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Icelandic - countdown to pillaging

  Tags: Icelandic | Travel
 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
33 messages over 5 pages: 1 2 35  Next >>
Spanky
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 5715 days ago

1021 posts - 1714 votes 
Studies: French

 
 Message 25 of 33
17 April 2015 at 6:27am | IP Logged 
By my calculations, I have a little over 1800 hours left before arriving in Reykjavík,
and I keep foolishly wasting up to 5 hours each day on sleep. Also, my employer has
this bizarre perspective that some part of many days of the week are owed to it, so
there goes 10 hours and a pound of flesh (and a small bit of my soul) per day, 5 or 6
days per week.    Now with Season 5 underway, throw in a solid hour of violence and
naked shenanigans on Game of Thrones per week, and I am right up against it in terms
of remaining study time.

So … yikes!   Also, yeah! cause I like a challenge (no matter how badly challenges
seem to have overcome me in the past).

On the basis of some positive reviews on htlal and elsewhere (Splog’s youtube review,
Stelle’s learning blog), I ordered and today received a copy of Boris Shekhtman’s How
to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately, now in its 3rd edition.

I assumed from the title that there would be several chapters dealing explicitly with
why the Icelanders choose to torture anyone trying to learn their language with all
the vowel shifts and shifting declension patterns, but nope, nada.    I had hoped I
could just Boris the crap out of Icelandic and look like a superstar without actually
learning the language itself, but now that I have acquired and read the book, I see
that is not the case. Nice book in any event.    I don’t really have enough Icelandic
yet to effectively use Shekhtman’s suggested conversation tools at present (not enough
material to make a single island, not even a wobbly stepping-stone) so instead I will
try to grow into Icelandic over the next 1800 hours* bearing in mind the conversation
strategies suggested in this book.

(*1800 hours, minus sleep, minus work, minus watching to see who the dragons wind
up eating on Game of Thrones)



Edited by Spanky on 17 April 2015 at 8:41am

2 persons have voted this message useful



Clarity
Groupie
United States
Joined 3281 days ago

85 posts - 107 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 26 of 33
17 April 2015 at 6:18pm | IP Logged 
Okay, I know this has nothing to do with language learning, but you are hilarious! I just read your entire log and laughed at loud several times.
1 person has voted this message useful



Elenia
Diglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
lilyonlife.blog
Joined 3615 days ago

239 posts - 327 votes 
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Swedish, Esperanto

 
 Message 27 of 33
17 April 2015 at 6:50pm | IP Logged 
Seconded! Good luck with Icelandic. Also, interesting to see that I could sort of almost
understand the reported 'Is it possible to learn Icelandic' bus conversation. I may
follow in your footsteps yet!
1 person has voted this message useful



Spanky
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 5715 days ago

1021 posts - 1714 votes 
Studies: French

 
 Message 28 of 33
26 May 2015 at 5:55am | IP Logged 
Thanks Clarity and Elenia, very kind!   I mostly write just to amuse myself (and to cover up the fact that I am not actually getting much studying done), but it is always a such bonus to find out others might from time to time enjoy some of my nonsense as well.
1 person has voted this message useful



Spanky
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 5715 days ago

1021 posts - 1714 votes 
Studies: French

 
 Message 29 of 33
26 May 2015 at 5:56am | IP Logged 
Down to only 5 weeks remaining before zooming out to Iceland.   Up till now, my strategy has largely been to rest up and save my mental energy for a final 5 week intense sprint of learning right at the end, so here I am.

I have worked up and am several days into a completely unrealistic schedule for getting through the Alaric Hall audio material and related memrise course, the Hilmisdottir, Beginning Icelandic book and CDs and related memrise course, several of the Icelandic Online courses (starting now with the Bjargir course and hoping to get through the Náttura and Menning courses and related memrise courses) and, time and brain-power permitting, the more challenging Viltu læra íslensku video materials.


Edited by Spanky on 26 May 2015 at 5:59am

1 person has voted this message useful



Spanky
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 5715 days ago

1021 posts - 1714 votes 
Studies: French

 
 Message 30 of 33
28 June 2015 at 8:29pm | IP Logged 
Flying off to Iceland shortly. I did not make it through nearly as much Icelandic materials as I had hoped, but definitely made it through enough to make the trip interesting from a language perspective.   And I am completely prepared for pillaging and ransacking, so that is good.

I wholeheartedly recommend pairing Memrise courses with whatever core learning materials you might choose to use (there are for example specific Memrise courses for the Alaric Hall audio materials, for many of the text-based Icelandic courses and for each of the Icelandic Online series - though not all with an audio component). It is a really effective way of reinforcing and ensuring regular review.

I did have a chance of carefully getting up to speed on the attached briefing, in case it becomes necessary to figure out where James may be hiding (SPOILER ALERT: he is hiding behind a tree)

Hvar er James?

Edited by Spanky on 28 June 2015 at 8:31pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Spanky
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 5715 days ago

1021 posts - 1714 votes 
Studies: French

 
 Message 31 of 33
13 July 2015 at 8:02pm | IP Logged 
Spanky wrote:
Outcome:

(to be completed subsequently, no later than July 2015)

I am (surprised/not surprised) to report the following with respect to this hopelessly-misguided language learning project:

I …
__ … quit this learning project in February, 2015 (83% probability)

__ … quit this learning project sometime in March to June (13% possibility)

__ … continued learning Icelandic in a desultory fashion, managed to mumble a few words in Icelandic while actually in Iceland, and got ignored or scowled at. Or just spoken to in return in English, which I understand Icelanders understand better than I do. (3.999% possibility)

__ … continued bravely to push through this beast of a language and while on vacation, I actually did manage to have a simple, slow conversation in Icelandic with an Islander, thereby winning the admiration of my family and the local townspeople, the latter of whom may be tempted to throw a parade for me to celebrate my awesomeness in language learning. (at best, on a chilly day in hell, a 0.001% outside chance, and any parade would likely be fairly small).


Back from 10 awesome days in Iceland. I am delighted to report the following with respect to this hopelessly-misguided language learning project:

I … continued bravely to study this beautiful language leading up to our vacation and while I did not learn as much íslenska as I had hoped, I managed to pester a number of Icelanders as to pronunciation issues and simple phrasing, and generally received quite pleasant responses to my efforts and inquiries. My pronunciation of individual words (including the devilish "ll") was apparently quite good and I was thrilled to receive some very positive comments in that regard, but I was not at all sufficiently advanced to be able to engage in conversational exchanges. I managed to give a few Icelanders headaches when they tried to figure out what I was trying to say on occasions when I tried beyond simple greetings, etc., and got a couple of pleasant "simmer down buddy" looks from airline attendants and restaurant staff when I tried ordering coffee and juice in Icelandic).

Having heard non-stop Icelandic during the trip, I am even more keen on continuing with studying the language for my eventual return at some point (I deferred the parade until that time).


Edited by Spanky on 13 July 2015 at 8:12pm

2 persons have voted this message useful



Elenia
Diglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
lilyonlife.blog
Joined 3615 days ago

239 posts - 327 votes 
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: German, Swedish, Esperanto

 
 Message 32 of 33
14 July 2015 at 9:40am | IP Logged 
Well done! Looking forward to 'Pillaging Two: The Further Adventures' ;)


1 person has voted this message useful



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