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Solfrid Cristin TAC 2012 Team Sputnik | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5335 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 105 of 270 05 April 2012 at 6:05am | IP Logged | |||||
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@ mrwarper and @ skuld : thank you both for sorting out that expression. We have so many quirky
expressions in Norwegian that I never know which ones are specifically Norwegian and which ones are universal. I still remember how embarrassed I was when I had translated directly a Norwegian expression to all my European colleagues and one wrote back a little confused:" what was that about the pigs in the woods"? I am also sorry for the loss of both your grandparents. Losing someone close is a painful thing. Yesterday was my turn. I started talking about the loss of my three close relatives last year, and before I knew it we were all crying. Otherwise it is still a bumpy road speaking Russian, but now I manage to say most things I want if the listener is a patient person with a tad imagination. I am not completely sure whether my Russian has really improved or whether I have just thrown away my perfectionism and can speak even if I assume I have the grammar all wrong, but things basically work out. I still have to use both arms, legs and a wide selection of sound effects to get my meaning across, but I have actually been able to translate a little for my husband and that felt really good. The fact that a lot of people here speak Ukrainian and not Russian does not exactly help. I mean, I am in Ukraine, so I cannot exactly complain that they speak the national language, but it does make things a bit tricky. Fortunately everyone understands Russian, so I have no problem with that. I do notice a difference from just two years ago. When I first came, the whole family spoke Russian to eachother, but now the father and the youngest daughter speak Ukrainian at home. That makes it a tad complicated, because I never know whether I do not understand because I am an idiot or whether it is because they speak Ukrainian generally I go fo the idiot theory. I am now half way through my Agatha Christie in Russian, and I find it amazing how I can read a page where I understand perhaps only 10- 20 % of the most common words, but still have a pretty good idea of the general meaning. It is in a way like playing a game or solving a code where you only have a few of the elements. Generally I just push through it without looking up any words, because whenever I do I have to look up practically everything. I did half a page like that yesterday, and it took me an hour to look up all the words. Some were not even in my tiny dictionary. Still a good feeling to be forcing my way through it, and I have now established that motive and alibi are called the same in Russian :-) Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 05 April 2012 at 6:09am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5335 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 106 of 270 05 April 2012 at 8:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
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So what have I done today? I have watched a two hour Ukrainian folklore show, I have eaten chicken
heart, I have sunbathed in my bikini in the garden and I have asked my hostess in a loud voice in Russian in a public place if she wouldn't like too pee. What I MEANT to ask her was if she would't like to have something to drink, since we had invited them out for lunch. The fact that I knew that she had been on the look out for a restroom for the last two hours didn't really improve matters. The folklore show was great. There were dances and songs and heaps of traditional costumes. I only understood three words during the whole show, since it was all in Ukranian, but never mind. I have also received lots of compliments for my Russian today, which of course only shows how freely they are given. My youngest daughter had no less than two guys telling her how beautiful she was and that they loved her today, and since she had never seen them before, that statement was obviously also given fairly freely. The oldest made a tactic retreat when he realized that she was only 12 years old though. She and the three other girls, my oldest daughter and their two Ukrainian friends who are also very beautiful quite literally stopped traffic today. My husband laughs his head off. Norwegian men do not really give compliments, so he thinks it is hilarious when guys drive by and then reverse the car and drives by again practically with their tongues at street level, while shouting compliments. I have tried to explain to him that he is supposed to be the stern father, and not encourage it, but he finds the whole thing way too funny. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| jellyfish Triglot Groupie Japan Joined 4786 days ago 50 posts - 70 votes Speaks: English, German*, Japanese Studies: Thai, Persian, Russian | Message 107 of 270 07 April 2012 at 3:55am | IP Logged | |||||
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Sounds like you're having a fantastic time! I admire your courage to just go out and speak the language. Did that get progressively easier and less scary for you the more often you did it in different languages, or are you just a natural born talker?
Also very impressed by the Agatha Christie effort. Is it a book you've read before? I thought it'd still be months before I'd dare to pick up a novel in Russian, but somehow I want to get the Hobbit in Russian now. Maybe I will. Thanks for the inspiration. ;) Enjoy the rest of your holiday! Edited by jellyfish on 07 April 2012 at 4:41am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5335 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 108 of 270 08 April 2012 at 11:53pm | IP Logged | |||||
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@jellyfish: I am a natural born talker:-) Benny has this hype about speaking from day one,and I have done that since before he was born.
And I feel absolutely intoxicated right now, with zero alcohol or other substances in my blood, I am just high on Russian! I have three reasons for that. 1. I am just home from Ukraine, but this morning I was sitting at the breakfast table speaking and translating to and from Russian. Grantedly my Russian is both very limited, and extremely bad, I doubt that I said one single sentence which was gramatically correct, but I did manage to get across most of the thing I needed to say. 2. I finished my first Agatha Christie book in Russian today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That takes the count up to 11 languages that I have read Agatha Christie in. The really strange thing is that I actually understand very few of the words, but somehow I do understand the meaning, even if I do not understand the words. I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes I can read a page, and I understand what it is about even if I could not have translated a single sentence correctly. It is an extremely strange feeling. I read the book many years ago, but I did not remember any of it. I think I looked up only about 30 words alltogether, because I found out that if I started to look things up, it took forever to read it, so it was better to just go through it like an ice breaker in winter: at full speed. It still took me all week to finish the book... I started on a new one on the plane, where I actually did look up a lot of the words, so I only managed to read 4-5 pages in that book today, whereas I have read about 30 -40 pages in the first one today. I also made a word count to see how many words I could understand, and I understood about 40%, (48 words out of 116) - mainly pronouns and prepositions and the ocasional noun or verb. 3. The third reason why I am high on Russian, is that I saw "The Little Mermaid" in Russian today, with no subtitles. Now it was obvious that it was easier to follow a film like this than a film for adults, and I have seen the film before, even if that is some years ago, but I suddenly understood so much more than I have done before! When I have watched films in Russian before, I have only understood a word here and there, and perhaps a sentence once in a blue moon, but here I could follow a lot. It felt like I had made a quantum leap in Russian. I do not know if it was the 6WC, all the Russian I have spoken over the last week, all the Russian I have read over the last week, or simply that this film was way easier than other material I have seen, but I felt like king of the world! I have bought an insane amount of Russian films with no subtitles, and my goal is to see as many of them as humanly possible over the next few months. I thought that I had bought 8 films, but when I looked closer I realized that I had bought closer to 60 films. I suspect that most of them are with the typical Russian dubbing - loud English voices under, and one middle aged Russian man reading all the parts in a monotone voice over, but I can deal with that I think. I must say that Ukraine is a country which makes it difficult to be a law abiding citizen. When I went to buy films in Russian,it turned out that they had no original versions - they were all just copied. This meant that I got something like 50 films for 12 dollars, which makes for a lot of hours. I have absolutely no idea which films they are, only that they are translated from English, and that they are supposed to be dramas or comedies - no horror movies. I got my fill of those in Ukraine. So: Still very bad at Russian, but even so I have made considerable progress over the last couple of months! 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5396 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 109 of 270 09 April 2012 at 1:45am | IP Logged | |||||
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Cristina, that is so awesome. I'm so happy for you.
In honor of your "still very bad Russian" - and moreso in honor of your "considerable progress" - I think you have inspired me to learn Russian. (Now, to learn how to read and write all over again!) I love reading about your stories and your studies. You are a real inspiration. =) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 110 of 270 09 April 2012 at 2:28am | IP Logged | |||||
I approve. I don't think I have to tell you what movie is currently playing in the background... Congratulations on all your hard work and progress! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5396 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 111 of 270 09 April 2012 at 2:34am | IP Logged | |||||
Philip, you've watched the Little Mermaid in enough languages to make the Guinness Book of World Records, I think. =) 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Tecktight Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States Joined 4977 days ago 227 posts - 327 votes Speaks: English*, Serbian Studies: German, Russian, Estonian | Message 112 of 270 09 April 2012 at 3:31am | IP Logged | |||||
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Cristina, congratulations on your progress! I see your trip was an enormous success, as expected! ;)
Here I am sitting and eating watermelon, while you're jetting off to various parts of the world, showcasing your silver tongue, which is kept sharp by your well-cultivated work ethic. A work ethic, I might add, that I'd like to steal. Of course, that's not possible, but your log always guilt-trips me into work, a fact which I'm thankful for, and a fact that makes your log invaluable to the forum... I think your next destination should be Minsk, where you will no doubt succeed in charming the mustache off Lukashenko. What do you think? Edited by Tecktight on 09 April 2012 at 3:32am 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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