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Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5337 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian
| Message 57 of 96 15 March 2011 at 3:47pm | IP Logged |
Good to see you back!
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| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5559 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona
| Message 58 of 96 15 March 2011 at 8:42pm | IP Logged |
Nu, pogodi! - Day 18
Study-and-click: 1 hour (67.2 total)
Current text: Евгений Замятин, "Мы"
New words clicked whilst listening and reading: 116 (4,339 total)
New words clicked whilst listening only: 102 (3,691 total)
Current estimated reading level: B1
@Solfrid Cristin
Spasibo - it's good to be back in the study seat again, even if I have to take things slowly for the time being. :)
Edited by Teango on 15 March 2011 at 8:46pm
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| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6442 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese
| Message 59 of 96 20 March 2011 at 11:47pm | IP Logged |
Teango wrote:
So apologies if I've somehow missed your recent logs or posts, as I'd be really interested to hear about your language plans for this year and how you're getting on.
I also tried to pass you on my email address a couple of times, by the way, but despite putting in a request, it looks like no-one got round to fixing that "full inbox" bug from last year. So if you're still interested, please feel free to drop by Travels with Teango anytime and get in touch there. |
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I've stopped by your blog, but don't see your email address there (although I looked in a hurry).
I haven't been posting much recently. I'd like to become conversational in Spanish sometime within the next few months (probably starting in May); I can get by in it in a pinch, but have done next to no actual studying and definitely don't speak a particularly pure form of it (more of a pidgin of Italian, English, Esperanto, etc, with some basic Spanish vocabulary, sound shifts, and grammar thrown in). I've managed a couple of hour-long conversations in it in the last few months, but they've been embarrassingly far from real Spanish.
My German's slowly improving as well; it's my main language focus at present. I'm now more comfortable reading German than French, which is jarring when I find bilingual labels in those two languages.
Sprachprofi's been trying to convince me to pick up Mandarin as well; she might succeed.
Aside from that, I'm traveling a lot and pursuing some of my non-language hobbies.
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| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5559 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona
| Message 60 of 96 21 March 2011 at 10:12pm | IP Logged |
Nu, pogodi! - Day 19
Study-and-click: 2.2 hours (69.4 total)
Current text: Евгений Замятин, "Мы"
New words clicked whilst listening and reading: 187 (4,526 total)
New words clicked whilst listening only: 159 (3,850 total)
Current estimated reading level: B1
Studying certainly has its ups and downs. There are those warming and encouraging moments whilst reading a Russian novel, for example, when I find myself circling upwards for a small stretch on a thermal of familiar words and phrases. Then there are other times when I can't even align a single word for several sentences in a row and I just want to run from my study with arms windmilling in dismay. The secret seems to be to try and glide from thermal to thermal where I can, and just flap like a mad goose for the rest of the time and aim not to hit the ground.
Even though I'm fully aware that it can take up to twice the amount of time and effort to get to a consistently comfortable reading level with "hard" languages like Russian, this doesn't really help me feel any less frustrated in the meantime. The terrain is tough, and I start to question my journey. I feel a bit better, however, when I see how every small step so far through my current Russian no man's land has brought me just a little bit further from the initial joys of understanding gist and closer to that sublime foreign front where people kick off their shoes, sip sangria, and lounge blissfully in a good read.
2 persons have voted this message useful
| darkwhispersdal Senior Member Wales Joined 6043 days ago 294 posts - 363 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Ancient Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Latin
| Message 61 of 96 21 March 2011 at 11:56pm | IP Logged |
Glad to see you up and about with your studying. On a side note did you find your wanderlust go into overdrive when you're ill? Mine led me to buy TY Complete Arabic and Beginner's Hindi when I had a severe cold.
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| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5559 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona
| Message 62 of 96 22 March 2011 at 1:40pm | IP Logged |
@Volte
Buena suerte with getting your Spanish up to a more comfortable conversational level over the next few months. That's something I'd like to do myself once I've made some half-decent progress in Russian and Irish first (shame on me for having let things slide since last summer!). The great thing I find about Spanish is the general vitality and passion of people you get to meet. In my small experience with traveling and more lately getting into Latin-American dance, Spanish-speaking people have been very open and a real joy to get to know.
@darkwhispersdal
Haha...I won't deny that the thought hadn't crossed my mind once or twice. Perhaps it was just the fever, but I was even thinking of buying a course on Old English and learning some Navajo at one point.
Edited by Teango on 22 March 2011 at 1:43pm
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| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5559 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona
| Message 63 of 96 22 March 2011 at 10:26pm | IP Logged |
Nu, pogodi! - Day 20
Study-and-click: 3 hours (72.4 total)
Current text: Евгений Замятин, "Мы"
New words clicked whilst listening and reading: 262 (4,788 total)
New words clicked whilst listening only: 226 (4,076 total)
Current estimated reading level: B1
Russian has a very relaxed word order in comparison to languages like English. This is why having some basic knowledge of Russian morphology and being able to recognise different classes of word really helps when first aligning a translation. I was lucky enough to already know some basics when I started, so it's hard to predict what would have happened if I'd never glanced through a few pages of grammar beforehand. All the same, it's fair to add that I've picked up a surprisingly large hoard of grammatical patterns on my own just through being curious about the text I'm reading and jotting down the odd note or question in my logbook for looking up at a later date. This curiosity feels very natural on the whole, and every time I guess something new about Russian grammar and can apply it successfully to other examples further on in the text, it feels like I've discovered and brushed down some priceless treasure in my own personal archeological dig.
Edited by Teango on 22 March 2011 at 10:34pm
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| M. Medialis Diglot TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member Sweden Joined 6360 days ago 397 posts - 508 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Russian, Japanese, French
| Message 64 of 96 24 March 2011 at 8:58pm | IP Logged |
Teango wrote:
The terrain is tough, and I start to question my journey. |
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Don't worry pal, whenever you're in doubt, remember that I don't question your journey at all! :D
I recall Khatz said this somewhere:
"Don't worry about all the unknowns words. If you knew them all, there wouldn't be anything left for you to learn!".
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