6WC 6 Week Challenge - May 2016

[Cavesa]

Some suggestions:
Drop the beginner/intermediate requirement. None of us traverse life or language learning in a straight line from the same starting point. I also don't remember we ever compared the final results. .

Yes. I believe the beginner/intermediate requirement comes from the original times I've read about. Comparing the final results or rather analysing them, to find out how much can you expect to learn in 6 weeks, were among the ideas, just as the participants studying the same language.

Since we are spread among many languages every 6wc and we do not compare anything else than time spent on the language and languages in general, removing the requirement wouldn't damage the 6wc. I think we should as well keep on mind that not everyone wants to be a polyglot, therefore learners of "just" one or two languages above B1 cannot participate at all. And not everyone wanting to learn at least one more language wants to start it right now. And we might even appreciate not "having to" abandon our more advanced langauges. I would say many of us suffer from the exact opposite of being scared to start. We love to start, we love wonderlust, we have trouble sticking to languages in the long run, especially during the intermediate plateau located somewhere between B1 and C1.

I have still got tons of options to choose from as target languages under (far under) B1, but I might actually welcome some of the future 6WCs to be different. I might finally get through my intermediate/advanced courses in Spanish, or have a 6 weeks long systematic review of French or English grammar, all of that are things I need but normally don't find enough motivation for. 6WC works for me, unlike many other motivation tools.

However, I understand smallwhite or a proably many others think differently. Of course the rules will be as smallwhite states them. And it is a valid option and 6wc is still great even with the rule. But I'd say "start your own challenge" is not the way to go as we have already got tons of challenges, which might take away a lot of the value one day.

[smallwhite]

Na... I'm challenged up to the eyeballs... have to take a pass.

I feel that 6WCs suit your needs more than the SRS Challenge, in turn more than the Super Challenge.

[reineke]

Some suggestions:
Drop the beginner/intermediate requirement. None of us traverse life or language learning in a straight line from the same starting point. I also don't remember we ever compared the final results. .

Yes. I believe the beginner/intermediate requirement comes from the original times I've read about. Comparing the final results or rather analysing them, to find out how much can you expect to learn in 6 weeks, were among the ideas, just as the participants studying the same language.
...

However, I understand smallwhite or a proably many others think differently. Of course the rules will be as smallwhite states them. And it is a valid option and 6wc is still great even with the rule. But I'd say "start your own challenge" is not the way to go as we have already got tons of challenges, which might take away a lot of the value one day.

It's of course just a suggestion and it's hardly a problem for me personally. I do think that simply stating beginner/intermediate/advanced is enough for a postmortem comparison and analysis. Individual TAC lets you pretty much do whatever you like. Trying to complete a Super Challenge in 6 weeks and counting it towards one's individual TAC is not against any 6WC or TAC rules. If you're participating in the output challenge and are feeling up to it, you could provide a writing sample/audio recording in your Target language at the beginning and then do something similar at the end.

[Cavesa]

I am not sure whether we understood each other. I wasn't suggesting there should be more result comparisons, it was just one of the ideas I read about, while reading about the origins of the 6wc some time ago. I simply support your idea of removing the level restriction as I can't see any disadvantage to the change, just the advantage of letting in people who would like to use the challenge to improve their more advanced languages.

[smallwhite]

However, I understand smallwhite or a proably many others think differently. Of course the rules will be as smallwhite states them. And it is a valid option and 6wc is still great even with the rule. But I'd say "start your own challenge" is not the way to go as we have already got tons of challenges, which might take away a lot of the value one day.

I'm not the initiator or host or anything of the 6WC. Sprachprofi is. I just write the threads each time, because people used to get confused about the dates every time, and I got sick of it

I know why yous don't like the beginner restriction. Sometimes I wish it wasn't there, too. But to me, that restriction is the whole idea of the 6WC - 6 weeks of hard work will produce significant results in a new language (but minimal results in a B2 to C2 language). 6/4 > 6/104. Without the beginner restriction, it would be good, but it would be something else altogether.

I don't think already having tons of challenges should prevent you from starting yet another one. We've just had a new one, the SRS one, and you yourself signed up.

I personally find that the non-target languages part of the 6WC solves the beginner restriction problem perfectly. Yes, you still need a target language in order to participate, and yes, I understand not everyone wants to be a polyglot, but you don't have to learn grammar and vocab and do Assimil for your target language. You can just read an overview about it, a Wikipedia page or something. It's always a good thing for a language-learner to know a bit more about other languages.

What bothers me more about the 6WC is the discounting thing

[reineke]

Good catch, I almost forgot that Sprachprofi came up with the 6WC idea. For me the main value of the 6WC is that you can turn it into a short intensive affair and measure your own progress. So one possible 6WC for me could be to resuscitate an advanced language that's been half-forgotten. The competing part has helped me put in a lot more hours than I would have normally done. I also learned that I spend a lot more time on languages than I initially thought.

[reineke]

I am not sure whether we understood each other. I wasn't suggesting there should be more result comparisons, it was just one of the ideas I read about, while reading about the origins of the 6wc some time ago. I simply support your idea of removing the level restriction as I can't see any disadvantage to the change, just the advantage of letting in people who would like to use the challenge to improve their more advanced languages.

We understood each other, I was just throwing around additional ideas.

[MCK74]

I registered with Russian because I've decided recently that I would like to learn how to read it.

[Lianne]

I signed up for French! It'll be a good start to my Super Challenge. I'm somewhere in the vaguely upper-beginner to lower-intermediate range, where I have a decent grasp of the grammar and my passive vocabulary at least is pretty good but I fail at attempts at actual conversation.

I made a New Year's Resolution to finish the French Duolingo skill tree in 2016, so I think I'll focus on trying to make some real progress on that, plus start some reading and watching for my Super Challenge. During this challenge I'll be working ~36 hours per week and taking 3 college courses, so I'll just be squeezing it in where I can. (Next 6WC I won't have homework, and I might jumpstart Swedish!)

[Brun Ugle]

Na... I'm challenged up to the eyeballs... have to take a pass.

But the 6WC isn't really much extra work. You just do your SRS and your SC with a stopwatch and tweet the times. You can kill two birds with one stone.