Haven't been posting much here, but I'm still on the language learning train. Well, I say I'm on it, but it's more like I fell off, got stuck on a piece of the frame and am getting dragged along the tracks. I think it's fair to say that I've managed to climb back on. Sort of. I'm hanging to the hitch and panting while the tracks zip by underneath...
All right, I think I've beaten that metaphor to death.
General
The alternating-day rotation seems to be working out fairly well, all things considered. I'm starting to feel like French should get another day, but that would mean taking a day away from German or Danish, and I'm not prepared to do that, yet.
I notice that I have an overwhelming urge, when I can't remember a word in one language, to substitute a word from another (non-English) language in it. It probably doesn't help that I'm not learning all the same words in all the languages, so my mind helpfully reaches for the non-English equivalent it can think of.
I also keep thinking I'm going to take two weeks some time to do Toki Pona, just because.
French
Duolingo modified their French course, so on my French days I spend a lot of it trying to complete all the new lessons. I've slowed down on adding new words on Memrise. Instead, I watch Futurama and French Ted Talks, mostly. I do sometimes play Runescape in French on my off days, and I had my first spontaneous conversation in it last night.
I was killing black dragons. Along comes another player who is attempting to steal my black dragons. I panicked, slightly, before going, "Look, I know enough to tell this guy I have only three left. I can do this."
Me: "J'ai 3 plus."
Other guy: "Okay."
<get my three kills>
Me: "Merci."
Other guy: "Derien."
May not seem like much, but I didn't use Google translate for any of it. I successfully communicated (and got what I wanted) from another person in another language.
My French day is refreshing in a way. I realize just how much I know of it compared to German and Danish, and I feel slightly better about my ability in it.
German
Learning German is like hunting for Easter eggs. Or lost toys. Every now and then I will encounter a word I know from my childhood. Striking examples include "kaputt" and "badezimmer." I am also more rapidly able to pick words I've learned from stories and songs.
When I was a teenager, I had a stint at learning High German in school. Learning German now is like meeting an acquaintance and getting to know them.
Danish
Danish remains somewhat exotic and confusing. I am apparently familiar enough with the sound that I can recognize it being spoken by my coworkers, but it has French's problem in that what you hear is often not what you write.
My main focus has been on learning vocabulary from Copenhagen Cast by entering it into a Memrise course. I'm not progressing on it as fast as I would like, as there are (plenty of) days where I don't want to clip audio files for the Memrise course.
All right, I think I've beaten that metaphor to death.
General
The alternating-day rotation seems to be working out fairly well, all things considered. I'm starting to feel like French should get another day, but that would mean taking a day away from German or Danish, and I'm not prepared to do that, yet.
I notice that I have an overwhelming urge, when I can't remember a word in one language, to substitute a word from another (non-English) language in it. It probably doesn't help that I'm not learning all the same words in all the languages, so my mind helpfully reaches for the non-English equivalent it can think of.
I also keep thinking I'm going to take two weeks some time to do Toki Pona, just because.
French
Duolingo modified their French course, so on my French days I spend a lot of it trying to complete all the new lessons. I've slowed down on adding new words on Memrise. Instead, I watch Futurama and French Ted Talks, mostly. I do sometimes play Runescape in French on my off days, and I had my first spontaneous conversation in it last night.
I was killing black dragons. Along comes another player who is attempting to steal my black dragons. I panicked, slightly, before going, "Look, I know enough to tell this guy I have only three left. I can do this."
Me: "J'ai 3 plus."
Other guy: "Okay."
<get my three kills>
Me: "Merci."
Other guy: "Derien."
May not seem like much, but I didn't use Google translate for any of it. I successfully communicated (and got what I wanted) from another person in another language.
My French day is refreshing in a way. I realize just how much I know of it compared to German and Danish, and I feel slightly better about my ability in it.
German
Learning German is like hunting for Easter eggs. Or lost toys. Every now and then I will encounter a word I know from my childhood. Striking examples include "kaputt" and "badezimmer." I am also more rapidly able to pick words I've learned from stories and songs.
When I was a teenager, I had a stint at learning High German in school. Learning German now is like meeting an acquaintance and getting to know them.
Danish
Danish remains somewhat exotic and confusing. I am apparently familiar enough with the sound that I can recognize it being spoken by my coworkers, but it has French's problem in that what you hear is often not what you write.
My main focus has been on learning vocabulary from Copenhagen Cast by entering it into a Memrise course. I'm not progressing on it as fast as I would like, as there are (plenty of) days where I don't want to clip audio files for the Memrise course.
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