Annie’s Log - 2024

[PeterMollenburg]

Hi Annie,

Great to see you back around these parts, Annie. I was only wondering recently where in the world you might be and what you might be up to.

I'm surprised your trip to Lisbon didn't result in Portuguese making your wish list. C'mon admit it, you've already started

Shall I make up a list of all possible Portuguese courses that we can start using simultaneously?

I'm actually a bit of the way through Destinos, An Introductuction to Spanish. Might I suggest you join me but translate all the Spanish to Arabic or Russian to suit your needs. You'll be fluent in no time!

[Annie]

Hi Annie,

Great to see you back around these parts, Annie. I was only wondering recently where in the world you might be and what you might be up to.

I'm surprised your trip to Lisbon didn't result in Portuguese making your wish list. C'mon admit it, you've already started

Shall I make up a list of all possible Portuguese courses that we can start using simultaneously?

I'm actually a bit of the way through Destinos, An Introductuction to Spanish. Might I suggest you join me but translate all the Spanish to Arabic or Russian to suit your needs. You'll be fluent in no time!

It’s nice to be back. I just recently found a moving box with all the Mauger books and was thinking about you as well

The only reason Lisbon didn’t result in any Portuguese is because I booked the trip 22 hours before I went to the airport it was quite odd for me to be in a place with another language and not even have some phrase book attempts to speak .. but I did actually pass through France, including one over night, so I had some speaking practice there. I hope I can take my mom to Lisbon/Porto in the spring so we may get a second chance at a .. 7th.. 8th.. 10th? language to study (and accompanying Assimil purchase)

I really enjoyed Destinos for the month or two I tried it. Someday I will learn at least some basic level of Spanish. It’s got to be doable with French and Latin, which I’m still using as my kids all have it in school. Actually now that I say that, it reminds me that I never finished Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata and I really want to. The list is long and the boxes don’t seem to get checked

[PeterMollenburg]

Hi Annie,

Great to see you back around these parts, Annie. I was only wondering recently where in the world you might be and what you might be up to.

I'm surprised your trip to Lisbon didn't result in Portuguese making your wish list. C'mon admit it, you've already started

Shall I make up a list of all possible Portuguese courses that we can start using simultaneously?

I'm actually a bit of the way through Destinos, An Introductuction to Spanish. Might I suggest you join me but translate all the Spanish to Arabic or Russian to suit your needs. You'll be fluent in no time!

It’s nice to be back. I just recently found a moving box with all the Mauger books and was thinking about you as well

I’m struggling with too many language aspirations, too little time and mental energy. I literally want to learn everything and have very little free time

Ah, Mauger... will I ever complete it myself? Based on my busy life and your busy life, I think we do need another French mission, don't we? .... hmmm .... ...or maybe we don't....

but I did actually pass through France, including one over night, so I had some speaking practice there.

I haven’t had a ton of discipline to switch a portion of my day back to French, which I need to do to really.

....or maybe we do!!


No! Wait! ....

I really enjoyed Destinos for the month or two I tried it. Someday I will learn at least some basic level of Spanish.

It’s got to be doable with French and Latin, which I’m still using as my kids all have it in school. Actually now that I say that, it reminds me that I never finished Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata and I really want to. The list is long and the boxes don’t seem to get checked

I hope I can take my mom to Lisbon/Porto in the spring so we may get a second chance at a .. 7th.. 8th.. 10th? language to study (and accompanying Assimil purchase)

My kids came home from camp speaking arabic. I would like to try and keep up.

One of my kid’s friend’s is a CODA. We’ve been hanging out at the pool which renewed interest in ASL (I have about 18 months study under my belt, over a decade ago).

I did meet someone who seems like a good Russian exchange partner but again, hard to say whether it will last long enough to be functional.

And take a look at what this idiot recently said:

I started to learn a new language. Stopped. Started again. Stopped again, et ainsi de suite... Fast-forward to the last few weeks and I'm experiencing my 25th resurrection of Spanish, Norwegian continues at A1, French at B2+, Dutch at B1+.

I recently said that I wouldn't take on more, as I really need to be careful not to just get greedier and greedier with more and more languages. However, were I to reduce my study of each language to 45 min/day I could take on one more - German.

Ummm. I see a reoccurring theme here. We MUST STUDY MORE LANGUAGES!


Hang on, hang on....

I also need to get my act back together with exercise and fitting in work amid all the summer vacation and traveling as well.

However I am finding four languages is fine-ish. The hard part is being efficient enough to get enough rest and still be there to do everything else in my day all the while aiming to reduce stress....

....Oh and I'm trying to actually make kayaking my priority over language learning, believe it or not.

Pfft, plenty of time. We just need to eat breakfast faster and then we'll have 5 more extra hours of study per day! Done! When do we start this PM and Annie's Multilingual Insane Language Learning Mission ?

The only reason Lisbon didn’t result in any Portuguese is because I booked the trip 22 hours before I went to the airport it was quite odd for me to be in a place with another language and not even have some phrase book attempts to speak ..

Wow, that was pretty last minute! Now, so that the above never happens ever ever again, so that no people point at you and laugh (like they did when they spotted you without any phrase books), let's get this mission started!

[Annie]

let's get this mission started!

Lmao How dare you exploit all my inconsistency to rope me into more languages Thank goodness it’s only this log and we’re not going to have anything to say about Finnish, Icelandic, Middle Egyptian or my time spent on RTK.

In the box with the Mauger books, I also found all the FIA books, which do align nicely with Destinos…

I did join the super challenge for both French & Arabic.

I’m not sure if my plan for Arabic books violates the rules, but it’s what I’m going to do and I’ll worry about technicalities at the end. I found stories for learners on YouTube. They have still images with text like a children’s picture book, which is read, translated in subtitles, explained in English, and all grammar points discussed. I plan to work through a video, type up the text myself, and then read the text myself along with the audio portion of the video until I’m confident in the pronunciation. I won’t count any of the learning time with the video, just subsequent read/listen through the text using the super challenge guide of 250 wpp. Some of the beginning ones seem like they’ll be about 250 words long, meaning if I read it 50x, it’s a book. I think I will be highly motivated keep adding materials so I’m interested to see how far I get and where I end up.

I’m also starting my French SC with children’s chapter books because I just need to motivate myself to get some pages turning. It feels a bit like cheating but if it’s helping me shake off rusty and get more volume, I shouldn’t let perfectionism get in the way. I think.

[Annie]

Arabic is going pretty well. I’ve been very consistent with studying, and I’m actually having fun which is kind of the point. I found a few good language exchange partners, one of whom I’ve been talking to on the phone for about an hour almost every day. I help him for half the time and he helps me for half, although I feel deeply incompetent at this point still which is not unexpected at about a month in.

I am feeling like all the words I’m studying are going in one ear and out the other. I’m not sure how long that “phase” should really go on for before I worry a bit. Pimsleur is humbling. I have not made it very far, not for lack of effort but lack of memorization and ability to keep up with the lessons farther in. I’m not really sure what pace people actually manage generally.

I am looking for two resources if anyone has ideas - one is vocabulary flash cards similar to the old memrize with Arabic letters, not romanized transliteration, and a human voice pronunciation. I assume there’s a deck on Anki but I have not yet searched. And also videos with modern letter pronunciation*, not Quaranic, that show tongue & mouth position. I found a few that I can piece together I think for the harder ones, but I would rather a full alphabet.

French super challenge is have the very legit issue that I keep falling asleep. It’s showing me just how over tired I am on a whole and that’s ok. It’s been relaxing to try to get super challenge time every day though so I’m happy with the plan and I know that could complete a whole super challenge in a relatively short time if I need to cram — I almost signed up for a double — so I’m not worried yet on finishing by next December.

*Edit/Update: My language exchange partner searched and found https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsDvrtKQZs6qXkj23B-REDhN9znxVVwWJ&si=x3KIaIabTpQaF-ts and he thinks it has the kind of pronunciation help I need. I will try it and report back.