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Tags: Using Foreign Languages | Living Language | Catalan | Romance Languages | Latin | Russian | German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4637 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 57 of 109 13 June 2014 at 2:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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Back after a month, and what a month! Pretty bad language-wise, pretty good in many other ways.
I just "closed down" my Russian and Greek TAC log, and I do not intend to post anymore over there. It does not mean I have given up on those languages though, I am very much studying Russian, and I intend to pick up Greek again at some point. However, rather than keeping two logs which I update very seldom, I have decided just to use this one and include any interesting update on Russian (and Greek) here. I also consider myself to be out of TAC, as I think the next few weeks and even months will be very busy and I will not be able to be very regular with my "serious" language studies. During the last month, I have been keeping up Romansh with reading and listening to Radio Rumantsch, and I've done some reading in Catalan, Latin and German. I cannot claim to have done anything serious though, that's why I do not consider the last weeks as very productive. There is also an elment of wanderlust, I am secretly attracted to Romanian... Anyway, I'll soon come back and start writing again in Romansh, Spanish, French, Italian or whatever I feel like next time I post here. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4637 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 58 of 109 28 August 2014 at 5:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have been more or less absent for three months. I think I suffered from language learning fatigue and I just didn’t feel like logging into HTLAL at all. So I decided to take a break from the forum. However, I have been engaging with languages and studying Russian on a regular basis during this time – but only when I felt like it and with a slightly different approach. Now that I have charged my batteries I do want to engage with the forum again, so here is a quick update on what I have been up to language-wise over the last few weeks.
Norsk: I mai fylte jeg 50 og det ble behørig feiret på norsk vis. Flere gamle venner fra Norge og tre av mine søsken tok turen til Frankrike for å være med i feiringen, og det satte jeg stor pris på. En av gavene jeg fikk var to bind med dikt av Carl Michael Bellman, som levde i Stockholm på 1700-tallet og er etter min mening en av Sveriges største diktere. Det kan av og til være en utfordring å lese Bellman, svensk på 1700-tallet er forståelig, men en del ord og uttrykk dukker opp som ikke lenger brukes i moderne svensk. Man gjør seg jo sine tanker når man når en viss alder, men som min 85-årige far sa: Det er bedre å bli 50 enn ikke å bli 50! French Cet été j’ai fait beaucoup de kilomètres en voiture. D’abord nous sommes allés une semaine au sud de France, où on a visité Avignon, Arles, la Camargue, Sète et Argelès-sur-Mer. J’ai beaucoup aimé la Camargue, parc naturel régional de grande beauté. Pendant ces jours en Provence et Languedoc-Rousillon, j’ai lu le roman « les Désorientés » d’Amin Maalouf. J’estime beaucoup les livres de Maalouf, ses romans historiques sont très beaux, par exemple Samarkand ou Léo l’Africain, mais je trouve aussi que les essais qu’il a écrits, notamment « Identités meurtriers » et « Le dérèglement du monde » sont fort intéressants. Dans son dernier roman, il s’est inspiré de sa propre jeunesse pour créer l’histoire d’un homme exilé qui retourne au Liban à cause de la mort d’un ancien ami. Je recommande fortement ce livre. Català Desprès de la França vam anar a Tossa de Mar, un poble català a la Costa Brava. No he parlat gaire català, perquè estava amb la meva dona que no parla català tot i que és de Valencia, i junts parlem sempre espanyol. Ara, vaig comprar un llibre en català de Lluis Llach. Llach és conegut sobretot com a cantautor, però en 2011 va publicar la seva primera novel•la , “Memòria d’uns ulls pintats”. He començat a llegir-lo i de moment m’agrada. És la història de quatre amics que creixen junts al barri obrer de la Barceloneta en la primera meitat del segle XX. Español: Luego hemos ido a Valencia, pero no nos quedamos en la ciudad, sino en una pequeña urbanización a 40 kilómetros de la capital, cerca del pueblo de Sueca. Allí he disfrutado de no hacer casi nada sino tomar el sol, bañarme, comer, beber y leer. Pude dedicar muchas horas al ruso en esas dos semanas, pero la gente me miraba un poco raro cuando saqué mi Kindle y mi diccionario ruso y me puse a estudiar en la playa. Sin embargo, como vamos allí casi todos los veranos, los vecinos ya saben que soy “el noruego raro que sabe muchas lenguas”, así que no me molestaba. De Valencia fuimos a un pequeño pueblo en la Sierra, cerca de Salamanca, para un evento familiar, y de allí ya de vuelta a Alsacia. Romontsch sursilvan: Jeu continueschel a leger cudischs sin romontsch ed a tedlar Radio Romontsch. Ei dat buca bia “e-books” sin romontsch, aber jeu hai anflau in, “La stria da Dentervals”, in roman historic da Hubert Giger. Igl ei in tec grev da leger, il lungatg ei cumplex cu in vocabulari fetg reh, mo igl ei buna practica. Da l’autra vart haiel jeu era cumprau dus discs cun canzuns romontschas “Top Pop Rumantsch 1 e 2”. Sin quels discs dat ei canzuns da differents cantadurs e gruppas da pop e rock che contan sin surslivan, vallader, putér e surmiran. Jeu hai buca bugen tuttas las canzuns, aber jeu tertgel che las canzuns “Viva tia veta” da Gino Carigiet e “Mund magic” da Conradin Kleiss seigien fetg bunas. Ins po anflar pli informaziun sillas paginas da RTR. Short English summary: In May I turned 50, and as this is a big event in Norway, I had a party with family and friends coming down to France to celebrate with me. It was good, and although I’ve got mixed feelings about reaching this age, I say as my dad: It is better to turn 50 than not to turn 50. Then I went for a long drive this summer, firstly to the south of France visiting several places in Provence and Langedoc-Rousillon. During this time I read the latest novel by Amin Maalouf. From there we went to Spain, first to Tossa da Mar on the Catalan coast, where I bought a novel in Catalan by singer-songwriter Lluis Llach. Then, we spent a couple of weeks outside Valencia on the beach, where I dedicated a lot of time to studying Russian and reading literature in Catalan, French, German, Spanish and Romansh. Finally, we drove over to Salamanca for a family event and then back home to Alsace. As regards Romansh, I am currently reading one of the few e-books that exist in this language. It is rather difficult, as it is a historical novel with a rich vocabulary, but it is quite interesting. I also listen to Romansh pop from time to time, as I have been able to find mp3 versions of two albums called Top Pop Rumantsch. Edited by Ogrim on 29 August 2014 at 11:31am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4637 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 59 of 109 29 August 2014 at 12:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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In yesterday's post I did not go into detail about Russian, but I have worked a lot on it over the summer. Holiday time is great for studying, and after a few weeks of "fatigue" in the spring, I really got into a good study rythm in July and August.
I decided to go back to Colloquial Russian 2 and do all the written exercises I had skipped first time round (with the exception of those where you are asked to answer in English). So during four weeks I spent about an hour each day working through the different exercises from lesson 2 onwards. I think this was very useful, as it made me revise a number of grammar points. I also did the translations, which helped a lot in activating the specific vocabulary linked to the main topic of each lesson: "transport", "mass media", "immigration" etc. Grammar is one thing, but active vocabulary is still my main obstacle in being able to speak Russian well. I have therefore been working on vocabulary as well, and the book "Анекдоты: самые новые и смешные" has been very useful. As the title indicates, it consists of short, fun stories, and the language is quite "colloquial" and straighforward, the way Russians speak, I assume. It has also helped me to discover some gaps in what I consider basic vocabulary, the name of everyday items and concepts in different areas of life. I also try to diversify my reading more and more - I have bought an e-book with religious content to get vocabulary in that field, and I've recently required a book written by a Russian lady living in France called Как жить с французом. It should be an interesting read, seeing how a Russian looks at the French and their culture. The next project on my list is to start writing more in Russian. I hope I will be able to write a few short texts in Russian on this log very soon. In advance apologies for the mistakes I am bound to make:) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4637 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 60 of 109 11 September 2014 at 4:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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Deutsch
Die letzte Woche habe ich ein Buch über die Kanzlerin Angela Merkel gelesen. Also, eigentlich ist es eine Sammlung von Artikeln aus dem SPIEGEL, die in einem „e-book“ versammelt sind. Die Artikel sind ganz gut, und besonders habe ich viel gelernt über die Herkunft Merkels. Zum Beispiel wusste ich nicht, dass sie in Hamburg geboren ist und das ihr Vater, der Pfarrer Horst Kasner, beschlossen hat, nach DDR zu ziehen wenn Angela Merkel nur einige Wochen alt war. Viele Artikel beschäftigen sich mit der DDR-Zeit, aber die Kanzlerin selbst spricht wenig von dieser Zeit, und die SPIEGEL-journalisten haben andre Quelle benutzt um ein Bild von der jungen Merkel zu zeichnen. Man kann meinen, was man will über die Politikerin, aber ich finde dass es wichtig ist ein bisschen mehr über die Person, die genannt ist als der wichtigste Politiker Europas. Català Avui és la Diada, la festa nacional de Catalunya. Vaig llegir en El Periódico de Catalunya que hi haurà milions de persones, vestides dels colors de la bandera catalana, que formaran una V en el centre de Barcelona. Els últims anys, la Diada s’ha convertit en una manifestació d’independentisme, i avui es veuen moltes estelades als carrers de Barcelona i d’altres ciutats catalanes. L’estelada és la bandera, o senyera, catalana amb un triangle blau i un estel blanc, és una bandera no oficial però simbolitza la independència de Catalunya. És clar que el referèndum escocès que hi haurà en una setmana i el desig d’un referèndum a Catalunya son símptomes d’un nou impuls pel separatisme i l’independentisme a Europa. No cal discutir això en aquest fòrum, però observo que, en el cas de Catalunya, la qüestió de la llengua té una gran importància, mentre que a Escòcia no és el cas. (Last week I read a book about the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Actually it is an e-book with articles from the SPIEGEL magazine. I found them very interesting, in particular the ones talking about Merkels background. I did not know before that she was born in Hamburg, but that her father, the Protestant Priest Horst Kasner, decided to move (back) to DDR when she was only a few weeks old. As Frau Merkel does not talk much about her past, the journalists have looked up other sources to give a picture of her life in DDR. Whatever one thinks about the politician Merkel, I think it is good to know a bit more about the person, who is considered by many as the most powerful politician in Europe. Today is “la Diada”, Catalonia’s national day. I just read in a newspaper that there will be millions of people in Barcelona a bit later today, forming an enormous V in the centre of the city. The last few years, la Diada has become a manifestation for independence, and today there will be many “estelades” in the streets of Barcelona and other Catalan cities. The estelada is the Catalan flag with a blue triangle and a white star, it is not official but it has become the symbol of independence. To me it is clear that the Scottish referendum which takes place in a week and the demand for a referendum in Catalonia are symptoms of a new impulse for separatism and independence movements in Europe. This is not the right forum to discuss those questions, but I do notice that in the case of Catalonia, the language question is very important, while this is not the case in Scotland.) Edited by Ogrim on 12 September 2014 at 9:54am 2 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 61 of 109 11 September 2014 at 9:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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Love reading your log:-) ( og velkommen etter med 50-årsdagen - jeg hadde min i forfjor - og hadde en
fantastisk dag). I definitely sympathize with the need for more Russian vocabulary. That is my biggest problem too. :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4637 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 62 of 109 12 September 2014 at 9:52am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks Cristina. Turning 50 wasn't that bad. I really don't feel any different. True, I've gained some weight since May, but that is mainly due to excessive intake of Spanish food and wine this summer:) I think I need to do some exercise to get fit for Christmas.
I've decided I need to practise writing more in Russian, and for that I signed up to Lang-8 this week. Now I ask myself why I didn't do it earlier, it is great! I started out by correcting a few texts in Norwegian in order to earn L-points. Then on Wednesday I posted my first Russian text, and the response was incredible. In just an hour I got eight replies from Russians with corrections to my text. As you can also indicate a second language, I decided to go for Catalan, and yesterday I posted the text that I have written here in this log about the Diada. Yesterday evening I got it corrected (and I've made the necessary changes in the text above). I will certainly try to write very regularly, as I see that you can learn a lot from the corrections done by natives. The Russian text was pretty banal, so I won't bother posting it here. I'll try to work on a more interesting (and challenging) text over the weekend and see how it goes. As mentioned, vocabulary seems to be my main problem, I get the grammar right most of the time. Edited by Ogrim on 12 September 2014 at 9:56am 1 person has 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 63 of 109 12 September 2014 at 10:20am | IP Logged | ||
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Well then you win over me. My grammar is wrong always. That does not stop me from talking, though:-)
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| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4637 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 64 of 109 12 September 2014 at 10:38am | IP Logged | ||
I was referring to writing. When I talk, I also get the grammar wrong a lot of the time, although what mostly stops me from talking is lack of vocabulary. (When I write, I can always look up words in a dictionary, although it slows down the writing process.) I guess writing and speaking are quite different processes, but I do believe that writing a lot can help improve my speaking as well, as new words tend to stick better when I apply them in a written context. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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