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FabricioCarraro - TAC’15 Pushkin, Rätsel

 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
439 messages over 55 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 39 ... 54 55 Next >>
Solfrid Cristin
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2011 & 2012
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5094 days ago

4143 posts - 8864 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 305 of 439
17 September 2013 at 11:19pm | IP Logged 
Teango wrote:
Solfrid Cristin wrote:
My teachers, who were of the firm opinion that the only subjects
worth studying were related to Latin-American liberation movements, found it as interesting as watching
horse manure age
.

Hilarious idiom! I tend to say "as interesting as watching paint dry", but this is even better with its added
undertones of decay, contempt, and pungency. I'm going to remember this one for later. ;)


Yes, the paint thing is the traditional one, even in Norwegian, but since I wanted to add precisely the note of
contempt I decided to go with the other one. Besides, I am a die hard gardener, so this suits me better :-)
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fabriciocarraro
Hexaglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
Brazil
russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4475 days ago

989 posts - 1454 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French
Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese

 
 Message 306 of 439
18 September 2013 at 4:44pm | IP Logged 
@Teango Thanks man!

@Cristina HAHA I also loved the idiom. I think you're right, and actually, see the news below.

---

You know when thing appear exactly at the right time or the right situation? Maybe it's coincidence, but I guess we all love when it happens, and that's the case now.
Right after I said that I didn't know what to do with Arabic, I went through Youtube and found out Brian Kwong's #Add1Challenge, which is basically a 90 days (or whatever you want) challenge to add a new language to your "life". A lot of the "Youtube polyglot crowd" have joined, like Amir, Alex Rawlings, Jan van der Aan, Svetlana Gracheva, etc. etc.
I guess it's a pretty good idea, and I felt that it was like giving me a reason to go for it, so that's it, I've decided! Tonight I'll record the video in order to join the challenge and then start studying Arabic for serious!
I'll set the deadline for December 31st, a pretty round date, but nothing says it can't go on afterwards. I just wanna know how far I can get in about 3 months.
1 person has voted this message useful



fabriciocarraro
Hexaglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
Brazil
russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4475 days ago

989 posts - 1454 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French
Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese

 
 Message 307 of 439
19 September 2013 at 10:44pm | IP Logged 
So yes, I've joined the "Add One Language Challenge"!! \o/

I had said before that I didn't want to add Arabic to my "studies" list, but this challenge really was a big motivation booster for me, so I'll have to add it!

If anyone is interested, this is my "enrollment video" for the challenge.
If any of you guys wanna join, I think today or tomorrow is the last day! Run! Also, my "enrollment form" follows. Sorry for the English!

Name:
Fabrício Carraro

Language:
Arabic

Date:
Sept 19 - Dec 31

Routine:
At least 20 minutes a day, hopefully (much) more

What will you do on the last day of your challenge?
I'm hoping an at least 5 minute video with a native Arabic speaker

How will you know if you reach your outcome by the end?
1. Not miss a day of my routine. 90 days of consistent learning.
2. A pleasant 5 min convo with the native speaker at the end.

I will keep track of my daily progress here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/fabriciocarraro

What's at Stake?
If I miss even one day, I'll have to miss my weekly football (soccer) game that week.

How often will you update?
Hopefully every 2 weeks

Youtube/twitter:
https://www.youtube.com/user/fabriciocarraro
https://twitter.com/fabriciocarraro
1 person has voted this message useful



tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4467 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 308 of 439
19 September 2013 at 10:47pm | IP Logged 
Boa sorte, meu amigo! May you speak fluent Arabic, inshallah!!!
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fabriciocarraro
Hexaglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
Brazil
russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4475 days ago

989 posts - 1454 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French
Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese

 
 Message 309 of 439
21 September 2013 at 6:08am | IP Logged 
Now I'm in a kind of dilemma.
I don't know if you guys know, but Arabic is quite...peculiar, in the sense that there are many kinds of Arabic.

As far as I read so far, they have the Fusha, or MSA (Modern Standard Arabic), which is used by the media, newspapers, books, internet, but it's really hard and it's not spoken among the people. I read that most people can't even speak it properly, because they're not used to it.

On the other hand, there are the dialects, like Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf.... but especially the Egyptian one. Dialects are much easier, and the Egyptian one is like a simplified MSA, widely spoken and understood around the Arabic world because of the great influence of the Egyptian movies, songs, soap operas, etc., so virtually everyone would understand me.... BUT I'll probably have a hard time trying to read stuff, because like I said, all formal media is written in MSA, and they're quite different, even in terms of different suffixes, word order, some vocabulary, etc...

I already started with the Egyptian variant on Michel Thomas, but I also have access to other resources, both in Egyptian and MSA.

So, what to do, my friends? =P
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Solfrid Cristin
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2011 & 2012
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5094 days ago

4143 posts - 8864 votes 
Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 310 of 439
21 September 2013 at 11:22am | IP Logged 
Well, when I did Arabic in my tender youth, the University here taught two variants. Written Arabic and
Egyptian dialect. They chose Egyptian because it is sort of in the middle geographically and linguistically, and
because a large number of films are produced there, so viewers from all over the Arabic world will be familiar
with that variant.

If I ever return to Arabic I assume I will go with that dialect, unless I had some sort of particular connection to
another country.

But as far as I'm concerned it is not an either or situation. You need to learn both. You can choose between
spoken dialects but you also need the MSA.

Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 21 September 2013 at 11:25am

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Emme
Triglot
Senior Member
Italy
Joined 5107 days ago

980 posts - 1594 votes 
Speaks: Italian*, English, German
Studies: Russian, Swedish, French

 
 Message 311 of 439
23 September 2013 at 1:14pm | IP Logged 
Good luck with your new adventure learning Arabic! I wish you a lot of fun with the #Add1Challenge.

In bocca al lupo e buon divertimento!

1 person has voted this message useful



fabriciocarraro
Hexaglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
Brazil
russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4475 days ago

989 posts - 1454 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French
Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese

 
 Message 312 of 439
23 September 2013 at 3:45pm | IP Logged 
Thank you both, @Cristina and @Emme!

So, I've finally decided what path to follow. After having read this incredibly informative blog post by Benny Lewis and its comments, and gotten other opinions on the internet, I decided to go the practical way and learn Egyptian Arabic. Since my focus is speaking with natives and maybe going to the country, Benny's method applies much better to my case than an academic approach.
I found out already though that it's kind of hard to study it this way, because the books are usually in latin script only, so I can't know how they write the words in proper Arabic, having to look it up, and since Google Translate is set for MSA, finding new words or the right conjugation is kind of hard. For the first time ever I think I'll need a paper dictionary.


A parte questo, non vi ho raccontato sull'ultimo CouchSurfing meeting! All'inizio era un po noioso veramente, perché era piovuto e credo che, a causa della pioggia, molta gente è rimasta a casa, e l'assoluta maggioranza di loro erano brasiliani. Verso le 9/10 più gente è arrivata, ed io ho parlato in olandese con 3 belgi!!! Penso che questo sia un record di belgi allo stesso tempo in Brasile =P Comunque, è stato benissimo! =)

Anche, il fine settimana ho studiato l'arabo come un pazzo. Ascoltavo sempre Michel Thomas e ho trovato altri libri per continuare lo studio poi. Forse farò il mio primo video in arabo per il #add1challenge oggi sera.


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