Not all those who wander are lost

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luke
Brown Belt
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Languages: English (N). Spanish (intermediate), Esperanto (B1), French (intermediate but rusting)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16948
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Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby luke » Tue Sep 14, 2021 6:39 pm

sfuqua wrote:I like t.o tell bad stories about myself s well as good ones, in case there is somebody out here who pays attention to my ramblings too much.

I enjoy your candor and appreciate the quality in whoever has it. I'm surprised that it's become a rare.

I enjoyed very much your adventure with the "gotta go".

Was going to reply to IronMike's reply that 500 cubic centimeters - which is 1/2 liter as I recall - isn't much volume for a man who likes to eat and enjoys both the coming and the going of such events.
3 x

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sfuqua
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Location: san jose, california
Languages: Bad English: native
Samoan: speak, but rusty
Tagalog: imperfect, but use all the time
Spanish: read
French: read some
Japanese: beginner, obsessively studying
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9248
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Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby sfuqua » Sat Sep 18, 2021 3:39 am

I was thinking of changing my approach again and only focusing on Spanish for a while. It is a very cool language, and watching "Money Heist" on Netflix recently reminded me how cool it really is. :lol:
Me switching to Spanish full time has nothing to do with reading Luke's log and thinking that it would be cool to just focus on Spanish for a while...
I was thinking of running through Platiquemos or FSI. Deciding to try this again has nothing to do with reading Luke's log and thinking that it would be cool to finally finish FSI.
I was also thinking of L-R-ing El amor en los tiempos de colera. Deciding to try this has nothing to do with reading Luke's log and remembering how cool it was to L-R Cien años de soledad back a few years ago. A little Spanish focus for a while would be nice. :D

I simply have to remember that Spanish has a long, fascinating history, and that it has as much wonder to it as some of my more exotic recent choices such as Icelandic.

My Spanish doesn't really seem to be getting anywhere with the half hearted approach I've been using. French is cool too but I'm not sure I should try to do anything with it at all while I'm working on Spanish. I definitely have developed some skills in French while giving it a half time effort; I mean I've read 1000 pages of adult level Frenchbooks, but my Spanish has been just treading water. I can read anything in Spanish, but hard stuff can be slow going.
I've thought of swapping back and forth between the two languages day by day Spanish one day and French the next, but I wonder if the effect wouldn't be to just back up in one while I try to move forward with the other. Maybe I could FSI in one language and L-R in the other or something...

Wow, I don't write well on a good day, but right now writing is extra hard. This probably doesn't make any sense. I'm gonna sleep.
7 x
荒海や佐渡によこたふ天の川

the rough sea / stretching out towards Sado / the Milky Way
Basho[1689]

Sometimes Japanese is just too much...

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sfuqua
Black Belt - 1st Dan
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Location: san jose, california
Languages: Bad English: native
Samoan: speak, but rusty
Tagalog: imperfect, but use all the time
Spanish: read
French: read some
Japanese: beginner, obsessively studying
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9248
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Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby sfuqua » Sat Sep 18, 2021 5:10 pm

Ugh...
Let me tell the truth about what is annoying me. It is usually the best policy. :o

There is no need for anybody to panic, me especially, but I had a little message from that guy in black from Bergman's "7th seal" day before yesterday. It put me in the hospital for a few hours, and may change my life for a while. I'm back home and feel fine, but I probably don't have to worry much about what I will do when the Sun expands into a red giant and swallows the Earth in 5 billion years. :D My body has been a great steed to ride the past few decades, but it needs some care now. I have to be nice to it. I definitely recommend that you don't get your heart on a syncopated beat...

Don't panic anybody. It's just reality knocking on the door of a 68 year old. :o :lol:
Damn reality. :x

Anyway a little message of mortality made me wonder what to do next with languages. It will take 2 or 3 years to have major progress on the Whale Road, Irish, Norse, and Old English. It will be fun and will give a lot of chances for daydreaming and reading historical fiction. There really isn't an end to the Whale Road, but there is a serious lack of quality novels in Irish and Old English. Iceland has enough to read that it would make up for the others. Reading in Icelandic/Norse is very appealing, but there would be limits on that too. Sagas are easily available, but some of the many Icelandic novels can be hard to buy. This isn't really a big problem, though; there is plenty to read.

The Romance Road (I just made that name up), would pay off much faster. I can already read in Spanish fairly well, and I think French mostly needs a few months of concentration to get up to the "fun to read" level. Either or both of these languages are a straight charge into a fairly high level.

Another factor I have to think about is the materials I would use to work at for each language. I actually enjoy FSI courses, and they are very convenient to use for Spanish and French. They would probably help with listening comprehension, and they would help with building up to solid "friendly, easy to talk to" level of speaking, which is all I'm really interested in. I don't have to pass any exams, although passing them sounds very cool...

Anki decks are easy to use, and have been my main focus lately. Perhaps 10 000 sentences taken from books I want to read would tune up my French and Spanish a bit.. Hmmn. That sounds like a plan.
The Whale Road emphasizes anki too.

Assimil is too simple for me to mess with too much for French and Spanish, even the advanced courses. I mean, there is quite a bit to learn... but I would prefer something with more sex and violence. Perhaps I should just L-R through it all and call it done.
Or not.

One time in a meditation class, our teacher gave us a big lecture on not having goals, just looking at the current moment, whatever it was. Cool. Then he said, "It is important to use the correct technique for insight meditation. Otherwise the other meditators will get ahead of you." There was a moment of hesitation in the class before everybody realized it was a joke.

Anyway I need to think. I'm not headed anywhere, but I can't waste any time getting there.
12 x
荒海や佐渡によこたふ天の川

the rough sea / stretching out towards Sado / the Milky Way
Basho[1689]

Sometimes Japanese is just too much...

DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
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Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby DaveAgain » Sat Sep 18, 2021 6:27 pm

sfuqua wrote:Anki decks are easy to use, and have been my main focus lately. Perhaps 10 000 sentences taken from books I want to read would tune up my French and Spanish a bit.. Hmmn. That sounds like a plan.
Coolrainwater read several novels via anki, it seemed to have good results for him! :-)

No more bar-fights unless your doctor says you're fighting fit!
4 x

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luke
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Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby luke » Sat Sep 18, 2021 8:56 pm

sfuqua wrote:... but I would prefer something with more sex and violence.
DaveAgain wrote:No more bar-fights unless your doctor says you're fighting fit!

Since we're all here, and we were all on the L-R thread together and DaveAgain had this titillating tidbit:

DaveAgain wrote:
german2k01 wrote:Do you know any book series or authors in English who have written edge-of-the-seat plots in English? /Detective/Crimes/Murder/mystery?

Lee Child's Jack Reacher series?

Wondering if any French or Spanish authors fill that same bill.
0 x
: 124 / 124 Cien años de soledad 20x
: 5479 / 5500 5500 pages - Reading
: 51 / 55 FSI Basic Spanish 3x
: 309 / 506 Camino a Macondo

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iguanamon
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Studies: Catalan
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=797
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Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby iguanamon » Sat Sep 18, 2021 9:30 pm

luke wrote:.... DaveAgain had this titillating tidbit:
DaveAgain wrote:
german2k01 wrote:Do you know any book series or authors in English who have written edge-of-the-seat plots in English? /Detective/Crimes/Murder/mystery?

Lee Child's Jack Reacher series?

Wondering if any French or Spanish authors fill that same bill.

At the risk of invading sfuqua's log with more unsolicited advice, I would say the most "page-turner" author I've read in Spanish is Arturo Pérez-Reverte, especially his "Falcó" trilogy. If I'm not mistaken, I think sfuqua has read APR's novel "La reina del sur" already.
6 x

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sfuqua
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Posts: 1642
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Tagalog: imperfect, but use all the time
Spanish: read
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Japanese: beginner, obsessively studying
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9248
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Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby sfuqua » Sat Sep 18, 2021 9:49 pm

i own Falco, but haven't started it yet.
I think I will...
2 x
荒海や佐渡によこたふ天の川

the rough sea / stretching out towards Sado / the Milky Way
Basho[1689]

Sometimes Japanese is just too much...

DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1968
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:26 am
Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... &start=200
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Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby DaveAgain » Sat Sep 18, 2021 9:57 pm

luke wrote:
DaveAgain wrote:
german2k01 wrote:Do you know any book series or authors in English who have written edge-of-the-seat plots in English? /Detective/Crimes/Murder/mystery?

Lee Child's Jack Reacher series?

Wondering if any French or Spanish authors fill that same bill.
Michel Bussi's OK, but the Reacher books are better.

I liked the film adaptations of À coeur perdu, and Le deuxieme souffle, but I've not read the books.
1 x

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sfuqua
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1642
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 5:05 am
Location: san jose, california
Languages: Bad English: native
Samoan: speak, but rusty
Tagalog: imperfect, but use all the time
Spanish: read
French: read some
Japanese: beginner, obsessively studying
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9248
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Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby sfuqua » Sun Sep 19, 2021 1:55 am

My overly dramatic response to doing FSI for a couple of hours and setting up some nice situations to do L-R with Spanish :lol:

Harp Song of the Dane Women
BY RUDYARD KIPLING
“The Knights of the Joyous Venture”—Puck of Pook’s Hill

What is a woman that you forsake her,
And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,
To go with the old grey Widow-maker?

She has no house to lay a guest in—
But one chill bed for all to rest in,
That the pale suns and the stray bergs nest in.

She has no strong white arms to fold you,
But the ten-times-fingering weed to hold you—
Out on the rocks where the tide has rolled you.

Yet, when the signs of summer thicken,
And the ice breaks, and the birch-buds quicken,
Yearly you turn from our side, and sicken—

Sicken again for the shouts and the slaughters.
You steal away to the lapping waters,
And look at your ship in her winter-quarters.

You forget our mirth, and talk at the tables,
The kine in the shed and the horse in the stables—
To pitch her sides and go over her cables.

Then you drive out where the storm-clouds swallow,
And the sound of your oar-blades, falling hollow,
Is all we have left through the months to follow.

Ah, what is Woman that you forsake her,
And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,
To go with the old grey Widow-maker ?
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47691/harp-song-of-the-dane-women

I just can't seem to pull myself away from the Whale Road. This makes no sense, but again, what does?
:D
4 x
荒海や佐渡によこたふ天の川

the rough sea / stretching out towards Sado / the Milky Way
Basho[1689]

Sometimes Japanese is just too much...

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
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Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
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Re: Not all those who wander are lost

Postby Cavesa » Sun Sep 19, 2021 11:37 am

sfuqua wrote:Anki decks are easy to use, and have been my main focus lately. Perhaps 10 000 sentences taken from books I want to read would tune up my French and Spanish a bit.. Hmmn. That sounds like a plan.
The Whale Road emphasizes anki too.

Assimil is too simple for me to mess with too much for French and Spanish, even the advanced courses. I mean, there is quite a bit to learn... but I would prefer something with more sex and violence. Perhaps I should just L-R through it all and call it done.
Or not.


Yeah, a wink from the old fashioned harvester with low bmi does tend to have such an effect on people. But doing what you love is a good choice whether you have a year or twenty years before you.

Looking at your preferences, I'd say a reading heavy method with something like Readlang could be ideal. Some FSI, sure. Or you can cover the grammar with a grammar workbook, and get the rest (including vocab) through intensive reading. I see why Assimil may not be fun enough.

But Readlang or a similar tool could combine vast majority of your preferences. Less annoying dictionary use while reading something interesting, easy export of examples to anki. Sounds good to me. My only complaint: I cannot use such a digital tool on paper books :-D :-D :-D
3 x


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