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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| lynxrunner Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States crittercryptics.com Joined 5733 days ago 361 posts - 461 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French Studies: Russian, Swedish, Haitian Creole | Message 9 of 195 16 May 2010 at 11:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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So, I've been reading "Kiffe Kiffe Demain" and I'm loving it. The narrator is funny and (thankfully) uses a moderate amount of slang and expressions. I've learned 'foutre de sa guele' (make fun of someone, or for a more slangy way, yank someone's chain. can be serious and confrontational), meuf (woman, from verlan), and marabouter (like a fortune teller). I don't see much of a plot so far, but I'm early in the book.
I also got Gladys Hyrd's Swedish Grammar-Reader. I won't start on that for quite a while, but it's there to satisfy my wanderlust (in the same way that paging through "Teach Yourself Begininner's Hindi" calms me down when French and Russian frustrate/bore me). It's fun to go through it. After a year of searching, I have finally got my hands on "Paper Mario : La porte millenaire." It's a funny story: this game has always been in stock but I've never been able to get it because it's only available from freaking French sites who refuse to send stuff outside of Paris! Really, why is this such a big deal? I've ordered stuff from Germany, Japan, the UK, Canada, Serbia, and Russia with no problem but apparently France is too good for the United States? ;) However, after I was rejected by 2xmoinscher (even though the dude I was going to buy it from said he could ship it to the US), I dejectedly searched around eBay and... wtf, I found it! It was offered by some dude from the UK: a French version of Paper Mario with the instructions and all in French. Oh. My. God. *squeal* I ordered it immediately and he's already sent it. :3 I cannot wait for it to arrive; Paper Mario 2 is definitely one of my favorite games. It's full of witty banter and idiomatic expressions and silliness and is just generally fun. When I can't take all the seriousness and stress of real life, it's a relief to go to something that doesn't take itself seriously and is just fun. Now, for those phantom viewers of mine, you may be wondering how I can play this game. "Alas," you may cry out (or "Helas" if you're French), "how can you play it if you are in the United States? You won't have a PAL Gamecube!" Ho ho ho, this problem was inadvertently solved last year when I asked Santa Claus for an Action Replay since my Gamecube rejected my old, awesome action replay. "Santy" delivered, but this Action Replay sucked; you couldn't even input codes. It did, however, have one redeeming feature: the freeloader. Supposedly, it could play PAL and Japanese Gamecube games. I haven't been able to test it yet, but when my French PM2 arrives, the moment of truth will be at hand. I have a whole bunch of tests next week, so my language learning will be, to put it lightly, on the back burner. Three chemistry tests over the next couple of weeks (plus a chapter test and finals), two literature + final, and math + final. I am sick of tests! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lynxrunner Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States crittercryptics.com Joined 5733 days ago 361 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French Studies: Russian, Swedish, Haitian Creole | Message 10 of 195 17 May 2010 at 5:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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If y'all have looked in my old Russian log, you'd have seen that examining song lyrics was one of my methods of learning Russian. I'm keeping up with that here:
Сомнения стоят, у нашего порога, Остались за спиной, спокойные года, И учит время нас, искать свою дорогу, И учит время нас, разлукам навсегда… ______ stands at our doorstep ______ behind the back, a quiet year Time teaches us to find our own path and time teaches us parting is forever. Припев: Хочу тебя забыть, да видно не получится, Сплетаются в года, моей печали дни, Я отдала тебе, Америка-разлучница, Того, кого люблю, - храни его! – храни! I want to forget you and well it seems it's not possible They interweave in the year, my sad days I ask you, America the home-wrecker That one whom I love, protect him! Protect! К далёким берегам, от берега родного, Рванулся в облака, твой самолёт ночной, Небесные огни, твоей удачи новой, Оставили меня, с бедой моей земной… To far away shores of his native shore ______ in clouds, your night-time plane Celestial fires, your new luck They left me with my earthly troubles Припев Refrain Деревья на ветру, как вскинутые руки, Нам – женщинам Земли, зачем нужна она? Свобода – потерять! Свобода – жить в разлуке? Свобода – забывать, - родные имена! Trees on ___ like ___ arms We, women of earth, is that why we need? Freedom to choose, freedom to live in seperation, freedom to forget our very names И лето… - отцвело, и осень – отшумела, Повисла за окном, - снежинок бахрома, Московская зима, о грусти мне пропела, О чём – тебе поёт, – Нью-Йоркская зима? And summer passed... and autumn ____ ___ by the window, a snowflake fringe The Moscow winter sings to me of sadness About what does the New York winter sing to you? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lynxrunner Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States crittercryptics.com Joined 5733 days ago 361 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French Studies: Russian, Swedish, Haitian Creole | Message 11 of 195 18 May 2010 at 6:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've got a goal: get to 2,000 words for Russian by the end of summer. I'm trying to count my vocab in Russian. I have 200 so far, but I know I have more. I aim to learn 2,000 words over the summer. I hope to be able to get to the point where I can read newspapers with little assistance.
So, what will I use? ...Disney movies! Disney songs are a great way to get vocabulary. The problem is that Russian Disney translations are bad. As in, they don't rhyme or have rhythm or sound good most of the time. I've heard few Russian dubs that I like. Sorry, Russian. :( Finished chemistry today; I've got a feeling I did well. Only five tests (plus six finals) left~! I hope to get to Hindi sometime. Hindi is cool. I know a native speaker of Hindi and the prospect of knowing someone in real life that I can talk to in another language is nice. :} Swedish and Hindi are my post-Russian languages. And Japanese class next year. That will be curious: my first experience with a non-IE language. Let's see how that goes. I have three months of no school before I have to deal with Japanese (and possibly put French on the back) and I fully intend to have my Russian up to scratch there. :) Oh, since today is chem day, here's some Russian chem vocab: Водород - Hydrogen Инертные газы - Noble gases (lit. inert gases; rather boring) Гелий - Helium Литий - Lithium Щелочные металлы - Alkali Metals Щёлочноземельные металлы - Alkali Earth Metals Oh, and since math and lit is tomorrow: Математический анализ - Calculus синус - sine тангенс - tangent косинус - cosine Гордость и предубеждение - Pride and Prejudice 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lynxrunner Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States crittercryptics.com Joined 5733 days ago 361 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French Studies: Russian, Swedish, Haitian Creole | Message 12 of 195 21 May 2010 at 12:24am | IP Logged | ||
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Word of the day: лимфоузел, meaning lymph node... that is, the thing I have under my
arm! A lump showed up on my arm pit and it's painful. I hope it doesn't get worse; they can get huge for some people so that lowering your arm is impossible. How horrible! I should write a dialogue about getting a лимфоузел sometime... ;) So, I'm rather happy because I've understood my first Russian pop culture reference! :D In Glukoza's song "Танцуй, Россия!", there's a line that goes like this: "Олигархии не вопрос Миллионы алых роз К моим ногам." I didn't think much of it... until yesterday. I was browsing Wikipedia's "Russian pop" page, switched it to Russian despite my inability to comprehend much (since the English version was pitiful), and browsed the section on Soviet-era artists. I saw an artist called "Alla Pugacheva" and I thought that was a cool name, so I went to check her out. While looking at her page, I found out she had a song called "миллион алых роз", about a painter who sells everything he has to cover a whole square with flowers so he can show his love for an actress. I can't help but smile whenever I hear that line in Glukoza's song now. My first pop culture reference! At least, I hope it is. :3 The song is based off a true story! Georgian artist Niko Pirosmani bought a whole bunch of roses for a French artist he was in love with, enough to fill a whole square. Cool, isn't it? Whether he drove himself to bankruptcy is a different story... Of course, "миллион алых роз" has all sorts of new vocabulary. Жил - once (?) художник - artist холсты - canvases продал - sold картины - canvases кров - roof (?) море - sea (already knew this word, but the song refreshed it for me) алых - crimson влюблён - in love всерьёз - in earnest, for real превратил - turned (like, turned into flowers), became под окном - beneath the window чуть дыша - just breathing безумная - crazy Прожил - to live (perfective?) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lynxrunner Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States crittercryptics.com Joined 5733 days ago 361 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French Studies: Russian, Swedish, Haitian Creole | Message 13 of 195 21 May 2010 at 6:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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It turns out I can't play my French game thanks to my American Gamecube. It plays in English! English! There's supposed to be an option in the Gamecube to switch languages but I can't do that. It seems the only option is to download a ROM (which I won't do) or to buy a PAL Gamecube (I can't find anybody selling them). Ugh. Fate, why have you forsaken me? :(
So, I've spoken of French and Russian; now it's time to talk of Swedish! My "Kristina från Duvemåla" box set has three CDs with like 8 songs each, meaning I get 21 sweet songs of Swedish. :) I plan to learn every word in these songs. With the small amount of Swedish I know and my English vocabulary, I can already decode a startling amount of the Swedish lyrics, especially when reading. I will start on that and Gladys Hird's reader... once the tests are done. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5131 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 14 of 195 21 May 2010 at 7:36pm | IP Logged | ||
Another option is to install a modchip. Pretty much all of them allow you to play games from other regions. Now that Gamecubes have been replaced by WIIs, Gamecube modchips are dirt cheap but often hard to find. If you know how to handle a soldering iron, you could even install one yourself. (All you have to do is open the Gamecube and solder 6-8 wires to the drive assembly.) If soldering isn't your thing, check out Craigslist and search for guys offering WII or XBOX modding services. (They usually also install modchips in older systems and sometimes might have an extra modded Gamecube lying around that somebody traded in for a Wii or XBOX 360.) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lynxrunner Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States crittercryptics.com Joined 5733 days ago 361 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French Studies: Russian, Swedish, Haitian Creole | Message 15 of 195 23 May 2010 at 1:58am | IP Logged | ||
To tell you the truth, I'm pretty squealish about soldering my Gamecube. It's a special edition Pokemon XD one and I'd hate myself forever if I were to ruin it. If there's no other option, I think I'll try it, but I'd be really nervous about it. Thank you for responding, though, I appreciate it. :) Well, today I did the chapter on plurals for Russian. I think I have the hang of plurals now (as if I didn't have it before). Next chapter will certainly be lots of fun: the genitive case! I so look forward to that one! </sarcasm> The genitive is definitely my least favorite case to decline. Especially genitive plural. Eew. But it must be done. I also did some light reading of my Swedish grammar. Vocabulary is pretty easy to grasp; it's amazing how much English and Swedish are alike. I've always dealth with Romance languages (Spanish and French) so I'm interested in how English will help my Swedish. School ends in a mere two weeks! Just a few more tests and I'm done! I fear the chemistry final exam. :/ I'm so sick of school... I'm at the point where I want to start bringing my Russian book to school! I think I'll study during lunchtime and then do chemistry after school. Oh, and maybe I could learn some more chemistry vocabulary in Russian. Admittedly, it won't be very useful (I barely use chemistry vocab in Spanish, my native language), but I want to have a good understanding of Russian in all areas, even areas like chemistry, so I'll soldier on. I've been reading "Vie de merde" and it's great. Kiffe kiffe demain is good, too. Apparently "les regles" is a euphamism for periods (as in menstrution?). I'll keep marching on~ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lynxrunner Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States crittercryptics.com Joined 5733 days ago 361 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French Studies: Russian, Swedish, Haitian Creole | Message 16 of 195 23 May 2010 at 6:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ugh, I could not be more tired of school. The French final exam should be easy, as
should Literature and Debate. Math is a wild card, Chemistry is blegh, and Global Studies is a stupid class. I wish time would go by quicker so that I could just get every goddamn exam over with and finally enjoy my own freaking time. I'm not going to be doing any stupid activities during the summer. Most people I know are going to summer schools or whatever. Yeah, like I'd do that. Leave school for more school! Summer is when I do things my way. This summer, I'm going to study in a way that works for me rather than being at the whims of teachers (and I can't even select my teachers). I never realized just how good self-studying (without having the constant threat of OMG EXAMS! OMG TESTS! OMG GPA! down one's neck) can be. "Свобода – потерять" indeed. All I can do is just dream about what I'm going to do for summer. My god, two freaking weeks before I can begin doing what I want to do. Why can't my school have a freaking Russian class? I'd study for that, with joy. EDIT: Taking a break from my studying to post this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQjor0ZVtAw&feature=related I've heard this story before but I find it amusing. Putin, the guy who puts so much effort into making himself appear macho, digs ABBA? ABBA? Wow. I love ABBA, too, and I know they were pretty popular in the former Soviet Union, but the image of Putin jamming to ABBA is just too amusing. I want to find an article about this in Russian to read so I can get both sides of the story. Also, is it just me or is every single Russian song in a melodic minor? My God, I haven't found a single Russian song in a major key! I, too, love the melodic minor, but its prevalence in Russian pop is just ming-boggling. It makes studying Russian a little depressing after a while. :( EDIT II: I added to my Great List of Russian Vocabulary the verbs for "google" and "xerox". Cool! While reading a Russian grammar of Swedish online (I get an excuse to study Swedish while still doing Russian. Score), I think I found the Russian word for noun. "существительное" The reason I think it's that is because it has "существит" which has something to do with existing and it reminds me of the Spanish word for noun, "sustantivo", literally something along the lines of "having substance". A noun has substance, more substance than a verb. A noun exist, but a verb is more abstract. This makes the word "noun" seem rather small in comparison. :P Also, "Гласные" for vowels and "Согласные" for consonants. Russian is cool. :) Edited by lynxrunner on 24 May 2010 at 4:52am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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