Clear the List | Monthly Language Learning Strategies | August
It’s August which means summer is almost over. 🙁 I don’t know what it is, especially since I don’t get summer breaks any more like I did in school, but I always feel like summer is supposed to be the period when I have more free time (even if it never is).
As it is the beginning of yet another new month, I’d like to welcome those of you new to #clearthelist and welcome back those of you returning. #clearthelist is a linkup where we share our monthly goals, and by we, I mean myself, Lindsay of Lindsay Does Languages and Mariah of Food, Booze & Baggage. You should definitely take a minute to head over and check out their sites if you haven’t already!
We’d absolutely love for you to a part of our community. You can join us by adding a link to your own goal post below.
So let’s get started, sharing our goals and motivating one another to #clearthelist!
Please feel free to tag your posts or photos with either #clearthelist on your favorite social media channels!
Last Month’s Highlights on Instagram
Last Month’s Blog Highlights
Travel
Korean Street Food Recipe for Tteokbokki // I made this delicious snack as a part of the Korean Language Challenge and it was soooo good.
Visiting the Great Wall // Finally started sharing my photos from my trip to China (almost a year ago – yikes).
Tapas in Barcelona // So, I might have been kind of obsessed with food this past month…
Language Learning
9 Interesting Facts About Korean Culture // I teamed up with Culture Smart! this month to bring you a few fun tidbits about Korean culture as a part of the Korean Language Challenge.
Invented Languages // A post about conlangs – why we invent them and how they are used with information on a few different invented languages.
Last Month’s Goals
Keep working on my vocabulary in Korean. // Yes and no. I took a lot of notes regarding new vocabulary, but I wouldn’t necessarily say that I “learnt” those new words.
Do at least four lessons in my Assimil Perfectionnement Russe. // Nope. I did one lesson.
Read one language related book. // Yes! I got through a couple of phrasebooks this month for Korean.
Finish up my Assimil Chinese Coursebook. // Yup! Now I’m ready to take a look at my Colloquial book.
Find a Korean TV show that interests me and start to watch it. // Nope. I have been reading rather than watching tv, so I didn’t even think about this one.
Start watching that new Mandarin TV show that I had bookmarked. // Nope.
Finish up Pimsleur Korean I. // Nope. Didn’t even do one.
Finish listening to the Pimsleur Culture lessons for Chinese. // Yup!
Read my Serbia Culture Smart book. // Nope.
Keep working through my YouTube Queue. // Yes! I got through another 100 videos or so.
Finish up my Lonely Planet Korean Phrasebook // Yup! I also worked through Making Out in Korean, so now I’m getting ready to work through my next phrasebook.
Find a Russian workbook that I like // I stared using the Colloquial Russian coursebook, but I’m not quite sure if it’s what I’m looking for yet.
Finish reading Winnie the Pooh in Chinese // Yup! Now I need to pick one of the other Chinese children’s books I have to start.
This Month’s Goals
Keep working on my vocabulary in Korean. // I want to actually go through my notes, highlight phrases that I can use in real life and then use them. I actually have an opportunity coming up, so I am hoping to pick out at least ten specific phrases I want to use when it happens.
Do at least four lessons in Russian. // Out of whichever book I decide on – either Colloquial Russian or Assimil.
Read one more language related book. // I have one sitting in front of me that I really look forward to reading.
Find a Korean TV show that interests me and start to watch it. // Again, since I didn’t do this last month.
Start watching that new Mandarin TV show that I had bookmarked. // See above.
Finish up Pimsleur Korean I. // Once more, since I didn’t do this already.
Read my Serbia Culture Smart book. // No excuses!
Keep working through my YouTube Queue. // I’d like to get through yet another 50-100 videos this month.
Pick a new children’s book to start reading in Chinese // I already own a few, so I just need to decide which is next.
My Language Learning Strategies and Updates
In July, I was a little bit all over the place. Admittedly, far more than I would usually like to be. I think that this next month I really need to focus in and go back to creating a more detailed plan so that I don’t skip doing so many of the tasks I assign myself.
Resources I Used This Month
A quick recap on the materials I am using.
What I Am Using to Learn Chinese
- iTalki Lessons – I have weekly Chinese lessons
- Pimsleur
- Memrise
- ChineseClass101
- Melnyk’s
- Assimil (Lessons 51-100)
- Antosch & Lin email newsletters
- FluentU – I watch anywhere from 3-6 videos per day and then work on the “Learning” section for each of the videos
- Colloquial Chinese
- Winnie the Pooh
What I’m Using to Brush Up/Improve My French:
- Immersion (we speak franglais at home)
- Reading books written by French authors
- Listening to French radio/podcasts
What I am Using to Learn Russian:
- Perfectionnement Russe
- RussianPod101
- iTalki Lessons
- The penmanship practice books from Russian Step-by-Step (a lot of you have been asking me about these)
- Memrise
- Pimsleur
What I am Using to Learn Korean:
- Memrise
- Assimil’s Korean Phrasebook
- Pimsleur
- Practical Korean from Tuttle Publishing
- Making Out in Korean
The Biggest Lesson I Am Taking Away from This Month
Focus!
This past month I lost a bit (okay a lot) of my focus. In result, I went about my study in a haphazard way and don’t have much to show for it. I’d really like to get back on track this coming month, so my theme for August is definitely going to be “focus”.
Don’t forget that I would love to hear all about your goals for this month! Please join us by adding your post to the linkup below! An InLinkz Link-up
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