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Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4236 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek
| Message 689 of 812 04 May 2015 at 4:59pm | IP Logged |
So far my consistency challenges have been going good. I am yet to do today's Duolingo and watch something without subtitles, but I am going
to do that. Everything seems easy when it's holiday time :)
What particularly freaks me out when I read in German is that there are loads of vaguely known words I surely have seen before, but haven't
got around remembering what do they mean. I must set up some dictionary, for I miss too much without these words. But the plot still seems to
be somewhat understandable, so maybe I shouldn't freak out too soon.
I also feel need to listen to German. So far songs have been a good source, but having conversed a lot in German in April (and not being able to
continue that - blame my introversy, shyness and lack of guts) I do miss hearing the spoken language. Watching movies could be a way out, I
really enjoyed the sound of the language in Who am I - Kein System ist sicher today, but I don't usually have time for that. I always have
time for audio, but my earphones don't allow me to listen to audiobooks when I go somewhere.
But if this desire doesn't go away I already have books on my phone, ready to be consumed. One of them is by Andreas Eschbach (Ein König
für Deutschland), which is a bit insane since I don't have the text. More realistic for me is to listen to Der Graf von Monte Christo. I
like that book, but it's long even by my standards (which consider Atlas Shrugged to have just the optimal length, hehe).
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| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4236 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek
| Message 690 of 812 07 May 2015 at 5:53pm | IP Logged |
Consistency doesn't seem to be hard to achieve at the moment. I still read a chapter (or two, if the first chapter turns out to be short) of The Stand - Das letzte Gefecht per day, manage
to do something in Duolingo - and I have reached the last three circles there, only reviewing and wondering what to do next afterwards. Or doing the course in Russian. Or polishing stuff with
English for German speakers. Mwahahaha.
I also try to get used to watching something without subtitles in English, and for that I have picked up rewatching (not watching, noo, this is too hard) Doctor Who.
All this takes me about two hours per day, which I, being a lazy bum, can afford almost always. However, sometimes I won't manage to watch stuff without subs (like I did yesterday) or will
just fall asleep during reading (like I did today).
I actually read a lot recently - but in Russian. Firstly I've covered a book called "The Unfinished Revolution" - or, to be correct, a course of lectures mentioned in "The god is not great". Now I
am swallowing "Burned" (or Ausgebrannt) by Andreas Eschbach. I am not amazed by the book, but it's interesting. Even though reading that oil distilling is a process or chemical
decomposition of oil into gas, gasoline, kerosene, propylene (!) makes my eyes bleed. I can tolerate a lot, but this book is about oil and what a mess it can cause. Grrrr!
I should've read something else by him though, because I don't have a German original to read afterwards. But then again, I am not sure if I am actually going to reread this in any other
language.
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| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4236 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek
| Message 691 of 812 08 May 2015 at 5:42pm | IP Logged |
Too soon to tell, but even rewatching Doctor Who seems to have become a bit simpler. I only need to do
some Duolingo and my daily challenge is met yet again.
Of course, some formal studies would work much better, but I have enough formalities at my uni.
A
recording of an English translation of a poem written by Mayakovsky. I can't really read it in Russian
for I know the history behind these words. In English it just blurs, letting me speak free, and, hopefully, not
like a robot.
Edited by Via Diva on 08 May 2015 at 5:42pm
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| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4236 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek
| Message 692 of 812 12 May 2015 at 6:49pm | IP Logged |
I still manage to remain consistent. If only the things I do would be more useful, eh.
Also I've given up on reading without a dictionary. I've rearranged my five possible dictionaries, adding an
English thesaurus, German-English and German-Russian dictionaries. When they both give a result for a
word I need to translate, I feel kinda powerful, being able to access both L1 and L2 to benefit my L3.
And you know what? I bloody had to begin that earlier. Two long years... Be brave, fellow language-
learners, risking here doesn't really cost you anything, but the result can be just amazing.
Also I'm on finish line in Duolingo. I feel a bit like a pupil, leaving school and heading to a university. No
one to guide me, eh :(
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| Clarity Groupie United States Joined 3524 days ago 85 posts - 107 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 693 of 812 12 May 2015 at 7:26pm | IP Logged |
Your owl will be sad to see you go, too. But I'm sure he will be proud of you when you cross the finish line!
Edited by Clarity on 12 May 2015 at 7:27pm
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| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4236 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek
| Message 694 of 812 13 May 2015 at 5:28am | IP Logged |
Yeah...
but, well, I still have to make all the circles golden first, sounds like a good job for the rest of the month :)
Weirdo stuff: I like it more when a male voice is used, and the website seem to have this now. Not sure if it helps me or distracts me, hehehehe.
(yeah, I also like my German dark or romantic, or both)
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| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4236 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek
| Message 695 of 812 15 May 2015 at 1:46pm | IP Logged |
That male voice is also harder to understand sometimes...
Actually I am so not done with Duolingo. I swiped through actual lessons fast, yes, but every time I tried to practice it never was good. If it was on my phone I could end up losing the last heart in the last question - how dramatic is that? - and with the
web version I get to the stage when the same questions are asked all over because I have made an impossible amount of mistakes.
Gotta fix it, and only practising more can help. Today it took me 24 minutes to get 30XP on the website. This process has to get faster. It has to!
Reading is a bit easier with the dictionary. One chapter is not a limit anymore. To read for an hour in the morning before uni while having breakfast and packing up? Not a trouble!
Did I mention I am reading American Gods in English now? I had started it a while back, dropped, started anew and intend to finish it. I wonder how could I drop it. I really do.
I'm afraid I have failed my English consistency challenge. Since I always find time to keep up my German one, this isn't really a lack of time, but motivation. I do want to watch stuff, but I don't really need it that much. You can swap "want" and "need"
there, I don't think much will change.
1 person has voted this message useful
| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4236 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek
| Message 696 of 812 16 May 2015 at 9:50am | IP Logged |
Pros of having a Dr. Who marathon in the end of the semester:
- good anti-depressant
- lots of time to count for 6 Week Challenge
- a valid reason to try to make sense of David Tennant's super fast speech, get used to tries and maybe succeed sometime
- getting to know the series even better might helps future rewatching in German
Cons:
- just a month before exams start
- so much time that I could use to watch/ read/ do something I haven't seen/ read/ done before
????
PROFIT!
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