Radioclare's 2017 log (Croatian/Russian)

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Radioclare
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Radioclare's 2017 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby Radioclare » Mon Jan 02, 2017 8:44 pm

Wow, it's 2017 already :shock: Happy New Year to everyone - I hope 2017 turns out to be better in many ways than 2016 was!

I've been giving some thought to my language goals over the past few days and decided to try and be more specific and measurable this year. Last year I was deliberately vague about things to avoid putting pressure on myself, but this year I feel like I could do with a bit more direction.

RADIOCLARE'S GOALS FOR 2017

1) Read 10 books in German. This should be easily achievable, as I've received about 10 German novels for Christmas (and may already have demolished one of them since yesterday!). I will try to read something in German every time Tadoku is on at least. The aim is to stop my rusty German from deteriorating any further. If I go to Germany during 2017 (a vague possibility) then I would definitely need to do more than this to get my active skills back to a usable level.

2) Try not to forget any more Esperanto. My Esperanto vocabulary is still there somewhere, but I increasingly feel like it needs a bit of a warm up to come out correctly. I want to be able to speak Esperanto fluently (and not some sort of dreadful Croatian-Esperanto-hybrid) during the British Esperanto Conference in Edinburgh in May. Specifically I want to read Kalle Kniivilä's new book 'Idoj de la Imperio' once I can get my hands on it.

3) Increase my Croatian vocabulary. This will predominantly be by using Memrise more diligently. I had a book of 9,000 Serbian words for Christmas 2015 and so far I've only learned 1298 of them.

4) Read at least 4,200 pages in Croatian (this would take me to 200 'books' in the Super Challenge, ie. completing a Double Challenge in reading). I am aiming to read approximately 50% translations and 50% real Croatian literature. Hopefully I will easily accomplish this goal, because I have received around 20 novels in Croatian for Christmas.

5) Listen to/watch at least 9,990 minutes of Croatian TV/films/audiobooks. This would also take me to a Double Challenge for the Super Challenge 'films'. This sounds like an awful lot still to do, so I'm anticipating this goal may be more difficult to achieve.

6) Do better than last year at Croatian output! Well, I did so badly in 2016 that that shouldn't be difficult. I'm going to aim for 25,000 words, which is only half an Output Challenge but more than I've succeeded in writing any year before now. Definitely a stretch goal.

7) Learn enough Russian to feel confident enough to take my Mom to St Petersburg. Okay, so it's difficult to quantify exactly how much Russian that would be :D I think I'd want to speak it at least as well as I did the second time I went to Croatia (in 2013) as a minimum. I gave my Mom a St Petersburg guidebook for Christmas but the jury is out as to whether we plan a trip for late 2017 or leave it until 2018.
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Re: Radioclare's 2017 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby whatiftheblog » Tue Jan 03, 2017 3:41 am

This is an excellent list of goals! Let me know if you end up going to St. Petersburg and would like some tips :)
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IronMike
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Re: Radioclare's 2017 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby IronMike » Wed Jan 04, 2017 2:59 pm

Saluton!

I saw your picture on the homepage for the conference in May. Any chance you've got a copy of the program for last year's? I'm looking for a short and sweet Eo gathering for me and my daughter, one with options for courses at different levels, and not just prelegoj for two days, which I think will bore her as her Eo isn't too high at all.

The timing of the Edinburgh congress is good, and based on what you recommended before about small vs. large congresses, yours is very attractive!

Cheers,
Mike
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2017 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby Radioclare » Thu Jan 05, 2017 9:15 pm

IronMike wrote:I saw your picture on the homepage for the conference in May. Any chance you've got a copy of the program for last year's? I'm looking for a short and sweet Eo gathering for me and my daughter, one with options for courses at different levels, and not just prelegoj for two days, which I think will bore her as her Eo isn't too high at all.

The timing of the Edinburgh congress is good, and based on what you recommended before about small vs. large congresses, yours is very attractive!


I am indeed one of the organisers :) These were the programmes for 2016, 2015 and 2014. I would love you both to come but if you're looking for courses at different levels then you might be disappointed. We have rented one large room where the main talks will be and then there is a smaller side room where there will be some sessions for beginner. Those are normally quite informal though and adapted to the level of whoever is there, rather than being a structured course. I'm hoping there will be quite a lot of beginners and new faces at the conference as we've had lot of new people coming to our other courses through the year, but typically we have only a couple of sessions specifically for beginners spread over the weekend (normally deliberately timetabled against the talks which would be too boring/too difficult for beginners) and then try to have other sessions which are accessible for everyone.

For an honest opinion of what last year's event was like you could ask Spoonary :)
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IronMike
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Esperanto, C1 (KER skriba ekzameno, 2017)
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Re: Radioclare's 2017 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby IronMike » Fri Jan 06, 2017 12:50 pm

Dankegon! Ni pensos pri via kongreso. Ni eble partoprenos cxe kunveno en cxi-tiu regiono en marto, tial la kompreno de Esperanto de mia filino eble estos suficxe bona por via kongreso! :D
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2017 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby Radioclare » Fri Jan 06, 2017 9:52 pm

Mislim da bi bilo dobro da ovdje češće napišem nešto na hrvatskom. Jedan od mojih ciljeva je da ove godine pišem redovitije. Ne želim da se itko osjeća kao da mora ispraviti sve moje pogreške. Znam da ću napraviti puno pogrešaka, ali cilj nije u tome da pišem bez ikakvih pogrešaka, već jednostavno da pišem nešto... bilo šta :) To naravno ne znači da neću biti jako zahvalna zbog ispravke.

Četvrtak je bio moj prvi dan na poslu nakon blagdana. To je bilo prilično neugodno. Nisam se uopće htjela probuditi kad je budilica zazvonila u šest ujutro. Prošlog tjedna sam bila u Finskoj, gdje je svanulo tek u jedanaest pa sam mogla spavati dokle god sam htjela :)

To što nisam bila na poslu prošlog tjedna znači da sam imala puno slobodnog vremena i zato već pročitala dvije knjige ove godine. Prva je na njemačkom i zove se "Die Verschworenen". To je druga knjiga u distopijskoj seriji koju je napisala austrijska književnica Ursula Poznanski. Serija je jako uzbudljiva i jedva čekam da pročitam treću i posljednju knjigu.

Poslije toga sam pročitala roman Kena Folletta koja se zove "Opasno bogatstvo". Knjiga je prevedena s engleskog na hrvatskom. Nisam je uspjela pročitati dok sam putovala kući u srijedu pa sam imala namjeru dočitati knjigu ovaj vikend. Međutim, imala sam nekoliko slobodnih minuta prije nego što sam morala otići u krevet jučer navečer pa sam dopustila sebi da čitam još jedno poglavlje. To je bila ozbiljna greška zato što se nisam mogla zaustaviti. Pročitala sam jedno poglavlje onda još jedno i nekada oko ponoći konačno sam stigla na kraju. Znam da ne mogu obuzdati sebe dok čitam i zbog toga obično ne čitam ništa kad znam da moram ići na posao sljedećeg jutra :lol:
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Re: Radioclare's 2017 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby Radioclare » Sat Jan 07, 2017 10:52 pm

Somehow we're a week into the new year already :shock: So far things are going okay.

German
As I said yesterday, I read one German novel while I was on holiday. That gave me 464 pages for Tadoku :) It was the second in a series that I'm really enjoying and I'll probably start reading the third book tomorrow.

Croatian
I tackled my massively neglected Memrise courses this week and got my unreviewed words down from several thousand to nil. This puts me in a better position to start learning some new Croatian vocab.

I finished reading a Ken Follett translation (432 pages) on Thursday. I probably enjoyed it too much for it to be educational; it was so exciting, I didn't stop to look up any unknown words.

And of course I wrote 288 words yesterday, so not a bad start :)

Russian
I've been trying to listen to the Michel Thomas Russian course again during the walking part of my commutes. So far I've managed to get through the first disc. The thing I find most annoying about Michel Thomas is the way it's split up into so many small tracks with no break between each one (ie. all the tracks just run into each other without you even noticing that you finished one track and moved onto another one). That means that it's really difficult to switch from using my iPod for Michel Thomas on the morning commute, to listening to music on the evening commute, and then back to the correct place in Michel Thomas the following morning. I genuinely think this is the main reason I've never managed to get to the end of the course :oops:

Full steam ahead with Duolingo. I've got a 73 day streak now and I'm trying to spend longer on it each day so that I not only have time to strengthen all my skills but also learn new ones. Sometimes it feels a bit like whack-a-mole though!

My boyfriend bought me a TY Russian grammar book for Christmas and it's really, really good. It's written in a nice conversational way which explains everything without making it unnecessarily complicated and this suits me well :) I'm trying to work through it very thoroughly so at the moment I've only got as far as plurals in the nominative case. I'm also typing all the vocabulary the book uses into a Memrise course and downloading pronunciations of all the words from Forvo to add in. This is a tedious process and part of me is worried I'm only going to be able to keep this up when I'm in an energetic January frame of mind. But stress and pronunciation is the part of Russian that scares me most, and I feel like this is the best way to get it right when I learn each word for the first time.
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IronMike
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Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
Esperanto, C1 (KER skriba ekzameno, 2017)
Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
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Re: Radioclare's 2017 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby IronMike » Sun Jan 08, 2017 7:29 am

Here's something to try with the Michael Thomas Russian: go into your iTunes and make sure those tracks are saved as Audiobooks and not Music. I listen to Glossika Russian quite often, and switch to music occasionally and when I come back to the Glossika, it remains where I last left it.
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You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2017 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby Radioclare » Sun Jan 08, 2017 12:53 pm

IronMike wrote:Here's something to try with the Michael Thomas Russian: go into your iTunes and make sure those tracks are saved as Audiobooks and not Music. I listen to Glossika Russian quite often, and switch to music occasionally and when I come back to the Glossika, it remains where I last left it.


OMG wow, I think you may just have changed my life :shock: Had no idea at all that you could save things as audiobooks!!
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IronMike
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Posts: 2554
Joined: Thu May 12, 2016 6:13 am
Location: Northern Virginia
Languages: Studying: Esperanto
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Tested:
BCS, 1+L/1+R (DLPT5, 2022)
Russian, 3/3 (DLPT5, 2022) 2+ (OPI, 2022)
German, 2L/1+R (DLPT5, 2021)
Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
Esperanto, C1 (KER skriba ekzameno, 2017)
Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5189
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Re: Radioclare's 2017 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby IronMike » Mon Jan 09, 2017 6:32 pm

Radioclare wrote:
IronMike wrote:Here's something to try with the Michael Thomas Russian: go into your iTunes and make sure those tracks are saved as Audiobooks and not Music. I listen to Glossika Russian quite often, and switch to music occasionally and when I come back to the Glossika, it remains where I last left it.


OMG wow, I think you may just have changed my life :shock: Had no idea at all that you could save things as audiobooks!!


You are so very welcome. Once I discovered this very same thing, my life changed as well!
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You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
CEFR --> ILR/DLPT equivalencies
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