Tea With Tarvos - Tarvos' Log 2019

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tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
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Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby tarvos » Sat Jan 14, 2017 6:22 pm

I think it's based on bureaucratic law things. Like how easy it is technically to change gender. But yeah, I didn't really buy into that list either.
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I hope your world is kind.

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Jar-Ptitsa
Brown Belt
Posts: 1000
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 1:13 pm
Location: London
Languages: Belgian French (N)

I can speak: Dutch, German, English, Spanish and understand Italian, Portuguese, Wallonian, Afrikaans, but not always correctly.
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Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby Jar-Ptitsa » Sun Jan 15, 2017 1:41 pm

Yes, it's incredible that for example Kosovo and other east european places are better on the chart than Norway, germany and Netherlands. I think that belgium and the UK must be good as well. I think that east Europe is against gay people, so they wouldn't accept trans. I'm not LBGTI and I've never visited East Europe, but I know that they don't like people who aren't exactly like they think is normal. Maybe the progress is more (so if country was terrible then the progress is better than a country like NL or the UK where the people accepted anyway, of course, I know that you both know this). But it's probably just lying and corrupt. They say that it's how they get the info:

How does ILGA-Europe decide on these rankings? The rankings are based on how the laws and policies of each country impact on the lives of LGBTI people. The ranking records a country’s legal standards for comparison with its European neighbours but the numbers only provide one part of the story. Our Annual Review gives a more nuanced, detailed overview of every country’s progress over the last twelve months and has a chapter dedicated to each country as well as developments at international level.

What categories do we use? ILGA-Europe track each country using a wide range of indicators; covering everything from equality, family issues and hate speech to legal gender recognition, freedom of expression and asylum rights. These benchmarking measures were first used by ILGA-Europe in 2009 and have been expanded on ever since.




Ellasevia, I remember you from years ago on the other forum :)
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-w- I am Jar-ptitsa and my Hawaiian name is ʻā ʻaia. Please correct my mistakes in all the languages. Thank you very much.
: 1 / 50 Spanish grammar
: 5 / 50 Spanish vocabulary

User avatar
tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
x 6093
Contact:

Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby tarvos » Mon Jan 16, 2017 10:29 pm

ΕΛ: Συνέχισα με το διάβασμά μου. Τώρα διαβάζω το ¨Ντετέκτιβ μόνη ψάχνει¨, δηλαδή το πρώτο μου βιβλίο στα ελληνικά που δεν είναι μετάφραση. Δυστυχώς δεν μπορώ να το κάνω πιο γρήγορα - συγνώμη, ώμος δεν τα καταφέρνω. Τώρα διαβάζω 20 σελίδες κάθε ώρα - και αυτό το εαυτό του είναι καλή ταχύτητα. Και μη μου ρωτήσετε να γράφω πιο συχνά στα ελληνικά εδώ - κι αυτό δε θα τα καταφέρω. Στα γενικά, μετά 20 σελίδες είμαι τόσο κουρασμένη ότι πρέπει να κάνω κάτι άλλο - και δεν πειράζει τι ακριβώς είναι. Τουλάχιστον μπορώ να διαβάσω λιγάκι - και στο μέλλον είμαι σίγουρα ότι θα διαβάζω περισσότερο.

Και δεν έχω κάνει τίποτα άλλο - δεν έχω μάθει τσέχικα, ισπανικά, αλλά ελπίζω να κάνω αυτό αύριο. Είμαι ελεύθερη και δεν πρέπει να πάω στο ταχυδρομείο - τι ευκαιρία! Λοιπόν εδώ μάλλον θα δείτε απ' μένα λίγο περισσότερο για τις γλώσσες μου. Αλλά δεν υπόσχομαι ότι αυτό θα ΄ναι στα ελληνικά - δε μπορούμε να κάνουμε το ίδιο κάθε μέρα, σωστά, φίλοι μου;

And with that I am going to try to get some rest - enough Greek for today.
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I hope your world is kind.

Is a girl.

User avatar
tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
x 6093
Contact:

Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby tarvos » Sat Jan 21, 2017 3:45 pm

Some pieces of advice for people learning Modern Greek

This post is dedicated to my experience of learning Modern Greek. I'm not going to go into particular details (such as the overuse of the subjunctive, how to learn particular verb forms etc) but keep the advice in more general terms. This is because there are a few overarching themes to learning Greek that are more important than learning the details - any good grammar will tell you how these things work.

1. First, when learning Greek, you have to realise that the language is heavy on morphology and suffixes, prefixes, and case changes. The verb system is mind-boggling to say the least (but still, apparently, easier than Ancient Greek). This means that you should set aside some time to learn all the verb conjugation tables and declensions. Otherwise it's a language impossible to break through with all the similar endings. Much like Latin or many of the Slavic languages, Greek has cases (four in the case of Modern Greek, including the vocative) and it's important to learn the various forms of all the nouns as well. If you don't like cases and verb conjugations, go learn Mandarin or Vietnamese. This requires time to wrap your head around.

2. The pronunciation isn't so hard. It's like a combination of Spanish from Spain without the "ch" sound (but a very common ts sound instead), and they like interdental fricatives and a rolling r, but other than that it's easy. Five vowels, no strange consonants, no weird lateral fricatives or obscure vowel combinations. The spelling of the vowel sounds can be a little iffy in the beginning, but once you know the combinations you can learn to pronounce everything in a week (the accent marks really help; thank you, Modern Greek, for making them mandatory).

3. The real killer is the vocabulary. Yes, Greek is Indo-European and yes, some of the basic vocabulary is more or less similar to other things we know, sometimes particularly similar to fancy words in our language (but then again they mean something entirely different or common in Greek...). But it doesn't stack up, Greek belongs to its own subgroup, which means there is a whole lot of vocabulary here you have to learn on your own. Even if you manage to wrap your head around the grammar system (not impossible, but slightly arduous) and the spelling (easy), the vocabulary is what will hold you back from improvement. For me, the vocabulary is the reason it's taken me two years before I even started to think about reading an original Greek novel (no translation where I already know the story).

4. Greeks like clipping sounds when speaking. They speak fast. Get used to it.

Overall, Greek is a lot of fun, but it is a pretty deep time investment, and if you're unused to cases, there's a dastardly learning curve in the middle.
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I hope your world is kind.

Is a girl.

User avatar
Jar-Ptitsa
Brown Belt
Posts: 1000
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 1:13 pm
Location: London
Languages: Belgian French (N)

I can speak: Dutch, German, English, Spanish and understand Italian, Portuguese, Wallonian, Afrikaans, but not always correctly.
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Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby Jar-Ptitsa » Sat Jan 21, 2017 4:11 pm

tarvos wrote:
2. The pronunciation isn't so hard. It's like a combination of Spanish from Spain without the "ch" sound (but a very common ts sound instead),


Yes, excatly how Greek sounds for me as well!!
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-w- I am Jar-ptitsa and my Hawaiian name is ʻā ʻaia. Please correct my mistakes in all the languages. Thank you very much.
: 1 / 50 Spanish grammar
: 5 / 50 Spanish vocabulary

User avatar
tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
x 6093
Contact:

Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby tarvos » Sun Jan 22, 2017 4:25 pm

For those who enjoy my Czech journey - here's another log article in Czech. As it's politically themed, keep comments to the actual website, please. I don't mind discussing politics, but not here.

http://wp.me/p52UBG-eY
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I hope your world is kind.

Is a girl.

User avatar
tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
x 6093
Contact:

Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby tarvos » Sun Jan 22, 2017 4:33 pm

By the way, Spanish mission accomplished: I was on a Skype call with some Mexican friends of mine, and one of them thought there was interference on the line because "they heard a Spanish voice". Turns out they meant me speaking Spanish! You know it's good when you're taken to be a Spaniard when talking to Mexicans :p
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I hope your world is kind.

Is a girl.

User avatar
tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
x 6093
Contact:

Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby tarvos » Wed Jan 25, 2017 8:45 pm

Slowly chugging along in my Greek book, my Spanish and my Czech. Haven't got much energy for anything else, but at least reading in Greek is becoming easier. And with that said, I'm going to continue reading my Greek book.
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I hope your world is kind.

Is a girl.

User avatar
Jar-Ptitsa
Brown Belt
Posts: 1000
Joined: Sun Jul 19, 2015 1:13 pm
Location: London
Languages: Belgian French (N)

I can speak: Dutch, German, English, Spanish and understand Italian, Portuguese, Wallonian, Afrikaans, but not always correctly.
x 652

Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby Jar-Ptitsa » Wed Jan 25, 2017 10:51 pm

Mooi dat de Mexicanen dachten dat je Spaanse was!! 8-)

Hopelijk is de lucht daar beter dan het in Londen is geweest de afgelopen dagen. Men zegt dat het nu ietsjes verbeterd is, maar het blijft ongezond. Eigenlijk, mijn dorp in wallonië hoewel heel klein, ook een beetje hetzelfde probleem soms heeft doordat veel mensen houten kachels gebruiken.
1 x
-w- I am Jar-ptitsa and my Hawaiian name is ʻā ʻaia. Please correct my mistakes in all the languages. Thank you very much.
: 1 / 50 Spanish grammar
: 5 / 50 Spanish vocabulary

User avatar
tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
x 6093
Contact:

Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby tarvos » Sun Jan 29, 2017 6:48 pm

vogeltje wrote:Mooi dat de Mexicanen dachten dat je Spaanse was!! 8-)

Hopelijk is de lucht daar beter dan het in Londen is geweest de afgelopen dagen. Men zegt dat het nu ietsjes verbeterd is, maar het blijft ongezond. Eigenlijk, mijn dorp in wallonië hoewel heel klein, ook een beetje hetzelfde probleem soms heeft doordat veel mensen houten kachels gebruiken.


NL: Het is hier gewoon te warm voor de tijd van het jaar, maar dat vind ik ondanks de bijbehorende regen niet zo erg. Ik woon niet in de stad, dus voor mij valt het wel mee, alhoewel de hoeveelheid fijnstof in de Nederlandse lucht altijd te hoog is (hoewel niet kritiek zoals in de grote steden in het buitenland).

http://wp.me/p52UBG-f4

EN: This is another Czech article on discrimination in the workplace. Comments go on my webpage, but you're welcome to discuss my horrible Czech grammar here. I'm paying particular attention to my declension paradigms, mostly for nouns, but also for adjectives now that I'm getting the hang of some of the main differences with Russian, namely the masculine animate/inanimate difference, and the instrumental plural, which is formed with -y in the masculine and neuter declension paradigms, but with -ami for the feminine (and some masculine/neuter soft consonant exceptions, whereas in Russian -ami is everywhere. The same with the use of -u for the genitive in masculine inanimate and neuter nouns, almost non-existent in Russian (-u in the locative occurs in some irregular paradigms), but normal in Czech. The adjective declension is also a bit simpler in Czech, but a bit different from what I expected, and it's much harder to determine a priori whether adjectives are hard or soft (Russian orthography makes this very clear). On the other hand, the fixed stress and lack of vowel reduction makes Czech words much, much easier to pronounce. To this day I will still misplace stresses on Russian adjectives if I don't know the word, whereas that is impossible in Czech (although some undesired vowel reduction may still creep in due to my accent).

I have also nearly finished my first Greek novel - about 50 more pages to go, so I hope to finish before the end of the month (should be doable). I've noticed that my Greek reading speed equates to about 20 pages per hour, but with the remark that the book's pages are huge and the writing minuscule (so I'd read more pages with a different layout). It's a huge help that I now have enough vocabulary to follow a story in Greek which involves detectives and a murder case, and can manage the plot without too much trouble - although the details and humour escape me sometimes. (I've learned a few slang words though, such as κάθαρμα, λέρα, χάζο-Τίτης...)
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