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Solfrid Cristin’s way TAC 2011 Team Ohana | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5336 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 161 of 221 13 August 2011 at 10:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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RUSSIAN
So – I am busy with the 6 week challenge. Being on a cruise set me back a tad, but I had brought a book of short stories by Chekhov, bilingual French/Russian, which I read whenever I had some free time. A sleepless night was helpful in that respect. I am unaccustomed to counting minutes, and more used to counting what I have accomplished, but in this case the progress is so painfully slow, that it is better to count minutes. It takes 10 minutes per sentence. At least. I also got to do a little Russian conversation (basically an endless repetition of “Do you have”, “How much does it cost”, and “Where do I find” with a little coffee and ice cream vocabulary thrown into it, but hey, it was real Russian, with real Russians in Russia, so I’ll count it). I couldn’t in all honesty count more than 45 minutes of conversation though, which is not a lot after 7 hours in Russia, but when you are walking around with two Norwegians and a Spaniard, there is a limit to how much actual speaking time you can get. I enjoyed the cruise, but did not really feel that I got all that much out of the excursions. Having two children who think visiting museums or looking at monuments constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, shopping was the only activity that was of interest. When the prizes turned out to be steep enough to scare even a Norwegian, the mood soured a bit. In Tallinn it was so warm that we ended up spending half the day sitting at McDonalds. In St. Petersburg it was so much rain that we ended up sitting half the day – at McDonalds. I am SO going without children the next time I am going to St. Petersburg and Tallinn. No offence to McDonalds, but it wasn’t worth missing out medieval churches in Estonia and the Hermitage for. The last three days after I came home I have listened to hours and hours of Pimsleur and Michel Thomas, but I only counted about a third of the time spent, as I was busy decluttering, and did not pay as much attention as I should have. I even managed to squeeze in a little Assimil. It doesn’t exactly lead me to the top of the 6wc chart, but considering the circumstances, I am very happy that I manage to do anything at all. SPANISH Having a Spanish girl in the house does make me speak quite a lot of Spanish, even if we are supposed to speak English, and I also got a long nice conversation with my Peruvian friend yesterday. I was a bit too complicated for the bot last week, as I tried to register 3 languages at the same time, so I guess I will have to re-enter Swahili and Turkish. SWEEDISH I actually got to practice some Swedish in Sweden. I would normally use Norwegian in Sweden, but there were almost no Swedes. Practically all the taxi drivers, people working in the cafes and in the custom services were non Swedes, who spoke Swedish, but were unaccustomed to hearing Norwegian, so I had to speak Swedish. I can do it, but I feel like an idiot when I do. I haven’t counted it in the 6wc though. @nogoodnik, thank you for your kind words, I am trying to keep up, though my concentration and sleep is not terrific at the moment. @teango - As you see I didn't really get much out of it, but the Baltic countries are close, so I can do it again some other time. Without children... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5849 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 162 of 221 14 August 2011 at 7:34am | IP Logged | ||
Solfrid Cristina, thank your for giving an impression about your trip to Estonia and St. Petersburg. Of course you have to adapt to the wishes of your children, if you travel togehter with them. It's a pity that you were sitting at the international Mc Donalds and not at cheap restaurants typical for the countries. I myself don't have children so I don't know which advice to give. Fasulye 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5336 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 163 of 221 18 August 2011 at 1:27am | IP Logged | ||
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@Fasulye: I am afraid we were let loose in areas where local cheap restaurants were scarce. In Estonia we were left first in a major new shopping mall outside Tallin (I smelled a rat when the guide told us it was located in an area for the "nouveaux riches".) We had been told that there were great shopping opportunities in Tallin, but the prizes were so high at this particular mall, that I just told myself that there was nothing there I really needed. I rarely spend more than 50 dollar for a dress, preferring to spend my money on books and language courses (or plants) so when I saw prize tags at 500-600 dollars for a simple dress, I dropped it. Afterwoods we were left at the centre of Tallin which turned out to be one gigantic tourist trap.
In St. Petersburg we were left at the Nevskij Prospect, where we had been warned that everything was expensive. The only bargain I found was actually films and books in Russian - as I doubt that many tourist went after those. Clothes, perfume and also coffe in the local cafees turned out to be more expensive than home - so actually McDonald's was a relatively cheap option. I have no doubt that had we taken the tram 10 minutes in any direction, it would have been 1/10 of the price, but we didn't dare to go too far away from the main street, for fear of not finding our way back. Since we were there without a visa, that might have gotten really nasty indeed. I managed to get another undeserved compliment for my Russian though. I asked the guide how you said a certain sentence in Russian, and after repeating it after her, she looked at me and said" You speak Russian very well". Since all I had done was repeating that one sentence after her, and I know how little I am able to produce freely, I did not deserve the compliment, but I guess she was used to people butchering the pronunciation, so anything that was understandable seemed great to her. "In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king", as we say in Norwegian. RUSSIAN Although I am still in somewhat of a daze, I am starting to fight my way back into doing quite a lot of Russian, compared to the period before the 6wc. I am particularly starting to be enthousiastic about the Michel Thomas Vocabulary course, to the point that I am considering to get the Advanced course as well. I thought the Advanced course would not be advanced enough, but I like the way they spoon feed you the grammar, which fits my learning style perfectly. As usual, I have way to little time to study, but I had to go down to my father's house today, which is a 100 kilometres from here, to start emptying it, and that gave me two very nice Michel Thomas sessions. Driving and listening to a Russian course makes me very focused on the language course, but I am not quite sure of how good it is for traffic safety. It is difficult to sleep whith all that has happened, and when I do sleep I have nightmares. On the cruise I woke up screaming, because I had dreamt that I had lost my youngest daughter in tuberculosis, and I was standing in her room with a box in my hands, to throw away her things, sobbing that I could not stand more deaths now, my heart was breaking. When I woke up, my practically minded husband said" But you know we do not have tuberculosis in Norway anymore, we have not had that for decades, and besides you do not die immediately, it takes time". I suppose that the mix of the death of my parents, the death of all the teen agers at Utøya, and the fact that one of my aunts died of tuberculosis many, many years ago, all got mixed up in one unsavoury soup. I could hardly let go of my daughter when I got hold of her. She had to remind me that she was very much alive, and planned on staying that way. I am glad I had brought a Russian book, which once again came to my rescue in staying more or less sane. Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 18 August 2011 at 1:32am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5558 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 164 of 221 18 August 2011 at 2:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Considering all that's been going on in your life recently, and how well you continue to balance family, career and learning, I think your fighting spirit is an example to us all. You're bloody amazing, Solfrid!
And Russian can definitely help focus your mind elsewhere in those moments that would otherwise lead down a darker path of introspection, whilst exercise and fresh air is the best medicine I know for getting a restful night's sleep. I try to get two for the price of one (when it's not raining too hard) by walking by my local river and listening/repeating to some Happy Potter in Russian. ;) As for some tastier places to score Russian fast food in St Petersburg, and as a compromise to avoiding one of Ronald Donaldnikov's ghastly franchises, I'd recommend Чайная Ложка and Теремок (great blinis!). Edited by Teango on 18 August 2011 at 2:08pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5336 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 165 of 221 06 September 2011 at 12:48am | IP Logged | ||
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@Teango. Thank you. You are always a great support. Sometimes I do not know I would have gone through this without you guys on this forum.
RUSSIAN Since I have had house guest for the last 6 weeks, I have not had much time for updates here, but I have managed to do a little studying. Since I do Michel Thomas on my way to my work out sessions (that is 40 minutes 3 times a week - the Russian listening - not the work out :-)), and Pimsleur while cooking and folding clothes, plus a little reading in bed, I haven't done too badly. I have not had time to watch any films though, which is a shame. SPANISH A Spanish houseguest for a month, plus preparations for a quinceañera with lots of input from Peruvian friends make for quite a lot of practise. It still feels easy to Speak Spanish, though I notice that my legal Spanish isn't too hot. ENGLISH I do not usually note my English practise - it is hardly very exotic - but since I have had the visit of an American professor for two weeks, I have talked a lot of English at a high level, which always is good. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Élan Senior Member United States Joined 5446 days ago 165 posts - 211 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Persian | Message 166 of 221 06 September 2011 at 3:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm glad you're still finding time to study. It must be nice to have the Spanish house guest. And maybe doing the 6WC for Russian is perfect as it forces you to study something other than Spanish during your guest's visit.
I've always wanted to go to a quinceañera. You'll have to tell us a bit about it. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| joanthemaid Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5472 days ago 483 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Russian, German | Message 167 of 221 07 September 2011 at 3:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with reneemona: great picture! Still admiring of your work and will...
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5336 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 168 of 221 12 September 2011 at 10:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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@Elan: We didn't do a proper quinceañera, as nobody here have even heard about it, but my daughter got to dress up as a princess, and wear a tiara and looked absolutely stunning, so she was happy.
@Joanthemaid Thank you! I look better on pictures than in real life, but since the picture is a recent one (taken in July) I figured it was fair to use it. The previous one was three years old, so it was time to change. Otherwise I just posted my last additiont to the bot, only to find out it was too late. Oh well, at least it kept my motivation up for one more day, and I have really got quite a lot done. RUSSIAN My life generally feels like a merry-go-round which went berserk, and this week was no exception. I have however been able to listen to quite a lot of Russian in between, so I am happy to have taken part in the 6 week challenge, since my Russian was sliding right off track before it. SPANISH Thankfully I have my Peruvian friend who makes me talk some Spanish . Think I need an Italian friend as well, as I am getting really rusty there. FRENCH I am going to Brussels tomorrow, so I will hopefully get a chance to practise some French, and of course tons of English. That is a nice fringe benefit of my job :-) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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