Sarchta's log

[cjareck]

For you, this was not important, but when I was in Freiburg im Breisgau, I saw a "Marie-Curie" Street there. There was a short explanation who she was, and it was - as far as I remember - "French Nobel laureate" or something like that. For sure there was not mentioned that she was from Poland. So for people who see such a sign, that such an album, even with most basic information, could be very helpful.

[Sarchta]

For you, this was not important, but when I was in Freiburg im Breisgau, I saw a "Marie-Curie" Street there. There was a short explanation who she was, and it was - as far as I remember - "French Nobel laureate" or something like that. For sure there was not mentioned that she was from Poland. So for people who see such a sign, that such an album, even with most basic information, could be very helpful.

You are right, such an album would be very helpful. But a wikipedia article serves the purpose too, even the better than this album. I expected more from such a longggg book. Just look at the thickness of this book.

Recently I started using the google translate to learn German. When I didn't know a word or how to translate a certain sentence I just used the translator. I have to say, it was very helpful. Without google translate my progress would be slower and I would sound a little bit.. stupid. For example I wrote a description of a garden in German. Firstly I wrote it in German on my own and then I used the translator to help me. I wrote the description in Polish and translated it into English. The translator changed some of the expressions, for example:
In dem Garten ist viele schöne Blümen. -> Im Garten gibt es viele schöne Blümen.
Even thought this tool isn't perfect I think will make use of it in the future.

[cjareck]

There is also an interesting website for correcting German:
https://rechtschreibpruefung24.de/
And the addon for Firefox Languagetool
Both have free basic functionality and a more complex one for premium users. I use basics only and find it very helpful.

[Sarchta]

I spent the last two weeks in the country far from my home. I moved away for one moth because I had found a work. Now I'm back home, but only for 4 days. I'm so happy that 15 August is a holiday in Poland and a day free from work and that the company where I work gave everyone another work-free day on Friday, so that I could go back home and make myself 4 days long break. I didn't expected that working at production would be that much exhaustive, not only physically but also mentally. I'm going back to my grandfather on Sunday, because he lives near the place where I work. I have to be ready to wake up at 5 a.m. on Monday which is so sad. My brain starts working after 8 a.m.

Working during summer break is a common practice among young students in Poland. By young I mean 18 years old. Many of my friends are working too. Not like we have to work or we are told to. It's just nice to have some money in handy.

Anyway, I finally started reading Iversen's book about language learning and so far I'm amazed by the scientific nature of the book that does not claim to be scientific treatise about language learning. But that's just the first part. Great job !:)

[Iversen]

Nice to hear that you like my modest guide to language learning.

[Sarchta]

I used to say that I have plans. Hmmmm... It was a mistake! Plans just don't work for me. Currently, I'm giving myself a big break from Esperanto and German. I'm completely focused on English because on upcoming Matura exam I'm only going to pass an English test. It is said that the Matura is the most important exam in the entire human life.

A couple of weeks ago I started to work on my pronunciation. It is amazing! Somebody once told me that trying to write down the pronunciation of English words with Polish letters may cause me problems in the future. I think that he was completely wrong, since Polish and English share some of the characters and it would be surely a better thing to do than not paying any attention to pronunciation at all which was the thing that I have done. Now I learn how to pronounce words with IPA and it's quite enjoyable.

last Friday I went on a climate strike. The things that I have seen brought up mixed feelings in me. I'm curious about the effect of all of those actions. Is anything going to change? Reduction of CO2 emission by 50% percent would certainly require many sacrifices from all of us. We would have to sacrifice our comfortable lives. I'm doubtful if that's possible. Everyday I see people who use car to get to the shop, to get to work...

I have took a trip to our local recycle camp just to see where all of the waste we produce goes. Now I know. it's stored far from anyone's sight near Silezian slag heaps which look a little bit post apocalyptic. Here is a photo.




I have also watched the Greta's speech on YouTube. It was amazing. We are lucky that such a young woman had courage to talk openly about such an important problem.

[Sarchta]

Yesterday I made a huge step forward in learning English. I invited one of my friends to study with me, exactly to practice speaking with me. I'm so glad that I've found somebody willing to practice with me. I've also bought a book about English pronunciation. It seems that getting all of the sounds right isn't that easy! The hardest part is to pay attention to all of the details and creating proper sentences at the same time. Does anybody have a good and not boring method for pronunciation training?

I've also decided to expand my knowledge about the global warming and climate change, just to know what I'm talking about. I've noticed that I haven't paid much attention to have a reliable foundation behind my belies. Sadly, the book didn't satisfy me. Global warming is actually much more complicated than I thought it is and without proper education and serious software I'm not able to completely understand it or make any serious calculations. Anyway, now I know something more than "It's bad" (That's a summary of my former knowledge) and I'm not bound to wonder blindly not knowing what's true and what's not. I can easily debunk some of the most common myths, like this that GW wasn't caused by people.
I think we, as people are sentenced to live without fully understanding the word around us. I wonder what people used to think about this, but like 200 years before now. They definitely didn't have so many complicated devices like smartphones or computers, which are actually kind of like magic. I mean they are just too complicated to understand! It is said that the majority of our knowledge was created in the past few years. Judging by that I think that life used to be easier. Don't get me wrong. People often say that young people, like me, have everything they need, like food, clothes, gadgets... and it's true. All of my material needs are satisfied, but that's doesn't mean that my life is easy. Is it true that life used to be less complicated?

[Sarchta]

Hi! It has been a long time since my last post. Although I set myself a goal to post something new once a week I was just too... I actually don't have any excuses. My motivation to write posts was quite low.
I'm finally done with Iversen's book! The first two chapters were most interesting for me. Probably because I'm not as much into languages as the author. Two languages are definitely enough for me. I struggle to learn English everyday, let alone German. I've forgotten about Esperanto...
Someone on this forum once gave me a superb recommendation. He said that I should look at a podcast called "This American Life". Well, thank you! The podcast is really enjoyable and interesting. All of the auditions are compelling and made with a great care.
The number of podcasts available for free on the net is amazing! And almost all of them offer a great content. The best part about podcasts is that I practice listening in an enjoyable way while I'm going to school or coming back home from school. I also listen to podcasts while I try to fall asleep. yesterday I finished a podcast called "The Rabbits", which was about a girl who was into a game (called Rabbits). The game was something like Cicada 3301, so she had to surf the deep web and solve many complicated riddles. Sadly I've gone through all of the episodes and now I'm looking for another interesting podcast. Have you got any recommendations?

[Sarchta]

Hallo! Ich fühle mich sehr gut. Ich freue mich, dass ich jedesmal Deustch lernen angefang habe.
Ich bin etwas besorgt über mein Lernen. Haben Sie sich jemals gefragt, ob es beim Lernen mehr um die Zeit oder die Methode geht? Ich bin zu dem Schluss gekommen, dass es mehr um die Zeit als um die Methode geht und ich soll nicht um die Methode besorgen. Was denkst du?

[cjareck]

Ich glaube, dass die Zeit ist ja unbedingt nötig und die Methode weniger. Doch, gibt es Methoden die Dir helfen können und um effektiver zu lernen und die Zeit besser zu benutzen. Doch, alle Methoden sind meiner Meinung nach nur als Multiplikator zu betrachten. Und 1000 Mal 0 gibt doch 0.