Page 2 of 8

Re: malach - die Zeit ist jetzt

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 10:23 pm
by malach
This week I would describe as a 'solid' week. Mostly plugging away at the same things:

  • Finished chapters 19 and 20 of my TY book. The material is noticeably tougher.
  • Continued with an hour a day of SRS - that is my word list in Anki, and words on Memrise.
  • Made Anki a lot more fun by using the Awesome TTS extension to add audio.
  • Went back over Schachnovelle and the Pre-Intermediate Reader, to try to reinforce the vocabulary.
  • Heard Season 1 of BBT another couple of times.
  • Did some diary style writing.
I was hoping to finish the TY book by the 24th, when it is due back to the library. I may try to finish the last three chapters at the weekend. I have heard the whole CD several times in the car by now, so I mostly know the dialogues and role-play exercises. In summary:

  • The vocabulary list is now in Anki, so I will continue to learn that over the next couple of months.
  • The grammar I have mostly written summaries for. I just need to finish the last three chapters.
  • There is a verb list at the back of the book, which I want to write out somehow and also memorise.
  • The most useful part remaining is to practice the role-play exercises, and experiment with different answers.
From now to the end of the month, I will devote to consolidating what I have done. As much reading as I can, along with practise speaking and writing to make the vocabulary and grammar more familiar. I am also expecting NCIS to arrive soon, which will be a pleasant change from BBT!

Re: malach - die Zeit ist jetzt

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 11:08 pm
by DaveAgain
malach wrote:[*]I have also written some German, with about half a page in my notebook taking around 15 minutes. So far I'm writing 'diary-entries' about the day, but I plan to write about the stories soon, and get the vocabulary into active use.
I keep thinking that a target language diary would be a good idea, and I keep not doing one. Well done You. :-)

Re: malach - die Zeit ist jetzt

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:40 pm
by malach
This week saw me reach the end of my TY Complete German book! At least, I hit the end of chapter 23 this afternoon, with all exercises completed. There is still work to do to consolidate the material, but it's a milestone of sorts.

In addition, I continued with about an hour a day of SRS: I shall finish Memrise 5 tomorrow, and am half-way through my Anki deck. For some reason Memrise threw loads of reviews at me today. This morning I completed about 80, then 150 came up in the afternoon to turn into 250 as soon as I started doing them ... And then another 100 this evening. Not sure what happened there, but it's probably a return of the earlier levels which I did go through quickly en masse.

I've also started Dave Smith's Intermediate Reader, reading the first four chapters fairly comfortably, only needing to look up a few words.

My NCIS DVDs arrived on friday, so I've been listening to an hour or two of that each night since. A nice contrast with BBT, but there's less that I understand. Or perhaps I haven't 'memorised' the English version quite so well...

Self doubt creeps in from time to time, and I wonder what I've really learnt these last few weeks. I think tangible progress can be seen in my new ability to read these Graded Reader books, which I've never tried before. Also with Memrise, the total suggests I've learnt about 2000 words and phrases, and I find myself quickly passing through most of the reviews and pulling words out of my head that I wouldn't have imagined I knew. The self doubt is just my natural laziness trying to assert itself.

I must push the doubts away and keep on going each day. Next sunday I have planned to review my progress with respect to the A2 exam, and start preparing.

Re: malach - die Zeit ist jetzt

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 8:25 am
by DaveAgain
malach wrote:My NCIS DVDs arrived on friday, so I've been listening to an hour or two of that each night since. A nice contrast with BBT, but there's less that I understand. Or perhaps I haven't 'memorised' the English version quite so well...
Cops and Robbers programmes do seem to be harder to understand generally.

Documentaries are supposed to be easier to understand than fiction, you could try a few of those for variety. Ardmediathek.de, and Arte.tv would be good options there.

Re: malach - die Zeit ist jetzt

Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 12:12 am
by malach
Today I got the feeling I'm going "SRS mad". I didn't take my German CD for the car ride into work today, instead playing some English songs. What do you know, but almost every other word received an automatic German translation in my head! This persisted through the first rather dull meeting of the afternoon. This can only be a good thing, I think?!

I am also flying through the Intermediate Reader. There's some useful vocabulary, and I like how the author has written about the simplest things - such as the person in the hotel getting up and brushing his teeth and having a shower etc. I'm reading well enough to enjoy the text as a story, with one part making me laugh out loud.

Re: malach - die Zeit ist jetzt

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2018 11:45 pm
by malach
This is close enough to the end of September. Tomorrow's going to be busy, and there'll be no time for reflection. This is the arbitrary turning point from me "just learning" German, to deciding to focus on the A2 exam in November.

What have I accomplished? I started this quest as a false beginner on 9th August, and have kept a rough log of my hours and activities.

Total 160 hours:

  • Course: 31.5
  • SRS (Memrise and Anki): 65.5
  • Listening: 31.25
  • Reading: 29.25
  • Writing: 2.5
Main achievements:

  • Worked through TY Complete German in its entirety.
  • Learnt around 2100 words/phrases on Memrise.
  • Read four books, including Zweig's Schachnovelle and Brian Smith's Intermediate German Reader.
Towards Exam

Concrete steps I must take are:

  • Take a placement test. The Goethe Institute has one, including a telephone oral test
  • Work through the A2 level vocabulary list, to find the words I do not yet know
  • Download samples etc, and find out how the exam works
  • Consider getting a "prep book"
I must also turn my attention around, and start focussing much more heavily on productive activities, i.e. speech and writing. Speech needs a lot of work - my pronunciation is bad. My sporadic diary writing needs to become a stronger daily activity. I should try doing that first thing, instead of Memrise.

I will continue:

  • with my SRS routine. With Anki, I am revising the words from the TY course. With Memrise, I have been working through the courses 1-7. I am now part way through German 6 and, with 25 new words/phrases a day, I will be finished around the middle of November.
  • with reading. I need to re-read the books I have read, to rehearse the vocabulary, but will also look for more graded readers.
I am expecting (hoping!) to put in a regular 2 hours a day, making at least a further 100 hours study before the exam. I'm assuming I have enough grammar, from the TY book, and that my main tasks will be to make this knowledge active and to continue to broaden my vocabulary.

Re: malach - die Zeit ist jetzt

Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2018 11:49 pm
by malach
DaveAgain wrote:Documentaries are supposed to be easier to understand than fiction, you could try a few of those for variety. Ardmediathek.de, and Arte.tv would be good options there.

Thanks for the links. I'll try them out when I can.

Re: malach - die Zeit ist jetzt

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2018 12:55 pm
by malach
Well, things recently turned out differently than expected, in good ways for everything but my free time. So, a new timetable will be needed for language study, though the plan remains. Currently I'm trying to maintain some SRS and fit in some reading to retain the little German I have learnt over the past two months.

malach's log - Bengali, German, Latin

Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2018 10:48 am
by malach
Between many lapses this past year, I have duplicated my account here. A lost email address was probably the reason, but I forget now. Anyhow - it's goodbye peter and long live malach. Peter began focussed on Bengali, Malach began focussed on German. Now, malach will attempt a limited-time balance between the two with a bit of Latin tossed in.

Bengali (old log)

Bengali is slowly progressing, with regular use. I have found a penpal in Calcutta, and this helps encourage regular writing practice along with the important corrections.

Progress:
  • I've just started reading the book: "রামের সুমতি" (Ramer Sumati by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay). The vocabulary is hard, so I am looking up many things, but I hope this will become less frequent as the book continues.
  • I am slowly working through a 3,600 word list on Memrise, aiming for 10 words a day.

German

Somehow I made some progress in the last two months, although I am nowhere near the level needed for the A2 test in all four areas, and I won't have time now to prepare for the planned November slot. I will "keep up" with reading and SRS, and some listening practice when I can fit it in.

Progress:
  • I am keeping up with my SRS courses (Memrise and Anki).
  • I'm nearly finished with Intermediate Reader 2, which contains a lot of new words: I think a higher proportion than in the previous book.
  • Major problem: genders for nouns. Just learning on SRS is not enough. I think I need to take each noun and write it out many times in sentences.

Latin

The poor third wheel. Familia Romana comes out once or twice a week. I am using a Memrise course of its vocabulary to help remember each chapter I complete.

Re: malach's log - Bengali, German, Latin

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 4:02 pm
by malach
My available time has reduced to 10-15 minutes here and there through the day, but I have managed to "keep at" my language learning.

Bengali

Mostly keeping up with vocabulary on Memrise/Anki, some reading and reasonably regular diary entries. Watched the Bengali film ঘরে বাইরে (Home and the World).

German

I've just ordered the last of Brian Smith's Intermediate level books, so I have almost a full set (I have not got the two easiest level books). This series is perfect for me at this point, and it's enjoyable to be understanding written German, even at this easy level. I finished the second Intermediate book yesterday, so I'm beginning with the pre-intermediate book again, to check that I still remember most of the words.

  • I tried to hear the CD reading of Schachnovelle in the car, and found I need more listening practise. Not surprising. You have to recognise and interpret words and sentences more quickly when listening than reading. I'll keep working at this on my way to/from work.
  • I'm slowly getting through Memrise 6 whilst maintaining reviews of the other courses.
  • My Anki deck of the TY course is now completely studied, so I'm only working on reviews for now.
I've also bought the book German Tutor. This complements the TY course I just finished, and the exercises should help reinforce grammar.

Latin

I am keeping up with vocabulary through Memrise.