kanewai's book shelf (current: italian)

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kanewai
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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby kanewai » Mon Apr 11, 2016 11:55 pm

Multi-Ball Week 3

I'm back to eight ...

French- Haven't done much beyond watch tv and listen to podcasts.

Spanish - I really should be dropping everything else and focusing intensely on Spanish. I'm managing about 20" of FSI drills each day, Memrise conjugation drills or the Memrise A2 course a few times a week, and a few Assimil chapters on the weekends. It's not bad, but I know that I should really dedicate an hour a day for a couple months if I want to make real progress.

It is interesting doing such a mix of basic and advanced level work. My passive understanding of Spanish is still high - I don't think I lost much while focusing on Italian - but my active abilities are awful. The basic stuff helps with the activation.

Italian - Still reading each day. I really really really hope there's a "Language Family" option for the Super Challenge this year.

Burmese - Slow and steady. It helps that I have eight months to reach very modest goals.

Turkish - The hacking course on Memrise isn't too bad.

Arabic - I'm still on the damn alphabet. Here's the problem with the Arabic course: Arabic letters have an initial, middle, final, and solo form. The Memrise course considers each of these a separate letter, and drills each of them five or six times to get the flower to bloom - and so you spend a hell of a lot of time on each letter.

German - I'm on lesson 18 of Pimsleur I, and am slowly working through the official Memrise A-1 course. German is my commuting language, and so am making the fastest progress in it. That will change once I start with Spanish in the mornings.

Russian - I stop, I start again, I stop, and so on. I finally finished the alphabet on Memrise, and figured I'd give the "learning basics" level a go. And the right away we got Здравствуйте and До свидания. That's a pretty rough way to start - I was hoping for much shorter words.
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Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

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Ogrim
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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby Ogrim » Tue Apr 12, 2016 10:12 am

kanewai wrote:Russian - I stop, I start again, I stop, and so on. I finally finished the alphabet on Memrise, and figured I'd give the "learning basics" level a go. And the right away we got Здравствуйте and До свидания. That's a pretty rough way to start - I was hoping for much shorter words.


Hehe, you better get used to long words in Russian. I remember one of the first words I came across in a course book was Достопримечательность. It means landmark or monument. As Russian uses a lot of prefixes and suffixes, words can become really, really long.
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kanewai
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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby kanewai » Tue Apr 19, 2016 3:29 am

I went ahead and registered for Italian, French, and Spanish for the Super Challenge. There is no way I can possibly do three full challenges, so my aim is to do a half-challenge each.

My current bookshelf looks like this (including English books and audio books, just for the sake of being complete):

Image Image Image Image Image Image

I should finish all of these but Proust and Assimil in the next two weeks.
Last edited by kanewai on Tue Apr 19, 2016 4:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

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kanewai
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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby kanewai » Tue Apr 19, 2016 4:15 am

On deck:

Image Image Image Image
Last edited by kanewai on Tue Apr 19, 2016 8:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Super Challenge - 50 books
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Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

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kanewai
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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby kanewai » Tue Apr 19, 2016 4:47 am

I've got my tv shows queued up also.

Spanish - A lot of shows are finally on U.S. Netflix.






French - I will never run out of French material







Italian - This will be a challenge; I'm a bit burned out on Italian detective shows




German - just in case.





I wonder if I can take a sabbatical from work so that I can focus on the Super Challenge?
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Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

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kanewai
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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby kanewai » Tue Apr 19, 2016 8:40 pm

Multi-Ball Week 4

I'm somewhat amazed I made it this far. I'm holding steady at seven languages, and wondering if I can maintain them through the summer.

French- Not much. I listen to French news in the morning, and an occasional podcast.

Spanish - Slowly re-working my way through FSI Spanish 2 and Assimil. I'm fighting the urge to rush. The most effective use of FSI for me is to listen to an exercise, try and transcribe the first few sentences, and then do the rest orally. I'll check the text to make sure I get the syncopation right. It's a slow process - it can take a full week to do one lesson. It's also super useful, so I'll keep going slow.

Italian - I am really enjoying L'amica geniale.

Burmese - Still on the slow and steady path. I read in From the Land of the Green Ghosts that Burmese find a high-pitched, shrill voice (the author's words, not mine) sexually arousing. Myself, not so much.

Turkish - One of the first full sentences was yapabilir miyim? (Am I able to do it?). This is a pretty complicated sentence, given that you need to know the -ir form of the verb, vowel harmony, the "-abil" ending, how to use the question particle mu-, and how to use personal endings. There is no way someone who hasn't studied Turkish would be able to make sense of this without an explanation.

Arabic - I skipped four days, and had 63 letters to review. Damn. It's not as bad as DuoLingo, but still frustrating. And one of the first full sentences was أود قليلا من الخمر (I would like a little wine). Like Turkish, this is a complicated place to start! I realize that these courses are designed by volunteers, but still, some of their choices are puzzling.

I like the Turkish and Arabic Memrise courses as refreshers. Even though I'm only 20% finished I'm already pondering how to continue.

German - Finished Lesson 23 of Pimsleur. I'm not sure what I'll move on to when I'm finished. Perhaps the Memrise A1 course. I won't have time to study properly.

Russian - It's too hard to do casually, so I dropped Russian.
Last edited by kanewai on Wed Apr 27, 2016 10:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

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kanewai
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Re: kanewai's #01 famille-romance super challenge no. 03

Postby kanewai » Tue Apr 26, 2016 3:44 am

I've just had my first experiences with professional translators! It's for a conference this September, and all of our submittals will be presented in English, French, and Spanish. We don't get to translate ourselves, but I think I might try & then compare notes with the how the pros did it.

My original:

Hawai´i-Pacific Pavilion

The Hawai´i-Pacific Pavilion will host island nations, states, cities, and communities from across the region. The pavilion will feature cultural, political, and scientific sessions, with an overall focus on community resilience in the face of climate change. The Pacific islands are united by their relationship with world’s largest ocean – and by the global threat of the climate crisis; rising sea levels, saltwater intrusion, coastal inundation, ocean acidification and changes in the distribution of infectious diseases all mean that island communities find their environments, economies, and in some cases, their very existence at risk. Some of the world’s greatest navigators once crossed the ocean in voyaging canoes, connecting the thousands of inhabited islands of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. The Hawaii-Pacific Pavilion will build on this theme of interconnectedness to bring the peoples of the Pacific together to share their knowledge, and to build the alliances necessary to create a regional action plan to support climate resiliency throughout the region.

The draft programme for the Hawai‘i-Pacific Pavilion is available on the following links: Room A and Room B.


ça veut dire

Pavillon « Hawaiʻi-Pacifique »

Le Pavillon Hawaiʻi -Pacifique accueillera les nations, villes et communautés insulaires de toute la région. Des sessions culturelles, politiques, et scientifiques seront organisées. Le Pavillon sera particulièrement axé sur la résilience des communautés face au changement climatique. Les îles du Pacifique sont unies par leur relation avec le plus grand océan du monde, mais aussi par la menace mondiale que représentent la crise climatique, l’élévation du niveau de la mer, les infiltrations d’eau salée, les inondations côtières, l’acidification des océans, et les changements de répartition des maladies infectieuses. Les communautés insulaires voient ainsi leurs milieux naturels, leurs économies, et parfois même leurs existences mis en danger. Les plus grands navigateurs ont traversé cet océan en canoës, reliant ainsi les milliers d’îles inhabitées de Polynésie, Mélanésie et Micronésie. Le Pavillon Hawaiʻi -Pacifique s’appuiera sur ce thème de l’inter-connectivité pour rassembler les peuples du Pacifique, afin qu’ils partagent leurs connaissances et construisent les alliances nécessaires pour créer un plan d’action régional afin de soutenir la résilience climatique dans toute la région.

Le programme provisoire du Pavillon « Hawaiʻi – Pacifique » est disponible ici : Salle A et Salle B.


y en español

Pabellón "Hawai´i-Pacífico"

En el pabellón Hawai´i-Pacífico figurarán las naciones, estados, ciudades y comunidades insulares de toda la región. El pabellón presentará sesiones culturales, políticas y científicas, con especial atención a la resiliencia de las comunidades frente al cambio climático.

Las islas del Pacífico están unidas por su relación con el océano más grande del mundo –y por la amenaza mundial de la crisis climática; aumento en el nivel del mar, intrusión de agua salada, inundaciones costeras, acidificación de los océanos, y cambios en la distribución de las enfermedades infecciosas, todo ello significa que las comunidades insulares son conscientes de que tanto sus entornos como sus economías y, en algunos casos, su propia existencia, están en peligro.

Algunos de los grandes navegantes del mundo cruzaron alguna vez el océano en canoas, conectando las miles de islas deshabitadas de la Polinesia, la Melanesia y la Micronesia. El pabellón Hawai´i-Pacífico se basará en este tema de la interrelación para reunir a los pueblos del Pacífico a fin de compartir conocimientos y crear las alianzas necesarias para desarrollar un plan de acción regional en pro de la resiliencia climática en toda la región.

Los programas preliminares del Pabellón “Hawai‘i-Pacífico” se encuentran en los siguientes enlaces: Sala A y Sala B.
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Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

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kanewai
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Re: kanewai's #01 famille-romance super challenge log no. 3

Postby kanewai » Wed Apr 27, 2016 10:55 pm

Week 5 - The last days of Multi-Ball

If I didn't have to do pesky things like work, or sleep, I would continue to juggle multiple languages.

As it is, it's been a fun exercise in remembering and maintaining basic skills, but I wasn't making any real progress in learning new languages, or coming any closer to leveling up in my target languages. So I'm going to try something new (or rather, go back to my old ways) on May 1, in time for the Super Challenge and the 6WC, I will do nothing but Spanish. I'm not going to quit the other languages, just give them a rest while I make a real effort to level up in one language.

If it goes well, I'll do the same thing for the following two months for French. I've been meaning to try some advanced course work for years, and the only way I'll get to them is if I set aside all the rest.

We'll see how it goes.

edit: ok, maybe not everything (that didn't last long). I'll still watch some French tv, and will finish up my current Italian novel. Mostly everything else will be Spanish.
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Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

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kanewai
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Re: kanewai's #01 famille-romance super challenge log no. 3

Postby kanewai » Tue Jul 12, 2016 1:23 am

Hi log. It's me. Sorry for ignoring you for so long. Again.

I'm going to add one of these to my summer line up. I don't know which.

    Communication progressive du français - niveau avancé. $49.95

    Grammaire progressive du français - niveau avancé. $39.95
    corriges. $19.95

    Grammaire progressive du français - niveau perfectionnement. $39.95
    corriges. $24.95

    Vocabulaire progressive du français - niveau avancé. $39.95
    corriges. $22.95

    Vocabulaire progressive du français - niveau perfectionnement. $44.95
    corriges. $22.95

If they weren't so pricey, and if I had more free time, I'd order communication, grammar, and vocabulary ...
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Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

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Rozzie
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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby Rozzie » Tue Jul 12, 2016 5:48 am

kanewai wrote:I've got my tv shows queued up also.

Spanish - A lot of shows are finally on U.S. Netflix.






French - I will never run out of French material







Italian - This will be a challenge; I'm a bit burned out on Italian detective shows




German - just in case.





I wonder if I can take a sabbatical from work so that I can focus on the Super Challenge?


All these are on Nexflix? Cool thanks I will have to find these shows.
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