Taking it easy Log 2018 [IT, EN, NL, FR, ES, DE, RO]

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
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Tristano
Blue Belt
Posts: 640
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:11 am
Location: The Netherlands
Languages: Native: Italian
Speaks: English, Dutch, French, Spanish
Understands but not yet speaks: Romanian
Studies: German
Can't wait to put his hands on: Scandinavian languages, Slavic languages, Turkish, Arabic and other stuff
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5141
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Re: Taking it easy Log 2018 [IT, EN, NL, FR, ES, DE, RO]

Postby Tristano » Thu Jan 04, 2018 12:41 pm

I reserve myself to break the premise of this log, that is: not starting a new language, in a very specific case:
- if I go to vacation in a country where a language is spoken which I can't comprehend at all and whose native speakers tend not to speak English or another language familiar to me.

But
- it will be for survival only, in a defined amount of time, and extremely focused on the highest gains with the minimum pains. I'll be a tourist, I'll learn what a tourist is most likely to need.
1 x

User avatar
Tristano
Blue Belt
Posts: 640
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:11 am
Location: The Netherlands
Languages: Native: Italian
Speaks: English, Dutch, French, Spanish
Understands but not yet speaks: Romanian
Studies: German
Can't wait to put his hands on: Scandinavian languages, Slavic languages, Turkish, Arabic and other stuff
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5141
x 1015

Re: Taking it easy Log 2018 [IT, EN, NL, FR, ES, DE, RO]

Postby Tristano » Fri Jan 05, 2018 11:29 am

I don't really have a plan about how to handle the myriad of languages, although in this moment I'm enjoying listening to Spanish podcasts. Monday I start my new assignment, I'll have enough time to dedicate to Spanish (going) and German (coming back).
Why this division? I think that I have to put my biggest focus on my work, and Spanish requires me much less energies than German.
0 x

User avatar
Tristano
Blue Belt
Posts: 640
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:11 am
Location: The Netherlands
Languages: Native: Italian
Speaks: English, Dutch, French, Spanish
Understands but not yet speaks: Romanian
Studies: German
Can't wait to put his hands on: Scandinavian languages, Slavic languages, Turkish, Arabic and other stuff
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5141
x 1015

Re: Taking it easy Log 2018 [IT, EN, NL, FR, ES, DE, RO]

Postby Tristano » Tue Jan 23, 2018 9:21 am

Tristano wrote:I reserve myself to break the premise of this log, that is: not starting a new language, in a very specific case:
- if I go to vacation in a country where a language is spoken which I can't comprehend at all and whose native speakers tend not to speak English or another language familiar to me.

But
- it will be for survival only, in a defined amount of time, and extremely focused on the highest gains with the minimum pains. I'll be a tourist, I'll learn what a tourist is most likely to need.


The moment I was afraid of is coming.
We decided to go to Greece in May. It looks like I have work to do. A work that I promise, I'll use to activate my passive languages.

Language islands. I'll start with planning and gathering information.
First deadline: February 23rd. Top 100 words. List of tourist sentences and language islands written down, translated and put on Memrise. 16h of passive listening of native audio.
Second deadline: April 23rd. Top 500 words. List of tourist sentences and language islands memorised. 64h of passive listening of native audio.

From April 23rd to the trip, I'll just review what done so far (actively and passively) and actively listen to language learners material. (does it sound counterintuitive?).
I'll keep the effort as low as possible. (1h passive listening 4 times a week while driving while coming back from work, maximum 1 hour per week of memorisation work).

Goals: being able to exchange pleasantries and get things done. A1---.
6 x

User avatar
Tristano
Blue Belt
Posts: 640
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:11 am
Location: The Netherlands
Languages: Native: Italian
Speaks: English, Dutch, French, Spanish
Understands but not yet speaks: Romanian
Studies: German
Can't wait to put his hands on: Scandinavian languages, Slavic languages, Turkish, Arabic and other stuff
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5141
x 1015

Re: Taking it easy Log 2018 [IT, EN, NL, FR, ES, DE, RO]

Postby Tristano » Tue Jan 23, 2018 3:18 pm

I had a bad adventure in Greece years ago. The b&b owner spoke only Greek. The b&b didn't serve any dinner, but we didn't know that. It however had an agreement with a restaurant where we could eat with a 20% discount.
If I could just say in Greek: "How late are you serving the dinner?" and understand "We don't serve the dinner here. Go to this restaurant, you have 20% discount there. It is down the road" we would have saved two hours waiting for the dinner, staring, becoming frustrated, trying to ask Greek people in the road to talk with that guy, and only two days later getting an explanation of the problem in the most broken English possible from a cleaning lady. The people who talked with the guy all reported that he was going to prepare the dinner for us, things that still doesn't have an explanation.

This time I want to be more prepared :lol:
6 x

User avatar
Tristano
Blue Belt
Posts: 640
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:11 am
Location: The Netherlands
Languages: Native: Italian
Speaks: English, Dutch, French, Spanish
Understands but not yet speaks: Romanian
Studies: German
Can't wait to put his hands on: Scandinavian languages, Slavic languages, Turkish, Arabic and other stuff
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5141
x 1015

Re: Taking it easy Log 2018 [IT, EN, NL, FR, ES, DE, RO]

Postby Tristano » Wed Jan 24, 2018 9:20 am

Today I noticed my understanding of German improved a bit. Not a prodigious improvement, but still one. :yeah:
0 x

User avatar
Tristano
Blue Belt
Posts: 640
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:11 am
Location: The Netherlands
Languages: Native: Italian
Speaks: English, Dutch, French, Spanish
Understands but not yet speaks: Romanian
Studies: German
Can't wait to put his hands on: Scandinavian languages, Slavic languages, Turkish, Arabic and other stuff
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5141
x 1015

Re: Taking it easy Log 2018 [IT, EN, NL, FR, ES, DE, RO]

Postby Tristano » Fri Jan 26, 2018 9:28 am

I'm not so convinced that I will actually put energies to learn some Greek. I learned the alphabet, which was a breeze (even easier than Cyrillic). But urgh, I can't put German on Hold just now that my listening comprehension is improving. Plus, I just had a self revelation: if I want to make my career take the fly, I must learn Dutch to perfection. If I don't do so, I will constantly see Dutch people being chosen over me because they have better communication skills, while kept to do what I can do the best - developing and bugfixing software. No thanks, I find it nice but I don't want to do it forever.

I want to use the goldlist method to learn a massive amount of vocabulary. In the meanwhile, I downloaded several gigas of Dutch podcasts (apparently there is much more than what I was convinced there was, spoiler alert, you have to look for them in Dutch if you don't want to find only the 'learn Dutch' kind of podcasts).
2 x

User avatar
Tristano
Blue Belt
Posts: 640
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:11 am
Location: The Netherlands
Languages: Native: Italian
Speaks: English, Dutch, French, Spanish
Understands but not yet speaks: Romanian
Studies: German
Can't wait to put his hands on: Scandinavian languages, Slavic languages, Turkish, Arabic and other stuff
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5141
x 1015

Re: Taking it easy Log 2018 [IT, EN, NL, FR, ES, DE, RO]

Postby Tristano » Sat Jan 27, 2018 10:08 pm

Today I started using the goldlist method. I'm curious about the results. I'm even more curious to see if I can keep using it over the time of one year, as I'm constant failing to maintain any studying habit during my non hidden moments. Anyway I could see that adding 50 words is a lot of work and a luxury that I can afford not more than once in two weeks. Adding 25 words I can probably two or three times a week. I expect therefore that I can add 300 words per month. Distillation takes much shorter fortunately.
0 x

User avatar
Tristano
Blue Belt
Posts: 640
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:11 am
Location: The Netherlands
Languages: Native: Italian
Speaks: English, Dutch, French, Spanish
Understands but not yet speaks: Romanian
Studies: German
Can't wait to put his hands on: Scandinavian languages, Slavic languages, Turkish, Arabic and other stuff
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5141
x 1015

Re: Taking it easy Log 2018 [IT, EN, NL, FR, ES, DE, RO]

Postby Tristano » Mon Jan 29, 2018 11:15 am

Just discovered that some of the best books about software architecture are in German only. That is an extra motivation :)

I managed to add other 50 words to my Dutch goldlist yesterday. Slowly building my German alongside my journey to proficiency in Dutch looks like a good idea. There is a good synergy between the two languages and very low risk to mix them, as they sound very different from each other.

Like every year, I plan to do something and then I do something completely different. Though this is perfectly acceptable when I keep developing myself.

I retire myself from the learning tourist Greek task. I also have to restrict my goals. My primary goal becomes improving Dutch, the secondary is building deep passive skills with German. Clozemaster is my best friend here, although it won't last forever and at that point I have to raise the bar.
English is good the way it is. I use it every single day, I can't avoid it. I will certainly not forget it.
Italian, I should read a couple of books.
French and Spanish, occasional book or video.
Romanian, no idea. Maybe going through short articles and stories can help me to lose the rust and restart building it, although it is very low in my list of priorities.
1 x

User avatar
Tristano
Blue Belt
Posts: 640
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:11 am
Location: The Netherlands
Languages: Native: Italian
Speaks: English, Dutch, French, Spanish
Understands but not yet speaks: Romanian
Studies: German
Can't wait to put his hands on: Scandinavian languages, Slavic languages, Turkish, Arabic and other stuff
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5141
x 1015

Re: Taking it easy Log 2018 [IT, EN, NL, FR, ES, DE, RO]

Postby Tristano » Mon Jan 29, 2018 12:48 pm

I read a wikipedia article about coffee, in Romanian.
So many things I didn't know! https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cafea
0 x

User avatar
Tristano
Blue Belt
Posts: 640
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 7:11 am
Location: The Netherlands
Languages: Native: Italian
Speaks: English, Dutch, French, Spanish
Understands but not yet speaks: Romanian
Studies: German
Can't wait to put his hands on: Scandinavian languages, Slavic languages, Turkish, Arabic and other stuff
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5141
x 1015

Re: Taking it easy Log 2018 [IT, EN, NL, FR, ES, DE, RO]

Postby Tristano » Mon Feb 12, 2018 12:36 pm

Learning a language using the passive method over a long exposure time easily generates the most boring log ever.
The explanation is also very boring. You listen/read the language for hours per week, and after two or three years you understand almost everything.
In a world where people want to learn a language in one week or three months I am sure nobody is ever going to be impressed or inspired.
But.
I'm learning a language while going to work without sacrificing a single minute of my little and precious spare time.
Better, if you ask me, than putting the radio at ear smashing volumes shooting DESPACITOOOOO VAMOS A UNA PLAYA EN PORTORICOOOOO.
But not everybody would agree on this.

On the bright side, the pain of having to maintain multiple languages is killing my wanderlust. The dark side is that I no longer feel the adrenaline and the excitement. Are the days of Tristano the wannabe polyglot coming to an end?
3 x


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