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TAC 2009 - DaraghM | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| SII Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5801 days ago 184 posts - 194 votes  Speaks: Russian* Studies: English | Message 73 of 177 24 February 2009 at 6:09pm | IP Logged | ||
Mistake: Прощённое воскресение (воскресенье). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6160 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 74 of 177 25 February 2009 at 10:19am | IP Logged | ||
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24/02/09
Spanish (Active ~30 minutes, Passive ~40 minutes) I've started thinking about the value of my Spanish classes. While they're very beneficial, I feel I learn more by myself in the same amount of time. The grammar that we covered on Monday seemed very basic, as it covered the use of direct and indirect object pronouns in sentences. This is something well trodden by the Michel Thomas Foundation course, which I discovered had also been used by other class members. As we didn't get any homework from the last class, I was freed up to do more of my own study. I completed Platiquemos Unit 16 during lunch, and did a couple more exercises from the B2 Gramática. I really don't like composing essays, as half the battle is trying to think what you'll say on topics that may not interest. Russian (Active ~15 minutes, Passive ~15 minutes) Thanks SII for the correction. I've noticed that a lot of mistakes I make in Russian are with adjective agreement. I had checked the word by googling it, and after I hit a number of Russian Orthodox websites, I was sure I had it correct. My big mistake was not using quotes in my search, so I wasn't getting an exact match. As regards my study, I'm still on урок 7. Using my study spreadsheet, I've already worked out I won't complete the course by the end of year. :-( Hungarian (Active ~0 minutes, Passive ~1 hour) It's been exactly a week since I've done any Hungarian. I returned to Unit 3 tape 2 on an evening walk, and was surprised by how much I remembered. I'm tapping very slowly away at this course, but should hopefully be near to completing it by the end of TAC 2009. Edited by DaraghM on 25 February 2009 at 10:22am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6160 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 75 of 177 26 February 2009 at 12:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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25/02/09
Spanish (Active ~45 minutes, Passive ~40 minutes) I finished the first unit on the B2 Gramática, before reading the first couple of pages on Unit 2. The vocabulary is now my main stumbling block. The second unit covers adjectives, and the various intensifiers that can be applied. E.g. hiper-,extra-,requete-, etc. There's an interesting section on the use of re- and requete- affixes to mean extremely. The re- is used in Latin America, while requete- is used in Spain. E.g Rebueno (LAm) - Extremely good, Requetebueno (Esp). Russian (Active ~55 minutes, Passive ~15 minutes) The saga that was урок 7 is now over. I managed to complete the exercises, which varied a bit in difficulty. As I'd spent so long with this lesson, I never wrote out the vocabulary list for a separate session. As I've mentioned before, this unit crams in too much grammar, and it wasn't all tested. There was an unusual exercise based on похож (similar) and the accusative pronouns. The answers are something like follows, Он похож на вас - He is similar to (looks like) you Она похожа на нас - She is similar to us. они похожи на его - They are similar to him. Hungarian (Active ~0 minutes, Passive ~80 minutes) Went on a nice long evening walk, and finished the second tape. I just started into the last tape of unit 3, and it's hard work. The first half of the tape is ten minutes of random numbers in Hungarian, followed by transformation drills. The recording quality has also dipped slightly on the third tape. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6160 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 76 of 177 27 February 2009 at 11:18am | IP Logged | ||
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26/02/09
I didn't get much done yesterday, as I spend the evening with my father in hospital. He's awaiting some tests, and feeling nervous. Having read about Spanky's tragic loss, I knew I should make the effort and visit him. Most of the study I did manage, was a bit distracted, so I concentrated on low intensity activities. Russian (Active ~65 minutes, Passive ~15 minutes) Over breakfast, I started into урок 8. This lesson seems slightly shorter than the beast that was lesson 7. I just managed to read the first dialogue, and some notes on Russian intonation in questions, before a glimpse at the grammar section. The grammar covers the Russian genitive case. In the evening, after returning from the hospital, I wrote out the vocabulary list for the lesson. Spanish (Active ~0 minutes, Passive ~40 minutes) I had a very quick look again at some of the material at Alba Learning. The last time I looked at the material, my Spanish wasn't that strong, and the material felt a good bit above my level. However, my recent visit gave me second thoughts. While the material is still quite advanced, there isn't any grammar that really intimidates me. My biggest problem is time. If I start into audio books, something is going to get pushed aside. In Platiquemoes, I started into the dialogue on unit 17, which covers the tenso pretérito. I should probably skip through the course quicker, as I've already covered this in Michel Thomas, various grammar books, and Teach yourself Spanish. Edited by DaraghM on 27 February 2009 at 11:18am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6160 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 77 of 177 03 March 2009 at 10:49am | IP Logged | ||
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Summary 27/02/09 - 08/03/09
Last year, I promised myself I wouldn't get into daily summaries of all my study on TAC 2009, yet somehow I broke my own rule. What I'll try and do from now on, is weekly summaries, where I edit the same post each day. However, if I've specific questions, I'll post them as separate entries in my log. [EDIT - This weekly summary keeps on extending, and is now over a week.] I just discovered you cannot post in rapid succession, or a spam timer blocks the posts. I thought I would make it easier to edit my language summaries, if they're three separate posts. Spanish Current Platiquemos: Unit 18 Current B2 Gramática: Unit 2 They've changed the style of the B2 Gramática course from the B1, including a repaso (revision) exercise section at the start, before testing the new material. I'm not sure how much time I'll get for this course, as the Spanish essays are very time consuming. The Spanish class saw the return of our original teacher Hermes. I was a little disappointed to discover that out essays wouldn't be handed back to us, and wondered was this because a different teacher took them. I assume they will be corrected for our perusal, or this is a complete waste of good study time. The class itself was interesting, as we'd to summarise various books and films we liked. Surprisingly the use of "tratar de" and "tratarse de" wasn't mentioned, until I asked it. He gave the following example, Este libro trata de ... - This book is about .. En este libro se trata ... - In this book they discuss .. The class also tested the use of direct and indirect pronouns, and it wasn't easy. For me, and most of the class, the problem was identifying if an object or indirect object was implied. I asked about the addition of an accent, and he said it wasn't critical for us to know at our level. E.g. dar - to give, but dárselo - to give it to him\her. Most of my active study this week has been used for my latest Spanish essay. He told us that this essay would count towards our final mark. We've to produce a synopsis (sinopsis) on a book or film we enjoy, and then our opinions on it's style, cinematic or literary devices, and other features we admire. At the very end of this week, I managed to complete Platiquemos II, and moved onto Platiquemos III. There are eight levels in total, which cover comprise the four levels of the original FSI Spanish course. The weekend was a bit of a disappointment for language study, with the essay and a little of Unit 18 all I managed. Weekly Total Active Study: 395 minutes Passive Study: 305 minutes Edited by DaraghM on 09 March 2009 at 10:26am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6160 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 78 of 177 03 March 2009 at 10:55am | IP Logged | ||
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Summary 27/02/09 - 08/03/09
Hungarian Current FSI: Unit 4 Tape 1 Unit 3 is a long unit, and consists of four tapes in total. As previously mentioned, the third tape has a lot of number drilling. The second half of the tape has various transformation drills that change the verb, the subject and object from singular to plural, and vice versa. E.g. Magyár újságot olvosak -> Magyár újságot olvosunk A hölgy ruhát vásárol -> A hölgyek ruhát vásárolnak The fourth tape on unit 3 was a little tedious, and concentrated on differences in intonation between statements and questions. Stressing the word in question seems to be common to a number of languages, but its which syllable in the word that is tricky. Just started into the first tape on Unit 4, and it's quite good. It mentions a lot of tableware. E.g. tányér - saucer edény - dish villá - fork kés - knife czésze - cup Weekly Total Active Study: 10 minutes Passive Study: 255 minutes Edited by DaraghM on 09 March 2009 at 10:23am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6160 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 79 of 177 03 March 2009 at 10:56am | IP Logged | ||
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Summary 27/02/09 - 08/03/09
Russian Current Living Language: Unit 8 The Living Language course loves squeezing in as much grammar as possible. In урок 8 they cover the genitive case, but also add the use of the imperative in Russian. The section on the imperative is small, and could easily be missed. It doesn't go into any great detail on forming the imperative, or the spelling changes that can occur. E.g. слушаю - I listen. слушй - Listen (fam.) слушйте - Listen (frml.) When it came to the vocabulary list, I realised I'd somehow skipped over a number of words. This is probably because I was writing the list, and trying to talk about something else at the same time. The vocabulary list was mainly about music, and attending a concert. E.g. зал - hall ряд - row антракт - intermission дирижер - conductor композитор - composer Weekly Total Active Study: 98 minutes Passive Study: 132 minutes Edited by DaraghM on 09 March 2009 at 10:24am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SII Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5801 days ago 184 posts - 194 votes Speaks: Russian* Studies: English | Message 80 of 177 03 March 2009 at 5:21pm | IP Logged | ||
слушаю слушай слушайте Form "слушай" is familiar singular, "слушайте" -- plural or polite singular. Edited by SII on 03 March 2009 at 5:21pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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