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Russian and Greek, TAC2014 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4632 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 73 of 99 07 January 2014 at 3:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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New year, new possibilities. I continue in 2014 with the same log (although with a new title) since to be honest, I did not write very much throughout 2013.
I am doing TAC on an individual basis this year, although I have joined the Russian team as an "observer". Unfortunately Team Sparta did not function very well for various reasons, and so far there does not seem to be any appetite for a Greek team in 2014. So I continue my TAC endeavour in the same two languages. I have played with the idea of adding a third, but firstly I do not really have the time for it, and secondly I could not make up my mind which language it should be. I do keep on "playing" with other languages, in particular Romansh, which has become something of a pet project for me lately, but it is not really a TAC language. I do write a lot about it in my other log though. My goals for 2014 are simple, but ambitious. I want to get to a solid B1 in Russian, both in active and passive skills. While the passive part should be within reach, I really need to work very hard to get to that level in speaking and writing. Russian will therefore remain my priority. As for Greek, I will first of all revise what I did last year, as I have not really touched any Greek material for three months now, so a refersher is needed. The aim is to reach A2 level if possible by the end of the year. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4351 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 74 of 99 07 January 2014 at 3:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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I know you'll do it. Last year was also a year of experiment for me. This year I know we will advance more! Besides, languages take time to settle in one's head. I bet you remember more than you think from last year's studying.
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| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4632 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 75 of 99 22 January 2014 at 5:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Greek
Finally I've got started on Greek again. This week I have revised the first two lessons of the Langenscheidt course, concentrating on the vocabulary. I will also try to find time to do the exercises I didn't bother to do when going through them the first time. I am glad to say that I still could remember most of the vocabulary, although it took a bit of an effort to dig them up from my memory. I don't think I will spend too much time on revising the first five-six lessons, but then I should probably go more slowly, as lesson 7 introduces the aorist, and although I vaguely remember the principles, I have forgotten most of the rules about how to build the aorist root, not to mention the exceptions. Russian My Russian class on Monday has started again. In the first class after Christmas we talked about the holidays, what we had done, what presents we got etc. It was a good exercise in using past tenses and understanding when to use perfective and imperfective in a narrative like that. We also went through the other main holidays of Russia. This week we worked a lot on formation of the comparative and superlative of the adjective, and also on numerals and their declination. We also went trhough the lyrics of a song called "Миллион алых роз" sung by Алла Пугаяева. Apparently a very famous song, and I've learnt that Алла Пугаяева is the most successful Soviet performer in terms of record sales and popularity. I really enjoy it when, in addition to learning the language, I get to learn more about the contemporary culture in Russia. I know the classical literature and music, but I am far too ignorant about contemporary (pop) culture. I will have to do something about that. For next week I have as homework to write a short text about my life when I was a kid. I might post it here as well - I do far too little writing in Russian. In addition to the classes I keep on working with a variety of texts, I've gone through another lesson in Colloquial Russian, this one about the job market and how to look for employment in Russia. Quite useful as I work in human resources! I've also read a few short news articles I've found on internet, mainly from Комсомольская правда, i.a. about the Russian tradition of bathing in icy water on 19 January, but also about the situation in Ukraine. Edited by Ogrim on 22 January 2014 at 5:48pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4351 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 76 of 99 22 January 2014 at 9:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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Καλή αρχή και καλή πρόοδο!
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| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5049 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 77 of 99 22 January 2014 at 11:23pm | IP Logged | ||
The aorist stem, maybe, not root? The singer is Пугачева. I think that the information in Colloquial Russian can be obsolete. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4632 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 78 of 99 23 January 2014 at 10:39am | IP Logged | ||
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ευχαριστώ πολύ, renaissancemedi. I am determined to advance with Greek this year. It is too beautiful a language to let go.
Марк, thanks for your comments. I ment stem, not root, of course I was in a hurry and did not revise my text carefully enough before posting. And yes, Пугачева. Stupid typo, I sometimes struggle with the cyrillic keyboard as I have to look at a printout of its layout while typing. It is quite possible that the information in Colloquial Russian is obsolete as far as the current situation in Russia is concerned. The book is ten years' old. When I said useful, I meant above all with regard to vocabulary linked to the area of human resources. If you have any pointers to up-to-date websites in Russian devoted to the area of human resources I would be very interested. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4632 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 79 of 99 29 January 2014 at 3:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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Time for a quick update
Greek I've revised another lesson of Langenscheidts. I am happy to be working on Greek again, but I think I should find some alternative course material to supplement the Langenscheidt course. I do not feel like picking up Assimil again, I did not enjoy their Greek course the way I enjoyed the Russian one. I have to look around for other resources. Russian This week our Russian class was mainly dedicated to describing events and situations in the past. The teacher gave a quick but interesting explanation on the use of the imperfective vs. the perfective aspect in the past, and contrasted it with how you use "imparfait" and "passé simple" in French. It is certainly not possible to say that imparfait equals imperfective and passé simple equals perfective. I sort of knew it already, but the teacher's explanation and examples made it much clearer for me to spot the difference. Apart from the class I have read a few more paragraphs in Москва, я не люблю тебя. It goes extremely slowly, the language is really too complicated for the level I am at, and I have to look up very many words, but I take it as an exercise in reading intensively - hopefully it will go faster later on. I do feel that it helps enhancing and consolidating my vocabulary. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4351 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 80 of 99 30 January 2014 at 9:04am | IP Logged | ||
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Don't go for FSI. What other options are on the table?
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