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Russian and Greek, TAC2014 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4640 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 97 of 99 29 April 2014 at 5:44pm | IP Logged |
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I have been away from HTLAL for a while, firstly due to the technical problems that took place, and then I have been on holiday in Spain for 9 days with no internet connection. It actually did wonders for my studies, I spent several hours a day, mainly with Russian.
Expugnator, verbs of motion are a challenge indeed, I've done quite a few exercises over the last days, but I am still far from getting it right - one thing is getting your head around which aspect to use, and I try not to let the use of imperfecto and indefinido in Spanish influence my choice there too much, as there are important differences in the way it works in Russian, as far as I can tell. To make sure that you make the right choice between the two different forms of the imperfective makes it even more tricky. I do think I get the concept that the multidirectional form is used whenever it is about something occuring regularly, like going to work every day, or when you go somewhere with the intention of coming back, e.g. going on holidays. Still, it is not always clear cut. Anyway, I have also focused a lot on improving my vocabulary, reading longish texts quite intensively. Grammar is one thing, but one of the things that makes my oral skills pretty lousy still is that I often get stuck because I don't know the right word. I guess I have come to a point where there is nothing new or surprising in Russian any longer, but lots and lots of hard work remains in order to master the grammar and be able to read, write and speak at a decent level. It is not a sprint, it is a marathon followed by a triathlon. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4640 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 98 of 99 02 May 2014 at 10:55am | IP Logged |
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Last Monday when I was at the Valencia airport waiting for my flight back home, I saw and bought a newspaper called Новостиспании. It's a version of Московский Комсомолец for Russians residing in Spain, so it contains a mix of articles about Russia and articles about politics, culture, gastronomy and society in Spain. Some weeks ago I also saw a similar Russian paper in Germany for Russians living there. It is really interesting to see how the Russian "diaspora" is growing and becoming more and more visible in some countries in Western Europe. In the Spanish TV news programme "Informe semanal" there was also a story a couple of weeks ago about how Russians are now the biggest buyers of holiday properties in Catalonia, and in particular, but not only, at the high-end, expensive side of the market. More and more Russians also decide to retire in places like Spain.
Personally I welcome this trend as it means I am more likely to meet Russians whenever I am in Spain, and obviously the Spanish tourism sector is also very happy to see Russians spending money there. And as far as I can tell, the old stereotype about Russian tourists being loud and impolite just isn't true. Over the last few years I've run into a lot of Russian tourists in e.g. Crete, Spain and the Dominican Republic, and in general they behaved in an exemplary manner. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4640 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 99 of 99 13 June 2014 at 2:16pm | IP Logged |
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The last six weeks have not been very good for language studies, and I have been absent from this forum as well. I have been extremely busy at work, and had a few other things on my plate, including celebrating my 50th birthday over a three-day weekend with friends and family. It did not help my study rythm, or lack thereof.
I have been doing some studying, though. I attend my weekly Russian class and do as much homework as I can manage, and doing many exercises on the verbs of motion is starting to pay off, I feel that I am able to make the right choices as to which form to use depending on circumstances and the logic you want to express. Be that as it may, seeing how irregular I have been lately and knowing that I will probably be quite busy over the next few weeks as well, I have made the decision to give up on this log, and in practice I am not participating in TAC any more. I will however continue to write in my other log, "A bit of anything", and I will record my work with Russian there. Then we'll see what 2015 brings and whether I will be in a better position to take an active part in TAC again. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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