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Solfrid Cristin’s way TAC 2011 Team Ohana | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5129 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 209 of 221 26 November 2011 at 12:41pm | IP Logged |
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So, I am home and trying to get an overview of what languages I have spoken, and what I have learned about languages while I have been in Turkey.
ENGLISH English is of course the big winner. Our guide spoke English, and we spoke English with most of the people we dealt with. I would estimate that 4-6 hours a day were spent listening to or talking in English. RUSSIAN Surprisingly enough the next winner is Russian. I had several conversations in Russian, and although they were far from flawless, I did manage a sort of communication in Russian on several occasions. Possibly a total of 30 minutes? Not terribly impressing, particularly as Russian is my 6 WC target language, but I am still happy to have communicated at all. GERMAN, FRENCH, TURKISH I also got to speak German and French, and a few words of Turkish. All in all not too bad. While I was there I bought a book in German called “101 FRAGEN ÜBER DIE TÜRKEI und deren Antworten”. I read through the whole thing, and since it was of 111 pages, that was quite a lot of German practice. I estimate it to 2-3 hours all together – I do not read German as fast as I read English or Spanish. I also bought a little phrase book called “Practical Turkish of Travellers” (the broken English is theirs – not mine). So I guess I could count perhaps 35 minutes in Turkish? SPANISH No Spanish on the trip, but about 3.5 hours of Spanish conversation after I got back. -------- Otherwise I am very happy right now, for non language related reasons. I am the legal guardian of two children who have lost their father, and their mother and their half sisters/stepsisters are in the middle of an extremely messy distribution of the inheritance after the father. The stepsisters/half sisters have tried everything under the sun to intimidate both mother and children, and their last stunt was to try to remove me as legal guardian. Not out of concern for their little siblings, but to have an easier job harassing both the kids and their mother. I was in a lengthy meeting with those who appointed me yesterday, and they confirmed that I had fulfilled my tasks exactly the way I was supposed to, and that the only thing which would make them appoint another guardian, was if it got so legally complicated and messy, that I needed to get out, in which case they would appoint a lawyer instead. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 5937 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 210 of 221 26 November 2011 at 7:02pm | IP Logged |
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I'm glad you enjoyed your trip to Turkey and were able to practice several of your languages, including Russian! Are you going to continue working on Turkish now that you've returned?
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| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5129 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 211 of 221 14 December 2011 at 7:32am | IP Logged |
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@ellasevia: No, I do not expect to continue with Turkish next year, unless another trip to Turkey turns up. I will try to focus on Russian, German and Greek, and in maintaining my other languages.
Last week I was in France for two job meetings, and I got to practice a number of foreign languages. ENGLISH The meetings were held in English, so obviously between preparing for the meeting by reading documents, and what was said by me and others at the actual meetings, I got plenty of practice in that. For the first time in 20 years I actually wrote down my intervention in beforehand, as there was one particular case where I needed to move a lot of my colleagues to take a stand, and usually at those meetings people do not open their mouths. It is at Director General level, and those who are Director Generals are shy to talk because they are unfamiliar with the topics, and those who are not are shy to talk because they are not Director Generals. At the last meeting in Warsaw I raised the issue, but nobody else said a thing during the meeting. They just came after the meeting to tell me how much they agreed. Now I am most definitely not a Director General, but I had contacted a lot of people before the meeting, and I held my grand speech. I had considered doing a “Yes we can” ending to the speech, but I was afraid of irritating the Russians, so I ended it with a number of questions answered by “Yes we do” instead. It worked like a charm, and I then had the satisfaction of hearing one after the other stand up and support our view, until the leader of the meetings just said, “Well at this point there does not seem to be any point in even having a vote.” And we had won. I think this was my best day at work for 10 years. SPANISH One of the guys I had contacted was Spanish, and although I had never spoken to him before, the fact that I spoke Spanish gave us an instant connection (who says languages are not useful?) so I spoke a lot with him before the meeting, and at lunches, so I got at least an hour of Spanish practice with him and the other Spanish delegate. I have had more Spanish practice since, since I have been interpreting for my Peruvian friend at a meeting with her lawyer. FRENCH Being in France I got a bit of French practice at the hotel, and at the restaurant and the stores. I went to my favorite “candy store” Gibert Jeune where they have language books from all over the world. I looked at books in Mandarin and Greek and Arabic and Mongolian, but I managed to leave the store with just two Russian books, and a book about Arabic words that have entered French. I was quite proud of myself! RUSSIAN I also got a little bit of Russian practice, because I ended up at the table with some colleagues from Japan, England, Spain and Armenia, and one of the Armenians turned out to be Russian. And unable to speak anything but Russian. His Armenian colleague was there to interpret for him, but when I introduced myself in Russian, and said the most elementary greetings, he was visibly very pleased, and immediately offered me a job in the Armenian railways. I did not take that too seriously, but it was still a nice thing to say. When he had heard about how much I would like to learn more Russian, he said that if I invited him to Norway for a month, or I went to Armenia for a month, he would teach me Russian to fluency. I thanked him for the offer, but said there was a slight problem. “What is that” he asked. So I explained that I had a husband, who might not agree to the arrangement. He pondered on that for a moment, and then he said:”But that is only a slight problem”. “Possibly, I answered, but it is still a problem”. And then we all just laughed, and left it at that. I must say that my experience with Russian speakers so far is that they are a lot more direct and personal in their compliments than other people I have come across, at least in a business setting, where compliments are usually centered around “Great speech”, or at the very most “Nice dress”. But then I read recently that Russians are a lot more direct in their way of speaking in general, so I guess it is fitting that their compliments also should be. ITALIAN My speaking practice at this meeting was limited to two words, I should have better used an opportunity there, but I was going to discuss a very complicated matter with someone who was very angry, and who disagreed most violently with me, and I did not dear to trust that my slightly rusty Italian would be enough. I do however keep reading in my Italian Agatha Christie book, and have managed to read a few more short stories. I have not done any serious Russian studies for a while, a part from a little bit of Pimsleur now and then. Life has been crazy lately, but I am looking forward to the 2012 TAC, on a team with experienced Russian learners, and am counting on lots of inspiration from them! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| joanthemaid Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5265 days ago 483 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Russian, German | Message 212 of 221 14 December 2011 at 1:51pm | IP Logged |
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Congratulations on your great year Cristin ! Sorry I gave up... I'll keep reading though !
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| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5129 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 213 of 221 19 December 2011 at 1:23am | IP Logged |
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@joanthemaid Well, I did not acheive as much as I had hoped, but given the year I have had, I am just happy I am still hanging in there. Or here.
At the moment I am having lots of English and Spanish practise since I have a guest from Spain with us for Christmas. We are at a 60/30/10 % rotation of English, Spanish and Norwegian right now. Focusing on the spoken word may in any event be a good idea right now. It's well past 1 in the morning, and I am dreading to go to bed, because I am having an eye operation tomorrow, and I feel like I have to use my eyes as long as I can be certain of being able to use them. Theoretically I am fine a short time after the operation, but if I am off the forum for a little while, you know the reason:-) Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 19 December 2011 at 1:24am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 5937 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 214 of 221 19 December 2011 at 2:06am | IP Logged |
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I hope the operation goes well! Wishing you all the best! :)
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| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5351 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 215 of 221 19 December 2011 at 2:19am | IP Logged |
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Wishing you all the best tomorrow too! I'll be keeping you in my thoughts. Edited by Teango on 19 December 2011 at 2:20am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| joanthemaid Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5265 days ago 483 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Russian, German | Message 216 of 221 19 December 2011 at 10:42am | IP Logged |
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All the best for your surgery, I'm sure you'll be up a running (not blind) soon !
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