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Super Challenge Registration/ Update 2012

 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
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Brun Ugle
Diglot
Senior Member
Norway
brunugle.wordpress.c
Joined 6417 days ago

1292 posts - 1766 votes 
Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1
Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish

 
 Message 385 of 656
23 June 2012 at 3:10pm | IP Logged 
Tamise wrote:

One of the ones I wanted to watch has hard-coded English subs (as did Love My Life) - I find this really annoying as it means I'm forced to have the English subs even if I don't want them. I may try to get some Japanese films when I'm in Amsterdam and Brussels next month, so that if they have hard-coded subs they're at least not in English and will probably be much easier to ignore.


Back in the day, we used to tape a strip of paper over the bottom of the screen. Primitive, but it works.
2 persons have voted this message useful



microsnout
TAC 2010 Winner
Senior Member
Canada
microsnout.wordpress
Joined 5268 days ago

277 posts - 553 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 386 of 656
23 June 2012 at 7:12pm | IP Logged 
Update #14

68/100 Films

Movies
"La grande séduction" (2003)
"Le bonheur de Pierre" (2009)

"Le dîner de cons" (1998)

TV Series
"Apparences" (10 episodes of 45 min)
"19-2", Season 1 (10 Episodes of 45 min)
"30 Vies", Season 1-2 (120 episodes of 22 min)
"Toute la vérité", Seasons 1-3 (50 episodes of 45 min)

****

La grande séduction
This is my second favourite French language film (so far) after "Le dîner de cons", the latter being a French film and this one a
Québécois. This movie, which goes under the English title "Seducing Dr. Lewis" is remarkably similar in theme to the Michael J Fox
film "Doc Hollywood". A small village in need of a doctor conspires to convince a doctor to stay in the town, both films featuring
plastic surgeons. It is not a remake however - very different really. In this movie the entire town is in on the plot. The film was
shot in the remote Quebec village of Harrington Harbour which is accessible only by boat as there are no roads. A friend of mine
stopped there for a few days while returning from Newfoundland by sailboat and residents were disappointed that he had not seen
the film but wanted to show him all the scenes featured in the movie anyway.

Le bonheur de Pierre
This is a joint France-Canada production about a university professor from Paris and his daughter who move to a small village in
the Saguenay region of Quebec when he inherits an inn. In contrast to the above film which was based on a plot to convince
someone to stay in the town, the plot in this film is based on a plot to make someone leave, specifically 'les maudits Français'.
The efforts just don't work on the professor however because of his personal philosophy of happiness which makes him immune.
It is hard to go wrong trying to make someone want to stay but in trying to make someone leave it is easy to make a film too
negative and nasty for a light comedy and in my opinion this film crosses that line and for that reason I just don't like this film
nearly as much as La grand séduction. On the positive side, language plays a big part in this movie unlike the other. The parisien
French vs the québécois joual - the professors daughter holding her hand over the phone with an exasperated sigh saying "Finally
someone who can speak French!!", a discussion of the conditional verb tense over a bowl of poutine and other funny interactions.
Finally I found the québécois slang/joual a bit stronger in this film than the other which I think was intentional to emphasize the
contrast with the parisiens and thus help make language differences a part of the film.
1 person has voted this message useful



toscane
Newbie
France
Joined 4346 days ago

2 posts - 2 votes
Studies: French*

 
 Message 387 of 656
24 June 2012 at 1:32am | IP Logged 
REGISTRATION

LANGUAGE: Modern Hebrew and English

CHALLENGE:
Hebrew: Super Duper Challenge
English: Super Duper Challenge (only writing)

CURRENT LEVEL:
Both: around A2/B1

COMMENTS: Crazy task but I'm sure the challenge will boost my motivation and I really hope it will help me reach a near C1 level in both languages :)

Edited by toscane on 24 June 2012 at 9:58pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6394 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 388 of 656
24 June 2012 at 9:44pm | IP Logged 
Sooooo....

First, thought I'd count the money spent on books so far:) Most of what I've read so far I already owned as of May 1st.

Polish:
1. HP 3 - 35 złoty
2. a Warsaw guidebook for football fans - about 20 złoty
3. a book about football - 27 złoty
+two football phrasebooks that don't really count
total: 82 złoty, ie about 20 €.

German:
1. Johanna Sinisalo - Troll - 14.5 €
2. Moomins - 22 €
(only ordered these so far, don't have them yet. under 40 €)


Also setting a goal now, to do 50% of my Polish challenge by Euro final :)
1 person has voted this message useful



bluejay390
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 6075 days ago

227 posts - 259 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Malay, Italian

 
 Message 389 of 656
25 June 2012 at 1:44am | IP Logged 
Spanish
8/100 films
1/100 books

Películas
1. La Isla Interior (1 hour 34 minutes)
2. Girls (HBO series) (4 episodes) (2 hours)
3. Jane Eyre (120 minutes)
4. Football Euro 2012 Italy vs Ireland (1hr45min)
5. Football Euro 2012 Suecia vs Francia (1hr45min)
6. Football Euro 2012 La Republica Checa vs Portugal (1hr45min)
7. Football Euro 2012 Alemania vs Grecia (1hr45min)
8. Football Euro2012 Spain vs France (1hr45min)

Japanese
1/50 films
0/50 books

1. The Sea is Watching (119 minutes)
1 person has voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6394 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 390 of 656
25 June 2012 at 1:56am | IP Logged 
bluejay390 wrote:
4. Football Euro 2012 Italy vs Ireland (1hr45min)
5. Football Euro 2012 Suecia vs Francia (1hr45min)
6. Football Euro 2012 La Republica Checa vs Portugal (1hr45min)
7. Football Euro 2012 Alemania vs Grecia (1hr45min)
8. Football Euro2012 Spain vs France (1hr45min)
wow, an American watching these? :)))))))
I watched only one game in Spanish, Russia vs Greece....... :/
1 person has voted this message useful



Solfrid Cristin
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2011 & 2012
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5131 days ago

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

 
 Message 391 of 656
25 June 2012 at 10:40am | IP Logged 
RUSSIAN UPDATE

FILMS
1. Robin Hood (May 1st)(Russian, no subs)
2. The Jungle Book (May 1st)(Russian, no subs)
3. The Jungle Book 3 (May 5th)(Russian, no subs)
4. Love and other impossible pursuits (Russian, no subs)(May 10th)
5. Letters to Juliet (May 10th)(with Russian subtitles).
6. Water for Elephants (May 12th) (Russian, no subs)
7. The Lincoln Advocate (May 13th) Russian - no subs
8. When in Rome (May 17th) (Russian, no subs)
9. Keinohrhasen June 1st (no subs)
10. Dr. Zhivago - ep. 1-2 of the Russian series.(no subs) June 11th

CONVERSATION
1. Conversation (May 1st)
2. Conversation (May 1st).
3. Conversation (May 24th)Week end plans
4. Conversation (May 24th)Plans birthday
5. Conversation (May 26th) Travel plans
6. Conversation (May 26th) Visit from Russia
7. Conversation (May 29th) The place I live
8. Conversation (May 29th) My hobbies
9. Conversation (May 29th) Me
10.Conversation (May 29th) My family
11.Conversation (May 29th) Don't remember, but I had a fantastic time. (A really good bottle of wine and two Russians involved)
12.Conversation (May 30th)Language studies
13.Conversation (May 30th) Spain

READING
1. Appointment with death (AC) May 8th) (280 pages)


NEWEST ITEM - FILMS

11 Twilight (English subs)(June 22th)
12 New Moon (no subs)(June 23th)
13 Eclipse (no subs)(June 24th)
14. Dr. Zhivago - ep. 3-4 of the Russian series. (June 25th)

I know the Twilight series so well, that I can follow it well even if I do not understand everything which is said. The Dr. Zhivago series is a lot more difficult, as it is in original language, but I have the great advantage of having a Russian friend by my side who translates some of it for me, so I can more or less follow. In any event I am still at the level where I am happy every time I understand half a sentence, and I just take it as part of life that I will not understand more than perhaps 10%.

GERMAN UPDATE

FILMS (June 15-16)
1. Hawaii 5-0 ep. 1-2
2. Hawaii 5-0 ep. 3-4
3. Hawaii 5.0 ep. 5-6
4. Hawaii 5-0 ep. 7-8
5. Hawaii 5-0 ep. 9-10

NEW ITEM

6. Hawaii 5-0 ep. 11-12 (June 18th)


1 person has voted this message useful



kanewai
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
justpaste.it/kanewai
Joined 4686 days ago

1386 posts - 3054 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese
Studies: Italian, Spanish

 
 Message 392 of 656
25 June 2012 at 11:17pm | IP Logged 
I had another week of mixed results for movies. From best to worst:

10. Le dîner de cons (Francis Veber, 1998) Recommended by Microsnout, and now seconded by me. The movie was great fun, and Jacques Villeret (the 'con') has brilliant comic timing. I'll be returning to this movie again!

11. La tête en friche (My Afternoons with Margeuritte; Jean Becker, 2010). Gérard Depardieu is a semi-literate "village fool" who spends his afternoons in the park with the 95-year old Gisèle Casadesus, who teaches him to open his heart by reading to him ... La Peste, by Camus. That was one wtf? moment. The other was this: Gérard's character is in his 60's, grossly overweight, underemployed, socially inept, emotionally stunted, uncommunicative - picture a 300 pound cross between Rain Man and Forest Gump - and yet has a smoking hot 20-something girlfriend who dotes on him. I couldn't suspend enough disbelief to watch their bedroom scenes without groaning. The rapport between Gérard and Gisèle was sweet, but overall the movie didn't work for me. Others in the audience liked it.

x. La fille du RER (The Girl on a Train; André Téchiné, 2009). I forgot that I had tried to watch this once before. It is aggressively boring - for most of the movie we watch the star rollerblade around Paris while she listens to music on her headphones. Not worth renting.

x. Le carrosse d'or (The Golden Coach; Jean Renoir, 1952). The Criterion edition only has the English version of the movie, because Renoir preferred it to the French version. I couldn't tell if it was poorly dubbed or poorly acted. I might have finished it if it were at least in French.


I also finished two books this week: Les aventures de Tintin, volume 5 : Le lotus bleu (Hergé, 1936) and Madame Bovary. The last took me seven weeks; this feels like a major accomplishment.

Tintin is a solid read; I really enjoyed the adventure, and there is enough text to justify logging it as 20 pages.

I used a a French-English paragraph-by-paragraph translation on Kindle for Madame Bovary. The translation was awkward; the translator didn't interpret the text so much as translate it phrase by phrase. This was a good thing for helping me understand the French text. I don't think I would've made it through the book without it.

The novel itself is as brilliant as the critics say (see A.S. Byatt's 2002 essay "Scenes from a provincial life"). The first third as a decent pastoral novel, but it wasn't until the second part that I started to grasp the scope and scale of Flaubert's "book about nothing." I'm glad I struggled through it; and it's inspired me to keep working on French literature rather than to try popular books in translation.


Current count: 475 pages

1. Vingt mille lieues sous les mers - première partie. Jules Verne, 1870. (310 p.) (Last 50 pages)
2. Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert, 1856. 384 pages
3. Rohan au Louvre de Hirohiko Araki (2010) (manga; 20 pages)
4. Les aventures de Tintin, volume 5 : Le lotus bleu de Hergé (1936) (manga; 20 pages)

I'm now reading:

5. Astérix le Gaulois de Rene Goscinny (1961)
6. Le grand Meaulnes, Alain-Fournier (1913) (250 pages?)

If anyone wants to join me with Le grand Meaulnes, I uploaded the parallel text version to my Google Drive account. If I did it right you should be able to download it with that link, without signing in.   There are free e-book versions too; I'll be reading it on Kindle, and using the parallel text as a back-up when needed.

Here's what John Fowles wrote about the novel: "(It)belongs to, and is the finest example of, a category in fiction that has no name but exists. Unfortunately, the most accurate description would be the novel of adolescence--I say 'unfortunately' because in our time the adolescent has come to be regarded as either a deteriorated child or an insufficient adult, and to speak of a serious novel of adolescence seems almost a contradiction in terms. That, of course, is precisely what Alain-Fournier wrote--and not only a serious novel, but a very great one. It has haunted the European mind since it first appeared in 1913. It is the book one never quite forgets, a book like a secret garden, the kind of novel you recommend as a disguised test: 'If you don't like this, there must be something wrong with you.'

Anyone tempted?



Edited by kanewai on 25 June 2012 at 11:29pm



2 persons have voted this message useful



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