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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 65 of 96 24 March 2011 at 9:59pm | IP Logged |
@Medialis
Cheers, mate - I'm already feeling a bit better! :)
And I'm still chuckling with the thought of you counting kitchen utensils in Japanese this evening...just wait till you get round to ordering a round of beers and takoyaki in an izakaya, that's when the real fun begins. ^u^
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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 66 of 96 24 March 2011 at 10:14pm | IP Logged |
Teango wrote:
@Medialis
Cheers, mate - I'm already feeling a bit better! :)
And I'm still chuckling with the thought of you counting kitchen utensils in Japanese this evening...just wait till you get round to ordering a round of beers and takoyaki in an izakaya, that's when the real fun begins. ^u^ |
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HAHAHHAH. Laughing Out Loud!! (o^^o)
I can picture myself there with my current Japanese, starting to do a brute-force attack in order to come up with the right counter: えと。 HELLO. I。。。。lik e。。。。。。。六丁。。、NO....六 服、..NO..六編成NO..六品NO. . *goes on for a while, and then resort to pure sign-language.*
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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 67 of 96 27 March 2011 at 10:13pm | IP Logged |
@Medialis
Lol...is it long, flat, broad, a container, fish (and if so, what type of fish?)...arghhh, chotto matte...after 10 minutes of looking through my Minna no Nihongo counters, I'm simply staving and parched now! Just give me that damn plate of squiddy dumplings, a pint of the good stuff, and a cool face towel to hide my embarrassed gaijin face in...onegaishimasu!! ^o^
Edited by Teango on 27 March 2011 at 10:18pm
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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 68 of 96 30 March 2011 at 11:18pm | IP Logged |
Nu, pogodi! - Day 21
Study-and-click: 1.6 hours (74 total)
Current text: Евгений Замятин, "Мы"
New words clicked whilst listening and reading: 98 (4,886 total)
New words clicked whilst listening only: 88 (4,164 total)
Current estimated reading level: B1
The power of procrastination is strong in this one!
Yes, it's amazing just how creative you can get when you don't want to do start something. I even ended up sorting out boxes of pens by colour and fixing shelves that didn't need fixing, Heaven help me!.
The strange thing, however, is that once you DO start (even if the intention is just to touch base with a language for 5 minutes), it's actually so much easier and more fun than anticipated.
In fact, I found myself enjoying the little session so much, that before I knew it, 5 minutes had already turned into an hour or more.
Edited by Teango on 31 March 2011 at 9:36am
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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 69 of 96 31 March 2011 at 10:21pm | IP Logged |
Nu, pogodi! - Day 22
Study-and-click: 3.3 hours (77.3 total)
Current text: Евгений Замятин, "Мы"
New words clicked whilst listening and reading: 307 (5,193 total)
New words clicked whilst listening only: 246 (4,410 total)
Current estimated reading level: B1
A few observations whilst studying today...
I often find it's much easier to think directly in Russian now rather than translate into English, especially when I've really internalised the words over time. It's as though I initially link a foreign word to its meaning via the English word that's already in my head, but at some point later down the line, I no longer need this middle man and can connect word and meaning lightning-fast and with ease. The picture and all those other sensations that the word evokes just pop into my head on cue. :)
Another thing I've noticed is that the current author I'm reading (Zamyatin) often mirrors word roots and alliterates throughout his paragraphs, but it's only now that I've picked up a bit more vocabulary and structure, that I'm starting to see beyond basic grammar patterns and get a better glimpse at his writing style.
This flair doesn't really come across in the translation so much though, especially as English and Russian rhythm and rhyme rarely coincide that much. For example, the original Russian text (with its relatively free word order and inflected endings) may emphasise one adjective over another for dramatic effect and place the noun towards the end, or often mirror another similar word encountered earlier in the text to draw up an allusion, simply by placing this adjective first in a phrase; whereas in English, word order is more strict, and the translator may choose a phrase that simply flows and sounds more natural, with the adjectives placed in reverse order, the noun in a predictable position, and these allusions removed.
Russian words themselves are not always so easy to translate across either, and some are just better learnt off initially as a block phrase (with the intention of eventually getting a feel for how Russians really use them later). For example, the syntax in "не стоило бы и читать" (it just wouldn't be worth reading) and "они не успеют" (they won't have enough time) are a bit harder to initially get your head round if you're an English speaker.
And one final piece of news to round off the day...my new Russian grammar book "Грамматика русского языка в иллюстрациях" (Russian Grammar in Illustrations) has arrived! Everything seems to be explained in clear and easy Russian, and most importantly, it's complete with loads of pictures on every page too (actually, that's the real reason I bought it (lol) ^u^ ). I won't be using this resource just yet, but I'm eagerly looking forward to diving in and splashing about at a later stage when I'm ready to read without audio.
Edited by Teango on 01 April 2011 at 10:39am
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| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6145 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian
| Message 70 of 96 31 March 2011 at 11:48pm | IP Logged |
Teango wrote:
And one final piece of news to round off the day...my new Russian grammar book "Грамматика русского языка в иллюстрациях" (Russian Grammar in Illustrations) has arrived! Everything seems to be explained in clear and easy Russian, and most importantly, it's complete with loads of pictures on every page too (actually, that's the real reason I bought it (lol) ^u^ ). I won't be using this resource just yet, but I'm eagerly looking forward to diving in and splashing about at a later stage when I'm ready to read without audio. |
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This sounds like an interesting book, but I don't quite understand what sort of illustrations a grammar book would use or how it would use them. After you have the chance to look through it a bit more could you possibly give us a short description or an example. Большое спасибо!
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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 71 of 96 01 April 2011 at 10:49am | IP Logged |
@ellasevia
Sure...I've now added a link to my previous post (Day 22) that displays a few sample pages. What I like about this beginner-intermediate level grammar book is that it's all in relatively easy-to-read Russian (which will be ideal during my activation and immersion stage, when I'd like to avoid using English as much as possible), and even if I don't quite understand some words here or there, I've still got the pictures as backup! :)
Edited by Teango on 01 April 2011 at 10:51am
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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 72 of 96 01 April 2011 at 8:22pm | IP Logged |
Nu, pogodi! - Day 23
Study-and-click: 2.5 hours (79.8 total)
Current text: Евгений Замятин, "Мы"
New words clicked whilst listening and reading: 234 (5,427 total)
New words clicked whilst listening only: 209 (4,619 total)
Current estimated reading level: B1
I was sorely tempted to claim basic fluency in Russian for APRIL FOOLS' DAY (wishful thinking, eh)... ;)
I did manage a couple of hours though. And I think marking off each day I spend at least 5 minutes actively studying Russian on my new wall calendar, and trying not to "break this chain", is starting to pay off...
Edited by Teango on 03 April 2011 at 9:28pm
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