Nótaí galaxyrocker - Ancient Celtic Languages, (Old) French, Latin, Old English

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Caromarlyse
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- Irish and French with wanderlust ramblings

Postby Caromarlyse » Mon Mar 21, 2022 8:50 am

French game show recs here (the last two posts on this page and continues onto the next page): https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3004&start=20
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galaxyrocker
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French and Irish Update 28/3/22 -- More immersion coming?

Postby galaxyrocker » Mon Mar 28, 2022 7:52 pm

It's been a busy week, at least for French. I've finished working my way through the Intermediate Grammaire Progressive book. I perhaps did rush it, covering over half the book in the week since I've returned from France, but I feel confident in most of the stuff. The only things I don't truly feel confident on are preposition use (which prepositions go with which verbs, especially!) as well as different conjunctions ('because', 'since', etc). I understand them, but I don't feel confident on knowing which to use in a given sentence, even with resorting to their 'translation' in English. However, I think these are things that will just come with exposure to the language.

I do feel confident enough on the tenses, at least through the subjunctive mood, which I understand theoretically but will just have to see via more exposure and practice.

Where that leaves me now is needed to actually *implement* these things. I need to get in a daily habit of listening, for instance. I listened to an episode and a half of the Intermediate French podcast, but that's not enough; I need to be more focused on it, as well as watching football in French. I also need to work on my writing abilities. I feel I *know* how to say stuff, but I also haven't actually done it. I'm hoping this post will give me motivation to start on the WriteStreak subreddit. The first few days, I'll likely write the same things, just practicing the various tenses, then I'll expand outwards.

As to reading, I *have* been reading. I'm through Ch 14 in the Nature Method book and am on Ch 7 in the French for Reading book. I've also been reading Les Gaulous by Jean-Lous Brunaux. I've not encountered too many difficulties with it, really, mostly because of cognates in English, though there are some words (mostly verbs) I don't know each page. It's not too difficult so far, so I feel I'll keep with it instead of dropping back down to something immediately easier, though I might also pick up Ollie Richard's collection of short stories, just for something easier that I can do on days I don't have as much focus. I've also bought Les Langues de France and a personal copy of the original Teach Yourself French. I'm excited for both, though the former interests me more even if it's not an in-depth look at all of them but more of an overview. Also interesting in that it covers the languages of the French Overseas Departments too, which will be fun!

Otherwise, speaking is still a problem, but I can sort that out later, especially if I can get lots of listening practice. I need to try to get back to watching Netflix or some of the game shows mentioned in the other thread, but I just don't watch much TV, so it'll have to be Intermediate French (which also comes with a transcript, thankfully). I still hope to get back to in May-June but a lot of that depends on how things shape up with my thesis and with money.

Part of the reason why money might be an issue is that I'm also considering a course in Connemara again for Irish. I feel another month there could really push me over the edge into C1-ish territory, especially if I make the resolve to not speak any English whatsoever. I think I'll have enough money to be able to fund both and still possibly satisfy the French government if I decide to do the program in Brest (I definitely will if I only have to make them happy one year at a time; the issue is if I have to show significant funds for both years at once, in which case I might need to borrow some from my parents). Given that I'd be going to a Celtic Studies masters where I'd have to focus in on one of the languages, it'd make logical sense to do it. And the weather here in Dublin has been amazing the past few days and put me in a Galway state of mind. I truly do miss that place. It'd be absolutely worth it to go back there again, especially not speaking any English.

In other news, Ireland finally had their time change and moved the clock forward. After the long winter I absolutely love the fact that it doesn't get dark until 9, and the days are still getting longer. We've also had great weather, and, while it's supposed to rain this week, I can't help but think things are nicer from here on out. Shame I have a thesis to be working on and can't just enjoy it!

Finally, I am not sure about Brest anymore (at the current moment), as I'd love to stay and work in Ireland. I told all my colleagues back at my school in America today I would not be returning (I realized I haven't taken many risks in my life, and I have the funds to stay here for at least the rest of this year, and can work any job on the graduate visa so could stay a bit longer working like that; figured now was the time since I turn 30 this year, so better now than never!). I'm going to see about possibly transitioning into teaching in Ireland, though I have to figure out the details of how the visa will work three years from now (I can get two years, it's the third that's the issue, assuming I don't end up marrying an Irish lady before then) and if I'd be able to stay working for a school from then on. Otherwise, my masters will lend itself to data science stuff really well; it's just harder to find that in Galway than it would be to find physics/maths teaching jobs in Galway. Plus the holidays wouldn't be as good (and the pay either, at least for a few years), though a possibility of work from home could be amazing. We'll just have to see what happens, though I know what I'd prefer. Shame maths/science teachers aren't on the critical needs jobs list, as apparently there's a high need for them throughout the country!

Well, that's all my rambling. Now I'm off to read some about the Gauls. I would appreciate any feedback people have about ways to practice writing and speaking, and working on accent. I really need to work on my accent in both Irish and French, trying to get rid of the influence of my Southern American English (my vowels really give me away in Irish, same for French too).

Hope everyone is having a good day and a good start to their week!


Edit: Forgot to add I'm constantly fighting an urge to add in another language, whether it be Latin, Breton/Welsh or Old Irish. Always one that'd be handy for the masters. If I get my French to a satisfactory level, I might end up adding one of these in in the summer if I decide to go to Brest.
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galaxyrocker
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French and Irish Update 08.04.22 -- What's consistency? Japanese?!

Postby galaxyrocker » Fri Apr 08, 2022 2:12 pm

Been a busy few weeks, and it will be a one more as all my courses run down. Then the summer should be relatively free, apart from just working on my masters thesis.

But, the masters thesis is also ruining all my plans for the summer! My thesis revolves around using statistical physics to model opinion dynamics and, because of that, I literally do everything from a computer (it's just running simulation after simulation). I can ssh into a more powerful one in my supervisor's lab if he wants me to as well. There's no reason I need to be around, and we can do our weekly meetings via Zoom... Except my supervisor doesn't want that. So, unfortunately, that means I most likely won't be able to go back to Nice, at least in the early part of the summer before the potential interview with Brest. Which also unfortunately rules out that masters programme this year, unless I really kick myself into get to get spoken practice.

As for the Irish immersion later in the summer I was hoping to do, there's still hope. That takes place after the presentation has been given, and so I'd just be on the stages of actually writing my thesis. My supervisor still seems to want me here (I mentioned moving out west as it's a lot cheaper than Dublin), not understanding why I wouldn't want to type on the multi-screened desktops (he's got a point, but I'm so used to my own keyboard layout now that it'd be a mess to type on any other). So we'll just have to see as that's still in the air. I do hope to get one of them in, at least.

Otherwise, I've got to start looking for jobs soon. And this is what's causing a lot of consternation on my end. I came to Ireland with the intention to return to America and go back to teaching there. Lots of things happened, including state political decisions that I won't get into, that make me really hesitant to go back (apart from the PSLF programme...); in fact, I've actually told the school I was on sabbatical from that I won't be back this year. It's very likely they'll have a job next year though if things fall through, so it's always a fall-back option. But, I've come to realize I do want to teach. I value my time more than I value money, and teaching gives a good benefit of pay v time off, especially if I can supplement that by doing Irish lessons online (something I'm researching). So, I've started looking at getting my teaching certification transferred over to work in Ireland. There's a chance I can get it now, but the requirements change on January 1 and I'll for sure be able to get it then. Then it'd just be a matter of finding a school that desperate for physics teachers (unfortunately I wouldn't meet their requirements for mathematics, though I'd work towards them as I'd rather teach maths) that they'd be willing to jump through all the hoops to hire me on an employment visa. Hopefully me paying for it all would be enough to convince them.

But, all this has led to me looking at teaching jobs in other countries as well. If you've read the log, you know I've dabbled some in Japanese before, and I'm definitely interested in the country. I also think it's something entirely different, and would be neat to experience a totally different culture. So I've been looking at some of the international schools there and might try my luck at teaching there for a few years then returning to the States. The only problem is this would pretty much preclude my only chance at getting EU/Irish citizenship, which I do hate to give up on (and was part of the reason I did the masters). So we'll have to see.

All of this is also partially because I've become disillusioned with Ireland as well. I was never huge into the culture of the country -- for me, the appeal was always the language. And, after 8 months in Dublin, I firmly believe that battle is lost. The language, at least its traditional form, won't survive. There's no willpower and too many refuse to even admit it's a problem -- in fact, they often say the traditional form is the problem. Instead what is happening is an English-Irish hybrid creole is forming. This creole is basically English in all but words -- sounds, idioms, syntax all default to English, but are put to what people view as "Irish words". I've truly come to believe this is a lost battle, and it's disheartened me. If I can get out to Galway and live in the native speaking communities, perhaps my opinions will change again. Apart from becoming a teacher, that's probably the only thing to get me to stay in Ireland past another year (or a well paying job, but that's not likely to happen). If no international schools work out this year, I'll likely move in to Development or Data Science based on my masters and other experience, but it'd probably at most be for only a year. I just value my time off too much and, while Ireland is much better than the US at this, it's not enough for me to pursue my interests (like language learning!)

That said, it's likely I'll be adding Japanese to my language study plan. I've got a schedule sorta made up on how I can incorporate it as well. I do enjoy book study, and I already have a copy of Genki that I'll have mailed to me from the States so I can work through that. So I'll spend an hour or so a day working through Genki (maybe 30 minutes through Genki and 30 minutes through a grammar workbook), and then an hour just listening to Japanese material (if I can). I'll do the same thing with French as well, working through Grammaire Progressive Niveau Avancé and Vocabulaire Profressif as well. I'll perhaps go and get another B1/B2 textbook as well to have a firm textbook guide for what I should be learning and to have good audio exercises. Otherwise, I need to step up on trying to write with that, and I will hopefully start a streak on /r/writestreak (as I've been saying for weeks now). Likewise, I'll devote an hour to listening to French material, whether it be Hugo and Intermediate French or TV shows. I've gotten to a decent-ish level of French and I feel a good push is what I need (why I was really hoping to get to spend a month in Nice...still might somehow try to swing that). I intend to keep reading in French as well; I've already done over 50 pages in Les Gaulois, understanding most of it.

For Irish, I'll just keep to reading, as most shows have horrible pronunciation and are thoroughly anglicised, but I do intend to incorporate it as well.

All of this is predicated on me getting focused, but I've come up with some good ideas. Apart from getting to the gym more regularly (once classes are out, the undergrads will be gone and booking will be much easier), I've moved Discord and Reddit off the homescreen of my phone. I've already noticed how many times I picked it up to just aimlessly browse through them. If I find myself going to them anyway, I'll just completely remove and set a block on my computer for it as well. Same with this site if need be!


Otherwise, time to take some risks and see what happens. Who knows, maybe I'll end up teaching in Galway City and living in the Gaeltacht. That'd be the dream, without a doubt.

Anyway, thanks for reading my ramblings. I haven't been very consistent at studying (thus why there's nothing to post about that) due to school work and other existential crises about finding jobs, what do I want to do with my life, etc etc. I'm sure we've all been there. Hope y'all are well and are having a great day/week/month/year wherever you are!
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galaxyrocker
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- Irish and French reading; to Japanese or not to Japanese?

Postby galaxyrocker » Sun Apr 17, 2022 6:32 pm

And that's that! I've finished up pretty much everything I have to do for my classes, and it's a huge relief. I had a report due tomorrow that the professor just pushed back to Wednesday, but, seeing as I'm already finished, I'm not stressed about it anymore. Just going to distance myself from it for a day or so and give it another reread and some last minute editing. Other than that, I have one more project to do, due April 29, but it shouldn't be super difficult and I have plenty of time. I'll likely get started on that tomorrow. Then it's just my thesis, which is mostly running and analyzing simulations. The presentation for that is June 28, and the thesis itself isn't due until the end of August, so I have time finally.

Which means language studies! I'm excited to get back into regularly studying languages (outside of Irish, which I use every day now so it doesn't really become a problem). I'm going to set a schedule just to try to hold myself more accountable, especially with French as, if I'm going to do the programme in Brest, I still need to improve quite a bit. I know a decent amount of grammar, but I don't know the words to use that grammar. Reading also involves a dictionary more often than I'd like, even in texts that involve a lot of cognates with English. And I've really done nothing for my listening ability apart from a few episodes of Intermediate French here and there; speaking has been even worse. I still have hope of getting back to Nice before I have to do the possible interview for the programme in Brest, but who knows. It's sadly looking like I won't be able to, as I mentioned last time. And, even if I got accepted, I don't know if I'd do it. While I'd clearly love to pursue Celtic Studies at a more advanced level (masters and hopefully PhD), I also realize I need a job and have student loans to pay back, so that probably should be what I'm doing, even if it's not what I truly want to do with my life.

But I've gotten far enough along into French now that I don't think I'll lose it and give it up; really that kick-start period in France was all I needed and, unlike what's happened with Spanish, I don't intend to lose it. Sadly my Spanish atrophied after I quit teaching last year since I wasn't using it regularly with the students. But French provides a lot of academic stuff on Celtic Studies, so I'll have a lot more interesting things to read about to encourage me to keep going. Well, I say that, but apart from some reading of Les Gaulois and some listening to the Intermediate French podcast and football matches I haven't done hardly anything since returning from Nice (apart from rushing through the Grammaire Progressive book!). But that'll change this week now that I have time. Hopefully I can even sit down and watch a TV show all the way through!

As to Japanese, I'm still not sure whether I truly want to explore it. Japan feels like less of a dead-end for the future than France does, as I'll be teaching there and can always find jobs as a math/physics teacher back in the States (or probably at other international schools) if I feel like it. But...their hiring period was supposedly in March as most schools seem to start in April, meaning I've missed it for this year. And it also supposedly helps getting a job if you're already in-country. So I've thought of a possible plan (assuming I don't go to France) -- stay in Ireland until December job hunting and working whatever I can to help pay rent and then go off to Japan on a Japanese immersion programme in January/February and do that for a few months while looking for a job. If it works out, I'll have a teaching job an international school in Japan and better Japanese. If it doesn't work out, I can fly back to the States and find a teaching job while also having better Japanese. It sounds sorta win-win to me. Especially if I can teach Irish online or do math tutoring online for some extra cash.

But, I've also been reading about Japanese schools and, while the ones I've looked at do give six weeks off, they don't seem to have the kind of free time I want from teaching. Nor is the pay that great, especially when I have to pay back student loans (though the online tutoring could help counter some of that problem). So we'll just have to see what happens really. It's one of those things that's still, much to my chagrin, up in the air.

But, back to language study, I probably will start including some basic Japanese study into my day since I have more free time. Likely something like an Assimil lesson or a Genki lesson coupled with a book I found in the university library about Reading Japanese and the Basic Japanese Routledge Grammar Workbook. To that end, it's nice that vonPeterhof shared his old log on HTLAL earlier today. That'll hopefully provide some inspiration as well.

At least until I know for sure about France, where I'll replace that with the old Breton Assimil if I go due to Breton being a focus there and it using actual Breton, not Neo-Breton that's common among L2 learners (it was recommended to me by someone I trust with regards to traditional Breton resources).

Otherwise, Irish is still a priority but it's mostly on maintenance and slow improvement mode. I've taken to shadowing some old dialogues from Carraroe, the area I want to get the pronunciation from, but I need to be more regular about it. I've also been reading a lot of older stories and making notes from them about word usage and grammar usage in Google Docs. I'd rather do this by hand, but Docs just makes it so much easier to ctrl-f later on, even if I remember it more by writing it down (and I like the vibe of having dozens of notebooks filled with handwritten notes; guess that's the old-timey academic in me). The compromises we have to make. If I can't get back to Nice, I hope to at least get out to Connemara for a month-long course between July and August while I'm writing my thesis. It'd be great to really live there again and push my Irish surrounded by native speakers. Hopefully I could even possibly find a part time job or reasonably cheap accommodation while there and stay afterwards, especially if I stay in Ireland and don't go to France. It's really all just dependent on my advisor in this case.

Anyway, those of y'all who've studied Japanese and/or French, I'd love to hear from you about what exercises and books and TV shows and such y'all have found worthwhile. Otherwise, I hope everyone is having a great Easter and has a great week ahead. Sorry for my rants about my personal life; hopefully we'll be back to language learning oriented stuff next week!
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- Irish and French reading; to Japanese or not to Japanese?

Postby DaveAgain » Sun Apr 17, 2022 10:04 pm

galaxyrocker wrote:Anyway, those of y'all who've studied Japanese and/or French, I'd love to hear from you about what exercises and books and TV shows and such y'all have found worthwhile. Otherwise, I hope everyone is having a great Easter and has a great week ahead. Sorry for my rants about my personal life; hopefully we'll be back to language learning oriented stuff next week!
I remember Jane Eyre being one of the first radio programmes I could understand. Radio documentaries about people I was already familiar with too e.g. Jane Austen, Tolkien, Daphne du Maurier, etc.

I also watched a lot of documentaries on arte.tv/fr as it was one of the few sources of programmes with subtitles. I'm currently watching a series called en Thèrapie on Arte.tv. These are short episodes, so I look up all unknown words.

Two watchable but not great sitcoms I watched (which both have a lot of episodes) are les filles d'à côte and jamais deux sans toi..t.

Books, the first French books I read were some of Enid Blyton's famous five (le club des cinq), and le petit nicolas. Others include Joseph Joffo's Un sac de billes & baby-foot. Maupassant's la Horla (text | radio drama) and Boule de suif (text | audio). Eric Orsanna wrote a series of novels about french grammar, of which I read la grammaire est une chanson douce. There are also lots of French books about the French language.

EDIT
Some 'celtic' books I've bookmarked but not read are: la civilisation celitque, la mythologie du monde celte, l'europe des celtes, mythes celtiques and Carnac.

EDIT2
Einzelne mentioned a novel intended for learners too, Djinn.
Last edited by DaveAgain on Mon Apr 18, 2022 8:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- Irish and French with wanderlust ramblings

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Sun Apr 17, 2022 11:38 pm

How many years of public service work do you have left before you would be eligible for loan repayment? Could you do that and then do a Celtic studies degree? (I just had my remaining loans cancelled under the program, but in the meantime I picked up a mortgage and kids, so I can’t really drop everything for language pursuits...)
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Grammaire progressive du français -
niveau debutant
: 60 / 60

Grammaire progressive du francais -
intermédiaire
: 25 / 52

Pimsleur French 1-5
: 3 / 5

galaxyrocker
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- Irish and French with wanderlust ramblings

Postby galaxyrocker » Mon Apr 18, 2022 7:35 am

Lawyer&Mom wrote:How many years of public service work do you have left before you would be eligible for loan repayment? Could you do that and then do a Celtic studies degree? (I just had my remaining loans cancelled under the program, but in the meantime I picked up a mortgage and kids, so I can’t really drop everything for language pursuits...)


Unfortunately, I still have eight or nine years left. Kentucky required a masters when I started (even though that requirement dropped, I stuck with it because it was a significant pay raise), so I didn't start paying back until the 2020-2021 school year (even though they were deferred by the government it counts as a year). And, if I return to Kentucky I'll likely do another "Rank 1" programme the first year (another significant ~4k pay raise), so it'd be well into the 2030s before I'd have them all paid off. Not a problem necessarily, but it's a long time from now!

DaveAgain wrote:I remember Jane Eyre being one of the first radio programmes I could understand. Radio documentaries about people I was already familiar with too e.g. Jane Austen, Tolkien, Daphne du Maurier, etc.

I also watched a lot of documentaries on arte.tv/fr as it was one of the few sources of programmes with subtitles. I'm currently watching a series called en Thèrapie on Arte.tv. These are short episodes, so I look up all unknown words.

Two watchable but not great sitcoms I watched (which both have a lot of episodes) are les filles d'à côte and jamais deux sans toi..t.

Books, the first French books I read were some of Enid Blyton's famous five (le club des cinq), and le petit nicolas. Others include Joseph Joffo's Un sac de billes & baby-foot. Maupassant's la Horla (text | radio drama) and Boule de suif (text | audio). Eric Orsanna wrote a series of novels about french grammar, of which I read la grammaire est une chanson douce. There are also lots of French books about the French language.

EDIT
Some 'celtic' books I've bookmarked but not read are: la civilisation celitque, la mythologie du monde celte, l'europe des celtes, mythes celtiques and Carnac.


Thanks! Good idea about radio documentaries on famous people I know about already! I would've never thought of that. Also many thanks on the Celtic books and other ones (as well as the book on mythology you mentioned yesterday). My reading list just tripled.
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galaxyrocker
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- French...Old Irish?!

Postby galaxyrocker » Sun Apr 24, 2022 7:57 pm

Hello everyone! Hope y'all had a great week and a relaxing weekend. It's a shame they're too short.

Most of my study this week has been on French, and mostly passive. I did start the next book in Grammaire Progressive du Français -- the avancé level, but I haven't completed the first chapter even. I'm trying to take it slower than I did when finishing the previous level. I still remember a decent chunk, especially verb conjugations, but I truly feel I rushed through it, even if a lot of it is mostly word choice more than anything else (knowing which prepositions to use, which conjunctions, etc). Either way, I still want to take it slower this time.

I've been doing vocab study in Anki. I've got a deck of the 5,000 most common words I've been going through. Likewise, while I don't like Duolingo for learning, I've found it's great for reviewing and practicing what I already know, so I've been doing that too (solely on the web) just for practice. I've watched probably 3 football matches in French this week, though it's mostly background noise so I don't count it as direct practice, but it's better than nothing. I can't be picky which matches I watch, but I'll take anything and do enjoy the sport so it's better than nothing. I've also been reading a manga in French. I'm not a huge manga fan, but I thought it might be simpler than the book on the Gauls, which it was, so I've been trying to read some of that each day, especially since I'm all but done with school. It's been entertaining so far, and I've noticed my extensive reading ability improving, which is a plus. I need to push back into harder reading though, as I'd be reading academic works.

With regards to academic works, I did finish Chapter 7 of French For Reading, and started chapter 8. It's getting more and more difficult which is good, but a lot of their stuff is geared towards academic work, so that's exactly what I need. I intend to do a chapter or two of nature method each week as well, just reading it without worrying about 100% understanding.

I hope to contact the people at Brest tomorrow to get more information on the application process and what I'll need to do to apply. Hopefully it's not too difficult. I'm also going to try to somehow talk my advisor into meeting with me remotely, or hoping he'll suggest it so I can get a month out in France before I'd have to interview. Otherwise, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get to a high enough level, especially speaking. Even if I do iTalki lessons beforehand. I still haven't practiced writing either, something else I really need to get to doing. I've been saying it for weeks, but maybe I'll finally get on r/WriteStreak just to do it.

I haven't done much with Irish apart from my usual reading and chatting with friends, but I've dabbled in Old Irish the past few days. This is because Brest is my main goal, and if I go there I'll be taking Old Irish courses (most likely would do the medieval path, as sociolinguistics has me burnt out if the Francophone academy is anything like the Anglophone one with it), so figured I could use it to occupy myself when I needed a break from French. Old Irish is super super weird, and it's quite fun. It's so much different than any modern language I've studied, even Irish. The verbal system alone is enough to send someone up a wall let alone the declensions with weird random rules like u-infection and such, but it's super neat; even if I don't do the Celtic studies masters, I might continue as i'd love to read it.

I haven't done anything with Japanese, because French needs my main attention and I won't make a decision about that until June, when I found out about whether I'll make it to Brest or not.

That said, all my plans are kinda up in the air. A friend from high school just had her father die suddenly over last weekend, and it's been a huge shock to everyone in the community. He was the school security guard, but was well-loved by everyone and just an amazing man. And it was a super sudden death, and just everyone was kinda shaken by it. They had to use the high school gym for his funeral mass to fit everyone and make it available to everyone who wanted to come -- they actually even livestreamed the mass too. But he was only a few years older than my parents, and younger than my grandmother, and it's just had me wondering how I would feel if I was halfway across the world when something happened and wasn't able to make it back before they passed. I know they'd all want me to stay in Ireland/France and do what I'm happy about, but it got me thinking. That said, I think a lot was just the recency of it, and I've already started to move past thinking about it and letting it influence my decisions. So it's mainly just can I make it to France again and convince my supervisor?

I'm also likely going to start reading some more in French outside of manga, thanks to recommendations here and some YA ones in another log. We'll see how it goes -- it's been a while since I've read fiction, which I find interesting. I read almost exclusively fiction up until about 2016, then I started reading non-fiction and academic books. Now I find it hard to go back to fiction, even in English. It's quite a weird switch! But, the one rule I will stick with: I will not read translations from English. I've got a lot of reasons for it with Irish (cultural imperialism, hype, bad translations, etc etc), but I'll likely hold it over in French too. There's too much that's been developed within the literary traditions of these countries to read stuff that I can read -- and understand -- better in English that's built upon anglophone literary traditions.

Otherwise, I'm reading a textbook on critical theory in literary studies now. It's interesting seeing all the different ways to interpret stuff, and something I'd like to get a lot better at. I also think I might be buying some new Switch games this week as a 'congratulations, you finished the semester!' present, and intend to play them in French if possible.

Anyway, there's my update for the week, I hope y'all have a great week ahead!
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galaxyrocker
Brown Belt
Posts: 1119
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:44 am
Languages: English (N), Irish (Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge B2), French, dabbling elsewhere sometimes
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=757
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- All French with some Late Night Pop-Up Action

Postby galaxyrocker » Sun May 01, 2022 11:07 am

I must say I've been more productive this week, at least in some regards. I didn't do anything in Grammaire Progressive, but I did get through chapter 9 and most of chapter 10 in French for Reading and will finish ch 10 today. Granted, it's not super difficult as it's mostly recognizing forms, but, given what I found out about Brest that might be the best. Seems that, in the first semester, most the classes are in English, and they offer classes to help improve spoken and written French for those who don't have a super great level. That helps lift my confidence some, especially if I can get a decent reading level.

To that end, I returned to the book on the Gauls, as the manga I was reading started to bore me some, and I've found it's going much easier now. That's likely due to the Anki I've been doing (5.000 most common French words, recognition), but I've found it very nice. I'm doing a mixture of intensive and extensive reading, depending on my mood and how well I can get the gist of the sentence. If I'm feeling lazy and can understand it, I might only look up and odd word here and there. If I'm feeling dedicated and/or struggle to understand a sentence, I look up every unknown word in that sentence and write it down. I've got my notebook color-coded (red for verbs, black for adjectives, blue for nouns). So far, it's mostly been verbs that I've been struggling with. Probably something close to 70%. I guess it's because there's more English cognates among the nouns than there are some of the verbs. Either way, I went from page 55is to page 100 in a matter of two days. Definitely much more interesting to me than the manga, and more academic.

My thoughts on the book are that it's quite interesting. In English academia, there's been a huge trend to dismiss the idea of an overarching "Celtic" people with a common culture, both across time and space (I can provide some articles on this if people want). This has actually happened for other peoples too (the "Germans" of Roman times, for instance), though the Celts get a lot more airtime because of how many popular misconceptions there are stemming from the Romantic period. What's interesting, is that this doesn't seem to hold in the French Academy (and some French scholars even posit Breton as a descendant of Gaulish, which it clearly isn't). There seems to be much more consensus around the unity of the Celts, and of Celtic traditions and culture being passed down among the 'Celtic' nations down to our own time. Granted, the book is over a decade and a half old, so there could be changes, but I know the issue had arisen in the English academic world in the '90s. I think it just goes to show how little cross-over there is between the two, something I've heard several times from scholars. In the English academic world, 'Celtic' now only really refers to those people who speak a Celtic language, and it's assumed there's really no shared 'Celticness' between them (and it certainly seems like any feelings of shared 'Celticity' is a modern thing, often fostered by nationalism and separation from the English).

I've also been getting listening practice in. I've watched several football matches in French this week, and have found a new place to stream that often gives me quality ones, which is much appreciated. I plan to watch several more today -- it's raining so not much going on outside. Plus, it's a long weekend so lots of people are just taking it easy. I also got back into watching La Révolution on Netflix. I'm watching it with French subtitles, but it's nice as I've been able to notice when what they say something different than what the subtitles read. I know this is common, but it's nice that I'm able to pick out the differences. I don't think I'd understand it without the subtitles, but with it I can follow the story quite well. It's a fantasy horror that describes the 'true reason' behind the French revolution -- too much more would spoil the first half of it. Unfortunately, it was canceled after one season, and apparently it ends on a cliffhanger so that's unfortunate. I hope to finish it this week, them move on to Lupin, which is another French show on Netflix. Hopefully I can find more French-original content as opposed to things that have been dubbed in French, though if that's what i have to do it's what I'll do. It does feel weird sitting down and watching TV though, and I can only do it for like an hour at a time, and even then I pause.

On top of that, I've been going through the Passion Médiévalists podcasts, thanks to a recommendation here. They're about 15 minutes long, but in much faster French. Thankfully, they have transcripts so I've been reading along with that while listening. It's been useful to get my ears around normal spoken French. I might start trying to transcribe it soon, as I did with Vifax for Irish.

I've not used active skills at all, which is a problem. I've got a month until the application closes and the possible interview. Hopefully my passive skills will be good enough to convince them, and I can spend some time in Nice or Brest doing a class before the start of the semester (I should be relatively free of research duties after June 28, it'd just be writing the thesis at that point) practicing my French.

Finally, with French, seeing Kwiziq mentioned, I decided to take the test. I don't like tests like this, as it was heavily multiple choice based, etc, but I did rather well. My results can be seen below. Out of the ones I missed, there were threewhere it was a stupid mistake -- using future instead of conditional (I forgot a letter when I was typing); using the "nous" conjugation instead of the "vous" one; and one where I just forgot a word cause I wasn't paying attention. I'm not too worried about that. But there was no active skill training, nor any listening ability so I don't think it's a very accurate guide. You can see below how I did.

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I don't know if I'll add Kwiziq to my French methods -- perhaps to get trained listening practice, though I also feel that maybe getting the official DELF B1/B2 book would be better for that, to complement Grammaire Progressive with listening comprehension and writing activities - I can't ever think of what to write about, so having a prompt could be very good, especially if I could then get corrections. We'll just have to see.

With regards to Irish, I haven't done much as French has been my primary focus. There was a Pop-Up Gaeltacht this week, which I went to. Then there was the afterparty which I left at four, so it was a nice period of like 8 hours just speaking in Irish pretty much the entire time. It was fun, and it's just a shame it wasn't in the Gaeltacht as there's a variety of standards at the pop-ups. But it's still nice to have something like that in Dublin going on. I'd love to get out and do the month-long immersion programme in Connemara again, though it likely depends on how things go in June with France, if I can even register that late (the programme starts mid-July, so it'd be cutting it close). It also depends on how things go job hunt wise. I've not really started looking for jobs in Ireland yet as I have to present my research on June 28 so couldn't really start before then, but I will start looking soon, probably halfway through the month. I did stop Old Irish, as I don't need the distractions from French right now, especially as I'm able to read relatively easily. So much for wanderlust. Though if the programme in Brest does work out, I'll likely pick it back up, along with Breton, Welsh and perhaps even Latin just to help me get a little bit of a leg up in preparation for it.

Of course, teaching in America still does sound good due to a variety of reasons if France doesn't work out, but I have enough money to wait out a year here, longer if I do find a job, so perhaps I'll do that. I can wait a year and not have to worry about renewing my teaching certificate with coursework, as I'll still be able to get the three years in, though my masters should work towards renewal. Only issue I'd have with returning is I'd need to do more courses in Kentucky to get a Rank I, which is a damn nice pay increase so it's something I feel like I'd have to do. But decent money for me in a low CoL area, the student loan forgiveness as well as plenty of holiday time do make it appealing. Though of course, that's only on the table if the stuff in France doesn't work out. At which point many things go back on the table too. It's annoying I had to tell the school I was at the start looking for a new teacher, but given I'm mathematics and physics certified, I'm sure I could find a job -- and move back to the other school as soon as a spot opens up. If there's still not one open. We'll just have to see what all happens. I'm trying not to worry or think about it too much right now, to be honest, but I'm one of those people who likes having plans so it is what it is.
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galaxyrocker
Brown Belt
Posts: 1119
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:44 am
Languages: English (N), Irish (Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge B2), French, dabbling elsewhere sometimes
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=757
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- French and accent practice tips?

Postby galaxyrocker » Sun May 08, 2022 3:28 pm

I was fairly productive again this week, even if I missed Friday on Anki, I caught up immediately on Saturday (I could've sworn I'd done it on Friday, though). I didn't do anything from Gammaire Progressive, but since Kwiziq gives a full week of premium, I played around on that a lot. I got all categories A0-B1 up to 20% and it honestly just started to get a little boring at that point. Plus, it was mostly selecting the right response out of options, so not really what I was looking for. I won't be paying for the premium version.

I finished the last few episodes of La Révolution as well. It was good, though I'm disappointed in that it ends in a cliffhanger ending and the second season was not picked up. It's a frustrating habit of Netflix's, I've found. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I kinda miss the old days where tv shows were filmed as they were airing, so a shock cancellation still gave script writers some time to wrap up the story if they wished. It really is quite annoying that it didn't get renewed, especially as it seems to have generally favourable reviews. Guess it was just too high budget and didn't sit well with what Netflix is trying to do. I'll likely be moving on to Lupin next. I've also watched multiple football matches in French, though some are more just background noise, and I managed to get through a few episodes of the Intermediate French podcast. I really don't have any problems with it, except letting my attention drift; but I suffer that with English podcasts too.

Still no practicing of output skills, something I really need to work on, though I did read another 50 pages or so in Les Gaulois and finished a chapter in French for Reading, along with doing Anki most of the days.

The other main thing I need to work on is my accent, in both Irish and French. Irish it's especially grating, as I've found many people who dismiss any opinion I have about Irish, or even my own grammatical knowledge, simply if they can hear the American sound in my Irish. Usually, it comes through in the vowels. This happened last Friday at the weekly conversation circle where one really drunk girl, who couldn't handle her liquor, kept going on and on about how all Irish citizens had native accents in Irish, etc., and about how bad mine was -- despite her not being able to do the /x/ sound properly, or distinguish between any broad and slender consonants. It really grated me, but I'm taking it as motivation to improve. I've got some old corpus works, and access to lots of recordings with transcriptions so might try to start shadowing, but I'd be very thankful for any tips on how to improve pronunciation. I searched for a teacher right when I moved to Dublin, but nobody was willing to work with me solely on pronunciation, and it rarely, if ever, gets mentioned in any other classes (if the teachers themselves even have good pronunciation, which is not very often).

With regards to Irish, I've restarted my blog of transcribing old stories since I found where they had been recorded in the 80s and the recording is available for free, so it's nice to have transcriptions for people wanting to train their ear. I've also been updating this book into the modern spelling, where it doesn't remove dialectal features, and hope to maybe see what the copyright status of it is and republish a new edition. It's an amazing book, and having something that showcases the dialect with modernized spelling would be amazing I think.

Otherwise, I emailed my contact in Brest last week but didn't hear back. I know the application period is open until the end of the month, but when I went to apply I couldn't find it in their system. I don't know if it's under a different name or what, but I sent out an email. Since I didn't hear back, I'm going to send out another one tomorrow morning either before or after I go to the gym, depending on what time I wake up (man, summer is nice). I also applied for a job back in America -- it was a perfect one I couldn't pass up: data science at an NGO working with education. And it was remote and paid at least 85,000. It was too perfect to pass up, honestly, but I haven't heard back so we'll see. Otherwise, not really job hunting until I know the situation with regards to Brest, and I can't start until July anyway (when this job's expected start date was) because of the presentation for my thesis at the end of June.

Hope y'all have a good week, and please do leave any pronunciation practice tips.
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