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TAC 2011, Team KEN, Teango

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Topsy Turvey
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4752 days ago

18 posts - 18 votes
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 121 of 130
20 November 2011 at 9:53am | IP Logged 
OMG, that Irish language learning list is seriously impressive Teango! :o

And good luck with doing less software development and more language studies soon. That
damn life thing always seems to get in the way... ;)


Formerly the user Buttons




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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 122 of 130
20 November 2011 at 4:38pm | IP Logged 
@Topsy Turvey
Órale "patas arriba"...bienvenido de nuevo a la casa de locos! :)
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Topsy Turvey
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4752 days ago

18 posts - 18 votes
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 123 of 130
10 December 2011 at 10:03pm | IP Logged 
Muchos gracias Teango :)

I also hope you are no longer up to your eyeballs with software development and instead,
you are eyeballing the trans-siberian route to Russian fluency ;)
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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 124 of 130
11 December 2011 at 10:26pm | IP Logged 
PROGRESS UPDATE, WEEKS 40-49 (2011)

Russian (254.5 hours)

Estimated reading level: 91% (B2)

Conversation rank: B1 (Майор)

Study update (10.8 hours)

TV / FILM (9.8 hours)
Джентльмены удачи - film
О чем говорят мужчины - film
Ширли-мырли - film
Я остаюсь - film
Аленький цветочек - animation
Домовенок Кузька - animation
Мотылек - animation
Приключения поросенка Фунтика - animation
Сказка о царе Салтане - animation
Теремок - animation
Тигренок Клад - animation

CONVERSATION (1 hour in total)

Wanderlust confessional

Just an episode of "Ros na Rún" (an Irish language soap opera), along with some French gangster flicks to report. Otherwise, my wanderings are pretty much curtailed for the time being.

Words of the week

Whilst reading one of Siberiano's posts a little while ago, I learnt that to offer someone a "магарыч" is to offer them a bribe, although I believe it originally refers to a treat (usually an alcoholic one) to mark a profitable business deal.

Another thing that made me smile was the German phrase "Klatsch und Tratsch", which roughly translates as "gossip and scandal"; although for some bizarre reason I can only picture fuzzy little muppet detectives and Austrian jewellery stores right now (oh what a strange mind I must have)!

Notes

As I need to work and prepare for exams, I probably won't be able to hop back on the Trans-Siberian Express until the icicles start melting again in February and probably all that's left of the village snowman (if he makes his appearance this year at all) is a wonky carrot and a couple of grubby garden stones expropriated from the neighbour's frosty flower bed. However, I'm still full steam ahead with the idea of journeying through intermediate linguistic tundra in the hope of reaching new pinewood heights by the middle of next year, and have an uncanny feeling deep down in my bones that 2012 will be the year I finally break through to advanced Russian. Well...a guy's got to dream! ;) In the meantime, over the coming months, I'm thinking of watching a Russian film every evening to keep the engine ticking over. It will be interesting to see what impact this has on my overall listening skills when I compare them later on, and I'm looking forward to picking up some bonus colloquial vocabulary along the way.


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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 125 of 130
24 December 2011 at 6:33pm | IP Logged 
SUMMARY FOR THE 2011 TAC

Ah...the end of an era; the beginning of another! It's that time of year again to look back on my leaning tower of language logs for this year's challenge, and sum up my progress (or lack of it) in a few succinct nostalgic lines.

First of all, I'd like to thank my excellent teammates: M. Medialis, Adrean and Buttons (nka Topsy Turvey)! They have been a real inspiration this year, and never failed to keep me motivated, energised and smiling determinedly throughout even the darkest moments. I wish you guys all the best next year in your language studies, and can't wait to team up again with my buddies from the previous year, M. Medialis and Aloysius, as well as the amazing people on the new Russian team for 2012.

This has been my second TAC, yet I'm still surprised how quickly each year flies by. It's been a very tough year for me personally, during which I've had to push on through many setbacks. However, through persistent brainstorming and plenty of trial and error, I've discovered a lot more about my own particular study habits, and have put together what I hope will turn out to be some really interesting methods and software for next year. I've also read a few books and watched a bevy of films in Russian, along with an inordinate number of episodes from my favourite children's tv series "Лунтик". :)

In summer, I started my Trans-Siberian Express mini-challenge, with the aim to log every minute I spend listening to and simultaneously reading Russian as a kilometre on my virtual journey, and have slowly but surely crossed a fifth of my map across Russia since (1924/9289km over 32 hours). I've still got a long way to go but it's a start.

Unfortunately, I didn't even get close to B2+ in Russian, as initially hoped, and with so many other things going on in my life, I just had little or no time to fit in any of my extended languages either. However, every little step still brings me that much closer to the next leg of my journey, and after 255 hours' language study, I did at least finally manage to break the 90% barrier in my reading comprehension tests and bring my Russian reading level up to B2 for the first time ever (from 58% on 1st January 2011 to 91% on 9th September). Now it's so much easier to tackle favourite texts like Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita" in the original.

I also seem to have leveled up in my listening skills, and am currently around the B1 mark in conversation or so I'm told (up from A1+ last year). Many Russian words now just light up as concepts in my head rather than silent translations into English. Only today, for example, someone inadvertently knocked their trolley into mine during the Christmas Eve shopping madness, and I instinctively called out "Осторожно!" by mistake (lol).

Next year I hope to make even bigger strides forward in Russian and also plan to take on Irish at a later date. I also feel bad about neglecting my German over the last year (which must have become embarrassingly rusty by now), so I'd like to try and brush up on my German too if I can.

Here's a little summary of some of the resources I used and completed in 2011 for the TAC challenge:

BOOKS:

Евгений Замятин, "Мы" (We)
J K Rowling, "Гарри Поттер и тайная комната" (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)
J K Rowling, "Гарри Поттер и философский камень" (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone)
A. de Saint-Exupéry, "Маленький принц" (The Little Prince)
    
FILMS:

Джентльмены удачи
О чем говорят мужчины
Ширли-мырли
Я остаюсь
Москва слезам не верит
Особенности национальной охоты
Особенности национальной рыбалки
Неадекватные люди
Место встречи изменить нельзя
Шерлок Холмс и доктор Ватсон: Знакомство
Шерлок Холмс и доктор Ватсон: Кровавая надпись
Шерлок Холмс и доктор Ватсон: Охота на тигра
Шерлок Холмс и доктор Ватсон: Король Шантажа
Шерлок Холмс и доктор Ватсон: Смертельная схватка
Гарри Поттер и философский камень (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone)

TV SERIES

Дело было на Кубани (episodes 1-8)
Гостья из будущего (episodes 1-2)
Холостяк (episode 1)

ANIMATIONS:

Лунтик (seasons 1 and 2, 160 episodes)
Добрыня Никитич и Змей Горыныч
Аленький цветочек
Домовенок Кузька
Мотылек
Приключения поросенка Фунтика
Сказка о царе Салтане
Теремок
Тигренок Клад
Зима в простоквашино
Бизнис по русски (episodes 1-2)

AUDIO ONLY:

T Pratchett, "The Colour of Magic" (audiobook)
Эхо Москвы (radio broadcasts + transcripts)
The Big Podcast (several episodes)
Princeton Russian Course (general review)

And here are some of the more or less unusual Russian words and phrases I picked up along the way:

"хихикнуть" (to giggle, tee-hee, titter), "хохотать" (to laugh out loud: "ho-ho"), "кукуруза" (corn, maize), "душа в пятки ушла" (his heart sank, lit. "his soul went (or perhaps more poetically, departed) into his soles"), "Мальчик с пальчик" (Tom Thumb), "Cпоки ноки!" (Nighty night!, short for "Cпокойной ночи!" - Good night!), "хобот" (elephant's trunk), "боб" (bean), "жужжать" (to hum, buzz: "zhhh"), "вампир" (vampire, and ironically "вам пир" means "a feast for you" too), "задрот" (nerd), "разбойники" (robbers - sounds great, doesn't it?!), "грабли" (garden rake to "grab leaves"), "баранка" (а ring-shaped bread or dry biscuit), "магарыч" (bribe - often alcoholic).

And finally, to round things off for the year, let me conclude this post with two of my favourite comments from my TAC log in 2011:

I'm a huge fan of the idea of choosing the next language solely based on the colors of their flags. Screw all that "I need it for my career", "it's such a beautiful language", "I love the people", "I find the culture fascinating" etc. Hardcore learners just say: "I need some green for the balance..." [M. Medialis]

Teango, after reading your post again, I just saw that you were almost excusing yourself for only having one old Biblical Hebrew book at hand. This forum is incredible. Old-style vertical Mongolian script... You are forgiven! [Meelämmchen]

Wishing everybody on the forum a wonderful Christmas and every success in the New Year!

Teango

Edited by Teango on 24 December 2011 at 6:47pm

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M. Medialis
Diglot
TAC 2010 Winner
Senior Member
Sweden
Joined 6355 days ago

397 posts - 508 votes 
Speaks: Swedish*, English
Studies: Russian, Japanese, French

 
 Message 126 of 130
26 December 2011 at 2:25pm | IP Logged 
It's quite unbelievable that the 2011 TAC is already over. You did an excellent job pushing through the Russian wilderness, leveling up your skills and bringing life to this forum. Reading your posts never makes me disappointed! :D

You also got the chance to show off your Nitro Boost Drive during the August 6WC. This bodes good for the 2012 challenge!

(oh, and 160 episodes of Лунтик - it's wonderful - statistics like this could make a brave man weep. :)
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Topsy Turvey
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4752 days ago

18 posts - 18 votes
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 127 of 130
29 December 2011 at 6:18pm | IP Logged 
You did amazing with your Russian this year. I can't wait to see what you manage next
year too!

It's been a real pleasure being in Team Ken with you, M. Medialis and Adrean this year :)
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 128 of 130
29 December 2011 at 6:36pm | IP Logged 
Спасибо большое! It's sad that Team KEN has to eventually come to an end, but it's been a real honour and privilege to make the journey with you this year. I almost feel like d'Artagnan (or more precisely, Dogtanian), waving goodbye to his fellow Musketeers (or Muskehounds lol), but happy in the knowledge that we'll bump into each very soon again anyway. All for one, and one for all! ;)


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