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Kanewai 2015: Team Caesar | ||
Tags: Super Challenge | Catalan | Ancient Greek | Turkish | Polyglot | Arabic | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Italian | Japanese | French | Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5387 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 169 of 331 26 August 2013 at 3:32pm | IP Logged | |||||
I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not. :) It's always great to find something you really enjoy. Just be warned, it gets better. :D I suggest stopping in the middle of an episode, when stuff starts to slow down for a minute, and writing down the time so you can come back to that spot. They like to leave you hanging at the end!
I think you and your enthusiasm for French literature may be what pushes me in the direction of French rather than Italian for next year. I have actually never seen Les Misérables and don't know the story, so I may have to go watch it just see check it out. Is there a particular version you'd suggest? (Besides the original books? LOL) I am seriously impressed with what you've accomplished with your French reading the last year. It is really amazing and inspiring. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4881 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 170 of 331 27 August 2013 at 10:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
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More random notes
- I was hoping that Part V of Les Mis might be all action, but about 80 pages in Hugo goes off on a long diversion about the history and symbolism of the Paris sewers. The tangents kill me! I read an essay by Maris Vargas Llosa, The Temptation of the Impossible, that said that the tangents were the real purpose of Les Misérables, and that the dramatic plot was just a trick Hugo used to get people to read his philosophy. For myself, I hate these digressions. I'd like to read Notre Dame one day, but not if Hugo does the same thing there. - The Perseus Digital Library has Latin and Greek texts online, and you can click on any word to find the definition and full declension. Now, I have been having trouble because so many of the tenses and cases look the same to me. It turns out my books only pretend to give definite answers, as the scholars themselves don't even agree. Take this line: στέμματ᾽ ἔχων ἐν χερσὶν (stemmat' ekhon en khersin) Perseus gives these probabilities for the declension of στέμματ (garland): singular neutral dative 14.9% plural neutral vocative 21% plural neutral nominative 22.4% plural neutral accusative 26.5% dual neutral vocative 4.9% dual neutral nominative 5% dual neutral accusative 5.2% And these for ἔχων (bear, carry, bring) participle (singular present active) 83% imperfect (3rd person plural) 2.6% imperfect (1st person singular) 1.7% The gist of the sentence is, 'he was carrying the garlands in his hands,' but beyond that it all falls apart. This is somewhat liberating. I don't see any point in memorizing Greek grammar if the experts don't even agree. Edited by kanewai on 27 August 2013 at 10:38pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4881 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 171 of 331 01 September 2013 at 8:03am | IP Logged | |||||
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@ Kerrie - My first recommendation would be to fly to London and see the musical! But
barring that (it would be a bit extravagant, I suppose), the trailer for the Hollywood version looked pretty good, though I haven't seen it yet. I really think it helps to know the story before you dive into the French. The book has Big Themes (love, betrayal, redemption, the meaning of life, stuff like that), so knowing the basic plot won't hurt. - I woke up this morning (ok, afternoon) a bit hung over. I tried listening to my next Pimsleur Japanese lesson, and I did not understand a single word. It took a good five minutes before any of it came back. I'm reaching the point where I can't do this on my commute anymore, so I either make it a 'real' language or I put it aside. I'll know in a couple days if I'll be going to Tokyo or not this fall, so that will impact my decision. - I don't think I have the patience for the Listening-Reading method. It does help, but I don't like re-reading a book's chapter two or three times - I'm too impatient to move on. On top of that my mind tends to drift when I'm reading a good book. Just now, I was listening / reading to Candide's adventures in Venice during Carnival. The novel went in one direction (a dinner party with six deposed kings), but my mind went in another (ooh, Carnival in Venice! Wouldn't that be fun. I want to go! ... I'm easily distracted by shiny objects). With a physical book that's no problem. With an audiobook it's a bit problematic. Edited by kanewai on 01 September 2013 at 8:05am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5001 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 172 of 331 02 September 2013 at 2:27am | IP Logged | |||||
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I hated those parts of Les Mis too! I read it in Czech nearly ten years ago (and I consider trying the original) and I was skipping parts of them. 1 or 2 pages of this were usually ok, 3-5 sufferable, there rest had to be skipped :-D
Notre Dame is much easier to read (I think in any language compared to Les Mis) as there are no such tangents. Or perhaps there are but so few and small that I can't remember. I think you'll like it. There are more authors who use the plot as bait to lure the innocent readers into the realm of education. Fowles does this and the diversions are not that bad (The French Lieutenant's Woman is mostly a lecture on the victorian society. The sad thing is I enjoyed the diversions more than the story.), Eco's Name of the Rose is the best example of joining an awesome story with fun education. I'd actually love to read him in original one day. I'll need to read back on your log as I don't remember you learning Ancient Greek. It sounds fascinating! I was recently tempted by this old jewel during watching Caprica (Ancient Greek playing the Tauron language). But I still own some good sense residues and my wanderlust days are (hopefully) over. And how do you like Candide? I've considered reading him but I never got the courage or an opportunity I couldn't miss. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4881 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 173 of 331 02 September 2013 at 1:21pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Candide is a trip. We read Voltaire in college, but there were so many rules (i.e., don't
use an English version as a crutch, try to understand words from context rather than looking them up in a dictionary) that I don't think I got much out of him. Now? I'm amazed at how raunchy and obscene Candide is. I'm not sure how I missed this in school! It's only 100 pages, so it's a good classic to attempt. I would love to read Umberto Eco in Italian. One day, I hope. And I'm glad to hear that Notre Dame is an easier read than Les Mis! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4881 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 174 of 331 07 September 2013 at 3:37am | IP Logged | |||||
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Every time I make a study plan, life comes along and knocks it around.
Last week, I put Japanese aside. It was taking too much mental energy, and I wasn't ready for a long term commitment. And it was kind of pleasant to return to focusing more heavily on just French and Greek. I found a nice balance, and I had a good plan to reintegrate Spanish soon. And then. This afternoon my ex - a sushi chef - called about going to Tokyo over Thanksgiving. Neither of us has ever been, and tickets have dropped below $700. I can't pass that up. And so, Nihhon-ga is back on. And my language study is going to get chaotic again. Japanese - It's getting too hard to do Japanese while commuting, so I'll need to set aside real time to work on it. I have modest goals (I hope they're modest) - learn the kana, and be able to speak proper tourist Japanese with a nice accent. My plan this weekend is to copy out the first level of Pimsleur in katakana or hiragana. I know the stroke order, but it will still be slow. French - I only have eighty pages left to finish Les Mis!!! Most of the conflicts have been resolved, though there is still one villain lurking in the shadows & I'm sure he'll make a final appearance. I also started FSI again, and I do enjoy it, in a way. It really helps with listening comprehension, which is my weak point. I'm on Chapter XX our of XXIV, and I had hoped to finish it by the end of the year. Now, with Japanese back in the mix, I'm not so sure. ελληνικά - Like Cavesa wrote, Ancient Greek really does feel like a jewel that I am slowly uncovering. Pharr has been a great tool. The exercises take the Iliad and translate it into relatively straight prose, and then give you the poetic Homeric version. For the first time I'm appreciating Homer as a writer - the heroes seem so much larger than life, and the imagery so much more vivid, in the original. Spanish - I've been watching Águila Roja when I have free time, so I'm not totally neglecting Spanish. Middle English - I don't know if this counts as a foreign language, but I'm going to start logging it. I bought a copy of the Riverside Chaucer years ago but never read it, and I have good recordings of the Prologue, Knight's Tale, and Shipman's Tale. I'm going to read them L-R style, which should be sufficient to get the sense and style of Middle English. I'll be doing this randomly, though one day I would like to progress backwards then forwards - i.e., Middle English > Old English (just for Beowulf!) > Modern German. Edited by kanewai on 07 September 2013 at 3:54am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5548 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 175 of 331 08 September 2013 at 5:30am | IP Logged | |||||
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Yes indeed, life does seem to be a little attention-seeking toddler at times, all too ready to pull at the trouser leg and shirttails of every new optimistic study plan we dare to draw up...but hey, Tokyo, under $700, Thanksgiving...it just sounds too good!
Incidentally, I heard an interesting exotic language being sung by a local band on Magic Island today, the crowd surrounded by the usual kids' bouncy castles, picnic tents, and onolicious aromas of local grinds that waft across from a dozen generously heaped charcoal grills. I couldn't pinpoint the language despite my best efforts, so I decided to go up and ask what language everyone was chatting away in...and it turns out it was Marshallese (and this is the first time I ever heard it in person!). As I recall that you speak a closely related language to Marshallese, I thought I'd share the moment. :) Edited by Teango on 08 September 2013 at 5:52am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4881 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 176 of 331 08 September 2013 at 8:49am | IP Logged | |||||
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$635 on United, brah - take it if you can!!!
And what a nice moment. Funny, I had a similar one this morning with Kosraean at the Ala Wai Park. I knew it was probably some kind of Micronesian language (as if those colored skirts and the piles of grilled chicken wouldn't give it away), but I could not place it at all, and I finally went up and asked. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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