation of EKGs
Lecture accélérée de l'ECG

and:Human Anatomy and Physiology

Anatomie et physiologie humaines


Hi Peter! Thank you for the suggestions, that's a really good idea. I will check them out! :)
1 x
: 19 / 40 Coffee Break French S3
: 88 / 113 Assimil French With Ease
: 3 / 16 Easy French Step by Step
: 33 / 100 Assimil German With Ease
: 4 / 20 Easy German Step by Step

humerusthings
Orange Belt
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2017 7:40 am
Languages: English (N), Chinese (GCSE A levels), Korean (~A2?), French (A1), German (Beginner), Icelandic (Beginner).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7372
x 238

Re: Humerusthings' French Log - Road to A2 in 2018!

Postby humerusthings » Thu Dec 28, 2017 6:42 pm

Cavesa wrote:1.textbooks in French. Peter's recommendation of Lecture Accélérée de l'ECG is a good example, but I wouldn't choose it for you, as you are already well versed in this area.
3. Years ago, I passed my medical English exam just with Anki (one weekend and approximately 2500 terms, not a nice weekend) and a few seasons of House, MD. Some of the French dubbings are of very good quality and of course there are original French medical series too. I've watched much less of those in French, but it is still a great tool. Of course we cannot learn medicine from them (not every patient has Lupus Erythematodes :-D), and we cannot talk to patients like House, but that doesn't change the fact a lot of this language is transferable, with a bit of modification and practice.


Hi Cavesa! Thanks for the great suggestions!
Hahaha I have a loooot to learn about ECGs even after graduation, so that book would be great both in English and in French as a refresher actually ;p
This forum really is amazing in how there are people who know all the specific resources for each language, even for such a subspecialised subject I have to say.
I now absolutely have to go check out House in French! (next language learning aim haha).
1 x
: 19 / 40 Coffee Break French S3
: 88 / 113 Assimil French With Ease
: 3 / 16 Easy French Step by Step
: 33 / 100 Assimil German With Ease
: 4 / 20 Easy German Step by Step

humerusthings
Orange Belt
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2017 7:40 am
Languages: English (N), Chinese (GCSE A levels), Korean (~A2?), French (A1), German (Beginner), Icelandic (Beginner).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7372
x 238

Re: Humerusthings' French Log - Road to B1 in 2018 + Korean Log - Seoul Searching 2018

Postby humerusthings » Sun Dec 31, 2017 4:43 pm

Hi everyone, Happy New Year! :)

My half-weekly update: I'm currently tracking my language learning with google docs/ google drive which really helps!

Duolingo: Up to the past tense lessons now! And at 1199 words.
Coffee Break French: Listened to ep 31 - travelling to france and 34 - breakfast at the hotel
Grammaire Progressive Du Francais - 4 chapters
Learn French with Podcast - Lesson 191 (on the evils of smartphones and how they harm the youth haha.)

I'm really interested in tadoku as well! It's starting in Jan 2018. I signed up for french and korean, no idea if the bot is gonna reply to me..

It's a reading challenge, so i plan to study
- korean by reading my yonsei level 2 reader and song lyrics (I really like Day6's songs nowadays so I shall use their lyrics)
- French by using l'avis de marie's podcasts (there's a transcript attached as well).
http://www.podclub.ch/fr/emissions/l-avis-de-marie-f/128-lavis-de-marie-2-greves-neige-et-confettis-27-fevrier-2009

some other A1 french reading resources I found online which I could potentially use for the tadoku challenge?
https://french.kwiziq.com/blog/marie-france-a1-reading/
https://lingua.com/french/reading/
3 x
: 19 / 40 Coffee Break French S3
: 88 / 113 Assimil French With Ease
: 3 / 16 Easy French Step by Step
: 33 / 100 Assimil German With Ease
: 4 / 20 Easy German Step by Step

humerusthings
Orange Belt
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2017 7:40 am
Languages: English (N), Chinese (GCSE A levels), Korean (~A2?), French (A1), German (Beginner), Icelandic (Beginner).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7372
x 238

Re: Humerusthings' French Log - Road to B1 in 2018 + Korean Log - Seoul Searching 2018

Postby humerusthings » Sat Jan 06, 2018 11:22 am

Weekly log!
French
- keeping up the Duolingo streak! now at 27 days :) finished imparfait, at passe compose now
- Assimil Lesson 22-32 (but i think i still need to go over the lessons more thoroughly and put the new words into anki!)
- Coffee Break French season 1 ep 35 - the tourist office

Korean
- 2 pages in yonsei level 2 reader (inspired by the tadoku challenge)
- learnt 24 new words in memrise

How I did this (small amount) despite my new posting was - the korean stuff was done the last few days of my old posting and since my new posting started (thurs and fri), I've been doing just the duolingo stuff after coming home and just before falling asleep since it takes only like 10mins to keep the streak up, and the assimil and podcasting today (saturday) since I now have weekends free!

Hope the new year is going great for everyone!

Goals for the next 1-2 weeks:
1) keep up the duolingo streak!
2) finish the passe compose duolingo lessons
3) Assimil at weekends - until lesson 40 maybe?
4) read 2 pages of yonsei level 2 reader, learn one more new korean grammar from Korean Grammar in use Intermediate
5) have one more french lesson on italki? (it's supposed to be on dates and times)

The asian study group is also having a vocab challenge! :)
So I'm aiming to learn about 100-200 new korean words this month, using memrise (the lists i'm using are the yonsei 3-1 textbooks vocab list and the topik II in 30 days book's list) --> btw for any fellow korean learners out there, the topik in 30 days vocab book is super!
0 x
: 19 / 40 Coffee Break French S3
: 88 / 113 Assimil French With Ease
: 3 / 16 Easy French Step by Step
: 33 / 100 Assimil German With Ease
: 4 / 20 Easy German Step by Step

humerusthings
Orange Belt
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2017 7:40 am
Languages: English (N), Chinese (GCSE A levels), Korean (~A2?), French (A1), German (Beginner), Icelandic (Beginner).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7372
x 238

Re: Humerusthings' French Log - Road to B1 in 2018 + Korean Log - Seoul Searching 2018

Postby humerusthings » Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:42 am

Weekly log

French : 4 paragraphs of L'avis de marie

Korean
Bought the ewha 3-2 textbook! Started on the 1st chapter and learnt ~ㄴ/는대요 and 기에/ 길래. Personally I prefer the format of the sogang books but perhaps the Ewha books would be better if I got the study guide too? At least I learned a lot of new vocab and grammar from it!
Korean Dramas/ Variety shows:
1 episode of because this is my first life
2 episodes of Kang's Kitchen
1 episode of Baek Jong Won's Alley Restaurants
Song lyric - BTS' serendipity
0 x
: 19 / 40 Coffee Break French S3
: 88 / 113 Assimil French With Ease
: 3 / 16 Easy French Step by Step
: 33 / 100 Assimil German With Ease
: 4 / 20 Easy German Step by Step

humerusthings
Orange Belt
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Dec 17, 2017 7:40 am
Languages: English (N), Chinese (GCSE A levels), Korean (~A2?), French (A1), German (Beginner), Icelandic (Beginner).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7372
x 238

Re: Humerusthings' French Log - Road to B1 in 2018 + Korean Log - Seoul Searching 2018

Postby humerusthings » Sun May 13, 2018 1:48 am

Hi guys!

Due to being super busy at work in a new posting, I sadly haven't had much time for languages for the past few months.

However thanks to my love for kdramas, I've still been getting in those hours of korean language learning haha. Not entirely sure if a kdrama addiction is much to shout about but hey at least some passive language osmosis is occuring?

I've watched
- 10 eps of Because This Is My First Life
- 12 eps of Mystery Queen 2
- 12 eps of You Who Forgot Poetry

So not too bad, 34 hours of Korean haha.

I also bought the Yonsei Level 3 reader from Kino during the most reccent member's sale, and was pleasantly surprised to find that with my phone naver dictionary am able to read the first passage! Bought the Sogang 3b workbook as well.

There was this Jan challenge in the east asian group, which I intended to take part in but somehow got sidelined by work and I've lost that notebook I wrote down the new words in... but I think roughly I learnt about 70 new works that month?

This month is going to be busy too, but due to having the weekend off and a slight breather (before the long back to back shifts come the next two weeks...), I'm going to write some aims for May and June 2018 in terms of language learning:

Korean
1) Learn 100 new words
2) Read 3 passages in Yonsei Level 3 Reader
3) Try to get one italki lesson in?
4) Start on the sogang 3b workbook
5) Learn 2 new grammar patterns from Korean Grammar in use

French (long abandoned...)
1) Finish 2 duolingo lessons
2) Do 2 assimil french in use lessons
1 x
: 19 / 40 Coffee Break French S3
: 88 / 113 Assimil French With Ease
: 3 / 16 Easy French Step by Step
: 33 / 100 Assimil German With Ease
: 4 / 20 Easy German Step by Step


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