A language learners’ forum

sctroyenne wrote:

Polyclod wrote:My life is also most likely going to get much busier, which means I may only have time for my Assimil Shadowing and maintenance work like TV and books for my languages. I recently closed on a condominium, so in about a month I'll be moving. It's my first time owning a home, so it'll take some getting used to. It's closer to the school I want to send my daughter to, which hopefully means she'll be staying with me more often. I also need to find a better-paying job. Or who knows, even a second part-time job. But hopefully I can still squeeze in time for languages. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Well you could kill two birds and get a part-time job that will also get you a lot of Spanish speaking practice with coworkers. I've actually thought of doing that myself.

It's probably about time that I start going through FSI Spanish again. It's probably exactly what I need at this point with my comprehension and my production being so lopsided. I really need some drill.

Oh, and I'll keep on eye on this thread for some good rock en español suggestions. I have my own Spotify playlist that I've started but I'm sure there's a lot more I can add.

Oh I use Spanish a lot at work, but yeah I'm definitely going to see what's out there. Now a job with lots of *French* speakers to interact with, that would be exciting.

Funnily enough I keep running into Russian speakers. I feel like telling them "You know you aren't helping my Wanderlust any"

Nice log! I'm going to follow it closely, especially for the Spanish part. Can I ask you how you use FSI? I have only glanced over it, and it seems I bit intimidating I have to say, but since it is so revered, I figure I should give it a try.

Alright so I went ahead and made another log for Spanish http://how-to-learn-any-language.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1051, since that's the language I'm focusing on polishing up right now. I'd say I'm like riiiiight at that elusive high B2 level, maybe C1 in comprehension depending on the topic, but not quite at the point where my output is fluid. All the grammar rules are floating around in my head, but they don't "flow" when I speak. So while Spanish gets the most attention for the next two or three months, French and German are in maintenance mode.

French

Up until recently, this was the hardest for me to maintain every day, apart from reading. But lately, I've been listening to the podcast from Comicsblog (La rédaction de SyFantasy.fr) It's funny to hear their film/comic reviews, everything is bof. Typical French, everything stinks . I'm almost done with Zazie dans le métro, and I'm debating what to read next. I always have my X-Men comics from 1963-1990, but I'd like to get more into original French literature, just to see if there's anything else that clicks. I finally got a phone call from my French tutor, she's been busy (so have I), but I told her that once I finish closing on my new house and get moved in we really need to schedule more sessions, preferably daily, because by that time I'll be switching my focus from Spanish to French. But we still text back and forth on WhatsApp, so hey that's practice.

German

Still reading Star Trek: Widerstand, it's actually really good. Peter David is probably my favorite Star Trek author, and I like other non-Trek related stuff he's worked on. Besides that, it's been mostly TV shows (Dexter), music, and podcasts. Oh, and the other day, I was at the store and I saw this really cute blonde girl walk in, chatting away on her cellphone. I heard something familiar about the sounds she was making and paid closer attention...and it was German! I giggled to myself because I pretty much understood everything she was saying...complaining about her boyfriend, the door-opener on her keys broke so she had to get a new battery because she couldn't open her car, etc. Turns out she's a med-school student here in Houston. When she talked to me, she switched (OF COURSE) to FLAWLESS, accent-less English, and I obliged for a while, until she was leaving when I told her Sieht aus wie du hast die Nase voll. The smile that she gave me was priceless...I was so excited, finally some German practice!

French

Very happy because in addition to the Comicsblog podcast I mentioned, I've been listening to the podcast from SyFantasy, which focuses more on films. I have always had a hard time finding things to listen to in French, which sucks because listening/pronunciation are still my biggest problems. I've also been watching *American Dad* dubbed in French.

I am very close to finishing Zazie, hopefully I can be done with it by today. I've been debating what to read next, and I might seriously start reading through my X-Men comics. At this point I'd like to make reading more of a priority for German, so that I can get my reading fluency up my Spanish and French levels. Plus I've always wanted to binge read X-Men.

German

Last night I watched Hanni und Nanni 2 with my daughter. Not exactly great cinema, but I enjoyed it more than the first. I really need to do less watching and more reading, but I am going to try to make it through all six years of Der Hobbit.

You might also like Fallo de Sistema, a podcast from RTVE all about geek culture. It's one of my favourites!

For Spanish rock, I like Extremoduro. When we were in Spain, it seemed like everywhere we went, restaurants and cafes were playing American top-40 music. Then we found this cool little bar, with the world's best bocadillos, and they had the Extremoduro CD on repeat. Good memories!