Godryka's Log (Chinese, French)
Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2019 9:55 pm
Hello everyone! I’ve been a lurker here for a long time. I'd always felt that it would benefit me to maintain a „public” language log. It adds a layer of accountability, even if it is easy to disappear from the Internet.
A bit on my language history:
I’m a native speaker of Polish.
I started learning English in the 7th grade. At first, I didn’t put any actual effort into studying it. In grade 9 I bought the 6th Harry Potter book in the original after it had just come out because I thought I could read it before the Polish translation comes out. It turned out to be way too hard. I couldn’t even understand the gist of the first chapter. In grade 10 I started watching a lot of East Asian tv, mostly dramas and some anime. My reading comprehension improved quite a bit because I watched these shows with English subtitles. What made the single biggest difference in my English comprehension was working with an SRS for acquiring vocabulary. For 1.5 years in high school, I used a software called Profesor Henry almost every single day, for about 0.5h to 1h each time. It worked amazingly. Sometime before graduating high school, I stopped using SRS, but at that point, my English was already at an upper-intermediate level and progressed naturally through regular consumption of native media. Then, 3 years ago, I moved to Canada, and have continued to improve without any conscious effort. At this point, reading is definitely my strongest skill (I rarely encounter anything I don’t understand), followed by listening, followed by speaking, with writing being my weakest.
Then there is French. I started learning it in high school, but was never really serious about it, and dropped it completely upon graduating. However, I married a native French speaker, and now I have a stronger motivation to learn this language. My lovely in-laws (both native French speakers) have both made efforts to speak to me in English during the past few years, and I really want to be able to speak in French with them. Also, where I live, French is a great asset at work. So over a year ago, I embarked on the French journey again, and have been progressing extremely slowly since. I have made a resolution to speed up my progress this year. Currently, I estimate my level to be around A2.
Now onto my most important foreign language, and a recurring theme in my life - Chinese. I started learning Chinese (Mandarin) 8 years ago. 2018/19 (fall to summer) is my 9th year. I find it quite embarrassing that I have so little to show for it. To be fair, I had completely stopped studying Chinese for about 2 years when I first came to Canada, so the actual number of years I’ve studied it is closer to 6. Still embarrassing. Chinese Studies was actually my major at the university in Poland. During uni, I was awarded a scholarship to study Mandarin for a year in China. Then got another scholarship to study in Taiwan for two years. In Taiwan, I studied a different subject, not Chinese itself, and most of my classes were taught in English. Even in those classes that were taught in Chinese, we used textbooks in English. During my time in Taiwan, I had some Taiwanese friends and got pretty fluent at chatting about basic stuff. I did not actively study Chinese though.
After Taiwan, I moved to Canada and had not touched Chinese until late 2017. Since then, I’ve been experimenting with different study methods: some SRS (Skritter), watching Chinese shows, going to language exchanges, reading with LWT, and some others. I had not developed any habits that stuck though, until late fall 2018 (so this is most definitely still work in progress). My current level is probably between B1 and B2 (depending on the type of skill). My listening comprehension is the strongest. Probably at high B2. To give you a better idea, I passed HSK 5 in 2012, and since then my skills have improved (especially in the past year), although not in a major way. I suppose HSK 5 is probably the equivalent of a low B1, so I estimate my current level to be at low B2.
To complete the list of all languages I ever touched, I also attended German classes in school for 6 years (grade 4 to 9), but don’t remember one word of it now (in my late 20s).
And lastly, Japanese. I was obsessed with Japan in middle school and started learning Japanese in high school with my best friend, who shared my obsession. We didn’t get very far, but I remember our passion with a lot of nostalgia. At university, I took a semester of Japanese, but that class only reviewed the material I already knew from my self-taught sessions. Then I never studied Japanese again, and can’t really say if I ever will.
I will continue later with my current study plan, etc.
A bit on my language history:
I’m a native speaker of Polish.
I started learning English in the 7th grade. At first, I didn’t put any actual effort into studying it. In grade 9 I bought the 6th Harry Potter book in the original after it had just come out because I thought I could read it before the Polish translation comes out. It turned out to be way too hard. I couldn’t even understand the gist of the first chapter. In grade 10 I started watching a lot of East Asian tv, mostly dramas and some anime. My reading comprehension improved quite a bit because I watched these shows with English subtitles. What made the single biggest difference in my English comprehension was working with an SRS for acquiring vocabulary. For 1.5 years in high school, I used a software called Profesor Henry almost every single day, for about 0.5h to 1h each time. It worked amazingly. Sometime before graduating high school, I stopped using SRS, but at that point, my English was already at an upper-intermediate level and progressed naturally through regular consumption of native media. Then, 3 years ago, I moved to Canada, and have continued to improve without any conscious effort. At this point, reading is definitely my strongest skill (I rarely encounter anything I don’t understand), followed by listening, followed by speaking, with writing being my weakest.
Then there is French. I started learning it in high school, but was never really serious about it, and dropped it completely upon graduating. However, I married a native French speaker, and now I have a stronger motivation to learn this language. My lovely in-laws (both native French speakers) have both made efforts to speak to me in English during the past few years, and I really want to be able to speak in French with them. Also, where I live, French is a great asset at work. So over a year ago, I embarked on the French journey again, and have been progressing extremely slowly since. I have made a resolution to speed up my progress this year. Currently, I estimate my level to be around A2.
Now onto my most important foreign language, and a recurring theme in my life - Chinese. I started learning Chinese (Mandarin) 8 years ago. 2018/19 (fall to summer) is my 9th year. I find it quite embarrassing that I have so little to show for it. To be fair, I had completely stopped studying Chinese for about 2 years when I first came to Canada, so the actual number of years I’ve studied it is closer to 6. Still embarrassing. Chinese Studies was actually my major at the university in Poland. During uni, I was awarded a scholarship to study Mandarin for a year in China. Then got another scholarship to study in Taiwan for two years. In Taiwan, I studied a different subject, not Chinese itself, and most of my classes were taught in English. Even in those classes that were taught in Chinese, we used textbooks in English. During my time in Taiwan, I had some Taiwanese friends and got pretty fluent at chatting about basic stuff. I did not actively study Chinese though.
After Taiwan, I moved to Canada and had not touched Chinese until late 2017. Since then, I’ve been experimenting with different study methods: some SRS (Skritter), watching Chinese shows, going to language exchanges, reading with LWT, and some others. I had not developed any habits that stuck though, until late fall 2018 (so this is most definitely still work in progress). My current level is probably between B1 and B2 (depending on the type of skill). My listening comprehension is the strongest. Probably at high B2. To give you a better idea, I passed HSK 5 in 2012, and since then my skills have improved (especially in the past year), although not in a major way. I suppose HSK 5 is probably the equivalent of a low B1, so I estimate my current level to be at low B2.
To complete the list of all languages I ever touched, I also attended German classes in school for 6 years (grade 4 to 9), but don’t remember one word of it now (in my late 20s).
And lastly, Japanese. I was obsessed with Japan in middle school and started learning Japanese in high school with my best friend, who shared my obsession. We didn’t get very far, but I remember our passion with a lot of nostalgia. At university, I took a semester of Japanese, but that class only reviewed the material I already knew from my self-taught sessions. Then I never studied Japanese again, and can’t really say if I ever will.
I will continue later with my current study plan, etc.