#i can speak a decent amount of french !! and understand a ton more hearing and reading wise than i do speaking wise

[codecicle]

tu parles???? français???

un peu!! j'ai dans le classe de français à l'ecole pour deux ans, et je regarde baghera et etoiles pour pratiquer l'écoute. je ne pas super a parle français, je suis boucoup mieux à l'écoute LMAO. mais! j'essaie mon meilleur.

[shirophantomvox]

A Night on the Town- Hisoka x Illumi (Hisoillu)

What’s up y’all? Per an anon request, here is a Hisoillu story. Hisoka and Illumi go to dinner at a fancy restaurant to talk about a business contract when a single phrase or word causes them to change the subject. This story will see how they stand on their relationship. Are they only meant to be “friends” or more than? “A night on the town” is a British phrase that simply means someone going to a club or hanging out all night long. Boujee is an abbreviation of the French "bourgeois." A critical term used to describe people, things, and places that are definitively high-class. I am going to try my best to keep this in character. They feel comfortable to joke around each other only. I use places like Earth, Mars, and the US because I assume Yorknew is another name for New York. Yes, I mentioned some Voltron elements too. I love crossovers! Enjoy! Feel free to inbox me. FYI, there’s nothing wrong with eating chicken fingers as an adult. I hate steak and haven’t eaten it in over 15 years. Onto the story!

Rain fell from the sky hard as ever. The sound of the raindrops hitting multiple surfaces sounded like quarters hitting metal. Thunder clapped what seemed like every 60 seconds followed by an alarming amount of lightning. The white and red LED lights lit up the sidewalk in front, casting heavenly shadows on just about everyone that made their way in. “La Lune” is a 5 star restaurant located in the heart of Yorknew City. Tons of celebrities have had dinner there! Madonna, Rihanna, Beyonce, and so many more had taken funny photos with the chef and his wife, creating a memorable moment for everyone involved. Many take the atmosphere of this restaurant as something romantic. The lights were dimmed and the tables were lit by candle light. It seemed like everyone was being serenaded by their lover, except for these two of course. Their occasion was something far from being romantic. Both gentlemen agreed to talk about a mission that would require both of their efforts because if one did not agree, the other would parish. This mission drove them mad. Hisoka lost a few days of sleep just thinking about it!

You see, one of the country’s best space explorers has been running rampant through the streets. These students attended the Galaxy Garrison, a space college and were launched into space. While trying to bring back samples from Kerberos, they were attacked by aliens (known as the Galra), kept in another dimension, and once they returned they began to inflict pain on Earthlings just like how the Galra did to them. These students must have been experimented on because they possessed power that no Nen user could defeat.

Both gentlemen walked to the hostess desk and waited for their attention. Hisoka’s hair was covering part of his eyes. Many people found him attractive; so attractive that people would nudge him on the arm and mimic a “call me” motion with their fingers. What was it about him that people would just swoon over? Illumi stood behind Hisoka with his hands in his pants pocket, impatiently waiting to be seated. You can’t discuss aliens and brats on an empty stomach.

“How may I help you?’” The hostess smiled big as she cupped her hands waiting for his response. Her teeth were pearly white, almost appearing to be fake. But one thing was off about this woman. She stared mighty hard at his face and continued to smile. She seemed robotic. A smile appeared on his face as well; he swore she was undressing him with her eyes.

“Reservation for Gittarackur~♠?” Hisoka nearly said Illumi’s name instead.

“Right this way.”

She led them through a series of staircases and made her way to the rooftop. This building wasn’t too tall, but it was high enough. The roof was decorated with red table umbrellas, glass tables, candles, and hanging LED lights.

This is a little too romantic, Illumi. What gives?

She handed them the menu and walked away. Illumi looked to his right and left to ensure no one was close enough to hear what he was going to say. But before he could say anything, Hisoka opened his mouth and began to make unnecessary comments that got under Illumi’s skin.

“You tend to pick the restaurants with a noticeable romantic atmosphere. Care to tell~♥.?”

Illumi pressed his lips together.

“I do not pay attention to the atmosphere. I pay attention to good ratings and decent prices.”

“Oh! So, you’re a cheap date~♠!”

“This isn’t a date, Hisoka. We are talking about a mission that if it gets out of control, the whole human race will cease to exist as we know it.”

A waitress came over, introduced herself, and offered them a bottle of wine.

Did you plan this, Illumi?

Of course they accepted! Rosé was Hisoka’s go-to. The wine mellowed him out, made him more relaxed and bearable. He placed his thin fingers and sharp nails around the wide-mouth glass and sipped his drink. He smiled as Illumi disclosed more details of the mission.

“What are you saying, Illumi? I’m afraid I do not understand~♠.”

“Listen carefully. These groups of young adults have been experimented on by the Galra. Since their return, they've been stealing, beating, and even killing innocent people. Their excuse for this is by saying that “those people were bad people” based on rumors they’ve heard. They’re a menace to society, not to mention extremely dangerous. For the first time in 22 years, I’m a little worried.”

The waitress came back to take their order. Hisoka had never tried a streak before, so that is what he ordered. Illumi, the picky eater on the other hand, ordered an adult size of chicken fingers and fries. Hisoka gave him the shittiest look of the century. He placed his large hand over his face as he humiliatingly closed his eyes. Illumi squinted trying to ignore Hisoka’s stupid reactions.

“What’s the matter?”

“You embarrass me, Illumi~♠.”

“How?! What did I do?”

“We’re at a nice, romantic restaurant and all you order is chicken fingers, fries, and ranch?! Ma’am could you give us a moment~♠?”

“Absolutely.” Poor girl. Why did she have to witness that?

“What’s your problem, Hisoka?”

“You could have at least ordered the steak, salad, or both! Look around you! You’re going to be the laughing stock of this town! Try strawberry vinaigrette~♠!”

“Well, excuse me, Mr. Boujee! Chicken fingers are delicious and anyone can order them! Why would I order salad when I have lettuce at home?”

“Because it’s good for you~♠!”

“Salad doesn’t fill me up and neither does strawberry vinaigrette!”

They began to talk about the mission again. Illumi hid his fear behind his resting bitch face, but he didn’t know if he truly wanted to go through with this mission or not.

“I’m feeling cautious.”

“What for? I’m sure you can handle it~♣.”

“I can’t. I don't even think my grandfather can beat them.”

“Why so?” Hisoka drank from his glass again. Illumi did not disclose much info because he knew how Hisoka becomes when he’s tipsy. He begins to laugh and talk too much.

“They have an ability that can wipe out a Nen user within seconds.”

“Oh~♥?”

“Yes. They can disappear in the blink of an eye, they have this purple electricity shooting from their hands, and these specific men I see with gray masks that remind me of a plague doctor. They have no faces and they’re purple. Once that electricity hits you, it’s game over. They have the ability to determine if it's fatal or not.”

“Ouch. What’s the plan~♣?”

“Someone that I used to know will infiltrate the base that they’re hiding in. It will be difficult because they guard it but that is when my needles will come in handy.”

“But you didn’t have to cut me off…~♣” Hisoka sang.

“What? What was that, that you did just then?” Illumi was serious. This was no time to be joking around.

“What? I just finished what you started~♣.”

“What did I start?”

“You said ‘someone that I used to know’ and I responded ‘but you didn’t have to cut me off’. Don’t tell me you’re not aware of that song~♣.”

Hisoka smiled something softer than usual and laughed at Illumi’s clueless look. This was something he adored about him; the carelessness made him laugh so hard that he forgot about his troubles...if he had any.

“I understand why you brought me here to talk about stopping the Galra, but let’s enjoy this moment. Just you and I~♥.”

“Why? They are dangerous. They could be planning on destroying us as we speak.”

“You worry too much. Besides, everyone knows of your talent and even if they seem more powerful, I’m sure they’re keeping their distance from you.”

“I thought you’d be overjoyed at this opportunity. You can finally put those chrome cards to play.”

“Who said I wasn’t? I am but I’ve learned to hide my arousal rather well~♥.”

“You didn’t hide it well just a few seconds ago.”

“Touché’. But I was not talking about fighting then, I was talking about you~♥.”

“Hmm.” Illumi didn’t know what to say but one thing is for sure. Many, many feelings and thoughts clouded his mind and body but he didn’t know how to respond to them. He has known Hisoka for some time now and he knew of his ways; if he would just tell him how he felt, he might be surprised by his reaction. Hisoka has flirted and with him several times but for some reason he felt like if he responded he may not get a desired response.

Hisoka began to chuckle, more of a tipsy chuckle. He couldn’t hold back his laughter as he noticed how Illumi’s attitude began to change. Illumi immediately placed his wine glass on the table and squinted in confusion.

“What’s so funny, now?” He sounded a bit irritated but deep inside he was happy he asked.

“You’re blushing~♥.”

“What?”

Damn.

Was it that noticeable?

Sure was.

“I’m good! I never thought that I could make the oldest son of the Zoldyck family blush from my passes. That’s an achievement for me. So tell me Illu, do you dream about me too~♥?”

“Be quiet, would you?”

The magician couldn’t help but to release a hearty laugh so loud that people began to glance in their direction. Illumi frowned and crouched low towards the table.

“Stop it. People are staring.”

“What? I love it when people stare. That means I look good~♥.”

Hisoka continued to laugh. To add to Illumi’s social demise, he stood up from his chair, took a photo on his phone and captioned it: “Best date ever♦”.

“Don’t send that!”

“Oops. Sorry not sorry,” Hisoka gloated covering his mouth. “Guess you’ll have to catch me~♥.”

He continued to laugh but his laughter slowly began to come to a halt and wired down. Now he laid his head on the table, slightly drooling. Illumi decided that he had enough excitement for the night, so he threw three pins in his right leg, which was conveniently under the table. Hisoka had hinted earlier that he would be fine if Illumi ever made that decision. Following behind him for his entire life would be to die for. Illumi smiled as he looked at the man before him, finally silent.

“This might actually work,” he whispered to himself.

The moonlight casted a shadow on him as he admired the star on the sleeping magician’s face.

[rigelmejo]

Observations when I study multiple languages at the same time:

Hello so good morning all. 早上好大家，我就着急啊哈哈....

I awoke today and my brain SPUN because I can read some Chinese, but I forgot how to say I woke up and got out of bed in chinese. I also just?? I suppose my brain worried and was like? “Do you even remember how to read french? do you even know any Chinese? Or is the new Japanese just overwriting old stuff?!”

I rationally know japanese probably won’t overwrite the rest because like - the first 5 months I studied chinese it just blocked out my French active recall unless I purposely used French a bit. But I didn’t lose any French as far as reading ability, and I got my French active recall back once I used French for a few hours/days. So it would be quite normal if my Japanese is recalled easier than my chinese for a few months. But my brain is like “we worked So hard to get to read what we Can read and say what we Can say we will be SAD if we lose it!!”

反正早上好我床上来了。我已经醒了。我不忘记很多的词。我着急为了没有的意思。我就找到一个翻译词典为了检查对的词。我猜不错。幸好！还我就可以阅读在法语，很好啊。今天我早阅读法语书一下，很容易。我没事。

My chinese may be a mess grammatically I know.

Anyway. I am. Thrilled I didn’t forget that many actual words. Universe help me if Japanese grammar starts fucking up my Chinese grammar tho. I mean I hope not because French never got fucked up; but to be fair to French I DID forget a ton of the conjugations when actually speaking/listening ToT I can barely recall French conjugations anymore unless I actively look at some textbooks or Le Français Par Le Method Nature to refresh myself. Likewise, I studied Japanese probably over 1.5 years ago now and since then, I’ve forgotten nearly all the verb conjugation endings I used to know with the exception of: ます、ません、じゃない、です／だ、じゃありません、ありまう、います、i know te form exists still though I completely forget what it’s for? Giving orders/suggestions? I forgot how adjectives conjugate but I remember they do? And I certainly forgot how words change when connected to their verb endings - I think there’s i and ru verbs? And they conjugate slightly different? And maybe nakatta is past tense negative, and katta is past tense positive (though I can’t remember if it’s katta or something else tta)?

Basically I forgot a HUGE portion of Japanese grammar. I also forgot Word order, I nearly forgot particles (I still have vague recognition of は、が、を、に、の、か). And I remember でも means but because it’s one of the few words I hear constantly and still catch. Also daijoubu (I may be spelling it wrong) for ok (I remember hearing it in YouTube and shows way more than any learning material I had, and I remember I’ve heard a similar word in thai dramas). 大丈夫／だいじょうぶ - using imiwa dictionary app I’m fairly sure that’s the word I’m remembering. Anyway I forgot... so much of my Japanese it’s like I just am relearning from almost scratch but with a vague impression it’s all familiar. I relearned these words/phrases lately which all sound extremely familiar now that I’ve heard them again: そうです、ここ、そこ、あそこ、駅／えき、子園／こえん, お電気／おでんき、今／いま、今日/きょう、あおい／青い、人/じん、話します／はなします、分かります/わかります、どこ、じゃまた.

Among the good things, I do remember most kana upon seeing them again, I think it’s just a few katakana i don’t remember unless I’m reading katakana then I recognize the word and remember the sound - like my name ミジョ/みじょ MeJo “mi-jo.” I always forget specifically ミ、シ、lol. I also forgot the way to extend vowels in katakana versus hiragana until I saw it again. And I still don’t quite remember why cake isカアク, but something else might be ice cream with a - like アーカイブ?

Anyway. Like I mentioned, this morning I read some French to assuage my fear and remind myself i can Actually still read French. I have not actually forgotten, even though my active recall is shot to hell unless I practice. And I did read, and aside from a few words I distinctly remember always confusing me and never looking up, I read fine. I’m fairly sure I read that novel easier than I’d ever read it before, even, catching more details this time than any time previously. So clearly my French reading skills are still fine, have been maintained, and if anything then over the years they’ve still marginally improved a bit.

I suppose my biggest concern with chinese is just... that I want to absolutely ensure my reading skill hits that vague “specific tipping point” that my French reading skill did. The point at which, once reached, your reading skill does not slip below “capable of grasping the overall gist of main ideas” and if you read every few days or weeks then also may continue improve over time. I remember in French, BEFORE I hit that “specific tipping point,” if I stopped reading for a while, then when I came back to reading things were harder to comprehend again and it took a bit of extra work to re-establish the foundations. But after a certain tipping point was reached, even if I didn’t read French for a few weeks or months, when I came back I had a basis of understanding that never fell below “at least able to follow gist of main idea” and often picked up any forgotten words within a few hours, then picked up new words to learn. And so I could continue “picking up where I left off” with learning instead of fighting with my reading skills sliding backwards. They no longer slid backwards, they only got “rusty” and then once polished up in a few hours, would resume improving. It’s the stage I want my chinese reading to reach, because once it reaches that point I will no longer worry I’ll forget the foundational skills - it’s decently doable to re-familiarize yourself with specialized words as needed (we even do it in English if say we read a psychology book for a class 4 years ago then pickup a new psychology class, etc). But it’s difficult to build the original foundation skills everything leans on. In Japanese, I never finished building it - I think I was finally starting to at 2.5 years in, then I gave up. As a result, I lost a significant portion of that foundation I had not finished building. At first I retained some of it, but from years of no review AND no continuing to finish building it, that foundation crumbled. So now I remember pieces of Japanese, but not enough to rely on. Whereas my French had enough time devoted to finishing the foundation, that now even if I take a few months or a year away from it, if I go back to speaking/reading/listening to French then the foundation is remembered quickly and I can start learning mostly where I left off and just jump to improving again (instead of needing months to relearn). While I can relearn/strengthen the basic things in French, I can also jump into books or listening or convos and know enough to just learn from doing, and still remember enough that I’m Capable of interacting with those things and comprehending enough To do them.

I think of it like drawing - idk when it happens with a skill like drawing, I drew since I was able to hold things so I don’t know. But basically whether you draw everyday, or stop for a few months or a year then return to drawing, within a few hours of drawing again all your previous skill comes back to you. If you forgot something you’d learned, usually a few minutes or hours re-learning is enough to drag your skills up to where they were before. So you can quickly return to your former skill level last time you drew, and quickly start improving further. So each time you draw, you’ve retained your skill from before (mostly) and improve your skill, then that skill improvement carries over to the next time you draw. It’s great. In some ways, my French skill is like that - I quickly can get to the comprehension level I was at last time I engaged with French, can improve from there, and then the next time I engage with French I can pick up from the level to which I’d improved to. I may forget some specifics I didn’t use much or learn as well - specialized words, or ways to express myself I rarely use (so rarely reinforce), but if I re-study them it takes a few hours to get those back (instead of the months it took to learn the first time). I am so grateful my French is past that “specific tipping point” because it makes French way easier to retain a useful level in, and easier to pick it back up when i have time and improve it as needed in the areas needed and retain the improvements I make for the most part. In Japanese, I never reached that “specific tipping point” of having established enough of a foundation. So I lost a lot of what I knew.

With Chinese, I really want to ensure I’ve reached past that “specific tipping point” of enough of a foundation, before I give it less dedicated time. I don’t want to lose the chinese I’ve learned, since it’s a significant amount. And... even more than that, my chinese speaking and listening ability is in many ways BETTER than my French, because I worked on it, and I don’t want to lose those abilities either to the degree I’ve developed them. In French, i know I have very low levels of speaking/listening in comparison to my reading and they lag behind as a result - even once they reached the “specific tipping point” a year later than reading in French, they still lag a ton behind my reading (think A1-2 French speaking/listening skills, versus French B1-B2 reading skills). Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to make it so my listening/speaking skills only lag behind my chinese reading skills a little bit. And I’d like all of those skills to reach the “specific tipping point” where I am able to retain the majority of those skill levels, before I work on chinese less frequently.

I know myself. With Japanese, at 2.5 years in I was Just starting to hit the beginning of making that foundation I could retain later - I was just starting to read and comprehend the gist of the main plots in manga, to watch YouTube or play games and grasp the bare gist of what the main ideas was. In French, those skills started at about 5 months in, and I don’t think they hit “specific tipping point” of me being able to rely on keeping those skills perpetually, until 1.5 years in. With Japanese, as I said, i hit the beginning of building them around 2.5 years in, and just never solidified them enough to hit the “specific tipping point” unfortunately. With Chinese, at least in reading (since I’m only discussing reading skill in all 3 languages), I probably hit the beginning of building these skills at month 10-11. That was when I could start reading manhua without a dictionary, novels without a dictionary (and grasp the main ideas gist at minimum), and watch shows and do the same. Which again, is higher than Japanese even was at its beginning-foundation, as I couldn’t even Read novels or listen to Japanese audio on its own and follow the main idea. So I suppose, to compare the absolute beginnings of each foundation being built: in French it was month 3 (when I could start brute forcing through news/Wikipedia and comprehend some gist of main ideas), Japanese year 2.3ish (when I started brute forcing through manga and comprehending very roughly some main ideas), month 6-8 in chinese (when I started brute forcing shows and novels and comprehended honestly more than I can believe I managed to in retrospect, considering how much easier those still-challenging tasks feel now). Anyway... Chinese has seemed to take 2x as much time to improve compared to my French. I do suspect chinese normally takes native English speakers roughly the FSI recommended 4x as much time. I suspect my French learning plan was just not very optimal for my learning style, so it wasn’t as efficient. Likewise... I suspect Japanese should normally take roughly 4x to 5x longer to improve then French. I suspect mine took SO long last time particularly, because I did not even have a good study plan for myself until year 2 of Japanese study.

So... based on all that. I imagine my chinese will be very firmly where i want it’s minimum skill to reliably maintain the foundation of what I know, to be at.. year 2-3. Year 2, if I keep improving as well as I’ve been doing (and assuming if my French had been more consistent it would’ve been at the “specific tipping point” by year 1). And year 3 if I don’t always study as much, or it simply takes longer (so twice the 1.5 years French took). Which honestly... 3 years is still intensely fast as I see it. And, if I’m improving the way I think I have been, I can’t even imagine how ill be in year 3. Anyway... based on all of that... I think it would be a bad idea to pick up Japanese heavily until my chinese is past at least year 2. With my 1 year+ of French, at that point I was also studying Japanese, and they seemed to work fine as I studied both - the only thing was it slowed down my French progress. So I do think waiting to do anything heavy with japanese, until my chinese is a good play I’m ok to let it simply maintain for the most part, is probably a safer plan.

—-

Realistically... no reason I can’t lightly re-study Japanese though and Just like rebuild the beginnings of the foundation I had though, it was probably N4 starting into N3 when I gave up. So I could probably re-learn some old stuff without taking too much time from chinese. And then if my chinese is year 2 by then, that sure would be convenient. Lol this is all... me contemplating. When we all know the truth is, I’m going to do whatever I want to do in the moment, and see what happens o3o

I am gonna tentatively say though, I think as long as I don’t abandon Chinese for any length of time until at least 2-3 years in, it should probably be maintained at least though at where it’s at/gradually improve. I didn’t lose any French during the times I kept using it, even when studying Japanese and russian, the “specific tipping point” didn’t really matter until I stopped using French for months at a time. I am sure I will notice if another language study is slowing down my chinese study though, in which case I’ll pause the other language if I have a Chinese goal that needs more time for attention.

At the moment, my Chinese goals are going about as expected. I wish I could carve some more time for them, but I’m giving them as much time as they were getting throughout the fall - so it’s not like they’re getting any less time than usual. (I am just inpatient, and wish I was the kind of person with the time and focus to give them 4-6 hours a day lol).

[eurolinguiste]

A short while ago, my good friend Kerstin Cable posted a question in her Facebook group. She asked, “if you could only study one language for the next five years, what would it be?”

I began to type, thinking it would be an easy answer. Chinese – duh! It’s not my native language and it’s the language I speak with Little Linguist, so I need to always stay ahead of him. In five years, he’ll be quite the conversationalist, so that would definitely need to be my one language.

But then my fingers grew still on the keyboard as I began to imagine an entire five years with just one language.

I hit delete.

It wasn’t a question I could answer because even if it’s just an imaginary scenario, it’s something that’s not easy for me to imagine.

Shortly after, I received a question from someone about what my thoughts were on learning more than one language at once.

Recently, I’ve discovered the value of focusing on one language.

But here’s where I’m going to be completely honest with you. Even when I have a focus language, I don’t completely set my other languages aside. Yup, I’m unfaithful to my focus languages.

There. I said it. It’s out there.

I’m just not a one language at a time kind of person.

Outside of the last three months or so of preparing for the HSK exam, I don’t think I’ve ever just studied one language.

And here’s why I don’t think I ever will.

1. I can take a break from language learning without really taking a break.

If I get frustrated, overwhelmed or bored with my main language, I can hit pause and look at a different language. That way I get a break from my focus language, but don’t have to take a break from language completely.

This allows me to come back to my main language refreshed without losing the habit of language study that I’ve established.

2. Sometimes working on a different language helps me understand a problem I’m having in my focus language.

When you learn a different language, sometimes certain aspects of that language are explained in a way that help you understand parts of another language.

For example, I didn’t understand how Russian cases even remotely until I began to study them intensely for Croatian. In doing this, I gained the ability to better use Croatian cases and an understanding of what I needed to do to learn them for Russian.

The same was true of particles. When I studied Korean, particles were completely new to me. I wasn’t really sure how to use them or which to use. When I began to study them for Japanese, I had already been introduced to their function and was able to more quickly learn them. When I go back to Korean, I’ll have a stronger foundation to look at them once again.

3. I don’t want to lose too much of my languages by taking an extended break.

The longer you step away from the language, the more you forget. That means the next time you pick it up, the more review you’ll have to do.

I prefer to learn new material and spend less time reviewing, so I try not to let too much time lapse when I take a break from a language.

4. I love languages too much to not dabble in more than one.

And even though I’ve settled on my forever languages, there are still a few others that I had to – very reluctantly – cut from the final list.

To maintain and improve the languages that I’ve committed to, I need to work on more than one at once.

5. At the moment, I don’t have a job or anything else that requires me to attain and maintain an extremely high level in one or two languages so I’m okay with being decent or even okay at several.

If this changes, how I study will change too. But, I’m happy with the way that my learning is going and I’m happy when I’m learning more than one language.

Learning Just One Language at a Time is a Good Thing for Some Language Learners

On the other end of the spectrum, here is why I think it’s good to study one language at a time:

1. You get a lot farther, a lot faster with a language when you focus on it.

When you study just one language at a time, all of your time and attention go to that one language. And that means you get better at it faster. If you want to learn a language quickly, learning just one at a time is the way to go.

2. You’re less likely to confuse your languages.

When you learn more than one language at the same time, the chances that you’ll confuse them is higher. Even when they’re unrelated.

If you decide to learn more than one language (even if it’s not at the same time), this mixing is something that happens. There’s really no avoiding it. Learning only one language at a time, however, does decrease the amount it happens.

So now that I’ve shared why I study more than one language at a time and the benefits of studying just one language at a time, I want to talk about my process for learning more than one language at once.

3. You aren’t yet an experienced language learner.

If you’re trying to learn how to learn languages at the same time you’re learning more than one language, it might be too much. In my experience, it’s best to have at least one language under your belt before you add in more languages. It’s good to have gone through the process of learning a language (even if it’s to an intermediate level) before you add something new to the mix.

How I Learn More Than One Language at a Time

My process for learning more than one language at once has gone through some significant changes over the past few years.

In the past, I was pretty unorganized. Today, I’m much more selective.

Here is what I do:

1. At any given time, I have a focus language.

This means that it gets the bulk of my study time. If my day is full, I make sure I get to this language and skip looking at the others until my schedule permits it.

2. I do short-term language projects.

Much like Benny Lewis of Fluent in 3 Months, I’ve grown fond of doing three-month long intensive projects. Doing this has given me the chance to revive my Croatian and take on Japanese. But I’ve also done much shorter projects like my three day Italian refresh.

This gives me focused time for my main language, but isn’t long enough that I can get distracted by other new and exciting languages or resources. I know that I can add them to my “want to try” list and that in a very short time, will get to do just that.

3. I only have two or three side languages at a time even though I work on eight total languages.

And sometimes just one. These are my break or “need to maintain” languages, so I sometimes hang on to them for more than three months. Other times, I only need to work on them briefly for a specific project. Once that project is over, I can swap them out with another side language.

4. I use language laddering.

Language laddering is when you use one of your stronger languages to learn a new language or improve a weaker language. I often use French to learn Croatian, Croatian to learn Russian, and sometimes use Chinese to learn Japanese.

Doing this also allows me to deliberately practice switching between similar languages so that I’m less likely to confuse them.

5. I don’t start learning more than one new language at a time.

With the exception of when I was at university and had to study both Italian and German at the same time, I don’t start learning more than one new language at a time. Instead, I start one, give it some attention, get somewhat comfortable with it, *and then* pick up a new one.

When you start a new language, *everything* is new and so it can be pretty overwhelming. When you try to do this with more than one language, you’re doubling or tripling that sense of overwhelm.

6. I find and commit to a tutor for my focus language asap.

Doing so makes me even more committed to the language because I don’t want to waste my tutor’s time. I make sure that I’m doing the work between sessions so that we have something new to work on each session.

And once I commit to a tutor, I usually keep up my lessons even when I have a new focus language. (i’ll write about my system for this in another post soon)

7. I accept that sometimes I’m going to feel guilty about not spending time with certain languages.

My time is limited and I don’t spend it all learning languages. This means that I won’t get to study every single language every single day. And sometimes I don’t spend time with them for months. And I also know there are languages that I want to learn that I won’t learn. Before I let this guilt take over and I spread myself to thin in an attempt to study all the languages all the time.

Now I accept that it’s part of the process and it’s a comprise I needed to make to achieve my long-term goals.

I won’t ever be able to erase the guilt I feel when I realize it’s been a year since I’ve studied Korean or that I’ve let my Italian slide yet again. And I don’t want to. It’s what brings me back to those languages when I finally do have time for them.

I don’t, however, let that guilt take over any more. I know that if I stick to the system I’ve worked so hard at, that I’ll get the results I’m aiming for.

In Conclusion

For me personally, learning more than one language at a time just works. I stay fascinated by languages, get to try out a lot of different and interesting methods and resources, and have the opportunity to learn about tons of different places and cultures.

Every learner is different, so there is no right or wrong. Learning more than one language at a time may be the right choice for you. But maybe learning one language at a time is more your style.

You won’t know until you try.

What about you?

Do you commit to one language when you study or do you like to work on more than one at once?

I look forward to hearing from you in the comments below.

The post How to Learn More Than One Language at a Time appeared first on Eurolinguiste.

[lucifers-trash-stash]

Hey guys <3 @jeffreydeanneganstrash reached 2K followers and decided to host a Q&A so I thought I’d answer the questions <3 Congrats again on the 2K!

What is your name? Charlotte

How old are you? 21

How would you describe your cultural background? The only thing about my cultural background that I know for certain is that my dad’s side of the family are French Canadian and all live up in Quebec. My mother’s side is harder to pinpoint because they don’t have a complete family tree anywhere, probably European.

What languages do you speak? My main language is English and I know a decent amount of French. By that I mean I can read it and understand it, but trying to talk to people is much harder.

How tall are you? 5′5″

What are your best physical features? Well, I really like my hair and how curly it is. I really like my eyes too, they’re hazel.

What makes you feel beautiful or strong? 80% of the time I definitely don’t feel beautiful or strong, but I suppose the few times that I do are when I wear an outfit that makes me feel good or listening to upbeat music. Otherwise I have no idea how to answer this lol

Can you tell me a secret? I own an Oppan Gangam Style Funko Pop from when that was still a thing. I don’t know why I still keep it but he’s there lmao

Can you describe your personality by only stating the names of three fictional characters? Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, Daria Morgandorffer from Daria, and April Ludgate-Dwyer from Parks and Rec.

When did you start watching The Walking Dead? After it was announced that Jeff was going to play Negan. At the time I was up to date on the comics and I loved Jeff as the Comedian in Watchman so I figured he’d do a good job. That being said I still haven’t seen the entire show all the way through yet, just seasons 1-3 and 7-8 LOL

If you could rewrite one storyline on TWD, which would it be and why? I’m still annoyed with how slow moving the first half of season 2 was. The second half after Sophia walks out of the barn as a walker is pretty good, but I would have loved to see a bit more substance to the first half of the season, especially when a lot of characters are doing nothing around the farm or god forbid spend an entire episode trying to get a zombie out of a well to get the water when the water was probably infected anyways from the walker being down there in the first place. I wouldn’t drink that water, not sure why they wanted to lol

Was there a character whose death you celebrated on TWD? Spencer. Always Spencer.

Which character death made you sob like a small child? Merle Dixon. I mean, I won’t go into it because anyone that follows my blog knows how much I love Michael Rooker, but damn. He was an amazing character and actually began to have a bit of an arc in his development before being killed sacrificing himself to try to kill the Governor. That will always make me sad, especially when Daryl breaks down after finding Merle as a walker D:

Where would you take up residency in TWD universe: Alexandria, The Kingdom, Hilltop, The Sanctuary etc.? Honestly, the Kingdom would be pretty cool to live in. As much as I love Negan and Sanctuary, every time I see the Kingdom it just... looks like a Kingdom, you know?

What would be your weapon of choice in the zombie apocalypse? While I would probably be better off using my brain (because I’m not good at fighting at all), I’d probably use a baseball bat. I played baseball a lot as a kid so I know my way around a bat.

What would be in your zombie apocalypse bag? Probably a decent amount of food and water, a couple notebooks and pens to write things down and keep track of stuff. Maybe my lighter to help start a fire, some basic medical stuff just in case. A picture or two of my family. There’s probably tons of other stuff too but I can’t think of anything else at the moment lol

If you were a character on TWD, what would be your theme song, and why? Okay it took me FOREVER to decide on this one, but I think it would have to be “No More Mr. Nice Guy” by Alice Cooper. It’s probably a cliche choice, but as I’m a person that is kind of shy and tries to please everyone, during the apocalypse I would expect myself to turn after taking too much of that, just like the lyrics imply lol

You are the moral compass of the group in TWD universe, what would be the lesson that you would preach? As much as this is probably tiring to hear at this point, I’d probably preach more about how the group should focus on working with other groups to deal with the walkers. I mean, we know how well that’s been working out right now... LOL

How would you rather die on the show: turning into a walker or being killed by another human? I’d rather be killed by another person. I can’t imagine being turned into a walker, so I’d rather just go out by a human.

Who is your favourite character played by JDM? I still have a really fond spot for The Comedian. I loved the Watchman movie and the comic, and Comedian is one of my favorite characters next to Rorschach. Jeff portrays him so fantastically, and he was the perfect choice.

Okay, let’s spice things up: daddy kink, yay or nay? That would be a resounding Hell YEAH

If you answered yes to the previous question: do you now have one because of JDM? Not because of him, but he made me realize I’d always had one since I was in high school after looking back at all the other male characters I thirsted over. Freddy Krueger, Beetlejuice, Jareth the Goblin King, etc.

What is your ultimate JDM/JDM character fantasy? Oh man... Negan and dirty talk, definitely. His voice is sooooooo hot and I’d honestly love to be alone with him as he whispers all the dirty things he’d like to do to me in my ear... and then doing them ;)

Would you really join Negan’s harem given the choice? I’m going to be brutally honest here, as much as I’d like to say I’d be an independent woman and take care of myself, knowing who I am I’d probably join his harem if he asked. Of course he’s attractive and all, but from a survival standpoint he’s the leader of Sanctuary and makes sure his wives are taken care of. I mean, knowing myself as a wife, I’d probably get stir crazy and do something productive with my time instead of lounging around doing nothing, but otherwise I’d definitely be looking out for my best interests. Negan provides a certain level of protection and security that would be hard to come by elsewhere.

What words remind you of Negan? Charismatic, dominant, powerful.

You’re locked alone in an ATM vestibule with JDM, what are you going to do? The same would apply to whether this is a situation where he’s single or not, I’d clam up and be screaming internally while I’m stuck in an enclosed space with a hot dude. He’d probably have to calm me down before I faint lmao

If you could describe sex with Negan through a song, which song would you pick? If we’re still on the subject of Alice Cooper songs... “Bed of Nails.” Seriously, just look at the chorus and say that isn’t Negan:

Our love is a bed of nails Love hurts good on a bed of nails I'll lay you down and when all else fails I'll drive you like a hammer on a bed of nails.

If Negan had given you the choice to pick a person to die from the lineup, which character would be on Lucille’s receiving end? Everyone is going to hate me, but Daryl. From a writing standpoint, he hasn’t been interesting in a while. It’s like they give stuff to Daryl when they don’t know what other character to use.

Do you write any fanfiction, create content for any fandom blogs etc.? (If so, reblog something you’re most proud of and tag me in it!) I write fanfiction for TWD, and have written for Negan, Merle, Daryl, and Simon. Also for some of Michael Rooker’s other characters, like Yondu and Grant Grant. I’ll tag you in my favorite Negan fics I’ve written :P

Finally, what is the one thing you want your followers to know about you? Hmmmm I’m really not sure. I mean, other than the fact that writing is something I love to do so much and I’m thankful to have such lovely followers that follow my blog and enjoy the stuff I do. <3

[learnspanishfans]

Why You’re Stuck At Intermediate Spanish … And How To Break Through The Plateau

Is your progress in Spanish slowly grinding to a halt? Did you breeze through your beginner lessons, only to run into a brick wall as you approach intermediate Spanish? If so, grab a pen and paper, and clear your schedule for the next 5 minutes… I’m going to show you the following:

Why your progress in Spanish seems to be slowing

The “intermediate plateau” – and why it’s important

The problem with your current study method

10 ways to use the “whole language” to get unstuck and bring fluency in Spanish one step closer

Getting stuck at intermediate level in a language is a well-documented phenomenon, and you’re not alone! I’ve squared up to this predictable roadblock in all the 8 languages I speak, and come out on top most of the time! Once you understand what’s going on, and commit to studying in a new, exciting way, you can shake off the cobwebs and breathe a new lease of life into your Spanish overnight.

The Honeymoon Period of Beginner’s Spanish

I began learning Spanish by myself, many years ago, in a grey, asphalt corner of London, England. During the first few months, I felt like I was learning quickly. I had some native speaker friends around me, and they taught me a lot of cool phrases, such as colloquial ways of greeting people: ¿Cómo estamos? ¿Qúe pasó, tío? And some cool replies: ¡No tan bien como tú! My first conversations didn’t amount to much, but I was so excited to be really communicating in Spanish! (What I didn’t know at the time is that when you’re a beginner people have a tendency to humour you, and make you feel like you’re a much better speaker than you actually are!) I gained vocabulary. I learnt some basic verb conjugations. Before long, I could start making up my own sentences, not just repeating the same things I learnt in my books. Every day, after practicing with my fiends, I would go home feeling great, and thinking: "I'll be fluent in Spanish in no time!" I remember even starting to flip ahead in my textbook, excited about the next lesson.

The Roadblock Hit Me Like A Ton Of Bricks

Sure enough, the honeymoon period came to an end. It happened to me in Spanish, and it’s happened in every language ever since… At first, it's easy and fun. Then something changes. You're not sure why. You may not know exactly when. You can't quite put your finger on what happened. Yet, at some point, you stop feeling like you're really learning. Things start to become frustrating. Maybe it's a grammar point that you just can’t get right: choosing between the infamous ser and estar, for example. Or conjugating your –ir and –er verbs in different tenses. No matter how long you go over the rules, you still make mistakes. No matter how many times you conjugate verbs on paper, it still takes you ten minutes to utter a decent sentence. You wonder if you're not meant for language learning. Maybe you blame your teacher. Maybe you start looking into French classes, convinced that Spanish just isn't your cup of tea. Well, I can’t vouch for your teacher, but I can tell you this… Hitting this language roadblock is totally normal. In fact, it even has a name. It's called the “intermediate plateau”.

The Intermediate Plateau in Language Learning (and Why It Matters)

When you start learning a new language, your progress has a positive gradient. Your knowledge builds quickly, and that makes the process fun! Every word you learn seems immediately useful…

Verbs like: comer, beber, entender or gustar

Nouns like: bebida, teléfono, casa

Adjectives like: rápido, inteligente, bueno

Eventually, your learning levels out to a plateau. By this stage, you already know the most common words in Spanish. Your speaking may lack finesse, but you can hold a conversation in Spanish, and get your point across. From this point on, everything you’re learning now seems less and less useful in conversation:

Verbs like: mascullar (to mumble) , engrapar (to staple), or apoderar (to empower)

Nouns like: herramientas (tools), estantería (bookshelf), huerta (orchard)

Adjectives like: tibio (warm), hervido (boiled), and so on…

Not only do you not need this vocabulary right away, you might go for weeks or months without using these words even once. Because your new vocabulary is harder to use, you have the impression that you’re not progressing as quickly as before. But this is just an illusion. In fact, you’re still learning just as much as before – it just doesn’t feel that way!

Finer Shades Of Meaning Are Harder To Get Right

This feeling of diminishing returns isn’t limited to vocabulary. It also extends to Spanish grammar. When you start learning Spanish, you begin with the present tense. Next, you learn the preterit to discuss things in the past, and perhaps one of the future constructions to talk about future plans. These tenses are great for explaining immediate needs and telling simple stories. When your Spanish reaches intermediate level, though, you begin to encounter other forms of grammar that are used to convey finer shades of meaning, such as other forms of the past tense, the conditional and the subjunctive “Why do we need all these tenses?” you might catch yourself thinking! Consider the different ways you might ask a colleague to go to the bank – using the subjunctive:

Quiero que vayas al banco

Me gustaría que fueras al banco

Me gustaría que fueses al banco

Now, you might spend months studying how to use the subjunctive accurately, but it doesn’t make a great deal of difference to your ability to communicate – you can get your point across with a rudimentary: Vas al banco, por favor (and a smile). Once again, it feels like a lot of study, for not much return.

A Strategy For Breaking Through The Intermediate Plateau In Spanish

Essentially, what we’ve been talking about up until now is a growing disconnect between what you’re studying, and what you need in order to communicate. The more your learn, the more abstract it becomes. The key to progressing past the intermediate plateau in Spanish is to make everything you're learning feel relevant and useful. Only once your learning appears relevant and useful will your brain work hard to retain it. In order to make more advanced Spanish feel useful, you need to go beyond the textbook and study the whole language. “Whole language” is the opposite of grammar exercises and word lists in your textbook. It means spending time with Spanish in context - as it is used in real life. You study the whole language when you do two things:

Connect with Spanish regularly through self-study and personal interest

Make Spanish part of your daily life (not just an activity for study time or weekends)

The best way to learn Spanish on your own involves speaking with others and interacting with the language beyond the classroom, especially by doing things that you enjoy. When you learn Spanish this way, new words and phrases automatically have meaning from the context you find them in – even if they’re less frequent. Not only that, but learning with the “whole language” massively increase your exposure to the Spanish language, resulting in exponential opportunities to learn. (Oh, and doing things this way is also a lot more fun!) Let’s talk about practical ways to do this:

10 Ways To Beat The Intermediate Plateau

1. Read. Listen and read. Listen Becoming fluent in Spanish requires you to spend a lot of time in the company of the language. The easiest way to do this is by listening and reading to things you enjoy. However, material intended for native speakers can be difficult to understand. The most effective way to learn with real Spanish is to find listening material that comes with the transcript (Or books that come with the audio). When you can read what you hear (or vice versa), you have far more chance of learning and retaining the information. Your listening skills also improve, as you can find clues in the text that you might not be able to hear by yourself. Here's how to do it:

Find audio (podcasts, music, or audio recordings of books) that also has a written transcript

Listen multiple times without stopping the recording

Focus on pushing your ear to pick up as much it can by itself

Then, add the transcript and look up any difficult vocabulary

Continue to listen and read, trying to increase your understanding each time

When you’re confident of understanding the text, hide the transcript and see if you can understand everything just by listening

Here's an example of this approach in practice: httpvh://youtu.be/_hJPsaaZXBg It’s important not to use material that’s too far above your level. If you're not sure where to get good material for this, check out the Fluent Spanish Academy. 2. Listen to music or podcasts during your commute Do you commute to work or school? If so, then try listening to music or podcasts in Spanish in the car or on public transportation. Podcasts usually employ clear, well-articulated speech, making it easy for learners to listen. You can even find podcasts specifically for learners. Listening to music without the help of transcripts is a less effective study method than the "Listen. Read. Listen and read. Listen." method described above. However, it may be easier to fit into your daily routine and you might decide to look up lyrics for favourite songs later, after hearing them a couple of times. 3. Read a novel in Spanish If you’ve never tackled a book in Spanish before, start with a translated book that you've already read in English. That way, you'll already know the plot and will have a “scaffold” to help you handle new vocabulary, thereby spending less time with a dictionary. When you're ready for a real challenge, grab a novel originally written in Spanish. If you don't know any authors, look for something by Isabel Allende. She's a Chilean author with tons of classic titles that can easily be found both online and in bookstores. I also like Gabriel García Márquez, the late Colombian novelist. 4. Create Regular Opportunities To Speak Spanish Readers of Fluent in 3 Months hardly need reminding of the need to speak their target language. However, one thing is knowing it, another is doing it. It’s easy to fall into the habit of studying Spanish and never getting into the habit of speaking it – because speaking Spanish regularly requires you to get off the sofa and haul yourself out to language events…or at least to your computer! Speaking is so fundamental to breaking through the intermediate plateau that you must make sure you’re speaking at least 2-3 times a week before you worry about anything else. Doing this will throw all kinds of unexpected situations at you, and give you the option to put into practice everything you’re learning. There are tonnes of ways to meet native speakers, but with iTalki.com (online) and Meetup.com (real world) you’re covered. 5. Do online searches in Spanish How many times a day do you search for information online? Is there anything stopping you doing your searches in Spanish? No. Product reviews, recipes, destination guides… they’re all great ways to get meaningful Spanish practice, and learn a lot of incidental language while you’re at it. 6. Use your phone in Spanish Go into your settings and set your phone's language to Spanish. About 90% of the time you probably navigate your phone using mostly icons anyways, so you won't get too lost or frustrated. However, you will give yourself constant, daily interactions with Spanish. 7. Watch TV shows in Spanish If you like watching TV, switch out your English shows for Spanish language ones, like El Príncipe. Don’t go anywhere near the English subtitles – put on the Spanish ones instead! If you usually watch with English-speaking friends, bilingual shows like Narcos can stimulate your Spanish without leaving your friends in the dust. 8. Get your news in Spanish Reading the news is a daily activity for most of us. Getting your news in Spanish is a great way to add purposeful language time into your day, related to your own interests. BBC Mundo has a widget that you can download for the home screen of your Android phone. You can also check out paper and online versions of newspapers from whatever country or city most interests you. 9. Read blogs, comics & other online material in Spanish Often, one of the best ways to find stimulating material in a foreign language is to simply ask yourself the question: “What do I do for fun in my own language?” Run through a list of things you typically look up online, and you ought to be able to find something similar in Spanish. 10. Take general-interest classes run in Spanish If you live in an urban area, you may be able to find classes run in Spanish. I searched “españoles en londres” and found this site which is a wealth of opportunities for meeting Spanish speaking people in my hometown. Even if you take classes in English that have a Spanish connection, such as Salsa classes, you’re putting yourself in a great position to meet native speakers at some point down the line.

Conclusion: The Secret To Fluent Spanish

What I want you to notice from all these ideas is this: You can’t keep studying the way you used to. Simple lessons and grammar exercises may have helped you get started in Spanish, but it doesn’t cut it beyond the beginner stage. Breaking through the intermediate plateau in Spanish means immersing yourself in the “whole language” with activities that you are personally invested in. By making Spanish part of your lifestyle, and not waiting until the day when you feel “ready”, you will not only improve faster, but have a lot more fun!

The post Why You’re Stuck At Intermediate Spanish … And How To Break Through The Plateau appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

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[yahoo-puck-daddy-blog]

Nyquist's spear, Coyotes' arena drama and Burns' scoring (Puck Daddy Countdown)

LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 29: Brent Burns #88 of the San Jose Sharks poses for a portrait prior to the 2017 Honda NHL All-Star Game at Staples Center on January 29, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

(In which Ryan Lambert takes a look at some of the biggest issues and stories in the NHL, and counts them down.)

8. Gustav Nyquist

“Obviously I didn’t mean to do that,” Gustav Nyquist said.

What are you talking about, dude? I have never in my life seen someone try-to-do-that as much as Nyquist tried to spear Jared Spurgeon in the mouth. You can not-like the hit Spurgeon put on him in the first place, which is fair. The reaction is worthy of about 20 games.

How can you not be sick of this crap? Every time a guy commits a suspension-worthy penalty, it’s always, “Yeah, I mean I saw his numbers for the four strides I took to get them before I jumped into the hit from behind but it was never my intention for him to get hurt. I’m not that kind of player. I’m glad he’s only in the hospital and not dead. I’ll text him later and say I’m really sorry.”

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Get lost. My man, this is like Captain Ahab’s dying words being, “My bad, Moby Dick.” Heat of the moment, sure, but you had vengeance in your heart on this play and there’s no dressing it up.

7. More in the Duchene lottery

I don’t have Nick Kypreos’s sources, obviously, but I really struggle to understand why the Pittsburgh Penguins would want to acquire Matt Duchene in the first place, let alone put together the pieces to actually acquire him.

Like, do you really trade for Duchene to take on that money (how, by the way?) to move him to the wing? Do you take on that money to keep him as your No. 3 center? Didn’t we already try this with Jordan Staal?

It’s nice to be in the market for useful players. And many of the teams connected with Duchene to this point have been clubs that make some amount of sense. Duchene to Pittsburgh? I flat-out don’t get the logic there. 

6. Getting up on your high horse

You know what’s funny about the Arizona Coyotes acting all angry about the reports they were kicking the tires on a move to Portland or Seattle? Everything.

Like, you got taxpayers to cough up a ton of money for a rink no one goes to, then you can’t get anyone to build you another taxpayer-funded rink maybe slightly more people will go to. And you have the temerity to get up there and “How-Dare-You!” somebody. That actually is very cool and awesome.

Like, if you’re the Coyotes, you shooooooooould be looking at Portland and Seattle. And even if you’re not, using the fact that you might be looking at them as a bargaining chip is a classic “evil sports owner” move. How do you mess that up?

5. Michel Therrien’s hot seat

So the Habs were in a spiral, with only three points from their last seven games, and their win coming against the obviously-trying-to-tank Coyotes. In overtime. By a score of 5-4.

It cost Michel Therrien his job. But you’re never gonna guess what the problem was here! It was PDO!!!!!!!!!

The Canadiens had a 5.5 shooting percentage and .882 save percentage in the seven games before Therrien got canned. It’s a 93.7 PDO. How many games do you think that wins you?

And look, I know a lot of people are still very locked-in on the idea that Therrien isn’t a good coach, but the past two seasons the Habs have actually had one of the better processes in the league. They missed the playoffs last year because Carey Price was injured and Mike Condon couldn’t make a stop. They’re losing now because Carey Price can’t make a stop and no one can put the puck in the net.

Not that they couldn’t stand to get a little better process-wise right now (they’ve been outshot by 13 over these seven games despite trailing for most of them) but like, this coach wasn’t the problem.

With that having been said, if you get the chance to hire Julien, you of course take it. He’s the only actually elite coach who speaks French in the entire world, so this is literally the best Montreal is ever going to do.

4. Vegas’s coaching search

I guess this is the stretch of the PDPR where we talk about coaches. So here we go:

Okay, we know the Golden Knights were always out on Claude Julien, which I guess is understandable because he probably wanted like $3 million a year (his rumored salary in Boston). If I’m a brand-new franchise and I really don’t know what I’m going to have, I don’t make that kind of investment, especially because any smart GM is looking to tank in the first few years of the club’s existence to get a bunch of picks and prospects.

(If I’m GM George McPhee, I try to rob everyone blind in the expansion draft then extremely trade several of those guys to the highest bidder as soon as possible.)

But anyway, yeah, you have coaching options that aren’t going to cost you a lot and will probably have a decent amount of pro or even NHL experience. The way coaches are getting fired these days, you might have a surfeit of options available to you that strike the right balance for you. Better to hold off.

Though I hear this Therrien guy might be available.

3. Lindy Ruff’s hot seat

You gotta give the St. Louis Blues credit. In making the very wrong decision on firing Ken Hitchcock, they unstuck the coaching situation in the NHL with relative ease.

Next came another bad but more understandable decision: Claude Julien getting turfed in Boston.

And now it appears as though Dallas is ready to part ways with Lindy Ruff. Honestly, it’s tough to blame them. When he was hired, I didn’t think he was the right guy in the first place, but you can’t argue with the results he wrung out of a team that, to put it lightly, has endured some roster problems. This season’s performance seems to have caught everyone by surprise, mainly because the older players in the lineup aren’t producing to previous levels.

But at the same time, like, defense was a huge problem last year, right? And then they lost Jason Demers and Alex Goligoski, and GM Jim Nill figured rookies would fill those holes? Seems like a big blunder on management’s part, especially because the goaltending problems were eminently foreseeable for the second year in a row as well.

Does a coaching change help? I dunno, but it probably doesn’t hurt. Despite the very obvious problems the team has had, it doesn’t seem like Ruff has done much but hope to outscore the opponent 4-3 every night.

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Maybe you get a nice fellow called Claude Julien on board. I bet Tyler Seguin would be thrilled!

2. The Capitals

I know their PDO is like 600 right now but man this team is playing some damn great hockey even with all their luck. They’re in the top five or six teams in the league in just about every tangible score-adjusted 5-on-5 category you can come up with, and have the kind of lineup that’s going to be conducive to special-teams success as well.

Heck, I wouldn’t wanna play ’em now. And especially not in the playoffs.

1. Brent Burns

Man, this guy’s gonna win the MVP, isn’t he? Good lord. He entered Tuesday night fourth in the league in points, only two back of Connor McDavid. And sixth in assists. And tied for 11th in goals.

He’s a freakin’ defenseman. And because he’s a Good Canadian Boy who throws checks, no one will ever accuse him of never being in his own zone. (Pssst, he gets fewer shorthanded minutes per game than Chris Tierney.)

Yeah, this guy rules. How blessed are we to watch him? Wow!

(Not ranked this week: When you get extremely owned.

Quick thing on the Bruins here: This worked out great for Cam Neely. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.)

Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

(All statistics via Corsica unless otherwise noted.)

MORE FROM YAHOO HOCKEY:

[rigelmejo]

Things I can confirm with my personal learning experience are possible:

1. Yes learning up to HSK 4 materials within a year is possible. I think as long as some effort is put into ensuring that material is part of what you study, it can be worked through within a year. I read one persons claim that they learned up to HSK 4 with their self-made flashcard study materials in 8 months. I can believe that... it took me roughly 10-11 months to learn up to that amount of HSK 4 material. If I’d been studying primarily FOR HSK levels, I probably could have covered that material in 8 months. So I do think the goal of getting from no knowledge to HSK 4 in a year is achievable and not necessarily an extreme goal.

2. Yes achieving that can take as little as 1 to a couple hours a day of study on average. Some days I studied 15 minutes, some a few hours, some I didn’t study. I probably averaged around 1-2 hours a day of ‘Chinese adjacent studying.’ By that I mean: some study was grammar reading, sometimes flashcards, sometimes intensively reading some Chinese novel, sometimes studying Hanzi reference books, sometimes extensively trying to read, sometimes trying to chat in chinese with people or browse on Chinese social media, sometimes reading a manhua page or two, sometimes trying to watch a show with no English sub, sometimes watching a show with dual English-chinese subtitles and just consciously stopping to note to myself some new words I wanted to know (usually by pausing and rereading Just the chinese subs to try to understand the line, looking up the chinese words I wanted to know in Pleco and saving them). I am only now... finally.... also incorporating listening to audio only stuff more sometimes.

But basically - I just did a little of whatever, whenever, amongst the activities above. Most days I did Something, some days I spent more time than others. But I was by no means studying a ton. I probably studied as much as I exercise a day or less. Also a lot of my ‘study adjacent’ activities could easily just be part of my regular hobbies - using some of my reading time in a week for chinese, using some time I usually watch shows/YouTube for watching chinese shows, using some time I listen to music and dance to play chinese music and dance, etc. I use some down time when I’d goof off on social media to do flashcards (when I manage to do flashcards).

3. Things I think for me, based on my experiences, help me learn a language much more ‘easily’ than if I didn’t do them: reading a grammar guide super early on!!! (It’s brutal but it helps, just chugging through one quick! The overview helps!)

Learning the 1000 most common words ASAP!!! (It helps me so much and I put off doing this longer in chinese than I wish I would have in retrospect, comprehension went from ??? To me getting at LEAST the gist of nearly everything in chinese.)

Practicing trying to read ASAP and then regularly as in once every couple weeks (again it seems brutal, but helped my French tremendously, and likewise I think it really motivated my chinese study/helped me set goals/helped me improve faster).

Practicing trying to watch chinese shows in only chinese (also brutal at first, I didn’t do this until 5ish months in, but its been tremendously helpful for me and the more I did it the more it helped, so doing this regularly as in a few times a week helps a LOT).

Practicing listening ONLY regularly. (I didn’t start doing this until maybe 10 months in, but I have noticed it’s helping my inner ‘reading voice,’ my listening comprehension, and my feel for how to say things, a ton. I’ve looked into Repetitive Listening lately and I think it may benefit me to try that, regardless I can say listening-only practice is definitely helping my listening comprehension a LOT).

Studying the first 500ish Hanzi from a mnemonics source. (I used a book, and that starting point carried me all the way to where I am now - I probably need to do more of this soon, either with a book or Heisig mnemonic flashcards etc. With my books I literally originally used No flashcards for Hanzi I just read a mnemonic reference book - the Tuttle 800 characters one - about halfway through in chunks of 1/2 to 1 chapter a day. That’s it. And occasionally I’d flip through the book and read random Hanzi entries, and look thru it to highlight Hanzi I’d learned since the last time I’d opened the book. Probably the lowest effort way to do this, if u hate flashcards and can tolerate reading like me - however I was often watching chinese dramas with English and Chinese subs, so I was ‘seeing’ Hanzi I’d studied regularly in my shows, which probably helped me remember them.)

In summary: reading a grammar guide fast, learning high frequency Hanzi ASAP, learning the most common words, and immersing often Even in the earlier months when it was harder for me (with reading, shows with only chinese subs, shows with dual subs while looking up words I noticed, and with audio only like audiobooks/songs). I genuinely think reading from like months 2 onward while BRUTAL helped so much, just like it did with French. It helped a lot with comprehension and grammar ‘clicking’ in my mind, with learning wordsz Probably the Most importantly it motivated and helped me really measure my progress, and also helped me pinpoint my goals then set them regularly.

It’s kind of rough trying to read early on when your comprehension Might genuinely be at like 20%. But for me it really helps so much it’s worth doing. I did it on a whim for chinese study, because it’s basically the main way I studied and learned French. And wow am I glad I tried to apply it to chinese. I’m so glad I didn’t get so intimidated by the hanzi that I didn’t... try. I think me trying so early also made the difficulty curve always feel Rewardingly and Refreshingly easier constantly, even though it’s still difficult lol. But never as difficult as the time before, etc. Which is always a nice feeling.

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Yeah I read an article recently, by a man named Timo who made (a very nice) 3 part Anki deck for Chinese (I’m using his HSK deck since it has example sentences - and visual images of the sentence scenes - for every word, something my memrise decks lacked, but helps a ton with context and proper usage). His decks also included a grammar guide deck fbut another person made a version that displays better of that kind of deck which is what I’m using). Anyway, In his article he said he learned to HSK 4 in 8 months with his decks.

I’ve been mulling over if that’s reasonable, when I realized I also basically did that it just took me a couple more months since I didn’t even focus primarily on HSK level material coverage until I Was 8 months in already. In retrospect, I think it’s definitely a goal that’s attainable. It’s not so wildly difficult that only aspiring polyglots or intense studiers could manage. I think he studied like roughly an hour a day too, so likewise his study habits were pretty normal and not extreme time-wise.

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Now, this last bit is pure rough opinion based on what i think the levels match up to based on what I can comprehend versus what I could in French. So take everything below with a huge amount of salt. To be fair... I think HSK 4 really is a reasonable goal to aim for. I think it feels a lot like B1 level in French was - I can start to read most things for at least bare minimum gist of the main ideas, and some things in topics I’m familiar with (or with more common words/phrases) I can understand 90-100% of including all the specific details.

Basically, it gets me to where I can start picking up the meaning of at least some things in context, and the point where i can at least guess what a sentence is doing a Bit based on its grammar clues. like noticing the adjectives, verbs, tenses, nouns, and at least being able to guess if the unknown words could drastically affect the meaning of the sentence - example: I can tell if it’s a descriptor of location in a scene I could possibly Skip and still follow the plot, or an adjective I could guess means something similar to the previous more noun-heavy description, or if it’s a noun being interacted with/verb doing something I need to look up to follow the plot. HSK 4 also gets me to where I can start to follow most everyday basic convos, and some more specialized ones as long as they’re on topics I know some words for/or use common words. Examples: most shows for at least 50% of the dialogue, small talk, Internet comments, basically stuff surrounding context is usually related to. And i can talk about some of that comfortably (this is my weak spot, as it is in French, cause I need to practice more to expand my active vocabulary).

So, convos now can be followed and at least understood (and sometimes participated in) like when I was in maybe 1st or 2nd grade in English. I can engage with a lot of topics, Especially if most words used are common words, but once things get specialized I have a lot to either ‘learn/lookup’ or need to ask clarification about. Reading/watching is a bit easier then convos, since often the material provides enough context for me to ‘guess’ some of that specialized stuff’s meanings as it comes up.

But I say kind of comparable to B1 because... well for me french at this level was usable, but not ‘easy’ and not fully functional to the point I could say I can reasonably rely on it for any general needs/wants. I think B2 is more when you start being able to comfortably write/speak on most any topic at least to some general capacity, and can comprehend enough you feel comfortable following and catching main points and most general details (so not needing to look up 20% of what you hear/read for a decent chunk of certain clarification). And I do Not think HSK 4 (at least my own coverage of it) is able to do that B2 kind of stuff. I can do the ‘B1 kind of stuff’ with weak spots in production (just like in French, because I don’t practice those skills enough).

[rigelmejo]

I wanted to hype up the easier parts about reading japanese, at least with my current experience having studied some of both languages:

a lot of japanese reading materials have furigana over the kanji - especially kanji expected to be above the target demographic reading level. furigana is basically a kana pronunciation of the kanji. so when starting to read japanese - a lot of study books often choose to teach you the kanji you need beforehand for the chapter, and write the words with kanji you don’t know yet in either only kana or with furigana on top. a lot of manga, in general, will have furigana over most kanji that aren’t the super common ones. shows and video games have audio along with the kanji, so there’s usually a way to figure out the word if you know either kanji OR pronunciation of a word already. when learning to read in japanese more, most materials except for actual novels are going to have some ‘support’ you can use to recognize all words you know at least in kana/pronunciation OR kanji.

if you have studied/are studying chinese, that last point affects this point: some kanji will mean the same or similar things to the chinese hanzi. So when using japanese reading materials, you can learn the japanese equivalent words and their pronunciations by seeing the similar-to-chinese-hanzi kanji, and then seeing the furigana japanese pronunciation for it (or hearing the pronunciation if its a video game/anime). So knowing hanzi will help with picking up new words in japanese, since you will sometimes only need to be learning new pronunciations or a few key differences. Big examples I’ve noticed are ‘xing’ in chinese also has to do with moving in chinese but is mostly used to mean ‘okay’ whereas it means ‘to go’ in japanese primarily, ‘dian’ in chinese generally has to do with electricity in both languages words that it’s in, the hanzi/kanji for ‘return to’ is used a lot in japanese but used much less commonly in chinese, ‘hao’ in chinese mostly means good/fine and while it does mean that in japanese it is used more often to describe ‘liking’ something or something being ‘likable.’ So... a lot of hanzi and kanji have similar meanings, but do not necessarily correlate to the same exact words or kinds of uses... I still think the ability to recognize them makes learning the new words easier though.

japanese grammar is so wonderful. in the sense that it is very clear in its meaning, if you understand it. if you learn the particles then you can identify what each word in the sentence is ‘doing.’ If you learn word endings like adjective/verb endings, you can immediately recognize tense and if something’s being done/not being done etc. Even though there are no spaces, particles and word endings make visually recognizing the separate parts of sentence pretty clear. Kanji also help to visually recognize each separate word. The messiest part of reading japanese - for me anyway - is when material for learners/beginners/various demographics chooses to use hiragana instead of kanji with words you don’t know yet, because it can sometimes make it a bit harder to tell where word boundaries are since there is not kanji to help make that distinction obvious. Despite this, I think the word endings and particles still make even hiragana heavy sentences pretty easy to parse through. Compared to chinese, I think this makes word boundaries and whats going on with grammar a decent amount easier to parse through at the earlier learning stages. Chinese is also easier to parse through in reading once you get a better understanding of grammar and word types/alterations - but japanese really visually clearly has distinct parts that are pretty easy to notice even as a beginner. Like when studying French... life gets easier when you realize what word endings are for adjectives versus verbs, versus the nouns that MUST have le/un type words preceding them. In french, once you notice that, it becomes easier to parse through the grammar of sentences. In japanese, those sorts of grammar pieces are very visually clear since they’re usually well-used particles or pretty regular word endings in hiragana. 

The widespread use of hiragana for otherwise-kanji-word-parts in many reading materials, furigana in many kanji reading materials, and furigana extensions for web browsers etc make it easier to pick up new words from reading even if you don’t know a lot of kanji yet. Whereas in comparison, in chinese if you plan to pick up words from reading you are much more likely to need to learn a lot of hanzi asap. While there are extensions to read pinyin over hanzi, and some learning materials/resources provide the option, a lot of content made for chinese natives just has hanzi. so if you buy a book for native chinese speakers its going to be all hanzi - compared to japanese, where a lot of manga will still have furigana. An exception is zhuyin in material from Taiwan, I’ve heard sometimes Taiwan materials include zhuyin over some hanzi, Taiwan has an alternative to pinyin called zhuyin and from what I’ve seen of it, it works more like a phonetic system like japanese kana, whereas I would compare hanyu pinyin more to japanese romaji. Also, a lot of chinese learner material I’ve seen, mostly either teaches in ALL pinyin first, or else does not provide pinyin ALONGSIDE hanzi for very long. Whereas, at least for a decent amount of japanese learning materials, the japanese writing system (at least kana) is introduced early on even to beginners, and the kanji at least somewhat get introduced (often with kana to help with pronunciation). I really... personally do not like how many chinese learning materials do pinyin-only for beginners, when eventually beginners are going to have to interact with hanzi in real chinese materials... it just postpones when they’re going to hit that difficulty curve. A lot of japanese learning materials postpone and drag out learning a LOT of the kanji, but at least by exposing the learner to the kana spellings, if a learner goes into reading manga they’ll recognize the furigana and be able to learn some kanji from that. Whereas a chinese learner, often with no pinyin to rely on in chinese reading materials, is going to just see hanzi with nothing to help them figure out if its a word they already know pronunciation wise or not! This is just my particular preference in learning material structure though. Some proponents of pinyin-only beginner materials, mention that it allows the learner to get a solid foundation in speaking, listening, grammar, and spoken vocabulary before their learning has to get slowed down trying to tackle hanzi. And they propose that learning hanzi later, after already knowing the spoken form of the word, is easier and more akin to how children learn their native language before learning to write/read it. Now... while I see their point, I just think a lot of beginners don’t always stick with studying a language 2,3,4+ years, or don’t want to put off their reading goals for X months or years. If that is the case, then for those learners I think them putting off learning hanzi and being exposed to the writing system, limits them a lot because it means they’re stuck only able to engage in spoken conversation and listening no matter how many words or grammar structures they learn as a beginner. Whereas, if they get exposed to hanzi earlier on, then they can at least start reading simple subtitles for things they already KNOW (like Hello/goodbye/please/i’m leaving/i love you/i want you to x/i need you to X/i VERB/he did X/take care/i hate you/etc) MUCH earlier on like within a few months. And just being able to read a lot of that simple stuff, helps them understand things like directions or titles or actions happening in novels (he said/she said/he did/they VERB), helps them make sense of some shows if they struggle to catch some audio words etc. I personally studied hanzi from the beginning, and it definitely allowed me to engage in chinese social media, chat with native speakers, browse chinese sites, watch chinese shows, and read chinese novels (at least to some degree of comprehension, even if its only the gist sometimes) much earlier on. If I’d only relied on pinyin for my first 1000 words, etc, then I wouldn’t probably be able to watch shows yet or message with anyone in chinese yet. I definitely wouldn’t be anywhere close to trying to read yet.  Anyway I... really do appreciate that modern learning-materials wise, a lot of japanese materials do start learners off with at least some writing system exposure immediately. I’m sure it helps that there’s a limited number of kana, they’re pretty simple to learn, and work a lot like an alphabet so they’re easy for english speakers to get used to. Even with mostly kana, even when there’s few kanji in some beginner materials, I still think the exposure to actual japanese writing systems helps beginners develop reading and recognition skills earlier on. (I’m thinking of materials like Genki, Japanese for Busy People, etc). In chinese there are a decent number of learning materials that introduce hanzi from day 1, but there are still also a number of widely-enough used resources that only use pinyin at first that circulate enough they still get regularly recommended. There’s no popular equivalent that I’ve noticed in japanese learning materials right now. I actually... think there’s something great in learning hanzi at the same time as pronunciations, since hanzi often have a phonetic component IN THE DESIGN OF THE HANZI as one of the radicals often hints at its pronunciation. Which is a huge help compared to japanese, where the kanji don’t necessarily hint at the words pronunciation. Learning hanzi at the same time as new words early on, means as you see more hanzi you start to get a sense of if you could guess it’s pronunciation (such as trying to guess its pinyin to look it up in a dictionary etc). The radicals in hanzi often help a ton with pronunciation of new words, and I personally found remembering WHY new words were pronounced the way they were, was easier for me in chinese because I could remember another word I knew with the same radical with the same or similar pronuncation. So I had a ‘scaffold’ to learn my new word from. In japanese, the word endings often had ‘scaffolding’ i could recognize and rely on, but often the new kanji pronunciations I had no other knowledge to really ‘connect’ it to in order to help remember it. 

(I should note, regardless OF what learning material anyone uses, if they’re making progress then it is a great learning material for them. It’s more important to make progress with something you can consistently stick to and work through, then it is to have some ‘perfect’ or ‘ideal’ study material. Pinyin only materials are fantastic for the people they work for, there’s a lot of well written ones that teach what they say their aim to teach is. Some learners ARE going to benefit from that approach better. My preferences are just based on what I benefited from more, based on my own goals and on what I could consistently stay motivated to study and progress with.)