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BAnna’s TAC 2014 Spaß-Lobo-IndRussian

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BAnna
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4382 days ago

409 posts - 616 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish
Studies: Russian, Turkish

 
 Message 145 of 236
09 February 2014 at 2:14am | IP Logged 
Does watching the Sochi opening ceremonies count as studying Russian? ;) Interesting contrast: I watched the televised version of the opening video (going through the Russian alphabet with a meaningful word for each letter) here in the US and the commentators said something like, "you probably don't know what these things are, but Russians do." The German version actually explained the references for anyone who didn't know. The comment on Catherine the Great was funny: the German on the throne, which of course is quite true...

Sochi-Russian Alphabet-Russiches Alphabet

and the Hedgehog in the Fog is a cool animated film (in Russian with English subtitles)Hedgehog in the Fog
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BAnna
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4382 days ago

409 posts - 616 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish
Studies: Russian, Turkish

 
 Message 146 of 236
09 February 2014 at 5:11pm | IP Logged 
Feb 9

Still trying to figure things out regarding studying multiple languages and what will be best for my situation in
Spanish. Via tutoring two Spanish-speaking people in English (one foreign-born adult, one American-born child)
I've realized that my own ability is more like a heritage speaker with some odd gaps. Now just to figure out how
to fill them.
speakers">Heritage Speakers

Stelle's log led me to a really interesting article of "lessons learned" from the FSI.

FSI article on language learning


This week, although I'm definitely studying all three languages, I've shifted my focus to Spanish because we are
planning to visit relatives and vacation in Spain next month.

Deutsch: read news articles, skyped and have about 25 pages to go in "Elsa Ungeheuer" (funny, but somehow
unsatisfying, maybe just too over the top?). A summary in English that contains spoilers:

Elsa
Ungeheuer


Russian: am watching Братья Карамазовы-Brothers Karamazov a series with 40 minute episodes (good so far),
finished Reading and Writing Russian script, working through vocabulary flashcards, Pimsleur Unit 6 and Russian
Russian World Ep 15 and doing cursive practice (aka stress reduction therapy).

Spanish:
Doing lots of reading, listened to some podcasts from Mexico and Guatemala and did a fair amount of grammar
exercises (adjectives, subjunctive).

Finished: "Astérix en Hispania" (lots of vosotros and unusual vocab, but, hey it's Astérix., so fun.) 48 pages and
"La Casa de Bernarda Alba" (rather dark play by Federico García Lorca about a family in rural Spain), 76 pages.

About 50 pages into "Flores Oscuros" by Sergio Ramírez (this month's selection for the library's Spanish book
club, short stories by Nicaraguan author, full of "vos") The stories I've read so far have rather grim themes. I
probably wouldn't have selected this book for myself, but would like to check out the Spanish book club at the
library, so ...
Review of Flores Oscuros

Total fail for me was a combo book and audiobook: "De cómo las muchachas García perdieron el acento" by Julia
Alvarez (tedious soap opera about immigrants to the US from the DR) I gave up on this after 80 or so pages. The
narration on the audiobook was also extremely annoying (gave up on that after disc 2). Glad these were from the
library or I would have felt compelled to finish them. I've liked reading a book and listening to its audiobook in
German, so I just have to find the right combination in Spanish.

Yesterday I picked up "Medianoche en México" written by an investigative reporter about the drug cartels in
Mexico. It looks really interesting, so I hope to finish the short story collection and get on to reading this. Below
is from Gatopardo, which has a lot of interesting articles and podcasts worth checking out, even if this topic isn't
of interest:

Article from Gatopardo
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Stelle
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
Canada
tobefluent.com
Joined 3904 days ago

949 posts - 1686 votes 
Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish
Studies: Tagalog

 
 Message 147 of 236
09 February 2014 at 5:25pm | IP Logged 
A friend of mine is a heritage speaker of Spanish. She's struggling enormously with a university-level Spanish class
(for learners), because she just doesn't know where one word ends and the next begins. She speaks fluently in
Spanish, but she isn't at all literate. It's so interesting to me that she doesn't really think in terms of words - she
just rattles off ideas at high speed.

Language is fascinating!
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BAnna
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4382 days ago

409 posts - 616 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish
Studies: Russian, Turkish

 
 Message 148 of 236
09 February 2014 at 11:17pm | IP Logged 
Español


Acabo de leer el cuento "Ya no estás a mi lado corazón" por Sergio Ramírez.
El cuento se trata de algunas personas que trabajan en un circo pobrísimo en
Nicaragua y fue narrado por parte de un hombre recordando años después
lo que pasó cuando él era niño de trece años. El dueño del circo es un
tragafuegos llamado Luzbel (Lucifer). El es casado con la trapecista
"la sin par Mireya", una mujer a quien encontraron estrangulada . Además
de ser trapecista y amazona, ella trabaja también como prostituta y
era la amante de Mister Tancredo, un albino, que trabaja como payaso
y mago ilusionista en el circo. El enano Leonardo el Galante estaba también
enamorado de la Mireya, pero ella lo rechazaba. No debo de revelar quien la mató,
pero puedo decir que el asesino verdadero no fue condenado a la prisión
aunque admitió que la había matado.La palabra "amazona" se usa para una
mujer que monta caballos y para el traje de falda larga para montar caballos,
además de mujer guerrera de la mitología. Otras palabras nuevas para mí eran
"occiso, -a" que significa el asesinato o victima, "proxeneta" (alguien que vive
de las ganancias de una prostituta), y "holgura" (anchura o amplitud). Había
también ciertas palabras nicaragüenses o centroamericanas que ya había conocido,
por ejemplo "desmoche" (un juego de cartas) y "chompipe", pavo o guajalote (en México).


El titulo del cuento refiere a una canción muy famosa, "La historia de un amor", que fue escrito por el panameño
Carlos Almarán.


Ya no estas mas a mi lado, corazón
En el alma sólo tengo soledad
Y si ya no puedo verte
porque Dios me hizo quererte
para hacerme sufrir más

Siempre fuiste la razón de mi existir
Adorarte para mí fue religión
Y en tus besos yo encontraba
El calor que me brindaban
El amor y la pasión

Es la historia de un amor
Como no hay otro igual
Que me hizo comprender
Todo el bien, todo el mal
Que le dio luz a mi vida
Apagándola después
Ay, qué vida tan oscura
Sin tu amor no viviré

Una versión cantado por Luz Casal:

Historia de un amor
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BAnna
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4382 days ago

409 posts - 616 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish
Studies: Russian, Turkish

 
 Message 149 of 236
12 February 2014 at 2:16am | IP Logged 
At times, I have wondered if it is really useful at this point for me to watch films in Russian since I must
completely rely on English subtitles, but last night I was watching Братья Карамазовы-Brothers Karamazov and
started to pick out a few more words such as: говорить (speak) and я знаю (I know). Then afterward before
falling asleep, the Pimsleur dialogues started running through my mind unbidden. I am now convinced it really is
never too early to dip into native materials.

I've finally come up with some pseudo-goals.

DE/ES: over the next several years, move from intermediate to advanced proficiency in both to allow
comprehension of nuances of more complex native-language content

How: read a lot, actively study grammar, possibly take a class? a tutor?

RU: Specific for 2014
Russian: learn the basics, increase speed and comprehension of reading Cyrillic, and get my brain used to
hearing the language

How: complete A1 materials, watch films with subtitles

ES: Sigo leyendo el libro "Flores Oscuros" ¡Qué título más apropiado para estos cuentos! La mayoría de los
personajes son perdedores, “incapaces de oponerse a lo que el destino o el poder disponen de ellos. Todos los
personajes son marginales, seres oscuros que a veces relumbran frente a los focos de la atención pública, porque
son víctimas o victimarios”, explica Ramírez, el autor. Escuché a un podcast en alemán con el autor suizo Peter
Stamm, quien declaró que el propósito de una cierta clase de ficción es inquietar y lo de cierta otra clase es
entretener. Creo que los dos puedan ser útiles para el aprendizaje.

DE: Meine Tandem-Partnerin hat mir einen Artikel über den Imperativ aus "Der Spiegel" und Übungen als
Selbstkontrolle geschickt.

Zwiebelfisch
Artikel


Mein Deutschbuch (online grammar
exercises)

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renaissancemedi
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
Greece
Joined 4118 days ago

941 posts - 1309 votes 
Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2
Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 150 of 236
12 February 2014 at 8:02am | IP Logged 
I do the same thing regarding native material. Even a couple of words I understand motivate me a lot :)
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BAnna
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4382 days ago

409 posts - 616 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish
Studies: Russian, Turkish

 
 Message 151 of 236
14 February 2014 at 2:53am | IP Logged 
@renaissncemedi, oh yes, you are so right. It's like finding a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Very satisfying :)


Interesting stuff I stumbled across in the past week:

General: Higgs Learner Needs based on research of what learners need as they progress through the levels of
learning a language. I *think* 1=A1/2, 2-3=B1/2 and 4-5=C1/2.

Higgs Learner
Needs Graph




French: No, I'm not going to start another language right now, but the following interview of US Supreme Court
Justice Stephen Breyer made the idea rather tempting. Maybe at some future date I'll dust off my high school
French? I put the original interview in French along with this in the thread about celebrities speaking other
languages. I don't know if a Supreme Court Justice falls into the usual definition of "celebrity", but to me, he's a
rock star. My favorite part of the article is where he talks about how learning another language opened up a
whole new way of seeing the world. Isn't that why we do this?

Reading Proust -Stephen
Breyer



DE:
From an article in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) that I read this week about data protection and
surveillance, below are a few colorful phrases. This article was really a challenge to read, but interesting.

der einsame Rufer in der Wüste (lone voice in the wilderness)
deutsche Politiker meiden das Thema Datenschutz üblicherweise wie der Teufel das Weihwasser: (German
politicians usually avoid the question of data protection like the devil avoids holy water)
"Datenschutz" klingt, als waren Daten seltene Tiere, die vor dem Aussterben bewahrt werden müssen. Oder
kleine, bösartige Parasiten, gegen es den Menschen zu verteidigen gilt. (Data protection sounds as if data were
rare animals, which must be protected from extinction. Or small malicious parasites, against whom people have
to be protected)

ES:
I'm going to focus much more on Spanish over the next several weeks since we will be going to Spain soon. I'm
still reading the short story collection, but I just bought an ebook to work on the basics: Better Reading Spanish.   
It has short readings that increase in level of difficulty with exercises designed to improve reading skills.

RU:
Currently working on verb conjugation, the accusative case, possessives and increasing vocabulary using a
variety of sources that reinforce each other. I am really enjoying studying Russian.

Edited by BAnna on 14 February 2014 at 2:55am

1 person has voted this message useful



BAnna
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4382 days ago

409 posts - 616 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish
Studies: Russian, Turkish

 
 Message 152 of 236
15 February 2014 at 6:14am | IP Logged 
ES
I just finished Flores Oscuros, which I ended up liking more as I kept reading.

About learning languages (from a sad story in the book about a man who gradually becomes a mute upon
moving to Iowa because he can't manage to learn English):
"Para hablar otra lengua uno tiene que ser una especie de maromero al que no le importa soltarse del trapecio
que vuela en las alturas, o de payaso al que le tiene sin cuidado el ridículo de hacer mímicas, copiar entonaciones
de voz, imitar a los demás."

Paraphrase "To speak another language you have to be a kind of acrobat who does not mind letting go of the
trapeze flying in the heights, or a clown who doesn't mind making a fool of himself performing pantomime,
copying intonations and imitating others. "

I continually make a fool of myself in countless ways. At least it's good to know I'm on the right track :)



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