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TAC 2013, Teams Mir & Lugus, Teango | ||
Tags: Hawaiian | Creole | Gaelic (Irish) | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Japanese | Russian | German | French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5556 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 1 of 38 13 December 2012 at 1:55am | IP Logged |
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Let me start preparing for 2013 by offering up my own little introduction for any new members or enquiring souls. My username is Teango. I orginally chose this handle as a combination of teanga (Irish: language) and "tengo" (Spanish: I have), but which my good friend Medialis has wisely pointed out is probably just a subconscious reflection on my predilection for drinking a cup of tea before I go and study any language (i.e. tea 'n' go). ;)
In a parallel universe, I go by the strange name: Mark. I also have 2 halves to my persona, much like an infamous rogue you might know from one of Robert Louis Stevenson's stories. By day, I'm a PhD candidate at the University of Hawai'i, where I work part-time teaching courses in Second Language Studies, and maybe even on a good day, inspiring beautiful new minds; by night, I'm a language loon who likes to study 7 languages at a time, and lives for overhearing conversations in foreign languages on the street, or leaping out enthusiastically on unsuspecting cultures in cafés. I have a wonderful Russian wife, who must have the patience of Job to still put up with my shameful attempts at Russian every blue moon, and I'm probably one of only a small handful of Brits (or even Europeans for that matter) resident on the island; most of the surrounding community here being Japanese, Filipino, Korean, or Chinese, and most signs on my touristy side of town painted largely in kanji (which for a language enthusiast like me is a heaven-sent fortune cookie! :D ). I've made it through to the end of all 3 TAC team challenges so far (2010-2012), which is always a great feeling of accomplishment, and Russian and German have featured consistently amongst my main study languages. I spent most of my time on Spanish and German in 2010, toying with Swedish and Russian along the way, but gradually switched my focus over to more Russian and Irish in the years that followed. I like to come up with unconventional projects and challenging notions about language learning to keep me sane in that "other" universe I was telling you about, and remain ever-hopeful that I may even one day complete and realise all of my experiments. I started off my TAC experience with a great team of comrades in 2010 as part of Team K (my TAC log for 2010), eventually stepping in to help manage the larger TAC with one of my fellow teammates Buttons. Then in 2011, I voted to merge with a second team from the previous challenge to form Team KEN (i.e. Team K + Team EN, otherwise known together as the plastic consort and proud beau of Barbie; here's my TAC log for 2011). And given the close extended family alliance with Team Ohana that developed on the sidelines in 2011, it was a natural step to join forces with Cristina (Solfrid Cristin) the following year in 2012, and build new friendships with other cool linguanauts to form Team Sputnik together (my TAC log for 2012). I'm particularly over the moon that Medialis has joined Team Mir this year (which means that we get to journey through all 4 TACs together, which I guess must be some kind of record here), and that three of the original members of Team K (aloysius, Medialis, and myself) are working together again and sharing our experiences in learning Russian for this challenge. I'm also happy to be on the same team as Cristina again for 2013 (Team Mir), who has been a guiding light throughout both this and the previous year's challenges and who kept us all in orbit, and I'd like to also mention tarvos for all his Buck Rogers (or perhaps Han Solo) shenanigans in keeping our Russian team on a safe homeward-bound trajectory. There are of course many other inspirational team members that deserve a mention here, but I fear typing any more in this post may lead to an introduction of epic essay-size proportions. So let me just say instead that Team Sputnik has been both a fun playground of ideas, and a steady space-dock for supportive members with shared interests, and as I think I said in a previous post elsewhere already, it's great to see so many familiar faces in the team for next year as well as new. And now that our little Russian team satellite has grown into a fully-fledged space station, I can only try and imagine what next year will bring in terms of creative new concepts and overarching group dynamics and flow. I'm also delighted to announce that the TAC will be host to its first Celtic Team ("Clan Lugus") in 2013, and am excited to join several other learners of Celtic languages this year! Between us, we'll be journeying along the ancient and magical living shores of Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Breton, and sharing our experiences and discoveries on the high seas with anyone interested on the forum. I've watched reineke's original proposal for the TAC grow from small individual challenges, through team challenges of 4 members or so, to much larger teams of 15-20 members. I've also born witness to a fascinating evolution of ideas between forum members, from timed Twitterbot challenges to group Skype sessions (I recall the former was originally Sprachprofi's idea, and the latter was Tecktight's). So whatever the TAC has in store for us all in 2013, it's a privilege for me to be a part of it and these two teams, and to join all of you, both fellow explorers and observers, for the big ride again. Edited by Teango on 05 December 2013 at 8:32pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5766 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 2 of 38 13 December 2012 at 2:33am | IP Logged |
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Hi Teango,
Well, I must say that that was one of the most enjoyable introductions to anything I've ever read. I've been active on here for a bit less time than you have even though I've been a member for a while longer, but the only Challenge I ever really participate in or paid any attention to is the TAC - so I knew nothing about the rise of the Twitter challenges or who suggested them in the first place, nor did I have any clue who originally suggested the Skype conversations. Being a history nut as well as mad about languages, it was nice to read your take on part of the forum's history. I cannot imagine the forum without the Twitter challenges, the 6 week challenges, the existence of Skype conversations or the massive teams we have for the TAC now. I also found your quiet references to Space a little inspiring and somewhat amusing - "over the Moon" and a reference to the awesome Space Smuggler who is Han Solo from Star Wars, as well as reference another universe :) The word "linguanaut" also put a smile on my face. See you over with Team Mir and I wish you the very best of luck with TAC 2013 in both our wonderful Russian-oriented team and the Celtic team. Seeing the Celtic Team around almost makes me a little sad - I wish I had kept my childhood language of Welsh, but alas, I didn't to any respectable degree. Jack 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 5556 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 3 of 38 13 December 2012 at 2:47am | IP Logged |
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@LanguageSponge
Thanks for the kind comments, comrade, and remember, it's never too late to climb back on that Welsh wagon. ;) Edited by Teango on 13 December 2012 at 2:51am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5967 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 38 13 December 2012 at 3:01am | IP Logged |
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Is it possible that lowly Uli, the charming little red snail from your Trans-Russian log, might reappear at some time? I have been worried about him. Surely he's still out there . . . perhaps he could make a special appearance? Please? I liked him.
And - of course! - best of studies to you and your comrades! 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 5556 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 5 of 38 13 December 2012 at 3:30am | IP Logged |
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@meramarina
Uli Ulikta is alive and well, and will indeed be making a special guest appearance in the 2013 TAC challenge! He's been munching on cabbage leaves left over from the last bucket of квашеная капуста, and is ready to wander onwards once again through novel Russian countryside in search of any trackside tasty pasture. However, with 10 languages to contend with next year, his pace via the Trans-Siberian Express may well be more snail-some. ;) Edited by Teango on 13 December 2012 at 3:31am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4707 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 6 of 38 13 December 2012 at 9:11am | IP Logged |
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Linguanaut makes me think of French "internaute" (which is, as I once remarked during
French class, an excellent word". Good luck, Teango! May these shores safely carry you home. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5334 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 7 of 38 13 December 2012 at 9:23am | IP Logged |
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Fantastic intro as always, teango! I will as always follow your log with great interest (and with lots of laughs)
and I am so happy to have my big little brother with me on this third Russian TAC team that I am on, it would not have been the same without you. Interesting also to learn more about Irish through your log! Here's for a great 2013 ( sounds of the popping from a bottle of pink Russian champagne )... 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 5556 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 8 of 38 18 December 2012 at 4:17am | IP Logged |
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@tarvos
Thanks tarvo-risch, I learnt a contemporary French word today (just another 100,000 or so more to go)! @Cristina Pink shampanskoe, and it's not even New Year already *lol*...well, ok, just the one glass then. ;) Edited by Teango on 18 December 2012 at 4:19am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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