Jeff's language log

[jeff_lindqvist]

2019 - Summary of week 47

GA: What now - back to Irish? Yes, I started using Duolingo again, just for fun. And fun it is.

IT: More content from Italiano Automatico.

NO: I continued listening to the podcast series during my daily walks. I also watched episodes 3 and 4 of Twin.

PL: More youtube videos. More content from Ioannes Oculus. First Year - 5.E. Późno, wcześnie. No ERIC file.

This week: Wing Chun #22-26. I also has a quick look at https://www.dr.dk/bonanza which is where you find Danish TV content that they haven't blocked, including some older programmes. (cf. Öppet arkiv from SVT)

[jeff_lindqvist]

2019 - Summary of week 48

GA: More Duolingo. I don't remember the status when I stopped using the app half a year ago, other than that I had completed everything. Skills become rusty over time and need some review now and then. Now that I returned, nothing had happened to the basic skills, but everything else was on level 2 (I think I read that the Duolingo team had added more exercises).

IT: More content from Italiano Automatico. Sometimes the videos don't have English subtitles. No big problem. Italian is becoming more and more transparent.

NO: I almost finished the podcast series (a few episodes left). I also watched episode 5 of Twin.

PL: More youtube videos. More content from Ioannes Oculus. No more First Year. No ERIC file.

ZH: Inspired by a book I'm reading at the moment, I had a look at what is offered at MIT, and started with this online textbook. Just to do something else.

This week: Wing Chun #27-40 (!). Just before the weekend, I started watching a new series (just picked one randomly) - You are my sisters / 你是我的姐妹.

I skimmed Leosmith's (now almost three years old) classic topic LIE to a polyglot. It's a great read. I'm just too impatient to mine the internet for content of just the appropriate length and level. For most of my languages it's easier to find content which I can listen to during my 45 minute walks, than something I can listen to with full attention for 10-15 minutes. I have a plan for next year though.

By the way, now I have a lot more time for my languages.

<rant>
Maybe it's just me, but I lost count of how many polyglot newsletters had Bl*ck Fr*d** content. I don't subscribe to a lot of v/bloggers, only a handful of those whom I've met at Polyglot Gatherings. I'm close to tapping Unsubscribe.
</rant>

[jeff_lindqvist]

2019 - Summary of week 49

GA: More Duolingo. I know it's not really the real deal, but it's a warmup. I have some plans.

IT: More content from Italiano Automatico.

NO: I finished the podcast series, and caught up on the remaining episodes from the previous radio drama. I also watched episode 6 of Twin. In a few weeks I'll choose a new language.

PL: More youtube videos. More content from Ioannes Oculus. No more First Year. No ERIC file.

No Mandarin this week.

Cultural content: You are my sisters / 你是我的姐妹, episodes 7-10. I listened to (selections from) "Messiah" (G. F. Händel, HWV 56) in the cathedral.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2019 - Summary of week 50

GA: More Duolingo. Some really strange sentences this week, e.g. An iompórtálann tú daoine? (Do you import people?) It has been suggested that they mean import players (in sports). Every other ad suggests that I apply for Canadian citizenship.

IT: More content from Italiano Automatico.

NO: I finished two podcast series. I also watched episode 7 of Twin.

PL: More youtube videos. More content from Ioannes Oculus. No more First Year. No ERIC file.

Cultural content: You are my sisters / 你是我的姐妹, episodes 11-12. A lot of reading. Around sixteen books finished in December. (A couple every other day.)

[jeff_lindqvist]

2019 - Summary of week 51

Here is a short and boring update - but in time!

GA: More Duolingo. I'm doing a little here, a little there. I plan to finish the tree before 2020.

IT: More content from Italiano Automatico.

NO: I finished two or three podcast series. I also watched episode 8 of Twin. I think there is / will be a second season.

PL: More youtube videos. More content from Ioannes Oculus. No more First Year. No ERIC file.

Cultural content: You are my sisters / 你是我的姐妹, episodes 13-14. A few more books finished. For maybe the first time in my life, I watched the news in Meänkieli and then a show in Sami. I don't know a lot about the different varieties, what they're supposed to sound like etc. but somehow I thought the presenter had a slight Norwegian accent when using non-Sami vocabulary. It turned out that the show was from Norway.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2019 - Summary of week 52

Almost in time.

GA: More Duolingo. For those who are familiar with the tree, everything up to checkpoint 3 is completed, most up to checkpoint 4 is on level 3 or 4, and the last section is also on level 3 or 4. Maybe I'll be able to finish everything this week.

IT: More content from Italiano Automatico.

NO: I finished at least three podcast series.

PL: More youtube videos. More content from Ioannes Oculus. No more First Year. No ERIC file.

Cultural content: You are my sisters / 你是我的姐妹, episodes 15-16. Half a dozen books finished. I watched a Finnish lifestyle show (in Finland Swedish) and heard someone with an unexpected combination of accent traces - there was an /u/ från Åland paired with an intonation pattern which reminded me more of Dalmål. Either the person was from Åland and moved to Sweden, or the other way around. She was from Åland.

In this part of the world there's one day left of this year. In the following week/s I'll post some long awaited statistics from 2019.

[jeff_lindqvist]

As I'm sure some of you love numbers, here's the Anki summary for 2019. (sentence-heavy languages)

Czech
Mature: 4887
Young+Learn: 0
Unseen: 0
Suspended+Buried: 0
Total cards: 4887 (nine fewer than last year, which apparently means that I deleted some cards)

Esperanto
Mature: 23693
Young+Learn: 0
Unseen: 0
Suspended+Buried: 0
Total cards: 23693 (no change here, I've seen every card and all of them are mature)

Mandarin
Mature: 27751
Young+Learn: 0
Unseen: 0
Suspended+Buried: 0
Total cards: 27751 (no change here either)

Portuguese
Mature: 51772 (cf. 31494 in 2018, 15339 in 2017)
Young+Learn: 1090 (cf. 3620 in 2018, 1877 in 2017)
Unseen: 25589 (cf. 43337 in 2018, 61235 in 2017)
Suspended+Buried: 0
Total cards: 78451

Yue/Cantonese
Mature: 5320
Young+Learn: 0
Unseen: 0
Suspended+Buried: 0
Total cards: 5320 (no change here either)

Major progress for Portuguese - nothing added, but I did a lot of reviews. I have spent some time on a couple more languages (e.g. Catalan, Scottish Gaelic, Italian, Polish), but haven't added anything to Anki. I like to try different approaches - for example, studying/learning a language without deliberate vocabulary study. Moreover, every time I've added a new deck with too many cards upfront and/or too many other features (say,an extra field), I've been unable to sync it. So, for the time being, no new decks.

Next chapter: Summary of 2019.

[cjareck]

As I'm sure some of you love numbers, here's the Anki summary for 2019. (sentence-heavy languages)

You have nine times more cards for Portuguese than I have for Hebrew! Do you gradually review the unseen cards also? If yes, at which rate?
Also Esperanto and Mandarin decks are impressive.

[jeff_lindqvist]

You have nine times more cards for Portuguese than I have for Hebrew! Do you gradually review the unseen cards also? If yes, at which rate? Also Esperanto and Mandarin decks are impressive.

My daily rate of new cards is set to 50, which explains why the number of unseen cards decreases with ~18 000 per year (50x365= 18 250, barring days when I'm travelling, or if just miss my reviews).

The number of mature cards increased more in 2019 than the previous years - this has to do with how well I know the cards that are thrown at me. Who knows, maybe I (finally) absorbed sentence patterns and vocabulary and gave myself a higher grade on those cards.

The number of young+learn cards increased with ~1800 in 2019, then dropped to 1020 this year. Vocabulary learning isn't static/linear/predictable, hence the difference.

Portuguese is 100% based on a Tatoeba deck, Esperanto is a mix of manually added content and Tatoeba, and that also applies to Mandarin (I think).

[jeff_lindqvist]

2020 - Summary of week 1

This year started without Italian, Norwegian and Polish. Irish will be my main focus for some time.

GA: I started the first day of the year with a morning walk - finally I transferred my Linguaphone mp3 files to my audio device. I know I listened to the tapes in May 2007, but that was long before my trips to Glencolmcille and also before my university studies. This time I understood quite a lot! I finished listening to the material in five days, i.e. five walks. Today I listened to podcasts from RnaG, more specifically the programme Siúlach Scéalach (at the bottom of the page). I will mix that content with the audio files from the course.

More Duolingo. I won't rush. I finished the whole tree a long time ago, but skills get rusty and there's also a chance that Duolingo added levels after I took a break. I have thought of doing some grammar work with Nancy Stenson's Basic Irish and Intermediate Irish and/or adding the sentences to Anki.

Cultural content: No Chinese TV this week. Another half a dozen books finished. In the 4th episode of the TV drama series World on Fire, a familiar face appeared. Who was it? Where had I seen this guy? After some thinking - Michael Levi Harris, the actor from Polyglot Gathering Berlin 2015+2016!