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Hello all!
I've been looking around HTLAL for a couple of years and now this forum too, but I've never really written much on either for one reason or another. Although this is neither the start of my German journey or my Austrian adventure, I've decided to start a log now as a way to track my progress through my 3 languages - German, French and Mandarin.
A little about me - I come from Australia and finished secondary school about a year ago. I'm currently working as an Au-Pair in Austria and living with a host family. I've been learning languages for about 4 years.
French
Past: 4 years, 3 months in France, school classes & self study
I started learning French about 4 years ago when I went on high school exchange to Bourgogne for 3 months. I went in with the basics I'd learnt from 3 years of school classes, so essentially nothing. I had no idea how to learn languages. Through some discovery of the polyglot community and trialling lots of different methods, I'd estimate I've got to approximately a C1 level. Methods used include extensive reading, reading aloud, lang-8, sparse irregular italki tutoring, binge-watching TV series, high school classes, assimil and keeping in touch with friends.
Present: ~C1, stronger in passive, conversation group once a week
My current French maintenance is rather pathetic and inadequate - up until July I was steadily improving mostly through reading novels daily and watching and listening to French every now and then - but once I got to Austria and had to really push my German that got a lot more scarce. I do now go to a French C1 reading and conversation group once a week though which I find to be at least a little bit useful. My main problem is deterioration active skills though, and the fact that so much German practice has seemed to "replace" some of the French in my head - if I know the German easily then the French just doesn't seem to want to come to me. And since I'm so used to speaking French without to much thought and concentration this now leads to my putting German into French, avoiding which is now my main priority.
Goals: Strengthen generally and upkeep, possible C1 exam
I'm hoping to start studying a semester of Transcultural Communication (essentially pre-trans/interp) at the University here starting March just as a way to improve my languages and meet people, so I'd like to put more time into improving my French (and getting rid of the German in it) once I've got German a bit more under control, but I think I can mostly let that go until Jan/Feb and just continue going to my meetings in the meantime.
German
Past: 6 months of flirting, 4 months intensive in Austria, self studying and DAF classes in Austria
Up until about a year ago I didn't know much German at all, just a couple of basics. For the first six months of this year I work non-intensively on German, preparing to come to Austria in July. I completed the duolingo tree, about half of Teach Yourself, German Demystified (a basic grammar book with excercises) and learnt about 1000 words on memrise. It was enough for me to be able to come to Austria and not feel completely frustrated at lack of language knowledge but I had a long way to go. In the 4 months since then, I've gone from a shaky A2 to about a B2 level. I've learnt about a further thousand words on memrise and about 500 cloze sentences on anki, while also having obviously learnt quite a bit of vocabulary that hasn't ever gone through an SRS. I've read my first novel and quite a bit of newspaper, and I've also watched a lot of TV and movies. I've been going to about 6 hours per week of B2 classes and 3 hours per week of ÖSD B2 test preparation, because that test has a lot of (in my opinion) wacky things they test you on that you're not going to pick up on your own. (Describing a photo using a set formula for 5-7 minutes??) I've also completed 26/88 of the em Übungsgrammatik book. I've met with two language partners and I talk to Austrian people every day, especially in my host family. My job even involves speaking to the child I look after in English.. but 90% of the time he still answers in German so I've learnt allll of the German kindergarten naughty words.
Present: ~B2, anki cloze, DAF classes, test prep classes, extensive native materials and talking with natives, grammar workbook
I have about a B2 level in German and I'm reasonably confident for my exam and so is my teacher but I'm pulling out all the stops... because I'd like to study at Uni Wien in March and I need this certificate for that (and I don't want to waste my €126!). I feel that my biggest weaknesses are vocabulary (especially active), use of correct prepositions and a few grammar constructions that I haven't quite got down (eg. Konjunktiv II when saying the equivalent of "if I ___(past), I would ___", I just don't seem to be able to get the fact that that needs two conditionals in German).
Goals: B2 exam, study in German @ Uni Wien, improve more specialised skills, possible C1 exam
In the short term (next month or so) I'm planning on spending most of my study on working on all the things above, so learning a lot of new vocabulary through anki cloze sentences and extensive reading, practising grammar in isolation with my em book and practising both in output through lang-8, practise writing for my classes and general speaking. In the longer term (until I leave Austria next July) I'd like to work on my ability to read, listen to and talk about technical topics I'm interested in such as biology, genetics and neuroscience, language learning and linguistics etc., as well as building my general skills in listening, speaking and reading to a much more comfortable level. And of course, I'm going to be working on my German as I study in German at Uni Wien. I'm also considering taking a C1 test at some point next year.
Mandarin
Past: Flirting for over a year, SRS, NPCR, HSK word lists, assimil
Similar to German, I've been flirting with Mandarin for about a year, but also a little bit before that, just doing little bits and pieces when I've had time. I've learnt a few hundred words through a variety of methods, and I'm able to form basic sentences. I've done up to chapter 5 in NPCR and I'm stilling regularly reviewing that through anki, I've learnt the HSK1 wordlist and part of HSK2 but likely forgotten most of it that I haven't used since, I've completed up to about chapter 30 of assimil, but also likely forgotten, and I've been taking a Mandarin class (through German) where we use a book simply called "Chinesisch" which is quite fast moving and similar to NPCR, where we're up to chapter 6.
Present: weekly classes, SRS revision
I'm currently going to my hour and a half Mandarin class here every Tuesday. It actually has a surprisingly fast pace for a community class and the teacher doesn't seem to mind that a lot of the class (especially those not very invested) are struggling, which is a total plus for me. I'm also reviewing the NPCR vocab and sentences I previously entered into anki by writing out both the hanzi and pinyin.
Goals: build a good base, NPCR, assimil & Chinesisch, go to China, second major in Chinese
I'm hoping for a big future with Mandarin lasting many years, but starting with a planned two month visit next August/September and then hopefully majoring in Chinese (in a diploma beside a degree in biology/statistics/bioinformatics) at university. Once I've got a bit stronger in my German (and passed my test so I can actually go to university here), I'm going to put a lot more effort into Chinese, including finishing possibly all of NPCR, assimil and Chinesisch and practising with natives to set me up for my visit. I might also work a bit with an italki tutor. Obviously I'll also continue with my Mandarin class until it finishes in January, and maybe then continue it for a second semester if timetabling permits.
So as a bit of a rap up, my main goals are:
1. Currently working on German as intensively as possible, working on vocabulary, selected grammar, and preparing for my exam, while obviously continuing to work with lots of natives and native material.
2. Keep up with learning little bits of French and Mandarin when possible.
3. Once I'm more secure with my German, I'll put a lot more time into Mandarin and try to engage a bit more with French.
4. Not fail my university study in German.
I'll be posting weekly with my goals for the next week and my progress, as I think this will help me to focus a bit more on progress in a time where the sea of things to be learnt is huge.
274/250. 
10/12.
0/1 & 1/2