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Decoding the Riddle, Mystery, and Enigma | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| jedimindtrick Diglot Groupie United States 8monthsinukrain Joined 5220 days ago 90 posts - 119 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Russian | Message 41 of 92 17 July 2011 at 5:35am | IP Logged |
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Oh, one other thing I found recently that really reverberated with me- this article on language learning with the SHAPAL method.
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| jedimindtrick Diglot Groupie United States 8monthsinukrain Joined 5220 days ago 90 posts - 119 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Russian | Message 42 of 92 01 August 2011 at 11:11pm | IP Logged |
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Some cool links to practice listening skills (if you like trashy reality TV too):
Топ-модель по-русски (Russia's Next Top Model) Холостяк The Bachelor (Ukraine)...they go back and forth between Ukrainian and Russian. I'm moving to Ukraine in 28 days. Got a job, got the visa, got the plane tickets. The city I'm going to be living in speaks as much Russian as Ukrainian, so I plan to keep working on Russian while learning the basics of Ukrainian. If I keep up this blog, it will mean I came up with a plan with some way to measure progress. If I don't post here, it means I'm doing my usual flailing around, attempting and hoping to learn. Let's hope for the former. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jedimindtrick Diglot Groupie United States 8monthsinukrain Joined 5220 days ago 90 posts - 119 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Russian | Message 43 of 92 09 October 2011 at 11:16pm | IP Logged |
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Okay, live from beautiful downtown Ukraine, I'm back at it!
Now I have 3 goals: 1) Improve Russian. Be able to understand more and express myself better and say lots of cute little phrases, like "My hovercraft is filled with eels". 2) Learn basic Ukrainian so I can read signs. The movies here are mainly shown in Ukrainian...I'd love to be able to understand a movie, more or less, but that seems like a pretty hefty goal. I guess I'll settle for reading street signs and basic conversational skills. 3) Keep going with my Spanish, as kind of a "screw you" to days that I get upset with Russian. I don't have any textbooks, so I plan to use mainly: busuu.com, livemocha.com, Transparent Language's Free Ukrainian kit and one Minute Ukrainian from Radio Lingua. I hope to subscribe to Showtime Spanish (highly recommend it after trying it out via a friend this summer!) and Newstime Spanish when I have the funds to do so. Also, I want to go through the 250 saved emails I have from about.com's Spanish Language newsletter, dating back to, uh, 2008. My days are filled with English, either teaching class or lesson planning, but I hope to set up some kind of formal language exchange soon. Or, bloody hell, at least talk to my boyfriend in Russian! You wouldn't think it'd be that difficult but we never do this. Anyways, I'm really excited to be committing to these new goals! I plan to check in here once a week with some hard data. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| jedimindtrick Diglot Groupie United States 8monthsinukrain Joined 5220 days ago 90 posts - 119 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Russian | Message 44 of 92 03 November 2011 at 2:16pm | IP Logged |
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Almost a solid month later..... not sure if my Russian improved at all this month, as the fiancé arrived and my lazy self lets him do most of the talking in public. In fact, I can't even think of any new words I learned! Argh....
A new school semester is starting and I really don't want to end up in such an absurd situation again- living in the country of my dreams, ostensibly to learn Russian, but speaking only English! I might get some free Russian lessons thru work this time around, but I think I really need to step up the efforts at home. Lesson planning feels pretty overwhelming a lot of the time, but even if I just put in 20 minutes a day of language practice it'll help me advance. At the moment I'm still working through all the about.com Spanish newsletters. I don't find about.com that impressive as far as language resources go- and they don't even have a Russian language section at all!- but I want to get through these emails before I start something new with Spanish. It will hopefully give me a little sense of accomplishment. I've also been slowly going through Busuu.com's B1 Spanish and Russian. Slowly, as in 3 words at a time. It's really cool to write down the Spanish and Russian words next to each other, like mantener = утверждать. Then I just repeat the words/sentences in my spare time, hoping they'll transfer themselves to my brain. Is this a good idea? I'm also working through a Russian textbook the fiancé brought. Need to catch up with another chapter of One Minute Ukrainian too. Uh, Chapter Two. As a matter of fact, I'll go do it right now. Пока! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jedimindtrick Diglot Groupie United States 8monthsinukrain Joined 5220 days ago 90 posts - 119 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Russian | Message 45 of 92 05 November 2011 at 6:21pm | IP Logged |
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This week has been great for catching up with language studies. I delved into Ukrainian more (yeah, a little off target from Russian, but hey). Here are the best resources I've found so far:
Livemocha's Ukrainian course (the native speakers here are really eager to help you!) One Minute Ukrainian - the only drawback is it's all spoken. (I guess that's a plus if you're not familiar with the alphabet.) Ukrainian for Beginners - I will explore this more after finishing with One-Minute Ukrainian Peace Corps guide to Ukrainian As for Russian, I'm just using Busuu's B1 course while keeping the identical Spanish course open in another tab, like I mentioned in the last entry. It's really slow going though, so maybe it would be more effective to study the languages independently. Also, I met a possible language exchange partner through Livemocha. Does anyone have tips on how to do an effective in-person language exchange? Is it better to be strict and set rules (30 minutes in language A, 30 minutes in language B) or is it better to just go with the flow? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jedimindtrick Diglot Groupie United States 8monthsinukrain Joined 5220 days ago 90 posts - 119 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Russian | Message 46 of 92 05 February 2012 at 10:58am | IP Logged |
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Happy 2012, everyone! :) с новом годом! (рисский) з новим роком! (українська)
I've been tidying up my Russian resources folder and here are a couple interesting things I've (re)discovered... Study Ideas for This Year Here is a link to an online library. There are 18 children's books in Russian that you can view and read. There are other languages offered too! Проект Попкорн, basically Mystery Science Theater 3000 in Russian. You Know You Are Russian When.... (tumblr) I like to go through this with a native speaker, because they'll randomly burst out laughing when reading these. It's also a good way to learn some culture and history....for example "You know you're Russian when.... you know what Swan Lake on every channel means." I didn't get this at first, but my boyfriend explained that when the USSR broke up, they showed this ballet on every tv channel at the same time. Beginning Russian Through Film Complete with transcripts and exercises. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5557 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 47 of 92 06 February 2012 at 11:32am | IP Logged |
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Спасибо Джедай и с новым годом! I particularly enjoyed reading through the "You Know You Are Russian When..." site with my girlfriend, which had us both laughing out loud at some of the crazy entries. And it's all so true! Yes, we do have an overabundance of aloe vera plants in our house (she even suggested putting it in my food once - sorry, no way that's going to happen any time soon!). And I've got a funny one to add to the list too: "If your left hand itches, you'll soon receive money; if you're right hand itches, someone will pay you a visit". There are so many little Russian superstitions like this I've learned over the years (as well as bizarre medical tips), it seems never-ending! :)
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| jedimindtrick Diglot Groupie United States 8monthsinukrain Joined 5220 days ago 90 posts - 119 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Russian | Message 48 of 92 06 February 2012 at 8:59pm | IP Logged |
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Привет Тианго! Haha, I hadn't heard that superstition about the itch...although I've heard about what will happen if your nose itches- either you'll be drinking soon or you'll get in a fight. My boyfriend's mom says "Хороший нос, кулак за неделю чувствует." Another one the I wholeheartedly believe in nowadays is the idea that if you wear something inside out, you will be beaten. So many times I've had a bad day and then realized I was wearing a sock inside out accidentally. (I've never actually been beaten though, thank God :P )
Btw, I'd be interested to hear any bizarre medical tips that you've know about. I haven't encountered many of those! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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