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Russian and Greek, TAC2014 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4603 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 57 of 99 20 September 2013 at 5:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Μπράβο !
Amicale sound like a great idea. I wish we had such a thing here. Congratulations on your Russian. In my books, reaching either A2 or a B1 with only a year of studying Russian on your own is a great accomplishment. I totally understand what you mean about the classes. I have also found that my Skype lessons motivate me to study no matter how useful the class itself is. 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 58 of 99 20 September 2013 at 5:08pm | IP Logged | ||
It is a course organised by the "Amicale" of the organisation for which I work. I don't know if this is typically French or exists elsewhere, but most big companies and organisations in France have an Amicale. Its purpose is to offer various activities to the employees at modest prices. In our Amicale you have language courses, but also dance lessons, flower art, yoga, knitting, oenology and what have you. Classes are normally at lunch time. It is very convenient, because it means I don't have to travel anywhere to go to the class, and it doesn't take up time in the evening. It means I have less time to eat, but I often take just a sandwich anyway (unlike most of my French colleagues who have their full-blown lunch with salad, main course and dessert;) 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 59 of 99 23 September 2013 at 5:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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I had my second Russian class lesson at noon today, and after some back and forth the teacher has decided to keep me in the A2 group. However, she has convinced two other students to return to A1, as they were not at the appropriate level. Furthermore, one has dropped out, so now there are just two of us left in the A2 class. I am actually very happy with this solution, it will be almost like a private class with the teacher, plenty more time to talk and she can adapt the material she uses to our level. It seems the other one left in the group (if I can still call it a group) is pretty much at the same level as I am, at least with regard to active skills.
The teacher favours "old-fashioned" methods, she made that clear already on the first day, so she expects us to do as many written exercises as possible during the week to give to her on Monday. She will correct them for the following week. This suits me quite well, I have always been a bit lazy about doing written exercises and the "pressure" to have something to hand in each Monday motivates me. Today we basically talked about ourselves, it was not too hard, but I really need a lot more oral practise. I still make basic mistakes and have to pause too often to find the right words. We also worked on the use of the prepositions на and в, and made a quick revision of how to form genitive plural. It is still early, but right now these classes are like a vitamine injection and strengthens my appetite for Russian. My aim now is to reach a solid B1 level by the end of the course, in June next year. 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 60 of 99 09 October 2013 at 5:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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For various reasons I have not been able to study much over the last couple of weeks. I try to do something in Russian every day, even if it is just (re)reading a couple of lessons in Colloquial or spending 30 minutes listening through Assimil dialogues. My Russian classes do oblige me to spend at least a couple of hours during the weekend preparing for the next class and doing some of the exercises the teacher gives us as "homework". In a way, it is good to have this "excuse" to be able to spend more time studying during the weekend, as normally I reserve those two days to spend time with the family.
I discovered that Комсомольская правда is available as an app and I have now downloaded it on my ipad. It is quite nice, as it also includes videos, so you get to hear "real" Russian as well, not only read. Hopefully it can contribute to improving my listening comprehension. As for Greek, I really have not found a lot of time for it, as I've been giving priority to Russian. The other day though I went back and had a new look at lessons 7 and 8 of Langenscheidt, listening to the recorded dialogues from the lessons a couple of times and refreshing the grammar points. I would really like to get back into the "Greek mood" I was in this summer, but it is difficult timewise. 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 61 of 99 07 November 2013 at 4:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have more or less been absent from the forum for a month. It has been a deliberate decision, and basically due to the fact that I am very keen on advancing in my Russian studies and have tried to spend every single free moment on doing something in Russian. I just felt I spent too much time on this forum reading what other people do and commenting on this and that, time which I could use on actually learning languages. And, to quote a famous British supermarket chain: Every little helps. So even a break of 10 minutes can be spent on revising an irregular verb, looking up a few words in a dictionary, reading a short text, listening to a song etc. And I feel that it has paid off, I think I have made significant progress over the last month. The constant contact with the language, in the sense that throughout the day I do something in/with Russian for shorter or longer periods, seems to work just as fine or even better for me than spending one to two hours without interruption.
Besides that, I had a short visit to Kiev mid-October. It was for professional reasons, and I only stayed two days, but it was still a great opportunity to practise a little bit. I found that most people I got a chance to speak to (drivers, waiters, shopkeepers, hotel staff) were all fluent in Russian (from what I can tell anyway), so I can understand why people go there to take Russian courses. And coming from the EU you don't have the hazzle with visas that you do when going to Russia. My Russian classes are also progressing nicely, and this week I was the only student to show up, so it was like a one-hour private class. It was very effective, as it allowed me to speak a lot. It is also good to have someone pointing out your errors and helping you with words when your vocabulary fails. Unfortunately, my strong focus on Russian means that my Greek studies have fallen behind. I try once a week to do a little bit so at least I do not forget everything I learnt earlier in the year, but I do not expect to progress any further for the time being. From here to January I will work hard on Russian, and then maybe I take up Greek again as part of next year's study plan. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4603 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 62 of 99 12 November 2013 at 5:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well put, Ogrim. I feel I often spend too much time here, or listening/reading tips from
polyglots, or looking for the latest and greatest language learning materials, and not enough actually studying. Good for you for using those bits of time wisely. It's very interesting what you say about Ukraine. I keep hearing from people who travel there that Russian is ubiquitous. That's great about the one-on-one tutoring. Maybe you'll get lucky and your colleagues will continue slacking off. Well, as long as it doesn't mean that the course will be cancelled. 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 63 of 99 06 December 2013 at 11:25am | IP Logged | ||
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HTLAL, I've missed you! I decided to stay away for another month, partly to concentrate on my Russian studies, partly to find time for other hobbies. Seeing my fellow country man Magnus Carlsen win the chess world championship inspired me (like thousands of other Norwegians) to take up chess again. Great for improving your concentration and analytical skills, which I believe can only benefit your general learning skills. In addition it is a fascinating game. I've also joined goodreads, I want to find more time for literature as well.
However, now is the time to get back to this forum. I see I have missed out on many good discussions, and as we also approach the end of TAC 2013, I need to make a couple of updates here to confirm that I am still in the game. Embici, thanks for your comment. My fellow students are back, but we are a small group so it doesn't matter. I've concentrated 100% on Russian the last couple of months, and I am progressing well. In my weekly Russian class I get the opportunity to practise my oral skills, and it is also helps to have a teacher to ask about obscure grammar points etc. As there are only three of us, it is a very efficient weekly hour. It also makes me write more and do more grammar exercises. The teacher uses a lot of material from the Soviet time, which is quite good and entertaining. In addition we have started using a course book called окно, by German publisher Klett. It is really a course aimed at secondary school, but nevertheless it is entertaining and comes with a good exercise manual. My project for the Christmas holidays is to start reading a "real book" in Russian. On Amazon I discovered one called Москва, я не люблю тебя by Сергей Минаев, which I now have in my Kindle. I am sure it will take me a very loooong time to get through even the first chapeter, but I do not mind when I finish the book, if ever, I just want to make a go at reading some modern Russian literature in the original. The sad story is that I have done absolutely nothing with Greek for the last month. I am afraid a lot of what I learned during the first half of this year is gone from my memory, so I will make a new start at Greek in 2014, at least it should not take too much time to get back to where I was at the end of the summer. 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 64 of 99 10 December 2013 at 1:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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Don't worry about forgetting things. You'll be back in shape in no time and you can count on my help.
As for chess, great win! I love chess, as horrible a player as I am. Magnus is truly magnus! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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