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TAC 2010: Russian and Hebrew | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Stryozyk Newbie United States Joined 5474 days ago 39 posts - 44 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 17 of 24 30 December 2009 at 4:24am | IP Logged |
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Sprachjunge, thanks so much for the link. That website looks awesome. I had heard of it but didn't know it
was so useful. I've been out of town and have done very little studying the last week, but with the start of January I hope to begin logging in a much more regular and structured way. I have started listening to a Russian audiobook and watched some Russian television. I also went on a bit of a book-buying spree today when I was at a bookstore with a wider selection than that to which I am accustomed, and I picked up three Russian books: "Essentials of Russian Grammar" by Maltzoff, Barron's "Dictionary of Russian Slang and Colloquial Expressions", and "Dirty Russian" by Coyne and Fisun. I usually avoid books like the last one because I thought they were just silly phrasebooks, but lately I have become very interested in simply reading about languages in addition to learning them. The book seems to have all kinds of cultural notes that are fascinating. I only have two course books on Russian and a dictionary, so I'm excited about buying these books. They also had Michael Thomas's "Advanced Russian" course, and I very nearly got it because I am going to be doing a lot of driving this week, but since I don't know anything about the method I thought I would check it out online first. On a slightly related note considering my new interest in writing about language, I also bought two of Michael Wex's books on Yiddish and am enjoying them immensely. I kept seeing them everywhere but ignored them because I figured they were a certain type of book that I dislike - which generally is much of what claims to be "a New York Times bestseller". But I started looking through this time and immediately had to buy them. He is a hilarious writer. All this reminded me suddenly of what sparked my interest in languages in the first place: reading Bill Bryson's "The Mother Tongue" in the seventh grade. I had completely forgotten about this book until now, yet I owe it almost all the language enthusiasm I have. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Stryozyk Newbie United States Joined 5474 days ago 39 posts - 44 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 18 of 24 01 January 2010 at 12:25am | IP Logged |
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I've finally completed the fourth series of Assimil lessons and will post my sentences here, poor as they are:
Скажите мне, чего недостает к обеду? Tell me what's missing for dinner. Кухня грязная, нужно купить мыла. The kitchen is dirty, we need to buy soap. Какое там мыло! What's soap going to do? Хлеб не свежий и у нас только полфунта. The bread's not fresh and we only have a half pound. Платить булочнику нужно сейчас. We need to pay the baker now. А мясник, иногда любезный, иногда чорт знает какой. But the butcher is sometimes nice, and sometimes the devil knows how he is. To be continued... 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Stryozyk Newbie United States Joined 5474 days ago 39 posts - 44 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 19 of 24 01 January 2010 at 7:31am | IP Logged |
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Сколько стоит прованское масло и уксус?
How much for olive oil and vinegar? Чорт знает что какое. The devil knows what all's there. Виноват, мне стыдно. Excuse me, I'm sorry. Уже пять лет как путешествую по Европе. I've been traveling in Europe for five years already. А мы пока все здесь спокойно живем. And we have lived here peacefully during that time. Ведь у вас еще...кажется...дочь... However, you still have...it seems...a daughter? К счастью, он часто их приглашает... Fortunately, he often invites them. Господи! Мне пора в буро. Damn! It's time for me to go to the office. To be continued... 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Stryozyk Newbie United States Joined 5474 days ago 39 posts - 44 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 20 of 24 02 January 2010 at 2:28am | IP Logged |
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Вот приятный случай, Сережа.
What a nice coincidence, Sergei. Наконец я вас встречаю. At last I meet you. Я как раз о вас думал сегодня утром. I was just thinking of you this morning. Как нарочно у меня нет вашего адреса. By the way, I don't have your address. Теперь я помню, и не забуду. Now I remember, and I won't forget. На этом бульваре кажется только новые дома? On this boulevard it seems like there are only new houses? Первый на углу, когда вы идете от вас. The first one on the corner, when you're coming from your place. Нижний этаж...маленькая передняя, столовая, большая спальня... On the first floor...there's a small entryway, a dining room, a large bedroom... Все так следует. Everything you need. Я очень тороплюсь. I'm in a hurry. Вы, я надеюсь, имеете кошелек. I hope you have a wallet. Деньги - вещь необходимая. Money is an indispensable thing. Вы не серьезный человек. You're not a serious person. Он меня часто спасает, когда я без копейки. He often saves me when I'm penniless. To be continued... 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Stryozyk Newbie United States Joined 5474 days ago 39 posts - 44 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 21 of 24 04 January 2010 at 12:36am | IP Logged |
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Миша, ваше путешествие плохо кончится...
Misha, your trip is going to end badly... Вы лубите тратить. You love to spend money. В этом я не сомневаюсь. I don't doubt that. Проклятый извозчик! Damn coachman! Я уверен, что мы опоздали. I'm sure that we got behind. Все равно, Гриша. It doesn't matter, Grigory. Не один поезд, так другой. If it's not one train, it's another. Идите купить билеты. Go buy tickets. Спросите в котором часу идет поезд на Москву. Ask what time the train for Moscow leaves. Не умею с ними объясниться, идите сами. I don't know how to explain myself to them; go yourself. А пока я сажусь и жду вас здесь с багажом. Meanwhile I'll sit here and wait for you with the luggage. Ну и вот...я был в кассе. Well that's it...I was at the checkout. Взять два места не так просто. It's not so simple to get two seats. А мы не опоздали: поезд в семь часов. But we're not late; the train is at seven o'clock. Значит нам ждать еще полчаса. Which means we still have a half-hour. Мы успеем пойти в буфет. We have time to go to the buffet. С удовольствием; мне хочется пить. With pleasure; I'm thirsty. Хотите папиросу, гражданка? Would you like a cigarette, citizen? Дым меня не беспокоит. Smoke doesn't bother me. Вот спички проклятые, не зажигаются. Damn matches, they won't light. В коробке остается только одна. There's only one left in the box. Осторожно! Caution! Нет, не годится; они наверно у вас мокрые. No, no good; they're all wet. В купе входить контролер. In the compartment, before the ticket-taker. Вот зажигалка. Here's a lighter. Благодарю вас; возьмите папиросу. Thank you; take a cigarette. Я курю только трубку. I only smoke a pipe. Мой муж арбуз. My husband is a watermelon. А я его дыня. And I am his melon. Он меня вчерася бил, а я его ныне. He hit me yesterday, and I hit him today. I type very slowly in Russian, not knowing where the letters are and having to learn them by trial and error. I will have to see if I can find a typing tutor online. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Stryozyk Newbie United States Joined 5474 days ago 39 posts - 44 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 22 of 24 05 January 2010 at 5:26am | IP Logged |
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This week I begin my studying in earnest. I've been almost completely unable to prepare for it, having had a very
hectic month, but I will go ahead and do what I can and get more serious later. I deliberated for a long time on where to get my Russian sentences, rejecting nearly all easily available sources as "not natural/interesting enough". So finally I have decided to take them directly from the Russian text of a novel I just started in English, Moscow 2042 by Vladimir Voinovich. It is very funny and I really enjoy reading it, so I figured, why not? I had originally planned on starting with children's books and working my way up from there, but after examining my options I realized that I had so little interest in this method that it would be better to skip directly to literature. We will see how this works out. Sunday, 3 January 2009 Russian 28 sentences from Moscow 2042 Hebrew 1 page of the Kitzur Monday, 4 January 2009 Russian 19 sentences from Moscow 2042 Pimsleur lesson 1 Hebrew 1 page of the Kitzur I have been listening to a decent amount of Russian audio, though my immersion environment is very far from complete. Hopefully in the next few days I'll be able to make the necessary changes so I can get it up and running. I did this with Spanish and to an even more extreme degree with Arabic and the results were better than I've had with any other language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Stryozyk Newbie United States Joined 5474 days ago 39 posts - 44 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 23 of 24 07 January 2010 at 8:16am | IP Logged |
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I've still been very busy, unfortunately, and have been unable to spend even a little of the time on these
languages that I want to. There is very good news, though: my diving right into an actual Russian novel and using it for sentences seems to have done wonders for my comprehension already. I always avoided harder novels when studying languages, thinking that my main task was to learn the kind of language I would actually be using. But as a result I always found reading novels very difficult. By going straight to them this time I imagine it'll be a downhill battle from here. Already I am picking up the types of complex sentence structure that occur and the most common words. The sentences are sometimes extremely long, but I'm not breaking them up - I'd rather cram too much material into each sentence than too little, as I sometimes used to. It certainly helps that the novel is extremely entertaining and that I have an English translation to consult. The work with the Kitzur is going well, except I am having problems with remembering whether the beged kefet letters have dageshim in them or not in the beginning of words in the middle of phrases. I don't know what the rules for this are, though I read somewhere it's to do with aural harmony. Tuesday, 5 January 2009 Russian 3 sentences from Moscow 2042 Hebrew 1 page of the Kitzur Wednesday, 6 January 2009 Russian 17 sentences from Moscow 2042 Pimsleur lesson 2 Hebrew 1 page of the Kitzur Edited by Stryozyk on 07 January 2010 at 10:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| nogoodnik Senior Member United States Joined 5573 days ago 372 posts - 461 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, Russian, French | Message 24 of 24 27 January 2010 at 8:51pm | IP Logged |
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Hi Stryozyk--How are your Hebrew and Russian projects going? Give us an update :)
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