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Solfrid Cristin TAC 2012 Team Sputnik | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5331 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 270 26 December 2011 at 1:19am | IP Logged |
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NEW YEAR – NEW OPPORTUNITIES – YEAH!!
I am looking so much forward to a new year with “clean pieces of papers and color crayons” as the Norwegian saying goes, and to a hot team bristling with people who are eager to study the language of mother Russia – plus an insignificant amount of other languages … This year I will divide my languages into three groups: Focus languages - Upkeep languages - Dabbling languages. FOCUS LANGUAGES My focus languages will be Russian, German and Greek, and of the three I want to spend the most time on Russian. These are the ones I will put the most effort into, and study consciously. UPKEEP LANGUAGES My upkeep languages are English, Spanish, French and Italian. I need to work on these, but it will be more in the way of conversation practice and reading, than actual studying. DABBLING LANGUAGES Any other languages I get tempted to dive into, known or unknown… F O C U S L A N G U A G E S 2012 RUSSIAN Background and level: I initially started out with Russian 5 years ago, with a few classes at Berlitz. I gave up however, since it seemed that no matter how much effort I put into it, I got absolutely nowhere. My dyslexia made it next to impossible to read anything, and no words stuck in my brain. I tried again 3 years ago. Same result. I had private lessons, and I still felt like an idiot, even if I was alone in the class. Then in March last year we decided to go to Ukraine, and I swore to myself that this time I was not going to give up no matter what, and I have studied Russian “actively” since then. I say “actively” because I do not have any free time, so I just do whatever I can whenever I have 5 minutes here and there. From March to July last year I attended more Russian classes at Berlitz, in August I went on a 2 weeks' Russian course in Ukraine, and last fall I attended approximately 10 classes at another private language school. We went back to Ukraine for another Easter holiday this spring, where I was finally able to have some sort of communication in Russian, and I also got to speak a sort of Russian in Turkey this fall. Extremely far from impressive, but Russian sounds were coming out of my mouth, and real Russian, which I partly understood, and which corresponded with what I had attempted to say, came back in response. I am still on level A1/ A2 in listening, reading and speaking. Writing is closer to none than to A1. I can barely write “good morning”. I am struggling very hard with Russian. Very hard. I am a bit hesitant to quantify my goal, but I suppose a high A2, possibly reaching into B1 would come close. Materials: I must have close to a 100 books/films in Russian, so it is difficult to choose what to focus on. I want to have finished Pimsleur 2 and 3 (have done number 1, and started on number 2) and Michel Thomas all levels, and then I’ll just see what catches my fancy with the rest. Occasion to talk Russian/trips to the country: Only 1 day in St. Petersburg is foreseen this year. GERMAN Background and level I studied German at school for two years, I have done a two week’s German course in Munich, and two - three language courses at private institutes over the years. I never had much chance of using it, but 2 years ago when some German friends came to visit for a week I made them speak German with me, and last year when we visited them we did the same. I speak German, but I am never comfortable doing it, because in the back of my mind there is a constant (an, auf, hinter, in, neben,über, unter, vor und zwishen )playing, courtesy of having studied German at a Norwegian school. My level? Not quite sure. Possibly a B1- B2 in Listening, reading and speaking, and a A2 in writing. My goal would be to reach a firm B2 level –possibly a low C1 , and to feel comfortable speaking German Materials I want to have read 20 German books by the end of the year. I have some German books – half and half crime novels and serious literature. I also intend to use a variety of other sources – magazines or whatever I can lay my hand on. I also intend to do some German classes, and I’ll set the language to German in at least 10 films/ episodes of series during the year. Occasion to practice/trips: None foreseen for the moment. GREEK Greek was this year’s discovery. I LOVE Greek and Greece. Somehow I always knew I would, but it was like coming home. In the international organization I work with, I sometimes jokingly refer to myself as Kassandra, (princess of Troy). She was blessed with the ability to know the future, but cursed in that nobody believed her. I often predict that the organization will fool us, I often have problems convincing people that things are that bad, but I am usually right. Now I know Troy was not Greece, but since we know about them mostly from Greek stories, it is close enough. So I will just think of myself as a person who was Greek in my previous life, and happen to have been reborn as a Norwegian. Background and level I read through the first 8 lessons of my Greek book in May and June, but I have forgotten almost everything now, since I have not dealt with Greek since then. I am therefore a beginner. I would like to reach A1 – possibly A2. Materials I have four resources in Greek. 1) A beginner’s course in Greek called “Nygrekiska 1” (New Greek 1) which is in Swedish, and which comes with a textbook, a workbook and a CD. Now unfortunately I cannot find the textbook and the CD right now (I am in severe need of tidying up in my book shelves ...) so the workbook is not of much use to me for the moment. 2) I also have a CD ROM – Learn Greek – from Eurotalk interactive, which I actually found, and have started to use. 3) A little booklet called “Quick Greek for tourists” which is a phrasebook 4) Oxford Greek Mini Dictionary Occasion to practice/trips: I have nothing concrete planned, but I would really, really like to go to Greece again in May/June. Perhaps I could get it as a birthday present. U P K E E P L A N G U A G E S ITALIAN Background and level I have done two Italian courses at a private institute, read a lot of crime novels, done some extensive reading of 18th century literature, in particular plays in Venetian dialect by Goldoni, and have had three Italian boyfriends. I guess my level would be around B1 and my goal would be to get back to the B2 level that I once had. I used to be able to speak Italian for hours without any effort, but I am getting really, really rusty. Materials I’ll read at least 10 books during the year. I’ll set the language to Italian on at least 5 DVDs. Occasion to practice/trips: None foreseen. I will have to be creative. FRENCH Background and level I have studied French at school for two years, lived in France for 9 months and studied it at the university for one year. As I started to get rusty, after not having used it for many years I took a course at a private institute. My level at speaking, listening and reading would probably be a low C1. My writing I suppose is around B1 (hello, dyslexia, my old friend…). My goal would be to get back to the C2 listening, reading and speaking and B2 writing where I once was. Materials I’ll limit myself at reading 10-15 books, listen to the French language radio now and then, and watch 12 films in French. Occasion to practice/trips I’ll have a few trips to Paris and Brussels for work purposes, and I always speak French then. I also try to speak French with my French colleagues. SPANISH Background and level I have lived three years in Spain, and studied it at the University of Oslo for 4 years and a half. And I won’t even tell you the number of ex-boyfriends .My level is C2. I did nothing with my Spanish for 20 years, until I got a friend from Peru a few years ago, but it was always just there. She made me speak Spanish again, and I have decided to start reading some Spanish too. My goal is to keep up my C2 level. Materials I have a ton of literature left over partly from my studies, and partly from buying a lot of books on any possible topic over a number of years. My goal is 20 books and 12 Spanish language films during the year. Occasion to practice/trips: I can speak as much Spanish as I have time to set aside for my social life (which means not a lot) but in the performance of my duty as guardian I get to speak a bit. I have just spent a week at Tenerife(came back 24 hours ago) where I spoke quite a lot of Spanish. ENGLISH Background and level 8 years of English at school plus 4 years at the university plus a job where I use it almost every day, keeps me at a C2 level (with the possible exception of all my spelling errors –again courtesy of my dyslexia). It could still be good to read a little extra non-railway related material. D A B B L I N G L A N G U A G E S Dabbling languages are of course a very hard category to keep tabs on, but from what I know right now, Icelandic, Mandarin and Ukrainian will go into this category, and possibly Slovak, Polish and Turkish. Here I will set no goals for the moment, as these are just for fun, but Icelandic may be upgraded to focus language during the year. I would love to be able to speak some Icelandic when I go to Iceland in July. Oh – and at this presentation of background and levels I have copied extensively from last year’s presentation, as a lot of the information remains the same – so if it looks familiar – you are absolutely right. So with a big hug to all my new teammates: Tecktight, Teango, Aloysius, M. Medialis, Ruskivyetr, Lynxrunner,Isabliss_27, senor smile, Woodsei and Ellsworth, I raise my glass with pink Russian champagne in anticipation of a great year for team Sputnik!! Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 28 December 2011 at 9:27pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5331 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 2 of 270 27 December 2011 at 1:00am | IP Logged |
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I am starting up quietly, after a time of primarily passive learning.
RUSSIAN I had a sniff at Anki today. 2 months since last time, but at least I seem to remember most of the words. About 20 minutes used. Room for improvement. GREEK I did a 40 minutes dive into “Talk now” in Greek today, I am embarrased to admit that I have forgotten the alphabet and most of the words. I revised the “first words” category, and doing both the hard and the easy tests. I had only two mistakes however, due to distractions. When three kids, two cats and a husband are all running around you, and two of the kids and both cats have murder in their eyes, it can be a challenge to focus on Greek. Does 40 minutes of frantically searching for my Greek textbook and CD count? :-) SPANISH Between our Spanish house guest and a 5 ½ hour visit to a Peruvian friend, I got almost 6 hours of Spanish practice today. My husband got so frustrated at all the Spanish, which I only occasionally remembered to translate, that he went to sleep on the couch. Well, actually he usually does that when we visit someone anyway, but at least today he had a good excuse. :-) ENGLISH And then of course English, that we speak whenever the whole family is gathered now, because of our house guest. Today I was so into it that I actually spoke English to my daughter, even after Maria had left the room. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| M. Medialis Diglot TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member Sweden Joined 6354 days ago 397 posts - 508 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Russian, Japanese, French | Message 3 of 270 28 December 2011 at 4:50pm | IP Logged |
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An impressive list Solfrid. Greek must be a fascinating language, you made me want to try it. But I think I need to be careful so I don't get shot down by Greek wanderlust! :)
I'm eager to follow your Russian progress this year. Attacking Russian for the third time - You can do it!! :D 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Tecktight Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States Joined 4973 days ago 227 posts - 327 votes Speaks: English*, Serbian Studies: German, Russian, Estonian | Message 4 of 270 28 December 2011 at 5:06pm | IP Logged |
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First off, I love that Norwegian saying. I'll be storing it in my brain for safe-keeping, and motivation. Crayons and
paper. Crayons and paper. You've certainly got your work cut out for you with six languages (even though three are upkeep), but hat's off to you! I have no doubts that you'll pull through well. Keep us updated in regards to Icelandic...I know so little about the language myself, but I'm curious to see how you fare with it (excellently, I'm sure). 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5763 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 5 of 270 28 December 2011 at 5:36pm | IP Logged |
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Good luck with your rather impressive list this year, Solfrid. I will be following
closely, however I need to be careful because two of the languages you're doing have been calling (or rather screaming) for me for a long time now - Russian and Greek. I shall fend them off for as long as I can manage, but I doubt I'll manage all year. Like Tecktight, I like that Norwegian saying very much, probably because of my strange obsession with stationery; it's very difficult to keep me away from stationery shops! I shall store that saying somewhere in the depths of my dusty little cranium for use or motivation when the need for it arises. Good luck with your Russian especially, I'll be very interested to see how you get on with it. As the name of the Challenge suggests, annihilate it! :) Jack 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6617 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 6 of 270 28 December 2011 at 6:00pm | IP Logged |
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What is this Norwegian saying? I'm not familiar with it. (How embarrassing!)
Good luck with your third try at Russian. I'm not even sure how many tries I've made at Japanese, but I think it's more than three. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5331 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 7 of 270 28 December 2011 at 7:03pm | IP Logged |
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@ M.Medialis: I would love to have someone to share the Greek with, so if your wanderlust takes off, let me know.
@Tecktight: The mere mentioning of Icelandic sent me wanderlusting, and thanks for your kind words! @LanguageSponge: Well if the siren call for Russian and Greek becomes too strong for you, we still have room for you :-) Thanks for the encouragement! @ Brun ugle: It is not technically a saying, it is part of the lyrics of a very famous Norwegian song, called: "Du skal få en dag i mårå" (You'll get a new day tomorrow"). It is a song about hope, new beginnings, and always getting a new chance to set things right. It has helped me so many times in my life, and the line about getting new fresh papers and color crayons has entered the language as a common expression. (Blanke ark og farjestifter tel) The wole refrain of the song goes like this: Refr: Du skal få en dag i mårå som rein og ubrukt står og med blanke ark og farjestifter tel, og kan da kæin du rette oppatt æille feil i frå i går og da får du det så godt i måråkvelll, og om du itte greie det og æilt er like trist så ska du høre suset over furua som sist Du skal få en dag i mårå som rein å ubrukt står og med blanke ark og farjestifter tel RUSSIAN 40 minutes of Anki today. Still happy to see that I remember most of the words. ICELANDIC I have no will power. Once Icelandic was brought up, I could not resist to get a first sniff. Unlike the popular myth (in Norway) that you just add the ending - ur to any Norwegian word, and get an Icelandic one, this was a lot more different than I had expected. I definitely recognized words, but it felt quite foreign. They have some soft vowels, like in Russian, and special signs for diphthongs plus a couple of soft consonants that we do not have. The sentence to say "Would you please speak slowly" was so difficult, that I imagined that if I managed to learn that, I would not need to ask the question anymore. SPANISH AND English I still get lots of English practise every day, plus a bit of Spanish. It is a good thing to have visitors. Yesterday we also had our Greek guest. I did not get to talk to him all that much, because my mother in law went into overdrive and took over 85% of the conversation. We have already decided to invite them again when my parents in law are not around... He and his wife were super nice, but I was a tad surprised that you can study, teach and live in England for years, and still have s strong accent. I guess you need to get there early not to have it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6617 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 8 of 270 28 December 2011 at 7:28pm | IP Logged |
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Aha! Nå skjønner jeg. Blanke ark er jeg selvfølgelig kjent med, men jeg hadde aldri hørt sangen før.
Accents vary greatly. I've known people who've never been outside their own country and almost never spoken to native speakers, who none-the-less have near perfect accents. I've also known people who moved to a new country in their teens, but never learned to speak that country's language without a very thick foreign accent. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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