My Anki/Memrise use has dropped to zero lately. I have very little time currently (hobbies for me are more of a single person's game!), and I have decided to prefer writing over revision: I think it more beneficial to write something with the vocabulary I remember from yesterday than trying to recap a lot of words which I don't have an immediate use for. Reading is my main activity now, and this refreshes vocabulary naturally, especially as I go back to reread things.
My routine over the past month has been:
- Write something in a diary: a bit of English (to get my thoughts going), then some in German and finally in Bengali. I aim for at least 50 words in the latter two. Sometimes I write more, especially in German if I recall something I read. The aim is not precision, just to activate the vocabulary.
- Read and read again.
The differences in ease between Bengali and German are becoming quite stark. I have a good understanding of Bengali grammar (at least, the basic stuff that is in the Teach Yourself book): it's a regular language so cases, such as they are, are marked in a standard way, verbs fall into one of a few groups. Mostly when I read Bengali I can explain the grammar. The trouble is the vocabulary. Each word is different in its own way, and it's taken me a while to build up a core active vocabulary. I can use this to read and write to some extent, but it's still limited.
In contrast, German vocabulary is a breeze. After a few appearances in the book, the words in context seem to make sense. I think the script helps - Bengali being in its own script remains something slightly unusual. However, my knowledge of German grammar is more limited, and I know what I try to write has all kinds of errors.
German also benefits from better materials - these Intermediate Readers of Brian Smith's are excellent. Whereas with Bengali I'm straight in the deep end with Tagore. Even my partner sometimes wonders at the way he's written things ...
BengaliI am continuing trying to intensively read some of Tagore's short stories. This means a lot of new vocabulary.
I had my Bengali listening skills tested at the weekend, as my partner's daughter explained something she didn't want her son to know about!
GermanI have finished the first
Intermediate Reader of Brian Smith's ... again. I think this is my third complete pass through. My progress is clear, in that I'm having to look up relatively few words.