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TAC 2010, Team K, Teango - GE SP SW RU | ||
Tags: Kanji | Turkish | Listening-Reading (L-R) | Swedish | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Russian | German | French | Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5554 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 73 of 185 09 April 2010 at 3:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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PROGRESS IN German, WEEK 14/52 OF THE 2010 TAC CHALLENGE
SUMMARY L-R: 2.8 hours (Das Parfum*** by Patrick Süskind completed!; Started Die Verwandlung**** by Franz Kafka) Movies: 5.7 hours (3 films this week: "Good Bye Lenin", "Im Juli", and "Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei") Speaking: 5 hours (long passionate group discussion; other small talk out and about in town) Music: 0.5 hours (I'm slowly starting to rebuild my German collection since the computer crash) ———————————— Week Total: 14 hours LR Total: 130 hours Year Total: 303.3 hours WANDERLUST CONFESSION BOX Japanese: 160/2042 kanji, lesson 8/56, 14.6% coverage (Reviewing the Kanji; Heisig book for correct stroke order) TEANGO’S WORD/PHRASE OF THE WEEK "der Hirsch" (deer) - I learned this in a restaurant earlier this week, and was given the following verse in German by a retired opera singer and teacher, translated from "My Heart's In The Highlands" by the great Robert Burns (1789), as a way to help me remember the word in future: German: "Mein Herz ist im Hochland, mein Herz ist nicht hier; Mein Herz jagt im Hochland des Waldes Getier; Es jagt dort den Hirsch und es folgt dort dem Reh – Mein Herz ist im Hochland, wo immer ich geh’." Original: "My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer; Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe, My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go." NOTES Spring has finally sprung here! The cherry and apple blossom are in full blossom in the garden, and the sun makes weekend walks in the countryside a real pleasure once again. I have lots of blooming success in language learning to report this week too... Firstly, this post marks over 300 hours of study in German so far this year (including 130 hours of Listening-Reading). I feel I've made a lot of progress so far, more than in any previous year, and this is largely due to making this commitment to study within the forum at the beginning of the year. I've also been able to pick myself up and get back into the frame of things after various computer crashes, illnesses and the pressing demands of a busy work schedule, which I believe is more than half the battle when it comes to learning a language. Secondly, I've managed to finally finish Das Parfum, and what a thoroughly enjoyable read it was too! I've now started Kafka's Die Verwandlung, which I read in English as a teenager many moons ago, and look forward to reading again now in the original light of day. Thirdly, I managed to speak for 4 hours straight amidst an interesting mixed group of Germans in a local restaurant. I woke up the next morning and my head was full of German! I couldn't shake it for ages...a bizarre German monologue nattering away persistently in my head for hours. And not only did I receive lots of compliments on my general fluency and conversation during the evening, but I was offered plenty of free food and drink into the bargain too! :P It's really worth trying to just sit down and chat with everyday people, you can learn so much and get to know some really cool characters simply from smiling and instigating a little light conversation to pass the time. Granted, not everyone can always be so friendly, but you shouldn't let a few bad apples put you off. In Germany for example, you tend to always have a little chit-chat with neighbouring tables and say good evening and goodbye to everyone in the room, so it's not always as hard as you would first imagine. So go on, try to speak...this is Teango's top tip of the week... ;) I've also migrated from dubbed English and American films to real German films. I'm particularly keen on getting my hands on romantic comedies at the moment, ideally with plenty of dialogue. Most of the German films I could find were about war and heavier political issues, and I'd much prefer to chill out and relax with something a little lighter at the end of the day really. Does anybody know of any other good German films like this I could add to my list? I haven't actually started my chorusing method yet, as the films I've been watching this week didn't really yield any good suitable dialogues. I'll keep at it though and keep my fingers crossed that I'll find some soon. In the meantime, I've been playing around with Audacity and other software and just learning the ropes. I've also taken a moment to write up a simple Five Year Plan (non-soviet Teango style ;) ), outlining where I'd like to head with language learning over the next 5 years. It all largely depends upon my future work schedules and other commitments of course, and as with all good things, subject to change, but it's always canny to have a plan in the background to help guide your efforts anyway. This is the general lineup of usual suspects, ordered first by year, and then listed according to priority with CEF level - i.e. primary, second, and tertiary options in that particular year, with prepratory wanderlust interest(s) indicated with brackets (i.e. if and when time permits): 2010: German C1, French B2, Russian B1, (Irish; Japanese kanji) 2011: French C1, Russian B2, Irish B1, (Japanese kanji) 2012: Russian C1, Irish B2, Italian B1, (Japanese kanji) 2013: Irish C1, Italian B2, Japanese B1, (Arabic writing) 2014: Italian C1, Japanese B2, Arabic B1, (Latin) I've amended my forum languages profile now to reflect this plan and my true current studies. Edited by Teango on 09 April 2010 at 3:58pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5965 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 74 of 185 09 April 2010 at 7:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Congratulations on your German conversational success! That is excellent progress!
I like your German selections and I could read them easily, only missing a few words. I have the same prosody problem you wrote about earlier, that is, I don't always get the natural sound and rhythm of the language right, in part because I am concentrating too much on pronouncing the phonemes correctly--but, like you, I am working on it! Spring is here too and it is horrible. The trees are spewing evil pollen into the air, causing mass allergic reactions. And believe it or not, back in New Jersey this week, there was an unfortunate reprise of the stink situation! Not a skunk this time, rather a home invasion of stinkbugs . . . ugh! Fear not, I have survived and am now back down South, where the summer heat starts early and with great intensity, which breeds enormous ugly roaches and they invade the house . . . I'm not sure what kind of insect infestations they have over in Germany. I was startled to see so many windows there without screens, wide open to creepy-crawlies and nasty flying critters of all kinds. I will update my log soon and will try not to continue the pestilence theme. Die Verwandlung is good - Happy reading! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5554 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 75 of 185 14 April 2010 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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So far the insects have realised the peril of coming anywhere near my flat. I have a whole arsenal at hand, upholding the general maxim - 2 or 4 legs good, 6 legs bad!
Last year I had an ongoing battle with maggots and flies. One morning I simply walked into the kitchen, and it was like something out of Amytiville Horror. I thought I'd have to get in the bugsorcist - the power of DEET compels you! The thing is I couldn't for the life of me work out where they were coming from or why they reached up from the seventh level of Beelzebub's rest-room to torment me over the following weeks. I keep my flat immaculately clean, you see, and it just didn't make any sense. In the end, I started going a little crazy (I mean, this had never happened to me before in the UK or anywhere else, and every morning there would be hundreds of these winged harpies or wriggling harbingers of death to greet me when I opened the door). So I decided to hide myself in one corner of the kitchen, ear to ground and eyes like frantic spotlights, and see where they were emerging from. Then I finally saw they were coming out of the corner under the fridge and behind the paneling. I removed the fridge (not so easy when it's built-in), and behind this was a huge hell hole leading to a ventilation gap between adjoining flats leading all the way down to the cellar. I sealed this in, said a few Hail Marys, and have had no trouble since. So I'm happy to say that the only insects I've found so far this spring are a few bumbling bumble bees trying to do The Great Escape from my living room and bedroom, and the occasional unidentified pterodactyl-sized beetle creature that flies in from the Odenwald and perches itself on my balcony wall. Needless-to-say, all the insects seem so much more aggressive and larger and dangerous here than back in oh so mild Blighty. One word of warning though. In autumn, when the hayfever season has passed for many, and you think it's safe to venture out once again into the beautiful forests or surrounding countryside, beware of the Bremse (German horse flies)! These sadistic flying hypodermic needles will be all too happy to terrorise a local jogger or naive family of flushed pale-skinned walking happy-meals, and send them windmilling frantically in the opposite direction, not-so-happy anymore. After the fastest 200-metre dash of your life, you discover that these wicked blood-miners just hitched a lift on your back or neck, and when you think it's all safe and clear, they jump out at you again like Jack Torrance from The Shining - here's Bremse! It's also not a good idea to fall asleep on the grass during this season, as (to use yet another horror film analogy), these bloody Bremse will visit you like Freddy Krueger whilst you dream of insect-free worlds, and leave your legs and torso looking like the drumlins of County Down and Donnegal (and no, layers of clothes make little difference here, they drill down deep and can cut through fabric). So, I'm very glad you've managed to escape this recent plague of stink bugs, and hope that the roaches in the South don't encroach on your language learning either. To answer your pondering about all these open windows without screens in Germany (usually with duvets hung out over the edge), the locals here at least are either no longer so tasty to these critters to travel too far away from the forest and fields (they definitely go crazy for pale-skinned foreigners, that's for sure), or perhaps people here have developed the thickest skin known to man and have an abundance of onion vitamins in the blood. Who knows, I wish they'd tell me the secret anyhow? Now after all this buzz of insects, dare I even open my copy of Die Verwandlung without at least some DEET or application of Lemon Spray? Wish me luck... @.@ Edited by Teango on 14 April 2010 at 5:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5554 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 76 of 185 16 April 2010 at 10:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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PROGRESS IN German, WEEK 15/52 OF THE 2010 TAC CHALLENGE
SUMMARY L-R: 2 hours (Die Verwandlung**** by Franz Kafka) ———————————— Week Total: 2 hours LR Total: 132 hours Year Total: 305.3 hours WANDERLUST CONFESSION BOX No changes here with the kanji, same as last week I'm afraid. TEANGO’S WORD/PHRASE OF THE WEEK "der Hexensud" (witches' brew) - I cannot for the life of me remember where I picked this one up over the last few weeks (perhaps it was Das Parfum again), but the word does bring back fond memories of my German exchange student's visit when I was a teenager. At the end of his stay, he presented my mum with some hand-painted eggs, and I got a bottle of this delightful deadly concoction and a tape of die Toten Hosen: 
Happy days! :) NOTES Well, language learning is certainly a real roller-coaster ride sometimes. It's full of its own ups and downs, and after the major high of last week, this week definitely plummeted into a stomach-churning loop-the-loop. I've been really busy once again with work and travel, and was lucky not to get stranded in an airport back in God's green and pleasant land due to ominous volcanic clouds from afar, yes, a gift (and I use the word in its German sense here) from distant Iceland no less. I also experienced some nasty business here in Darmstadt, and was violently attacked and abused by locals into the bargain for speaking a little English one night. So on the whole, it's been a bit of a trial really. I managed to get a modicum of listening-reading done all the same, and am thinking of ordering a recent copy of Lindenstraße on DVD (Germany's no. 1 soap opera, so I'm told). The idea is to extract some more authentic colloquial everyday dialogue (with subtitles) and use this for chorus training. I'm still not 100% decided on this, but it looks like a sensible way to go. If anyone can suggest a German soap or telenovella on DVD aimed for a slightly younger adult audience, I could check this out too. Next week I'd like to give the roller-coaster and merry-go-round a miss, and opt for the kiddies' teacup train instead... ;) Edited by Teango on 16 April 2010 at 10:33pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5554 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 77 of 185 23 April 2010 at 10:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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PROGRESS IN German, WEEK 16/52 OF THE 2010 TAC CHALLENGE
SUMMARY L-R: 1.2 hours (Die Verwandlung**** by Franz Kafka) TV: 4 hours (Finished the first season of Stromberg) ———————————— Week Total: 5.2 hours LR Total: 133.2 hours Year Total: 310.5 hours WANDERLUST CONFESSION BOX Ok, confession time. I forgot all about the Japanese flashcards this week. I dare not look right now at how many reviews I've accumulated in my absence so far, but I'll be sure to sort this out next week and add a few more then - promise! TEANGO’S WORD/PHRASE OF THE WEEK "das Schwyzerdütsch" (Swiss German) - every time I hear this word, the combination of sounds just makes me laugh, I don't know why, it just does. I really can't help it... :) "die Abteilung" (department, branch) - I learned this one from Stromberg, it's probably the only new word I heard so many times that I couldn't help but work it out from context. NOTES I never made it to that easy-life "teacup ride" that I had hoped for. Instead I somehow got bamboozled along the way by some of fate's candy floss and kidnapped somewhere in the hall of mirrors that ensued along with a freakish mountain of tissues and natural cold remedies. Yes, that's right, I caught a real humdinger of a cold last weekend from my local Lebanese restaurant. Now lots of other customers around here are in the same boat and ill in bed this week, and the chef is mysteriously missing, so my neighbours tell me. So I've been working piecemeal from home, whilst trying to nurse myself back to health at the same time, sporting a bright red Rudolph the reindeer nose, and trying my best to keep down a fever and chest infection too. I'm not really over the hump of it yet, so I guess I've got yet another week of this wretched carnival of recent misfortunes to go. What did I do recently, step on a Voodoo priestess' shoe, or perhaps it was that salt cellar I knocked over recently? There are some positives this week however. Not being able to do much apart from send the odd email or post from bed, and stare dizzily at the idiot-box, I took the time off to catch up on the first season of Dexter. This somewhat disturbing series is sheer refreshing brilliance and I've already jumped into the second season with great enthusiasm. As there are occasional snippets of Spanish conversation in many (if not all) of the episodes, I can sense my wanderlust simmering to the surface once again, and I'm already wanting to dive into a certain new language and satisfy these urges too. I need to keep focused and resist, I know, I must keep my eye on the prize (my 5 year plan that is), but I'm sure I don't need to tell you...it's so hard not to give in to the growing temptation and just sneak a quick peek at some Spanish language vids or materials. I've also finished watching the first season of Stromberg (German version of The Office), which is the best German comedy series I've seen to date. I'd definitely recommend this to any intermediate-advanced learners of German who were keen fans of the original British series, and would like to relive those "cringing" moments in another language and paradigm. I barely understand a single sentence most the time, but the context and visuals give most of the plot away anyway. It's amazing how close they managed to match and align the characters and mannerisms, pure magic! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5965 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 78 of 185 23 April 2010 at 11:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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WHAT ! You forgot your flashcards ? Now you've done it; you are OUT of here, banished, disgraced, shamed . . .
Actually, I forgot mine, too. Worse than that: I ignored them even when I did think of them. But it was an unusual week for me, too, with my return to work. Sorry to hear you were ill, though.
I think I know. You insulted the insects. I have suffered for this, too. It's no doubt a rather disturbing bit of information, but it seems that they have been reading your language log, and maybe mine, too. Yes, really. I couldn't believe it either. But there's just no other way to explain the plague of awful critters I've been dealing with since I dared to mention bugs a few posts ago. There are fleas in the house, mosquito season is starting, and last night I smashed the most enormous mutant Carolina swamp roach crawling up my wall--with a Spanish audiobook! This is a new and very disgusting use of language for me: learning material as insecticide! I threw that book with such force that I almost broke the disc in it. The book is an Argentinian inspirational self-help book called "20 Pasos Hacia Adelante" or, "Twenty Steps Forward." When I recovered from my revulsion I thought that was pretty funny! I'm sure you'll get back to your language routine as soon as you feel better. Last year I lost a whole month's worth of learning due to H1N1. These things happen. The bug stuff though . . . I don't get it, it's certainly suspicious . . . PS: Who's the little yellow fellow? Edit for clarity: "last night I smashed the most enormous mutant Carolina swamp roach crawling up my wall--with a Spanish audiobook!" means that I killed the thing with an audiobook, NOT that the ugly roach was walking up my wall with a Spanish audiobook. But if the bugs are reading language logs now, it won't be long before they'll be stealing the books, too. Edited by meramarina on 24 April 2010 at 4:54am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5554 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 79 of 185 27 April 2010 at 7:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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You'll be glad to hear I've made amends, spun a few prayer wheels and chalked up a confession or two, and finally got up-to-date with my neglected kanji flashcards. "Welcome back, Teango! 121 expired kanji", the website cheerfully informed me. I hope I can overturn my banishment and cover up the disgrace now...I raise three fingers in boy scout salute and pledge to do better in the future.
I think you're on to something here regarding the insects, Meramarina. I had no idea the six-legged world was so vindictive, not alone literate, but after the events following my scathing attack on bug-kind recently, I have indeed fallen victim to curious unfortunate circumstances and unlucky stings. I remember watching a film as a young kid about killer ants one stolen night, and how they formed a collective consciousness, killed all the scientists, and vowed to take over the world. A disturbing film that has forever scarred by subconscious, but a lesson and forewarning none-the-less. You beat me to the comment in your edit about the super-strong swamp roach who had a penchant for Spanish audiobooks. The title of this book did indeed make me laugh. Perhaps you should opt for a more appropriate title in future, considering these circumstances, maybe something like "How to Win Fleas and Influence Beetles" might prove a real success with your new friends and keep them distracted in the meantime. PS: This clever yellow fellow is "Keepon". He's a great little mover on the dance floor, as well as cheeky and very sociable. Sadly, he costs $30K to buy, so I have to just print off a picture and move him around myself manually to the music or make a less technological model out of Playdoh and really use my imagination (lol). Here are some videos to introduce you: Keepon on The Works. Keepon dancing to Spoon's "I Turn My Camera On". Keepon's attentive and emotive actions. KEEPON Demo in ICRA '08 Human-Robot Interaction Challenge. "Keepon, Keepon, so kawaii, Curious dancer, so takaii! He nods, he giggles, he likes your eyes, He's bound to win the Robot Prize!" (o.o) ( ) Edited by Teango on 27 April 2010 at 7:24pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5554 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 80 of 185 01 May 2010 at 7:10am | IP Logged | ||
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PROGRESS IN German, WEEK 17/52 OF THE 2010 TAC CHALLENGE
SUMMARY TV: 2 hours (half-way through season 2 of Stromberg) ———————————— Week Total: 2 hours LR Total: 133.2 hours Year Total: 312.5 hours WANDERLUST CONFESSION BOX Japanese: 172/2042 kanji, completed lesson 8/56, 15% coverage (Reviewing the Kanji with Heisig RTK I) I just left these flashcard reviews for a couple of weeks, and behold!, my average recall for the very youngest cards takes a swan dive from the usual 80-90% range down to 40-50%. Scary. TEANGO’S WORD/PHRASE OF THE WEEK "die Bio Speisequarks" [m. sing.] (organic low-fat curd cheese) - when I first saw this on the side of my regular milk cartons, I feared we'd reached a whole new level in food quantum physics and milk production. Vivid pictures came to mind of infinitesimally small quantum Frisian cows who phased in and out of existence depending on whether they were observed mooing in the meadow or not, but much to my relief when I looked up the word, it just turned out to be some low-fat cheese after all. NOTES No listening-reading this week; just a medicinal dose of the second series of Stromberg. I'm still stuck at home with this nasty flu, and the ongoing bad luck streak has really hit its highest "Gipfel" (peak) this month. It turns out I might not be able to move to Geneva after all, which I was so looking forward to and building my plans around, as my girlfriend is currently experiencing difficulty obtaining the approval from HR for the move despite having secured a great position over there. All the same, I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed and double-crossed right now (which makes it quite painful to walk around or type logs, I can tell you ;) ), as there's a very faint glimmer of a hope for appeal. It's worth our best shot at least, and we have an appropriate saying in the north of England along these lines: "A shy bairn [child] gets no sweets!". Furthermore, if that wasn't enough this week, my work contracts in UK have abruptly come to an end due to general cutbacks leading to the funding not being extended this year. And despite looking for work here and around Darmstadt over the last 6 months in the meantime (as I knew this would happen sooner or later), suitable jobs seem to be at an all-time low since the financial crash (as I'm sure many of us are all too well aware). This places a lot of financial stress on the doorstep right now. The only silver lining in all this is that I'll be able to commit more hours to language learning and other projects that I've had to put on the back burner for the last few years (once I get better of course). However all this still places my language plans into a vague disarray, and as you can imagine, motivation has consequently hit rock bottom this week. The original idea was to bring German up to scratch whilst living in Germany first, and to save money towards the move. Then I hoped to study French to a good level in Geneva to be able to secure a job there as soon as possible, and later maybe even actively promote Irish music and language in this beautiful international city set in the heart of Europe (once I got good at the language of course). Living and working with a language in the country is the best way forward I believe. I might have to reconsider my strategy and priorities now though, I'm not sure. Ironically, I'm currently listening to Diana Ross' "Upside Down" and "Born Under a Bad Sign" by Cream in my fathomless random ITunes playlist, which are certainly appropriate right now. How does ITunes know these things, he's such a clever and observant little app sometimes! ;) With all the recent mentions of insects and listening-reading Kafka's Die Verwandlung last week, I feel like one of those helpless little beetles that falls on his back, legs pointing skywards and movements all a flurry, frantically trying to find purchase in normality once again. I really need some fateful hand to flip me back over and help me on my way. Maybe May Day marks the beginning of a new and better month, full of fertile promise and fruitful vitality, that will hopefully turn out to reveal that positive hand of Providence... Edited by Teango on 01 May 2010 at 7:07pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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