Arthaey's Once & Future Log [ES/FR/HU/ASL/DE...]

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arthaey
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Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3864&view=unread#unread
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Re: Arthaey's Once & Future Log [ES/FR/HU/ASL/DE...]

Postby arthaey » Fri Apr 07, 2017 1:40 am

Life's even a little rough lately, so language-learning has become somewhat lower priority. :(

Even so, I'm still doing French and Spanish now and then. And in totally unexpected news, I'll be going to a work conference & week of vacation in Budapest at the end of April! Which of course me that I'm scrambling to learn basic travel phrases of Hungarian before I get there. ;)

I know such riveting Hungarian phrases as:

  • Nem beszélek magyarul. "I don't speak Hungarian."
  • Elnézést, beszél angolul? "Excuse me, donyou speak English?"
  • Sajnálom de nem értem. "I'm sorry but I don't speak understand."
All very useful, as I'm sure you see. ;)

I'm using Pimsleur seriously for the first time, despite strongly disliking audio-only materials, mainly because A) since it's a non-Indo-European language that I know nothing about, I want to focus on pronunciation and getting an ear for it, and B) it's what my local library had available. :P

If anyone here knows Hungarian, I'd love some feedback on my pronunciation of my super basic phrases. Let me know!

[tags: #tagLangHU #tagResourcesHUlisten]
Last edited by arthaey on Thu Jun 14, 2018 12:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Brun Ugle
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Re: Arthaey's Once & Future Log [ES/FR/ASL/DE...]

Postby Brun Ugle » Fri Apr 07, 2017 5:51 am

That's not so far in time or location from the Polyglot Gathering. Will you be able to get to Bratislava any of the days? Also, I will be heading to Budapest for a day or two after the Gathering, the morning of 5 June. Will you still be there?
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arthaey
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ASL (lapsed beg);
HU (tourist)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3864&view=unread#unread
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Re: Arthaey's Once & Future Log [ES/FR/HU/ASL/DE...]

Postby arthaey » Fri Apr 07, 2017 2:59 pm

Brun Ugle wrote:That's not so far in time or location from the Polyglot Gathering. Will you be able to get to Bratislava any of the days? Also, I will be heading to Budapest for a day or two after the Gathering, the morning of 5 June. Will you still be there?

I wish! But no, that all happens a month after I leave.
Last edited by arthaey on Sun Apr 16, 2017 3:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Posts in: FrenchGermanHungarianSpanish
NaNoWriMo: 10,000 words
Corrections welcome in any language; I prefer an informal register.

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arthaey
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Re: Arthaey's Once & Future Log [ES/FR/HU/ASL/DE...]

Postby arthaey » Fri Apr 07, 2017 3:26 pm

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: I JUST LAUGHED AT A JOKE IN HUNGARIAN!!

It only relied on me recognizing "nem köszönöm bye" meaning "no thank you, bye" as a joke to say after introducing a guest who's just said hello, but STILL. I'm totally counting that a success. :D

Otherwise I'm just picking out words like yes, no, I am, a little, nine. But that's good too. :)
Last edited by arthaey on Sun Apr 16, 2017 3:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Posts in: FrenchGermanHungarianSpanish
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arthaey
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ES (adv receptive, int productive);
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HU (tourist)
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Re: Arthaey's Once & Future Log [ES/FR/HU/ASL/DE...]

Postby arthaey » Sun Apr 09, 2017 9:47 pm

I just did my first italki Hungarian lesson! I practiced my numbers and polite phrases. The tutor seemed quite surprised that I've only been studying Hungarian for 1-2 weeks; she said that my pronunciation was quite good for such a short study time.

I should upload some sound bites to Soundcloud and ask for feedback on my pronunciation here too — I always suspect tutors of erring on the side of "encouraging" rather than "corrective" with statements like "your pronunciation is good". ;)

She also gave me some helpful tips for traveling in Budapest:
  • taxis rip tourists off, take a bus if you can
  • only foreigners tip 10%, give more like 200-300 forint on a 5,000 forint bill
  • older people often want nothing to do with someone who approaches them speaking English; students are more likely to try out their bad English on you ;)
  • foreigners speaking Hungarian are likely to be asked, "Why do you speak Hungarian?" so have an answer ready :)

I've scheduled another lesson with her (at 6:30 AM! because I'm crazy!) to practice my answer to "Why do you speak Hungarian", and also to roleplay directions and buying things.

<rant>
As for the older people tending to be annoyed at being approached in English... I certainly can't blame them for that! The stereotypical American tourist who just expects (or worse, demands) that everyone else in the world speak English strikes me as some combination of naïve and arrogant. If I'm in a non-English country, I do not expect them to speak English! It's not that hard to learn, "Excuse me, do you speak English?" in the country's language. It's the least a tourist can do, to be polite while traveling.
</rant> ;)
Last edited by arthaey on Sun Apr 16, 2017 3:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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arthaey
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Re: Arthaey's Once & Future Log [ES/FR/HU/ASL/DE...]

Postby arthaey » Sun Apr 09, 2017 10:06 pm

Anoche me di cuenta de que Netflix tiene una nueva serie original en español, que se llama Ingobernable. Me gustaba el primer capítulo y me gustaría ver más.Last night I noticed that Netfilx has a new original series in Spanish, called "Ingobernable". I like the first episode and I'd like to see more.
El lenguaje fue muy fácil de entender para mí. Supongo que eso es por el hecho de vivir allí en México por un año, así que ya me suena "normal" el acento mexicano. También fue emocionante ver la Ciudad de México otra vez. ¡Me extraña! <3The language was very easy to understand for me. I suppose that's because of the fact that I lived there in Mexico for a year, so the Mexican accent sounds "normal" to me now. It was also exciting to see Mexico City again. I miss it! <3

[tags: #tagLangES #tagResourcesESlisten]
Last edited by arthaey on Thu Jun 14, 2018 12:30 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Posts in: FrenchGermanHungarianSpanish
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Cavesa
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Re: Arthaey's Once & Future Log [ES/FR/ASL/DE...]

Postby Cavesa » Mon Apr 10, 2017 12:00 am

arthaey wrote:I should upload some sound bites to Soundcloud and ask for feedback on my pronunciation here too — I always suspect tutors of erring on the side of "encouraging" rather than "corrective" with statements like "your pronunciation is good". ;)

Yes, I have the same suspicion. And I don't know how to make people understand I want corrections. I tried one italki Italian lesson a year ago. The same experience as yours. She was very surprised I was actually talking in quite understandable (even though I was butchering the language) after two months and (gasp!) without a teacher. It is hard to find out how serious those people are and how much they are trying to be encouraging to get you pay for more lessons.

She also gave me some helpful tips for traveling in Budapest:
[list][*]taxis rip tourists off, take a bus if you can

Very true, the public transport is good there. Just don't expect any information in English in case of a sudden change of the route due to accidents, works on the road, and other such reasons. Such information is given only in Hungarian. People around may happen to speak only Hungarian. And the bus driver, when I showed my desired destination on a map, pointed me to a wrong direction. :-D Well, I ended up in a nice park, with lots of flowers. The perfect romantic setting to cry over my freshly broken heart :-D

Budapest is beautiful. Perhaps I'll forgive the city one day. It wasn't the city's fault, but anyways. :-D
And Hungarian sounds great. So exotic and spoken just a several hour long bus ride from Prague.

I am looking forward to reading of your progress. :-)
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arthaey
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Location: Seattle, WA, USA
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ES (adv receptive, int productive);
FR (false beginner);
DE (lapsed beg);
ASL (lapsed beg);
HU (tourist)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3864&view=unread#unread
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Re: Arthaey's Once & Future Log [ES/FR/HU/ASL/DE...]

Postby arthaey » Thu Apr 13, 2017 3:51 pm

arthaey wrote:If anyone here knows Hungarian, I'd love some feedback on my pronunciation of my super basic phrases. Let me know!

I uploaded a few quick Hungarian phrases to SoundCloud. Brutal nitpicky pronunciation feedback welcome!



What I'm trying to say:

—Jó reggelt.
—Jó napot kívánok.
—Elnézést.
—Beszél magyarul?
—Nem beszélek magyarul.
—Amerikai vagyok.
—Viszlát.


[tags: #tagLangHU #tagLangHUrecording]
Last edited by arthaey on Thu Jun 14, 2018 12:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Posts in: FrenchGermanHungarianSpanish
NaNoWriMo: 10,000 words
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arthaey
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HU (tourist)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3864&view=unread#unread
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Re: Arthaey's Once & Future Log [ES/FR/HU/ASL/DE...]

Postby arthaey » Sun Apr 16, 2017 4:15 pm

At the prompting of @blaurebell's comment about ebooks, Calibre, and LWT, I've bought myself a Hungarian ebook, just for funsies (rather than any real expectation of being able to read it).

I found Vámpírok Múszája, "Vampire Muses", by Hungarian author Ánges Gaura*. Apparently Hungarians prefer their sci-fi & fantasy to be written by English-speaking people (read in translation), so many Hungarians will use anglophone names to sell better in Hungary. This author, Gaura, is supposedly unusual in the Hungarian market for using a Hungarian name and a Hungarian setting for her novels. Obviously, that was a selling point to me, not a negative. ;)

When I tried to sign up on the publisher's website to buy the ebook, their form only allowed Hungarian mailing addresses. But I figured that my mailing address shouldn't be an issue if I just want an ebook... so I used my web dev skillz ;) to force the form to accept a US mailing address. After that, the website went merrily on its way, directed me to PayPal to pay (1,023 Ft or $3.50 USD), and gave me my download link.

I used Calibre to convert the ebook to plain text, then let LWT split it up into 820 15-sentence chunks. They're all in the mid-90% unknown category right now. :shock:

I've decided I'll just puzzle out 1-2 sentences at a time until I get bored with it. So far, I know that the protagonist has 9 missed calls from her boss and she doesn't want to call him back. :)

*Hungarian names are family name first, given name last. I've "translated" the name to English's order here, but I'm not sure what the usual convention is when referencing names in another language. I've also learned how past participles are formed, and am starting to recognize accusative case endings!

[tags: #tagResourcesHUread]
Last edited by arthaey on Thu Jun 14, 2018 12:33 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Posts in: FrenchGermanHungarianSpanish
NaNoWriMo: 10,000 words
Corrections welcome in any language; I prefer an informal register.

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arthaey
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Posts: 1080
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:11 pm
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Languages: :
EN (native);
ES (adv receptive, int productive);
FR (false beginner);
DE (lapsed beg);
ASL (lapsed beg);
HU (tourist)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3864&view=unread#unread
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Re: Arthaey's Once & Future Log [ES/FR/HU/ASL/DE...]

Postby arthaey » Sun Apr 16, 2017 6:53 pm

Over on @James29's log, he pointed out Netflix's "audio description" feature:
James29 wrote:I really commend Netflix for making all their original programming with so many audio options. The ones that they make with the original language in Spanish also seem to have the "audio description" option which looks great for language learners. It will at least double the amount of Spanish in each show. I find myself searching for new shows based on this option.

It really does look like a fantastic option for getting more input. I'm not 100% convinced that it won't "ruin" the drama of the show itself, but I'm definitely going to give it a shot.

There aren't a ton of options with Spanish audio descriptions yet, but what's there seems decently high quality:

Image

[tags: #tagResourcesESlisten]
Last edited by arthaey on Thu Jun 14, 2018 12:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Posts in: FrenchGermanHungarianSpanish
NaNoWriMo: 10,000 words
Corrections welcome in any language; I prefer an informal register.


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