Soclydeza's German and French

[Soclydeza]

DEUTSCH
I finally decided to sign up for the Zertifikat B2 exam, which takes place at the end of March, so this have become a focus of mine.

DW - I've been continuing going through Langsam Gesprochene Nachrichten articles (using the original tempo audio, so I guess not so Langsam). I was pleased to find out that these are actually rated at B2/C1 level, so this works perfectly for my studying for the B2 exam. I've also been acquiring a good amount of vocab from these.

Vocab - I've gone full back into vocab mode, using Quizlet as my tool. The majority of words I collect come from DW Nachrichten, with some other words coming from native sources that I watch or random words that pop in my head that I figure would be good to know. I started using the "play" feature on Quizlet, which allows me to drill the vocab as the list automatically plays through with a few seconds between words. I do this both ways (one pass of German words first, one pass of English first). It's been going very well and I have gotten about 150 new words down in the past few weeks so far.

ZDF Heute - This is a daily 30min news show that I watch every day.

Italki - Conversational - I just did an hour long lesson today, which went well. In preparation for the B2, I may add on an extra lesson per week.

Grammar Review - Though I haven't done this in a few days, I've been working through PMP German Problem Solver to work on some weak points in my grammar. Most recently I've been reviewing adjective case endings to try and solidify and master.

Additional Plan for B2 Preparation
I also plan to hire a weekly tutor on Italki who specialized in exams. If I can pull off 3 days of lessons per week (2 hours conversational, 1 hour B2 prep), this should not only leave me well prepared for the exam but also bring my German to the next level in general.

I also have a few prep books for the B2 exam that I have not started using yet.

Italki Challenge
I saw that Italki was having a challenge over the month of February and thought "what the hell, I'll sign up". It basically entails a minimum of 12 hours of lessons throughout the month, 20 hours for the top prize. This should work nicely with my B2 prep goals and act as extra motivation to do 3+ lessons per week, so long as I can afford it.

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FRANÇAIS
If you've been following my log, you've probably noticed that my routine for French changes just about every post. Well, I think I've settled into something that should work well with my coming schedule change, plus I'm really enjoying it.

Though I've completed Hugo in 3 Months, almost 4 levels of Pimsleur, almost all of Assimil, among other programs, plus I took the RFI placement exam which says I'm a solid B1, maybe B2 (I don't believe that), my French is still pretty much useless as I can hardly understand anything and still have trouble speaking (I was already having short conversations in German at this point); so I've decided to slow down, solidify my grammar, really work on A2ish listening skills and boosting my vocabulary.

This routine works great with having to travel a lot, since I can do everything on my phone/tablet (or computer when I'm at home).

Babbel - I restarted my Babbel account and am currently going back over the basics (I'm on Beginner Level 5 at the moment). I'm finding this very helpful as it is allowing me to focus on some of the more subtle nuances that I overlooked before. I start of with a vocab review, then do a lesson (maybe 2 if I have time). This course goes up through an intermediate level, plus it has drilling sections, so I'm confident that this will fill in the gaps, strengthen my weaknesses and really stabilize my the shaky foundation that I already have, plus I find it enjoyable.

Memrise - I'm doing the Memrise French 3 course (15 new words per day). The words and phrases in this course are pretty basic, but I figure I should go through it anyway and work my way through all the Memrise French levels (I think there are 5 are so).

Lingq - I debated cancelling my account and just using FLTR or LWT, since they are free, but Lingq allows me to use it across all of my devices (I know this is possible to do with the other programs but I'm not willing to figure it out; $10/mo is really not that much). I've been importing podcast transcripts and audio from Français Facile and it has been going very well.

Those are the Big 3 of my new techno-centric French routine (I also plan to use grammar books accordingly to clarify things). I was trying to learn French the way I learned German and I realized it doesn't work the same; they are different language families and I think my mind is more geared toward Germanic languages, so I actually am finding French harder than German. I have to push FSI aside since classes start again next week and I don't want to fall into the trap of over-ambition; these 3 (plus Pimsleur on my commutes) should do me well over the coming months.

I also decided to postpone starting Italki French lessons so I can focus my tutoring on the B2 for German.

[Cavesa]

DEUTSCH
I finally decided to sign up for the Zertifikat B2 exam, which takes place at the end of March, so this have become a focus of mine.

That's great news! I'll be paying even more attention to your log from now on (if that is possible ), as I want to sign up for the same later this year (perhaps during the summer). I wish you lots of energy for the preparation.

FRANÇAIS
Though I've completed Hugo in 3 Months, almost 4 levels of Pimsleur, almost all of Assimil, among other programs, plus I took the RFI placement exam which says I'm a solid B1, maybe B2 (I don't believe that), my French is still pretty much useless as I can hardly understand anything and still have trouble speaking (I was already having short conversations in German at this point); so I've decided to slow down, solidify my grammar, really work on A2ish listening skills and boosting my vocabulary.

This routine works great with having to travel a lot, since I can do everything on my phone/tablet (or computer when I'm at home).
....
Those are the Big 3 of my new techno-centric French routine (I also plan to use grammar books accordingly to clarify things). I was trying to learn French the way I learned German and I realized it doesn't work the same; they are different language families and I think my mind is more geared toward Germanic languages, so I actually am finding French harder than German. I have to push FSI aside since classes start again next week and I don't want to fall into the trap of over-ambition; these 3 (plus Pimsleur on my commutes) should do me well over the coming months.

Hmm, not trying to sound critical, but perhaps you would profit more from some intermediate resources and tv series? When it comes to grammar, I think I had tried most of the popular apps and such stuff, but nothing equals the books. I definitely wasn't excited about Babbel, from what I remember. A few well chosen books might move you forward considerably (for example the Progressive series now come with audio as well btw). And tv series, as your main weakness seems to be listening and speaking. It used to be similar for me, years ago.

Pimsleur is great for beginners, but I don't think it is that useful for an intermediate learner, especially as there is so much English and the speakers are not native, unless I am mistaken (but it is true I don't know their 4 and 5 levels, perhaps those are better). The eternal fight between being thorough enough and trying not to get stuck and drown in too easy material.

[Soclydeza]

Thanks for keeping up with my log, Cavesa! After I take the exam I will post about my experience with it, so hopefully that can help you in your own preparation.

Hmm, not trying to sound critical, but perhaps you would profit more from some intermediate resources and tv series? When it comes to grammar, I think I had tried most of the popular apps and such stuff, but nothing equals the books. I definitely wasn't excited about Babbel, from what I remember. A few well chosen books might move you forward considerably (for example the Progressive series now come with audio as well btw). And tv series, as your main weakness seems to be listening and speaking. It used to be similar for me, years ago.

Pimsleur is great for beginners, but I don't think it is that useful for an intermediate learner, especially as there is so much English and the speakers are not native, unless I am mistaken (but it is true I don't know their 4 and 5 levels, perhaps those are better). The eternal fight between being thorough enough and trying not to get stuck and drown in too easy material.

The problem is that I definitely don't think I'm at an intermediate level. I have seen a lot of (maybe most of) the common grammar but much of it still hasn't clicked. The thing with German is that I could hear what they were saying in audio, so this helped me almost bypass direct grammar study, since I could experience it in its use. With French, I can't understand a damn thing, mainly because of the nature of the sound of the language, everything just sounds melted together or something, even easy stuff. Watching shows wouldn't be helpful for me at this point since I can't understand a damn thing they are saying (which could be a vocabulary problem as well). I was watching Bloodline in French for a while and still couldn't pick anything out except for cou-cou.

I figure if I just go back over the basics (as least for a little while) it'll not only hammer in some of those grammar aspects that I glossed over before, but also give me some more basic listening practice and add some more basic vocabulary (it's funny how French and English vocabulary are similar, yet French has a hard time sticking with me for some reason).

The other reason is that I'm pushing my German into overdrive, so I'm trying to do just enough with French that I'm still learning but not in too extreme of a way. After I take the B2 for German I will cut down on my German Italki lessons and start doing some for French, which should really give me a boost; I guess I can think of this as a review period for French.

You are right though; I do have a tendency to hang out at a certain language level for too long before I really push myself into the next level. The goal of my current French routine is more of a "take it easy" approach that will allow me brush up on stuff I missed before while not adding too much learning stress (I'm also finishing an engineering degree at the moment). But don't worry, hopefully in a few months time you will see my French routine mirror my current German routine!

[Soclydeza]

Oh and as for Pimsleur, this is really just an extra that I use sometimes on my commutes, not really an important part of my routine. I still plan on finishing it even though my heart isn't really in using it anymore (5 levels of German, some Norwegian, some Swiss German, almost 4 levels of French and a few of Italian... let's just say that I'm pretty jaded from using the Pimsleur approach haha)

[Soclydeza]

DEUTSCH
DW - I finished the last part of my latest Langsam Gesprochene Nachrichten article (they're typically broken into 5 sub-parts or stories).

Vocab - Reviewed and added new vocab, doing my usual scheme which takes probably a total of 30 mins (depending on the size of the list).

ZDF Heute - I watched a 20 mins episode today. While I still have a ways to go before I can full understand the news, I'm picking up on a lot more; it's really just a matter of vocab.

Lang-8 - I realized it would be a good idea for my writing to try and write about the things I read on DW in my own words and have natives correct it. I did some writing today but I used the article itself, as well as a dictionary, in the process. I want to get in the practice of just reviewing the article once and writing about it without any crutches, straight from my own mind; this will prove to be pretty difficult but I'm sure it will take me to higher levels in my writing.

I'm going to go through a rest/absorption period for a few days, by that I mean reviewing all vocab, past and current, and spending the extra time watching more native materials, maybe reading (but not studying) articles. I don't want to add anything new (I'll still write down unknown words that I hear/read from native materials, but I won't start studying them until after the period), I just want to focus on absorbing and using what I've learned over the past week. I figure I should do this maybe once every 7 days or so.

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FRANÇAIS
As I mentioned to Cavesa, my current French routine is really a review to get my bearings straight and rebuild confidence, all while taking it easy as I focus my energy on German for the exam. I got burned out and lost before, so I'm using this as a "dust off" period.

I stopped Assimil before because I found that it got way too difficult way too quickly and it was killing me. It turns out that it's really only a few lessons, the ones where the guy writes his resumé, goes to the interview, etc (around lesson 100). Maybe it's just me but some of the language in there is way too advanced for someone of that level; there are some lines where they use pretty long, entire French sentences with only a couple of words as the English translation, pretty daunting. Anyway, I looked ahead and saw the lessons afterward and it looks like they resume back to the normal level, which is good news since I want to finish Assimil and start on UF. After my "reset period", I will finish this and attempt a launch into native materials. I'm thinking this should be late March/early April that I do this.

Babbel - I've really been powering through this and it's a good review so far. I'm picking up on small grammatical details that I really didn't pay too much attention to before. I counted about 40 remaining lessons for both the rest of the Beginner section and the Intermediate section. There's another 40 lessons in the pre-Intermediate review, but I don't think these will be necessary (maybe I'll just cherry pick the ones I feel I could use extra practice on). There are also a bunch of drill sections that I looked through; maybe I'll sprinkle some of these in my routine here and there after I finish all the Beginner/Intermediate lessons, but I won't waste my time if they are too elementary. As long as I do these regularly, I should be done with all these sometime before the end of February, maybe sooner.

Memrise - I'm on the Memrise French 3 course and it's really easy. I was thinking of just bagging this and going for a higher level but, being as this is a refresher period for my French, I figure I'll just stick it out for now. I am learning new words here and there though, which is good. I don't really have a timeline on this but if I feel that it remains too easy, I will either skip ahead to the 4th or 5th course, or just jump up to a more intermediate set.

Lingq - I've been continuing with the Français Facile podcasts, which are kind of like Assimil Lite. All-in-all, it's going well and I like these podcasts, I find them great for general A1/A2 listening comprehension, which I desperately need for French.

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Classes resume this week but I should be able to keep up with these routines, though maybe at a slightly slower pace.

[Soclydeza]

DEUTSCH

DW - I haven't started a new article yet, as I've been working on hammering in the vocab from all previous articles. What I've been learning has been going a long way though, as I am starting to hear/see a lot of these words in news programs and articles.

Vocab - As stated, I have been reviewing to hammer in all previously obtained vocab. I'm trying not to start a new list until I'm comfortable with all these words (I've over done that in the past and it's caused me to give up on SRSing, which I don't want to do). I do have a full page of new words gathered from news shows and other sources waiting for me though...

ZDF Heute Journal - I've been keeping up with watching this every day (they are usually 20-30mins each) and I must say that I feel like my listening is making a lot of progress. I'm able to make sense of the topics and actually find them interesting; having the mindset of actually "listening to German news" instead of "listening for listening-practice's sake" is a good sign that my listening comprehension is improving.

Die Schatzinsel (ebook) - After previously reading Die Reise zum Mittelpunkt der Erde, I've decided to purchase another book from the same company, which is pretty much simplified literary classics in German. The level is pretty easy (A2, B1ish) and I only have to look up a word maybe once every few pages, but it's nice relaxed volume-reading. I'm able to get a reading flow going and it allows me to work on my toning (my way of equating low weight, high rep training in weightlifting to language learning).

Lingq - Kindle - I was messing around on Youtube and ended up on one of Steve Kaufmann's videos, in which he explained how he imports his ebooks to Lingq. I never thought of this before (didn't know it was possible) and figure this would be a great asset. I used calibre and was able to get a Harry Potter book onto Lingq. I like using the Kindle and like how I can put my official dictionaries on it, but it's a bit of a pain in the ass when the book contains a high number of unknown words (it takes a second or 2 for definitions to come up after tapping the screen, which adds up and severely disrupts the reading flow). Lingq is much quicker, so I've be able to read in real-time, so to speak, while listening. I purchased the audiobook for Harry Potter and will do kind of an RL technique with this once I start it. I will start this after I finish Die Schatzinsel.

Readlang - I've been using this a lot lately as well for short readings of anything from 500 to 2000 words, typically news articles, short stories, whatever they have on there. I stay within the B2-C1 range. This is the fastest of the tap-to-definition tools, which allows for a good reading flow; the only problem is that it only gives one definition, probably the most common, which doesn't always work.

So basically I've found:

-Kindle: Most descriptive definitions and translations but a bit slow depending on the number of unknown words
-Lingq: Good middle-of-the-road, usually gives multiple definitions, pretty quick
-Readland: The fastest and most convenient, but lacks the diversity in definitions

I've been using all three for different tasks and it's been allowing me to read a lot more in general.

B2 Prep - As mentioned before, I will find a tutor on Italki for weekly lessons dedicated toward the exam soon. I have materials, but figure I'll wait until I find the tutor, in case I end up using one of them with the tutor.

Italki Challenge - As previously stated, I signed up for this challenge which begins in February. If I do 2 hours with my usual conversational tutor, plus 1 hour with the tutor for the B2 exam, this will allow me to get the minimum 12 needed. It'll be tough, being that I work and go to school on top of all this, but it is a challenge. I'm excited to see how much my speaking improves after Feb (not that I will stop there, but I will probably cut down the hours a bit afterward).

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FRANÇAIS
My routine hasn't changed at all so there isn't much to say about it. It has been steady and going really well; I feel like I'm making improvements and I'm starting to understand more than I picked up before. I still don't understand how the French understand each other, let alone how I will, once I go on to tougher materials, but I'm confident that something will click one day and I will be able to make sense out of the mess of vowels, liaisons and forgotten syllables.

Babbel - Started Beginner 6 today (the last of the beginner series). I estimate that I will have it finished by this time next week, if not sooner, then I start the intermediate series.

Memrise - I decided to bag French 3 and started on French 4. The general vocab is pretty easy but it does utilize some of the tenses that were causing me trouble before, which is good since I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable with them now.

Lingq - Nothing new here, still been going through the podcasts and it's been going well.

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Linguistics
I've decided to pursue an autodidactic venture in linguistics, which I've always wanted to do, and being that this is a language forum, I figure I'll keep track of it here. This is just out of personal interest. I'm going to go to the bookstore tomorrow and pick up a book or two to get me started on it. For any onlookers, if you are well-versed in this subject and have any suggestions as to which resources (books, youtube videos, podcasts, etc.) a beginner should look into, I'd love to hear from you!

[arthaey]

Linguistics
I've decided to pursue an autodidactic venture in linguistics, which I've always wanted to do, and being that this is a language forum, I figure I'll keep track of it here. This is just out of personal interest. I'm going to go to the bookstore tomorrow and pick up a book or two to get me started on it. For any onlookers, if you are well-versed in this subject and have any suggestions as to which resources (books, youtube videos, podcasts, etc.) a beginner should look into, I'd love to hear from you!

Oh cool! It's always nice to see other folks here with an interest specifically in linguistics, which really is a separate beast from foreign language learning per se.

I got a minor in Linguistics in college, so I know more than the average person but I'm no expert. David Crystal's linguistics encyclopedia is an excellent way to get an intro to a wide variety of topics in linguistics without being overwhelmed by heavy technical details at the start. From there, you will know enough to know which subfields of linguistics most interest for further study.

Do keep us informed on how it goes, and don't hesitate to ask questions or work through concepts "out loud" here.

[Soclydeza]

Linguistics
I've decided to pursue an autodidactic venture in linguistics, which I've always wanted to do, and being that this is a language forum, I figure I'll keep track of it here. This is just out of personal interest. I'm going to go to the bookstore tomorrow and pick up a book or two to get me started on it. For any onlookers, if you are well-versed in this subject and have any suggestions as to which resources (books, youtube videos, podcasts, etc.) a beginner should look into, I'd love to hear from you!

Oh cool! It's always nice to see other folks here with an interest specifically in linguistics, which really is a separate beast from foreign language learning per se.

I got a minor in Linguistics in college, so I know more than the average person but I'm no expert. David Crystal's linguistics encyclopedia is an excellent way to get an intro to a wide variety of topics in linguistics without being overwhelmed by heavy technical details at the start. From there, you will know enough to know which subfields of linguistics most interest for further study.

Do keep us informed on how it goes, and don't hesitate to ask questions or work through concepts "out loud" here.

Will do! I already picked up a couple of books before I saw this but I will definitely pick up that book (I maybe order it on Amazon right after this post).

[Soclydeza]

DEUTSCH

My routine lately has consisted mainly of farming vocab from the news and things I read on Readlang, just reading DW articles (among other things) on Readlang, as well as continuing with reading Die Schatzinsel.

I've kept up with my daily ZDF news and I also got an app called Deutsche Radio, which allows me to listen to the news when I'm walking or driving. My listening comprehension has made a huge leap in the past couple of weeks, probably more than in the past year or so. I still have quite a ways to go (mainly vocabulary acquisition), but I'm surprised at how much I can understand and how natural the flow of spoken native German (at least when it's spoken clearly) has become to me.

Italki - I spent a lot of time the other day going through all the tutors to find one to help me prepare for the B2 exam. Unfortunately, the ones who either worked at Goethe or specialized in preparing for their exams were ridiculously expensive. With the more reasonably priced tutors, they say that they help prepare for exams but I don't know exactly what this means (any tutor can say that they help students prepare for exams without really knowing much about the Zertifikat specifically). So I made the decision to double up on my current tutor, since she is very reasonably priced, is very open and knows my German very well. I know what my weak points are and have exam preparation materials, so I figure I can go off those. I also thought today, maybe I can use one of the more expensive tutors who know about the exam and only use them once every two weeks or halftime (30mins) once per week, on top of my other tutor. I'll see how I feel by the end of the month; I still have over two months to prepare and I feel pretty confident about it as-is.

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FRANÇAIS
I've been keeping up with my usual routine. The only change I am thinking of making is maybe going back to Assimil to finish up those last 12 lessons, so I can finally say that I finished it and move on to UF, but we'll see. I'm making improvements in my French as well, though I still have a very long way to go.

Italki - I was looking around and found a reasonably priced informal Italki tutor for French and decided to sign up for a lesson, which I am pretty excited about. I was thinking about it and, though there are still a lot of holes in my grammar and my vocab is limited, I should really be trying to bridge the gap between the more studious aspects and the conversational.

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LINGUISTICS
I went out and bought a couple of books to get me started the other day, Linguistics for Dummies (I know purists will probably look down upon my decision to get this book, but the one for linguistics had great reviews and I do like the fD series) and The Language Instinct, which I saw recommended in many online linguistics circles.

I've been reading the Linguistics for Dummies for about an hour every day for the past 3 or so days and I must say that this book (from what I've read so far) is very well laid-out and goes into the technical stuff (which I like) but not so deep that it's over my head or causes me to lose interest. I'm having a blast reading about all the different kinds of sounds, trying to make them as I'm reading it and getting a better handle on IPA. I just got done reading the chapter on Phonetics.

I haven't started The Language Instinct yet; I will do so once I finish LfD.

I should also note that I have previously listened to much of The History of the English Language podcast in the past (I actually went on to listen to it a second time, I enjoyed it that much) which focuses on mainly historical linguistics (I guess). It starts out from the roots of PIE and takes a while before it actually gets into English, covering many other languages and developments along the way. This podcast is what really got me wanting to learn more about linguistics, as well as kicked of my obsession with history in general.

For any onlookers: what are some other good podcasts out there that I could check out on the topic?

[arthaey]

LINGUISTICSLinguistics for Dummies (I know purists will probably look down upon my decision to get this book, but the one for linguistics had great reviews and I do like the fD series)

No judgements here! Anything that gets you hooked on linguistics is a good start in my, uh, book.

A random piece of (unsolicited) advice: learn early the distinction between "prescriptivism" vs "descriptivism" and keep it in mind when evaluating "linguistic" resources, either in books or online. AFAIK, pretty much all modern linguists are descriptivists, whereas many English teachers and self-described "grammar nazis" are prescriptivists. I'm happy to talk more about this, but I would expect your books to cover this topic too.

I'm having a blast reading about all the different kinds of sounds, trying to make them as I'm reading it and getting a better handle on IPA. I just got done reading the chapter on Phonetics.

Learning the IPA and especially the phonetic descriptions behind sounds can help immensely with learning foreign sounds in languages you're learning, especially if you don't natutally have a "good ear" to just parrot them correctly.

For example, instead of struggling to get exactly what my Spanish teacher means by "it's halfway between a B and a V", describing a Spanish B/V as a voiced bilabial fracative tells me what I need to know to produce the sound.

One minor word of caution: many US books will teach a US-specific variant of the IPA (because the US isn't so great with understanding the meaning of "international", apparently…) So watch for things like "č" instead of "tʃ" or "r" instead of "ɹ".

what are some other good podcasts out there that I could check out on the topic?

All Things Linguistic has a good list of podcasts to check out.

Not a podcast, but [url=http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/[/url]Language Log[/url] is a great blog, still updated frequently after all the years it's been in existence.

There also used to be a Spanish podcast, Blog de Lenguas, but it seems as those something's happened to it since I last listened. In any case, there's a lot of archives to enjoy while also practicing your Spanish listening comprehension!