Jeff's language log

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
Expugnator
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1728
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:45 pm
Location: Belo Horizonte
Languages: Native Brazilian Portuguese#advanced fluency English, French, Papiamento#basic fluency Italian, Norwegian#intermediate Spanish, German, Georgian and Chinese (Mandarin)#basic Russian, Estonian, Greek (Modern)#just started Indonesian, Hebrew (Modern), Guarani
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9931
x 3589

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby Expugnator » Tue Nov 15, 2016 12:19 pm

This happens in Georgian, too (and in Estonian, that goes without saying). It helps to think of the infinitive as a noun, which it actually is in Georgian for example. When you accept that it's also a noun, it becomes liberating to just accept it will take a case ending sometimes, and it will usually be a regular one, which feels encouraging.
1 x
Corrections welcome for any language.

User avatar
jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Tue Nov 22, 2016 5:49 pm

Summary of week 46
Maybe it's just me, but I think Duolingo on the phone is quicker than on the computer. I think there are more exercises per lesson (or "Strengthen your skills" session), but fewer where I have to actually type (=tap) the answer. I usually strengthen the skills for all my languages in the morning, and that takes about 15 minutes. By the way, that's all I do for those languages. I've spent a lot of time reading in Swedish and English lately (I finish a few books every week). Next year will be my target language reading year.

My current study schedule for Finnish: I skim the previous lesson, read the new lesson once (without looking at the translation), then a second time (for better "flow"), then I have a look at the grammar explanations, read the lesson again, read the sentences from the exercises , then review a large chunk of previous lessons (I just read them silently). This takes 15 minutes. If I'm up for more Finnish, I take a five minute break (think Pomodoro), then another lesson, and maybe another short break, and another lesson. The other night I went through four lessons in 1 hour and 15 minutes. It felt like the optimal combination of consistency and burst studying, a bit like the Khatz quote:
for best results, make “next” = now. But if “next” can’t always be “now”, then make it darn soon.


In my part of the world it's the dark time of the year (it'll change in a month), but my mind works better and it feels like I actually need less sleep per night.
2 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord

User avatar
jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sun Nov 27, 2016 11:14 pm

Summary of week 47
Another week of Finnish! I've stuck to the approach from last week. Lessons become longer and longer. Maybe it's just me, I have found some of them particularly difficult, and I'm not even half way through the course yet. I've had to read some of the texts over and over. I've used Google translate for the Finnish and/or the French (or Russian!?) text, and they still don't make sense. Well. Not the end of the world. The "important" thing for me is that I don't stick to a lesson for days until I can grasp it totally, but instead I move on. Hopefully I'll get it someday. One thing I have noticed in this course and other Assimil courses before, is that words actually get repeated in later lessons.

(Of course, I could spend a lot more time than ~15 minutes on a lesson, "to internalize it", but I don't have time for that now.)

I also had a look at Slovak. I spent some time on it yesterday (the introduction, pronunciation, phrases and so on) and earlier today (bits of A1:lesson 1). I don't intend to use Anki. I might have a look at the Slovak section on the SpeakASAP site.
0 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord

DaveBee
Blue Belt
Posts: 952
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 8:49 pm
Location: UK
Languages: English (native). French (studying).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7466
x 1386

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby DaveBee » Sun Nov 27, 2016 11:26 pm

jeff_lindqvist wrote:By the way, I found a bilingual children's book today in Swedish/Finnish, so that might be an idea for the weekend.
Looking for a french translation of an adventure book I'd enjoyed in english, I was surprised to see it had been translated into Finnish.

If it's of any interest, the book is called 'A Gentleman of France' (english text/finnish text)
1 x

User avatar
jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Mon Dec 05, 2016 10:32 pm

Summary of week 48
And yet another week of Finnish (and Slovak!)! Anki and Duolingo work fine (though syncing the Anki decks was annoyingly slow the other day).

I'm somewhere around lesson 50 in Finnish (How did that happen?*), and although I've recently reviewed older lessons, I have now started a "proper" active wave as well.

What have I done in Slovak? The first three lessons from the A1 course, with a half-decent focus. I read through the explanations, read every Slovak sentence aloud, listen to the audio if there is any, and I also do the exercises. That's about it. At this point, it feels (a bit) like Russian in disguise. Well, not really, but there are similarities such as vocabulary and grammar concepts, and that helps.

* By not doing more than necessary: read the current lesson a couple of times till I "get" it (or become bored of it) and then review earlier lessons, then maybe go back to the current lesson and the additional exercise sentences.
4 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord

User avatar
rdearman
Site Admin
Posts: 7231
Joined: Thu May 14, 2015 4:18 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Languages: English (N)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1836
x 23125
Contact:

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby rdearman » Tue Dec 06, 2016 6:34 am

I am impressed with your Finnish. I wish I was as diligent.
0 x
: 0 / 150 Read 150 books in 2024

My YouTube Channel
The Autodidactic Podcast
My Author's Newsletter

I post on this forum with mobile devices, so excuse short msgs and typos.

User avatar
Brun Ugle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2273
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:48 pm
Location: Steinkjer, Norway
Languages: English (N), Norwegian (~C1/C2), Spanish (B1/B2), German (A2/B1?), Japanese (very rusty)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=11484
x 5821
Contact:

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby Brun Ugle » Tue Dec 06, 2016 7:42 am

You've passed me. I took a longish break and I'm only on lesson 44 or so.
0 x

User avatar
jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Mon Dec 12, 2016 10:55 pm

Summary of week 49
A somewhat chaotic week at work, but I managed to do something language related. I did my Anki reps (the syncing works fine now, by the way). I spent time with Duolingo, sometimes more than one session for a couple of languages. I finished a handful of books (in Swedish).

I'm around lesson 58/9 (passive/active) in Finnish. I don't overstudy a lesson - I find that boring, and I don't want to reach the stage where I "know" a lesson well because I've done it over and over (as was the case a long time ago with Pimsleur/FSI).

Slovak - I read a few grammar concepts, some exercises if there are any, get totally lost now and then since they throw too much at you right away. Sometimes there's a a dialogue or a video... I'm somewhere on lesson 4 (A1). Some lessons kind of look like Lernu.net but the site doesn't work like that.

New week, and hopefully new language adventures.
1 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
x 17566

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby Cavesa » Mon Dec 12, 2016 11:35 pm

You're awesome! In the half of the Finnish Assimil! Wow!

About Duolingo: yes, the app is faster as there are fewer writing exercises. And that's exactly why I don't use it. But I see how it could suit you.
0 x

User avatar
jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:52 pm
Languages: sv, en
de, es
ga, eo
---
fi, yue, ro, tp, cy, kw, pt, sk
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
x 10462

Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Mon Dec 19, 2016 7:01 pm

Summary of week 50
Another semi-chaotic week. Despite the aftermaths of a cold, an company party, a music session (where I opened the fiddle case for the first time in over a month...) and a terrible cough, I managed to catch up on Assimil. I reached lvl 13 in Portugugese/Italian/French at Duolingo (Irish/German/Spanish are stil at lvl 19). I finished two or three books in Swedish plus one comic book in Romanian.

I'm at lesson 68/19 (passive/active) in Finnish. Every now and then I rework my approach. I don't want to spend too much time on a lesson even if I don't internalize it fully, but I at the same time I want to study as effectively I can during the time I devote to it. My plan was to reach lesson 100 by the end of the year. :roll:

During the week I also reviewed lessons 1-4 in Slovak (the A1 course, that is), went through all the vocabulary again, read everything aloud, did the exercises (which for the most part went pretty OK this time).

Immediate plans this week: finish a couple of more books, do a dozen of lessons in Finnish and maybe lesson 5 in Slovak.
1 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

Llorg Blog - Wiki - Discord


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests