2021: A Spanish Odyssey

[zjones]

I just saw that you sat the DELF B2. Félicitations mon ami ! I'm certain you did well, and I'm happy to see you are adding some new languages to the mix. Bonne courage !

[Skynet]

Spanish:
SWOT: 28/112
The lessons have been increasing in complexity, and I have had to compensate for this by increasing the time that I dedicate to each SWOT lesson from 10 - 15 mins to 15 - 20 mins. Spanish has thus far proven to be very logical, but I am struggling to like how it sounds. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this before: liking the written language, but disliking the spoken language. It also does not help that I am a Br. English speaking ventriloquist who really struggles with moving his mouth when speaking, so perhaps Spanish was a doomed project from the beginning. I do not really have to move my mouth much when speaking French and German (my -ich is still in shambles), but speaking Spanish is a serious workout for my mandibles.

German:
GWOT: 112/126, GWE: 98/100 and NGWE 98/100.
Assimil, DLI German Basic and Cortina German have really helped me learn German! On Friday, I used the university's global publications service to read Der Spiegel, and I was astonished by the amount of German I was able to understand, and not merely infer. Yes, there were many words that I did not know (as was to be expected), but I was really impressed by my reading skills! Since German grammar is far more sophisticated than French and Spanish grammar, I assumed that I would have had to use even more beginner-to-intermediate courses, but I have seen that doing intermediate-to-advanced courses sooner is the wiser choice. Using Linguaphone Advanced German and Living Language Ultimate Advanced German courses should be sufficient before using native German courses by Klett, Langenscheidt and Hueber at the B1.2 (why do German courses split into semi-levels?) and B2.

French:
Continuing: CLE Communication PdF (365 L, Int.), CLE Grammaire PdF (400 L, Ava.) and CLE Orthographe PdF (405 L, Ava.)
Drooling over: Michael Lewis' Le casse du siecle which arrived over a week late after passing through the eurozone's most inefficient port and has finally joined its two siblings Flash Boys and Forteresse Digitale. My DELF B2 results should be announced this week, so let the nail-biting begin.

[Skynet]

German
GWOT: 112/126, GWE: 100/100 and NGWE 100/100

I did not work on GWOT today so that I could finish both GWE and NGWE, and allocate my time wisely to non-language studying. (As an aside, can you believe that I only figured out that each full-stop in the 'Fill-in-the-blank' exercises corresponds to an actual letter of the correct word?)

GWE: (-) dreadful English translations; (-) the most boring Assimil that I have ever used! (-) I contemplated quitting it on many an occasion! (-) outdated orthography; (+) excellent audio quality; (+) takes you much further than NGWE

NGWE: (-) seriously lacking in content!; (-) very slow progression; (-) A2 is best-case scenario; (+) excellent audio quality; (+) hilarious stories; (+) modern orthography; (+) better explanations than GWE;

Verdict: Despite GWE having better quantity, NGWE is the better option simply because it is funny and has better explanations of the German language. German, as I found out, is not to be trifled with (especially as a mere mortal without advanced psionic abilities). I absolutely needed all the grammar notes that I could get, and NGWE did that better than GWE. Assimil should never, ever revise its German course again unless they wanted to intentionally create a phrasebook.

DELF B2 Results:

It looks like the nail-biting is already over, and the highly efficient AF has announced my results:
Listening: 24
Writing: 25
Reading: 25
Speaking: 16

I am beyond ecstatic that my speaking result was that high because I 'glitched' and 'ummm-ed' far too many times. I am convinced that at least half of those marks were 'pity' points because I did not feel overwhelmingly confident after the speaking section.

I would like to make special mention of Cavesa (who gavce me the most inspiration as she learnt several languages whilst sudying medicine), PM (whose course-hoarding principles I followed, and who also gave me very good advice on which DELF courses would be most helpful), Lawyer&Mom (who introduced me to RFI News In Slow French), DaveAgain (for France Culture), Elexi and Daristani (whose posts on HTLAL I read for inspiration) and my North American pen-pal (you know who you are).

After my midterm examinations - which are a fortnight away - I will open a thread (perhaps one already exists) and rank all the DELF-rated courses that I used to pass my DELF B2. Please feel free to ask any questions about any of the courses that I have used during my French journey as chronicled in both of my logs.

In the meantime, I shall be hibernating!

Auf Wiedersehen!

[Teango]

That's great news, Skynet. Number Five is alive! Time to pat yourself on the back, take a breather, and treat yourself to an extra-chocolatey celebratory (digital) éclair.

[Sarafina]

Congratulations. Your results are fantastic.

[Lawyer&Mom]

Wonderful news! Really looking forward to your B2 thread.

[MamaPata]

Congratulations! Fantastic results!

[PeterMollenburg]

yes indeed!

Awesome results!

And yet another who got there with courses! Almost exclusively, right? Even more exclusive use of courses than the path I chose leading up to B2. Proof again it can be done with courses. Great work, Skynet. I'm keen to follow your adventures in German and Spanish as well. Keep working on that Spanish accent, you can break it, I'm sure. You're a machine!

[Beli Tsar]

Congratulations indeed. Your learning speed is an inspiration!

[Melkor]

(As an aside, can you believe that I only figured out that each full-stop in the 'Fill-in-the-blank' exercises corresponds to an actual letter of the correct word?)

It's the simple things that evade you, huh?

DELF B2 Results:

Congratulations! You have shown us that it is possible to attain high levels of a foreign language with a tremendous amount of effort and good quality courses. Well done!

I am beyond ecstatic that my speaking result was that high because I 'glitched' and 'ummm-ed' far too many times. I am convinced that at least half of those marks were 'pity' points because I did not feel overwhelmingly confident after the speaking section.

For someone who lives in Cyprus, and is sounded by very few native French speakers, and fewer still who'd speak to you in French [instead of practicing their English with you], you did extremely well!

In the meantime, I shall be hibernating!

No-one actually buys this! We all know that you will be busy pulling off a new feat that will make us all envious.