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Russian and Greek, TAC2014 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4643 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 41 of 99 09 April 2013 at 4:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have given a boost to my motivation for studying Greek: We have decided to return to Crete in July for a week, and today I have confirmed my booking. So my Greek study material is now on the top of my desk and will be my main focus over the next three months.
It does not mean that I will stop with Russian, but so far I have spent a lot more time on Russian than on Greek. At least for the near future the balance will shift markedly to Greek. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4614 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 42 of 99 09 April 2013 at 5:23pm | IP Logged | ||
You too, eh? That's exactly how I've been feeling lately. I guess I'm not the only one looking for a spring fling with other languages; and I've also been listening to Catalan lately. I'm sure you'll/we'll get over this demotivation spell soon enough. A trip to Crete is certainly nice motivation! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4643 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 43 of 99 23 April 2013 at 5:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi embici, finally spring has come to France as well. I don't know whether that is the reason for my wanderlust, which started when it was still miserable and cold outside, but longer and sunnier days aren't necessarily the best thing for concentrating on languages.
I have been to Valencia for a week, and although I took the opportunity to flirt with Catalan/Valencian, I have made relatively good progress in Greek. I am working my way slowely through the lessons of the Langenscheidt course. I have spent a lot of time on lesson five, not least with the vocabulary, as it introduces the names of food products. I think it will take me a lot of effort to remember all the words for different meats, fish, dairy products, fruits and vegetables. Some of them are easier than others, because you recognise their congates in other languages, like ντομάτα, σπανάκι and μπανάνα, but others do not resemble anything in other languages, or if they do, they mean something completely different. However, as this vocabulary will be useful (hopefully) when I go to Crete, I would like to internalise as much as possible of it. As regards the grammar I don't have too much trouble with it so far. Most of it seems pretty logical and regular. I guess there are surprises waiting for me, but compared to Russian it seems relatively straightforward. Talking about Russian, I have not done very much with it lately. I have completed a few exercises in lesson 3 of Colloquial 2, I have revised some irregular verbs and I have listened to a few Assimil lessons, but that's about it. My "strategy" for the next couple of months is to work as much as I can on Greek, as a build-up to my Crete trip. Of course I will not reach a level by July that will allow me to converse in Greek, but at least I want to have a good base and as much vocabulary as possible in order to "surprise" my Greek interlocutors. Although my experience is that most Cretans speak excellent English, (and some even good Scandinavian) hopefully I will meet someone who is patient enough to listen to my torturing of their language:-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4643 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 44 of 99 11 June 2013 at 11:20am | IP Logged | ||
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I haven't been updating this log for a very long time, which I sort of feel bad about. However, it does not mean that I haven't been studying since April, although not as intensively as I would have liked. I have had a hectic few weeks, and I've been travelling a lot, both for work and privately. On the one hand that is bad, because it upsets the regular daily routine, but on the other hand those hours spent on flights and trains have been very well spent on language studies.
I still work on the Langenscheidt GREEK course, but at slow speed. I like the course, but it must be said that they introduce a lot of grammar in each lesson. Already in lesson 7 they start with the aorist, there is one shortish text and one longish dialogue, both texts have a lot of aorist forms, so much time have been spent on this. Then in lesson 8 they top it up by introducing the "paratatikós" and the aorist forms of -άς and -είς conjugations. I will soon embark upon lesson 9, which is dedicated to the subjunctive. As I have not used other Langenscheidt courses, I cannot tell if this is their general approach. It certainly is "gründlich und systematisch", as it says on the cover. Whether it actually takes you to a B1, I have my doubts. (At least when it comes to active skills like taking part in a conversation.) I should probably add some other material as well. I might pick up Assimil again, but then I will probably skip the first 20 lessons or so, especially with regard to the audio, which I found terribly slow and kind of unnatural. As for RUSSIAN, I have not been able to do a lot over the last month, except revising some grammar and reading a few odd articles from internet newspapers. I sometimes use Google to translate words or expressions, but the results are not always reliable. I trust my Oxford Russian Dictionary more than I trust Google. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4643 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 45 of 99 17 June 2013 at 3:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have been a few days to Sofia, Bulgaria. For some, perhaps ironic reason, it has really given new boost to my studies of RUSSIAN. I guess the sight of street signs and posters in Cyrillic contributed, as well as discovering that I could understand quite a few words here and there thanks to my Russian.
On the flight back from Sofia I worked on lesson 5 of Colloquial 2, which is about sport. There is an interview with the manager of a fitness club and an article from Аргументы и Факты about extreme sport in Moscow. The article is quite interesting, it deals mainly with how young mountain bikers find ways to practise their sport in central Moscow, not always appreciated by the authorities. The grammar part of the lesson is mainly dedicated to the superlative, the prepositions С, от and из, and verbs taking dative. There is also a useful paragraph on identifying the stressed syllable. I still have to do most of the exercises of this lesson, and will try to find time this week to do so. As regards GREEK, I also did a little bit during my travel, mainly focusing on learning aorist forms of a number of verbs. I feel my greatest "black hole" in Greek at this early stage (about five montsh of study) is a very limited vocabulary. I need to work harder on learning words. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4362 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 46 of 99 19 June 2013 at 12:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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You will leave crete with much progress I expect. The accent might confuse you a bit, as it is very strong, but don't mind that. Pick up whatever you can and remember, if all else fails, use expressions and body language (try to notice and imitate those). Avoid English, and try to use greek even if you only know two words out of a full sentence.
Oh, and learn how to dance. Or just dance without really knowing the steps. You'll have the time of your life. Don't let them get you drunk though. They will keep inviting you to another glass, and another... My dad is a cretan, so trust me on these :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4643 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 47 of 99 19 June 2013 at 2:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the tips, renaissancemedi. My experience last time in Crete was that many people speek really good English, so it might be hard to avoid it, especially as my Greek is still at a very basic level. But I'll do my best and I hope the Cretans are patient people who will value my effort to say something meaningful in Greek.
Yes, I remember very well that Cretans are very hospitable, and there was always a small bottle of raki or ouzo for free after each meal. We are going to stay in a very small village a bit off the tourist track. It has just one taverna, so I hope to become acquainted with the owner/chef/waiters there and share a few glasses with them... But I'll try not to let them "drink me under the table", as we say in Norway. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4643 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 48 of 99 18 July 2013 at 3:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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A month since last time I posted in this log! Time goes fast. In fact, I have been extremely busy at work the last month, as my line manager managed to break a leg and I had to take on many of his tasks.
Nevertheless, I have focused on Greek in the little time I have available for studying, and advanced somewhat more in my Langenscheidt course. However, I do see that I need to add other resources not least in order to expand my vocabulary, which is still painfully basic. I have also gone back to Assimil, but skipped the first 15 lessons, which I more or less did early this year, but which I found extremely boring. And on Sunday I am off to Crete... I do not at all feel that I am at a level where I can converse meaningfully with the native speakers, but at least being in a Greek environment will be a great boost to my learning, and I'll do my best to have small conversations in Greek. Having decided to focus on Greek, I have had very little time for Russian, but from time to time I have done a short Assimil lesson and some listening just to "keep in touch" with the language. Now that I will have a few weeks of work I will also do some serious Russian study again to get back on track. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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