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Solfrid Cristin’s way TAC 2011 Team Ohana | ||
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| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5116 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 221 27 December 2010 at 4:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi everyone! This is as usually a very long post - take it in installments if you like :-) In order to chase away my excuses for not studying regularly, I have joined the TAC 2011, and I am counting on my team mates, and other forum members, to urge me on whenever I feel tempted to lag behind. A special greeting to nogoodnik and Geordie who will be on my team! I look forward to working with you!
I very much want to learn Russian, which is my main focus. With the exception of English, which I use every day at work, I have let most of my other languages slip, but this will be the year where I’ll do a bit of maintenance and development. I am not really familiar with the European system of measuring languages, but I’ have looked at the description, and will make an attempt to describe my levels as accurately as possible. My intention is to spend 70% of my efforts on Russian, 15% on German, 10% on French/Italian and 5% on Spanish and English. These are my languages – in the order of focus, which in practice means going from my weakest to my strongest languages: RUSSIAN Background and level: I initially started out with Russian 4 years ago, with a few classes at Berlitz. I gave up however, since I seemed that no matter how much effort I put into this, I got absolutely nowhere. My dyslexia made it next to impossible to read anything, and no words stuck in my brain. I tried again 2 years ago. Same result. I had private lessons, and I still felt like an idiot, even if I was alone in the class. Then in March we decided to go to Ukraine, and I swore to myself that this time I was not going to give up no matter what, and I have studied Russian “actively” since then. I say “actively” because I do not have any free time, so I just do whatever I can whenever I have 5 minutes here and there. The last few months I have however had urgent personal matters to attend to, so I have not done any serious studying, although I have made sure that I listened to some Russian or read at least a few sentences in Russian every day. From March to July I attended more Russian classes at Berlitz, in August I went on a 2 weeks' Russian course in Ukraine, and this fall I have attended approximately 10 classes at another private language school. Level A1 – on my way to A2 in listening, reading and speaking. Writing is closer to none than to A1. I can barely write “good morning”. I am struggling very hard with Russian. Very hard. I am a bit hesitant to quantify my goal, but I suppose a high A2, possibly reaching into B1 would come close. Materials: I want to have finished Pimsleur and Assimil, and if I have extra time I want to work on Sosiedi (a Norwegian Russian course). I also want to have read Cuk I Gek before Easter, to have read a number of bilingual short stories Russian/French by summer, and to have seen at least 12 Russian language films. I hope to be able to continue my Russian classes. I also want to have finished “Teach Yourself Russian Grammar, revise “Teach yourself “Russian Beginner’s Russian script” and do “Basic Russian – a Grammar and Workbook”. If I find the time I would also like to have gone through “Le russe pour les nuls” (Russian for dummies). Occasion to talk Russian/trips to the country: Only 1 day in St. Petersburg is foreseen this year, but I’ll see what I can whip up. I am saving money to get tickets to Ukraine, because I’d love to go there at Easter again. GERMAN Background and level I studied German at school for two years, I have done a two week’s German course in Munich, and two - three language courses at private institutes over the years. I never had much chance of using it, but last year when some German friends came to visit for a week I made them speak German with me, and this year when we visited them we did the same. I speak German, but I am never comfortable doing it, because in the back of my mind there is a constant (an, auf, hinter, in, neben,über, unter, vor und zwishen )playing, courtesy of having studied German at a Norwegian school. My level? Not quite sure. Possibly a B1- B2 in Listening, reading and speaking, and a A2 in writing. My goal would be to reach a firm B2 level –possibly a low C1 , and to feel comfortable speaking German Materials: I have a couple of Berlitz text books in German that I would like to revise, and I want to have read 20 German books by the end of the year. I have some German books – half and half crime novels and serious literature. I also intend to use a variety of other sources – magazines or whatever I can lay my hand on. I also intend to do some German classes, and I’ll set the language to German in at least 10 films/ episodes of series during the year. Occasion to practice/trips: I’ll just have to grab any occasion, and try to bully my husband into speaking German with me not only when we do not want the children to understand us, but at another times as well. He is about at the same level as I am, so that could work quite well. ITALIAN Background and level I have done two Italian courses at a private institute, read a lot of crime novels, done some extensive reading of 18th century literature, in particular plays in Venetian dialect by Goldoni, and have had three Italian boyfriends. I guess my level would be around B1 and my goal would be to get back to the B2 level that I once had. I used to be able to speak Italian for hours without any effort, but I am getting really, really rusty. Material: I’ll revise some of my old Italian text books (Buon Giorno) and read at least 12 books during the year. I’ll set the language to Italian on at least 10 DVDs. Occasion to practice/trips: I have planned a weekend to Rome with my daughter, but I usually start speaking Italian every time I spot an Italian, so I hope I’ll be able to speak it occasionally. FRENCH Background and level I have studied French at school for two years, lived in France for 9 months and studied it at the university for one year. As I started to get rusty, after not having used it for many years I took a course at a private institute. My level at speaking, listening and reading would probably be a low C1. My writing I suppose is around B1 (hello, dyslexia, my old friend…). My goal would be to get back to the C2 listening, reading and speaking and B2 writing where I once was. Materials: I have pulled out a couple of grammar books, but most likely I’ll limit myself at reading 10-15 books, listen to the French language radio now and then, and watch 12 films in French. Occasion to practice/trips: I’ll have a few trips to Paris and Brussels for work purposes, and I always speak French then. I also try to speak French with my French colleagues. SPANISH Background and level I have lived three years in Spain, and studied it at the University of Oslo for 4 years and a half. And I won’t even tell you the number of ex-boyfriends .My level is C2. I did nothing with my Spanish for 20 years, until I got a friend from Peru a few years ago, but it was always just there. She made me speak Spanish again, and I have decided to start reading some Spanish too. My goal is to keep up my C2 level. Materials I have a ton of literature left over partly from my studies, and partly from buying a lot of books on any possible topic over a number of years. My goal is 20 books and 12 Spanish language films during the year. Occasion to practice/trips: I can speak as much Spanish as I have time to set aside for my social life (which means not a lot) but in the performance of my duty as guardian I get to speak a bit. I have just spent a week at Tenerife(came back 24 hours ago) where I spoke quite a lot of Spanish. ENGLISH Background and level 8 years of English at school plus 4 years at the university plus a job where I use it almost every day, keeps me at a C2 level (with the possible exception of all my spelling errors –again courtesy of my dyslexia). It could still be good to read a little extra non-railway related material. Materials I have asked for a subscription to the Daily Mail, and I intend to keep watching a lot of films in English and read quite a lot of literature. Perhaps about 30 books? OTHERS I have not planned on doing any other languages this year. But I like to keep my options open:-). I really need any time I have just for learning Russian, and do a little makeover of my other languages, but if I suddenly feel the urge, I’ll reserve the possibility to act on it. As I started finding study material, I literally had books of Hebrew and Polish falling on my head – so anything is possible… If you managed to read through it all, feel free to make any comments. I have tried to be realistic as to how much I can cover in the allotted time, but perhaps I am being too optimistic? Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 30 July 2011 at 6:49am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Whitefish Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 5034 days ago 49 posts - 72 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 2 of 221 27 December 2010 at 5:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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Wow! This looks like an exciting year. Good luck with your studies, Solfrid Cristin.
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| TixhiiDon Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5246 days ago 772 posts - 1474 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian Studies: Georgian | Message 3 of 221 27 December 2010 at 11:13pm | IP Logged | ||
Hi Solfrid. You may be interested in this site, which I myself discovered recently. http://www.cinema.mosfilm.ru/?gmt=-540 You can download hundreds of Russian films onto your computer for a few dollars each. There are some real gems in there, including classics by Tarkovsky and Eisenstein, literary adaptations, socialist realist pieces, and post-revolution films. Beware, though, that the download time is rather long - an hour or two for each film. If you prefer your TV screen to your computer screen, this site is good to buy DVDs with English subtitles. http://www.ruscico.com/ I've ordered stuff from here a few times and it has always arrived safe and sound. Looking forward to reading about your exploits with old russki yazik! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ruskivyetr Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5263 days ago 769 posts - 962 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish, Russian, Polish, Modern Hebrew | Message 4 of 221 27 December 2010 at 11:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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Solfrid Christin!!! I wish you all the best with your TAC 2011 endeavors! Unfortunately, due to space conflicts, I
couldn't be placed on the Russian team this year. I am OF COURSE still doing it, and I will check up on your log regularly to encourage you and observe your progress :D! Russian will always be one of my favorite languages :). I also applaud you on your goals with German. I wish you well and I hope to see some great progress made here :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5116 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 5 of 221 28 December 2010 at 2:02am | IP Logged | ||
I'll consider you a honorary member of our team, as well as being a member of your actual team. Thanks to all of you for encouragements! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| nogoodnik Senior Member United States Joined 5351 days ago 372 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, Russian, French | Message 6 of 221 28 December 2010 at 5:10am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for sharing your impressive language history with us. I look forward to seeing all of the progress you are going to make with Russian this year! Cheers for team Ж!
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| snovymgodom Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5507 days ago 136 posts - 149 votes Speaks: English*, Russian | Message 7 of 221 28 December 2010 at 5:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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I signed up for this team yesterday, best of luck in all of your endeavors!
When I write my introductory post I will include some links that you (and other teammates) will find useful. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Préposition Diglot Senior Member France aspectualpairs.wordp Joined 4896 days ago 186 posts - 283 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC1 Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), Swedish, Arabic (Levantine) | Message 8 of 221 28 December 2010 at 6:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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Best of luck with Russian, you'll see the further you go, the more rewarding it gets :). If you need extra material for
Russian or Italian, I'd be more than happy to share (there's a list on my log). I'll be keeping an eye on your log, good luck! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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