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Cristina’s way TAC 2013 TEAM MIR/SPARTA | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| 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 217 of 248 29 September 2013 at 6:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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@prz: Finger crossing is 90 % of my work out these days :-)
@fabriciocarraro: Thanks, it was lovely to be in Spain, but since it was a work trip I got to speak less Spanish than I would have liked to. Most of the meetings were in English with a little French tossed in. @Teango: Russian salsa sounds lovely! @ Cavesa: Thank you! @MrWarper: Thanks :-) So the trip to Spain was a lot of work and very little play (first time I have had a business meeting until 1.30 in the morning. :-( Being in Spain always gives me extra energy though, and I am childish enough to enjoy the spark of surprise in the eyes of the Spaniards when they hear a Norwegian speak Spanish with an Andalusian accent.I was a little sad I did not get to speak more Spanish there, but that was not what I was payed to do. The good news though, is that a Spanish friend of mine offered to lend me his beach apartment in Almeria, and I found some air tickets which were not too expensive, so tomorrow the kids and I are going to Spain for a five day holiday!!! The girls have a week off at school, and since I had worked so much lately, I could take time off too. And this time it is full immersion, listening to nothing but rapid fire Andalusian, meeting my friends and enjoying the sun, which is as close as I come to heaven :-) I have even been promised a car I can borrow, so all I need to pay for is petrol. The past week has also been quite eventful. Not only because I had more Russian classes and got to practise my Spanish with some friends here, but because I had a visit from the famous YouTube polyglot Luca Lampariello and his friend polyglot Tommy McDonald. I admit that English was spoken most of the time, and quite a lot of Spanish, but we did manage to toss in a little French, Swedish and a few sentences of Italian and German. I also got to listen to a lot of Japanese, and Luca spoke a bit of Romanian with some friends that I invited over. They got to taste Norwegian caviar, goat cheese and my home made apple cake and chocolate cake, and we got to taste Spaghetti Carbonara made by a real Italian, so we were all satisfied by both languages and food. Ok. Got to pack my bags :-) Bikini ready and waiting. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Emme Triglot Senior Member Italy Joined 5339 days ago 980 posts - 1594 votes Speaks: Italian*, English, German Studies: Russian, Swedish, French | Message 218 of 248 30 September 2013 at 8:45pm | IP Logged | ||
That sounds really great! Enjoy your stay in Almería with your daughters: relax, have fun, speak a lot … well, you know the drill to get the most out of your holidays! ;-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 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 219 of 248 05 November 2013 at 8:31am | IP Logged | ||
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@Emme: Thanks for your greetings!
Ooh. No update for a while - but that doesn't mean that I have been idle. After the fantastic holiday is Spain with my two daughters I went to Estonia on a business trip where I actually got to speak a little Russian, and even got an (undeserved) compliment for my Russian. I guess they are not really spoiled when it comes to Westerners speaking Russian :-). In addition I have ad a few Russian classes with a teacher. Generally I just try to speak as much as possible, and she corrects me. A lot :-) I have also had numerous occasions speaking Spanish lately, the latest was yesterday with two Peruvian women and two Cuban women, and I have to say that when they are on a roll, I really need to sharpen my ears to follow. The Peruvians are fine, I never have a problem understanding them, and generally I have no problems with the Cubans either, but this time there were two family members, one fresh out of Cuba. They were laughing and remembering stories of yesteryear, their speech got faster and more slurred, and filled with national and family references and it took more concentration than what I usually need to spend on Spanish. Otherwise I hit a first a couple of days ago. It is the very first time in my life that two programs that I watch on TV just happen to have Russian in them. The first one was half Finnish (which actually does sound sort of nice) and half Russian, as it was a Finnish series about a Finn (absolute nutcase, and absolutely wonderful) who is travelling along the Silk Road - and today he was in Tadzhikistan, a country about which I knew absolutely zilch. Now I at least know that most of them speak Russian, are Muslims, have pilaff as a national dish and that their main natural resource is water. The previous program was about Georgia, which I would have loved to see, but I am hoping the series will come again soon. The next program I just stumbled into, and it was about the Sami. I do not think any country has any reason to be proud about the past when it comes to the treatment of that lovely people, but at least I am happy to say that today things have improved vastly. Those who live on the Russian side of the border were however forcibly removed from their villages and put into big, hideous apartment buildings, and most of them have lost the Sami language. Even the lady who was interviewed, who has helped writing a Sami-Russian dictionary, and her granddaughter who was working in Norway as an adviser on Sami matters spoke Russian together. Great for me, but a disaster for them. When even the Sami activists who both speak Sami find it easier to speak Russian together even within the family unit, then the language is on a slippery slope. I rarely laugh so hard that my cat goes screaming for cover under the sofa, but that evening I did and it did. I was zapping on after the two first programs when I hit a show with a Brit who was trying all sides of the Japanese society, and after having been at a cat cafe ( my cat would have liked that part) he was sent to do sumo wrestling with a real sumo wrestler. Try to imagine a really white, skinny Brit, who is bullied into wearing one of those nappies, and trying his very best to move a guy twice his size. To use his own words " He was carrying me around like a handbag in the end". I almost needed a nappy myself the way I laughed, with tears coming down my cheeks. My cat took a long time to come out from under the sofa. I have also had a Skype conversation with one of our Russian members so that I got to speak a little Russian this week end. Are you guys ready for the 6wc by the way? I started out great the first day, watching two films but the last three days I have done little and registered nothing. (Must kick myself into at least registering what I do). And today I am off to France and Belgium for a few meetings. Right now I wish I could just stay home, but of course I cannot travel in my job just when I feel like it, so off I go. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5548 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 220 of 248 05 November 2013 at 10:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Karl Pilkington is the ultimate British tourist - his reactions simply make me cry laughing! Have you seen any of other the episodes yet? If not, you're in for a treat...there are two seasons following his travels abroad (16 episodes in total), and a third 3-day series where he's accompanied by Warwick Davies to round off the series. Karl's philosophical reflections in the "Ricky Gervais Guide to..." podcast series are also hilarious and worth checking out some time. I'll be interested to hear what you think... :)
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5158 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 221 of 248 06 November 2013 at 2:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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Too bad you missed the best episode, the one about Georgia :/
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| 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 222 of 248 04 December 2013 at 7:22am | IP Logged | ||
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@Teango: I have not seen any of the other episodes - I'll try to catch it on YouTube :-)
@Expugnator: Here again, I hope YouTube will be my friend. The major difference between Norway and countries in Southern Europe is that when you cross the border to Norway you become Invisible Woman. Norwegian men are lovely, but the biggest compliment they can give a girl is that she is "one of the boys". They are really good at a lot of things, but giving compliments is not their forte. When I was young and pretty and the attention from men in Spain or Italy was way too intense for me, coming home was a relief, but at my age, you really are invisible, and therefore getting attention is a nice change. I was in Paris and Brussels a couple of weeks ago. As always I spent the 45 minutes in the taxi from the airport speaking French, to be fit for fight when I get into Paris. On this particular trip 40 of those minutes were spent persuading my Egyptian taxi driver that, no, I did not think it would be an absolutely brilliant idea that he become my second husband. (I made the mistake of answering truthfully when he asked if I were married). I said I would not be ready for a new man in my life for 5 or 10 years at least, and he protested that he could not guarantee that he would be as - eh vigorous - in 5 to 10 years. Both the entertainment value and the French practise was excellent, and we parted as the best of friends. The next day when the taxi driver from the Antilles gave me his card and told me he could come and pick me up any time I came to Paris, I took it merely as a compliment to my conversation skills though, as we had a very lively and interesting discussion about languages. Since 95 % of my time at the international meetings is spent speaking English, most of the French I speak seems to be with taxi drivers and shop assistants, but this time I also managed to slide in between the French speakers in the breaks, and spoke as much French with them as I could. One of the Italian directors who knows that I like to practise my Italian also came over and talked a little, and fortunately the guy sitting next to me was Italian so I had that covered, and also a little Spanish and a tinsy bit of German with the German delegate who for some inexplicable reason thinks I am fluent in German. Probably based on the fact that I shut up and smile a lot in German, and avoid speaking about complicated subjects. Oh. And in less than 30 seconds I managed to make a complete a** of myself in Russian. You have got to admire the speed, if nothing else. There was a new Russian delegate, and I shook hands with him, told him that my name was Cristina, and after he had told me that his name was Oleg, I said that I was from Norway and that I always made a point of getting to know the Russians, because I was trying to learn Russian, but that I found it very difficult. And then I proceeded to shake hands with him. Again. Said in Russian that my name was Cristina. Again. So he said that his name was Oleg. Again. I then said "Очен приятно" and then my mind went BLANK. I could not for the life of me think of another Russian thing to say, so in order not to make the situation too awkward I told him about my Russian loving cat. I managed to stop myself before I showed him the picture of it, but when I get nervous I go into overdrive, and talk like my life depended on it, so he probably thought I was a total nutcase. I have had an uncommonly high amount of compliments for my French this time, and lots of people (all non- native speakers though) asking me or assuming I was French. So at least I can fool the foreigners. I think all the French series I watched for the Super Challenge gave me a major boost there. I soooo need to go back to doing that. There are still almost a month left of the challenge. After the meeting I had a little extra time, so I went to the Latin Quarter to a little bakery called "Le Patisserie du Sud Tunesien" where I always buy a sort of cake mostly made up of honey, and which almost makes me go into diabetic shock, it is so sweet, but it reminds me of my carefree student days in Paris when I was 18. I then went to "Gibert Jeune" where I got a phrase book for the languages of the Silk Road, and fun books to learn the alphabet and a few words in Mandarin, Japanese and Arabic. I am not supposed to spend any money on language materials, but I got the whole lot for 20 euros, so I was fairly good. Then I strolled down along the Seine and over to Notre Dame and noted to myself that although my job has its ups and downs like every other job, it does has its perks. Paris was overflowing with Russians by the way. I could not help thinking, that if I had just stood on a random corner at the Champs Élysées I would have gotten loads of free Russian listening practise. In Brussels my taxi driver was from Ruanda, and I asked him if in this cold, wet Brussels he did not miss his native country. "Madame, I started missing Ruanda the day I left", he said. I am humbled by people who have been through absolutely atrocious things, and who still are so full of joy, though. He had fled from the civil war, but he was laughing and smiling all through the taxi journey, and totally brightened up my day. And then I ended the day visiting a British friend of mine whom I have known for 20 years. You cannot underestimate language skills in a close friendship. I love my Ukrainian friends very much, but it is not possible to share as much when you struggle with the language. There is also something extraordinary with a friendship with someone who knows all the bad things you have done and all the good things you have done, and still loves you to bits. He commented that my new civil status seemed to agree with me, since on previous visits I used to spend my time crying my heart out in his arms, and the last two times I have been all smiles. I could not but agree with him. On the flight back I picked up a Belgian newspaper, and noticed again how incredibly different our cultures are. The first article which caught my attention was one about how the Flemish have passed a law which said you needed to have a particular connection to the place where you wanted to buy property - which was deemed unconstitutional of course. The other article was about a Catholic priest who held social gatherings where he said" If you don't love God - have a beer. If you still don't like God you need a shrink". If a Norwegian Protestant minister had said a similar thing he would have lost his job on the spot. It would be deemed extremely non-RC. Non-religiously correct. Here it is even a controversial thing if a politician from a religious party says he or she occasionally drinks a glass of red wine at a party. I also noticed that the taxis in both France and Belgium always were locked. I asked one of the drivers about it, and he said that all new cars automatically locked the doors as soon as it started driving because of all the robberies they had had. Sometimes I am really happy to live in peaceful Norway. We may not be the most sophisticated people on the planet, but generally you feel safe. I had hours and hours of language practise on my trip, but unfortunately not a great deal of it was in Russian. Oh well, you can't get it all I suppose. 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5548 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 223 of 248 04 December 2013 at 8:30am | IP Logged | ||
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Классно, что ты находишь столько интересных людей, с кем можно поговорить! I particularly loved your recent Russian exchange...well, they say that first impressions count, and I bet he won't forget that one in a hurry! :D
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| 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 224 of 248 04 December 2013 at 8:42am | IP Logged | ||
Probably not. What made things even worse, is that although I in private life and at work in Norway I am known as gentle, kind and polite, I am for various reasons forced to be a total bad ass when I am dealing with our French organization, and suspect that they call me the Wicked Witch of the North - or worse - behind my back. And that makes it even more embarrassing to make such a total fool of myself. My only consolation was that no one else presumably understood what I said, and hope that he is a gentleman and does not "speak and tell". 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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