Я не говорю по-английски (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

Я не говорю по-английски
Tags: Korean \| Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) \| Mandarin \| Japanese \| English
Share with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log

47 messages over 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Nieng Zhonghan Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Antarctica Joined 3663 days ago 108 posts - 315 votes Speaks: Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, Galician Studies: Finnish, Icelandic, Armenian, Mongolian Studies: Old English, Russian, English, German, Korean, Mandarin	Message 41 of 47 29 March 2015 at 11:24pm \| IP Logged
	TAC languages: Chinese (3), Korean (4), German (5) and Russian (6) Aloha! 3. Chinese 3.1 HSK 3 (24/24) Finally finished the HSK 3 book. I am not sure what I am going to do next. Perhaps I will review books 1, 2 and 3 in April or start and finish HSK 4 in April. 3.2 March Challenge On active task I will type 100 character texts. Since the server was some weeks ago (at least here), I will type my March’s challenge right now. I wanted to create a descriptive text containing at least 100 characters; however, I decided to create exercises containing 100 characters because I made tone mistakes at the beginning of this month regarding certain characters that I am going to use. Text 1 每年夏天, 有多人到那個花園看花, 紅色的, 黃色的, 藍色的, 白色的…明年夏天我們一起去看吧, 你一定會自己的話. Question 我想什麼時候去花園? 1 去年 2 每年 3 明年 Text 2 我朋友說孩子不能長時間上网, 對眼睛不好, 而且影響學習, 所以他每天只讓我上网半個小時. Question 我朋友說什麼? 1 上网對學習好 2 上网不影响學習 3不能总是上网 Text 3 我很喜歡中國的古詩, 特別是那首欲穷千里目, 更上一層樓的詩. 意思是說, 要看到更遠的地方,就要在上一層樓. 想要得到更大的成功, 就要做出跟多的努力. Question 那首詩講什麼? 1 要再上一層樓. 2 要看遠處 3 要努力 On passive task 1. I have compiled a deck on Anki containing A1 and A2 level (totally biased) grammar topics with sentences. It contains about 100 flashcards which finished at the end of this month. Done. 2. I created a TOCFL deck containing words from Taiwanese proficiency test level 1. If I manage to do more than 100 words a week, I will definitely finish it by the end of this month. I did more than 500 words, more than I expected. 4. Korean 4. 1 TTMIK 4 (30/30) Finished TTMIK 4. 4.2. March Challenge On active task What one can do being at very low level in terms of passive skills? Does shadowing 100 sentences is valid output? How about writing 100 random sentences on my own? Another idea is writing several short dialogues whose amount of characters would be at least 100. I am not sure how to count a character in Korean though. What is the criterion? I will consider “안녕하세요” containing 5 characters. Done. I have shadowed 100 sentences. On totally passive task Review 100 flashcards every week from my own TTMIK deck or from the deck Evita has created and shared. Done. 4.3 TTMIK SRS I am doing some review of TTMIK following Evita’s deck. She has created the best Korean deck I have seen so far. It is very organized and it contains the audio of all (or almost all) sentences from the book. Hopefully she will continue doing her great work during her free time. I really appreciate your work, Evita. Next time: Next month I am willing to start and finish TTMIK 5. 5. German 5.1 Assimil (75/100) After doing ¾ of the book in January, I have been a long time without studying German actively due to health conditions. I am finally back! I will do 25 lessons next week and finally finish the passive wave. 5.2 Wort der Woche Niveaustufe: B2 Medien: Audio, Text (Download) Sprache: Deutsch “Um jemanden zu bauchpinseln, braucht man keine Farbe, Extrawürste kann man nicht essen und Rabenmütter sind keine Vögel. Warum das so ist, erfahren Sie hier. Denn mit dem "Wort der Woche" stellen wir Ihnen wöchentlich ein kurioses deutsches Wort vor.” Das Kellerduell It was an easy text. I thought it was A1 level, but it was surprisingly written “Niveaustufe: B2”. 5.3 Top-Thema mit Vokabeln Niveaustufe: B1 Medien: Audio, Text (Download) Sprache: Deutsch “Mit dem Top-Thema könnt ihr euch gleichzeitig über Neues aus aller Welt informieren und euren Wortschatz erweitern. Wir bieten euch zweimal wöchentlich leicht verständliche Berichte mit Vokabelangaben und Fragen zum Text. Außerdem könnt ihr zu jedem Top-Thema auch ein langsam gesprochenes Audio herunterladen.” 5.4 Das Porträt Number 10: Beatriz aus Brasilien Number 2: Hitomi aus Japan I can clearly perceive the influence of L1 on both Brazilian and Japanese girls speech. I had trouble to understand everything the Japanese girl spoke during the first time I listened to it, but I managed to understand when I watched for the second time. I have tried reading the topics taken from DW just to measure my current comprehension and it seems that I am doing well since I haven’t much trouble to understand random texts I took from DW. 6. Russian 6.1 Assimil I found out a mistake on lesson 19. Игорюша was stressed in “И” and “ю”. Shame on Assimil! With one month of study, but very little progress, I have already found out two mistakes so far. 6.2 http://begin-english.ru/article/25-oshibok/ I found out this website. The textbook seem to be very crazy and weird. I have never seen such thing before. 6.3 Text: Time to write my first text in Russian! I wrote three to 4 lines every day. Because I am out of time, I tried to think in 2 minutes what I wanted to write, and it took me 2 minutes to review the grammar. I did some proofreading yesterday and that’s it. It didn’t take more than an hour to write this poor text. Hopefully I will manage to be at basic fluency in a couple of years. Здравствуйте! Меня зовут Ниенг Жонгхан. Сегодня я хотел бы рассказать вам поговорить о своих увлечениях. Мне нравится путешествовать. Я трижды побывал в Уганде и Бурунди и дважды - в Руанде. Однажды я побывал в Антарктиде и Арктике. Я также побывал во многих других странах. Я не бывал в Сирии, но хотел бы посетить её. Я жил в Бутане, Северной Корее, Афганистане, Малави, Сьерра-Леоне, Центрально-Африканской Республике, на Кубе и на Гаити. Я посетил 54 страны Африки и 40 стран Азии. Я люблю изучать языки. Я могу говорить на руандийском языке, на языке моши и, конечно, на языке ньянджа. Я немного говорю по-английски. Мне нравится изучать русский, но я также хочу учить коси, потому что это очень красивый язык. Я интересуюсь наркотрафиком и алкоголем. Я шучу, конечно! А если серьезно, то я хочу работать в Папуа-Новая Гвинея. Это моя любимая страна. Мне также очень нравится пить алкоголь. Спасибо за внимание! Even though I said that I proofread the text, I found out something that didn’t make sense. I said that I am interested in alcohol twice. I should have avoided this kind of repetition, but I’ll keep my text the same as the original one with (probably) many mistakes. If someone is by any chance reading my log, please, comment on the mistakes I did. I haven’t anyone to help me writing. 1. English http://www.vistawide.com/languages/20_countries_most_languag es.htm This is an interesting list. It shows us the top 20 languages by number of languages spoken. 2. Japanese 2.1 Sumo I watched all bouts from the Makuuchi division during this basho which was held in Osaka. Yokozuna Hakuho broke his own record of the rikishi who has won most tournaments after the Sumo Association has established that each year there will be 6 tournaments. Scording 14-1, he lost to Sekiwake Terunofuji in a bout that could have decided the yusho (champion) on thirteenth day of the tournament which is always on Friday. I have never seen anyone becoming the champion on Friday. On day 15 Senshuuraku Terunofujo x Goeido Terunofuji has become a monster lately with his double outside armclamp. Goeido is skilled with a morozashi but he could not handle Terunofuji's power. What a sensation! He finishes at 13-2 which is a typical regular Yokozuna record, not to say that it can be also a score that would have allowed him to win the tournament in other period of time. He's currently the leading ozeki candidate. If he wins 10 bouts in each of his next 2 basho we will have a new ozeki. According to my prediction, 32 wins will be enough for Terunofuji to become an Ozeki because the three Japanese Ozeki are struggling to get their kachikoshi. Goeido, for instance, was shaky all basho long. As an ozeki he has 3 scores of 8-7 and one at 5-10. That's a losing record. It's amazing that he still remains an ozeki. Kisenosato x Kotoshogiku Kisenosato wins a good battle with Kotoshogiku who finishes at 8-7. The combined score for the 3 ozeki this basho is 25 wins and 20 losses, very shaky, very despicable and shameful. The ozeki rank needs some fresh young talent who can regularly get 10-5, at least. Hakuho x Harumafuji I have seen a real classic yokozuna bout, with tsuppari first followed by a long and competitive battle on the belt. Hakuho's defence was superb and he finally wore down his fellow yokozuna who would have beaten just about everyone else with his effort today. Harumafuji finished at 10-5, subpar for a yokozuna who needs at least 12-3 regularly, but he was outstanding today in a losing cause. What to say about this basho? Gagamaru I thought he would retire soon since he has been fighting in the Juryo division for a while and not doing well. However, he came back to Makuuchi division and got his kachikoshi. He showed a fighting spirit during this basho, after losing his first bouts of the tournament. Japanese rikishi It is a pity that the young Endo and Chiyootori got injured. Apparently from the live sumo, it seemed to me that they are both going to struggle in the next few years if they don’t recover from their knee (?) injury. It takes time to recover, but it is better for them to get a lower rank, perhaps get demoted to Juryo, but to recover 100%. Jokoryu, for instance, has not only recovered completely, but also has injured his other knee. Oosunarashi The Egyptian rikishi is back. I think he hasn’t trained much before this basho, but he kept winning and in the end he got 11-4. Hopefully we are going to see fighting against the top division rikishi. I want to see him fighting against Ozeki and Yokozuna very soon. Tochinoshin The Georgian Tochinoshin is one of my favorite rikishi. Despite being a bit slow to attack and counter attack, he has lot of raw power. Terunofuji and Ichinoo If Terunofuji doesn’t injury himself, we are going to see a new Mongolian Ozeki this year. I am currently cheering for him to become Ozeki and later on Yokozuna. Ichinojo also has lots to improve: his footwork, tachiai and not being too passive all the time. Terunofuji and Ichonojo has the same height and almost the same weight. They both arrived to Japan in the same airplane and I’d like to see them as the new Ozeki. Ichinojo will be probably Komusubi next basho. Let’s see how far these young Mongolian will reach. Kakuryuu The absence of Yokozuna Kakuryuu has surprised me. If he had been on this tournament, I bet that either Kotoshogiku or Goeido would have got a makekoshi this basho. Hopefully he will recover soon to be 100% next basho. Harumafuji What to say about him? He is not ending with a good Yokozuna score. I think this year will be probably his last year, unless he restart gaining some yusho or at least regular 12-3 score throughout the year. Hakuho Words are really not enough to describe Hakuho. I'll leave it at that! How many yusho will Hakuho end up with when he finally retires? He now has 34 and he is still very much in his prime. I say he gets at least 40. People thought that Taiho's 32 yusho was an unbreakable record. What does that say about Hakuho? 2 persons have voted this message useful
Nieng Zhonghan Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Antarctica Joined 3663 days ago 108 posts - 315 votes Speaks: Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, Galician Studies: Finnish, Icelandic, Armenian, Mongolian Studies: Old English, Russian, English, German, Korean, Mandarin	Message 42 of 47 30 April 2015 at 11:19am \| IP Logged
	6. Russian 6.1 У меня есть книга "Корни русского языка" Джорджа Патрика, но мне она не нравится. В ней берется несколько корней и дается ряд слов с примерами (пока всё нормально), но полное отсутствие какой-либо информации о грамматике делает ее практически бесполезной. Например, вам не рассказывают являются ли глаголы глаголами совершенной или несовершенной формы или являются ли существительные, заканчивающиеся на -ь, существительными мужского рода или женского, хотя это можно иногда почерпнуть из примеров. З. Патрик мог написать книгу, которая заполнит вопиющую дыру в педагогической литературе, но он этого не сделал. 6.2 На странице 39 ошибка. Неправильно указано ударение в слове. То же самое слово с неправильным ударением приводится на странице 40. Как тебе не стыдно, курс русского языка Ассимиль? 6.3 Я читаю об языке Коро на протяжении пары недель. Он кажется (представляется) интересным языком! 6.4 TAC Russian (April) Я просыпаюсь в 4:50. Затем в шесть часов я встаю. Я делаю чашечку зелёного чая и съедаю от пяти до семи бананов, пока я читаю книгу на японском языке. Я принимаю быстрый душ и одеваюсь. Я обычно ношу светлую рубашку с длинными рукавами, черные брюки и черные туфли. Я также надеваю свои японские часы, чищу зубы и сажусь в свою машину. Я стараюсь читать художественную литературу и научно-популярные книги каждый будний день по 45 минут. Я достаю свою флешку, которая содержит японскую, китайскую, корейскую, немецкую, русскую, классическую музыку и немного фольклорной музыки из североевропейских стран. На ней также есть подкасты, которые у меня никогда не получается слушать в машине из-за интенсивного движения транспорта и потому что мне приходится иметь дело с большими ямами и дикими животными (лошадьми, коровами, собаками, котами, водосвинками (капибарами), и крокодилами (других я ещё не могу распознать) на улицах. Я пока что ещё не видел настолько плохих дорожных условий в любой другой стране. Я также хочу отменить то, как здесь ездят водители. Они действительно грубые и сумасшедшие на дороге. Дорога до моего пункта назначения, удаленного на 100 км, занимает 60 минут при хороших погодных условиях и когда на дороге нет никаких пробок и несчастных случаев. Я обычно добираюсь туда до 8 часов утра, где приступаю к работе и работаю до 12 часов дня, хотя эта работа никогда не бывает рутинной. Иногда у меня получается пообедать в час дня, в два часа дня и т.д. Мне положен по закону один час на обед, но в действительности всё не так, как на бумаге. Иногда мне приходится проглатывать пищу за 7 минут и возвращаться к работе. Когда я обедаю, я обычно беру рис, фасоль, мясо одного вида (говядину, курицу и иногда либо свинину, либо рыбу), четыре разных салата и т.д. Я ем в ресторанном дворике компании, так как это дешевле, хотя еда могла бы быть вкуснее. Я не требователен, но они не придают своей еде никакого вкуса и аромата. Кстати, считается ли рыба мясом? В определенных языках, что я учил до настоящего момента, носители языка говорили мне, что рыба - это один из видов мяса, тогда как в других культурах говорят, что рыба относится к другой категории. Таким образом, это вопрос подхода. Здесь я приведу короткий список вещей, которые мне нужно делать ежедневно: управлять, организовывать, контролировать коллег, выполнять некоторые конкретные задачи и делать телефонные звонки в другие компании, делать кофе, принимать напряженные решения, делать "бумажную" работу, организовывать и принимать участие в заседаниях, связанных с механическими и электрическими заводами, материально-техническим снабжением, управлением, финансовыми отделами, ездить, развозить и транспортировать продукцию, отвечать на письма электронной почты от наших коллег и клиентов, анализировать, оценивать, разрабатывать, подготавливать и планировать финансовые таблицы, создавать, тестировать, улучшать, проектировать, составлять программу, исправлять и проверять программы для построения механических и электрических заводов, "ремонтного завода" (завод для ремонта больших машин, который относится к нашей компании), IT- отдел, который я поддерживаю , обеспечивая высокотехнологическое улучшения и безопасность от хакеров и других видов вторжений, покупать, продавать, импортировать, экспортировать и сбывать продукцию (продажи и отдел маркетинга также находятся под моим руководством). Я также перевожу документы, электронные письма и т.д., а также работаю в качестве переводчика с нескольких языков в связи с тем, что у нас есть зарубежные клиенты. Я ищу другую должность в другой компании, чтобы я смог больше наслаждаться жизнью . Мне положено покидать работу в 5 часов вечера, но с первого дня работы в компании я не помню случаев, когда я уходил с работы в это время. Обычно у меня не получается уходить раньше 18:30. Обратная дорога домой занимает по меньшей мере полтора часа, в то время как утром та же дорога занимает около часа на машине. Также из-за стресса я обычно слушаю музыку в то время, пока веду машину. Я возвращаюсь домой в 8 часов вечера и ужинаю. В 20:30 я читаю книгу на другом языке в течение лишь 30 минут. Затем я иду в тренажерный зал, где я начинаю отрабатывать специальные упражнения как для верхней половины туловища, так и для нижней, чтобы оставаться в форме. Я остаюсь в тренажерном зале на час и возвращаюсь домой в районе 10 часов вечера. Я быстро принимаю душ и начинаю работать с другими восемью языками в течение 30 минут для каждого языка. Затем я иду в кровать в 2 часа ночи. Обычно я стараюсь учить и поддерживать восемь языков каждый день. Я не совершенствуюсь так быстро, как я мог бы, но самое главное - то, что я получаю много удовольствия от того, чем я занимаюсь в качестве хобби. 5. German 5.1 Was Japan anbetrifft, bestätigt der Zeitungsartikel meine Erfahrungen: http://www.atpress.ne.jp/view/31710 Die beliebtesten Sprachen sind ("Welche Sprache würden Sie - abgesehen von Englisch - gerne lernen?) 1. Chinesisch 21%; 2. Koreanisch 19 %; 3. Französisch 17%; 4. Deutsch 13%; 5. Spanisch 9%; 6. Italienisch 7%; 7. Russisch 3%; 8. Thailändisch 3%; 9. Portugiesisch 2% 10. Vietnamesisch 1%; 11. Anderen Sprachen… Interessant sind auch die nächsten beiden Diagramme - wenn man die Umfrage nach Männern und Frauen aufteilt, sieht das Ergebnis ganz anders aus: Männer: Chinesisch, Deutsch, Französisch, Koreanisch, Spanisch, Italienisch, Russisch, Thiländisch, Portugiesisch... Frauen: Koreanisch, Französisch, Chinesisch, Italienisch, Spanisch, Deutsch, Portugiesch, Russisch, Thailändisch... Während Koreanisch bei den Frauen auf Platz eins und Chinesisch auf Platz drei liegt, Chinesisch bei den Männern auf dem ersten und Koreanisch auf dem vierten Platz ist. 5.2 TAC I haven’t done it due to my health conditions. I barely managed to talk in the past few weeks. Sore throat problems… 5.3. German x English degree I was thinking of taking English as my major and German as a minor or vice-verse. There aren’t many options available, though. Aside from the two languages, Ancient Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese are offered. I guess it is time to reduce the amount of hours dedicated to Chinese and Korean, and increase both English and German, no matter which of them will be my priority in the future. 1. English 1.1 Some interesting quizzes I tried just for fun. https://www.blogthings.com/whatlanguageshouldyoulearnquiz/ http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/which-language-should -you-learn-to-speak http://www.selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=top20langu ages 1.2 Serpent kindly answered me a couple of questions. I thought about answering there, but I decided to write some few remarks on my log. I really like the lingvo dictionary. It's available on yandex.ru for free, but only within Russia. You can use the hola.org add-on for it too, or purchase it as a popup dictionary. Translators also use multitran.ru a lot, since it lists plenty of alternatives that you can choose from. It's a collaborative project, and if you register you can add the words and expressions that aren't in the database. I assume you can even request a translation but I'm not 100% sure. As a teen I also used a Langenscheidt dictionary and monolingual Longman dictionaries. They were great too. Nowadays I use either multitran (if I actually need to find the Russian equivalent), or wiktionary, especially if I suspect that I might know the word in Finnish or Portuguese. And to look up a Russian word I'd do a yandex search and get results from their dictionary database and gramota.ru and various sites on etymology. :) First of all, I have already bookmarked lingvo and multitran. Thanks for sharing mentioning them. I am not used to use Yandex yet, but little by little I think I will start using it more often. sportbox.ru streams a lot of the matches aired by the VGTRK channels (россия 1, россия 2, спорт 1) but just like with yandex.lingvo, you'll need a VPN service to access it. And these channels air only the Russian NT, not the Premier League. But all the usual places online generally have Russian streams too. I have been watching some of Zenit’s games. It is good to hear football terminology in Russian. I have been learning a lot through the narrator’s commentaries. I dislike the sound of this language. Also, even Spanish used to bother me by what it did to Latin, and French is way worse in this regard. (Romanian is not annoying because it preserved bits of the case system, and the non-Latin elements are mostly Slavic, plus the Balkan Sprachbund is fascinating too) Ironically, Portuguese has the same features that I dislike in French, namely nasal vowels and the r. But I've come to love the R in German and Portuguese, and the nasal vowels in Portuguese or Polish don't have the same messy feeling about them. And I actually watch some French football. PSG has three players that I love a lot, namely David Luiz, Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimović. Thanks to them I generally find a stream in Spanish, Italian or occasionally Swedish. Oh and I do have some experience with French, since I used to work as a spam analyst and there was a lot of spam in French. I also did some written GLOSS lessons because I love this site so much. And by now I could use French-based Assimil if I really wanted (I've read through some Swedish lessons), although I'd have to look up some vocab (and generally I don't use textbooks anymore). I was going to learn French due to professional purposes; however, hopefully they changed their mind. French is definitely one of the ugliest and annoying languages when it comes to their combinations of sounds. I really dislike French too, but I am considering learning it for reading purposes only somewhere in the future. I have Assimil French at home, but I rather prefer to keep it in the bookshelf for a while. There are indeed a lot of resources for those who are willing to learn French, but I am not interested in French cuisine, language, music and many other things. Of course, I do appreciate the traditional art, but I have many other reasons to learn other languages at the moment. Zlatan Ibrahimović is indeed one of my favorite strikers. Despite his personality being a little bit naïve in some ways, not to say unique among footballers, I really like the way he plays. I prefer Thiago Luiz rather than David Luiz technically and tactically speaking. I used Russian-based books, especially Учебник финского языка (Чернявская) and Opi puhumaan suomea (Муллонен). I also got started with native materials early on, since there was a lot of content in Finnish I desperately wanted to understand (songs, interviews, tour diaries, guestbooks, forum posts). Oh and I used TY for some listening and shadowing, Assimil for shadowing (much more, since the audio is Finnish-only), and I checked out FSI but basically didn't use it. I think I found one single structure I wasn't familiar with and did a drill for it. I think Assimil was a good resource for other languages. I may try it a little bit in case I don't find any other textbook. I understand a lot, yes. I'm sure that with some LR I'd reach a high level of comprehension quickly. In fact I just got back from Finland and I kinda felt bad when I read a Geisha chocolate label and wasn't sure about a simple Estonian word ;) I also know the famous false friends but undoubtedly there are many that I'm not aware of, especially the more subtle ones. With Estonian (and even Finnish) I also have an advantage being a Russian native speaker. In Finnish the loans are generally pretty old and often have a different meaning, but in Estonian they're more recent, and there are also more international words. Out of the languages you listed, these should be the most accessible. But Arabic has more resources and more content, of course. I am not in a hurry; after all, I need to reach a higher level in languages I am dabbling now. They appear extremely similar until you actually become serious about them. Especially Belarusian is so similar that I struggled with it before I had Polish as a reference point. (my dad is Belarusian and I've spent a lot of time in Belarus, but pretty much everyone speaks Russian there nowadays) Also, in the current political situation, deliberate mistranslations from Ukrainian happen sometimes. So most Russians don't understand it that well, though it's mostly a question of exposure. With more exposure the Scandinavian situation would be possible in Eastern Europe too. The day I become fluent in Russian I will be able to feel the differences and similarities between Russian, Belarusian and Russian. I am curious whether it would be similar to the situation of Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, perhaps. What about Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian? Are they mutually intelligible? I assume you mean with Russian? ;) For me it's two languages at most, and the differences are often exaggerated. The intelligibility with Russian is very high, also through Old Church Slavonic/Bulgarian. But I admit that I definitely understand less than in other Slavic languages, perhaps also because I've not been to the Balkans and I've not done all that much listening. If you've not read the logs of Radioclare and Chung I highly recommend them :) The situation of Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian interests me, but I probably won’t take another Slavic language in the near future as I’d like to reach the advanced fluency in Russian first. It is going to take long until them. :D I am following Chung’s and Radioclare’s log. Thanks you very much, Serpent! Edited by Nieng Zhonghan on 01 May 2015 at 12:53am 4 persons have voted this message useful
Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4226 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek	Message 43 of 47 01 May 2015 at 11:11am \| IP Logged
	I am impressed with your progress in Russian. Does it take you long to write these texts? 1 person has voted this message useful
misskj Newbie United States Joined 4343 days ago 28 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean	Message 44 of 47 04 May 2015 at 4:18pm \| IP Logged
	Hello~ I started reading your log and I like watching your progress in your languages :) How long ago did you start studying German? I've been interested in German and like to read a bit in the language but I never started studying it seriously. If i did I would start using Assimil like you because I've heard so many great things about using Assimil. I'm also impressed with your high level of Japanese~ I'll be following your blog. 1 person has voted this message useful
Nieng Zhonghan Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Antarctica Joined 3663 days ago 108 posts - 315 votes Speaks: Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, Galician Studies: Finnish, Icelandic, Armenian, Mongolian Studies: Old English, Russian, English, German, Korean, Mandarin	Message 45 of 47 31 May 2015 at 4:31pm \| IP Logged
	It is time for an update! Yesterday my body temperature got beyond 39C (39,8C to be exact). My fever lowered a bit right now, but I guess I won’t proofread what I am writing here for obvious reasons. I simply cannot think too much. Aside from the fever, this week I had sore throat again due to the weather conditions. There were some days that I needed two blankets, but some other days was insanely hot, not to mention that in some other days it rained heavily. I lost 7kg due to the health problems in just 21 days. I lost all muscles I have built up over 7 years. Many people are making jokes when they don’t know what happened to me. What a pity. Anyway, I have recovered 75% and in a few weeks I should be 100% again. I want to play soccer again at very high level! Sometimes I think I should have become a professional player when I was younger. This week I got robbed again. What can you do when someone point out a gun into your head when you have fever, sore throat, cannot speak (really, I could not use my voice this week)? I don’t know how to describe this situation. Is it about fear? I don’t know. You just feel weak and not being able to do anything to react. Mentally you are dominated by certain feelings only when you are under such circumstances you will know one day. Hopefully no one here will suffer from such experiences in life. It was not the first time, but I wish this was the last one. Some people are under drugs reaction, so, sometimes I feel like reacting because it doesn’t cost anything for them (yes, it was actually more than 3 men armed) to kill someone…after all, the constitution of this country exists, but doesn’t apply to everyone…better not to mention where I live because some people will get offended here. Well, I gave them my money on the wallet (fortunately I had some; otherwise it could have cost my own life!) and my car containing German, Korean, Chinese, French, Spanish, English, Japanese and Russian books. Unfortunately in this day I had to bring my Ipad, Iphone, notebook and digital camera from Japan (the best camera I have ever had!). It is a pity that this was the camera I used during my (almost) 3 months in Europe last time! I tried to use “find my Iphone”, but I guess these people have good IT specialists’ contacts (specialists in computer programming and such field) because I could not detect where they are right now. Unfortunately everything has gone. I wasn’t at home to receive my package I purchased in an online bookstore. Because I had to go to the post office company, I got assaulted by a bunch of people… I didn’t even get to see my Korean books and my Japanese literature books. I was expecting to see the other books in other languages as well. Anyway, I am glad is that my fever lowered in 1C from yesterday. I am also glad that I am still alive. Honestly I have to say that I got a little bit demotivated after such incidents, but it is time to change my mind and restart everything. @ Misskj and @ Via Diva, First of all, I am sorry for my late response. I didn’t receive an e-mail telling me that someone posted in my log. The e-mail was mysteriously in my spam box, but I guess I have already solved this issue. @ViaDiva Да, мне действительно требуется время, чтобы писать на русском языке, но я не могу оценить, сколько именно, потому что я пишу понемногу здесь и там, только когда я в хорошем настроении, не сильно уставший и сонный. Написание и читка корректуры несколькими днями позже - это то, что я обычно делаю с любым языком для того, чтобы увидеть, что я могу улучшить, изменить, перепроверить, глядя на примеры из учебников грамматики и словарей. @Misskj I studied German for one month between the December 2007 and January 2008 by myself. By that time I used DW resources which I complemented with Pimsleur method. I was about to write a review about Assimil course, but it seems that some people have already written some interesting topics on the internet. Here you can find one review of Assimil: http://langreviews.com/assimil-language-review/ I personally prefer taking Assimil courses as I already know how to make the best use of it accordingly to my learning style. As for Indo-European languages such as German and French, I’d recommend you taking a look on Assimil with ease, but I didn’t like Assimil Korean (in French), Japanese, Chinese, Arabic and few other languages. Regarding the review written on the website above, I disagree about some specific things he pointed out. I personally think that the audio is clear, but very slow for B2 level stated in the book. The listening is very slow or just slow. For instance, there aren’t any TV shows, documentaries etc I watch in German that has the pace of Assimil’s recording. I don’t think it has quickened the speed of the listening over the lessons, not that I have noticed until lesson 91, but I don’t know because I kept mixing other resources. However, when I checked the A1, A2 and B1 level mock tests from Goethe Institutes, I felt that the listening speed of the tests were faster than Assimil’s recordings. If you do almost everything it is recommended by the authors of the book, you will probably reach a very solid A2 level in terms of passive skills and perhaps B1, but I don’t think one will reach B2 level with that course alone. Aside from DW, you can listen to music, watch movies, watch some videos with subtitles, listen to good podcasts (I liked Germanpod101, though it is paid; there are non-paid podcasts available there too) and perhaps have one good grammar book in case you need further explanation of some specific points. I decided to restart my German studies in January this year which I have quickly covered 75 chapters of Assimil German with Ease in about 3 weeks (passively). Since then, I haven’t done much due to my health conditions, some problems here and there. If you want, I can send you some useful links I’d like to compile. I can even post here as well. 6. Russian Speaking-based studies. Haven’t read much, but I have been trying to speak as much as I can do. I guess I have already accomplished the TAC challenge in April which was extended to May. I will definitely do all tasks until the end of the year. I am even willing to do the previous tasks, though they won’t be valid as a challenge. 5. German 5.1 Trying to apply “speaking-based” studies more. Let’s see if I can at least do some grammar exercises, read more and stick with any plan for one month. I am tired of stopping due to professional or personal (health) issues. I will probably follow Germanpod101 podcasts. I really liked them. 4. Korean 4.1 My challenge can be considered as a fail as it is in a word document in my laptop that was robbed. So, Captain Woodsei can consider my challenge as “not completed”. I am not in conditions to write another story. 4.2 I am trying to speak in Korean. I have improved in the last few weeks. I think together with Russsian, it was the language I improved at most in May. 3. Chinese 3.1 Same as German. Not have improved after having finished HSK3 book. I am willing to start HSK 4, but I guess I will review HSK1 and HSK 2 books this month. I guess I will start reading native resources such as books for children or even trying to follow podcasts such as Chinesepod.com or/and Chineseclass101. 2. Japanese 2.1 I am too tired to write my review regarding Sumo bouts. Next time I wish I will be able to write about it. Having had some health issues I haven’t been able to study languages. I have been doing many exercises at the gym, but only few days ago I have been able to practice some aerobics exercises. I am trying to get into the best conditions to play soccer at high level. 7. Spanish 7.1 I managed to talk in Spanish with my Chilean and Peruvian friends. Have been refreshing my memory as my speaking abilities got rusty. 8. French My attempt to learn French has been gone away because Assimil French with Ease was in my car that was robbed. Not sure if I will stick with the plan anymore. 2 persons have voted this message useful
Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4226 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek	Message 46 of 47 01 June 2015 at 3:10pm \| IP Logged
	Повторюсь ещё раз - твой прогресс просто впечатляет! Насколько серьёзно ты планируешь изучать русский? Ничего, что на ты? :) I think if you got robbed and lost a lot of purchased material, you can justify pirating some of them. Of course, ebooks aren't that good as actual books etc, but it would be awful to drop or stagnate in a language because you've lost some tools you've paid for and relied on. 1 person has voted this message useful
Nieng Zhonghan Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Antarctica Joined 3663 days ago 108 posts - 315 votes Speaks: Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, Galician Studies: Finnish, Icelandic, Armenian, Mongolian Studies: Old English, Russian, English, German, Korean, Mandarin	Message 47 of 47 30 June 2015 at 6:00pm \| IP Logged
	@Via Diva I honestly I haven’t been active in the TAC challenges in the past few months. I will try to be more responsible and keep posting the monthly challenges in my log till the end of the year. I will probably start learning French little by little, since it is not my main priority. Like it or not, unfortunately I think I will need it for my professional reasons... Р. Русский язык. Список достижений: + Я выпил одну бутылку водки. Самые большие препятствия до сих пор: Я заметил, что я делаю много ошибок, когда дело касается родительного падежа. Самые большие триумфы до сих пор: + Ничего особенного. В следующий раз: + Выпить еще одну бутылку водки. + Я далеко за пределами своего графика. Я уже сделал уроки active wave с 1 по 27. Я не последовал их совету насчет того, что мне следовало начинать, будучи на уроке 50 (51?). Я решил закончить всю книгу, прежде чем начинать active wave и до сих пор это работает довольно хорошо. Р.1 Серия Penguin Я думаю, что рано или поздно я буду использовать серию Penguin, потому что мне хотелось бы укрепить свои грамматические навыки. Я хотел бы пересмотреть некоторые темы, которые были охвачены в книге. Главный недостаток Penguin в том, что данная серия не предоставляет аудио. Я не понимаю авторов, которые создают методику изучения языка без предоставления аудиозаписей по меньшей мере определенных частей. Н. Немецкий Н.1 Разговорная речь Разговаривал с девушкой с Берлина в течение часа. Не могу поверить, что я использовал только немецкий язык на протяжении почти одного часа! Н.2 Assimil with Ease Я предполагал закончить active wave в феврале этого года, но с того момента я всё ещё не закончил оставшиеся 10 глав (уроки с 91 по 100). Н.3 DW Я смотрю на ресурсы B1 - C1 уровней c сайта DW. Некоторый контент весьма интересен. Н. 4 Я пытаюсь смотреть некоторые случайные видео, что показывают по национальным немецким каналам. Они короткие и связаны с такими областями моих интересов, как спорт, бодибилдинг, привычки питания, йога, фильмы, музыка, здоровье, мозг и психика, эволюция, энергия и устойчивость, космос, технологии, наука (физика и химия) и т.д. Некоторые из них я могу понимать приблизительно на 80%, но другие видео действительно сложные, так что мне приходится смотреть их более одного раза, больше концентрироваться и проверять незнакомые слова в словаре. Кр. Корейский Кр.1 Разговорная речь Я практиковал свою устную речь. Думаю, что всё остается в моей памяти, когда я полагаюсь больше на устную речь, нежели на натаскивание по грамматике, используя SRS и другие методы. Я делаю очень быстро обзор некоторых уроков TTMIK раз в неделю, однако я предпочитаю тренироваться, читая случайные тексты, подходящие для моего уровня. Я способен говорить около 50 минут (или 60 минут), полагаясь только на корейский язык. Моя следующая цель - это вообще не использовать английский на протяжении 60 минут. Кр.2 TTMIK Я застрял на четвертом сезоне. Мне следует начать TTMIK 5 в июле. Kр.3 Корейские драмы Я думаю, что я начну смотреть корейский драмы, чтобы улучшить свои слуховые навыки. В прошлом я уже смотрел некоторые драмы, и я выучил несколько слов и выражений, которым не учат в большинстве учебников корейского языка. К. Китайский К.1 HSK Закончил HSK3, но мне следует пересмотреть его вместе с некоторыми темами из HSK1 и HSK2. Хотя у меня всё хорошо с чтением. К.2 Разговорная речь У меня возникли проблемы с тем, чтобы найти кого-нибудь, кто серьезно подходит к вопросу языкового обмена. Большинство китайцев, с которыми я пытался осуществить языковой обмен, сказали, что они хотят обмен 50/50, на практике же они продолжали говорить на своих целевых языках, не позволяя мне попробовать говорить на китайском. Это был обмен порядка 99/01, поэтому в итоге я отказался от них, поскольку они продемонстрировали очень эгоистичные манеры. Я пытаюсь найти учителей и репетиторов, чтобы практиковать китайский язык с ними. К.3 Я ищу некоторые ТВ сериалы с субтитрами, чтобы я мог практиковать свои слуховые навыки. Я также ищу книги, написанные для детей. As I wrote yesterday in the TAC Pushkin, I wrote what I did concerning my language learning progress which wasn't a lot. I prefer the motto "quality over quantity". Wanderlust I am going to choose a new language that I should start at any time in the near future. Languages that I am interested in: French, Lithuanian, Latvian, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Armenian, Georgian and Mongolian. The minimum and maximum points will be between 5 to 40 distributed as following: * Points: 1. 1 to 10 2. 1 to 10 3. 1 to 10 4. 1 to 10 1. The amount of resources I've already got to start the language (A1-A2)? I am particularly looking for resources in my target language explained in Japanese, English, German, Russian, Chinese or Korean only. Although I am pretty comfortable with both Spanish and Galician, I don’t learn any new language through one of them. As resources I mean textbooks, grammars, podcast, dictionaries for A1-A2 level. 2. The easiness of acquiring more interesting resources in both online and real world (such as bookstores and libraries), from the intermediate stuff (B1) up to advanced level (C2) and obviously native media? I am looking for songs, fictions and non- fictions books, some specific magazines, TV series and shows, and some specific movies. I am particularly interested in energy and sustainability, evolution, health, mind and brain, space, some aspects related to technology, science (physics, chemistry and few aspects of biology), sports, linguistics, history, psychology, archeology, anthropology, tourism and travel guides, etc. So, do they publish interesting things in my target language that I can get easily in my hands, especially intended for B1-B2 user? 3. Traveling? I am fond of winter and therefore, very cold temperatures. I have been under -30C before and it has nothing better being under minus degrees. I felt in love with places where they have proper winter and autumn seasons. I am also fond of winter sports too. :) “Usefulness” regarding travelling doesn’t apply for me since it is not the amount of countries where the language is spoken that really matters to me. I am already studying languages for professional or academic purposes; therefore the others that I am going to add really don’t matter in this sense as I am going to learn entirely for personal (hobby) purposes. Some of the items that will be considered: 3.1 Hot or warm x cold winters (and autumns) 3.2 Number of countries and VISA Countries that don’t require a VISA for me or those that I can easily request and obtain the local visa very quickly and stay in such places for about 3 months will have my priority. What’s the point to say that language X is spoken in Y countries if I cannot visit them unless I pay some amount of money just for bureaucracy purposes? Accordingly to Visa Restrictions Index (2014) I had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 172 countries and territories in terms of travel freedom. 3.3 Many countries require all incoming passengers to have a current International Certificate of Vaccination. Some other countries require vaccination only if the passenger is coming from an infected area. So, it will be a minus for that specific language. 3.4 Security 3.5 Number of places I’d like to visit in a single country. This is the most important sub-item among the ones I have listed. 4. My partner’s opinion I will be given an opinion regarding the priority. **Results Lithuanian: 4 + 7 + 7 + 7 = 25 Latvian: 4 + 7 + 7 + 5 = 23 Finnish: 5 + 7 + 8 + 7 = 27 Estonian: 5 + 7 + 7 + 6 = 25 Hungarian: 5 + 7 + 6 + 7 = 25 Armenian: 3 + 7 + 9 + 7 = 26 Georgian: 3 + 7 + 6 + 6 = 24 Mongolian: 3 + 7 + 9 + 8 = 27 French: 10 + 10 + 1 + 8 = 29 1. 1 to 10 Resources A1/A2 2. 1 to 10 B1, B2, C1, C2, native resources 3. 1 to 10 travelling interest 4. 1 to 10 Partner’s opinion "Winner languages": French, Finnish, Mongolian and Armenian. Arabic There was a question whether I would learn Arabic or not. I have even gathered some information regarding MSA, dialects and materials that would cover topics 1 and 2 from my list. Arabic is the official language** in Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya,Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan,Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Palestine, and Western Sahara. Visa is required: Algeria, Chad, Eritrea, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen. Visa on arrival: Bahrein (14 days), Comoros (?), Djibouti (Not available at all entry points) , Egypt (30 days), Jordan (“Not available at all entry points”; “conditions apply”), Kuwait (3 months), Lebanon (3 months. Not available at all entry points), Mauritania (?), Oman (30 days), Qatar (1 month), Somalia (30 days, provided an invitation letter issued by the sponsor has been submitted to the Airport Immigration Department at least 2 days before arrival), United Arab Emirates (Free visa on arrival 30 days), Visa not required: Israel (3 months), Morocco (3 months), Tunisia (90 days), Palestine (?;Arrival by sea to Gaza Strip not allowed.) It doesn’t apply: Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic: Undefined visa regime in the Western Sahara controlled territory. Some important notes: 1. Visitors with passport stamp of Israel are not allowed to enter a number of countries because of the Arab League boycott of Israel. 2. Several countries including Argentina, Cambodia, Japan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the United States demand all passengers to be fingerprinted on arrival. Due to the certain problems and confusion regarding the countries I could visit and she cannot (and vice-verse, since she holds another passport), I decided to not include Arabic in the "wanderlust contest" this time. 1 person has voted this message useful

This discussion contains 47 messages over 6 pages: << Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6

If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register

Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum

This page was generated in 0.3281 seconds.

Nieng Zhonghan Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Antarctica Joined 3663 days ago 108 posts - 315 votes Speaks: Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, Galician Studies: Finnish, Icelandic, Armenian, Mongolian Studies: Old English, Russian, English, German, Korean, Mandarin	Message 41 of 47 29 March 2015 at 11:24pm \| IP Logged
	TAC languages: Chinese (3), Korean (4), German (5) and Russian (6) Aloha! 3. Chinese 3.1 HSK 3 (24/24) Finally finished the HSK 3 book. I am not sure what I am going to do next. Perhaps I will review books 1, 2 and 3 in April or start and finish HSK 4 in April. 3.2 March Challenge On active task I will type 100 character texts. Since the server was some weeks ago (at least here), I will type my March’s challenge right now. I wanted to create a descriptive text containing at least 100 characters; however, I decided to create exercises containing 100 characters because I made tone mistakes at the beginning of this month regarding certain characters that I am going to use. Text 1 每年夏天, 有多人到那個花園看花, 紅色的, 黃色的, 藍色的, 白色的…明年夏天我們一起去看吧, 你一定會自己的話. Question 我想什麼時候去花園? 1 去年 2 每年 3 明年 Text 2 我朋友說孩子不能長時間上网, 對眼睛不好, 而且影響學習, 所以他每天只讓我上网半個小時. Question 我朋友說什麼? 1 上网對學習好 2 上网不影响學習 3不能总是上网 Text 3 我很喜歡中國的古詩, 特別是那首欲穷千里目, 更上一層樓的詩. 意思是說, 要看到更遠的地方,就要在上一層樓. 想要得到更大的成功, 就要做出跟多的努力. Question 那首詩講什麼? 1 要再上一層樓. 2 要看遠處 3 要努力 On passive task 1. I have compiled a deck on Anki containing A1 and A2 level (totally biased) grammar topics with sentences. It contains about 100 flashcards which finished at the end of this month. Done. 2. I created a TOCFL deck containing words from Taiwanese proficiency test level 1. If I manage to do more than 100 words a week, I will definitely finish it by the end of this month. I did more than 500 words, more than I expected. 4. Korean 4. 1 TTMIK 4 (30/30) Finished TTMIK 4. 4.2. March Challenge On active task What one can do being at very low level in terms of passive skills? Does shadowing 100 sentences is valid output? How about writing 100 random sentences on my own? Another idea is writing several short dialogues whose amount of characters would be at least 100. I am not sure how to count a character in Korean though. What is the criterion? I will consider “안녕하세요” containing 5 characters. Done. I have shadowed 100 sentences. On totally passive task Review 100 flashcards every week from my own TTMIK deck or from the deck Evita has created and shared. Done. 4.3 TTMIK SRS I am doing some review of TTMIK following Evita’s deck. She has created the best Korean deck I have seen so far. It is very organized and it contains the audio of all (or almost all) sentences from the book. Hopefully she will continue doing her great work during her free time. I really appreciate your work, Evita. Next time: Next month I am willing to start and finish TTMIK 5. 5. German 5.1 Assimil (75/100) After doing ¾ of the book in January, I have been a long time without studying German actively due to health conditions. I am finally back! I will do 25 lessons next week and finally finish the passive wave. 5.2 Wort der Woche Niveaustufe: B2 Medien: Audio, Text (Download) Sprache: Deutsch “Um jemanden zu bauchpinseln, braucht man keine Farbe, Extrawürste kann man nicht essen und Rabenmütter sind keine Vögel. Warum das so ist, erfahren Sie hier. Denn mit dem "Wort der Woche" stellen wir Ihnen wöchentlich ein kurioses deutsches Wort vor.” Das Kellerduell It was an easy text. I thought it was A1 level, but it was surprisingly written “Niveaustufe: B2”. 5.3 Top-Thema mit Vokabeln Niveaustufe: B1 Medien: Audio, Text (Download) Sprache: Deutsch “Mit dem Top-Thema könnt ihr euch gleichzeitig über Neues aus aller Welt informieren und euren Wortschatz erweitern. Wir bieten euch zweimal wöchentlich leicht verständliche Berichte mit Vokabelangaben und Fragen zum Text. Außerdem könnt ihr zu jedem Top-Thema auch ein langsam gesprochenes Audio herunterladen.” 5.4 Das Porträt Number 10: Beatriz aus Brasilien Number 2: Hitomi aus Japan I can clearly perceive the influence of L1 on both Brazilian and Japanese girls speech. I had trouble to understand everything the Japanese girl spoke during the first time I listened to it, but I managed to understand when I watched for the second time. I have tried reading the topics taken from DW just to measure my current comprehension and it seems that I am doing well since I haven’t much trouble to understand random texts I took from DW. 6. Russian 6.1 Assimil I found out a mistake on lesson 19. Игорюша was stressed in “И” and “ю”. Shame on Assimil! With one month of study, but very little progress, I have already found out two mistakes so far. 6.2 http://begin-english.ru/article/25-oshibok/ I found out this website. The textbook seem to be very crazy and weird. I have never seen such thing before. 6.3 Text: Time to write my first text in Russian! I wrote three to 4 lines every day. Because I am out of time, I tried to think in 2 minutes what I wanted to write, and it took me 2 minutes to review the grammar. I did some proofreading yesterday and that’s it. It didn’t take more than an hour to write this poor text. Hopefully I will manage to be at basic fluency in a couple of years. Здравствуйте! Меня зовут Ниенг Жонгхан. Сегодня я хотел бы рассказать вам поговорить о своих увлечениях. Мне нравится путешествовать. Я трижды побывал в Уганде и Бурунди и дважды - в Руанде. Однажды я побывал в Антарктиде и Арктике. Я также побывал во многих других странах. Я не бывал в Сирии, но хотел бы посетить её. Я жил в Бутане, Северной Корее, Афганистане, Малави, Сьерра-Леоне, Центрально-Африканской Республике, на Кубе и на Гаити. Я посетил 54 страны Африки и 40 стран Азии. Я люблю изучать языки. Я могу говорить на руандийском языке, на языке моши и, конечно, на языке ньянджа. Я немного говорю по-английски. Мне нравится изучать русский, но я также хочу учить коси, потому что это очень красивый язык. Я интересуюсь наркотрафиком и алкоголем. Я шучу, конечно! А если серьезно, то я хочу работать в Папуа-Новая Гвинея. Это моя любимая страна. Мне также очень нравится пить алкоголь. Спасибо за внимание! Even though I said that I proofread the text, I found out something that didn’t make sense. I said that I am interested in alcohol twice. I should have avoided this kind of repetition, but I’ll keep my text the same as the original one with (probably) many mistakes. If someone is by any chance reading my log, please, comment on the mistakes I did. I haven’t anyone to help me writing. 1. English http://www.vistawide.com/languages/20_countries_most_languag es.htm This is an interesting list. It shows us the top 20 languages by number of languages spoken. 2. Japanese 2.1 Sumo I watched all bouts from the Makuuchi division during this basho which was held in Osaka. Yokozuna Hakuho broke his own record of the rikishi who has won most tournaments after the Sumo Association has established that each year there will be 6 tournaments. Scording 14-1, he lost to Sekiwake Terunofuji in a bout that could have decided the yusho (champion) on thirteenth day of the tournament which is always on Friday. I have never seen anyone becoming the champion on Friday. On day 15 Senshuuraku Terunofujo x Goeido Terunofuji has become a monster lately with his double outside armclamp. Goeido is skilled with a morozashi but he could not handle Terunofuji's power. What a sensation! He finishes at 13-2 which is a typical regular Yokozuna record, not to say that it can be also a score that would have allowed him to win the tournament in other period of time. He's currently the leading ozeki candidate. If he wins 10 bouts in each of his next 2 basho we will have a new ozeki. According to my prediction, 32 wins will be enough for Terunofuji to become an Ozeki because the three Japanese Ozeki are struggling to get their kachikoshi. Goeido, for instance, was shaky all basho long. As an ozeki he has 3 scores of 8-7 and one at 5-10. That's a losing record. It's amazing that he still remains an ozeki. Kisenosato x Kotoshogiku Kisenosato wins a good battle with Kotoshogiku who finishes at 8-7. The combined score for the 3 ozeki this basho is 25 wins and 20 losses, very shaky, very despicable and shameful. The ozeki rank needs some fresh young talent who can regularly get 10-5, at least. Hakuho x Harumafuji I have seen a real classic yokozuna bout, with tsuppari first followed by a long and competitive battle on the belt. Hakuho's defence was superb and he finally wore down his fellow yokozuna who would have beaten just about everyone else with his effort today. Harumafuji finished at 10-5, subpar for a yokozuna who needs at least 12-3 regularly, but he was outstanding today in a losing cause. What to say about this basho? Gagamaru I thought he would retire soon since he has been fighting in the Juryo division for a while and not doing well. However, he came back to Makuuchi division and got his kachikoshi. He showed a fighting spirit during this basho, after losing his first bouts of the tournament. Japanese rikishi It is a pity that the young Endo and Chiyootori got injured. Apparently from the live sumo, it seemed to me that they are both going to struggle in the next few years if they don’t recover from their knee (?) injury. It takes time to recover, but it is better for them to get a lower rank, perhaps get demoted to Juryo, but to recover 100%. Jokoryu, for instance, has not only recovered completely, but also has injured his other knee. Oosunarashi The Egyptian rikishi is back. I think he hasn’t trained much before this basho, but he kept winning and in the end he got 11-4. Hopefully we are going to see fighting against the top division rikishi. I want to see him fighting against Ozeki and Yokozuna very soon. Tochinoshin The Georgian Tochinoshin is one of my favorite rikishi. Despite being a bit slow to attack and counter attack, he has lot of raw power. Terunofuji and Ichinoo If Terunofuji doesn’t injury himself, we are going to see a new Mongolian Ozeki this year. I am currently cheering for him to become Ozeki and later on Yokozuna. Ichinojo also has lots to improve: his footwork, tachiai and not being too passive all the time. Terunofuji and Ichonojo has the same height and almost the same weight. They both arrived to Japan in the same airplane and I’d like to see them as the new Ozeki. Ichinojo will be probably Komusubi next basho. Let’s see how far these young Mongolian will reach. Kakuryuu The absence of Yokozuna Kakuryuu has surprised me. If he had been on this tournament, I bet that either Kotoshogiku or Goeido would have got a makekoshi this basho. Hopefully he will recover soon to be 100% next basho. Harumafuji What to say about him? He is not ending with a good Yokozuna score. I think this year will be probably his last year, unless he restart gaining some yusho or at least regular 12-3 score throughout the year. Hakuho Words are really not enough to describe Hakuho. I'll leave it at that! How many yusho will Hakuho end up with when he finally retires? He now has 34 and he is still very much in his prime. I say he gets at least 40. People thought that Taiho's 32 yusho was an unbreakable record. What does that say about Hakuho? 2 persons have voted this message useful
Nieng Zhonghan Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Antarctica Joined 3663 days ago 108 posts - 315 votes Speaks: Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, Galician Studies: Finnish, Icelandic, Armenian, Mongolian Studies: Old English, Russian, English, German, Korean, Mandarin	Message 42 of 47 30 April 2015 at 11:19am \| IP Logged
	6. Russian 6.1 У меня есть книга "Корни русского языка" Джорджа Патрика, но мне она не нравится. В ней берется несколько корней и дается ряд слов с примерами (пока всё нормально), но полное отсутствие какой-либо информации о грамматике делает ее практически бесполезной. Например, вам не рассказывают являются ли глаголы глаголами совершенной или несовершенной формы или являются ли существительные, заканчивающиеся на -ь, существительными мужского рода или женского, хотя это можно иногда почерпнуть из примеров. З. Патрик мог написать книгу, которая заполнит вопиющую дыру в педагогической литературе, но он этого не сделал. 6.2 На странице 39 ошибка. Неправильно указано ударение в слове. То же самое слово с неправильным ударением приводится на странице 40. Как тебе не стыдно, курс русского языка Ассимиль? 6.3 Я читаю об языке Коро на протяжении пары недель. Он кажется (представляется) интересным языком! 6.4 TAC Russian (April) Я просыпаюсь в 4:50. Затем в шесть часов я встаю. Я делаю чашечку зелёного чая и съедаю от пяти до семи бананов, пока я читаю книгу на японском языке. Я принимаю быстрый душ и одеваюсь. Я обычно ношу светлую рубашку с длинными рукавами, черные брюки и черные туфли. Я также надеваю свои японские часы, чищу зубы и сажусь в свою машину. Я стараюсь читать художественную литературу и научно-популярные книги каждый будний день по 45 минут. Я достаю свою флешку, которая содержит японскую, китайскую, корейскую, немецкую, русскую, классическую музыку и немного фольклорной музыки из североевропейских стран. На ней также есть подкасты, которые у меня никогда не получается слушать в машине из-за интенсивного движения транспорта и потому что мне приходится иметь дело с большими ямами и дикими животными (лошадьми, коровами, собаками, котами, водосвинками (капибарами), и крокодилами (других я ещё не могу распознать) на улицах. Я пока что ещё не видел настолько плохих дорожных условий в любой другой стране. Я также хочу отменить то, как здесь ездят водители. Они действительно грубые и сумасшедшие на дороге. Дорога до моего пункта назначения, удаленного на 100 км, занимает 60 минут при хороших погодных условиях и когда на дороге нет никаких пробок и несчастных случаев. Я обычно добираюсь туда до 8 часов утра, где приступаю к работе и работаю до 12 часов дня, хотя эта работа никогда не бывает рутинной. Иногда у меня получается пообедать в час дня, в два часа дня и т.д. Мне положен по закону один час на обед, но в действительности всё не так, как на бумаге. Иногда мне приходится проглатывать пищу за 7 минут и возвращаться к работе. Когда я обедаю, я обычно беру рис, фасоль, мясо одного вида (говядину, курицу и иногда либо свинину, либо рыбу), четыре разных салата и т.д. Я ем в ресторанном дворике компании, так как это дешевле, хотя еда могла бы быть вкуснее. Я не требователен, но они не придают своей еде никакого вкуса и аромата. Кстати, считается ли рыба мясом? В определенных языках, что я учил до настоящего момента, носители языка говорили мне, что рыба - это один из видов мяса, тогда как в других культурах говорят, что рыба относится к другой категории. Таким образом, это вопрос подхода. Здесь я приведу короткий список вещей, которые мне нужно делать ежедневно: управлять, организовывать, контролировать коллег, выполнять некоторые конкретные задачи и делать телефонные звонки в другие компании, делать кофе, принимать напряженные решения, делать "бумажную" работу, организовывать и принимать участие в заседаниях, связанных с механическими и электрическими заводами, материально-техническим снабжением, управлением, финансовыми отделами, ездить, развозить и транспортировать продукцию, отвечать на письма электронной почты от наших коллег и клиентов, анализировать, оценивать, разрабатывать, подготавливать и планировать финансовые таблицы, создавать, тестировать, улучшать, проектировать, составлять программу, исправлять и проверять программы для построения механических и электрических заводов, "ремонтного завода" (завод для ремонта больших машин, который относится к нашей компании), IT- отдел, который я поддерживаю , обеспечивая высокотехнологическое улучшения и безопасность от хакеров и других видов вторжений, покупать, продавать, импортировать, экспортировать и сбывать продукцию (продажи и отдел маркетинга также находятся под моим руководством). Я также перевожу документы, электронные письма и т.д., а также работаю в качестве переводчика с нескольких языков в связи с тем, что у нас есть зарубежные клиенты. Я ищу другую должность в другой компании, чтобы я смог больше наслаждаться жизнью . Мне положено покидать работу в 5 часов вечера, но с первого дня работы в компании я не помню случаев, когда я уходил с работы в это время. Обычно у меня не получается уходить раньше 18:30. Обратная дорога домой занимает по меньшей мере полтора часа, в то время как утром та же дорога занимает около часа на машине. Также из-за стресса я обычно слушаю музыку в то время, пока веду машину. Я возвращаюсь домой в 8 часов вечера и ужинаю. В 20:30 я читаю книгу на другом языке в течение лишь 30 минут. Затем я иду в тренажерный зал, где я начинаю отрабатывать специальные упражнения как для верхней половины туловища, так и для нижней, чтобы оставаться в форме. Я остаюсь в тренажерном зале на час и возвращаюсь домой в районе 10 часов вечера. Я быстро принимаю душ и начинаю работать с другими восемью языками в течение 30 минут для каждого языка. Затем я иду в кровать в 2 часа ночи. Обычно я стараюсь учить и поддерживать восемь языков каждый день. Я не совершенствуюсь так быстро, как я мог бы, но самое главное - то, что я получаю много удовольствия от того, чем я занимаюсь в качестве хобби. 5. German 5.1 Was Japan anbetrifft, bestätigt der Zeitungsartikel meine Erfahrungen: http://www.atpress.ne.jp/view/31710 Die beliebtesten Sprachen sind ("Welche Sprache würden Sie - abgesehen von Englisch - gerne lernen?) 1. Chinesisch 21%; 2. Koreanisch 19 %; 3. Französisch 17%; 4. Deutsch 13%; 5. Spanisch 9%; 6. Italienisch 7%; 7. Russisch 3%; 8. Thailändisch 3%; 9. Portugiesisch 2% 10. Vietnamesisch 1%; 11. Anderen Sprachen… Interessant sind auch die nächsten beiden Diagramme - wenn man die Umfrage nach Männern und Frauen aufteilt, sieht das Ergebnis ganz anders aus: Männer: Chinesisch, Deutsch, Französisch, Koreanisch, Spanisch, Italienisch, Russisch, Thiländisch, Portugiesisch... Frauen: Koreanisch, Französisch, Chinesisch, Italienisch, Spanisch, Deutsch, Portugiesch, Russisch, Thailändisch... Während Koreanisch bei den Frauen auf Platz eins und Chinesisch auf Platz drei liegt, Chinesisch bei den Männern auf dem ersten und Koreanisch auf dem vierten Platz ist. 5.2 TAC I haven’t done it due to my health conditions. I barely managed to talk in the past few weeks. Sore throat problems… 5.3. German x English degree I was thinking of taking English as my major and German as a minor or vice-verse. There aren’t many options available, though. Aside from the two languages, Ancient Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese are offered. I guess it is time to reduce the amount of hours dedicated to Chinese and Korean, and increase both English and German, no matter which of them will be my priority in the future. 1. English 1.1 Some interesting quizzes I tried just for fun. https://www.blogthings.com/whatlanguageshouldyoulearnquiz/ http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/which-language-should -you-learn-to-speak http://www.selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=top20langu ages 1.2 Serpent kindly answered me a couple of questions. I thought about answering there, but I decided to write some few remarks on my log. I really like the lingvo dictionary. It's available on yandex.ru for free, but only within Russia. You can use the hola.org add-on for it too, or purchase it as a popup dictionary. Translators also use multitran.ru a lot, since it lists plenty of alternatives that you can choose from. It's a collaborative project, and if you register you can add the words and expressions that aren't in the database. I assume you can even request a translation but I'm not 100% sure. As a teen I also used a Langenscheidt dictionary and monolingual Longman dictionaries. They were great too. Nowadays I use either multitran (if I actually need to find the Russian equivalent), or wiktionary, especially if I suspect that I might know the word in Finnish or Portuguese. And to look up a Russian word I'd do a yandex search and get results from their dictionary database and gramota.ru and various sites on etymology. :) First of all, I have already bookmarked lingvo and multitran. Thanks for sharing mentioning them. I am not used to use Yandex yet, but little by little I think I will start using it more often. sportbox.ru streams a lot of the matches aired by the VGTRK channels (россия 1, россия 2, спорт 1) but just like with yandex.lingvo, you'll need a VPN service to access it. And these channels air only the Russian NT, not the Premier League. But all the usual places online generally have Russian streams too. I have been watching some of Zenit’s games. It is good to hear football terminology in Russian. I have been learning a lot through the narrator’s commentaries. I dislike the sound of this language. Also, even Spanish used to bother me by what it did to Latin, and French is way worse in this regard. (Romanian is not annoying because it preserved bits of the case system, and the non-Latin elements are mostly Slavic, plus the Balkan Sprachbund is fascinating too) Ironically, Portuguese has the same features that I dislike in French, namely nasal vowels and the r. But I've come to love the R in German and Portuguese, and the nasal vowels in Portuguese or Polish don't have the same messy feeling about them. And I actually watch some French football. PSG has three players that I love a lot, namely David Luiz, Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimović. Thanks to them I generally find a stream in Spanish, Italian or occasionally Swedish. Oh and I do have some experience with French, since I used to work as a spam analyst and there was a lot of spam in French. I also did some written GLOSS lessons because I love this site so much. And by now I could use French-based Assimil if I really wanted (I've read through some Swedish lessons), although I'd have to look up some vocab (and generally I don't use textbooks anymore). I was going to learn French due to professional purposes; however, hopefully they changed their mind. French is definitely one of the ugliest and annoying languages when it comes to their combinations of sounds. I really dislike French too, but I am considering learning it for reading purposes only somewhere in the future. I have Assimil French at home, but I rather prefer to keep it in the bookshelf for a while. There are indeed a lot of resources for those who are willing to learn French, but I am not interested in French cuisine, language, music and many other things. Of course, I do appreciate the traditional art, but I have many other reasons to learn other languages at the moment. Zlatan Ibrahimović is indeed one of my favorite strikers. Despite his personality being a little bit naïve in some ways, not to say unique among footballers, I really like the way he plays. I prefer Thiago Luiz rather than David Luiz technically and tactically speaking. I used Russian-based books, especially Учебник финского языка (Чернявская) and Opi puhumaan suomea (Муллонен). I also got started with native materials early on, since there was a lot of content in Finnish I desperately wanted to understand (songs, interviews, tour diaries, guestbooks, forum posts). Oh and I used TY for some listening and shadowing, Assimil for shadowing (much more, since the audio is Finnish-only), and I checked out FSI but basically didn't use it. I think I found one single structure I wasn't familiar with and did a drill for it. I think Assimil was a good resource for other languages. I may try it a little bit in case I don't find any other textbook. I understand a lot, yes. I'm sure that with some LR I'd reach a high level of comprehension quickly. In fact I just got back from Finland and I kinda felt bad when I read a Geisha chocolate label and wasn't sure about a simple Estonian word ;) I also know the famous false friends but undoubtedly there are many that I'm not aware of, especially the more subtle ones. With Estonian (and even Finnish) I also have an advantage being a Russian native speaker. In Finnish the loans are generally pretty old and often have a different meaning, but in Estonian they're more recent, and there are also more international words. Out of the languages you listed, these should be the most accessible. But Arabic has more resources and more content, of course. I am not in a hurry; after all, I need to reach a higher level in languages I am dabbling now. They appear extremely similar until you actually become serious about them. Especially Belarusian is so similar that I struggled with it before I had Polish as a reference point. (my dad is Belarusian and I've spent a lot of time in Belarus, but pretty much everyone speaks Russian there nowadays) Also, in the current political situation, deliberate mistranslations from Ukrainian happen sometimes. So most Russians don't understand it that well, though it's mostly a question of exposure. With more exposure the Scandinavian situation would be possible in Eastern Europe too. The day I become fluent in Russian I will be able to feel the differences and similarities between Russian, Belarusian and Russian. I am curious whether it would be similar to the situation of Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, perhaps. What about Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian? Are they mutually intelligible? I assume you mean with Russian? ;) For me it's two languages at most, and the differences are often exaggerated. The intelligibility with Russian is very high, also through Old Church Slavonic/Bulgarian. But I admit that I definitely understand less than in other Slavic languages, perhaps also because I've not been to the Balkans and I've not done all that much listening. If you've not read the logs of Radioclare and Chung I highly recommend them :) The situation of Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian interests me, but I probably won’t take another Slavic language in the near future as I’d like to reach the advanced fluency in Russian first. It is going to take long until them. :D I am following Chung’s and Radioclare’s log. Thanks you very much, Serpent! Edited by Nieng Zhonghan on 01 May 2015 at 12:53am 4 persons have voted this message useful
Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4226 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek	Message 43 of 47 01 May 2015 at 11:11am \| IP Logged
	I am impressed with your progress in Russian. Does it take you long to write these texts? 1 person has voted this message useful
misskj Newbie United States Joined 4343 days ago 28 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean	Message 44 of 47 04 May 2015 at 4:18pm \| IP Logged
	Hello~ I started reading your log and I like watching your progress in your languages :) How long ago did you start studying German? I've been interested in German and like to read a bit in the language but I never started studying it seriously. If i did I would start using Assimil like you because I've heard so many great things about using Assimil. I'm also impressed with your high level of Japanese~ I'll be following your blog. 1 person has voted this message useful
Nieng Zhonghan Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Antarctica Joined 3663 days ago 108 posts - 315 votes Speaks: Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, Galician Studies: Finnish, Icelandic, Armenian, Mongolian Studies: Old English, Russian, English, German, Korean, Mandarin	Message 45 of 47 31 May 2015 at 4:31pm \| IP Logged
	It is time for an update! Yesterday my body temperature got beyond 39C (39,8C to be exact). My fever lowered a bit right now, but I guess I won’t proofread what I am writing here for obvious reasons. I simply cannot think too much. Aside from the fever, this week I had sore throat again due to the weather conditions. There were some days that I needed two blankets, but some other days was insanely hot, not to mention that in some other days it rained heavily. I lost 7kg due to the health problems in just 21 days. I lost all muscles I have built up over 7 years. Many people are making jokes when they don’t know what happened to me. What a pity. Anyway, I have recovered 75% and in a few weeks I should be 100% again. I want to play soccer again at very high level! Sometimes I think I should have become a professional player when I was younger. This week I got robbed again. What can you do when someone point out a gun into your head when you have fever, sore throat, cannot speak (really, I could not use my voice this week)? I don’t know how to describe this situation. Is it about fear? I don’t know. You just feel weak and not being able to do anything to react. Mentally you are dominated by certain feelings only when you are under such circumstances you will know one day. Hopefully no one here will suffer from such experiences in life. It was not the first time, but I wish this was the last one. Some people are under drugs reaction, so, sometimes I feel like reacting because it doesn’t cost anything for them (yes, it was actually more than 3 men armed) to kill someone…after all, the constitution of this country exists, but doesn’t apply to everyone…better not to mention where I live because some people will get offended here. Well, I gave them my money on the wallet (fortunately I had some; otherwise it could have cost my own life!) and my car containing German, Korean, Chinese, French, Spanish, English, Japanese and Russian books. Unfortunately in this day I had to bring my Ipad, Iphone, notebook and digital camera from Japan (the best camera I have ever had!). It is a pity that this was the camera I used during my (almost) 3 months in Europe last time! I tried to use “find my Iphone”, but I guess these people have good IT specialists’ contacts (specialists in computer programming and such field) because I could not detect where they are right now. Unfortunately everything has gone. I wasn’t at home to receive my package I purchased in an online bookstore. Because I had to go to the post office company, I got assaulted by a bunch of people… I didn’t even get to see my Korean books and my Japanese literature books. I was expecting to see the other books in other languages as well. Anyway, I am glad is that my fever lowered in 1C from yesterday. I am also glad that I am still alive. Honestly I have to say that I got a little bit demotivated after such incidents, but it is time to change my mind and restart everything. @ Misskj and @ Via Diva, First of all, I am sorry for my late response. I didn’t receive an e-mail telling me that someone posted in my log. The e-mail was mysteriously in my spam box, but I guess I have already solved this issue. @ViaDiva Да, мне действительно требуется время, чтобы писать на русском языке, но я не могу оценить, сколько именно, потому что я пишу понемногу здесь и там, только когда я в хорошем настроении, не сильно уставший и сонный. Написание и читка корректуры несколькими днями позже - это то, что я обычно делаю с любым языком для того, чтобы увидеть, что я могу улучшить, изменить, перепроверить, глядя на примеры из учебников грамматики и словарей. @Misskj I studied German for one month between the December 2007 and January 2008 by myself. By that time I used DW resources which I complemented with Pimsleur method. I was about to write a review about Assimil course, but it seems that some people have already written some interesting topics on the internet. Here you can find one review of Assimil: http://langreviews.com/assimil-language-review/ I personally prefer taking Assimil courses as I already know how to make the best use of it accordingly to my learning style. As for Indo-European languages such as German and French, I’d recommend you taking a look on Assimil with ease, but I didn’t like Assimil Korean (in French), Japanese, Chinese, Arabic and few other languages. Regarding the review written on the website above, I disagree about some specific things he pointed out. I personally think that the audio is clear, but very slow for B2 level stated in the book. The listening is very slow or just slow. For instance, there aren’t any TV shows, documentaries etc I watch in German that has the pace of Assimil’s recording. I don’t think it has quickened the speed of the listening over the lessons, not that I have noticed until lesson 91, but I don’t know because I kept mixing other resources. However, when I checked the A1, A2 and B1 level mock tests from Goethe Institutes, I felt that the listening speed of the tests were faster than Assimil’s recordings. If you do almost everything it is recommended by the authors of the book, you will probably reach a very solid A2 level in terms of passive skills and perhaps B1, but I don’t think one will reach B2 level with that course alone. Aside from DW, you can listen to music, watch movies, watch some videos with subtitles, listen to good podcasts (I liked Germanpod101, though it is paid; there are non-paid podcasts available there too) and perhaps have one good grammar book in case you need further explanation of some specific points. I decided to restart my German studies in January this year which I have quickly covered 75 chapters of Assimil German with Ease in about 3 weeks (passively). Since then, I haven’t done much due to my health conditions, some problems here and there. If you want, I can send you some useful links I’d like to compile. I can even post here as well. 6. Russian Speaking-based studies. Haven’t read much, but I have been trying to speak as much as I can do. I guess I have already accomplished the TAC challenge in April which was extended to May. I will definitely do all tasks until the end of the year. I am even willing to do the previous tasks, though they won’t be valid as a challenge. 5. German 5.1 Trying to apply “speaking-based” studies more. Let’s see if I can at least do some grammar exercises, read more and stick with any plan for one month. I am tired of stopping due to professional or personal (health) issues. I will probably follow Germanpod101 podcasts. I really liked them. 4. Korean 4.1 My challenge can be considered as a fail as it is in a word document in my laptop that was robbed. So, Captain Woodsei can consider my challenge as “not completed”. I am not in conditions to write another story. 4.2 I am trying to speak in Korean. I have improved in the last few weeks. I think together with Russsian, it was the language I improved at most in May. 3. Chinese 3.1 Same as German. Not have improved after having finished HSK3 book. I am willing to start HSK 4, but I guess I will review HSK1 and HSK 2 books this month. I guess I will start reading native resources such as books for children or even trying to follow podcasts such as Chinesepod.com or/and Chineseclass101. 2. Japanese 2.1 I am too tired to write my review regarding Sumo bouts. Next time I wish I will be able to write about it. Having had some health issues I haven’t been able to study languages. I have been doing many exercises at the gym, but only few days ago I have been able to practice some aerobics exercises. I am trying to get into the best conditions to play soccer at high level. 7. Spanish 7.1 I managed to talk in Spanish with my Chilean and Peruvian friends. Have been refreshing my memory as my speaking abilities got rusty. 8. French My attempt to learn French has been gone away because Assimil French with Ease was in my car that was robbed. Not sure if I will stick with the plan anymore. 2 persons have voted this message useful
Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4226 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek	Message 46 of 47 01 June 2015 at 3:10pm \| IP Logged
	Повторюсь ещё раз - твой прогресс просто впечатляет! Насколько серьёзно ты планируешь изучать русский? Ничего, что на ты? :) I think if you got robbed and lost a lot of purchased material, you can justify pirating some of them. Of course, ebooks aren't that good as actual books etc, but it would be awful to drop or stagnate in a language because you've lost some tools you've paid for and relied on. 1 person has voted this message useful
Nieng Zhonghan Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Antarctica Joined 3663 days ago 108 posts - 315 votes Speaks: Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, Galician Studies: Finnish, Icelandic, Armenian, Mongolian Studies: Old English, Russian, English, German, Korean, Mandarin	Message 47 of 47 30 June 2015 at 6:00pm \| IP Logged
	@Via Diva I honestly I haven’t been active in the TAC challenges in the past few months. I will try to be more responsible and keep posting the monthly challenges in my log till the end of the year. I will probably start learning French little by little, since it is not my main priority. Like it or not, unfortunately I think I will need it for my professional reasons... Р. Русский язык. Список достижений: + Я выпил одну бутылку водки. Самые большие препятствия до сих пор: Я заметил, что я делаю много ошибок, когда дело касается родительного падежа. Самые большие триумфы до сих пор: + Ничего особенного. В следующий раз: + Выпить еще одну бутылку водки. + Я далеко за пределами своего графика. Я уже сделал уроки active wave с 1 по 27. Я не последовал их совету насчет того, что мне следовало начинать, будучи на уроке 50 (51?). Я решил закончить всю книгу, прежде чем начинать active wave и до сих пор это работает довольно хорошо. Р.1 Серия Penguin Я думаю, что рано или поздно я буду использовать серию Penguin, потому что мне хотелось бы укрепить свои грамматические навыки. Я хотел бы пересмотреть некоторые темы, которые были охвачены в книге. Главный недостаток Penguin в том, что данная серия не предоставляет аудио. Я не понимаю авторов, которые создают методику изучения языка без предоставления аудиозаписей по меньшей мере определенных частей. Н. Немецкий Н.1 Разговорная речь Разговаривал с девушкой с Берлина в течение часа. Не могу поверить, что я использовал только немецкий язык на протяжении почти одного часа! Н.2 Assimil with Ease Я предполагал закончить active wave в феврале этого года, но с того момента я всё ещё не закончил оставшиеся 10 глав (уроки с 91 по 100). Н.3 DW Я смотрю на ресурсы B1 - C1 уровней c сайта DW. Некоторый контент весьма интересен. Н. 4 Я пытаюсь смотреть некоторые случайные видео, что показывают по национальным немецким каналам. Они короткие и связаны с такими областями моих интересов, как спорт, бодибилдинг, привычки питания, йога, фильмы, музыка, здоровье, мозг и психика, эволюция, энергия и устойчивость, космос, технологии, наука (физика и химия) и т.д. Некоторые из них я могу понимать приблизительно на 80%, но другие видео действительно сложные, так что мне приходится смотреть их более одного раза, больше концентрироваться и проверять незнакомые слова в словаре. Кр. Корейский Кр.1 Разговорная речь Я практиковал свою устную речь. Думаю, что всё остается в моей памяти, когда я полагаюсь больше на устную речь, нежели на натаскивание по грамматике, используя SRS и другие методы. Я делаю очень быстро обзор некоторых уроков TTMIK раз в неделю, однако я предпочитаю тренироваться, читая случайные тексты, подходящие для моего уровня. Я способен говорить около 50 минут (или 60 минут), полагаясь только на корейский язык. Моя следующая цель - это вообще не использовать английский на протяжении 60 минут. Кр.2 TTMIK Я застрял на четвертом сезоне. Мне следует начать TTMIK 5 в июле. Kр.3 Корейские драмы Я думаю, что я начну смотреть корейский драмы, чтобы улучшить свои слуховые навыки. В прошлом я уже смотрел некоторые драмы, и я выучил несколько слов и выражений, которым не учат в большинстве учебников корейского языка. К. Китайский К.1 HSK Закончил HSK3, но мне следует пересмотреть его вместе с некоторыми темами из HSK1 и HSK2. Хотя у меня всё хорошо с чтением. К.2 Разговорная речь У меня возникли проблемы с тем, чтобы найти кого-нибудь, кто серьезно подходит к вопросу языкового обмена. Большинство китайцев, с которыми я пытался осуществить языковой обмен, сказали, что они хотят обмен 50/50, на практике же они продолжали говорить на своих целевых языках, не позволяя мне попробовать говорить на китайском. Это был обмен порядка 99/01, поэтому в итоге я отказался от них, поскольку они продемонстрировали очень эгоистичные манеры. Я пытаюсь найти учителей и репетиторов, чтобы практиковать китайский язык с ними. К.3 Я ищу некоторые ТВ сериалы с субтитрами, чтобы я мог практиковать свои слуховые навыки. Я также ищу книги, написанные для детей. As I wrote yesterday in the TAC Pushkin, I wrote what I did concerning my language learning progress which wasn't a lot. I prefer the motto "quality over quantity". Wanderlust I am going to choose a new language that I should start at any time in the near future. Languages that I am interested in: French, Lithuanian, Latvian, Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Armenian, Georgian and Mongolian. The minimum and maximum points will be between 5 to 40 distributed as following: * Points: 1. 1 to 10 2. 1 to 10 3. 1 to 10 4. 1 to 10 1. The amount of resources I've already got to start the language (A1-A2)? I am particularly looking for resources in my target language explained in Japanese, English, German, Russian, Chinese or Korean only. Although I am pretty comfortable with both Spanish and Galician, I don’t learn any new language through one of them. As resources I mean textbooks, grammars, podcast, dictionaries for A1-A2 level. 2. The easiness of acquiring more interesting resources in both online and real world (such as bookstores and libraries), from the intermediate stuff (B1) up to advanced level (C2) and obviously native media? I am looking for songs, fictions and non- fictions books, some specific magazines, TV series and shows, and some specific movies. I am particularly interested in energy and sustainability, evolution, health, mind and brain, space, some aspects related to technology, science (physics, chemistry and few aspects of biology), sports, linguistics, history, psychology, archeology, anthropology, tourism and travel guides, etc. So, do they publish interesting things in my target language that I can get easily in my hands, especially intended for B1-B2 user? 3. Traveling? I am fond of winter and therefore, very cold temperatures. I have been under -30C before and it has nothing better being under minus degrees. I felt in love with places where they have proper winter and autumn seasons. I am also fond of winter sports too. :) “Usefulness” regarding travelling doesn’t apply for me since it is not the amount of countries where the language is spoken that really matters to me. I am already studying languages for professional or academic purposes; therefore the others that I am going to add really don’t matter in this sense as I am going to learn entirely for personal (hobby) purposes. Some of the items that will be considered: 3.1 Hot or warm x cold winters (and autumns) 3.2 Number of countries and VISA Countries that don’t require a VISA for me or those that I can easily request and obtain the local visa very quickly and stay in such places for about 3 months will have my priority. What’s the point to say that language X is spoken in Y countries if I cannot visit them unless I pay some amount of money just for bureaucracy purposes? Accordingly to Visa Restrictions Index (2014) I had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 172 countries and territories in terms of travel freedom. 3.3 Many countries require all incoming passengers to have a current International Certificate of Vaccination. Some other countries require vaccination only if the passenger is coming from an infected area. So, it will be a minus for that specific language. 3.4 Security 3.5 Number of places I’d like to visit in a single country. This is the most important sub-item among the ones I have listed. 4. My partner’s opinion I will be given an opinion regarding the priority. **Results Lithuanian: 4 + 7 + 7 + 7 = 25 Latvian: 4 + 7 + 7 + 5 = 23 Finnish: 5 + 7 + 8 + 7 = 27 Estonian: 5 + 7 + 7 + 6 = 25 Hungarian: 5 + 7 + 6 + 7 = 25 Armenian: 3 + 7 + 9 + 7 = 26 Georgian: 3 + 7 + 6 + 6 = 24 Mongolian: 3 + 7 + 9 + 8 = 27 French: 10 + 10 + 1 + 8 = 29 1. 1 to 10 Resources A1/A2 2. 1 to 10 B1, B2, C1, C2, native resources 3. 1 to 10 travelling interest 4. 1 to 10 Partner’s opinion "Winner languages": French, Finnish, Mongolian and Armenian. Arabic There was a question whether I would learn Arabic or not. I have even gathered some information regarding MSA, dialects and materials that would cover topics 1 and 2 from my list. Arabic is the official language** in Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya,Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan,Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Palestine, and Western Sahara. Visa is required: Algeria, Chad, Eritrea, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen. Visa on arrival: Bahrein (14 days), Comoros (?), Djibouti (Not available at all entry points) , Egypt (30 days), Jordan (“Not available at all entry points”; “conditions apply”), Kuwait (3 months), Lebanon (3 months. Not available at all entry points), Mauritania (?), Oman (30 days), Qatar (1 month), Somalia (30 days, provided an invitation letter issued by the sponsor has been submitted to the Airport Immigration Department at least 2 days before arrival), United Arab Emirates (Free visa on arrival 30 days), Visa not required: Israel (3 months), Morocco (3 months), Tunisia (90 days), Palestine (?;Arrival by sea to Gaza Strip not allowed.) It doesn’t apply: Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic: Undefined visa regime in the Western Sahara controlled territory. Some important notes: 1. Visitors with passport stamp of Israel are not allowed to enter a number of countries because of the Arab League boycott of Israel. 2. Several countries including Argentina, Cambodia, Japan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the United States demand all passengers to be fingerprinted on arrival. Due to the certain problems and confusion regarding the countries I could visit and she cannot (and vice-verse, since she holds another passport), I decided to not include Arabic in the "wanderlust contest" this time. 1 person has voted this message useful