Jeff's language log

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vonPeterhof
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby vonPeterhof » Wed Aug 02, 2017 6:36 pm

I tried copy-pasting some text from the news website I linked to into Anki, but it's just displayed in a regular Arabic (Naskh) font (although I suspect that the site actually runs a script that displays regular Arabic writing as Nastaʿlīq rather than using a special font). Nastaʿlīq is a specific calligraphic font that's, in some ways, even more cursive than regular Arabic, with some additional ligatures and a distinctive "slanted" look. It originated in the Persian-speaking areas and is still used there for decorative purposes, but for some reason it got so popular among South Asian Muslims that it's basically the default font for Urdu newspapers (and nowadays also some news websites).
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zenmonkey
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby zenmonkey » Wed Aug 02, 2017 7:38 pm

vonPeterhof wrote:I tried copy-pasting some text from the news website I linked to into Anki, but it's just displayed in a regular Arabic (Naskh) font (although I suspect that the site actually runs a script that displays regular Arabic writing as Nastaʿlīq rather than using a special font). Nastaʿlīq is a specific calligraphic font that's, in some ways, even more cursive than regular Arabic, with some additional ligatures and a distinctive "slanted" look. It originated in the Persian-speaking areas and is still used there for decorative purposes, but for some reason it got so popular among South Asian Muslims that it's basically the default font for Urdu newspapers (and nowadays also some news websites).


Sorry to hi-jack, Jeff.

If you want to use a special font in Anki - Save the font into your Anki media file with a _ in front of the font name and then define your cards as follows:

Screen Shot 2017-08-02 at 21.36.54.png
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
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vonPeterhof
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby vonPeterhof » Wed Aug 02, 2017 7:52 pm

@zenmonkey Yeah, in hindsight I have no idea why I thought that just copying and pasting the text would do anything about the font. Brainfart after a hard day at work I guess :D Anyway, thanks for the tip! I'll probably try doing that when I actually get to Urdu.
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Tue Aug 08, 2017 10:30 am

2017 - Summary of week 31

Anki - I'm drowning in reviews! Over 300 each day - in three languages! Anyway, I (kind of) like the exercise, and for Esperanto and Portuguese it's less than a second per card. The Mandarin cards are read to me aloud and when I'm in the mood, I repeat them.

Duolingo - daily skills. During a few unsuccessful sessions when I've only got one (!) sentence right, I still have improved a whole skillset.

CS: The six month challenge started on the first of August. So far, I've managed to follow my plan: new lesson, review of previous lesson, Anki work. If time permits, I repeat the lesson a few times. So far, I haven't spent more than ~15 minutes per day.

DE: I "finished" Momo. I blame my comprehension rate on the surrounding noise. Time for another listen (it was only a few hours long, say the length of three CDs).

EO: Nothing new, but I as I did my daily reviews, I noticed how my deck (largely based on Tatoeba sentences) had cards like eskimo, indiano and lapono. :roll:

YUE (a.k.a. Cantonese): Yeah. Same attack plan as Czech, but with slightly higher skills. I've flirted with the language before. I still consider myself an A0, though. Six lessons done.

A comment on the 6MC - I chose to study with material instead of (only) native content. No epiphany moment yet (haha!). I might increase the daily dose and/or mix lessons with other content.
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sun Aug 13, 2017 12:51 pm

A comment on what to track and not (a spin-off from a discussion with zenmonkey, smallwhite and myself in the 6WC topic):

jeff_lindqvist wrote:For the study, I'm learning from podcasts that have transcripts. So, I'm creating flashcards based on the content - fine. For Czech, it's just a matter of copy/paste (and the time it takes is usually negligible). But some lessons in Cantonese doesn't have characters (other than in the video), so I have to look up everything via Jyutping romanization system and an online dictionary. If I tracked the real time (which is much longer than the three minute-lesson), my spreadsheet would look different.

smallwhite wrote:And you don't count that??


At the moment, no. I hope it's just a temporary thing learning from lessons which don't have characters. Sometimes the process takes longer because of the wrong jyutping, or some technical issues with Anki itself (or even the computer/connection). It will even out in the long run. As an example, the amount of English in a three-minute podcast (for complete beginners) is significant. Even if I spend three minutes on a lesson (with full attention and comprehension and all that), it's not all in the target language. So, for the time being, I'll do my lessons a couple of times, do whatever it takes in order to transfer the words and sentences to Anki, and then track 15 minutes.

A session of Czech takes 15 minutes - I review the previous lesson, listen to a new one a few times; the transcript is there, and I can just copy/paste the content.

The Anki numbers are arbitrary - sometimes they include looking things up, sometimes the values are adjusted to a round number. I can't keep track of every second.

Imagine I'm reading something - how do I rate my "work" if the text is written in another typeface? Are there annoying ads on the page? Do I listen to relaxing music at the same time? Is the chair comfortable? Do I breathe normally? Do I react to the traffic outside my house? Etc etc. I'm sure there are people who take all this into consideration if they also keep track of what they do, in what way and for how long. But I could never do it.
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby smallwhite » Sun Aug 13, 2017 3:15 pm

jeff_lindqvist wrote:
The Anki numbers are arbitrary... I can't keep track of every second.

Now I feel like an idiot. This is what I tracked on Aug 5, each number representing one session, in minutes, and every single session is timed:

14 17 19 17 3 38 14 3 29 3 5 15 10 10 3 68 20 35 30 120

The shortest session here is 3 minutes but I actually have 1- and 2-minute ones, too. Damn, no wonder I had so many questions about tracking for the Study while nobody else did and not even RD himself. I actually still have a lot of questions but the Study has started and no one asked anything so I'm starting to realise that I'm taking the tracking too seriously. Just enter an arbitary number and move on, idiot! :oops:
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Brun Ugle
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby Brun Ugle » Sun Aug 13, 2017 3:50 pm

smallwhite wrote:
jeff_lindqvist wrote:
The Anki numbers are arbitrary... I can't keep track of every second.

Now I feel like an idiot. This is what I tracked on Aug 5, each number representing one session, in minutes, and every single session is timed:

14 17 19 17 3 38 14 3 29 3 5 15 10 10 3 68 20 35 30 120

The shortest session here is 3 minutes but I actually have 1- and 2-minute ones, too. Damn, no wonder I had so many questions about tracking for the Study while nobody else did and not even RD himself. I actually still have a lot of questions but the Study has started and no one asked anything so I'm starting to realise that I'm taking the tracking too seriously. Just enter an arbitary number and move on, idiot! :oops:

Actually, I have the same problem with tracking, but I was too overwhelmed at the time to ask questions about the study. During the 6WC, I usually don't track incidental study time, like when I am looking for a book to read and end up reading a bunch of blurbs while searching online. I find that kind of time difficult to track, because some of it definitely counts as reading in the target language, but some of it is just wasted as I click through pages. For the 6WC, it really doesn't matter because it's just for fun and while I feel like I shouldn't cheat and count more than I do, but there's nothing really wrong with leaving out some of my time. However, in the case of the study, I feel it is important to be very accurate and I find that I'm actively avoiding contact with the languages outside of proper study time in order to avoid any untracked time. It's a little frustrating.

Jeff: What podcasts are you using for Czech? I'm in the control group too.
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jeff_lindqvist
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sun Aug 13, 2017 4:23 pm

smallwhite wrote:Now I feel like an idiot.


Don't feel like that! Small actions lead to big changes. Houses are built layer by layer. There are many things which can affect our studies. In positive and negative ways. For instance, I'm not happy when the phone interrupts me when I'm doing timed sessions on Duolingo.

For about ten years, I've tracked my studies in a spreadsheet (first presented by Alexander Arguelles). Non-language learners probably don't understand why, and there's a chance that also some language learners don't see the point. I just use it to get a feel for how much I've done in the languages, and what type of activity it is. In Arguelles' original explanation, he didn't even separate listening from reading. All was tracked in the "Narrative" column. "Analysis" covered grammar exercises etc. Anything that doesn't fit the other categories is what I put here, and that includes translating, FSI lessons, podcast lessons, doing Anki reps, and much more. If I do something during dead time, then that's dead time. I can't track reviewing nine words of Finnish. I used to track Duolingo when I did focused sessions there, 15 minutes per language. Nowadays, I don't track any of that although I sometimes spend an hour there.

Now that I think of it, I've had Anki open for the past hour. When I check it, it says that I've reviewed words for 4 minutes. I probably have. The bunch of Czech words from yesterday, and some in Esperanto. Dead time it is.

What does this mean? If something is important to you - by all means, keep track of it. The level of importance changes over time. I don't track if I'm watching a movie in English, but if it's an audio-book, I might.

I just came to think of something I read about Phil Maffetone. Apparently there was a number of ways to calculate optimal heart rate for low endurance training. He came up with a simple formula: 180-your age. Looks fine to me.

If I now spend a little more "administrative" time on Anki, there will be days when I spend a little less time. It will all even out.
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Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
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jeff_lindqvist
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sun Aug 13, 2017 4:28 pm

Brun Ugle wrote:Jeff: What podcasts are you using for Czech? I'm in the control group too.


Learn Czech with CzechClass101.com (Youtube), and I also signed up (for free) at their podcast site CzechClass101 for transcripts.
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

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jeff_lindqvist
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Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Mon Aug 14, 2017 10:08 pm

2017 - Summary of week 32

Anki - even more reviews! Over 400 (!) each day - in three languages!

Duolingo - daily skills. Some days I do nothing but one timed session per language.

CS: Learn Czech in Three Minutes - 14/25 completed. Discount thanks to other Slavic languages. No wonder Tarvos has learned Czech in no time.

DE: Another go at Momo. A few days ago when it was time for my evening walk, I only got 100 metres before the final track finished. I had no other language in mind so I went back home and checked my collection of audiobooks in German. Those will keep me busy for a long time.

YUE: I've described some of the jyutping hurdles in recent posts. The lessons from the Getting Started "study path" have characters so I went back to that one. Those lessons are slightly longer (~6-7 minutes). 10/15 completed (and 11/25 from the Learn Cantonese in Three Minutes). It's still nothing but phrases.

ZH: I took a short break from German and shadowed some of the Mandarin content from the university course I took ten years ago.

Now I have two weeks vacation with no other plans than to relax and study languages. :roll:
3 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

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