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Luso’s Silk Thread - Yürükler, TAC Rare | ||
Tags: Arabic (classical) | Sanskrit | Arabic | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Italian | German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6053 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 57 of 162 19 September 2013 at 8:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Disclaimer: this post is not about asking my and forum- and teammates for moral support. My past experience proves that I'm somewhat impervious to such help. Your opinions are welcome as always, though. :)
This is the topic: I have some news that will decidedly impact my language learning schedule. At the start of another school year, I've come to the conclusion that 2/3 of my language learning classes are over, probably forever. In fact, after having completed the C2 level of German at the local Goethe-Institut, I had already decided that I was not going to enroll in one of the so-called recycling classes available. Not for now, at least. I've had since June to come to terms with that idea. What's a bit more surprising is that my Arabic classes are also over. The group we had was already stretched a bit thin (five persons, on and off), and the teacher (or the school) decided there was not enough people to go any further. To give an idea, we were already in the C's, and the group that follows are still in the A's. I just checked my notebooks and noticed that my German classes started in February 2007 and my Arabic classes in March 2008. I will not enumerate the changes since then in what is an event-packed time of my life (this is not the place for it), but let me just say that both were the certain side of uncertain times. I'm sure I have the materials to achieve fluency in German and a reasonable level in Arabic. I just ("just"...) have to summon the motivation to study by myself. On the upside, it seems that my Italian group will continue. It's a bit strange, because it always seems to be on the verge of collapse. Also on the upside (hopefully): I've made a few phone calls, in order to see whether I can pursue my dream of starting an eighth language. More on that in the posts to follow. Edited by Luso on 19 September 2013 at 8:08pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6053 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 58 of 162 15 November 2013 at 11:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm learning Sanskrit. Finally.
It was difficult to find a teacher in Lisbon: last month, an old friend of mine (of Indian descent) tried to put me in contact with one of his acquaintances. Unfortunately, there were some communication issues (he's not comfortable with English, let alone Portuguese), as well as with his schedule (he's a Hindu priest, and that's a religion with a lot of festivities... really... a lot). Then my friend met this new guy, who's a Hindi teacher at a local university. He gave me his contact, we met last week and found common ground (he's also a lot younger). Started today. I'm very enthusiastic ("begeistert" would be an even better term) about this. Truth is, when I started Arabic, I did so because Sanskrit was unavailable. And I have a lifelong interest in Indian literature and philosophy (Vedic, but not only). 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6053 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 59 of 162 01 December 2013 at 12:43am | IP Logged | ||
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German
Stopped studying in June. My current level is not bad, but I fear I'll lose a lot if I don't practice. Must get a cunning plan. Baldrick! Italian Going well. Downloaded Salgari's books. Always underrated, always fascinating. Arabic I bought a tablet and uploaded some PDFs there. Mostly grammar, but some exercises too. Mental note: stop reading out loud in the tube. Sanskrit Three sessions so far. This is wonderful. Mental note: start reading out loud in the tube, as soon as I nail the devanagari script. Coolest language on the planet to read out loud. Edited by Luso on 01 December 2013 at 12:44am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6077 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 60 of 162 01 December 2013 at 12:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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Juggling 5 languages and starting a new one must be difficult! It sounds like you have everything under control. Having a tablet probably helps with the languages for which books aren't always available.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6053 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 61 of 162 01 December 2013 at 1:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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Juggling is appropriate, since I drop the ball often. :P
It's more like three languages, since I'm not investing in the ones I already know. And beginning a language like Sanskrit is so different from perfecting German or Italian that it's like a different hobby altogether. I bought the tablet because nowadays those things are cheaper than ebook readers and furthermore they're multitask. I've never connected the contraption to the internet. I just charged it, connected it to the laptop, and got a few books in there. Edited by Luso on 01 December 2013 at 1:26pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6053 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 62 of 162 07 December 2013 at 11:41am | IP Logged | ||
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Ahhh, december... the time of year when all the threads spring into life. When you come back next morning and your favourite thread has three more pages. And when polyglots with many languages under their belts, tens of thousands of posts between them and successful profissional (and, I hope, personal) lives discuss endlessly... team names. These ARE the days. And I'm so proud to be one of you, guys!
Sanskrit I had my fourth class of this language yesterday. God(s), what have I got myself into? As I've already got a smattering of Arabic, I thought I could approach Sanskrit's abugida with a minimum of confidence. Furthermore, since Arabic is cursive, a letter can assume different looks, so I was also prepared for that. As it happens, devanagari has thousands of different ways of representing groups of consonants. But since they only (!!!) use a few hundred, or so it seems, I should be ok (by the year 2050). And I also have my work cut out for me in terms of pronounciation. Yesterday, my teacher said to me: "In the Ramayana, Ravana, who has many powers (he is much more powerful than the hero Rama), when invoking the goddess Durga, commits a mistake and, instead of asking for help, asks to be destroyed. So the goddess grants him his wish." So, fellow HTLALers, if I'm not back soon, you'll know what has happened to me. P.S.#1: try beating this story, oh you learners of puny western languages, you... P.S.#2: I must go now; boy, do I have a name for a team... where's the thread? :P Edited by Luso on 06 April 2014 at 2:32am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sunja Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6077 days ago 2020 posts - 2295 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 63 of 162 07 December 2013 at 6:35pm | IP Logged | ||
I also find myself glued to the Sign-Up Thread this time of the year! It's embarrassing, really. I check in every few hours to see who's signed up. I think I might skip the Team Name Thread, though. Esp. when somebody suggests the name "Bier" for the new German Team. Looks like trouble (*cough*) brewing. ^^ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6053 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 64 of 162 20 December 2013 at 3:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Italian
Right now, we've stopped classes for Christmas, amid bubbly wine and panettone. As the level is advanced, each one of us has to present a region of Italy. The presentations are supposed to last 20 minutes, but the average is over an hour! The landscapes are ok, but when people get to the food, everyone cuts in, and the "casino" starts. :P I'll be presenting Sardegna in mid-January. Sanskrit One month after having begun studying the language, I'm in the middle of my first moment of despair. This is caused by several effects simultaneously: My teacher is a young guy, doing linguistics research and preparing his PhD. He has a very good level of both English and Portuguese. He's a really nice guy in his mid-thirties and has a very serious approach to the language. Just yesterday, I told him he seems to be advertising it, and he replied that the idea had crossed his mind also, and that sometimes he fears people's reactions. But it's a fact that it all seems incredibly coherent (at my very basic level). Getting into the details, I'm struggling with the pronunciation, as the diversity of sounds is quite big. There is also the merging of consonants in writing, and apparently there's a lot of those. A lot. My teacher told me that when you're learning Sanskrit in a traditional fashion in India (for religious purposes, I guess), your guru ( :D ) makes you repeat shlokas for five years. That's it, you just sit there saying things out loud. Like this, you'll be able to get all the sounds exactly right. How cool is that? Edited by Luso on 06 April 2014 at 2:35am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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