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Josquin’s Language Symphony (RU, IR, 東亜) | ||
Tags: Gaelic (Scottish) | Gaelic (Irish) | Icelandic | Portuguese | Multilingual | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Italian | Japanese | Russian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4837 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes  Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 145 of 646 01 September 2012 at 2:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
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SATURDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2012
Dear followers of my log, this is to inform you that I'm currently not studying languages as there has been a bereavement in my family. Studying languages is the last thing I can think about at the moment, so please don't be disappointed that I won't update my log for an uncertain time. I hope to be able to study again soon, but please understand that I need some time now. Yours sincerely, Josquin Edited by Josquin on 01 September 2012 at 2:06pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4837 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 146 of 646 14 September 2012 at 6:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
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FRIDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER 2012
Hello everybody, I am back! After mourning my stepfather's far too early death and starting my internship at a music company, I finally found some time to study some Russian yesterday and today. I have read and learned the two final chapters of my Langenscheidt Russian course. As I have already told you, lesson 17 deals with ordinal numbers bigger than 39, counting years, the compound superlative of adjectives, and fleeting vowels in masculine nouns. The most difficult part is the ordinal numbers and counting years. I think everyone agrees that numbers are always difficult in foreign languages, and I tend to think that ordinal numbers are even somehow harder than cardinal numbers. Unfortunately, Russian uses ordinal numbers for counting years, so this is especially hard. You don't only have to use big numbers, but you even have to make them ordinals and decline them. The superlative and fleeting vowels on the other hand are very easy. I already knew the concept of fleeting vowels from Icelandic, so it wasn't entirely new to me. The superlative is simply formed by using the pronoun самый + adjective. Lesson 18 deals with the plural declination of nouns, the и-declination, the neuter nouns ending in -мя, and some other minor topics like the pronoun друг друга and expressing wishes by using the subjunctive. The plural of nouns is very easy, as there are the same endings for all declinations in the dative, instrumental, and prepositional case. The only difficult part is the genitive, whose endings depend on the final sound of the stem. But I didn't find it too complicated. After doing some exercises, the concept should stick. I also did the exercises of lesson 17, which primarily consisted of writing dates and ordinal numbers in words. There was a nice translation exercise, which I would like to show you. It's a short biography of the writer Anton Chekhov: Великий русский писатель Антон Павлович Чехов родился в 1860-ом (тысяча восемьсот шестидесятом) году в городе Таганроге в юге России. После гимназии Чехов поступил на медицинский факультет Московского университета. Он изучал медицину и писал свои первые рассказы, которые он опубликовал в 1884-ом (тысяча восемьсот восемьдесят четвёртом) году. После учёбы в университете Чехов долго работал врачом, хотя он тогда уже был известным писателем. Жизнь Чехова была коротка - он умер в 44 года в 1904-ом (тысяча девятьсот четвёртом) году. I will repeat lesson 18 tomorrow and after that do the exercises. There's still a final test at the end of the book, which I will do after having finished lesson 18. Then my Langenscheidt course is over. I'll probably proceed with volume two of Routledge's Colloquial Russian. It seems to be a solid course for advanced beginners like me, as it takes you beyond the very basics which I know by now. There's still much to learn. I don't even know the plural declension of adjectives and demonstrative pronouns, the declination of numerals, noun-adjective agreement in the plural, and the participles by now. Some very important concepts in my opinion! Edited by Josquin on 14 September 2012 at 7:35pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5049 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 147 of 646 15 September 2012 at 4:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
I wonder why so many languages use cardinal numerals with years, while they use ordinal numerals for centuries for example. Ordinal numerals are much easier than cardinal ones because the former are usual adjectives and have the regular declension pattern. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4837 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 148 of 646 15 September 2012 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yes, you're right. In Russian, the declension of ordinal numbers is easier than the one of cardinal numbers. But I think I know the cardinal numbers better than the ordinal ones, and many ordinals are formed irregularly: первый, второй, третий/третья/третье, четвёртый, седьмой, восьмой, сороковой, пятидесятый (similarly: 60, 70, 80), сотый, тысячный. That's what makes them difficult for me. Edited by Josquin on 15 September 2012 at 7:37pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| prz_ Tetraglot Senior Member Poland last.fm/user/prz_rul Joined 4852 days ago 890 posts - 1190 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Bulgarian, Croatian Studies: Slovenian, Macedonian, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Armenian, Kurdish | Message 149 of 646 15 September 2012 at 9:21pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Well, for Slavs it's not difficult, at all :D
I'm glad that you're back. Now I'll be away for a while - BA dissertation... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4837 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 150 of 646 16 September 2012 at 7:57pm | IP Logged | |||||
Well, in my next life, I'm gonna be a Slav then! Just can't decide whether to be a Czech or a Pole... ;) Thanks for your kind words and good luck with your dissertation! I'm not working on mine during the internship, although I would like to. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to study languages this weekend either. The weather was just too fine! :) Edited by Josquin on 16 September 2012 at 7:58pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5049 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 151 of 646 16 September 2012 at 8:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I've just thought that saying в тысяча девятьсот сорок пятом is much easier than в тысяче
девятистах сорока пяти The endings in the dat., instr., prep. pl. are nearly always the same but the stress is unpredictable for certain groups of nouns. The problem is that the nom. pl. often demonstrates "чудеса" (the pl. of чудо). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4837 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 152 of 646 17 September 2012 at 6:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
Oh yes, I can see that! I haven't had the declination of numerals yet, so I didn't know it was that complicated. I guess Russian just isn't for sissies...
Yeah, I especially like words like друзья, уши, сыновья, яблоки... And stress is a problem I have successfully suppressed by now. ;) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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