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Cristina’s way TAC 2013 TEAM MIR/SPARTA

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Solfrid Cristin
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2011 & 2012
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5326 days ago

4143 posts - 8864 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 113 of 248
31 January 2013 at 11:54pm | IP Logged 
@ellasevia: Thank you, I try to give my daughters the opportunity to travel a lot. I do not need fashionable clothes or furniture, but I do love to travel.

@rennaisancemedi: Yes, I also found that quite sweet.

@Tofeeliz: Thank you! The food was in general quite bland. The food was in fact the only thing I was not totally happy about.

@tarvos: No, I do not really picture you as a holiday resort - all inclusive sort of guy . I suspect that you are a lot more adventurous, but you would have loved the hundreds of beautiful Russian girls there. The German guys were struggling to learn a few pick up phrases – which is hard in a week, but you would have made them ecstatic. The girls, not the Germans:-)

@aloysius; Yes, I am using the French version, and I do not find the sound confusing as such, just the TY Greek Script’s way of explaining it.

@renaissancemedi: I am happy to see that the Greek culture is not so different from what I imagines – yes some of these books really say “n’importe quoi”.

@embici: If it helps with the greenness I am now back to Norway where we have a heat wave – minus three Celsius – but we are supposed to drop to a more normal minus 10 over the weekend.
@tarvos and ellasevia: thanks for your thoughts on the Greek sounds.

@stelingo: Yes, in just a few years they have gone from being non existent to dominant. Cool!!
And isn’t the g supposed to be approximately like the Spanish g between vowels?

@zecchino: I am glad you like it. I generally lead a rather uneventful life, but there is always something new to be seen when you travel.

@mark, tarvos and renaissancemedi: Thank you for further insight in the Greek letters I was wondering about.

@ogrim: Thank you - yes it is interesting to see how the tourism waves change.

@mark: I am so not going into a discussion about the sweetness of unknown men kissing your 13 year old daughter. If it is someone you know, then it is ok, though Norwegian teenagers find it shocking that people kiss them at all unless they are their parents or their boyfriend/girlfriend. We do not kiss in Norway, we hug. Many teenagers do not even accept that their own parents kiss them, and with unknown men that is so a no-no. And that is not sexist – that is just common sense. I see an unknown man kiss my daughter, or even so much as touch her arm, and he would find himself in more trouble than he knew existed.

JANUARY 20 TH TO JANUARY 31ST

RUSSIAN

Reading
I have read some more Russian now, and have reached page 62 in my Agatha Christie book – and the plot thickens… There is another dead body, and some stolen jade figures and a mysterious Chinese man involved. I was tearing my hair out in pure frustration, because one of the chapter titles looked like it meant “The significance of the sheep’s leg”. I was desperately searching for any other significance those words could have, when it finally dawned on me that it actually meant exactly what it said. They were wondering how the murderer could get to the house unobserved by the neighbors, and the significance of the sheep’s leg, was that he pretended to be a meat deliverer, bringing – a sheep’s leg. Thus people did not notice him.

Conversation
I also took 3 Russian lessons this week. I have used different books, but this week I brought Assimil. I have tried for three years to get through it without success, so I thought that if I brought it to class; I might have a better chance. My edition is French based, and my teacher does not speak French, but that is no problem. I started on lesson 30 and we went through two lessons, and I am counting on repeating the rest of the lessons in the passive wave over the next month, and starting on the active phase and lesson 50 sometime in March towards the end of the 6wc. I also get to talk most of the time I am in class, which is brilliant. It is very broken Russian, but it is Russian, and it is conversation.

Miscellaneous
Oh and the craziest thing happened on the way back from Egypt. On the bus I met a couple where he was Norwegian, and she looked Asian, but with blonde hair. She turned out to be Russian, and we spoke quite a lot in English and Norwegian, and she was so impressed that I was trying to learn Russian. Then when we got to the airport in Oslo, I saw her again, this time without her boyfriend but in the company of a policeman. I was concerned that she had trouble with those annoying immigration officers, so I asked her in Norwegian where her boyfriend was, but then the policeman said, “Oh she only speaks Russian, so if you want to talk to her you must do so in Russian”. At this point I was getting really concerned and asked her in Russian if everything was ok, and if she needed my help, when my daughter said: “Mom, it’s not her, it is a different woman!” So I suddenly realized not only that I was speaking to a complete stranger, but that the policeman also spoke Russian, and probably wondered what the hell I was playing at. So I excused myself to the young woman, and told her that she looked just like a friend of mine, but she just laughed and said it was nice meeting me. After that I just bolted. But what are the odds! A blonde, Asian looking, Russian speaking woman is something I had never encountered before, and to meet two who looked very similar on the same day was simply weird. Then I saw the first girl (with her boyfriend) so I went over to her to say goodbye. She was so happy to see some sort of civility from a Norwegian that she hugged me, and when I told her about the incident she could not stop laughing, and said she was happy that I was willing to come to her rescue, even if it was the wrong girl.

GREEK

I have repeated both the Michel Thomas and Pimsleur lessons a few times, and I have done the three lessons in “Nygrekiska” that I wanted to do. I have uploaded a couple of hundred Greek words to Anki, and I have written my first small challenge. It may not seem much, but Greek takes a long time for me. I love it, but it is time consuming.

FRENCH

We have had an overdose of season 3 and the beginning of season 4 of “Castle” and I have seen 22 episodes these days. Yes, we watch too much TV, but at least we do it in French :-)

SPANISH

I got another evening of Spanish, in the company of my dear friend from Peru plus a number of additional conversations with her and other friends which altogether makes for about 5 hours and a half of conversation. Not bad for a slow week:-)

NORWEGIAN

I read another 5 chapters of the Norwegian grammar, though I must say I found it really boring, I do not know how the foreigners put up with it.

GERMAN AND Italian
Nichts. Niente.
------------------------------
So did I achieve any of my goals for January?

ACHIEVED

RUSSIAN
-     0 /8movies
-     62/300 pages
-     8.30 hours of listening (as much as possible was the goal)
-     0/4 chapters of TY Russian Grammar
-     20/16 private lessons
-     4/2 small challenges
In short, I overachieved on conversation lessons and challenges, did ok. on the listening and underachieved on everything else… Hm. I need the 6wc!

GREEK GOALS

5/5 lessons in Assimil Greek
5/5 lessons in Pimsleur Greek
5/5 lessons in Michel Thomas Greek
3/3 lessons in "Nygrekiska"    
1/1-2 of LanguageSponge's small challenges?

GOALS ACHIEVED? Yes! As you see I have achieved every single goal on the Greek list, plus I read the whole of Teach Yourself Greek, which took hours and hours. (Ok, so I am a bit fuzzy on lesson 5 of Assimil, but almost there.) Very happy with my Greek progress!

ITALIAN GOALS

- Read 300 pages in Italian

GOALS ACHIEVED? Nope. I can’t find the place where I have written how much Italian I have read, but it most certainly were not 300 pages.

FRENCH GOALS
- See 20 episodes of series in French
- read 600 pages in French

GOALS ACHIEVED? I saw the episodes, but reading? Somehow did not get around to it (grins sheepishly).

SPANISH GOALS

- See 10 episodes of Dexter in Spanish

GOALS ACHIEVED? Not quite, but I have spoken a lot of Spanish!

ARABIC GOALS

- Learn a few greetings and essential words and the numbers
- Use them repeatedly the week I am in Egypt

GOALS ACHIEVED?: Yep, and had great success with the few words I knew.

NORWEGIAN GOALS

- Read 5 chapters of "Norwegian - verbs and essentials of grammar"

GOALS ACHIEVED: 8 chapters, so overachiever here.

GERMAN GOALS

None:-) German will have to wait for the time being.

OVERACHEIVED: I had no goals, and I spoke German for 2 hours and a half, so success!
So all in all I overachieved on some areas, but did not quite get there on others. I guess I must learn to be more realistic setting my goals.


FEBRUARY GOALS

So since we are starting a 6wc with Russian, and I need to be realistic as far as goals go, I will try to be more focused with my Russian, which necessarily means relaxing on some of the other languages.

RUSSIAN GOALS
-     Assimil – review lessons 32 to 50.
-     Listen to as many hours of Russian as possible – Pimsleur, Sosiedi, whatever.
-     Do 10 Russian classes
-     Watch 10 Russian films
-     5 small challenges
-     Read 500 pages in Russian

GREEK GOALS

-     Assimil – lesson 5-10
-     Pimsleur – lesson 5-10
-     Michel Thomas – lesson 5-10
-     2 small challenges

FRENCH GOALS

Watch 20 episodes of an American series dubbed into French

ITALIAN GOALS

Start up and do at least 4 private conversation lessons and corresponding homework.

SPANISH GOALS

At least 10 hours conversation practice

GERMAN - NORWEGIAN
No goals for February.
----------------------------

Hm. Not quite sure how well that cutting down on the other languages goal went…
So what do I have to show for myself in terms of hours this week?

Russian 7 hours 20 minutes
Greek 5 hours 10 minutes
French 14 hours 40 minutes
Spanish 5 hours 30 minutes


LANGUAGE TOTAL FOR THE YEAR       
Russian      28 hours 30 min
Greek        37 h 55 m
French       30 h 30 m
German      2 hours 30 minutes
Italian      0.30  & nbsp; 
Spanish      27.40   &n bsp;     
Arabic       1.35 min   
Norwegian    0.30

Ok, 5 minutes to the 6wc starts, but I do not think I will do anything tonight. I am sooo tired right now. But tomorrow is another day, so I’ll try to get up bright eyed and bushy tailed then. Good luck everyone!


Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 31 January 2013 at 11:55pm

2 persons have voted this message useful



mrwarper
Diglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
Spain
forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5218 days ago

1493 posts - 2500 votes 
Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2
Studies: German, Russian, Japanese

 
 Message 114 of 248
01 February 2013 at 3:18am | IP Logged 
Solfrid Cristin wrote:
[...] She was so happy to see some sort of civility from a Norwegian that she hugged me[...]

I don't know if I should take this as a warning or as a sign that we're not so different in the end...

Joaquín María Bartrina wrote:
Oyendo hablar a un hombre, fácil es
saber dónde vio la luz del Sol.
Si alaba Inglaterra, será inglés
Si os habla mal de Prusia, es un francés
y si habla mal de España... es español.

;)

Edited by mrwarper on 01 February 2013 at 2:11pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Марк
Senior Member
Russian Federation
Joined 5048 days ago

2096 posts - 2972 votes 
Speaks: Russian*

 
 Message 115 of 248
01 February 2013 at 8:52am | IP Logged 
Solfrid Cristin wrote:


I see an unknown man kiss my daughter, or even so much as touch her arm, and he would
find himself in more trouble than he knew existed.

I understand this sentence, of course, but the syntax is new for me. The most unusual
thing for me is "I see an unknown man kiss my daughter", I thought it should be "kissing"
. It was also new to me to see "in more trouble than he knew existed". I don't doubt you
are right and know this better, so could you explain this please?
1 person has voted this message useful



zecchino1991
Senior Member
United States
facebook.com/amyybur
Joined 5250 days ago

778 posts - 885 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew, Russian, Arabic (Written), Romanian, Icelandic, Georgian

 
 Message 116 of 248
01 February 2013 at 9:24am | IP Logged 
Марк wrote:
Solfrid Cristin wrote:


I see an unknown man kiss my daughter, or even so much as touch her arm, and he would
find himself in more trouble than he knew existed.

I understand this sentence, of course, but the syntax is new for me. The most unusual
thing for me is "I see an unknown man kiss my daughter", I thought it should be "kissing"


In this case both "kiss" and "kissing" would be correct. :)
1 person has voted this message useful



Марк
Senior Member
Russian Federation
Joined 5048 days ago

2096 posts - 2972 votes 
Speaks: Russian*

 
 Message 117 of 248
01 February 2013 at 12:32pm | IP Logged 
zecchino1991 wrote:


In this case both "kiss" and "kissing" would be correct. :)

Could you explain this please?
1 person has voted this message useful



mrwarper
Diglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
Spain
forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5218 days ago

1493 posts - 2500 votes 
Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2
Studies: German, Russian, Japanese

 
 Message 118 of 248
01 February 2013 at 2:10pm | IP Logged 
Марк wrote:
zecchino1991 wrote:

In this case both "kiss" and "kissing" would be correct. :)

Could you explain this please?

Both act as nouns that refer to the action, but while "kissing" would imply the action can actually take place at some point, "kiss" considers it from a more hypothetical point of view, i.e. you think of the consequences of that action even if you won't let it happen in the first place. Kind of like the silly dialog:
A: "When this happens..."
B: "That won't happen"
A: "I know, but if it happens..."

However, if someone can express it better, please go ahead.

Edited by mrwarper on 01 February 2013 at 2:13pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Марк
Senior Member
Russian Federation
Joined 5048 days ago

2096 posts - 2972 votes 
Speaks: Russian*

 
 Message 119 of 248
01 February 2013 at 2:26pm | IP Logged 
mrwarper wrote:

Both act as nouns that refer to the action

But how can it be? How are the words "man" and "kiss" connected? Kissing could be a
partciple (I saw you dancing). I see an unknown man to kiss someone could be acc. c.
inf. (complex object). What construction is there in this sentence?

Edited by Марк on 01 February 2013 at 2:27pm

1 person has voted this message useful



tastyonions
Triglot
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United States
goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name
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1044 posts - 1823 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Spanish
Studies: Italian

 
 Message 120 of 248
01 February 2013 at 2:35pm | IP Logged 
It's basically a shorthand for "If I see an unknown man kiss my daughter, then he would..." and means exactly the same thing. In my experience it's a form native speakers use more often when they're agitated, especially if they're warning someone, for example, "You touch me one more time, you'll be sorry!" or "You do that and you're gonna get knocked the f*** out!"

Exact same meaning as an "if-then" form, but more "edge" to it.


2 persons have voted this message useful



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