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Russian and Greek, TAC2014 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4358 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes  Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 89 of 99 03 March 2014 at 6:33pm | IP Logged |
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As for FSI greek, there was a post giving some good arguments in its favour. If you really plan on learning more than "tourist" greek, perhaps you should give it a try. I will help you with any problem of outdated language, and others as well I'm sure.
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| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4639 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 90 of 99 04 March 2014 at 2:27pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the links to the newspapers. I am still at a level where I cannot get very much out of advanced texts like these, but then again my approach has always been to start with "real" native material asap, so I might give it a try when I have some time available for it.
As for FSI, I will have a look, although I thought that it was more katarevousa than dimotiki. And I have decided to try Colloquial Greek, will put in my order for it today. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4639 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 91 of 99 25 March 2014 at 5:02pm | IP Logged |
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An update is long overdue. I've been working steadily on my Russian over the last couple of weeks, but I must admit I have not had a good routine. It is very hectic at work, I often come home late and I am pretty tired so it has been less intensive that usual. However, I really enjoy my weekly Russian class at lunchtime. The last two-three sesssions we've been focusing on the following grammarwise:
-drilling the genitive plural forms through multiple oral and written exercises. Given that genitive plural is the form which seems most irregular and difficult to master, this has been very useful, giving me a much better understanding of the patterns and which forms to use when. - using the imperative forms, deciding on the choice between imperfective and perfective imperative. - being able to quickly read out loud numbers in Russian. We've been sticking to the nominative forms, but will embark upon other cases shortly. In addition we have been reading a text about the history of St. Petersburg, a few articles around the conflict in Ukraine (I know, politics, but we are all mature and in any case our Russian is not good enough to get into a heated discussion...) and a couple of song lyrics. Outside of the course I have mostly been reading news stories and working my way through Анекдоты: самые новые и смешные, and making word list in the spirit of Iversen. Nothing to report about Greek, I am afraid. I just find it difficult right now to fit it in at a regular basis - hopefully the day will come. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4639 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 92 of 99 04 April 2014 at 12:05pm | IP Logged |
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I have a confession to make: I have decided to put Greek on hold for the time being. My life is very busy right now, and I just cannot find the time to fit in Greek studies on a regular basis. The last couple of weeks I have even found it hard to muster the energy and discipline to work a lot on Russian. If it weren't for my weekly class I would probably procrastinate even more.
It is also true that I spend quite a lot of my limited time on Romansh, as can be seen from my other log. I am just too much in love with this language right now, and it is much more motivating picking up a book in Romansh, or listening to a podcast from Radio Romontsch, than struggling through another Russian text or doing grammar drills. This doesn't mean that I am giving up on Russian, not at all, but I guess I "overdid" it a bit at the start of the year, and now my motivation curve is turning slightly downwards. Oh well, motivation often goes up and down, I am sure it will raise again in a few weeks. Ok, confession time over, hope I have your blessings:) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4358 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 93 of 99 04 April 2014 at 12:15pm | IP Logged |
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I love how you ask for the forum's blessings :)
I know a thing or two about motivation trouble. You should postpone greek untill you really feel like studying it, and perhaps that way you'll approach russian with more energy and focus. I have a sense of guilt myself everytime I favour one language over another, and that can lead to a disaster for all languages involved! So, better deal with less languages than none at all! Edited by renaissancemedi on 04 April 2014 at 12:18pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4639 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 94 of 99 15 April 2014 at 11:15am | IP Logged |
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In my weekly class we have been working a lot on the verbs of motion, and it really is something you don't learn to master in a day or two! Not only do you have to make the choice between imperfective/perfective, as for most other verbs, but you have to take into account whether the movement is unidirectional or multidirectional in the imperfective aspect. I am slowly starting to get the hang of it, but I still need a lot of practice to internalise it completely.
Fortunately, with the prefixed verbs of movement you only have the usual pair of verbs depending on aspect. However, I also need to become better at identifying the meaning of each prefix. My teacher gave us as homework to write sentences using these verbs: входить / войти - to go in, to enter выходить / выйти - to go out, to leave, to exit всходить / взoйти - to go up, to ascend доходить / дойти - to get to, to get as far as, to reach заходить / зайти - to drop in, to stop by обходить / обойти - to walk around, to bypass отходить / отойти - to walk away переходить / перейти - to go across, to turn подходить / подойти - to approach приходить / прийти - to arrive, to come проходить / пройти - to go by, to go past сходить / сойти - to go down, decend уходить / уйти - to go from, to leave, depart Although rather complicated, there is a nice logic to the use of prefixes, and the nice thing is that they go with the other verbs of motion as well, not only with Ходить / Идти. Of course, one also has to know which preposition goes with each of these verbs, and I am relying on a table in my grammar book to drill these so that they hopefully stick in my brain once and for all. This focus on grammar has meant that I have spent less time reading and building my vocabulary, although I do try to have a look at Russian online media every day. In addition, I "subscribe" to the facebook pages of a few Russian media outlets, so I get short texts in my newsfeed every day. Greek: As mentioned I have put it on hold, but the other day in the supermarket I stood next in line to three Greeks having an animated conversation, and it sort of depressed me that I was unable to understand more than a few words. I really need to return to Greek later this year, it is too beautiful a language to let go. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4358 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 95 of 99 15 April 2014 at 11:42am | IP Logged |
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Nice to see you making progress with Russian.
As for greek, its time will come. LOL I can imagine the scene in the supermarket :D 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5166 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 96 of 99 17 April 2014 at 9:42pm | IP Logged |
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I'm only starting to deal with verbs of motion in my current textbook (as I barely
overlooked them at my previous studies), and I must say it's quite mind-boggling! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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