Eido's Fiasco Thread Part Deux - Structuring a Plan
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2019 3:28 am
So this thread isn't really going to ask about one language, though the answer will probably be the same for all of them.
In the last thread I did like this, I was dramatic but genuinely curious if I should study another language to learn yet another. We decided on German. I haven't studied it since, except for buying a course, getting a refund on it, studying one lesson from Deustch Welle in Spanish, liking it, but finding German... bleh? I did enjoy the program enough though that I might incorporate it into my study routine, because the Spanish used was very accessible.
So here I'm narrowing it down to three priority languages: Spanish, Korean, and Icelandic. Three languages, all from different families. Should make for enough variety and keeping things separate. You can make fun of me for writing A1.5 in my summary of Korean in my log. If people can put pluses after their level in their profile, I can put .5.
Here's the deal:
Spanish is the language of my major at undergrad (here's hoping I get in). Even if I don't get in, I'm studying this thing 'til I can use it professionally, because it's damn useful, or so I've heard. And yeah, I like it. I like it so much my word order in English switches over to Spanish at times because I translate violently in my head when composing my B1-level PMs and Skype messages.
I've broken the habit of watching a cartoon a day in this language, because I'd eventually binge and watch too much, making my actual course of study suffer. I know I need some concentrated grammar study, because besides learning conjugation tables and ir + a + infinitive, etc. the finer points of grammar were never integrated into my brain model in formal classes. I absorbed more complex stuff from studying the output of translators. And if I'm going to rock this as my strongest second language, I need to speak it well. So, trial and error + vocab. Where does that lead?
Ideally I'd want to do this:
- Thirty minute block of listening per day. If time permits, let it go up to an hour.
- Spend 45 minutes a week on studying grammar. Grámatica de Uso del Español for intermediate grammar points? Cronómetro for testing that grammar?
- I have tried translating news articles, fan articles, my own stories. Anything is more interesting than what I actually write about most of the time, which are posts like these. Which would actually improve my output skills? Big question, 'cause I don't know.
- I have a stockpile of Spanish-language books. To me, about 8 is a stockpile. That includes an interestingly translated Sherlock Holmes story, Paco Ardit's graded readers... I should probably take people's recommendations. There was something about a magical-realism story written for 9 year-olds or so. What happened to that? No sé.
- Bi-weekly professional italki lesson. Or tutor lesson if y'all think that's better for me. What do you think?
Korean and Icelandic are tied. Whichever I can get to B1 first will be the one I can hopefully convince the graduate advisor at my chosen school that I learned to a sufficient level and which I don't need a study plan for, or need to study another language and spend an inordinate amount of money to be approved for a piece of paper. Only Icelandic is the one I can't spend any money on, because it's my FLC language.
For Korean, I've been taking one professional italki language every two weeks, but it's moving slowly. I've been flicking through TTMIK for the past three weeks and am now on level 5 of 10. I just started listening to Pimsleur in the car. I sometimes fool around with Glossika. I want to read Korean Grammar in Use. I use @Evita's deck, and click in every day. But there is no concrete plan.
For Icelandic, I bounce around between two free textbooks and Icelandic Online. I translate everything in these books using the available tools. I'll probably use kids' news to get me started with native texts, but that's a long way off. I also am using Clozemaster, a deck on Anki for colloquial Icelandic phrases, and I tried to use a 5,000 word Memrise deck. But it's the first 5,000 words in an Icelandic dictionary, not the most common, and I'm not a good judge of what I need to know. There is no plan.
That said, I actually do want to speak both of these languages well.
So, what's the advice going to be? Don't bounce around so much? Or spread yourself around the bread of knowledge like the butter of a smooth, gallivanting, yet hyper wanderluster?
Or don't study that many at once? Yeah, probably that one.
I guess my question is, do I have the beginnings of a good start here, or am I totally whack?
In the last thread I did like this, I was dramatic but genuinely curious if I should study another language to learn yet another. We decided on German. I haven't studied it since, except for buying a course, getting a refund on it, studying one lesson from Deustch Welle in Spanish, liking it, but finding German... bleh? I did enjoy the program enough though that I might incorporate it into my study routine, because the Spanish used was very accessible.
So here I'm narrowing it down to three priority languages: Spanish, Korean, and Icelandic. Three languages, all from different families. Should make for enough variety and keeping things separate. You can make fun of me for writing A1.5 in my summary of Korean in my log. If people can put pluses after their level in their profile, I can put .5.
Here's the deal:
Spanish is the language of my major at undergrad (here's hoping I get in). Even if I don't get in, I'm studying this thing 'til I can use it professionally, because it's damn useful, or so I've heard. And yeah, I like it. I like it so much my word order in English switches over to Spanish at times because I translate violently in my head when composing my B1-level PMs and Skype messages.
I've broken the habit of watching a cartoon a day in this language, because I'd eventually binge and watch too much, making my actual course of study suffer. I know I need some concentrated grammar study, because besides learning conjugation tables and ir + a + infinitive, etc. the finer points of grammar were never integrated into my brain model in formal classes. I absorbed more complex stuff from studying the output of translators. And if I'm going to rock this as my strongest second language, I need to speak it well. So, trial and error + vocab. Where does that lead?
Ideally I'd want to do this:
- Thirty minute block of listening per day. If time permits, let it go up to an hour.
- Spend 45 minutes a week on studying grammar. Grámatica de Uso del Español for intermediate grammar points? Cronómetro for testing that grammar?
- I have tried translating news articles, fan articles, my own stories. Anything is more interesting than what I actually write about most of the time, which are posts like these. Which would actually improve my output skills? Big question, 'cause I don't know.
- I have a stockpile of Spanish-language books. To me, about 8 is a stockpile. That includes an interestingly translated Sherlock Holmes story, Paco Ardit's graded readers... I should probably take people's recommendations. There was something about a magical-realism story written for 9 year-olds or so. What happened to that? No sé.
- Bi-weekly professional italki lesson. Or tutor lesson if y'all think that's better for me. What do you think?
Korean and Icelandic are tied. Whichever I can get to B1 first will be the one I can hopefully convince the graduate advisor at my chosen school that I learned to a sufficient level and which I don't need a study plan for, or need to study another language and spend an inordinate amount of money to be approved for a piece of paper. Only Icelandic is the one I can't spend any money on, because it's my FLC language.
For Korean, I've been taking one professional italki language every two weeks, but it's moving slowly. I've been flicking through TTMIK for the past three weeks and am now on level 5 of 10. I just started listening to Pimsleur in the car. I sometimes fool around with Glossika. I want to read Korean Grammar in Use. I use @Evita's deck, and click in every day. But there is no concrete plan.
For Icelandic, I bounce around between two free textbooks and Icelandic Online. I translate everything in these books using the available tools. I'll probably use kids' news to get me started with native texts, but that's a long way off. I also am using Clozemaster, a deck on Anki for colloquial Icelandic phrases, and I tried to use a 5,000 word Memrise deck. But it's the first 5,000 words in an Icelandic dictionary, not the most common, and I'm not a good judge of what I need to know. There is no plan.
That said, I actually do want to speak both of these languages well.
So, what's the advice going to be? Don't bounce around so much? Or spread yourself around the bread of knowledge like the butter of a smooth, gallivanting, yet hyper wanderluster?
Or don't study that many at once? Yeah, probably that one.
I guess my question is, do I have the beginnings of a good start here, or am I totally whack?