Summer 2018: Hopefully Plenty of Sunshine and Language Learning

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
Sarafina
Green Belt
Posts: 373
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:02 pm
Languages: English (N)
French (Intermediate )
Japanese (Beginner)
Yoruba (Advanced Comprehension)
x 912

Re: Summer 2018: Hopefully Plenty of Sunshine and Language Learning

Postby Sarafina » Tue Jul 17, 2018 10:17 am

I'm considering just not retaking and moving on. There's another uni which I liked and they said that they might consider me and they said they'll get back to me soon. I just wish I had a concrete answer. But it feels like I'm giving up and caving to the pressure. Even if I got all 7 in my retakes and my remarks goes really well- there's no guarantee that I'll even get an offer to study ESPS at UCL. I don't want to put myself in a position where I isolate myself for the first three months only for my grades to stay the same.

I'm sorry for going on and on about this. The idea of doing retakes and not doing any better scares me and the idea of telling people about where I went to uni also makes me anxious as well.
1 x

User avatar
smallwhite
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2386
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2015 6:55 am
Location: Hong Kong
Languages: Native: Cantonese;
Good: English, French, Spanish, Italian;
Mediocre: Mandarin, German, Swedish, Dutch.
.
x 4876

Re: Summer 2018: Hopefully Plenty of Sunshine and Language Learning

Postby smallwhite » Tue Jul 17, 2018 2:17 pm

Sarafina wrote:
I'm sorry for going on and on about this.

I for one love analysing effort vs results so the more details the better. In fact, I'm here to ask for more - what was your listening score?

PS. This forum tends to be a hobby-leisurely-smell-the-roses-have-all-day-fun-first forum.
2 x
Dialang or it didn't happen.

Sarafina
Green Belt
Posts: 373
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:02 pm
Languages: English (N)
French (Intermediate )
Japanese (Beginner)
Yoruba (Advanced Comprehension)
x 912

Re: Summer 2018: Hopefully Plenty of Sunshine and Language Learning

Postby Sarafina » Wed Jul 18, 2018 6:15 am

smallwhite wrote:
Sarafina wrote:
I'm sorry for going on and on about this.

I for one love analysing effort vs results so the more details the better. In fact, I'm here to ask for more - what was your listening score?

PS. This forum tends to be a hobby-leisurely-smell-the-roses-have-all-day-fun-first forum.


There's no listening exam for IB French.
1 x

Sarafina
Green Belt
Posts: 373
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:02 pm
Languages: English (N)
French (Intermediate )
Japanese (Beginner)
Yoruba (Advanced Comprehension)
x 912

Re: Summer 2018: Hopefully Plenty of Sunshine and Language Learning

Postby Sarafina » Wed Jul 18, 2018 11:08 am

I've decided not to resit some of my IB subjects as I got an offer from a uni that I really liked before and I called them and emailed them and they said they are willing to accept me even though I didn't get the required grades. I'm going to be studying Politics and French. I love how flexible their year abroad is. I can spend it in three different countries as long as they are French-speaking countries.

While they are not necessarily my first choice/'dream school', it's still my third favourite uni. I went on the open day before and it's one of the only three universities where I both loved the atmosphere of the university and the course.

I don't think resits is an option now that I have an offer from a uni that I am actually happy to go to. I'm so relieved and I can move on. This means that Japanese is now back on the table. I'm going to resume my Japanese listening experiment.

Does anyone have any advice on the best I can document this experiment in a way that might be beneficial for someone else e.g. mention exactly what hours I do, what exactly am I listening to, rating the difficulty, doing a objective listening test online to see if my listening has improved. I have exactly 69 days left until I start uni.
Last edited by Sarafina on Wed Jul 18, 2018 11:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
7 x

User avatar
Maiwenn
Orange Belt
Posts: 243
Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2016 11:26 am
Location: Grand Est, France
Languages: English (N) & French
focusing on: MSA & Moroccan Arabic
backburner: German
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7321
x 777

Re: Summer 2018: Hopefully Plenty of Sunshine and Language Learning

Postby Maiwenn » Wed Jul 18, 2018 11:28 am

Sarafina wrote:I've decided not to resit some of my IB subjects as I got an offer from a uni that I really liked before and I called them and emailed them and they said they are willing to accept me even though I didn't get the required grades. I'm going to be studying Politics and French. I love how flexible their year abroad is. I can spent it in three different countries as long as they are French-speaking countries.


Congratulations!!! That's wonderful news! :)
1 x
SC reading: 3819 / 10000 AR
SC reading: 3334 / 5000 FR
SC reading: 65 / 2500 DE :?

Corrections are always welcome. :)

Sarafina
Green Belt
Posts: 373
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:02 pm
Languages: English (N)
French (Intermediate )
Japanese (Beginner)
Yoruba (Advanced Comprehension)
x 912

Re: Summer 2018: Hopefully Plenty of Sunshine and Language Learning

Postby Sarafina » Wed Jul 18, 2018 11:52 am

For French
I want to improve my grammar and my speaking.

I need to devote considerable amount of time to working on my pronunciation. I want to devote at least 90 minutes each day to working through this.

1. I need to ensure that I can say 'common' phrases with correct pronunciation with a minimal foreign accent. I need to be strict on myself with this. I am going to be using https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... cR15l1ld60 which has a variety of French dialogue. I've downloaded WorkAudioBook which will allow me to repeat one sentence over and over and I'll repeat saying that sentence over and over again until it's sounds like a native-like.

2. I need to practice reading out loud a variety of different texts. I'm going to start with L'Étranger as I have the text and there's a bunch of free audiobooks which I can use to double-check my pronunciation/shadowing along to.

3. I need to pick a specific sound that work on it to perfection. I'm going to use https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDEkmMR_jAk&t=182s as the person goes through the pronunciation of each sound. It's 8 hours long.

I've been doing some light grammar book. I need to finish the book before September. But the book is so big.

I am going to start my French Italki lessons from August which I am going to be doing 2-3 lessons each week. Then in September try to make it to 3-4 lessons each week as I won't be able to continue with my Italki lessons after I start university.

My plan for my Japanese listening experiment can be summarised as
3 weeks on finishing going through all Japanesepod101 audio (basically intensive listening using audio from Japanesepod101
3 weeks going through all my subs2srs decks
3 weeks on extensive listening

It will be interesting to see how far I can get.
4 x

gsbod
Blue Belt
Posts: 839
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 3:22 pm
Location: UK
Languages: English (native)
German (advanced)
French (intermediate)
Japanese (intermediate)
Spanish (learning)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=1152
x 2900

Re: Summer 2018: Hopefully Plenty of Sunshine and Language Learning

Postby gsbod » Wed Jul 18, 2018 5:57 pm

Congratulations on securing a university place you are happy with :D Do they also offer modules in Portuguese or Japanese?

For Japanese, have you considered taking part in the August 6 week challenge? You can track your time using Twitter and it would fit well within the time frame you are looking at, giving you a couple of weeks before the challenge starts to collect materials/try a few things out. You can also track time spent on French during the challenge, if that helps motivate you.
1 x

Sarafina
Green Belt
Posts: 373
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:02 pm
Languages: English (N)
French (Intermediate )
Japanese (Beginner)
Yoruba (Advanced Comprehension)
x 912

Re: Summer 2018: Hopefully Plenty of Sunshine and Language Learning

Postby Sarafina » Wed Jul 18, 2018 6:50 pm

gsbod wrote:Congratulations on securing a university place you are happy with :D Do they also offer modules in Portuguese or Japanese?


They offer Japanese modules but not for Brazilian Portuguese. However I can take evening classes for Portuguese but they only offer lessons for European Portuguese which I am not that interested in.

For Japanese, have you considered taking part in the August 6 week challenge? You can track your time using Twitter and it would fit well within the time frame you are looking at, giving you a couple of weeks before the challenge starts to collect materials/try a few things out. You can also track time spent on French during the challenge, if that helps motivate you.


I'm going to now take part in August 6 week challenge. It sounds interesting. I've just created a twitter account for it. Can I register now or do I have to wait until the 1st August?
0 x

Sarafina
Green Belt
Posts: 373
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:02 pm
Languages: English (N)
French (Intermediate )
Japanese (Beginner)
Yoruba (Advanced Comprehension)
x 912

Re: Summer 2018: Hopefully Plenty of Sunshine and Language Learning

Postby Sarafina » Wed Jul 18, 2018 7:43 pm

I'm so excited for uni. The uni offers evening classes and modules for a variety of languages. But I don't want to do beginner classes. I want to start the Japanese Stage 2 module but even if my listening experiment goes well, I can't write and I would only be able to passively recognise of some Japanese phrases and kanji there and there and my speaking won't be at the same level as listening. I don't know what the timetable is like and I don't know if they'll let me do the Japanese Stage 2.

I love how for the Japanese Stage 3 module the classes are then taught in Japanese.

But the evening classes for Mandarin Chinese are too expensive for a group class. It's probably much cheaper doing Italki lessons instead. Maybe I should do a module for Mandarin Chinese. Spanish also seems like a lot of fun.

How can I get to my French to C1 as well as get to a decent level for Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese and (potentially Spanish and Persian) over the next two years?

I originally want to do the DALF C1 by December 2019 but maybe it might be better to postpone to March 2020 as by then I would be in the middle of year abroad.

I remember one girl in the open day telling me how she spent her year abroad in 4 different Spanish-speaking countries. I'd love to split my year abroad between France, Switzerland and Canada if possible. Someone advised getting a internship abroad and they managed to get to work in HSBC in Germany. The school said that they'll help out as much as possible but I don't trust schools anymore to look after my best interest. It's about time I grew up and became proactive about my life and what I want.

I want to avoid as much as possible being a English language assistant during my year abroad.

Does anyone have advice about securing internships abroad particularly in France, Switzerland or Canada? During my year abroad, I want to volunteer at French NGOs especially ones that help refugees.

I'm considering being a summer au-pair in either France or Switzerland during the summer holidays next year.
1 x

User avatar
smallwhite
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2386
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2015 6:55 am
Location: Hong Kong
Languages: Native: Cantonese;
Good: English, French, Spanish, Italian;
Mediocre: Mandarin, German, Swedish, Dutch.
.
x 4876

Re: Summer 2018: Hopefully Plenty of Sunshine and Language Learning

Postby smallwhite » Thu Jul 19, 2018 4:10 am

Sarafina wrote:I'm going to now take part in August 6 week challenge. It sounds interesting. I've just created a twitter account for it. Can I register now or do I have to wait until the 1st August?

You can (and are supposed to) register before the 1st August but I don't know how much before. You probably can already as the August scoreboard is already up.
1 x
Dialang or it didn't happen.


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: DaveAgain and 2 guests