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nancydowns Senior Member United States Joined 3915 days ago 184 posts - 288 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written)
| Message 225 of 252 26 April 2014 at 4:11pm | IP Logged |
I'm glad you like the videos. Yes, Arabic is difficult, but I am just taking it slowly, and really just enjoying the process. It is so neat when something
clicks. My friend and I who are learning Arabic are the only people I know who can read Arabic. People look at what I have written, and they can't believe
it. I wouldn't have been able to believe it 5 months ago, either! But amazing what you can learn when you just keep at it. Of course, my vocabulary is very,
very, very small, so my "reading" is limited to words I have learned.
I promised to give this a year of study, and then I will evaluate whether or not I want to continue. I am hoping that by the end of the year that I will feel
like it is definitely worth it! I am not in any races to learn it in a certain length of time, just enjoying the process, and I'll see where it leads me.
But to me, Greek, Turkish, and Hebrew all look difficult, too! I wonder how many alphabets my poor brain is going to be able to learn and keep separate! :-)
Hopefully, even if I don't learn Arabic or anything else to a high level, maybe it will at least be a good exercise for my brain so I won't get dementia! :-)
I know the only way I am going to keep going with any language is if I love the process of learning, otherwise I know I will get frustrated and give up.
That's what I hope for everyone is that they keep enjoying the process.
2 persons have voted this message useful
| Penelope Diglot Senior Member Greece Joined 3862 days ago 110 posts - 155 votes Speaks: English, French Studies: Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew
| Message 226 of 252 01 May 2014 at 8:08pm | IP Logged |
I read Amos Oz’s “A tale of love and darkness”, in English.
It is a book worth reading anyway, but I mention this here because it helped me I understood a lot about the Hebrew language. The story takes place across several decades, and you get a sense of how Modern Hebrew was formed, combining elements of other languages that the Jewish immigrants brought to their new home with them. Not just the usual suspects (traditional Hebrew, Yiddish etc) but also Arabic, polish, Russian, in short every language that co existed in that small place. The writer describes how the younger generations formed a slang that was very different from the formal, awkward Hebrew of older people, and we even get a clear description of just how strong accents people had back then. Those generations spoke Hebrew with their Palestine-born children, but to each other they spoke anything from German, to Yiddish, Polish, Russian, you name it. Mainly in order to hide a conversation from little ones.
A very interesting read.
4 persons have voted this message useful
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4632 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian
| Message 227 of 252 02 May 2014 at 10:34am | IP Logged |
Hi Penelope who used to be renaissancemedi! Good to see you back.
Amos Oz is indeed a great writer and intellectual, and his books can be highly recommended. I would have loved to be able to read him in the original Hebrew, but will have to do with translations.
Oh, and although I liked your old nick, Penelope is also very nice, Πηνελόπεια being the wife of Odysseus who waited faithfully for 20 years for his return. It's also the name of my favourite Spanish actress, Penélope Cruz.
4 persons have voted this message useful
| Penelope Diglot Senior Member Greece Joined 3862 days ago 110 posts - 155 votes Speaks: English, French Studies: Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew
| Message 228 of 252 02 May 2014 at 5:28pm | IP Logged |
Ah, thank you :)
Amos Oz is one of the reasons I started learning Hebrew. It will be a long time before I could read him, but that's ok, as long as I get there.
Penelope was my grandmother, and the name runs in the family :D
2 persons have voted this message useful
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5159 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian
| Message 229 of 252 02 May 2014 at 10:30pm | IP Logged |
Ogrim wrote:
[...]Penelope is also very nice, Πηνελόπεια being the wife of Odysseus who
waited faithfully for 20 years for his return. |
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I truly hope it doesn't mean she will have to wait for 20 years till fluency in Turkish
comes =D
1 person has voted this message useful
| Penelope Diglot Senior Member Greece Joined 3862 days ago 110 posts - 155 votes Speaks: English, French Studies: Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew
| Message 230 of 252 03 May 2014 at 9:04am | IP Logged |
*running to study turkish*
Nooooo!!!!!!!
2 persons have voted this message useful
| Penelope Diglot Senior Member Greece Joined 3862 days ago 110 posts - 155 votes Speaks: English, French Studies: Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew
| Message 231 of 252 03 May 2014 at 7:58pm | IP Logged |
I haven’t really shared any progress with you lately. Here it is. Not impressive but a definite steady routine, easy going so far.
Italian
Assimil - L'italien sans peine: I have completed the first five lessons. So far so good, as Italian is always enjoyable and fun to me. I like this course, and it helps my French at the same time :)
Russian
Assimil - le russe sans peine : The first six lessons completed, and the course’s fame is justified. Again, a nice opportunity to improve my French, as I pay attention to it.
Assimil in general was something I never could follow for long, but I believe that was my fault. The moment I relaxed and enjoyed what I was reading, I started making progress without much fuss. Many fellow members have helped a lot with their own struggles with assimil.
Hebrew
I have pulled several alphabet lessons, from different sources, and that’s what I have been doing. Unless I feel confident with the letters, I can’t seriously study the language. A problem I never had with Russian, but then again compare the greek and russian alphabets and you’ll see why.
Turkish
I have stopped at unit 8 and kept revising, so I really know these units! I have only now managed to print the FSI course, so I hope things will go faster from now on, because studying from a laptop has been tiresome. Unless I really want to spend 20 years on it, I’d better pick up the pace already :)
French
My two assimil courses will have to do. I can’t spend any time on French right now. I don’t feel like it anyway.
2 persons have voted this message useful
| Penelope Diglot Senior Member Greece Joined 3862 days ago 110 posts - 155 votes Speaks: English, French Studies: Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew
| Message 232 of 252 03 May 2014 at 9:29pm | IP Logged |
Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans
And miss it each night and day
I know Im not wrong, this feeling's gettin' stronger
The longer, I stay away
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ7et0sjQoQ
New Orleans 1947 movie
I'll pretend this is a language post: interesting american accents, some incomprehensible moments too.
The plot is silly, the music is heavenly.
2 persons have voted this message useful
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