HeartlandExpat is incredibly inconsistent and keeps jumping languages :/ (Log)

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heartlandexpat
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Posts: 27
Joined: Sat May 05, 2018 3:18 pm
Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
Languages: English (N), French (rusty B2), Spanish (B1) + some dabbling in DE, IT, LT, NL
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... php?t=8020
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Re: Mano Mokykla - LT dabar, kiti (FR, ES) vėliau

Postby heartlandexpat » Wed May 16, 2018 1:58 am

Soooo not made any progress getting out of my rut, whoops. Did get in contact with my uni to find out French class options for next year to see if there's any good fluency-building ones and was directed towards the french guy, so hopefully he'll respond to that soon. I think I'm going to start trying to incorporate and least one active (ie not just reading or nextflix) french activity a day from now on just to make sure I'm at least building it a little, and then in September when I'm back in the UK I'll shift my focus back to split between french/spanish again, rather than this LT-heavy approach I have now that I'm trying to sprinkle a bit of french into. Of course, until I'm out of this rut who knows how many things I should be getting done will slip through the cracks, inside and outside of languages.
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just a midwestern girl off to see the world...
Omaha, USA -> Huddersfield, UK -> Brussels, BE -> DC, USA -> Vilnius, LT

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heartlandexpat
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Posts: 27
Joined: Sat May 05, 2018 3:18 pm
Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
Languages: English (N), French (rusty B2), Spanish (B1) + some dabbling in DE, IT, LT, NL
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... php?t=8020
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Re: Mano Mokykla - LT dabar, kiti (FR, ES) vėliau

Postby heartlandexpat » Sun May 20, 2018 12:18 am

So I've gotten better, but I'm still just sort of floating around idk how to explain it. But at least I'm putting time in and getting stuff done again :) Also, the textbook I'm using (Beginner's Lithuanian) goes really fast grammar-wise, which is good because I've been telling myself "no, I'm not ready for that yet" and dallying when there was really no point to. Long story short, I now know past-tense and imperative and they're literally 100% uncomplicated so I feel super silly for putting them off.

I've been chatting with a native frenchie and oh lord I've let it get wayyyyyy rustier than I thought. I think the problem is that I've been heavily focusing on Spanish and Lithuanian which are both structurally simple, or at least concise, without doing much french practice in the meantime- and french likes to be quite superfluous with its words haha What I mean to say is, most of my mistakes are just dropping words (even articles at times, the horror!) or simplifying sentence structures that have a certain way they have to be in french. I predict I will definitely need at least two years before I can get my masters on a bilingual program, which was kind of the option I was leaning towards anyways. I'll probably just teach english to preschoolers or something of that sort for my gap year between my bachelors and masters. I mean, if I were really focusing on my french I'm sure one would do me, but I'll be in my final year of uni so Ima have some other stuff on my mind y'know? :lol:

Where lithuanian has been cruel in having cases, I reeaaally like that I can drop letters off words, words out of sentences, and have a lot of freedom in where words themselves are placed in sentences. It feels very comfy if that makes sense? Like it feels like midwestern speak as opposed to like formal english, and I like that that's accessible to me even at such a beginner's level- it makes me feel like an 'insider' even though I can only string a few simple sentences together lol

EDIT: I meant to mention also, that I finished another round of Gilmore Girls which I am literally always watching (it's how I fall asleep at night) which means I've rolled around to Year in the Life again. This means that other languages are available! So I'm doing a round in English with french subs, then I'm going to watch them again in french with english, then again in french no subs (since they don't match up if I do both in french and that pisses me off lol). Since they speak very colloquially, wittily, and quickly, hopefully I'll glean something interesting off this. Maybe I won't. Either way, I'd be watching GG so it makes no difference. Also I'm very upset with the quality of subtitling done in french as it drops a lot of the charm of the series (which I know always happens, but trust me, it could be better in this case). I'm hoping the spoken version will be better, but I'm not sure it will be. I'm also wondering if the OG series exists out there somewhere in french, and if so where I can find it cos I've never been successful even though I suspect it is out there. Also wondering if it would be a fun pet project someday when my french is un-rusted and much improved to subtitle it myself. I imagine it would be fun for about .5 seconds and then make me angry reaaaal quick. I also wonder if it's humanly possible for a non-native because of the amount of colloquial phrases you'd have to know, as my main problem is that they'll say something cute in english and then it's a very straightforward translation in french and 0% fun. The whole point is wanting to know how to say cute colloquial things in french, I already know how to say 'goodbye' for crying out loud, I want an "equivalent" for 'see ya later, alligator!'

EDIT on the EDIT: They just translated a pun about Noam Chomsky and I take everything back. Also just learned 'kiffer'
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just a midwestern girl off to see the world...
Omaha, USA -> Huddersfield, UK -> Brussels, BE -> DC, USA -> Vilnius, LT

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MamaPata
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Re: Mano Mokykla - LT dabar, kiti (FR, ES) vėliau

Postby MamaPata » Sun May 20, 2018 7:34 am

I don't know where you're currently living, but my Netflix in the Uk has GG with French dubbing and subtitles. I've never actually seen it in English. :lol:
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tarvos
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Re: Mano Mokykla - LT dabar, kiti (FR, ES) vėliau

Postby tarvos » Sun May 20, 2018 9:41 am

'see ya later, alligator!'


See you in a while, crocodile.

Ok, all jokes aside, sometimes you can just use things like ciao which are universal :)
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I hope your world is kind.

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heartlandexpat
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Posts: 27
Joined: Sat May 05, 2018 3:18 pm
Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
Languages: English (N), French (rusty B2), Spanish (B1) + some dabbling in DE, IT, LT, NL
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... php?t=8020
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Re: Mano Mokykla - LT dabar, kiti (FR, ES) vėliau

Postby heartlandexpat » Sun May 20, 2018 1:47 pm

MamaPata wrote:I don't know where you're currently living, but my Netflix in the Uk has GG with French dubbing and subtitles. I've never actually seen it in English. :lol:


Really!? Daaang, I've never noticed that before is it newly available like that? I'll be back for uni in September and I'm glad to hear I have something to look forward to :D

tarvos wrote:
'see ya later, alligator!'


See you in a while, crocodile.

Ok, all jokes aside, sometimes you can just use things like ciao which are universal :)


Oh come on, you cannot tell me "ciao" is as satisfying or cute the crocodile bit! Something better muuust exist! Don't lie to me here on my very own log :lol:
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just a midwestern girl off to see the world...
Omaha, USA -> Huddersfield, UK -> Brussels, BE -> DC, USA -> Vilnius, LT

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tarvos
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Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
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Re: Mano Mokykla - LT dabar, kiti (FR, ES) vėliau

Postby tarvos » Sun May 20, 2018 2:10 pm

Informally you can use salut I guess. I really don't use slang for this in French for some reason, I just say à bientôt or something.

For saying "hi!" there's coucou obviously.

Made even better by French youtuber girls who always say COUCOU LES FILLES

But no, nothing beats the alligator and the crocodile. I have a Russian child student who compulsively uses those phrases at the end of every class...
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I hope your world is kind.

Is a girl.

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heartlandexpat
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Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
Languages: English (N), French (rusty B2), Spanish (B1) + some dabbling in DE, IT, LT, NL
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Re: Mano Mokykla - LT dabar, kiti (FR, ES) vėliau

Postby heartlandexpat » Sun May 20, 2018 2:47 pm

Yeah yeah, those are all fine, but I want something cuter- hell on GG half what they say is made up nonsense in English anyhow, ya can't take liberties on the french? Guess I'll just have to petition l'Académie, I'm sure an anglophone trying to tell them how their language should be would go over reeaaal well :lol:

That's cute about the kid, do they use any other rando phrases like that? I'm curious haha
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just a midwestern girl off to see the world...
Omaha, USA -> Huddersfield, UK -> Brussels, BE -> DC, USA -> Vilnius, LT

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heartlandexpat
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Posts: 27
Joined: Sat May 05, 2018 3:18 pm
Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
Languages: English (N), French (rusty B2), Spanish (B1) + some dabbling in DE, IT, LT, NL
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... php?t=8020
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Re: Mano Mokykla - LT dabar, kiti (FR, ES) vėliau

Postby heartlandexpat » Fri May 25, 2018 2:54 am

Hi yes when I said I was out of my funk that was clearly the calm before the storm lol I'm back at it today though, and I'm doing all my "you should do this every day" things which is good. I've got a holiday weekend coming up and not many plans so hopefully that's some solid chunk of time I can dedicate to catching myself back up :)

By the way I signed up for Habitica and I'm kind of liking it but also kind of confused? We'll see if it'll stick haha
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just a midwestern girl off to see the world...
Omaha, USA -> Huddersfield, UK -> Brussels, BE -> DC, USA -> Vilnius, LT

User avatar
heartlandexpat
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Posts: 27
Joined: Sat May 05, 2018 3:18 pm
Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
Languages: English (N), French (rusty B2), Spanish (B1) + some dabbling in DE, IT, LT, NL
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... php?t=8020
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Re: A new name will come soon (FR, ES, LT)

Postby heartlandexpat » Wed Aug 08, 2018 8:42 pm

Sooooo.... Life got crazy. And remains so. I've now moved to Lithuania, and speak about 0 Lithuanian besides sveiki and ačiū- however I can read and understand a lot more than my fellow foreigners I've noticed so that's cool! My language learning has gone down, but I still work on it multiple times a week just not very intensely.

As I'll be entering my final year of uni soon, I've been really trying to figure out what comes next. The upmost thing is that I don't want to return home to Omaha, and I'd /prefer/ not to return to the states at all, but tbh if a really great job came around somewhere new (PNW?) or in DC I probably wouldn't say no because, I mean, I'll be a recent grad.

As I've mentioned before, I would most prefer finding my way back to Belgium, whether that's through a job or through a master's. A lot of the degrees I like though are in dutch, so that's fun since I know how to say orange juice and that's about it- meaning if I wind up pursuing that I'll have to take the one-year dutch crash-course offerings they all have but seems pretty daunting. I mean one year to learn a language to the level of being able to use it for a masters programme? But I mean they all offer it so there must be something to it I guess... We'll see how everything pans out.

Anyways, this means that french has taken the spotlight for now as a main focus, with some minor activities in spanish and lithuanian continuing. I'll definitely drop LT when I leave which makes me sad, but I just didn't make enough progress with it to be able to justify maintaining it when I have other languages I want to focus on. With Spanish I've been digging latin pop lately so that's been fun. I've also started dabbling in dutch and might wind up delving into more detail at the end of next month when I start uni again back in the UK and have more time on my hands. I signed up for an advanced French course with my uni, but they still need to place me and I'm worried they're going to stick me in a more medium-level class since I'm still pretty rusty. I did make a french friend here though so maybe she'll help me prep.

Anyways, that's me for now. I'm not super active on here, but I have been lurking around. I might try and pick this thing up again, we'll see.
1 x
just a midwestern girl off to see the world...
Omaha, USA -> Huddersfield, UK -> Brussels, BE -> DC, USA -> Vilnius, LT

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heartlandexpat
White Belt
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat May 05, 2018 3:18 pm
Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
Languages: English (N), French (rusty B2), Spanish (B1) + some dabbling in DE, IT, LT, NL
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... php?t=8020
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Re: Learning languages as an immigrant from Middle America AKA HeartlandExpat's Log (FR focus atm)

Postby heartlandexpat » Sun Aug 12, 2018 5:37 am

Year-Long Goals:

French:
-Be unafraid to speak, both with other learners and natives
-Be able to sit an exam and get a C1 certification (which may be a reach, but at least a high B2)
-Develop my CV and LinkedIn in French (again with the additions from placement) and feel relatively confident to interview for a job
-Get a 1st on all assignments and overall for French class

Spanish:
-Maintain current level (upper B1?)
-Further develop library of Latin music I like

Dutch:
-Feel generally aquatinted with the language & understand its basic grammar
-Complete Duolingo tree - not the best resource, I know, but I want to really focus on my french at the moment so this is a painless way just to gain some vocab for now

Travel:
-Southern Germany: stay with Anna for Coeur de Pirate concert? Try to see everyone though! Try to pop up to Berlin too
-Riga/Tallinn: Before placement is over in early September
-Rome: Visit Sahar
-UK tour: after class before graduation, try to see as much of everything as possible & stay with friends. My mom will come over for the ceremony and we'll do an Ireland trip

***

Today me and my flatmate/coworker are going to an FR exchange! We have to take a taxi to the beach and there'll be volleyball so it should be a good time :D I also just started a new MOOC yesterday, "Introduction aux droits de l'homme" and did the whole first week (because whoops it was due at midnight!). Looking forward to getting into a rhythm and working on it a little bit each day for the following weeks.
4 x
just a midwestern girl off to see the world...
Omaha, USA -> Huddersfield, UK -> Brussels, BE -> DC, USA -> Vilnius, LT


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