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Tarvos - TAC 2015 Pushkin/Scan | ||
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| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 1017 of 1511 23 December 2013 at 2:37pm | IP Logged |
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Am citit Jocul lui Ender în ultime trei zile, și îmi place foarte mult să mă duc la
citirea încă în română, pentru că n-am făcut așa înainte. Și în plus am scris și gândit foarte mult în română. Mai mult decât atât, am descoperit că a citi este cea mai bună metoda pentru a reuși la limbi străine, în particular cele limbi cu care ai puțin experiență deja (în cazul meu, română a făcut parte din viața mea de cam patru ani, chiar totuși n-am vorbit foarte mult). De asemenea, am remarcat că mă lipsesc niște cuvinte din origine turcă sau maghiară, care sunt comun în română, dar nu vorbesc acele limbi (n-am chiar încercat să le învăț). Totuși mi-e clar că am făcut progres în română în 2013 - am început ca un băiețel, dar acuma vorbesc ca un adult, cel puțin uneori, când am timp să mă gândesc înainte de-a vorbi. În cazuri când trebuie să mă descurc mai repede, am ajuns la concluzie că totul merge suficient de bine (se poate spui chiar destul de bine) și am o pronunție destul de clar și înțeles, și un vocabular destul de bogat pentru a-mi exprima fără prea multe greșeli. Mă păcălesc încă din când în când, și am nevoie de un context practic pentru a dezvolta. Dar am cunoscut pe niște români aici sau pe Internet și în acest mod o să mă descurc și cu limba cotidiană. Într-o săptămână, speriați că o să fiu aici un rezumat (în engleză, fără îndoială) despre învățarea mea limbilor străine, și care sunt țelurile programate pentru 2014. Crăciun și Revelion fericit din Țările de Jos, și sper că o să revăd pe dvs. curând. Edited by tarvos on 25 December 2013 at 11:55am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 1018 of 1511 24 December 2013 at 1:40pm | IP Logged |
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2013: A Summary of the TAC
I've taken part in two TAC teams, namely MIR and Lugus, this year. In their interest, I shall provide a summary and overview not only of my results in my TAC target languages in 2013, namely Russian and Breton, but I will give a general overview of how my skills have changed, which languages I have worked intensively with, what my results and flaws have been, and so on. Scroll down and you will find Russian or Breton if you are my former team-mate - and if you're interested in another language of mine, like Swedish, it's also down below - in the order of when I started to learn them. I am leaving out Dutch and English for obvious reasons, so I'll start with French. French I think this is a language which I haven't progressed much in in terms of abilities, but what I lack in raw vocabulary input I have made up for in precision. My focus here was on style. You see, French in terms of vocabulary isn't the biggest hurdle - if you have somewhat of a linguistic background most of the words come quickly, and with French it was no different over this past year. I had already achieved something like a B2 level and I am now working on developing C1 skills, especially in writing, which is doing wonders for my accuracy and vocabulary use - and what I've noticed is that understanding is easy, but that accuracy is hard. And my accuracy is what is lacking - elegance is now my key attribute to work on. It's about not making it half-right, but right. I am working once every two weeks with a tutor, vulgarising complex scientific subjects into simplified texts, and the past two times it has gone quite well - I already have style and writing experience, so all I have had to do is to transform this into French using the correct grammatical structures. I occasionally blunder with those, but with some training, I can become a quite experienced and good writer in French - especially on scientific topics which is my degree! I would say that I have a solid B2 actively and C1 passively, especially in reading. I am content with my level, but I really need to push it up another notch. Current level: B2 Goal: turn it into a solid C1 by the end of 2014. German German is a constant parameter in my life. It's not bad, it's not particularly good, but it works and has worked for ages. Nothing's really changed. After immersion I get better, after reading I become more accurate. It's not 100% mistake-free and sometimes it's easy to see that I'm Dutch, but it's a language that works. Current level: B2 Goal for 2014: B2 (maintenance) Russian Russian is one of the languages which transformed itself from an ugly duckling into something resembling a teenage duck. It goes off on random tangents but it usually gets the idea across well and is capable of understanding the larger part of what you say. The really big success here has been in speaking and oral comprehension which has skyrocketed in the first part of 2013, especially thanks to immersion in Russia and lots of practice with native speakers. If anything proves the success of immersion techniques and speaking/writing practice, this language is it. My biggest hole is still the literary vocabulary, and I need to read more Russian - but I have completed a few novels in 2013, so it's definitely possible - though tough going. Current level: B2 Goal for 2014: No CEFR goals, but improve in literary and formal register. Swedish My Swedish hasn't changed so much. I really lack listening practice in Swedish, but once I practice a bit it goes up and I don't have problems in 1-to-1 conversations. I can write and read the language well. Current level: B2 Goals for 2014: Obtain a certificate for Swedish B2 Breton I never speak Breton (I've done so once this year) but I've written and read it more regularly, however my skills in Breton are nothing to write home about. I was on the radio, though! That is a highlight of 2013 and a victory for Clan Lugus in my opinion. The idea was to show that Breton is an international language that can have more accents, cultural influences and international relationships than just one with French. As a Dutch person, I am happy to be an ambassador for Breton in this way and show that a pithy Dutch person who's never been to Brittany can also learn Breton. Not that I speak it well, mind. Please don't think I'm a fluent speaker. I'm not. Current level: A2-B1 writing, A1 speaking Goal for 2014: Try and see if I can do some speaking immersion in Britanny in 2014 or 2015., in order for a solid B1 Hebrew Hebrew is an old love of mine. I've been able to cover the basics and I can read albeit slowly, but here my oral skills are much better than my written ones. I haven't studied it in the latter half of 2013 to focus on other things, but the first half of 2014 should mean a return to my beloved Hebrew. I really want to become a fluent Hebrew speaker and 2014 should make this dream come true. Current level: A2 reading, B1 speaking Goal for 2014: B2 Romanian This is the other success story of this year. In 2013, I have learned Romanian to the level where I can converse and read books and literature. I still lack quite a bit of accuracy, but I can write and speak without too much trouble and I am very happy that I have achieved such a level in Romanian. I was originally planning to go to Romania, but I don't know since I haven't heard from the company in a week what is going to happen, and I have other applications going. Even if I don't go, I will continue to improve my Romanian, because it has rapidly become my favourite language lately. Current level: B1-B2 Goal for 2014: solid B2 and fluency Icelandic I have done some introductory lessons of Colloquial, but was unable to retain much except some elementary notions. They will come back in the second half of 2014, because I can't imagine not completing Icelandic - but this language, like Breton, is one where a B1 is good enough if I get there. Current level: A1 Goal for 2014: B1 Korean The newest addition to my ranks and my TAC 2014 language. I have gotten some elementary grammatical notions down, even said a few words, but now it's time to develop automaticity and widen my vocabulary (which is really poor). I don't have to become fluent (but if I do then all the better). It will be a constant in 2014, although I might mix in some other 6WC languages (Hebrew and Icelandic will have one each). Current level: A1-A2 Goal for 2014: a solid B1. Ancient Egyptian I have never studied this. I am planning to dabble in Egyptian over the Christmas holidays and teach myself some hieroglyphs in order to be a good part of team Egyptian. No specific goals, just dabbling Latin Current level: A1 Goals for 2014: Stay dead! Ok, maybe not stay dead, but I won't revive it this year. Spanish A surprise I had this year was that I could construct elementary sentences in Spanish without having formally studied it. Not that I speak it beyond some simple phrases, but I can understand quite a bit (not more than 30% or so though). But I will continue to dabble in speaking it here and there I think. Current level: A1 Goals for 2014: A1 (so that I keep my knowledge) Other Languages Do not be surprised if another language shows up in 2014 out of nowhere. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 1019 of 1511 24 December 2013 at 11:40pm | IP Logged |
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Am terminat cu Jocul lui Ender. Mai caut cărți români (originale sau traduse). Dacă
puteți să-mi recomandați ceva, vă rog scrieți aici, am nevoie de mai mult. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 1020 of 1511 25 December 2013 at 11:58am | IP Logged |
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Before the year ends, I'll probably start Vorbitor in numele morților (Speaker for the
Dead), which is, again, the Romanian translation of an Orson Scott Card novel. The more experience you have with a language, the better, and Romanian is beginning to feel more comfortable in reading. Now in speaking. I also bought Péplum, by Nothomb, in French, because a student was so kind to give me a voucher for Christmas (because I answered his questions outside of class hours all the time). I don't know when that will arrive, but I also have some French to read. I also have some Science et Vie magazines left to read in French, but I'm thinking of saving them for a Tadoku or a 6WCbot spurt. Actually, I just signed up for a Tadoku with French. I wanted Romanian, but Tadoku does not offer it, so I'll do French instead (because I can track that). Edited by tarvos on 25 December 2013 at 12:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 1021 of 1511 28 December 2013 at 12:41am | IP Logged |
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Not been able to study much, sadly, job and life getting in the way...I will restart
Hebrew on January 1st, so stay tuned for more! While I finish Assimil and things. Edited by tarvos on 28 December 2013 at 12:41am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 1022 of 1511 30 December 2013 at 5:15pm | IP Logged |
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My Egyptian book has not come in yet, sadly, so no experimenting over the holidays has
taken place. Instead, I've gone back to L'hébreu today. I haven't used this book since July, so here are some of my observations that I have found while working through three lessons (that I have covered before, namely lessons 50-52) in passive wave format. 1. My grammar is intact Clearly I know the grammar very well, because none of the grammatical structures or tendencies surprise me at all. I know all of these endings and can place them immediately. I have some trouble with Hebrew's future tense, but I had that before I quit Hebrew for a while (I know the principle, but I forget the suffixes/prefixes in 2nd/3rd person). But I haven't forgotten my conjugations or prepositionak conjugations or word order rules, and I remember all the prepositions and the other little things that make Hebrew Hebrew. In other words, given a bit of study on some of my weak points (future tense mostly), I could be up to speed on this within a week. If I make some green sheets sometime then I will certainly be fine, 2. My vocabulary has gone downhill There are plenty of words I do not remember. One word was "post office" which is usually like the first word in textbooks (doar in Hebrew), but I totally forgot it. The bigger problem isn't my actual vocabulary (it's okay) but the active usage of my vocabulary. If I read these words, then it makes a lot of sense - I have forgotten some of them but in general 80-90% is known words. The question is whether I could use them in speech. It is clear that I have forgotten some things, but not enough to say "I don't speak any Hebrew at all", just to say that it's gotten a little worse. This means that my level when I quit must have been pretty okay (and I did a 30-minute check during the mini-marathon - my Hebrew was functional). 3. Active skills My active skills are slow and the fill-in-the-blanks exercises take forever because I keep forgetting how words are spelled in Hebrew. This clearly shows another flaw that I have, which is to prioritize oral conversation over writing in Hebrew. I can speak okay, but if I have to read texts containing more than a few sentences I have to give up and shake my head in disbelief. Reading in Hebrew is still slow and writing is even slower. Which means that in Hebrew, I need to pay a bit of attention to the spoken word (I don't understand everything on the recordings, especially if I don't know the vocabulary) but in general I need to pay attention to my vocabulary in written form and read everything in Hebrew script (one reason I don't like the Assimil so much is it keeps transliterating, which the Routledge course doesn't do). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 1023 of 1511 01 January 2014 at 7:03pm | IP Logged |
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Well. 2014 is here, and welcome to this year's edition of Tarvos brutally slaughtering
languages like it's Odin's backyard. The hacking block contains Korean, Hebrew and Icelandic this year (the languages I want to make the most progress in), whereas I am currently slowly improving French and Romanian as well and maintaining everything else. I've already described my goals, look up a bit, will you? I finally got my copy of L'égyptien hiéroglyphique, c'est parti! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 1024 of 1511 02 January 2014 at 12:04am | IP Logged |
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Here you can see an example again of me studying Hebrew. The translations in Latin script
are obviously in French. The script you probably do not recognise is Hebrew cursive (which is never written joined-up!). This is actually legible, thankfully - taking care to write a bit more slowly helps in my case.  Edited by tarvos on 02 January 2014 at 12:07am 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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