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Kerrie TAC 2015 Team Caesar SP BrPT ASL | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5326 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 233 of 246 23 September 2014 at 11:20pm | IP Logged | |||||
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My youngest read them when she was 10, and I have a hard time imagining any book that treats sex with this
level of respect and delicacy. The Bible is positively pornographic next to this, with incest and offers to give up your own daughters to have sex with half the village. And that is only among the good guys. And if you don't believe me I'll quote the relevant passages. From the Bible. Not Twilight. I actually enjoyed the books a lot, and my oldest read-a-phobic daughter read her first full length book with Twilight. We also watched the first film 5 times. In one week. And one year we were 4 people (me, two daughters and hubby) on holiday bringing 6 Twilight books (the 4 in English and the 2 first in Norwegian) and then we just passed them around between us as we got through them. I have the first book also in Spanish ad French, and the whole series in Russian, and I will read them at some point. My husband read them in a loop (starting the first again when he had finished the fourth) for a full year. I have seen all the movies at least once, the first one I must have seen 10-15 times by now. Each of the books are based on classical novels. Romeo and Juliet and Wuthering Heights among others. The language is also better than in many English language novels I have seen. The author is an English literature major. If anything I raised an eyebrow at Edward's stalkerish and dominant behavior, but Bella put him in his place. I was not a huge fan of her willingness to sacrifice herself either, but I have seen much worse ethics and morals. I would not hesitate to let an 11year old read them, but I would discuss them with her, and prepare her mentally for the tough parts in book four. That birth could make anyone take a chastity promise until age 30. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5387 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 234 of 246 27 September 2014 at 8:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I just came across this site at University of Calgary (Alberta, Canada) that has the audio of Harry Potter in many, many languages. According to the introductory page, it has "recordings of all translations of the first book in the Harry Potter series." However, I was only able to listen to the first two paragraphs of the few languages I checked out. It was kind of disappointing that they don't have the full first book (as they claim), but still - it's a rather neat project, and it would be a lot of fun to spend a few hours listening to all the different languages. Oddly enough, I was thinking of doing something similar with HP audiobooks. I recently came across the Hippo Club concept, (in the US, it's called LEX) and I think it's a neat idea. In essence, you listen to the same audio in multiple languages, and your brain eventually starts to assimilate the different words and patterns. There is an old HTLAL thread here about it. While their concept is much more of a long-term endeavor, I think the idea could be used for faster learning, as well. For example, if I put a two-paragraph section (of Harry Potter, or anything else) on a loop in five languages, and listen to it in the background for the afternoon while I'm cleaning and doing dishes, I think it could help solidify vocabulary and sentence structures. Of course, I think it would work better with languages you have some familiarity with. I wish I could find the audiobooks in Korean and Turkish. :) Anyone ever hear of Hippo Clubs? What do you think of the idea behind them? I thought about checking out their CDs and stuff, but they are prohibitively expensive. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5387 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 235 of 246 28 September 2014 at 3:44am | IP Logged | |||||
Yea, I'm not really sure there's a need to prepare her mentally for stuff like that at eleven, since I don't really think it's appropriate at her age. LOL I told her she could start reading them, but we'll talk about them as she goes. Hopefully she will lose interest in them before she gets to the end. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5387 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 236 of 246 04 October 2014 at 5:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Inspired by the September Mini-Challenge for Spanish SC, but not my translation. :)
I started this a few months ago, before I got side-tracked by another tome. It's (perhaps) slightly above my comfort level, but it is one of the books I will get back to before the SC is over. This is a brilliant example of why I love reading.
Un hombrecillo con rasgos de ave rapaz y cabellera plateada nos abrió la puerta. Su mirada aguileña se posó en mí, impenetrable. A smallish man with vulturine features framed by thick gray hair opened the door. His impenetrable aquiline gaze rested on mine. —Buenos días, Isaac. Este es mi hijo Daniel —anunció mi padre—. Pronto cumplirá once años, y algún día él se hará cargo de la tienda. Ya tiene edad de conocer este lugar. "Good morning, Isaac. This is my son, Daniel," my father announced. "Soon he'll be eleven, and one day the shop will be his. It's time he knew this place." El tal Isaac nos invitó a pasar con un leve asentimiento. Una penumbra azulada lo cubría todo, insinuando apenas trazos de una escalinata de mármol y una galería de frescos poblados con figuras de ángeles y criaturas fabulosas. The man called Isaac nodded and invited us in. A blue-tinted gloom obscured the sinuous contours of a marble staircase and a gallery of frescoes peopled with angels and fabulous creatures. Seguimos al guardián a través de aquel corredor palaciego y llegamos a una gran sala circular donde una auténtica basílica de tinieblas yacía bajo una cúpula acuchillada por haces de luz que pendían desde lo alto. We followed our host through a palatial corridor and arrived at a sprawling round hall, a virtual basilica of shadows spiraling up under a high glass dome, its dimness pierced by shafts of light that stabbed from above. Un laberinto de corredores y estanterías repletas de libros ascendía desde la base hasta la cúspide, dibujando una colmena tramada de túneles, escalinatas, plataformas y puentes que dejaban adivinar una gigantesca biblioteca de geometría imposible. Miré a mi padre, boquiabierto. El me sonrió, guiñándome el ojo. A labyrinth of passageways and crammed bookshelves rose from base to pinnacle like a beehive woven with tunnels, steps, platforms, and bridges that presaged an immense library of seemingly impossible geometry. I looked at my father, stunned. He smiled at me and winked. —Daniel, bienvenido al Cementerio de los Libros Olvidados. Salpicando los pasillos y plataformas de la biblioteca se perfilaban una docena de figuras. Algunas de ellas se volvieron a saludar desde lejos, y reconocí los rostros de diversos colegas de mi padre en el gremio de libreros de viejo. "Welcome to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Daniel." I could make out about a dozen human figures scattered among the library's corridors and platforms. Some of them turned to greet me from afar, and I recognized the faces of various colleagues of my father's, fellows of the secondhand-booksellers' guild. A mis ojos de diez años, aquellos individuos aparecían como una cofradía secreta de alquimistas conspirando a espaldas del mundo. Mi padre se arrodilló junto a mí y, sosteniéndome la mirada, me habló con esa voz leve de las promesas y las confidencias. To my ten-year-old eyes, they looked like a brotherhood of alchemists in furtive study. My father knelt next to me and, with his eyes fixed on mine, addressed me in the hushed voice he reserved for promises and secrets. —Este lugar es un misterio, Daniel, un santuario. Cada libro, cada tomo que ves, tiene alma. El alma de quien lo escribió, y el alma de quienes lo leyeron y vivieron y soñaron con él. "This is a place of mystery, Daniel, a sanctuary. Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Cada vez que un libro cambia de manos, cada vez que alguien desliza la mirada por sus páginas, su espíritu crece y se hace fuerte. Hace ya muchos años, cuando mi padre me trajo por primera vez aquí, este lugar ya era viejo. Quizá tan viejo como la misma ciudad. Nadie sabe a ciencia cierta desde cuándo existe, o quiénes lo crearon. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens. This place was already ancient when my father brought me here for the first time, many years ago. Perhaps as old as the city itself. Nobody knows for certain how long it has existed, or who created it. Te diré lo que mi padre me dijo a mí. Cuando una biblioteca desaparece, cuando una librería cierra sus puertas, cuando un libro se pierde en el olvido, los que conocemos este lugar, los guardianes, nos aseguramos de que llegue aquí. En este lugar, los libros que ya nadie recuerda, los libros que se han perdido en el tiempo, viven para siempre, esperando llegar algún día a las manos de un nuevo lector, de un nuevo espíritu. I will tell you what my father told me, though. When a library disappears, or a bookshop closes down, when a book is consigned to oblivion, those of us who know this place, its guardians, make sure that it gets here. In this place, books no longer remembered by anyone, books that are lost in time, live forever, waiting for the day when they will reach a new reader's hands. En la tienda nosotros los vendemos y los compramos, pero en realidad los libros no tienen dueño. Cada libro que ves aquí ha sido el mejor amigo de alguien. Ahora sólo nos tienen a nosotros, Daniel. ¿Crees que vas a poder guardar este secreto? In the shop we buy and sell them, but in truth books have no owner. Every book you see here has been somebody's best friend. Now they have only us, Daniel. Do you think you'll be able to keep such a secret?" Mi mirada se perdió en la inmensidad de aquel lugar, en su luz encantada. Asentí y mi padre sonrió. —¿Y sabes lo mejor? —preguntó. Negué en silencio. My gaze was lost in the immensity of the place and its sorcery of light. I nodded, and my father smiled. "And do you know the best thing about it?" he asked. I shook my head. —La costumbre es que la primera vez que alguien visita este lugar tiene que escoger un libro, el que prefiera, y adoptarlo, asegurándose de que nunca desaparezca, de que siempre permanezca vivo. Es una promesa muy importante. De por vida —explicó mi padre—. Hoy es tu turno. "According to tradition, the first time someone visits this place, he must choose a book, whichever he wants, and adopt it, making sure that it will never disappear, that it will always stay alive. It's a very important promise. For life," explained my father. "Today it's your turn." Por espacio de casi media hora deambulé entre los entresijos de aquel laberinto que olía a papel viejo, a polvo y a magia. Dejé que mi mano rozase las avenidas de lomos expuestos, tentando mi elección. For almost half an hour, I wandered within the winding labyrinth, breathing in the smell of old paper and dust. I let my hand brush across the avenues of exposed spines, musing over what my choice would be. Atisbé, entre los títulos desdibujados por el tiempo, palabras en lenguas que reconocía y decenas de otras que era incapaz de catalogar. Recorrí pasillos y galerías en espiral pobladas por cientos, miles de tomos que parecían saber más acerca de mí que yo de ellos. Among the titles faded by age, I distinguished words in familiar languages and others I couldn't identify. I roamed through galleries filled with hundreds, thousands of volumes. Al poco, me asaltó la idea de que tras la cubierta de cada uno de aquellos libros se abría un universo infinito por explorar y de que, más allá de aquellos muros, el mundo dejaba pasar la vida en tardes de fútbol y seriales de radio, satisfecho con ver hasta allí donde alcanza su ombligo y poco más. After a while it occurred to me that between the covers of each of those books lay a boundless universe waiting to be discovered, while beyond those walls, in the outside world, people allowed life to pass by in afternoons of football and radio soaps, content to do little more than gaze at their navels. Quizá fue aquel pensamiento, quizá el azar o su pariente de gala, el destino, pero en aquel mismo instante supe que ya había elegido el libro que iba a adoptar. O quizá debiera decir el libro que me iba a adoptar a mí. Se asomaba tímidamente en el extremo de una estantería, encuadernado en piel de color vino y susurrando su título en letras doradas que ardían a la luz que destilaba la cúpula desde lo alto. Me acerqué hasta él y acaricié las palabras con la yema de los dedos, leyendo en silencio. It might have been that notion, or just chance, or its more flamboyant relative, destiny, but at that precise moment I knew I had already chosen the book I was going to adopt, or that was going to adopt me. It stood out timidly on one corner of a shelf, bound in wine-colored leather. The gold letters of its title gleamed in the light bleeding from the dome above. I drew near and caressed them with the tips of my fingers, reading to myself. La Sombra del Viento Julián CARAX THE SHADOW OF THE WIND JULIAN CARAX Jamás había oído mencionar aquel título o a su autor, pero no me importó. La decisión estaba tomada. Por ambas partes. Tomé el libro con sumo cuidado y lo hojeé, dejando aletear sus páginas. Liberado de su celda en el estante, el libro exhaló una nube de polvo dorado. I had never heard of the title or the author, but I didn't care. The decision had been taken. I pulled the volume down with great care and leafed through the pages, letting them flutter. Once liberated from its prison on the shelf, the book shed a cloud of golden dust. Satisfecho con mi elección, rehice mis pasos en el laberinto portando mi libro bajo el brazo con una sonrisa impresa en los labios. Tal vez la atmósfera hechicera de aquel lugar había podido conmigo, pero tuve la seguridad de que aquel libro había estado allí esperándome durante años, probablemente desde antes de que yo naciese. Pleased with my choice, I tucked it under my arm and retraced my steps through the labyrinth with a smile on my lips. Perhaps the bewitching atmosphere of the place had got the better of me, but I felt sure that The Shadow of the Wind had been waiting for me there for years, probably since before I was born. Edited by Kerrie on 05 October 2014 at 5:31pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5387 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 237 of 246 20 October 2014 at 2:56am | IP Logged | |||||
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I have a list of about ten posts I have been wanting to write, but I have been so swamped with work. Six 10-hour days just killed me this week. So perhaps one post will do for now. :)
Kanewai was asking for more Super Challenge materials that people are reading and watching, so I'll share a little gem I found. I think I actually saw it on Anna's log a month or two back. It's a Turkish drama called Muhteşem Yüzyıl, and the English version is called the Magnificent Century. The Spanish-dubbed version I found online (on MundoFox and tusnovelas.net) is called Suleimán el Sultán. 
Oh, Turkish. How I want to learn you. Seriously, I don't watch soap operas in English. I have no idea why I like them in Turkish. :D Oh, wait. This is a historical drama. I love the history and culture in shows like this. I like to see how people react in "extreme" situations. Suleyman and his men come to Alexandra's village, her family is killed, and she is taken as a slave. She becomes part of Suleyman's harem, and earns his favor. She decides to avenge her family. Uh-oh. At first, I was thinking this chick is smart, and she's going to use the situation to her advantage to get back at this man who robbed her of everything she had. I'm only 18 episodes into it (there are about 140 episodes), but I think this girl is losing her focus. She seems to have fallen madly in love with the Sultan, and has turned into a manipulative, whiny bitch with no holds barred! 
I don't know how accurate the historical representation is, but the costumes are awesome to see. The Sultan's (first) wife is on the far left, then his mother, his sister, and the red-head Alexandra (or Hürrem, the Muslim name the Sultan gave her) is on the far right. 
One more picture of cool costumes, with the Sultan, his right-hand man, and the important women in his life. I find it amusing that I like to watch this kind of stuff in Spanish (or Turkish), when I would never sit down and watch this kind of thing in English. Maybe I would - I can't recall coming across something of this scope that portrays a historical period, that was originally in English. The last thirty or so episodes that have aired on MundoFox are on their website, but if you want to watch the episodes before that, the only place I've found them is tusnovelas.net. There's a lot of pop-ups, but once you X them out, you can watch the show in peace. I'm looking forward to the rest of the show. I peaked at Wikipedia, and it looks like the four seasons encompass quite a long period of time. It should be an interesting ride. :) Edited by Kerrie on 23 November 2014 at 7:30pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5387 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 238 of 246 20 October 2014 at 3:07am | IP Logged | |||||
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When I was twelve or thirteen (decades ago - literally) I took a "continuing education" evening class in ASL at the local college. It was really fun - kind of an eye-opening experience for a middle-school kid. My brother was (is) hard-of-hearing, and although he never learned to sign because he learned to read lips at an early age, I still always thought it was cool that people could literally talk with their hands.
We have a new kid at work who is deaf, and no one can more than gesture to him at the moment. I think my boss is learning a little bit of ASL - either that, or she's really good at charades! - but I've been thinking of re/learning a little of ASL to be able to communicate with him. I haven't had a chance to look up any good sites for learning ASL, although I imagine there are some good videos on YouTube. Does anyone know of a site that works a bit like a dictionary? The few sites I've looked at have basic words (boy, girl, etc), but no way for me to look up specific things I want to say. I want to be able to tell him things like: good job today, thank you for your help, have a good weekend, see you tomorrow, more please - stuff that I won't get from an ASL 101 course on YouTube. Any ideas where I could find something like that for free? Edited by Kerrie on 20 October 2014 at 3:08am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5387 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 239 of 246 20 October 2014 at 4:01am | IP Logged | |||||
I was looking around on the MundoFox site, and came across a show called Joseph of Egypt. It's a (38 episode) Brazilian "mini-series." The first episode is on Record TV Network in Spanish-dub with English subs, and the first 10 or so episodes are on the MundoFox website. I imagine the rest of the show will be made available there as it is aired.
All the pictures I could find with a quick Google search looked really campy, but I thought the first episode was actually pretty well-done. It is the Biblical story of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers. 
I find it funny how I am trying to look for new, original "Spanish" material, and I keep coming across stuff that is dubbed into Spanish from other places. I am looking forward to watching more of this show, as well. At least I am finding stuff that I am watching exclusively in Spanish now, without any subtitles. I'm finding it easier and easier to watch stuff in Spanish, and even if I don't understand words and phrases, it never bothers me, because I can almost always "get" what they are talking about from the context of the show. Edited by Kerrie on 20 October 2014 at 4:09am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5387 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 240 of 246 21 December 2014 at 4:44am | IP Logged | |||||
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So, the year is coming to a close. I can't believe how fast this year has gone.
I think I need to stop making new language goals each year, since I never seem to stick with the same ones for very long. I made a lot of progress with my Spanish over the past year. I'm a lot more comfortable with listening comprehension and speaking, and I'm reading more fluently. I started reading La Mano de Fatima (Ildefonso Falcones) earlier in the year. I had just finished Los Pilares de la Tierra (Pillars of the Earth), and was itching for more epic historical fiction. I only got about 100 pages into it, struggling, when I picked up the Hunger Games and got detoured. Then I had planned to take a rest from reading Spanish for awhile to focus on Portuguese, and picked it back up while I was on break at work the other day for a half hour. Surprisingly, it seems easier than it did before, so I'm going with it. :) I have had a really crazy year, which has put language learning in the backseat most of the time. I finally sold my house (and moved) this spring, found a stable job this summer, and somehow ended up meeting someone and falling madly in love. Luckily, she shares my interest in languages - at least to an extent. She's Bosnian, and speaks five languages. We actually started learning Portuguese together. Talk about language nerds. :) I was pleasantly surprised after a quick 8 hours of Michel Thomas that I can understand a lot of Portuguese, and it no longer sounds like drunk Spanish to me. It actually sounds like Portuguese! Granted, the MT course teaches European Portuguese, and Kat and I are learning Brazilian, but the basics are pretty much the same. Since we both speak Spanish, it seemed like a nice shortcut. :) So now I am looking at 2015, and what I want to do next year - as far as languages are concerned. Realistically, I'm not even sure I want to make any language goals. I want to learn Portuguese to a conversational level, which should be doable in a year, especially with a partner to learn with. There is a young man at work who is deaf, and I'd like to learn some ASL to be able to talk to him a little. I have found a few books from the library, and a few websites, but nothing that is really useful for looking stuff up. I think I will start keeping a list of words and phrases I want to learn, and maybe I can ask him how to say them. Maybe I can get a Skype tutor in the spring too, when I have a little more money. :) Other than those two (very vague) goals, I imagine I will learn a little bit (more) Bosnian, although I don't plan to focus on that. I would like to come back to French, but ... French just doesn't call to me, and I'm not sure I will make time for it in the near future. I have had a list of "posts to write" on my desk for the last three months, but I have been very bad about getting around to any of them. I'm enjoying my level of Spanish right now, and continuing to use it on a regular basis - especially reading and watching TV. I'm enjoying learning Portuguese right now, but there's not a lot to write about that, really. I'm really looking forward to 2015, because it is a brand new year, and I see lots of wonderful things in the future. But most of them are not centered around language learning. I want to work on building my business. I am working on (early planning stages) a website that would be a central hub for anyone looking for books about language learning, or finding books and movies in any language. Wouldn't it be cool - no matter what language you are learning - to be able to go to one site and find anything you could want? Like a pan-lingual Amazon or something. I know, that's not even a word. :D I want to focus on being healthier, on my personal relationships, and on raising my kids. I can't believe they are already 12. It seems like time goes by faster every day. I doubt I will ever completely stop working on learning languages, but I guess my priorities have shifted. I want to spend more time enjoying the things I have in my life, and working towards other long-term goals that will allow me more freedom in the future. 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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