Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Sun May 01, 2016 9:29 pm

I'm glad you think so!

I decided to add them via picture form to my log to make it more colorful and less dull. I'll be adding more and more as time goes by!
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sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Tue May 03, 2016 12:24 pm

Small update!

Well, I decided not to do the Super Challenge yet again for the 5th year in a row. This time I have good reasons I think! I've taken my autodidact skills to a whole new level and decided to pursue coding and some mathematics. University didn't quite work out because I don't have alot of money. I don't learn too well in a university environment though. I think I really need to rely on myself because I know my limits and what is doable for me and what isn't. I'm really interested in making movies too. I'd like to eventually start on a script and see what happens. Anyway, on to language stuff.


Italian:

Finished Le citta invisibili. Everything worked out all around. The writing was nice, I learned some niche vocab, and so forth. However, I found out about Italian "commedie poliziesche" from the 70s. There's an 11 movie series about a cop who gets into some silly troubles played by Tomas Milian. The awesome part about this is that Milian is Cuban and learned Italian so well in Rome that he started writing his some of his own lines in pure Romanesco dialect. I haven't watched any of them yet, but from what I gather in some films he was dubbed then he did his own voice I think? Anyway, it reminds me of the Spanish cop series Torrente and to a lesser extent the French series Taxi. I've always loved these types of goofy films so I'm excited to jump into it soon.


German:

Had a huge boost in reading fluency and listening comprehension over the past few days. I'm still working with Family Guy, Seinfeld, and Big Bang theory dubs. I went from understanding every other two words in a sentence to getting about half. I'm up to about a seasons worth of Seinfeld, two of Family Guy, and two of the Big Bang Theory.


Portuguese:

More Family Guy dub work. Oddly enough, I find Portuguese harder to understand than German. Whether it's due to the phonology of the languages or the fact that I've listened to more German than Portuguese despite my Romance knowledge, I'm not sure. The good news is that I've been doing enough Portuguese study that it actually is starting to sound like "a ultima flor do Lacio" and the "sweet and gracious language" as described by Bilac and Cervantes respectively.


Russian:

Did lesson 1 of Ultimate Russian and lesson 44 of without Toil. Things are clicking into place more and more each day and it's wonderful. Cases are beginning to make sense, conjugations are still iffy.


Japanese:

Did 3 lessons of Genki, 10 of Assimil.



Maybe this update wasn't as small as I thought it would be...
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sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Tue May 10, 2016 7:37 pm

French:

I watched a lot of movies lately, some I can't remember. I did see Babysitting 2 which was actually funnier than the first imo. I then found out that they made a Les profs 2, so I'm gonna watch that soon.

Besides that, after playing Rainbow Six Siege on PS4 with a bunch of Quebecois and not being able to understand hardly anything they said, I decided to work on my comprehension in Quebecois again. I'm watching a series called Tu m-aimes-tu and I hardly understood a thing the first episode. I really need to put in my work here. I feel like I'm learning French again!

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Spanish:

Finally finished Club de Cuervos. Similar to my French situation, I played with a few Mexicans on the same game and lo and behold, comprehension problems once more. What's the moral of the story here? Don't limit yourself to just 1-2 accents!

Despite that, I saw a few Spanish movies.

Desechos was really funny. I didn't think it would be worth it, but the end made the whole movie. It was hilarious.

Tres bodas de mas was ok. Inma Cuesta and Martinos Rivas are great actors.

The best one I saw that I've been putting off forever was Torrente. It was simply fantastic. I'm going to have to binge 2, 3, 4, 5 eventually. What else surprised me was how hard it was for me to understand Torrente, the main character, at times. Even though he's supposed to be from Madrid. But I guess it was supposed to be like a lower class accent to fit his persona.

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Italian:

Watched a film called Come non detto. Even though I haven't touched Italian in awhile, I was surprised that I could watch this movie without problems. The only problem I really had was when two characters spoke in the Roman dialect they were kind off hard to understand everything, but besides that I loved the movie.

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German:

I haven't read in awhile because I've been watching a lot of TV. I went through another season of Family Guy that I had already watched in Portuguese and now I'm watching a show called Schloss Einstein. It's a drama whose target audience is 10-14 year olds and it shows. It's not the greatest, but it's real language that can help me practice in 20 minute blocks. It's harder than the dubs which is to be expected. I think it's time to watch some German films with German subs but for some reason I haven't gotten to it.


Portuguese:

Nothing


Russian:

Lesson 52 without Toil, lesson 8 Ultimate Russian. I can probably mutter a few basic sentences at this point, but even that wouldn't be pretty.


Japanese:

Some Assimil and Genki
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sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Wed May 11, 2016 8:14 pm

Minor update

German:

Just watched my first ever German movie with German subs! The movie was like 1:20 long but took me around 4 hours to finish. A lot of pausing to look up vocab, a lot of breaks in between, and a small nap. It was a cute movie though. I'm looking forward to watching a few more tomorrow!

I also get this light headed feeling that I get when I'm just breaking into TL films with TL subs that makes me just absolutely tired. Even after showering(I'm not the only one who takes a shower before a major mental task right?) and exercising. It happened to me in French and Spanish and now it's happening in German. That means that my brain was working in overtime to process the information! Yay brain!

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sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Thu May 12, 2016 2:59 pm

French:

Watched another episode of Tu m'aimes-tu. Still got a ways to go to become a Quebecois connoisseur. Is it too late to change accents I wonder? I'd love to speak French like a Quebecois and Spanish like an Argentine...


Spanish:

Watched two episodes of Vis-a-vis. Also watched an Argentine movie called Muerte en Buenos Aires. I used to think that I was a pro with Rioplatense speech based off of my comprehension abilities with series, but this movie + El mistero de la felicidad left me quite humble. I'm gonna have to watch more Argentine movies which shouldn't be a problem considering their cinema scene is solid.

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Italian:

Season 2 of Gomorra started and since it hasn't aired with English subs yet, it looks like my Italian will be coming in quite handy! (Italian subs, I wouldn't dare watch this great show and risk misunderstanding something)

Russian:

Had to revise lesson 53 in without Toil. Yeah, it took me two days to finish this one. Very difficult lesson for me it was. That lesson was probably harder than any I had encountered in Russian with Ease.



So, what's on the menu for today?

I'm hoping to get around to watching another German film with German subs, read some A Rebours or Guy de Maupassant in French, watch at least one more episode of Vis-a-vis, and maybe some more Tu m-aimes-tu. Maybe a Brazilian movie with PT subs. I've left Portuguese out in the pasture lately.

Since school is over I should probably look for a part time job also. :s
2 x

sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Sat May 14, 2016 6:31 pm

French:

Finally got around to watching La French! It was a great movie although I feel like something was missing from it... Probably a larger budget. But really, the story was great. The rise and fall of the Zampa clan of Marseille and the personal sacrifices of a prosecutor to dismantle it.

Some things were hard to understand - be it due to the recording or the music playing in the background at certain points. The old people had EXTREMELY thick Marseillais accents - the thickest I've ever heard. Even more than the people on the reality show Les Marseillais.

I also watched Halal police d'etat. It was a dumb movie that had me chuckle maybe once.

Whether you're learning French or not, definitely watch La French (The Connection in English)

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Italian:

I watched 2 episodes of L'ispettore Coliandro. It's way too long. If it were 50-60 minutes I could probably get through more episodes, but 100+ seems like too much of a time investment for what it offers.

They were quite easy to understand however - very little to no dialect.


Spanish:

Watched Nosotros Los Nobles. It seemed like a prototype version of Club de Cuervos which makes sense given that many people are the same.

Mexican accents are still giving me some problem. Or rather, the vocabulary/slang.

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German:

Watched a movie called Who am I about an outcast German teen hacker. Despite that description, it was better than I expected. I learned new grammar constructions and vocab which is always good.

I'm also reading my first big boy book! Wallander #5. I only got through the first chapter so far.

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Russian:

Started the active wave of without Toil which begins at 57 rather than 50. I'm going through an old Linguaphone course as well and ditched that Ultimate course. Within the first lesson I already came across many unknown words.

I'm starting to appreciate the language in and of itself more as well as dive into some of its cinema.

This basically sums up my relationship with Russian now:


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Japanese:

Genki lesson 5; Assimil 15
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sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Mon May 16, 2016 2:18 am

French:

Watched a few episodes of Hero Corp and one episode of Kaboul Kitchen

Started another series as well called Chefs about a parolee who has to work for a former star in order to stay out of prison. The first episode was good. I got a little scared when I could hardly understand the dialogue of a certain scene and I had to rewatch it a few times.

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Spanish:

Watched REC 4 finally. The end of the REC series.

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German:

Read chapter 4 of Wallander #5


Russian:

Lesson 58/3 Assimil, Linguaphone lesson 2
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sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Fri May 20, 2016 5:08 pm

French:

Finished Season 2 of Kaboul Kitchen, Season 2 of Hero Corp, and Season 1 of Chefs


Spanish:

Watched two episodes of Vis a vis


Italian:

Watched two episodes of Gomorra


German:

Watched a movie called Alles auf Zucker. A black comedy about a guy who ditches his mom's funeral in order to play pool to pay off his debts. Wasn't bad.

Read up to chapter 10 of this Wallander novel. Unknown vocab becoming more and more infrequent until I watch movies or read Franz Kafka apparently.

Despite Die Verwandlung being highly accessible, I've been L/Ring his collection of short stories called Ein Landarzt and he uses tons of formal words. Not to mention that his sentences are hard to keep track of at times. I'll be halfway through a sentence and forget which word was inflected. I'll be finished with it today hopefully. It's not long at all.

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Russian:

Lessons 64/8 in Without Toil, Lesson 2 in Perfectionnement. I decided to do some advanced Assimil work with Without Toil. We'll see how it works out. I got up to lesson 16 last time but I hardly knew anything. After two months of Without Toil I think I should be able to keep up better.
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sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Tue May 24, 2016 1:43 pm

French:

Watched the Netflix series "Marseille" It tried too hard to be something it wasn't. Couple that with the fact that it was clearly under-financed and you have yourself a mediocre TV series. If French weren't one of my TLs, I probably would have stopped watching it after the first episode.

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Spanish:

Watching more Vis a vis. Contrary to Marseille, this show is just fantastic. But unfortunately it's hard to binge watch because each episode is at least 1:10 long. Some have reached 1:23. I can't get enough of it to be honest. I'm glad season 2 is already out.


Italian:

Finally started watching Boris! I was able to tell that it was based in Rome before they even mentioned soccer. My accent recognition is getting pretty smooth, eh?

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German:

Some Wallander here and there and still L/R Dorian Gray. I think it must be because of how old the book is but there is way more unknown vocab than I would've thought.

For the most part, I'm trying to go along with it without trying to look up every word, but there are times when the gap is too great and it causes misunderstandings. I find that words are starting to stick more easily.


Portuguese:

Going to restart the L/R of Amor de perdicao.


Russian:

More Assimil
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sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Fri May 27, 2016 2:50 pm

French:

Four episodes of Pigalle la nuit. This is noir at its finest I'd say. The setting is always dark and cloudy, the cinematography is gloomy, there's mystery and just the right amount of violence. The only noir I've come across like this has been in video games or books. I'm really enjoying it.

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I'm looking into finding materials for African French. I know that some North African movies have been made in French so I'm looking to get my hands on those. As for Sub Saharan, I'm not too sure.


Spanish:

Finished Season 1 of Vis a vis. Going to start a Latin series again because I still need the exposure.


Italian:

Watched the two newest episodes of Gomorra. As a result, I'm subconsciously picking up more Neapolitan and understanding it more thanks to my previous exposure via family.

More Boris also. It's not really that great imo, but the episodes are short so it works.


German:

Chapter 10 of Dorian Gray. An episode of Tatort where I understood next to nothing - but that's how it starts. I'm going to watch Fack ju goethe tonight then part two tomorrow.

I'm pretty good with cases now. The only thing still slipping me up is the word order. I'm not quite sure when to mix it up or when not to.


Portuguese:

Chapter 3 amor de perdicao.
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