2021: A Spanish Odyssey

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Skynet
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Spanish (DELE B2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=8686
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby Skynet » Sun Sep 02, 2018 8:55 pm

Elenia wrote:
Skynet wrote:I wonder how many people here are guilty of this?


As charged.

Of course, this is better than the alternative where I don't go on the forum and instead spend all my time twiddling my thumbs. I get some guilt when I'm here, so at least I feel like I should do something so that my privilege of walking the shining halls does not get revoked :lol:


Elenia,

I split my sides in laughter after reading that! :lol: I have to admit that reading others' logs is better than doing nothing. These logs have got a great amount of inspirational information that is invaluable! I don't believe in experiential learning, I believe in improving on the advice given by our forebearers.

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OK, summer ends in 21 days. I couldn't help myself from embarking on a 21-day French challenge! (03.09.18 - 23.09.18)

Assimil Using French (70 lessons) + Living Language Ultimate: Advanced French (20 lessons) coupled with 20 min each of L+R of RFI, Raconte-moi and Martine a day.
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zjones
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Languages: English (N), French (B1-certified), Spanish and Greek (abandoned)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9860
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby zjones » Mon Sep 03, 2018 9:33 pm

Lawyer&Mom wrote:I never bothered with graded readers. My first two French books were a YA fantasy book and a grown-up fluffy office romance. And I had *way* less course work behind me when I started. Just dive into it! I have a pretty high tolerance for not understanding, but really it can be done.


I agree heartily with Lawyer&Mom. Graded readers will just bore you at this point (and pretty much any other point). I started reading Harry Potter at the higher end of self-evaluated A2. In the beginning I thought it was impossible, but once I got past the first few chapters, I was addicted. Also, my reading skills skyrocketed and I learned tons of useful reader's phrases. Two months later and I'm now on Harry Potter Tome 3. There's something magical about reading a "real" book in the language you're learning, and you'll soon get over your fear of seeing new words.
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Skynet
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Posts: 310
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Location: San Francisco
Languages: English (N)
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French (DELF B2)
German (Goethe-Zertifikat B2)
Spanish (DELE B2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=8686
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby Skynet » Mon Sep 17, 2018 7:43 pm

Day 15 of...

OK, summer ends in 21 days. I couldn't help myself from embarking on a 21-day French challenge! (03.09.18 - 23.09.18)

Assimil Using French (70 lessons) + Living Language Ultimate: Advanced French (20 lessons) coupled with 20 min each of L+R of RFI, Raconte-moi and Martine a day.


UPDATE: I also used the 21-day challenge to finally do active waves of both Assimil FWOT and NFWE. I did exactly 10 lessons of each a day and would spend 10 min per lesson. I am glad to have done this! STATUS: COMPLETED!

So the new semester starts next week (24.09.18) and runs for 21 weeks. Here's the plan (bearing in mind that I have four rigorous MSc. courses and several professional courses to contend with) :

FRENCH (3 hrs a day): Grand Total = 441 hours = B2+???

Assimil Business French
CLE Vocabulaire PdF ( Int. + Ava.)
CLE Grammaire PdF (Int. + Ava.)
CLE Communication PdF
CLE Comprehension Orale
G. Mauger's Cours de Langue et de Civilisation Francaises II, III & IV
Didier Reussir le DELF B2
Alter Ego: B1 & B2 (IF/WHEN I finally figure out how to match the audio to the books. Can anyone help me with this???)

+ 30 min daily of native French media:
Fluent French Audio Podcast
RFI: Le Journal en Francais Facile
NHK World FRENCH
Le Monde
Jeune Afrique
France 24

In January, I will engage in serious language exchanges (HelloTalk, Verbaling, SharedTalk, etc) to boost

For some reason, a lot of French sites are geo-blocked. How infuriating!

GERMAN (2 hrs a day): Grand Total = 294 hours = A2+???
Assimil: German Without Toil (1965)
Assimil: German With Ease (2001)
Linguaphone (1960)
Linguaphone (1990)
Living Language Ultimate: Beginner - Intermediate (2000)
Cortina (1954)
Cortina Deutsch auf Deutsch (1906)
Language Transfer: German
Teach Yourself German (1958 & 2004)
Teach Yourself German Grammar (1950)
Teach Yourself Further German (1994)
Teach Yourself: Improve Your German (2004)
Oxford Take Off in German (2000) * :shock: You know that I am clutching at straws when I talk about OTO. Perhaps the German one is better than the disastrous French one???
+ DW's Langsam gesprochene Nachrichten


German is a leap into the unknown and I am doing it with less than a half of the number of courses that I used for my 6 week French challenge. German will keep me super busy and I am not going to rush through it: I will need all the help that I can get. *Gulps* as I consider the prospect of another potentially ghastly encounter with OTO :?
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Skynet
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Languages: English (N)
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Spanish (DELE B2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=8686
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby Skynet » Wed Sep 19, 2018 10:46 pm

What a huge difference 48 hours makes to the life of a language learner.

To share something personal with you:
a) I attained 100% for all 6 of my previous semester's exams and related coursework.
b) I am now on the Dean's list and receive a full scholarship for my double-major MSc program (read: more money for language resources I will never use.)
c) I have been offered (and accepted) a post as a senior research assistant. (read: more time to acquaint myself with those French and German lecturers)
d) The language learning bug has really hit me hard.

Naturally, I was elated, but as all addicted language learners would know, the first question that came to mind was, "What does this mean for my German and French plans?"

I had originally intended to spend 2 hrs of German and 3 hrs of French a day (35 hrs a week), now I can come up with 22.5 hrs / week for language learning at best. Unfortunately, I cannot sacrifice French because I am planning on sitting the DELF B2 Pro in Feb 2019.

The one thing that can save my German is the one thing that I hate the most about Cyprus: the abnormally long lunch breaks which can easily exceed 2 hours and even conveniently stretch into the following week (ie, close for "lunch" at Friday 12 pm, and open again on Monday 8 am).

Currently, things are not looking good for my German project. :cry:
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DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
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Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby DaveAgain » Wed Sep 19, 2018 11:12 pm

Skynet wrote:What a huge difference 48 hours makes to the life of a language learner.

To share something personal with you:
a) I attained 100% for all 6 of my previous semester's exams and related coursework.
b) I am now on the Dean's list and receive a full scholarship for my double-major MSc program (read: more money for language resources I will never use.)
c) I have been offered (and accepted) a post as a senior research assistant. (read: more time to acquaint myself with those French and German lecturers)
Congratulations! :-)
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rdearman
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby rdearman » Thu Sep 20, 2018 8:35 am

Skynet wrote:abnormally long lunch breaks which can easily exceed 2 hours and even conveniently stretch into the following week

Congratulations!

Oh, and congratulations on the educational stuff too. :D
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Elenia
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby Elenia » Thu Sep 20, 2018 5:16 pm

Congrats!
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Skynet
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Languages: English (N)
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=8686
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby Skynet » Fri Sep 21, 2018 10:03 pm

DaveAgain wrote:Congratulations! :-)


rdearman wrote:Congratulations! ...
Oh, and congratulations on the educational stuff too. :D


Elenia wrote:Congrats!


Thank-you! Thank-you! THANK-YOU!

Skynet wrote:
OK, summer ends in 21 days. I couldn't help myself from embarking on a 21-day French challenge! (03.09.18 - 23.09.18)

Assimil Using French (70 lessons) + Living Language Ultimate: Advanced French (20 lessons) coupled with 20 min each of L+R of RFI, Raconte-moi and Martine a day.


I also used the 21-day challenge to finally do active waves of both Assimil FWOT and NFWE. I did exactly 10 lessons of each a day and would spend 10 min per lesson. I am glad to have done this! STATUS: COMPLETED on 17.09.18!


FINAL STATUS OF 21-DAY PROJECT: COMPLETED ON 22.09.18!

Skynet wrote:What a huge difference 48 hours makes to the life of a language learner...

Currently, things are not looking good for my German project. :cry:



German update: GERMAN is back on the table and I have 1 hour during my 1.5 hour lunch break to start with Assimil GWOT, Assimil NGWE and Linguaphone German (1990). I also had to sacrifice a sailing lesson (now have two a week) to ensure that I can have enough time for my new research duties.

I am slowly beginning to realise that I might not achieve my Volvo Ocean Race, Vendée Globe, Rolex Fastnet Race and America's Cup dreams. :lol: I am approaching 27 at the start of October, and I have been culling decades' long childhood flights of fancy. I am allowed to dream, as long as those dreams are in French and German. :lol:

Being the optimist that I am, I decided to see the upside of my predicament as an opportunity to sing in French (Serge Gainsbourg is an astonishing songwriter) , Francoise Hardy's Comment te dire adieu
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Skynet
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Posts: 310
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Location: San Francisco
Languages: English (N)
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Spanish (DELE B2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=8686
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby Skynet » Tue Sep 25, 2018 7:54 pm

GERMAN:
Day 2 of Assimil GWOT & NFWE and Cortina (1954).
I cannot really say much except that I am delighted that the language is much more phonetic than English and French, and has word stress that resembles that of English.

FRENCH:
Day 3 of CLE Vocabulaire PdF ( Int.), CLE Grammaire PdF (Int.), CLE Communication PdF (Int.) and G. Mauger's Cours de Langue et de Civilisation Francaises (III). I am still listening to an episode of RFI: Le Journal en Francais Facile and an episode of Fluent French Audio a day.

After reading Igunamon's Multi Track Approach, I have made serious concessions with my German list and have updated it to look like this:

GERMAN (2 hrs a day): Grand Total = 294 hours = A2+???

Assimil: German Without Toil (1965)
Assimil: German With Ease (2001)
Linguaphone (1960)
Linguaphone (1990)
Living Language Ultimate: Beginner - Intermediate (2000)
Cortina (1954)
+ DW's Langsam gesprochene Nachrichten [/quote]

It's not as short as is recommended by the MTA, but it's half of what it was just seconds ago. Halving the number of courses is a massive feat, in my opinion.
Last edited by Skynet on Sun Oct 28, 2018 8:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Jaleel10
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby Jaleel10 » Wed Sep 26, 2018 6:31 am

Happy to see you attacking German. I'm thinking of following a similar approach but just with the two Assimil, Michel Thomas and Language Transfer (I hope already knowing two Germanic languages will count in my favour). I'll be eagerly following your progress. Mach weiter so!
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