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Super Challenge Registration/ Update 2012

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emk
Diglot
Moderator
United States
Joined 5530 days ago

2615 posts - 8806 votes 
Speaks: English*, FrenchB2
Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 433 of 656
03 July 2012 at 3:21pm | IP Logged 
I just moved all my progress to the Twitter bot, which
is really cool.

A few notes:

- If I count an episode of a TV series as an entire movie, then I watched it twice
back-to-back.

- I generally count TV episodes as 45 minutes. Dubbed American shows are actually about
42 or 43 minutes, but I tend to rewind a bit.

- For now, I'm going to count bandes dessinées as 20 pages each. In fact,
they're generally about 80 pages, which would give 16 pages if I counted them as manga
or kids books, but (1) I don't want to do the math every time, (2) some of these BDs
are very text-heavy. For example, I just counted 190 words on a page of
Persepolis. So for now I'm counting 5 BDs as a 100-page book.

This gives me 8.4/100 books and 15.5/100 films after two months.

My original plan was to read 25 or 50 books and be happy with that, but thanks to the
new 100 pages = 1 book rule, I'm actually on track to complete the whole challenge.

This finishes my boring update. :-)

Anyway, recommendations:

- The movie Largo Winch is a mindless but fun action flick.

- The Persepolis BDs are extraordinarily good. They tell the story of a young
girl growing up in Iran, living through the revolution, and later moving to Europe.
Lots of good conversational French here.

- The Siegfried BDs are an extremely loose retelling of the Nibelung saga. The
text is relatively short and slightly harder than many BDs, and some of the art is
excellent.

3 persons have voted this message useful



Solfrid Cristin
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2011 & 2012
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5332 days ago

4143 posts - 8864 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 434 of 656
03 July 2012 at 5:43pm | IP Logged 
RUSSIAN UPDATE

FILMS
1. Robin Hood (May 1st)(Russian, no subs)
2. The Jungle Book (May 1st)(Russian, no subs)
3. The Jungle Book 3 (May 5th)(Russian, no subs)
4. Love and other impossible pursuits (Russian, no subs)(May 10th)
5. Letters to Juliet (May 10th)(with Russian subtitles).
6. Water for Elephants (May 12th) (Russian, no subs)
7. The Lincoln Advocate (May 13th) Russian - no subs
8. When in Rome (May 17th) (Russian, no subs)
9. Keinohrhasen June 1st (no subs)
10. Dr. Zhivago - ep. 1-2 of the Russian series.(no subs) June 11th
11. Twilight (English subs)(June 22th)
12. New Moon (no subs)(June 23th)
13. Eclipse (no subs)(June 24th)
14. Dr. Zhivago - ep. 3-4 of the Russian series. (June 25th)

CONVERSATION
1. Conversation (May 1st)
2. Conversation (May 1st).
3. Conversation (May 24th)Week end plans
4. Conversation (May 24th)Plans birthday
5. Conversation (May 26th) Travel plans
6. Conversation (May 26th) Visit from Russia
7. Conversation (May 29th) The place I live
8. Conversation (May 29th) My hobbies
9. Conversation (May 29th) Me
10.Conversation (May 29th) My family
11.Conversation (May 29th) Don't remember, but I had a fantastic time. (A really good bottle of wine and two Russians involved)
12.Conversation (May 30th)Language studies
13.Conversation (May 30th) Spain

READING
1. Appointment with death (AC) May 8th) (280 pages)


GERMAN UPDATE

FILMS (June 15th-18th)
1-6 . Hawaii 5-0 ep. 1-12

NEWEST ITEMS - RUSSIAN

FILMS
15. New Dawn - part 1. (June 26th) I can't wait for the last part - I think it is out in September

CONVERSATIONS

In preparation for my trip to St. Persburg I asked my Russian teacher to put down all books so that I could do conversation only today. For three straight hours...

I was so tired at the end that I hardly knew my own name, but I see tht it is really, really useful. I will do the same on Thursday and Friday.

14. Conversation (July 3rd) "Visa complications"
15. Conversation (July 3rd) "Summer holidays"
16. Conversation (July 3rd) "My languages"
17. Conversation (July 3rd) "My garden and how to make rose jelly"
18. Conversation (July 3rd) "Encounters with HTLALers this summer"
19. Conversation (July 3rd) "Arriving at the hotel"

Also I had a meeting today with a Russian colleague who speaks a beautiful Norwegian. We both want to improve our Italian, so we have decided to get together for lunch now and then to practise. She has also told me not to hesitate to ask her if I need any Russian help, and I think I'll take her up on that.

And @Kanewaii: I am reading Mme. Bovary in French for the Advanced Super Challenge, and I blame it all on you :-)


Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 03 July 2012 at 5:44pm

2 persons have voted this message useful



geoffw
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4686 days ago

1134 posts - 1865 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish
Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian

 
 Message 435 of 656
05 July 2012 at 1:14am | IP Logged 
I'm back, baby! And I leveled up! Details below.

UPDATE - Added Dutch Book Entries 6-8, Dutch Movie Entries 5-9

BOOKS (French)

1. Le Petit Prince

FILMS, ETC. (French)

1. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
2. Despicable Me

BOOKS (Dutch)

1-5. Harry Potter en de Vuurbeker
6-8. De Gave (Odd Thomas, by Dean Koontz)

FILMS, ETC. (Dutch)

1-4. Naar Het Middlepunt Der Aarde (audiobook)
5-9. Naar Het Middlepunt Der Aarde (audiobook, again)

That's not a typo: I counted the same audiobook for 4, and then 5 movies. The first time, I started before the
challenge had begun, so I didn't log the entire time. Getting pretty far in Harry Potter book 1 in Dutch, so I should
finish that soon. I'm probably going to put in a big order of books at bol.com soon, as I'm starting to feel
comfortable reading things I haven't already read in English or German.

My original goal in the half-super challenge for Dutch was to reach B2 reading and listening skills (I had done
minimal study, but my English, German and Yiddish knowledge already put me at about a low B1 in both). Having
put in somewhere around 100 hours of Dutch study since then, I think I've already achieved part of this goal, as I
would now self-assess my reading level as B2. My listening is still safely within B1, but has improved dramatically.
Hooray for the Super Challenge!!!

Getting ready to pick up HP in French again (I've been reading Le Monde and listening to RFI, but not doing
anything for the SC in French), and continuing reading the Song of Ice and Fire series in German.

I am not entered in any Super Challenge for German, but I can also report for my log:

BOOKS (German)

1-3. Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen
NEW: 4-9: Das Lied von Eis und Feuer 01: Die Herren von Winterfell

FILMS, ETC. (German)

NEW: 1-6: Das Lied von Eis und Feuer audiobook 1
1 person has voted this message useful



microsnout
TAC 2010 Winner
Senior Member
Canada
microsnout.wordpress
Joined 5469 days ago

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

 
 Message 436 of 656
05 July 2012 at 3:38am | IP Logged 
Update #18

76/100 Films

Movies
"À vos marques, Party!" (2007)
"Le Vendeur" (2011)

"Bon Cop Bad Cop" (2006)
"Funkytown" (2011)
"20h17 Rue Darling" (2003)
"Polytechnique" (2009)
"Starbuck" (2011)
"Les doigts croches" (2009)
"La grande séduction" (2003)
"Le bonheur de Pierre" (2009)
"Le dîner de cons" (1998)

TV Series
"Apparences" (10 episodes of 45 min)
"19-2", Season 1 (10 Episodes of 45 min)
"30 Vies", Season 1-2 (120 episodes of 22 min)
"Toute la vérité", Seasons 1-3 (50 episodes of 45 min)

****
À vos marques, Party!
Did not like this lightweight teen comedy very much. Too much music for one thing and It confirms what I suspected, that I have
better listening comprehension when I really want to understand a story. The typical concerns of high school students just wasn't
captivating enough. I will certainly be passing on the sequel.

Le Vendeur
Better luck with this one. A small town in northern Québec, the pulp and paper company shut down for almost a year, a cold and
very snowy winter. Marcel, the star salesman at the local auto dealership is 67, widowed and very skilled at moving cars off the lot
but with the local economy in ruins he is pushing a product that few can afford. François, unemployed, his pickup needs a new
transmission, Marcel suggests a new truck. Depressed, he obviously can’t afford the truck. Marcel knows that, and something else
too – that the poor guy is desperate to buy his way out of the blues. The salesman artfully pounces. As conditions deteriorate and
tragedy strikes Marcel personally he is seems to question his life and we see cracks in his constantly cheery persona but in the end
he cannot change. I think the desire to understand some of the nuances in this film kept me trying harder to catch all the dialog.
1 person has voted this message useful



Anya
Pentaglot
Senior Member
France
Joined 5791 days ago

636 posts - 708 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, FrenchC1, English, Italian, Spanish
Studies: German, Japanese, Hungarian, Sanskrit, Portuguese, Turkish, Mandarin
Studies: Ancient Greek, Hindi

 
 Message 437 of 656
05 July 2012 at 4:25pm | IP Logged 
Update: German
Books – 111 pages
- grammar book (1/2-1/5 of pages counted, considering German text only) 29 pages
- “german for 30 days” (1/3 page) 18 pages
-“ Methode90“:Unites 12-18 (1/2 pages) 26 pages
- “Ines meines herzens” 38 pages

films – 295 minutes
- “ Galileo” 60 minutes
-     Other TV watching 145 minutes
-     “Che” 90 minute

writing 0

1 person has voted this message useful



Vārds
Bilingual Diglot
Newbie
Latvia
Joined 4908 days ago

24 posts - 41 votes
Speaks: Russian*, Latvian*
Studies: German

 
 Message 438 of 656
05 July 2012 at 11:03pm | IP Logged 
Finished my third book. "Jung, blond, tot" by Andreas Franz. Although according to amazon.de this book is 512 pages long in paperback edition, my Kindle shows it as 379 pages long (looks like one Kindle page is a bit bigger than a page from a Taschenbuch).
Anyway, as I'm reading on Kindle I counted it as 379 pages.

This book (a criminal novel about mass murder in Frankfurt) was much more easier than previous "Fahrenheit 451", I think because of light genre and quite ordinary language. Or maybe I'm just getting better?

I found that extensive reading helps my passive vocabulary, but I still has to find a way to activate it. For example I can recognize a word for "balustrade" in text, but I'm not able to recall the German translation on the go.
However my Sprachgefühl is getting better - I'm starting to "feel" what sounds right and what just doesn't sound.
2 persons have voted this message useful



prz_
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Poland
last.fm/user/prz_rul
Joined 4857 days ago

890 posts - 1190 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, English, Bulgarian, Croatian
Studies: Slovenian, Macedonian, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Armenian, Kurdish

 
 Message 439 of 656
06 July 2012 at 10:50am | IP Logged 
Finally I've come back to the challenge.

Czech:
Muži v naději (2011)

Bulgarian and Russian:
Ржевский против Наполеона (2012) - nice comedy-parody of Napoleon. I've decided though to stop "cheating" with Bulgarian subtitles - it seems to be completely uneffective to me

Russian:
Рыжик в зазеркалье (2011) 109 minutes - probably my first Belorussian movie ever. Besides, it was nice to watch a film for children audience ;) I've understood pretty much of it, so I'm satisfied.

Btw. - as a part of language freaks forum society, I've also added one more language to my challenge - Swedish. Let's see how I'll cope with 4 languages now.

Edited by prz_ on 06 July 2012 at 11:03am

1 person has voted this message useful



Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4907 days ago

2151 posts - 3960 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German

 
 Message 440 of 656
06 July 2012 at 7:37pm | IP Logged 
emk wrote:


- The movie Largo Winch is a mindless but fun action flick.



Thank you for your recommendations. The DVD's for Largo Winch on amazon.co.uk, and amazon.fr list the film as being in French and English. Any estimate of the percentages?

Also, there seem to be a lot of things titled Largo Winch. There's a 5 disc Largo Winch - partie 1, a 2 disc Largo Winch 1 + Largo Winch 2 which has Sharon Stone in it, as well as another version with Kristen Scott Thomas. Which one did you see?

EDIT: I just found a 10 disc version on amazon.fr, which lists French as the only language. I'm assuming we have a case of French TV series vs Hollywood film?

Edited by Jeffers on 06 July 2012 at 7:39pm



1 person has voted this message useful



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