Lemus log

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Sun Oct 14, 2018 5:58 pm

Hello everyone,

As I quick intro, I was active on the HTLAL forum what feels like an eternity ago, but gradually stopped visiting. I never stopped being interested in languages though and was happy to find that this website existed. You all have built a wonderful little community here and I am pleased to now be a part of it.

This log exists for my own accountability and maybe on occasion to solicit suggestions. I have no need to learn any of these languages to any particular level within any particular timeframe. I initially planned to start a log at New Year’s but then I thought there is no time like the present to get started!

My three European languages (German, Italian, and Spanish) are at a pretty high level and at this point I want to be using them to work through advanced literature (and the occasional trash). I am aiming for five novels in each of them, as well as 1,000 new words in Anki for both German and Italian pulled from the novels.

I will also be listening to podcasts and watching TV shows and movies in all three, but I don’t have a set goal in regards to that. Really it is very much dependent on how good Netflix’s future releases look.

Then there is Persian. I felt it was time to attack a non-European language and Persian is what I settled on. I am doing Rosetta Stone now and have plans to work my way through a basic grammar book when I am finished. Also upon completing Rosetta Stone I plan on doing 1,000 words in Anki from a learner’s dictionary I have. At that point I would love to jump into native materials but I am not sure if I will be there or not yet. We shall have to see!

To officially lay my goals out:

Spanish

Five novels:
Un Cien Años de Soledad by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
La Ciudad y los Perros by Mario Vargas Lhosa.

Three to be named later. Given that my two target novels are going to be some real challenges I think the rest I will go for something less intense for the other three. I recently finished Falco by Arturo Perez Reverte and as I understand he has now completed the trilogy, I might see if I can track those other two down.

No Anki here-I think I am at a point where I want to be learning words organically. I will look some up for sure but I don’t feel a need to have yet another Anki deck.

Italian

Five novels
L’ Mia Amica Geniale-Elena Ferrante
La Coscienza di Zeno-Italo Svevo
Il Gattopardo-Tomasi di Lampedusa

Two to be named later. If I like Ferrante maybe I’ll continue the series

1,000 words in Anki

This will for sure be a challenge. I have only finished one book so far in Italian and it was a pretty basic crime novel. No matter what I start with it will be a major jump up from what I am used to.

German

Five novels (well, in this case some nonfiction as well)
Der Ausflug der toten Maedchen-Anna Seghers
Die Welt von Gestern-Stephen Zweig
Beim Hautem der Zweibel-Gunter Grass
Two to be named later

1,000 words in Anki


Farsi
Complete Rosetta Stone
Complete Farsi (Persian) for Beginners by Saeid Atoofi
1,000 words in Anki

Incidentally, if anyone has any recommendations for Farsi-language TV shows (either shot in Persian or dubbed) that are either available online or compatible with a US DVD player could you let me know? Netflix seems to have at least a couple pieces of Persian cinema, but I am looking for a little bit more in terms of quantity.
9 x

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Sat Oct 20, 2018 6:25 pm

As of week two, things stand as follows:

Italian
I’ve been listening to the podcast series Alle Otto della Sera (which I saw recommended on this forum somewhere). I picked the series on the outbreak of World War One on the idea that since I kind of know how it will end already it is not such a big deal if there are parts that I don’t follow.

Nothing in Anki though since I listen to it on the go and can’t write down vocab.

German
Started Die Welt von Gestern and have made some good headway. It’s very readable and so far I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to break into more classic German literature, as it is considerably easier than some other stuff I have read in the past (*cough Thomas Mann *cough).

Anki total stands at 297 cards (a majority of which are from before I started the log although none are more than a month old).

Spanish
Nothing in particular this week.

Farsi
Finished Unit 8 lesson 1 of Rosetta Stone.

As per usual with Rosetta Stone, I have to wonder about the usefulness of the vocabulary. I am not too familiar with Persian cuisine, but I can’t help but feel that they don’t eat nearly as many potatoes as RS implies. Well, I knew what I was getting into with this so I can’t really complain!

Will definitely need to do some grammar specific study after this is over. I am picking up some stuff subconsciously like they intend but verb conjugation rules are still a real puzzle to me.

I have been pleasantly surprised by how well I have been picking up the alphabet though. The dropping vowels are quite irritating, but I am starting to recognize the patterns of how the letters change based on their positioning in the word quite well.
5 x

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Mon Nov 05, 2018 1:52 am

Keeping this log is already proving quite helpful. The fear that people on the internet you’ve never met might judge you for being lazy is an odd source of motivation, but it is a surprisingly effective one!

German

Two hundred pages into Zweig. Really enjoying it, although I am finding it difficult to read for long periods of time because of the amount of attention it demands. I imagine this should get easier the more German I read.

It’s also a nice book thematically speaking. Zweig was a man who very much valued exposure to foreign countries, people, and literature as a way to be a less narrow-minded person. I think he would have liked that his book is a part of this language log.

Also downloaded an audiobook which I have been listening to on my way to work. I don’t think I am going to add any audiobook goals to my list but it’s good to get a little German listening in there too.

223 cards in Anki

Italian

Finished the Alle Otto della Sera podcast.

Watching a new Netflix series dubbed into Italian. Am writing down words I want to put into Anki later but have not actually done so yet.

Farsi

Finished level eight of Rosetta Stone. Kind of zoning out on some of the more useless vocab but I am fairly sure I will never need to discuss ski rentals in Farsi.

On the plus side I have acquired a new easy Persian reader which I think will make a nice jumping off point when I’m done learning to talk about sail boats.
4 x

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Thu Nov 15, 2018 4:42 am

German:

Finished Zweig. By far the longest book in German I’ve ever read so I’m quite proud of myself (340 odd pages-and small font too!)

Just over 500 cards in Anki. Adding vocab way faster then I thought. On one hand I’m proud of myself but on the other I’m disappointed I’m still looking up this many words. It was rare I really had vocab-related problems reading a page though so I probably shouldn’t be so worried. Average of like two or three words a page maybe that I did not understand.

Spanish:

Switching over to prioritizing this for a bit.

Started watching Elite on Netflix this week. It’s pretty good, although I’m still using subtitles. They just speak so fast and there is a ton of slang.

Also started on Marquez. It’s not too difficult just yet, although I haven’t gotten more than a chapter in.

I decided that I will make an Anki deck for Spanish after all. There are still plenty of words to end and I’m making three decks anyway I don’t see the harm in making a fourth. I think as long as I only actively add to one at any given time it won’t be that big a problem.

Farsi:
Plugging away at Rosetta Stone. A couple more lessons in.

Italian:
Little of note. Listening to music regularly but that’s about it.
3 x

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Fri Dec 07, 2018 5:29 am

I was traveling a bit on business recently so fell a bit behind on my log.

As I was in a Spanish-speaking country I have been focusing pretty exclusively on Spanish for the last few weeks. Relatively happy with my conversations with Spanish speakers while there. While I am having some problems being understood it is pretty clearly my accent that is the issue. For some reason that bothers me much less than if I were grasping for words or making major syntax mistakes (maybe because I don’t ever actively work on my accent).

Apart from the traveling, finished the entirety of Season Two of Ungovernable on Netflix. I would moderately recommend it to anyone reading, although I think they should have just wrapped the series up rather than keep dragging things out. The plot is getting progressively absurd and a little less gripping than it once was.

Started a new series on Netflix, Wild District.

Abandoned Marquez sadly. I was just unable to get into it. I’m just putting it on hold for now and maybe I will feel brave enough to come back to it eventually.

Started a new novel instead, El Astillero by Carlos Onetti. It’s going much better so far and this one I think I can finish (the fact it is considerably shorter helps as well)

177 Spanish cards in Anki.

Looking to do a couple more weeks of Spanish focus and then pivot over to Italian for a while.

Still doing Rosetta Stone for Farsi and keeping up the German Anki cards but otherwise nothing much with those two.
4 x

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Tue Dec 18, 2018 12:48 am

I’ve been keeping the focus pretty heavily on Spanish. I finished El Astillero, which despite being just over 200 pages was quite a challenge. I probably should have expected this, given that the blurb on the back cover described it as “disorienting.” It is safe to say that this was the most challenging novel I have ever read all the way through though in Spanish, so it feels like a major accomplishment, even if I was not always following the plot that well.

Also finished Distrito Salvaje (Wild District) on Netflix. I really enjoyed the series and the Colombian accents are so wonderfully clear and easy to understand.

243 cards in Spanish Anki, so nearly a fourth of the way there!

Farsi has seen some pretty middling progress. I feel lost now pretty frequently when doing Rosetta Stone but I’m so close to the end I want to just finish it before I move onto something else. If nothing else I’m at least picking up some vocabulary and getting lots of passive listening exposure. Since I'm not focusing on Farsi at the moment that is probably enough.

I’ve been building an unnecessarily large Amazon wish list of Farsi resources, so I will need to discipline myself to use the grammar book I already have before spending money on anything new.

As planned, I am now pivoting into Italian. In my Netflix qeue I am thinking of starting with a number of bad Christmas movies (which for some reason nearly all have Italian dubbing) and perhaps Narcos: Mexico dubbed (I like the idea of weaning myself from Spanish back into Italian).

I will also start Elena Ferrante and begin putting things into my Italian Anki deck.
5 x

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Sat Dec 29, 2018 5:22 pm

And here we are at the end of the year. It reminds me that this log was meant initially to be launched as a set of New Year’s resolutions. Already I have made such progress though that I am quite glad I did not wait until now to begin!

I remain focused on Italian. I am roughly halfway through Ferrante’s L’Amica Geniale. It is going quite well, but reading in Italian tends to tire me out and I find myself losing focus after more than a dozen pages or so. Luckily the chapters are quite short and are very ideal to be taken in short bursts. Since the novel is essentially a long string of vignettes rather than a continuous narrative I wonder almost if this is how she meant the novel to be read anyway (probably not, but it makes me feel better to think that!)
150 cards exactly in Italian Anki.

I am also listening to another round of Alle Otto della Sera, this time about the Cold War. I particularly enjoy listening to the host try to discuss Italy’s involvement in events like the birth of Israel or the Chinese Civil War. There isn’t much to work with since (spoiler alert) Italy didn’t have a significant role in many of these events, but since the series is officially about Italy in the Cold War rather than the Cold War as such he tries valiantly anyway.

Watching a Netflix show in Italian too, Baby. Seems to be an attempt to cash in on the success of Elite with another show about wealthy teenagers behaving badly, but it is not nearly as good. Still, there are only so many Italian TV series I have access too and it is enjoyable enough.

Still plugging along on Persian Rosetta Stone. Getting really impatient to be done but since I’m staying Italian-focused for at least another month I need to resist the urge to jump into Persian more actively.

Not actively working on Spanish or German apart from keeping the Anki reviews up. I did take a test from the Spanish resources thread though to estimate your vocabulary and I got 51%. Allegedly that is above the average for native speakers, so that was a nice confidence boost, even though I have my doubts about that.
0 x

User avatar
SGP
Blue Belt
Posts: 927
Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2018 9:33 pm
Languages: DE (native), EN (C2), ES (B2), FR (B2); some more at various levels
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 30#p120230
x 293

Re: Lemus log

Postby SGP » Sat Dec 29, 2018 6:39 pm

Lemus wrote:Not actively working on Spanish or German apart from keeping the Anki reviews up. I did take a test from the Spanish resources thread though to estimate your vocabulary and I got 51%. Allegedly that is above the average for native speakers, so that was a nice confidence boost, even though I have my doubts about that.
Would that be about vocabulary one can passively recall, or about vocabulary that one also can actively use?
0 x
Previously known as SGP. But my mental username now is langmon.

Log


User avatar
lavengro
Blue Belt
Posts: 728
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 1:39 am
Location: Hiding in Vancouver. Tell no one.
Languages: English - finally getting a handle on this beast of a language. Also tinkering with a few other languages intermittently.
x 1994

Re: Lemus log

Postby lavengro » Sat Dec 29, 2018 6:42 pm

Good luck Lemus with your language learning this coming year, I will be following your log with interest and appreciate the detail about your reading material.
Lemus wrote:...
Incidentally, if anyone has any recommendations for Farsi-language TV shows (either shot in Persian or dubbed) that are either available online or compatible with a US DVD player could you let me know?

You may already be aware, but many external DVD readers are no longer region-tied, and it should be possible to play Region 2 DVDs via VLC Media Player software.
Lemus wrote:...
Abandoned Marquez sadly. I was just unable to get into it.....

Truth be told, that is a lot of soledad.
2 x
This signature space now on loan to the mysterious and enigmatic Breakmaster Cylinder:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUGKldkiex4

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Sun Dec 30, 2018 5:45 pm

SGP wrote:
Lemus wrote:Not actively working on Spanish or German apart from keeping the Anki reviews up. I did take a test from the Spanish resources thread though to estimate your vocabulary and I got 51%. Allegedly that is above the average for native speakers, so that was a nice confidence boost, even though I have my doubts about that.
Would that be about vocabulary one can passively recall, or about vocabulary that one also can actively use?


That is passive recognition. If I'm being honest my criteria was "words I wouldn't feel the need to look up later in the dictionary" so in some cases it is words that I did not "know" but at least recognized a root or something.

Quiz is here if you are interested: http://vocabulario.bcbl.eu/
0 x


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Zomxilla and 3 guests