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What Expug is doing in 2015 (TAC n more) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4944 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 241 of 364 14 July 2015 at 1:17am | IP Logged | |||||
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@Chung: no, these dialogues don't work here. Thank you for this and the other links. The 'Turkish to Uzbek' bridge might be useful in a few years, as now I'm just dabbling and I still want to make Turkish my first Turkic language.
----------- Lesson of the weekend: the weekends are now a time for reading, not a time for catching up with films anymore. I'm regularly reading 10 pages from the Russian novel on Saturday and 10 on Sunday, which makes it 20 pages a weekend. Adding up to the 35 pages from the weekdays, I'm doing 55 pages a week in Russian. Considering there are 30 weeks left in the year, and thus in the Super Challenge, I'm going to read at least 1500 pages more in Russian. So, the goal of 2500 pages (a half challenge) is assured at this rhythm. But I also decided to read in Georgian. I'm much behind in stats - only 1300 pages. But then I read one book extensively, one which is more like a business administration journal, with 18 pages. Since I plan to read at least some 20 pages each weekend, I should count based on weekends rather than on days. SO, while there are about 120 weekdays left in 2015, I'd need 10 pages in Georgian from Monday to Friday in order to reach my goal. Instead, I'm aiming for 40 pages per week, which multiplied per 30 makes 1200 pages as well. So, I don't have to burn out during the week only to reach my goal. I will keep reading few pages intensively in order to improve my vocabulary, while I will try 20 pages a weekend and thus I will be almost sure to complete my goal. Since I'm going to read extensively at the weekends, I won't have to worry about picking the best, most interesting book and I will be able to make use of a lot of dead moments as long as I have my tablet with me. What about the films? Well, I'm reaching my half challenge for German this week, and the Norwegian and Georgian ones are all above 60 hours which makes it comfortable to reach 75 hours as I'm having 120 more workdays, and thus at least 1200 minutes = 20 hours. In the case of Georgian, one more reason I chose to read instead of watch films is the lack of comprehensible input. My main source of comprehensible input is the Kuxnya series I have dubbed plus Russian transcripts which I throw at GT to get a clumsy English translation. I have to watch with notepad open, at the computer, so it's a lot like stuyding. As for watching extensively, I already do enough during the weekdays. So, I'm aiming for quality instead of quantity. I'll be watching the German, Norwegian, Russian or French series I feel like. And maybe even some English ones. I will try to alternate with reading, as even reading extensively in Russian and Georgian can be exhausting at my level - it took my almost 1 hour to read those 18 pages in Georgian. What should I conclude from all that? That I have all that it takes to reach all my goals for the Super Challenge, in all six languages! So I want to add some fun. I'm currently watching so many different series at different stages and I want to slowly reduce those I'm watching just because I need to train a language and currently add more and more series which I enjoy. There are several series I stopped watching and adding subtitles in L2 would be a way to keep going, like Once Upon a Time and Revolution. I also need to resume English without subtitles, and this could be made with The Big Bang Theory. Plsu there are some ones I started in L2 which I can only watch at home, like the ones from NRK, Viki (I figured out the problem with Tatyana's Day was rather the old audio block, as those non-fan-subs series aren't at Youtube) and Deutschflix (just Pastewka is enough by now). ----------------- I'm slowly convincing myself that this Russian textbook is actually the best around, at least for grammar learning. Lessons are short enough that you can focus at one thing at a time. Today's lesson introduced the main genitive patterns and its main usages with sample sentences, but no forced memorization. It was the most didactical presentation I've read so far. It's really regretful that there are no answer keys, because even the exercises are quite practical. The texts were a bit longer at 'I read Russian', but easier (or maybe because of that). I'm starting to look up less and less words, maybe soon I will read one of those short texts and understand everything before looking words up. I've started reading my new Papiamentu book 'Mi bida no bal niun sèn'. It's a translation from Dutch, but I believe it is a good one since Papiamentu speakers are assumed to be bilingual in Dutch, especially those who are supposed to work as translators. Today I watched 10 more minutes from 'Das Experiment'. It was perhaps the easiest time reading the subtitles, with few word look-ups. Understanding the audio is another matter. The volume is a bit too low for me to actually understand what's going on. I ran into a part of an episode in Viki which didn't have subtitles, so I watched Russian without subs for the first time. It was easy to follow the story thanks to the visual clues, but no expressiveness. I only understood a few dialogues. The Russian reading was quite comfortable, on the other hand. Almost enough to read intensively. Perhaps I should try to boost the reading of the series Divergent as well, now that some sort of flow starts to take place. As for Futurama, I understood more than usual, but still less than the film. It seems Futurama does have more dialogue and unusual words. Another Kuxnya episode. The bad quality of Google Translate from Russian into English starts to become an issue. Sometimes it is hard even to figure out whether the sentence is negative or affirmative or which noun phrase relates to which verb. I tried with the final moral lesson by Max and, while I found it confusing in English, I reverted back to the Russian and the translation and figured out. So maybe my intensive way of watching Kuxnya is to refer back to the original in Russian whenever doubt arises and try a word-by-word translation as well. Mens jeg venter at en kollega finer arbeiden sin, prøver jeg å skrive noe på norsk igjen. Jeg har lest ikke noe norsk bok de siste dagene, men det betyr ikke at jeg ikke hadde lærte norsk i det hele tatt. Sannheten er at jeg er opptat med å høre til en lydbok som jeg har teksten i portugisisk til. Det hjelper massevis med å forstå det muntlige språket! Det er ganske lett å finne lydbøker, filmer og serier på norsk, men når det gjelder e-bøker må man enten lese eldgamle bøker med en gammel ortografi eller tilbrynge mange kroner for å kjøpe de nyeste utgivelsene. Derfor har jeg bestemt meg for å prøve noen lydbøker. Jeg hører til historien på norsk mens jeg leser teksten på portugisisk, fransk eller engelsk. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Elenia Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom lilyonlife.blog Joined 3634 days ago 239 posts - 327 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Swedish, Esperanto | Message 242 of 364 14 July 2015 at 9:38am | IP Logged | |||||
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Great post, and good to see that ALL of your half challenges are well within reach. I
specifically decided NOT to do the super challenge when I joined up last year, because I didn't know that it would be achievable for me. Now that I see how well you've managed SIX languages, I'm revising my opinion. I've got a while until the next Super Challenge starts, I can use this time to learn more lessons in consistency from you! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 6934 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 243 of 364 14 July 2015 at 5:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
That's too bad. Notwithstanding the flare-up in bad press about Flash, my intention to make the Turkic challenge as accessible as possible by using free resources based on Flash hasn't worked out for one of the more enthusiastic participants. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Arnaud25 Diglot Senior Member France Joined 3620 days ago 129 posts - 235 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Russian | Message 244 of 364 14 July 2015 at 7:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
https://translate.yandex.ru/ 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4944 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 245 of 364 15 July 2015 at 12:20am | IP Logged | |||||
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@Elenia, I'm once again happy that I am least somehow inspiring you. I'm not the most participative or present person so at least this writing here is being made use of. I need consistency for myself and I usually turn something which is occasional into something regular. It's an aspect that I should monitor about myself, not making eveything into a schedule, but it is liberating at the same time because I know I'm always doing some minor improvements. Some people progress really well with much less planning, like Serpent. That wouldn't work for me and my current 10 languages because that'd lead to unbalance, as I notice with some people that work 90% of the time on their already strong languages.
@Arnaud: merci! J'avais déjà écouté parler de yandex, mais je croyais que quel traducteur que ce soit dans ce monde avait déjà été avalé dans Google Translate. Je vais essayer ça tout de suite. @Chung: Flash is a moribund technology indeed. But this is part of the game. I spent several weeks at this log bragging about some Chinese videos that no longer gets displayed because each uses a different, obsolete format (even RealAudio) and there is no consistent policy of updating and reuploading them. I still think it's no big deal, because there is always Peace Corps and some of these courses even have audio. I have the impression that I'm learning Estonian nominal declension the same way I've been doing with Russian: bit by bit, getting used to it. I'm starting to get the hang of what ending corresponds to a genitive or a nominative plural or a partitive. Chung, if you're still reading this, make sure you already got your hands/cursor at the book УЧЕБНИК ЭСТОНСКОГО ЯЗЫКА by A. VALMET, E. UUSPÕLD, E. TURU because it's by far my favorite when it comes to explaining grammar gradually. I'm more and more convinced that it is a wise strategy to separate short reading/interpreting tasks for my first hour of study. That reduces a lot the stress if I happen to be busy when I come here. I can always catch up later because it's mostly short tasks that take no longer than 15 minutes. Even if I replace the Estonian textbook by native materials, I still want to keep it within this duration range. Had to share this: 29 pictures of Russia before the socialist revolution, computer-colored. At MMCG, I am at the chapter about particles. Somehow it sounds weird to imagine interjections at the first tone, especially when they are supposed to convey satisfaction, surprise or regret. Since the first tone is high and flat, in my idea it is related to certainty, permanence, almost spiritual emotions. I have some vague memories that these first-tone particles don't sound so enunciated as the sound of a random first syllable being read for a textbook, but it's some nuances to keep an ear to so that you can still sound natural. Ta semper hopi enkurashadó ora ku amigunan ta yuda pa nos bira mas interesá den nos studionan. Danki na iguanamon, mi a kuminsá pone mas atenshon den loke mi ta studia na Papiamentu. Awe mainta ora ku mi a skucha videonan fo'i TeleCuraçao m'a pone mashá atenshon na loke e hendenan tábata bisa, asina m'a por konfirmá ku mi realmente tin un nivel mashá halto di komprenshon dje idioma papiamentu, kisas más haltu ku inglés of fransés. Esaki ta nifiká muchu pa mi, pasó papiamentu ta un idioma ku m'a seña mi mes i hamas mi no tábata tin hende di Kòrsou òf di Aruba pa yuda mi papi'e. M'a kaba di lesa un otro página fo'i libru ku m'a kuminsá lesa ayera, i m'a haña un palabra so ku mi no a komprendé, esaki ta e palabra 'slènter', ku ta meskos ku hulandés slenter i ku ta nifiká 'wander' n'e idioma inglés. Tur esaki ta mustra ku mi ta hopi satisfechu ku mi señansa dj'e idioma papiamentu. Mashá danki, amigu! With 10 minutes from 'Das Experiment' today (which were also esy to follow with subtitles, few word look-ups) I reached 75 hours a.k.a. 50 films a.k.a. a half challenge in German films! At episode 2 from "Don't be born a beauty' I recognized another actor from Bednaya Nastya. I spent most of the time watching without subtitles, and was able to follow quite a few scenes. This is encouraging! Unfortunately, the lack of subtitles seems to be a trend for this series. I will have to catch up at the weekend by watching Tatyana's Day. Today's Colloquial Uzbek lesson had more sentences, and so I could contemplate more of the Turkic grammar. Can't wait to start Turkish proper! Poison in Uzbek is zahar, where does this word come from? It's not that I'm seeing 'zahar' for the first time, but I would guess it comes from Arabic and doesn't have a poisonous conotation. Some Italian that sounds like genuine Brazilian Portuguese: come va con lo studio?. We could ask "Como vai a escola" or "Como vai a faculdade", but the most idiomatic way would be "Como é que vai com a escola" or "Como é que vai com a faculdade". That's what your old auntie you only meet once a year would ask you. (I know, the 'é que' periphrasis is rather French, but you see my point). I have the feeling that when you ask "Como vai a escola" you are treating a thing/situation au pair with a person. So, this 'con' is supposed to mean 'How are you going with school'/'How is it going for you with school', both in Italian and in Portuguese. At Kuxnya's episode they discussed about Japanese food in a French restaurant and the chef said 'What if you want to cook khachapuri, which is actually a Georgian dish. It was in the Russian transcripts hence in the original Russian, not just in the Georgian dubbing. Always interesting to hear about things Georgian. I watched this episode with subtitles made into English at Yandex.ru instead of Google Translate, following Arnaud's advice. It is too soon to evaluate whether it is consistently better. A disadvantage is that a Kuxnya episode is long enough that I have to split it in two parts, but this is no big deal. Anyway, it is encouraging to realize there are at least 60 episodes of Kuxnya - considering all of them are available in Georgian as well. I'm at 23 and I'm slowly noticing some changes, still far from a basic comprehension if it weren't for the subtitles. I do hope, though, that until then I start to get the hang of it. I have access to two other Russian series dubbed into Georgian, Последний из Магикян and Два отца и два сына - both seem brand new and quite interesting. But for them to be usable, I'd still have to make use of polydog's team for transcription. They are working on the Intern's transcripts. A great series it seems, but I couldn't find the Georgian dubbing on Youtube, only on the local Georgian video sites which I can't access from here. So, Kuxnya is still the way to go. And maybe for Russian I can download and watch 'The Intern' comfortably with the transcripts instead of going against the odds of the Viki site. მგონია, უფრო საინტერესო და პრაქტიკული იქნება თუ ჩემი სასწავლო ენებზე დღის განმავლობაში ვწერ, ვიდრე მხოლოდ ბოლოს დღეს. დღეს უკვე ფრანგულზე, პაპიამენტოზე და ახლა ქართულზე დვწერე, და საერთოდ დაღლილი ჯერ არ ვარ. ისე რა, მალე არდადეგები მექნება. გრძელი არ იქნება, მაგრამ საკმარისია რომ საშუალება მაძლევს, ჩემი მშობლებთან რომ წახვალ. მხოლოდ ექვსი დღის იქ დავრჩები, მაგრამ სეპტემბერში და დეკემბერში დავბრუნდები. დღეს სამსახურში ძალიან ბევრი ხმაურობა იყო. ჩემი მაგიდის გვერდით სატელეფონო და საქსელო თარო ზის. შაბათ-კვირას ახალი ბმულები დაემატა, ამიტომ უფრო ცხელი გახდა. სითბოს გამო, მუშებმა თაროს კარი ღია დატოვენ და ამიტომ ჩვენი სამუშაო დღე უფრო ხმაურიანი და უფრო ცხელი იყო. საბედნიეროდ კარი დაკეტენ მოგვიანებით. ისე ცხელი აღარ არის, მაგრამ ჯერ ცოტა ხმაურიანია. იმედი მაქვს, რომ მალე ჩამოვედიან და თარო სადღაც მოიტანენ. What I wrote at the first paragraph in Georgian was basically that it's more interesting and practical to write in your target languages alongside the day than just at the end. I wasn't very tired when I finished watching Kuxnya and I had already written in French and Papiamento, and now Georgian. I think this is a good practice I should keep. Now I should remind myself I also have to write in Mandarin, Russian and German, because I've been writing in Georgian, Norwegian, French and Papiamento more or less regularly lately (considerally my overall lack of writing in my target languages). A good day of studies has come to an end. Looking forward to tomorrow (sounds like the flow!). Edited by Expugnator on 15 July 2015 at 4:02pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5040 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 246 of 364 15 July 2015 at 1:23am | IP Logged | |||||
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Padekwa, Expug! M trè kontan ke m te ede ou avèk jwenn kèk bagay nouvo fè ak papiamentu. Se yon bèl lang. Ankò, m siprann ke m konprann pifò a nan tèks sa a. Se mwen ki abite nan Karayib la e se mwen ki fèt pou aprann lang sa a, non? Menm konsa, zile Curaçao, Aruba ak Bonaire yo se pa lwen ak isit, non? Men an menm tan, se trè difisil pou jwen yon avyon ki vole bon mache lòt bò a. Si mwen vle vole Aruba, fòk ale Miami premyèman. Se trè difisil vole Lèzantiy Olandè yo. Se pou mwen depanse anpil lajan, m ka di ou sa, m konnen! Li se chè anpil. Menm ak di sa, m renmen anpil li pawòl ou sa yo ki ou ekri nan lang papiamentu. M ka wè ke tou le de lang sa yo genlè menm relasyon ak lang paran yo. M kwè ke lang kreyòl sa yo gen plis an komen ke yon moun ta panse.
Se ou ke fòse mwen ekri an kreyòl ayisyen tou. Mèsi anpil pou sa, zanmi mwen! Edited by iguanamon on 18 July 2015 at 3:23am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 5839 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 247 of 364 15 July 2015 at 2:23am | IP Logged | |||||
It doesn't. In Arabic, at least. "Azahar" means flower blossom, especially of citrus fruits. Its infusion smells wonderfully. Of course, there's also "zahr" (dice). "Az-zahr" entered some European languages as "randomness", "chance" (e.g. French "hasard"). In Portuguese, it only means "bad luck" (due to the games of dice, no doubt).
We do that colloquially, too. It's like there's something missing. But not in writing. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 6922 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes Studies: Uzbek | Message 248 of 364 15 July 2015 at 11:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
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FYI, the Uzbek word for poison comes from Persian, zahr.
2 persons have voted this message useful |
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