Bjorn TAC 2014 backup

A couple corrections then :

Use "downgraded" instead of "degraded" here. Your English has degraded, while your status has been downgraded.
Since you had already "set" it, it would be more accurate to then say you will not "reset" it, though "set" in that usage is not incorrect.

Again, reading a lot of English (newspapers, books etc. as opposed to fragmentary forum posts) is the easiest way to boost your English. You don't seem to lack for vocabulary, just a more accurate use of it, and a more natural phrasing.

You might want to find a copy of Strunk & White's The Elements of Style as a brief style guide, or the Chicago manual of style. Also: Wikipedia's List of commonly misused English words. I'm sure you can find others. Maybe some English CEFR prep materials.

Thanks a lot.
So much to do, so little time

Things change fast.

The German TTS in Flashcards Deluxe not good at all. I can't stand it.
The blame is on me, I just took a quick listen to the UK voice, not so bad. So I thought the German would be ok also. So my dream about not having to make any more audio is destroyed.

So now my favorite flashcards apps are:
Main: Anki
Small projects: Flashcards Deluxe

Babble has updated their Android apps, and now it's quite usable, so I'm back to Babbel maintaining my German vocabulary learned at Babbel.

Been dividing my time between helping my family moving to a new home and wasting my time making parallel text of Busuu French. As an experiment to see how a mix of words, sample sentences and small dialog will work with LR

Well, someone in London got a great idea. Instead of going bing drinking or taking holidays in Spain, or both. Don't they have holidays anymore in the UK?

Suddenly this week, there was a "new" version of Busuu. Pdf-files, mp3-files all gone. Also grammar books all gone. Of course I hadn't downloaded all the files yet. Busuu have been "the same shit" for some years now.

Well, life is not all bad. Assimil Russian and Spanish are looking good on my bookshelf.

I have complained to Busuu. I want my pdf- and mp3-files back.

Pdf files with only a parallel text and bigger margins are working fine on my Kindle, so I don't have to make ebooks. But I will probably make one to see how it is with interlinear text compared to parallel text regarding LR. (It is not possible to have parallel text in a ebook.)

Haven't had so much time for language learning lately. Only done some LR in French, watching videos about French pronunciation and reading an English book.

LingQ has updated their app for android, seems to be working ok now for newer android mobiles.
I haven't used Lingq for about a half year because their apps didn't work.

Never paid for the app, but I have a paid membership.

Life is back to normal now. And therefore more time for studying languages.
But it is hot in Norway now, 30˚C. To much for an old viking

French
After a few round with LR French Busuu, I found out it was best to take out the dialogue and LR theme separately. But the words and example sentences seems to work fine. This is just an experiment to see if this is a better method for me to learn vocabulary. I'm quite feed up with SRS apps.

I think I will continue with SRS, but it will be more like a quick review of learned vocabulary/example sentences etc.

German
Nothing much really. Still haven't had time to try different things to activate speaking German.

English
Have looked in advanced English teaching books. Seems that I understand it all, but the knowledge is to passive. I'm not able to use it in speaking and writing.
I really don't want to spend time with English except for some LR, but it seems I have to. Anyway its postponed until september/october.

A quick test with the LingQ android app show that the app syncs LingQed words both ways with the LingQ website. That is good. Maybe its time to pick up the iPad again. Have to check that the ios app also is working ok.

It's raining and the temperature is lover now, about 20˚C.
Yesterday I started up with LR again, but things are going slow. So I use Toggle to record time studying languages.
I do that from time to time. It gets me more motivated in some way.

German
I started to LR DaZPod podcast, it is at an immediate level, with lot of explaining, all in German. I will alternate between this and whatever book I'm LR'ing at the moment. Now it is Die Larve by Jo Nesbø.

French
I'm LR'ing Busuu French, and soon I will start up with Assimil Easy French. I have OCR'ed the book and the parallel text is almost finished.

English
I'm reading Ken Follet's Fall of Giants as an preparation for LR'ing this in German. I find the book a bit boring, but this book will surely be easier to LR in German than Stephen King's It.

I got the 3 books in the series Practical Everyday English by Steven Collins with CD's. Something for the long winter nights. I have to confess that I find it more exciting learning a new language rather maintaining the old ones.

Flashcards Deluxe
I found another TTS German voice that I can live with. That makes life much easier. This app can even act as an audio player, you can have it to say English once and French twice, or fifty times if you are a real slow learner. Like me

Then why not simply read a little in a maintenance lang every day with only things you enjoy, and just chuck the rest of the materials? It will be very slow in assimilation of grammar and usage and new vocab, but perhaps you won't dislike maintenance so much then. Or just rely on TV and watch some English media every day.

Most learners learn a language in order to use it in some fashion. Is the only reason you use English and want to improve it is for future career considerations, the same as you were forced to learn it in school?

Thanks for your comment.
For me languages is just a hobby. English is of course the most useful language of theme all.
I was just complaining a little bit because English "steal" time from other languages.
However I need to improve my speaking and writing skills. That will be new and exciting

I'm also trying to change my study habits, so I practice a little bit in every languages everyday. Hoping that it will reduce the interference from LR.
And I'm also considering doing some LR in English.

After a week of switching between languages same day, it seems to be working fine.
As a core I have 10-30 minutes in each language. And putting on top of that whatever language project I have at the moment.

English
I bought English Grammar in Use and Advanced Grammar in Use. So now I have what I need to improve my English.
This will be a longterm project, since I can't spend so much time on English.

Spanish
There will be more visits to Spain since I have a family member living in Spain now.
Therefore I'm warming up with passive listening. Just a little bit everyday.
I think the Assimil Spanish course or something similar should be good enough. I don't know then I have time to start it up yet.
The aim is A2 or something, no plans for going further at the moment.

I was tired of the bad battery time of my smartphone, a used Samsung S4 which I bought cheap. After doing some language practice there was hardly any battery time left to make a call. So I bought an iTouch 64 Gb. I needed a new mp3-player anyway. So now the iTouch and my old Samsung phone which is waterproof and with a stand by time of a month will be a good combination for travel/trekking.

Next update for this blog will be sometimes in September.
I'm off for holidays.

Just a small update.
I sacrificed one beer and bought the book Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language Fast and Never Forget It by Gabriel Wyner.
The book suggest a complete system for learning a language and I think it's quite good.
Of course I don't agreed with all he says, for example he doesn't recommend watching movies with subtitles in L1 and audio in L2.
Well I think he has never heard of the Scandinavians. I have no problem with having the main focus on the audio and still be able to read the subtitles.
However I prefer to have a "passive listening" phase before I use subtitle in L1.

So much for the holidays
Still at home, my car broke down and are being repaired.

I discovered that Icarus has com out with a new ebook reader, the Illumina (E653 series), they said it is possible to download android apps to the ebook reader.
Very interesting

is being repaired

Sorry to hear of your trouble. Hopefully you'll be on your way soon.

Thanks
That was a stupid error

My car is fixed. I'm off for my holidays now. Travel light with only my Kindle and the iTouch. See how that goes regarding language learning. I have waisted a lot of time making my own ebooks and mp3-files