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Amerykanka’s Adventures - 2015 and Beyond | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5163 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 17 of 55 14 June 2015 at 8:28am | IP Logged |
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@Mooby, confusing people is always fun. I am glad to see from your log that your Polish studies are going
well, and I enjoy reading your poetry! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5163 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 18 of 55 15 June 2015 at 6:44am | IP Logged |
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Last Tuesday, I walked into Barnes & Noble armed with a $10 gift card and determined to buy a useful (but
fun) book. I searched the language section to no avail and asked myself age-old questions such as: "Why don't they keep intros to Hebrew script in stock? Or what would be wrong with an Irish grammar?" After examining all of the books on Cyrillic carefully and rejecting them one by one, I decided that there was only one thing to be done: I headed in the direction of the sign LIBROS EN ESPAÑOL. There a bitter battle was waged. Jorge Luis Borges' Aleph fought valiantly, but ultimately failed because I have Ficciones sitting here on my shelf and I won't reward myself with more Borges until I've finished it. Next Paulo Coelho's El Alquimista made an attempt, but got discarded because it was not originally written in Spanish. Then Laura Gallego García's Todas las hadas del reino tempted me, but I read some negative reviews online so I decided it wasn't worth $15. And then, I saw it . . . the perfect book: Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I had been meaning to read some of his works for a while, and this one looked interesting and had good reviews on Amazon. So I took the plunge. I bought it. And my life will never be the same again. Okay, ignore that last bit, I'm up too late and the exhaustion is getting to me. Anyway, I bought the book and now I am 140 pages into it. It is pretty good - also a little creepy - but the real reason that I have written this long and weird post about it is that it made me realize how much I have been slacking on reading. I have dozens of books in Spanish and Polish within my reach - whether on my iPad, on my shelf, or at the library - and I can't remember the last time I finished a book in either language. Clearly, this is unacceptable. So, I have devised a new plan - my Summer Reading Challenge. The goal - to read at least 15 pages a day in both Spanish and Polish, and (for good measure) to memorize at least 25 lines of Latin poetry a week. I will report back later with more details - right now I am in desperate need of sleep. The challenge begins tomorrow morning. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5163 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 19 of 55 16 June 2015 at 2:47am | IP Logged |
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I know that 15 pages is not very much, but I also know the way my mind works, and setting a lower goal is -
in this case - the best motivator. If I have to read only 15 pages, then I will probably end up reading 30 pages anyway. But if I *have* to read 30 pages, then I will just feel constricted and end up not reading anything at all. Also, I would like to continue reading daily once school starts, and at school I simply don't have time to read more than 15 pages a day, what with studies, multiple jobs, and extracurriculars, and my determination to maintain some semblance of a social life in spite of my insane schedule. I am hoping that if I get in the habit of 15 pages a day during the summer, I will be able to keep it up this fall. So, for this reason, I have settled on the magic number 15. Now for the fun part - a list of my intended books. I have selected ten in each language; they include classics, modern teen novels, and collections of short stories - anything I saw on my shelf was fair game. The ultimate goal is to read them all as quickly as possible, but the short-term goal . . . 15 pages a day. SPANISH Marina ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafón La sombra del viento ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafón San Manuel Bueno, Mártir ~ Miguel de Unamuno Niebla ~ Miguel de Unamuno Ficciones ~ Jorge Luis Borges Todos mis cuentos ~ Ana María Matute El tiempo entre costuras ~ María Dueñas Don Quijote de la Mancha ~ Miguel de Cervantes El sueño del celta ~ Mario Vargas Llosa El amor en los tiempos del cólera ~ Gabriel García Márquez POLISH Szatan z siódmej klasy ~ Kornel Makuszyński Kamienie na szaniec ~ Aleksander Kamiński Nadzieja umiera ostatnia ~ Halina Birenbaum Inna? ~ Irena Jurgielewiczowa Ogniem i mieczem ~ Henryk Sienkiewicz Potop ~ Henryk Sienkiewicz Pan Wołodyjowski ~ Henryk Sienkiewicz Nad Niemnem ~ Eliza Orzeszkowa Sobowtór ~ Ewa Karwan-Jastrzębska Stara baśń ~ J. Kraszewski ************************************************************ SUMMER READING CHALLENGE: DAY 1 Marina - 36 pages Szatan z siódmej klasy - 22 pages Edited by Amerykanka on 16 June 2015 at 2:50am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 6097 days ago 707 posts - 1220 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 20 of 55 16 June 2015 at 1:48pm | IP Logged |
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Nice selection of Polish Classics there!
In the past I've read older material but struggled to cope with the syntax which seems so convoluted / odd / dated. You've made a good start to your challenge - trzymaj tak dalej! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5163 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 21 of 55 17 June 2015 at 5:41am | IP Logged |
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Yes, some of the older books can certainly be challenging. Sienkiewicz isn't usually too bad, though, so the
only item on my list that I am anticipating serious trouble with is Stara baśń. We shall see. I love Polish classics in general so I am very excited about this project. SUMMER READING CHALLENGE: DAY 2 Marina - 23 pages Szatan z siódmej klasy - 22 pages So far I have been reading Marina intensively. I have added some interesting new words to my Anki deck, my favorites being azabache ("jet", as in the semiprecious stone, not the flying machine), manillar ("handlebars"), andamiaje ("scaffolding"), and ensenada ("cove" or "inlet"). It is nice to be able to read without stopping every other sentence to look things up. This freedom from reference books is probably short-lived - just wait til I start on Borges - but I am enjoying it while it lasts. I have been reading Szatan z siódmej klasy extensively, on the other hand. This is because I really need to get back into "Polish mode" before I start making Polish flashcards. Otherwise I would end up with far too many; it has simply been too long since I have read much in Polish, so I have lots of doubts that will clear up on their own after a few hundred pages of reading. That said, in a few weeks I am going to start cracking down on Polish grammar review, and then I will work on vocabulary expansion as well. Edited by Amerykanka on 17 June 2015 at 5:42am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6589 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 22 of 55 17 June 2015 at 6:40pm | IP Logged |
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Good luck with your project!!!
I'm very curious about Marina because that's my name, haha :) I'll probably read it sooner or later :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5163 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 23 of 55 18 June 2015 at 3:43am | IP Logged |
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Haha I understand, I feel compelled to read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier for the same reason. :) I
haven't quite finished Marina yet, but it's not bad so far - even though it is kind of creeping me out right now. If you like mystery/suspense you will probably enjoy it. SUMMER READING CHALLENGE: DAY 3 Marina - 54 pages Szatan z siódmej klasy - 17 pages I would have read more in Polish, but life intervened. There's always tomorrow. Edited by Amerykanka on 18 June 2015 at 3:45am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5163 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 24 of 55 18 June 2015 at 7:40pm | IP Logged |
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SUMMER READING CHALLENGE: DAY 4
Marina - 36 pages Szatan z siódmej klasy - 30 pages I am really enjoying Szatan z siódmej klasy, although I think I have figured out the mystery of the doors. Makuszyński's writing style is very amusing; it reminds me of an English author I can't quite put my finger on. When I have a chance I would like to read some more of his books. It is exceedingly frustrating that none of my little siblings speak Polish, because they are always asking for book recommendations and I have pretty much exhausted my English-language repertoire. Ah well. I'm holding out hope that I might turn my two youngest siblings into language nerds yet. I was teaching my little sister Polish pronunciation and spelling when she was five, after all, and perhaps all of that hard work didn't go to waste. :) Now for some exciting news - I finished Marina! I'll try to write a proper review in Spanish when I have some time but for now I'll just say that I enjoyed the book and I would recommend it. This also means that I must pick a new book to read for tomorrow - pressure. Anyway, other Spanish news - I listened to an hour of Spanish radio the other day, and yesterday I wrote a long letter to my friend and an email to one of my professors in Spanish. OTHER LANGUAGES I have also been working on my (Ancient) Greek grammar. I have colorful index cards containing the principal parts of the most common 80 or so irregular verbs, and then I have heavy-duty cards with the conjugations of extremely irregular verbs - ειμι, ειμι, οιδα, φημι - and of contract verbs. After I refresh my memory of these conjugations I'll move on to the declensions of participles, pronouns, etc. (Sorry, no accents or rough breathings - my modern Greek keyboard isn't entirely suited to Ancient Greek.) 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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