Jeff's language log

[jeff_lindqvist]

SV: I huvudsak använder jag litteraturen. Spanska går bra att läsa, franska funkade helt OK i somras, och italienska - tja, vi får se! Ännu har jag inte börjat på den tvåspråkiga novellsamlingen.

ES: Ayer me encontré con otra novela de suspense, El misterio del Priorato de Sión (Jean-Michel Thibaux). Pero primero voy a terminar La cena secreta (Javier Sierra). Tantos libros, tan poco tiempo...

[jeff_lindqvist]

Summary of week 39

• Duolingo - daily sessions. It now feels like a second wave.
• The Anki sessions continue.
• Finnish with pain - I think I reached lesson 25 or 26.
• I managed to finish a handful of books which had collected dust. I also continued my bilingual Swedish/Spanish reading.

Other than this, just preparing mentally for the mini vacation - stay tuned for the next post!

[jeff_lindqvist]

Summary of week 40

Last week, I only found time to do my Duolingo and Anki sessions. The reason for that was the upcoming trip to Oulu, Finland.

It took me three flights to get from one middle-of-nowhere to another middle-of-nowhere. At the hotel I stretched my legs for a while and then went to one of the affiliated restaurants where I had a spicy meal, well in time before the planned session. I bumped into the festival organizer Brent who (as usual) greeted me in Irish, then introduced me to Aisling - native gaeilgoir and also the language teacher during the weekend workshop. Shortly thereafter I met some Swedish fellow musicians I played with a lot last year. After nearly four hours of music, it was time to get ready for the evening concert - the Finnish quartet Eala and then the Irish act Four Winds. After a long day of travelling, I was too tired to take part in the midnight session.

Saturday morning started with two (!) breakfasts for me. Around lunchtime I went to the exhibition Ireland Rising – The Events of Easter 1916. I also listened to three lectures: From Kitchen to Concert Hall - How Irish Traditional Music Discovered an International Audience (Tom Sherlock), Storytelling the Concertina (Henrik Müller) and finally Storytelling the Harmonica (Joel Andersson). A late afternoon concert with Henrik and Joel followed. This evening's main event was a concert starting with a few dance numbers by Irish Dance Oulu, then the Helsinki-based band Nomadi Trio and finally Irish band Danú. Great stuff. I even had energy to stay up for the (short and noisy) midnight session next door.

On the Sunday I went to the lunch session at the Oulu Music Centre. At 15:00, it was time for the power duo Seamus Begley & Tim Edey, followed by one of the new Irish supergroups, Usher's Island. Wow. Around 19:00, the final session started - eventually joined by Four Winds, Seamus Begley and (for a few sets) my hero - Mike McGoldrick.

Admittedly, not a lot of language-related activities, unless speaking my L2 English throughout most of the weekend counts. I also uttered the occasional Finnish or Russian sentence, and of course some Irish when I met someone who I knew spoke it.

[galaxyrocker]

That sounds like a pretty fun event. Is this an annual thing? I might have to try to make it one year.

[jeff_lindqvist]

Yes, it started in 2006 so this was the 11th festival.

[jeff_lindqvist]

Summary of week 41

The final festival session lasted till 02:00, and then some of us moved to a hotel suite and kept playing for a short while. I went to sleep at around 03:00, woke up just before 07:00, had breakfast and then took the bus to the airport for another three flights.

As usual, I woke up on Tuesday morning with as terrible post-travel fatigue. And it was a work day. I spent most of the week trying to catch up on lost sleep, so I had no energy for anything else than Anki and Duolingo. Add neck pain on Friday-Saturday, lower back pain on Sunday morning, and eventually migraine and a sore throat yesterday.

I've just realized something. The Latin/Greek fling lasted one month. So did the Finnish with pain. It's not a time issue - it's just that I have to find a way to stay motivated. Maybe that means that I should change my methods after one month, or even during the first month. Or totally ignore any kind of daily schedule.

[jeff_lindqvist]

Summary of week 42

The Duolingo and Anki sessions were the only L2 related activities I could manage last week. I woke up with a terrible migraine and a wry neck two days in a row. I did however finish a few books in Swedish, and started many more (I think I read nearly 1000 pages during last week).

Plans: get on the Finnish pain train again.

[jeff_lindqvist]

Summary of week 43

Daily Duolingo and Anki sessions, as expected. I finally found time for some Finnish! I've reviewed a few lessons per evening. I'm not really back where I stopped a few weeks ago, but even after just a few weeks break, the language doesn't feel as alien anymore.
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It has been a busy week so far, but after tomorrow I have a few days off.

[jeff_lindqvist]

Summary of week 44

Apart from daily Duolingo and Anki sessions, I've spent some more time on Finnish - which means reviewing old Assimil lessons. In one of the above posts, I wrote about my lack of motivation for some recent languages. With a little help from my friend Tarvos, it turned out that those are the ones I don't "need", but am curious about. It is perfectly OK to have a quick (and shallow) look at languages as long as I don't expect the same enthusiasm and diligence. And if it turns out that I really (REALLY) want to study those languages, I should find a way to increase my curiosity (or find some kind of "need").

Speaking of curiosity, I was thinking of learning some Slovak since it's likely that the next Polyglot Gathering will take place in Bratislava.

I'll start with this resource: http://slovake.eu/en

[jeff_lindqvist]

Summary of week 45

Finally back on the Finnish track! In lesson 22, I found a new concept which I didn't notice when I studied this lesson over a month ago - conjugated infinitives according to case:

Menen baariin juomaan jotakin.
I go - to the bar - to drink - something.

The infinitive of "to drink" is juoda, but not this time, since it's the illative case. Yeah, in another ten years, this may feel natural...

I've also done some detective work to find out who was in a certain show on Yle2 five and a half years ago... Luckily, the TV guide at the website was intact! It turned out that one of the guests was Jore Marjaranta. The customer service at Yle2 couldn't find any more information. I remember that one of the words in one of the songs sounded something like tapahtui (my Finnish was non-existent at that time), and voilà - Mitä Meille Tapahtui. I think the arrangement in the show had a heavier rock sound (rather than this... well, not-so-heavy sound). I'd like to hear Sonata Arctica (or Teräsbetoni!) make a cover.

A new week, and time for more Finnish!