{"id":796,"date":"2021-05-17T15:01:43","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T15:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/somethingpolyglot.com\/myblog\/?p=796"},"modified":"2021-05-28T10:50:21","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T08:50:21","slug":"language-challenge-40h7dlc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/somethingpolyglot.com\/myblog\/2021\/05\/17\/language-challenge-40h7dlc\/","title":{"rendered":"Language challenge #40h7dLC"},"content":{"rendered":"

What and when<\/p>\n

If you want to study 40 hours in 7 days, you’d better prepare yourself. Actually, it’s doesn’t matter<\/p>\n

what <\/em><\/strong>you study,<\/p>\n

how <\/em><\/strong>you study or<\/p>\n

how much<\/em><\/strong> you study,<\/p>\n

a proper preparation<\/strong><\/span> is \ud83d\udd11 key<\/strong><\/span> \ud83d\udd11 and will save you precious time. It took me about an hour to get a proper schedule ready for this challenge (and an extra hour to get the design right).<\/p>\n

Before planning this challenge I had to answer these questions:<\/p>\n

I did two intensive weeks earlier this year; one only catal\u00e0 <\/em>and one only dansk <\/em>week and I just missed my other languages (variety <\/strong><\/span>another \ud83d\udd11 key<\/span><\/strong> \ud83d\udd11) and even felt I had forgotten a bit of the other languages just because I hadn’t had any exposure for a week. For me consistency <\/strong><\/span>in every language is also an important \ud83d\udd11 key<\/span><\/strong><\/span> <\/strong>\ud83d\udd11 of my language learning.<\/p>\n

So that’s why I will<\/p>\n

focus on<\/span> Catalan<\/span><\/strong>,<\/span> <\/span>Danish<\/span><\/strong>,<\/span><\/span><\/span> Afrikaans<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

and keep some<\/span> German <\/span><\/strong> and<\/span> <\/span>Brazilian Portuguese<\/span><\/strong> in the background.<\/span><\/p>\n

But also prepare my schedule for the following day based on what I’ve already covered. And so we have another \ud83d\udd11 key<\/span><\/strong> \ud83d\udd11 flexibility<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Day 1 – Monday 5 April<\/p>\n

I am definitely tired, mentally exhausted and the typical brain ache is joining the challenge. I also had to adapt my schedule to an interesting \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9-\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udde9 language exchange. In the past I’ve had my difficulties with finding the right people, but now we talked 90 min non stop. I feel that real progress is made when I have to produce sentences myself. I don’t like the whole time tracking, but I do like the fact that I seem to be more focused and able to keep social media and internet in general on lockdown when studying. Ready for a \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udde9 class on Italki on Tuesday some \ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddf0 as main dish and \ud83c\uddff\ud83c\udde6 as side dish and \ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea and \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddf7 as appetisers.<\/p>\n

Day 2 – Tuesday 6 April<\/p>\n

My schedule is so full, I feel I don’t have time to breathe. My 30-60 minute walk with the dogs has turned into a podcast listening event, while I usually try to be mindful of my surroundings. I do force myself to my daily meditation (twice a day 10 minutes with Andy Puddicombe on the Headspace app), I wander around in the garden (we have had 20+\u00b0C over here the past week) and play with my dogs.<\/p>\n

Strangely enough the activities that tire me the most are also the ones that energise and motivate me the most: my language exchange on Monday and my class on Italki Tuesday (both Catalan). No class, nor exchange on Wednesday. So, I have a spare 45 minutes I’ll use to watch an episode of the Catalan series Merl\u00ed. I’ve already got another language exchange planned for Friday and a class on Saturday, but I am seriously considering another class on Italki for Thursday. It went really well and I like my teacher, and speaking is really when the magic happens; language wise and self-esteem wise.<\/p>\n

Day 3 – Wednesday 7 April<\/p>\n

I don’t want to put my regular activities on hold, so I keep on<\/p>\n

\ud83e\uddf9 cleaning because <\/strong><\/em>it creates a positive learning environment<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc68\ud83c\udffb\u200d\ud83c\udf3e gardening because <\/em><\/strong>the garden needs taken care of and my brain needs fresh air<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83c\udf73 cooking because <\/em><\/strong>you can’t study on an empty stomach (and my hardworking hubby might start complaining; rightfully so)<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfc3 running because <\/em><\/strong>it allows me to ditch some stress<\/p>\n

\ud83e\uddd8 meditating because <\/em><\/strong>my brain needs to release some steam<\/p>\n

\ud83d\ude34 napping because <\/em><\/strong>I live in Spain and I lack sleep.<\/p>\n

and even more so on day 3, where my monkey \ud83d\udc12 brain seemed to jump from listening to a Catalan podcast about healthy mental habits into a daydream quite quickly.<\/p>\n

Day 4 – Thursday 8 April<\/p>\n

Q: How to survive a language learning day after a night too short to function as a human being?<\/p>\n

A: Coffee (loads of it) and an Italki class.<\/p>\n

Day 5 – Friday 9 April<\/p>\n

It took me about 2 hours to get ready to dive back into my languages on day 5. I lost time on social media talking about this challenge and languages in general. I guess someone needed a break from active study.<\/p>\n

There is some balance going on between listening and reading on the one side of the scales and study and speaking on the other side. Honestly, it would be too much to fill my hours with pure active study. I also think I’ve made the mistake to focus exclusively on new material during this week. My perfectionism is always whispers I need to understand everything fully before moving on to the next chapter and that idea I wanted to challenge a bit. Maybe that was one step to far or to fast; or maybe not the right time to challenge Mr. Perfectionism.<\/p>\n

Day 6 – Saturday 10 April<\/p>\n

Nothing new under the language sun. A day that very much felt like all the other ones mixed together. Now that the week is coming to its final hours I already feel the need to decide what to do the following week and introduce some change in my language learning: variety <\/strong><\/span> is \ud83d\udd11 key<\/span><\/strong> \ud83d\udd11, remember?<\/p>\n

Day 7 – Sunday 11 April<\/p>\n

I dragged my self to the 2,400 minutes. A day without a class nor an exchange to end the challenge wasn’t a good idea, but I did it. 2,401 minutes well spent (somehow an extra minute showed up when adding them all up).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n

<\/div>\n

Language challenge #40h7dLC<\/h2>

credits to @languagecomeup and @seaboltspeaks<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n
<\/div><\/div>

40 hours<\/strong><\/p>\n

in<\/strong><\/p>\n

7<\/strong>\u00a0days<\/strong><\/p>\n

language<\/strong><\/p>\n

challenge<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>

<\/span><\/span><\/div>
\n

#40h7dLC<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div><\/section><\/p><\/div>

5<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

11<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

April<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

2021<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
<\/div><\/p>\n
<\/div>\n

I’ve put the conclusion of this challenge on top of the blog post. If you want to read more about this challenge and my daily updates, just scroll down.<\/p>\n

Don’t feel like reading? I jumped out of my comfort zone and made a video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I hit the 40 hour mark near midnight on Sunday, the last day. I listened a lot to podcasts this week, mainly in Catalan. I speak 3 other Romance languages fluently so my level of understanding in Catalan is way higher than in Danish and there isn\u2019t much listening material available for my level of Danish.<\/p>\n

My daily walk \ud83d\udeb6\u200d\u2642\ufe0fwith the dogs \ud83d\udc15, running \ud83c\udfc3, cleaning \ud83e\uddf9, cooking \ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83c\udf73, gardening \ud83d\udc68\ud83c\udffb\u200d\ud83c\udf3e… they all happened with earphones in and podcast on. When I work on my listening skills I try to focus on what is being said but also on pronunciation and if necessary I just go back and relisten to a part of it or even listen again from the start. I mainly listen to short episodes so it\u2019s easier to remain focused and to listen multiple times.<\/p>\n

A lot of listening was going on and I am unemployed at the moment and still… this was difficult \ud83d\ude30. I have no idea how people with a job, at uni or school or with children managed this, so R.E.S.P.E.C.T. and my admiration for all of them.<\/p>\n

When I studied actively, I introduced only new material. Maybe I shouldn\u2019t have. I didn\u2019t watch any series \ud83d\udcfa nor read any book \ud83d\udcda, two activities that for me are easier on the brain \ud83e\udde0. I had scheduled them but they didn’t happen.<\/p>\n

But this challenge forced me out of my comfort zone. As an introvert talking to strangers is the moment where I start sweating \ud83e\udd75. I had 3 classes on Italki and spoke twice on Skype and Zoom for over an hour in Catalan with two people I had met on Twitter. Though it\u2019s extremely tiring to talk in a new language for a long time, these activities gave me a lot of energy \ud83d\udd0b and my self-esteem in Catalan, but also in general (very important!), skyrocketed \ud83d\ude80. The 5 days I had a conversation or a class where definitely easier.<\/p>\n

\u274c I missed my daily walk with the dogs WITHOUT my earphones \ud83c\udfa7 in and WITHOUT my phone \ud83d\udcf1 and I didn’t like the time tracking \u23f1\ufe0f. So, I am back with my full attention for Rubi and \u00d3scar during our walks and no time tracking anymore.<\/p>\n

\u2714\ufe0f Having said that, I definitely want to do this challenge again, but would more focus on reviewing<\/em><\/strong> material, introduce reading <\/em><\/strong>and watching <\/em><\/strong>and… speaking <\/em><\/strong>every single day. Because speaking is when the MAGIC <\/span><\/strong>happens in language learning and we all want a bit of MAGIC<\/span><\/strong> in our lives, don\u2019t we?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>

<\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you want to study 40 hours in 7 days, you’d better prepare yourself. Actually, it’s doesn’t matter what you study, how you study or how much you study, prepping yourself properly is \ud83d\udd11 KEY \ud83d\udd11 and will save you precious time. It took me about an hour to get a proper schedule ready for this challenge (and an extra hour to get the design right).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10,15,16,18,24,25],"class_list":["post-796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-challenge","tag-40h7dlc","tag-langtwt","tag-language-challenge","tag-language-learning","tag-polyglot","tag-studytwt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/somethingpolyglot.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/somethingpolyglot.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/somethingpolyglot.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somethingpolyglot.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somethingpolyglot.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/somethingpolyglot.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1184,"href":"https:\/\/somethingpolyglot.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796\/revisions\/1184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somethingpolyglot.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/somethingpolyglot.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somethingpolyglot.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/somethingpolyglot.com\/myblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}