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Splog at University

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Splog
Diglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
anthonylauder.c
Joined 5670 days ago

1062 posts - 3263 votes 
Speaks: English*, Czech
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 9 of 72
28 September 2010 at 1:24pm | IP Logged 
Andy E wrote:
Splog wrote:
Hopefully I will somehow fumble though the exam, and be
able to refocus on the conversational immersion for another month.


What happens if you "fail" the exam?


I get demoted to a non-conversational class. That is, I stop spending all day talking in
a small group, and instead have to sit through hours of basic grammar lessons every day
with a group of 15 other students.
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Andy E
Triglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
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1651 posts - 1939 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, French

 
 Message 10 of 72
28 September 2010 at 5:19pm | IP Logged 
Splog wrote:
I get demoted to a non-conversational class. That is, I stop spending all day talking in a small group, and instead have to sit through hours of basic grammar lessons every day with a group of 15 other students.


Bummer! Hell of an incentive to pass then....
1 person has voted this message useful



stelingo
Hexaglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5833 days ago

722 posts - 1076 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian
Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin

 
 Message 11 of 72
28 September 2010 at 9:27pm | IP Logged 
Splog wrote:

Apparently, much of the exam will be on grammar - and since I am in the "fluent
already" class it will be on obscure stuff, such as "present and past transgressive
verb conjugation", which is the kind of thing I have always ignored since almost nobody
uses it in real life. I suppose that, as much as I want to ignore such things, it is
useful from time to time to be forced to learn them.



What are "present and past transgressive verb conjugation"?
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Splog
Diglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
anthonylauder.c
Joined 5670 days ago

1062 posts - 3263 votes 
Speaks: English*, Czech
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 12 of 72
28 September 2010 at 10:10pm | IP Logged 
stelingo wrote:
Splog wrote:

Apparently, much of the exam will be on grammar - and since I am in the "fluent
already" class it will be on obscure stuff, such as "present and past transgressive
verb conjugation", which is the kind of thing I have always ignored since almost nobody
uses it in real life. I suppose that, as much as I want to ignore such things, it is
useful from time to time to be forced to learn them.



What are "present and past transgressive verb conjugation"?


Transgressive is a term that linguists use for a form of verb that expresses things
happening at or close to the same time and, more or less, coincidentally but with them
being related in some way. For example, "having sat in front of the TV, peter drank his
beer". It is hardly ever used any more in Czech, but plenty of old novels have plenty
of it, because it is (or was) seen as a creative form of writing.

The likelihood is that I will never utter a Czech sentence that requires it.Currently,
I am sufficiently familiar with the different transgressive conjugations (word endings)
to recognise it when I (rarely) read it, but my university course requires me to
remember the endings (rather than just recognise them).

Edited by Splog on 28 September 2010 at 10:12pm

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Splog
Diglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
anthonylauder.c
Joined 5670 days ago

1062 posts - 3263 votes 
Speaks: English*, Czech
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 13 of 72
06 October 2010 at 2:36pm | IP Logged 
Today I sat the first examination of the school year at university. It was much harder
than I had dreamed in even my worst nightmares!

Actually, the reading and writing parts were fine: I am sure I did quite well there.

The horror, though, was the listening part. We listened to recorded street interviews
on a variety of topic, and then had to answer questions about them. The main problem
for me was that there were quite heavy regional accents, lots of mumbling, lots of
slang, and - of course - some of the folks spoke very quickly.

In real life I would have had a hard time following much of it, but under the stress of
an exam it may as well have been Klingon.

So, I am pretty sure I failed that part of the exam.

Of course, the professor said "This is the C1 group - it is not meant to be easy". She
is right, but it was certainly quite humbling for me.

Now I have to work out how to get better at listening to mumbled slang with heavy
accents.
1 person has voted this message useful



microsnout
TAC 2010 Winner
Senior Member
Canada
microsnout.wordpress
Joined 5472 days ago

277 posts - 553 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 14 of 72
06 October 2010 at 7:40pm | IP Logged 
Splog wrote:
Now I have to work out how to get better at listening to mumbled slang with heavy
accents.


Hmmm.. This matches my experiences with Québécois French - listening to recorded court proceedings is almost
as clear as it would be in English but two teens chatting on a bus is almost totally incomprehensible!

I now think that an "advanced student" level is nothing more than a prerequisite and starting point for the journey
to true 'street' fluency.

Best of luck with the next test..
1 person has voted this message useful



Splog
Diglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
anthonylauder.c
Joined 5670 days ago

1062 posts - 3263 votes 
Speaks: English*, Czech
Studies: Mandarin

 
 Message 15 of 72
07 October 2010 at 2:50pm | IP Logged 
To my surprise, I passed the exam.

It was unexpected, since I found the exam very hard. Particularly the listening part,
which (strangely) it turns out I did quite well in.

Unfortunately, it was only a mock exam, since C1 doesn't yet exist as an official state
exam. So, in place of a certificate, I was given a chocolate bar :-)

The good news is that this means I get to stay in the conversational class.
9 persons have voted this message useful



Teango
Triglot
Winner TAC 2010 & 2012
Senior Member
United States
teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5557 days ago

2210 posts - 3734 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Russian
Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona

 
 Message 16 of 72
07 October 2010 at 3:22pm | IP Logged 
Great result, and one well-deserved chocolate bar for the wall! I'm really thrilled for you that it's all going so well so far. :)


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