2021: A Spanish Odyssey

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Skynet
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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 28, 2018 5:31 pm

GERMAN
Day 5 of Assimil GWOT & NFWE and Cortina (1954).
I am really enjoying German! I am not even straining myself doing two lessons of each Assimil version per day. The morphological agglutination, which you don't see too much in both Assimils but do see clearly in Cortina, just make so much sense. I look forward to seeing how deep the German rabbit hole goes!

FRENCH
Day 6 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. As I get closer to attaining the B2 goal, I am happy to report that I am not seeing any evidence of the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility in my French.

Jaleel10 wrote: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!

Thanks, boet!!! When do you plan to start German? NGWE and GWOT are really good! You made a wise investment. I didn't like MT French because of non-native accents (Really??? Who does that!?!?) and that unrealistically slow student who only succeeded in leaving me in a fit of pique! LT is better but suspiciously similar to MT, and I am 100% certain that they will be seeing a lawsuit fairly soon. How many hours a day will you be doing? I am yet to properly start LT though.
Last edited by Skynet on Sun Oct 28, 2018 8:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Jaleel10
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby Jaleel10 » Mon Oct 01, 2018 7:35 am

Skynet wrote:Thanks, boet!!! When do you plan to start German? NGWE and GWOT are really good! You made a wise investment. I didn't like MT French because of non-native accents (Really??? Who does that!?!?) and that unrealistically slow student who only succeeded in leaving me in a fit of pique! LT is better but suspiciously similar to MT, and I am 100% certain that they will be seeing a lawsuit fairly soon. How many hours a day will you be doing? I am yet to properly start LT though.


I'll start when I pass the B2 Spanish exam and not a second sooner! I first have to gain experience in one language before I feel comfortable starting with German. Plus I work full time and study part time :( Plan is to write the B2 exam early 2020. By that time your German skills will probably be high enough for you to take me under your wing ;)

Yeah the MT is not that good when it comes to pronunciation but everything else is great except that one annoying student in his recording....(I'd go with Paul Noble next time if I were you - he uses native speakers. They have a French and German course too). Luckily I have fantastic pronunciation (for an African ;)), I have been mistaken for a native speaker 4 times and yeah I keep count haha. The lawsuit thing was discussed here.

Have a great week!
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garyb
Black Belt - 1st Dan
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby garyb » Mon Oct 01, 2018 8:59 am

I've used Michel Thomas and now most of Language Transfer for Greek. I don't know if it's similar for other languages, but I found that MT was easier to follow and taught more useful language in a shorter amount of time, while LT is harder but teaches the grammar in more depth and the students are much more switched-on (perhaps too much so - I get frustrated at how much better they remember things than I do!). MT Greek does use a native speaker though, unlike the "original" courses with Michel himself. I personally found MT French (and Italian, and Spanish) very useful, despite the accents: MT is hard to beat for how much you learn in such a small number of hours. I never tried Paul Noble or LT in these languages though, so can't say how they stack up.

I'd love to learn German one day, maybe in a future life!
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Skynet
Green Belt
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 » Mon Oct 01, 2018 4:30 pm

Jaleel10 wrote: I'll start when I pass the B2 Spanish exam and not a second sooner! I first have to gain experience in one language before I feel comfortable starting with German. Plus I work full time and study part time :( Plan is to write the B2 exam early 2020. By that time your German skills will probably be high enough for you to take me under your wing ;)

Ironically, I too was convinced that I would only embark on German after my DELF B2 Pro. Well, about that... I was also concerned about confusing the two, but French and German are diametrically opposed languages (I was very surprised!) I know the study + work routine ... and let's not forget family, friends, church and other commitments. This is why I know that language learning requires discipline and dedication! DELE B2 in Q1 2020 is very, very reasonable and I have faith in your ability to even exceed this target! (I am aiming for DELF B2 Pro in Q1 2019 and Goethe B2 in Dec 2019.)

Jaleel10 wrote:Yeah the MT is not that good when it comes to pronunciation but everything else is great except that one annoying student in his recording....(I'd go with Paul Noble next time if I were you - he uses native speakers. They have a French and German course too). Luckily I have fantastic pronunciation (for an African ;)), I have been mistaken for a native speaker 4 times and yeah I keep count haha. The lawsuit thing was discussed here.

1. I have tried PN too, but fled for my life when I heard that much English. English is the only thing that deters me from going though a course. However, I did prefer it to MT because of the native speakers and the use of students of normal intelligence.
2. I know the feeling of being mistaken for a native! I love that!!! Imagine, being South African and having never met an Equatoguinean (Equatorial Guinea is Africa's sole Hispanophone nation)! Well done! I am proud of you indeed! (I won't be so successful with a German native accent rouse because I have been to Namibia before :lol: )
3. Thanks for the lawsuit link. I AM NOT REMOTELY SURPRISED that it was served though. Brazen patent infringement! Mentioning MT by name on the LT site did not augur well for them. :roll:

garyb wrote:... while LT is harder but teaches the grammar in more depth and the students are much more switched-on (perhaps too much so - I get frustrated at how much better they remember things than I do!).

Agreed. This is why LT is something I am using and am unlikely to jettison. Patent infringement debacle aside, it's much more intellectually stimulating than MT and PN.

As for...

garyb wrote:I'd love to learn German one day, maybe in a future life!


JOIN US!

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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 » Tue Oct 02, 2018 7:08 pm

GERMAN
Day 9 of Assimil GWOT & NFWE and Cortina (1954).
German is such a logical language with word order, sentence structure, stress and intonation that resembles English. Whilst I do find the French "r" rearing its head during my lessons, it is certainly not a major issue that consternates me. At my current pace, I should be at a point in Q4 2019 where I can comfortably flip a coin to decide whether I sit the Goethe B2 or TestDaF (midway between B2 and C1).

FRENCH
Day 10 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 getting really tired of the news (goodbye RFI: Le Journal en Francais Facile) and have decided to try Balades whilst continuing with Fluent French Audio.

I am becoming increasingly active on this forum in far-flung discussions that add very little to my French and German endeavours, but steal precious time that should be used for SLEEPING (I have been so preoccupied with languages, that I ran out of organic chamomile and valerian root. The ineffable consequence? The Empire Insomnia Strikes Back!)

I will be taking a much-needed leave of absence from this forum for a while.
Last edited by Skynet on Sun Oct 28, 2018 8:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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garyb
Black Belt - 1st Dan
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby garyb » Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:26 am

It would take a lot of hypnosis and peer pressure to get me to add another language to my list! Although it looks like I will be spending a weekend in Berlin next month... For now I'll just vicariously enjoy German through your log and others. It's great to hear that it's logical and not too arduous at the beginning.
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naqvisson
White Belt
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun Dec 10, 2017 3:10 pm
Languages: English, Urdu/Hindi (N), Punjabi, Sariaki, Finnish (A1), Swedish (B1/B2),
Studies: German, French!
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... ch#p128541
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby naqvisson » Sat Oct 06, 2018 8:00 pm

Skynet, you are a real source of motivation.. so glad to hear about your scholarship....and your commitment with the learning. Hoping to follow your footsteps. Best of luck!
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Skynet
Green Belt
Posts: 310
Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2018 6:37 pm
Location: San Francisco
Languages: English (N)
Shona (N)
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 » Tue Oct 09, 2018 2:59 pm

ODD: I was met with SEVEN 504 Gateway Time-out error messages before I could long on.

Yes, I am breaking my hiatus to give an update on my German:

DAY 16 of GERMAN
GWOT: 32/126
NGWE: 32/100
Cortina 1954: 8/20

Transmutation (n)
the action of changing or the state of being changed into another form.
PHYSICS: the changing of one element into another by radioactive decay, nuclear bombardment, or similar processes.
LINGUISTICS: the parabolic transformation of one language (German) into a maelstrom of indiscernible words, which could have been easily avoided had Assimil bothered to add explicit explanations of these changes (which have been occurring at a geometric rate since lesson 2).

garyb wrote:It would take a lot of hypnosis and peer pressure to get me to add another language to my list!

Maintenant, je comprends pourquoi l’allemand est la seule langue germanique dans le FSI "Liste de Catégorie 2." Je vais bientôt commencer "Le Seigneur des Anneaux" et je pensais que cette réponse serait idéale: "Courez, imbéciles!"

The expected response from the sagacious denizens of this forum would be, "You are going way too fast" - which is an undoubtedly astute observation - however, I have been infected with the (likely asinine) idea of sitting the Goethe B1 in April 2019. The other solution would be to pick up TYS German (2004) in the hope that it explains better than Assimil and is easier than Cortina. Le roi allemand est mort, vive le roi allemand!

naqvisson wrote:Skynet, you are a real source of motivation.. so glad to hear about your scholarship....and your commitment with the learning. Hoping to follow your footsteps. Best of luck!

Thank-you very much for your kind words! I really appreciate them, especially as I currently find myself eschewing Assimil's inexistent explanations. I look forward to seeing you progress in your language studies too!
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rdearman
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby rdearman » Tue Oct 09, 2018 7:18 pm

Skynet wrote:ODD: I was met with SEVEN 504 Gateway Time-out error messages before I could long on.

You were trying to login at the same time I was trying to restart the proxy server I suspect. :)
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Melkor
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Re: SKYNET goes online! World domination log.

Postby Melkor » Fri Oct 12, 2018 9:00 am

Skynet wrote:
Transmutation (n)
the action of changing or the state of being changed into another form.
PHYSICS: the changing of one element into another by radioactive decay, nuclear bombardment, or similar processes.
LINGUISTICS: the parabolic transformation of one language (German) into a maelstrom of indiscernible words, which could have been easily avoided had Assimil bothered to add explicit explanations of these changes (which have been occurring at a geometric rate since lesson 2).

The expected response from the sagacious denizens of this forum would be, "You are going way too fast" - which is an undoubtedly astute observation - however, I have been infected with the (likely asinine) idea of sitting the Goethe B1 in April 2019. The other solution would be to pick up TYS German (2004) in the hope that it explains better than Assimil and is easier than Cortina. Le roi allemand est mort, vive le roi allemand!


HA! :lol: This reminded me of our physics class last semester. I will be supremely impressed if you strain every sinew (YIKES! :shock: Did I just say that??? Your fancy idioms and afternoon tea drinking are rubbing off onto me! :o ) to achieve both DELF B2 Pro and Goethe B1 in such a short space of time. I wonder why you are considering the B2 Pro instead of the regular B2 though? :?: If there is one entity (you have long-since transcended the plane of ephemeral human existence) who can achieve this, it is YOU! :!: :ugeek:
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