New provisions arrived today!
I’ve been working like billy-o on both my PhD and in preparing materials for classes I teach this semester. So weekends have been full and intense, whilst sleep and language study have been minimal and light. I do now, however, have a workable little system for keeping up-to-date with all my flashcards and not letting it get on top of me…
Namely, I look at the week ahead in my statistics for all decks in my flashcard app (i.e., Flashcards Deluxe), and if I have 50 or more cards due for review on any of those days, I go into “safe mode” and only allow myself to add 5 new cards in total in any one day (i.e., 4 cards for my main study language, e.g., French, and 1 for any other language) until all numbers fall below 50 again.
And with new cards waiting to be learned (which can always pile up in the background and start to feel more like a chore if you let them)…if I spot over 50 cards queued up in any deck, I try my best not to add any more cards to that deck until its number falls back below 50.
Finally, if I do end up with 50 or more cards due today (as sometimes I might let things slide or take time off), I simply push the overall date back for all decks by 1 day, or by as many days as it takes for today’s number due to fall below 50.
Of course my decks are relatively green, having only started them at the beginning of this year, and I settled on the number 50 as it’s what works well for me right now and fits my goal of spending no more than 15-30 minutes a day on reviews. At the moment, with around 600 cards across all decks, I only need to spend about 15 minutes a day on keeping my flashcards fresh and up-to-date, and moving on upwards. However I imagine this number will increase as I add more cards over the next year, so I’ll probably need to reevaluate my approach if that number starts to creep over 30 minutes a day. So far though, it’s working really well!
French (4h)
My French studies have certainly slipped due to other commitments, but the good news is…new reading provisions have arrived (see photo above)! I’ve read 4 small books written for beginners since my last update here, and am now venturing into reading territory for real French kids aged 8-12 (see “To read” below). I feel like I’m coming of age…
Read:
– L’Étranger dans la neige
– Le jumeaux et la machine du temps
– Le rocher rouge
– La course de chars
To read:
– Histoires à lire le soir 1
– Histoires à lire le soir 2
– Histoires à lire le soir 3
Hawaiian (14h)
Looking at my hours spent on studying languages during this first month, Hawaiian is clearly demanding most of my time (roughly 50% altogether across all languages). Most of this is in preparation for my conversation class at university (after all, I don’t want to look like a wally in front of everyone, especially as they’re all light years ahead of me). Another aspect is that many of these tasks are new to me, e.g., making transcriptions of poorly recorded audio tapes from the 70s bearing the wisdom of old kūpuna. I also try to think in Hawaiian from time to time, especially in the morning whilst getting ready for work, and I think this is helping me out in terms of developing fluency in the language. As for writing and general proficiency, I’m able now to send emails and communicate without the need of a dictionary, and despite errors, this realisation instills further confidence.
Russian (2h)
Just flashcards and some emails over the last fortnight. I also speak with my wife in Russian a little bit every day, even if it’s just during stolen moments when we’re relaxing at home or going out after work in the evening. However I don’t count the cumulative hours, and just treat this as a change of habit in my lifestyle.
German (1h)
I enjoyed listening to a philosophical podcast in German about Star Wars yesterday (courtesy of a link from Montmorency on the Language Learners’ Forum – danke!) And now that “Das kleine Gespenst” has floated into my apartment, I feel enchanted, dare I say compelled, to pick up that little book and start reading away (maybe I’ll seek out some audio for it online too).
(Total time spent on learning languages over the last 2 weeks: 23 hours)
(Total time spent on learning languages during 2016 altogether: 57 hours)
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