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| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4224 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes  Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek | Message 481 of 812 15 July 2014 at 3:06pm | IP Logged |
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Writing and Audio Comprehension aka 2 in 1. Prepare to see a long post!
link to the audio approx 14 minutes long I love history. Unfortunately, I realized that a little bit too late. Therefore, I wasn’t able to study history in university as I have already decided to get bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. However, I do not turn away from all the history stuff. When I only got to my university, I had enough time to read a few books about 18th century in Russian history. I wasn’t reading about the whole 18th century, and I’m going to explain why. Russia was in huge troubles at the end of 16th century. Soon after the death of Ivan IV (known to you as Ivan the Terrible) the country was in chaos. Ivan’s descendants were either dead or weak and the dynasty reached its end. One of the mighty men, who had gained power during Ivan’s reign, was powerful enough to take the throne, but not enough to keep everything steady. Eventually he was forced to leave, and this, adding up to other problems, started the period called Smuta (Смута) – a “dark” time of anarchy, fake tsars and intervention. The country walked through a set of difficulties, but eventually people got control over the situation and the new tsar was chosen. This has happened in the year 1613, and this was the beginning of Romanovs’ reign. After some time of prosperity problems came up again, and the second of Romanovs, Alexey I, died, leaving two sets of children: a son and daughters from the first wife and another son and daughters from the second wife. Two sons took the throne simultaneously, the oldest one was the “first” tsar, the youngest was the “second”. One of the sisters of the “first” tsar attempted to take the throne herself to chase the “second” tsar away, but she failed. After these events the “first” tsar gave his throne up to the “second” one and retired. So the reign of Peter the Great began. One may doubt the greatness of Peter I, but he was a powerful man and no one ever tried to doubt his rights anymore. But just like Ivan the Terrible, Peter died in 1725 and he hasn’t left powerful successors. Thus began the period of a great instability in Russian Empire. It was over only in the year 1762 when Catherine the Great took the throne from her husband (illegally, by the way). Before that, a line of people was claiming (or claimed to be) the Emperor (of the Empress) of Russian Empire. Their names are: Catherine I, Peter II, Anna I, Ivan VI, Elizabeth I and Peter III. The history behind each name is long and full of different events and coincidences, and I will fail to describe them all in such a passage. I will, however, give you a brief story before I go to the main topic of this composition. Peter I died, leaving an underage grandson and two daughters. It was decided that his widow will step on the throne. She wasn’t really reigning, more listening to one of the Peter’s associates, who also was her favorite. After she died, Peter’s grandson took the throne, but he was still underage and hasn’t the desire to actually reign. So the same associate Menshikov was actually holding all the power. However, Peter II got tired of that and that was the fall of Menshikov’s power. The new favorite, Dolgorukov wasn’t a good example to the emperor, driving him further away from his duties. In the day when Peter II has planned to marry Dolgorukov’s daughter he died from smallpox. With his death the direct male line of Romanovs’ dynasty was over, and no one was quite sure whom to call to the throne. Eventually it was decided that Ivan V’s daughter (the “first” tsar) shall take the throne on a certain set of conditions. However, Anna I found a way to get over these conditions, establishing herself as an autocratic leader. And here begins the most interesting to me part of the history of 18th century Russian Empire. Anna was absolutely sure that no one from Peter I’s descendants had an actual right to take the throne. She considered both Peter I and his second wife Catherine II to have illegal rights to reign, let alone their descendants! She wanted her own part of dynasty to take over the other, and she had a solution to that. Though she hasn’t any kids, she knew she can call on to her niece, her sister’s daughter Anna Leopoldovna. Anna was brought to Russia and the Empress began to prepare her to the greatest task of her life: she was to give birth to a son. He would be the grandson of Ivan V, therefore gaining the right to reign. This problem couldn’t be solved any easier for Anna I was under Biron’s power (and, maybe, unable to give birth as well). Anna’s reign was strictly influenced with foreigners, and there were people that didn’t like that. They hated Ernst Johann von Biron the most, waiting for a moment of his or Anna’s fall. They also had Elizabeth Petrovna, Peter I’s daughter on their side, which will play its role sometime later. Anna Leopoldovna knew what she has to do, but that didn’t make things easier. In the year 1733 it was decided that she will marry Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Anna didn’t approve that choice and her aunt send him to get education. He later became the generalissimus of the Army of Russia (and this wasn’t an ordinary deal, he might have actually deserved that). He was called back in 1739 and the wedding finally took place. Anna I was getting weaker and weaker, she knew for sure she is going to die soon, so she was waiting impatiently for her niece to give birth. In August of 1740 Anna Leopoldovna gave birth to a son, who was due to become Ivan VI. Anna I died two months later, establishing Biron as a regent over the baby Emperor. Biron has attempted to send Anna and Anthony away from Russia and thus he gave a reason for Anna to suppress him, taking over as a new regent. However, she wasn’t interested in following her duties; she was rather shy and had no weight in the powerful circles. Being surrendered by German influence Elizabeth suddenly came to realize that she can’t go on with that any longer. While the weak regent was more interested in talks with her favorite than in reigning, Elizabeth was the beloved daughter of Peter the Great. She was hugely popular in officer’s circles, and after she realized that Anna has no real control of the situation, she took over and became an Empress overnight. There were different ways of solving the problem of Brunswick family (that is how Anna, her husband and their children were called), and Elizabeth chose to send them to the north of Russia. Anna gave birth to two daughters there and died after giving birth to her fourth child. From the very beginning of their exile Ivan was separated from the rest of the family. When he was sixteen, soldiers on Elizabeth’s orders took him to the fortress Shlisselburg. He has never received a proper education. He also never had contacted anyone, but his guards or, to be precise, jailers. Presumably he learned to read and write, but he certainly wasn’t prepared to become an Emperor one day. However, he knew exactly who he is, and sometimes he was furious, screaming and shouting at the jailers for holding the true Sovereign (Gosudar) in prison. He wasn’t considered to be actually insane, but his mental state wasn’t good and steady after twenty years of solitary, because of having no proper family, because of being under constant suppression. Meanwhile, Elizabeth I, having the similar intentions to these of Anna I, set up her nephew Peter to inherit the throne. Peter could barely speak Russian, had pro-Prussian attitude and hasn’t gained popularity, so people started to recall that they don’t actually have to cope with him, for they already have an Emperor. Elizabeth died in 1762, and Peter took over. His decisions were harming the Russian external politics, he was clearly giving up some things for the benefit of Prussia, and no one liked that. Peter visited Ivan in his imprisonment, and the situation of the latter seemed to be improving, but a few weeks later his wife, German-born Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, also known as Catherine, took over the throne, putting an end to the period of instability. She knew about Ivan’s existence, she also understood that some people might not be alright with her right to reign when there’s an actual Romanov somewhere. She ordered to guard Ivan more carefully, giving a right to kill him should he take an attempt to escape or should someone try to release him. It’s not easy to divide the truth and the lies in cases like this one, but I believe that a man was set up to release Ivan, and this setup gave a reason to murder a dangerous “Gosudar”. The events of July of 1764 suggest that a sub-lieutenant of the garrison learned about the identity of “the nameless one” – that is how Ivan was officially called while in Shlisselburg – and, inspired by the thought of having a reigning Russian Emperor instead of Catherine II, tried to release Ivan. Ivan was killed during the very attempt; the releasers were soon caught and executed. These events helped Catherine II in gaining more power and stability in holding her throne while her and Peter III’s son, Pavel, was still underage. Now take a look at the whole story and think about it. Anna Leopoldovna was taken from Europe to Russia, forced to marry Anthony Ulrich (though it took 6 years to happen), their only son lived 22 years of his 23-year long life in prison. Anna was lucky to die so soon, for Anthony Ulrich and their three daughters remained in Russia for a very long time. Anthony Ulrich died in 1772 waiting for Elizabeth I’s and then Catherine II’s mercy. Catherine II offered him to leave Russia, but leave kids behind, and he refused. They lived rather poorly, let alone the lack of freedom. Catherine II perhaps thought that no one can be too careful, justifying further imprisonment of the three daughters of Brunswick family, but in the middle of the year 1780 she finally released them under the custody of their aunt, Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. They settled under home arrest in Denmark. A thing to note: Anna Leopoldovna’s second child, the eldest daughter, was the only victim of Elizabeth’s taking over the throne: she was dropped on the floor so hard that she lost her hearing. Would all that have happened if Anna I wasn’t so eager to have her father’s descendants reigning over the Russian Empire? We will never know that. Would things be better if Ivan VI actually became an Emperor? That we won’t ever know as well. The tragedy of Brunswick family isn’t something that every Russian ought to know. Schools often don’t teach this part of the subject carefully, for there are enough to know about the 18th century paying attention to Peter I and Catherine II only, let alone the other Emperors and Empresses. That’s the greatest cruelty of history that it’s often subjective. After the death of Catherine II there will be another instability, which will be over with the murder of her son Pavel I. Rumors were and still are that the murder was approved by Pavel’s son Alexander, who has inherited the throne afterwards. And this is also often dismissed in schools, for the reign of Alexander I includes a fight against Napoleon, whereas Pavel simply hasn’t done anything that significant. I wrote this passage to test my ability to write in English and as attempt of fixing subjectivity of history. Have I succeeded in these or not is entirely up to you to decide. lang-8 for insane bored native English speakers 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4224 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek | Message 482 of 812 15 July 2014 at 6:15pm | IP Logged |
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Summary:
English: songs, 2 eps of Doctor Who, chatting, writing/ reading comprehension German: Memrise, songs, chatting, chapter 4 of HP6 as audio only Both: L-R chapter 5 of HP6 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4224 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek | Message 483 of 812 16 July 2014 at 4:59pm | IP Logged |
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Summary:
English: an ep of Doctor Who German: Memrise, songs Both: L-R chapter 6 of HP6 A big watering session in German Memrise: 96%, 96%, 100% (JAAAAA, das kann ich machen!), 100% (ach, wirklich? - btw, Memrise says "Heroic" to my 4250 points and I sooo agree), 92% (it's stupid, so stupid to type der ***keit, when even your mind tells you it's feminine, and to type hoh instead of hoch - come on, you know that ah is for English and ach is for German, nicht wahr?!), 100% (na ja, es war kurzer als die Andere) Ich bin noch nicht zufrieden, aber ich hoffe, dass ich bald da werde! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4224 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek | Message 484 of 812 17 July 2014 at 4:33pm | IP Logged |
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Чёёёрт... Daaamn... Verdaaaamt...
Summary: English: 2 eps of Doctor Who, songs, a video from great guys "Английский как по нотам" about perfect tenses German: Memrise, songs, yet another attempt to read Deutsche Grammatik mit menschlichem Antlitz (currently 48/220) Both: L-R chapter 7 of HP6 I am starting to take words from audio in German. Just like I have assimilated anyway after watching Six Feet Under last summer, I took eigentlich and started relatively extensive using of this word. I guess I might have taken even more words this way, but not every single one of them is something I can recognize to be assimilated. Maybe I will try to read previous chapters in Ger+Ger mode without dictionaries, pauses and that sort of thing (well, exactly like I do L-R anyway). To be honest, even some English words are unknown to me there, so my target isn't to know every single word, but to be able to grasp what is going on. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4224 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek | Message 485 of 812 18 July 2014 at 5:56pm | IP Logged |
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Summary:
English: lots of Doctor Who, songs German: Memrise, songs Both: L-R chapter 8 of HP6 Others: Den brysomme mannen (Norwegian + English) [9/10 - a little bit too slow for me] Another big watering session in Memrise: 96% (mostly test questions and a silly orthography mistake), 100% ("Grotesquely good!" for 4088 pts), 100% ("Glorious! Glory!" for 3740 pts, meh), 92% (was going pretty good (3817 pts!), even when I wasn't sure answers were coming from somewhere I have no real control, hehe, but in the end I wrote die Gewald instead of die Gewalt and sich ausruchen instead of sich ausruhen, damn!), 100% (4140 pts), 100% (short one). Well, now I just should deal with my nerves to avoid silly mistakes and manage time to get maximum points. Also tried overwatering, 100% but a small amount of points and right now I think they matter, so I don't want to waste my time earning a little. Also tried to Memrise some Greek, but it turns out to be impossible from my laptop (I simply have to time to type). Well, perhaps this can be fixed, but I still can't go on with my level of knowing the alphabet. Motivation, where the hell are you? A note about German morphology - the more words I study, the more I love it! Russian complex morphology system is, of course different, but I seem to like this in German more than in English. Perhaprs, it's hard to tell such things now, but this goes in line with my attitude. I still think that German grammar will be easier than English one when I finally grasp it. Well, maybe easier isn't the word for it, closer fits better. Nah, that doesn't really matter anyway. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4224 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek | Message 486 of 812 19 July 2014 at 4:20pm | IP Logged |
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Summary:
English: songs, Doctor Who (one of eps as Rus+Eng, it was awful, but I had no choice), watering of long-forgotten Upper-Intermediate English course in Memrise... with 32% accuracy, meh German: songs, handwriting (took an article about Jupiter in Wiki and copied a part of that in notebook), Memrise (bad watering comparing to that of yesterday, 100% in the shortest session only), listened to almost 3 chapters of HP6 and read a part of fourth with audio Both: L-R chapter 9 of HP6 Others: gave up to wanderlust, boredom and I don't know what else and planted a level in Memrise on basic Italian. Now I know how to order coffee there :D And that was it, all the motivation shrunk after diacritics I saw in Italian for some coffee. Well, that's not overwhelming in general, but not something I would like to deal with now P.S. A piece of handwriting I feel proud of (click for bigger resolution):  Edited by Via Diva on 19 July 2014 at 4:26pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4359 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 487 of 812 19 July 2014 at 5:26pm | IP Logged |
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I don't know that I would necessarily say German grammar is "easier," but once you've learned it, it doesn't become much harder, whereas I've heard a lot of English learners say that English isn't that bad at first, but it becomes more complicated as you move up.
I like your idea of practicing handwriting. That's something I might start doing more often. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4224 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek | Message 488 of 812 19 July 2014 at 5:55pm | IP Logged |
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Might be like that too. People claim that German is about logic, if you get the principle, the rest is just natural, whereas English indeed gets more complicated. I can't think of examples, but English often becomes hard when I am to deal with details, it's always something new and not necessarily predictable. I guess, Russian would be even harder from that point of view, but this is something I don't have to study, hehe.
As for handwriting practice - it always helps. I never, practically never take an exam without writing answers on its questions first, and I write in actual notebooks with an actual pen. I don't do big handwritings often, mostly these are the one like I have posted above, but now (when I have time) I think about more of big practice sessions :) Edited by Via Diva on 19 July 2014 at 6:02pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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