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Tarvos - TAC 2015 Pushkin/Scan | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4696 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 1289 of 1511 27 November 2014 at 8:25pm | IP Logged | ||
Keep the arm. You'll be able to use it for writing more Russian :D I use Russian daily, Cristina, at least in writing. A day doesn't go by that I don't learn new words. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4696 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 1290 of 1511 01 December 2014 at 1:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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Little baby steps each day. The waiting has not yet faded. But with every waking hour the
flame flickers and I have to keep pouring oil. Just to stay alive. Just to keep the flame alive. Somewhere they've got a reserve that I just don't know about. But we'll get there step by step day by day even if I can't climb the mountain I should push myself to climb hills. There's so many many thoughts when I try to go to sleep. The next line of this song should be true: "But with you I start to feel a sort of temporary peace" but I will have to wait. Edited by tarvos on 01 December 2014 at 1:54pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4696 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 1291 of 1511 04 December 2014 at 9:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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Poetry in Russian
люблю жену в начале мая и в августе и в декабре в другие дни не успеваю я дальних рейсов капитан One of my favourite recent discoveries is the VK group Я рифмую как кретин (roundabout: "I rhyme like an idiot") where all rules of general poetry are discarded in favour of short, four-line poems which do not necessarily rhyme or have proper metre or sometimes hardly make any kind of sense at all. Some are just short observations on daily life and relationships, but sometimes they have hidden gems, like this one. Points to the non-Russian who can identify the clever reference in the poem. Being at an advanced level has the implication that it is easier to get these little jokes. :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Via Diva Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4223 days ago 1109 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek | Message 1292 of 1511 05 December 2014 at 3:22am | IP Logged | ||
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I tend to think VK itself is a gem for anyone learning Russian. Which begs the question: where
are these gems for English, German, etc? Facebook? I haven't find anything worthy so far... P.S. Люблю грозу в начале мая А сессию в конце - не очень :D 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4696 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 1293 of 1511 06 December 2014 at 11:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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The problem is that Facebook is used by everyone, not just American or Brits...
Deception More stuff in French. Expect more Greek soon. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4696 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 1294 of 1511 07 December 2014 at 9:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Η κλιματική αλλαγή
In Greek I am producing short texts on several topics, mostly stuff I don't write about a lot. The last one was about polar bears, I jumped from that topic to their most prominent threat on this planet - climate change. It's more a short description of what climate change is than that it really represents some reasoned defense of a position or whatever. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4696 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 1295 of 1511 12 December 2014 at 11:09am | IP Logged | ||
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Η πυροτεχνική
This short text concerns the heinous tradition that people are free to set off fireworks themselves during New Year's Eve, always leading to riots, injuries, maiming and other general unpleasantness during this night. The government has recently taken a bunch of measures against it (preventing people from setting off fireworks during the day, firework-free zones in big cities), but the general impression of the Netherlands on January 1st remains "war zone". It is a day I hate and fear and I am scared to go outside this day. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4696 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 1296 of 1511 14 December 2014 at 1:42am | IP Logged | ||
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Recent activity
Most of my time has been spent on Chinese lately (the visa is coming in, so 2015 will see a very strong focus on Mandarin). I will go to Greece for a month in september, so Greek will also be a focus next year, but I've been writing some small texts as can be seen on my blog. I've also been perusing a lot of podcasts/transcripts on Echo Moskvy to train my Russian listening, mostly on politics and so on. I've also finished reading a French novel and a Russian one in the past month. But because it's nearly that time of the year, and I will have to assess it sometime, and think about my goals for 2015, this post will give you a rundown of my language skills (in no order at all): Dutch/English They're always there. Korean I was supposed to focus on it this year, but it ended up not playing any significant role in my life at all. Other languages did. I can still read the alphabet and simple sentences, but I will have to revive it to speak it properly one day. I hope that I will get a chance to visit South Korea after I have been to China (it may happen in July) and maybe then I will be able to get back some of my (already shabby) knowledge. The theory is there though, I have spoken sufficient Korean to understand certain concepts. It is mostly vocabulary that I have lost. Current level: high A1 Goal for next year: bring Korean up to a solid A2 for tourist use in Korea. Latin Has stayed dead, but if I attempt to read Wikipedia in it then it isn't too bad. Active skills are practically nonexistent though. No plans for revival, but I may indulge in reading Wikipedia here and there. Current level: ???? Romanian This language is one I've taken big steps in this year, mostly because I've been using it actively in Romania. My clarity and grammar leave something to be desired, and I'm getting a bit rusty in actual production when it comes to Romanian, but my understanding is super-high. Give me a few days of full-on Romanian, and I will be really good really fast. Now I'm just pretty decent. But I've learned a lot about the culture as well and it's a language I am quite comfortable in. One I would say I master quite well. Current level: high B2 Goal: maintain at a high B2 level French I practiced it more in the first half of this year, after that I have not kept up so much. That's being felt, but it's all right. I have such good thorough knowledge of this language that it doesn't really matter at all. I'm fine with my French as it is. However I would like to be more all-round and capable in my production levels, and I will have to do maintenance somewhere in 2015 on it. The question is: when? Current level: ~C1 Goal: turn it into a solid C1 on all accounts. Russian I've taken gigantic steps forward in Russian this year. I can now read novels enjoyably. It's the language I use the most outside my native languages and the culture I probably have the most contact with. All the time spent working on pronunciation has paid off as well, because I've managed to reduce my accent somewhat. I am really proud of my achievements in Russian this year. Current level: B2-C1 Goal: Become an all-around C1 speaker. German Whatever. I can read it and use it, I'm just not very accurate and there is some interference with Dutch at play. But it's also not a language I've much trouble with, and it's never really posed any issues because it's not one of my most used languages. Current level: B2 Goal: maintain B2 Mandarin The new kid on the block and the most important kid on the block right now, Mandarin is the big question mark for 2015 because it's the one I will need. A six month sojourn in China awaits me and my current A2-ish level is not going to cut the mustard - however, the first month is going to be spent on an intensive Chinese course in Beijing and I still have almost two months to prepare. My current project is Hanzi and more complex grammatical structures - I've got the basics down. My goal after the trip? To see Mandarin in that speaks column on the right. And yes, that's not a pipe dream. I have half a year and a pretty thorough idea of what I'm doing already. The real question is whether my reading will keep up. Current level: A2 (less in writing) Goal: B2 (less in writing) Greek A 3 month intensive project or so has given me good confidence in my Greek. I've got the basics down here as well and because it's not as big a priority in 2015, but because travelling will be done in Crete, I will need to maintain my Greek at a decent level. I've been returning to it for this reason because I really need a decent level when I arrive in Crete. Current level: A2 Goal: B1 Breton: I've lost pretty much all of it actively, but I can figure out some written Breton. That's ok. Breton is a care that I will worry about later. I had an idea to do a summer course, but it will not be in 2015. It'll be at some other point when I can give it my undivided attention. This is one of the casualties. Current level: A1 Goal: whatever Hebrew Another casualty for 2015, I fear. I really use this language too little. If I have to, I can, but I can't read enough Hebrew for it to be really fun to use. And I just can't see where I'm going to be able to fit it in, but if I can, then I will of course. And of course that will end up in me studying Hebrew for 6 months at some point. Current level: A2-B1 Goal: don't drop below A2 Swedish Another easy one to maintain and use, I'm confident in my Swedish. Current level: B2-C1 goal: maintenance Icelandic Sorry, another year will have to do. Spanish There's a possibility I will go to Spain (or Italy) after Greece if that is where I find a job as an English teacher. If this is the case, then Spanish is the one I'll tackle (if not, it's Italian or whatever other alternative I find). However Spanish is the language I am best at if the program options I have in Greece are to be followed. But it could easily be another focus for the end of 2015 and that's something I will figure out later. Spanish is the prime candidate though. Current level: A2 Goal: depends Portuguese Another nice A2 and here there are no concrete plans except for maintenance. Current level: A2 Goal: A2 Norwegian I don't even know how to classify my level of Norwegian. I can read everything in Bokmal and most of Nynorsk, but understanding spoken Norwegian is another ballgame (there it drops down a fair amount). I produce something svorsk which is a bit closer to Norwegian than you expect (because I know enough to Norwegianise it). As long as people speak clearly and don't mumble I'm okay, basically. Current level: A2 oral, comparable to Swedish in writing Goal: improve oral skills and learn to deal with Nynorsk dialects Esperanto/Serbian I tried. I failed. But there will be another try at some point. Danish/Afrikaans I can read everything in Afrikaans and most of Danish, although I understand little Danish and a fair chunk of Afrikaans. I hope I haven't missed any languages, but I don't think I have. 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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