G’s Russian / Spanish Log

[gpd9eq]

Всем привет!

Finally picking up language learning again, something I’ve really missed the last couple years. I studied Russian for 4 years in college, including an opportunity to study abroad, and eventually earned an ILR 3 rating (C1 equivalent) - something I am incredibly proud of! I’m happy to say that, while my speaking abilities have definitely suffered, my reading ability is still pretty sharp. My goal is simple - I just want to refresh my Russian. I have a variety of textbooks, grammars, dictionaries (including access to etymologies, exciting!) which I’ll be perusing. I’ll also be doing Duolingo because, while it isn’t the best independent resource, I find it quite fun and great for refreshing a lot of basic vocab and concepts. My goal is to max out the entire Russian Duolingo tree at level 5.

I’ve also been itching to learn a new language, and I also have a small amount of Spanish material here at home. My primary goal is to be able to read Spanish at an advanced level, and eventually being able to listen to Spanish at an advanced level. Speaking the language is, for now, a lower priority for me. I’ll be using a book called “Spanish for Reading” primarily, with Duolingo as an additional resource. I’ve also been listening to the CoffeeBreakSpanish podcast while going to/leaving from work.

Currently here is my progress:

Russian - I have 16 categories left to achieve level 1 on in the language Tree. I’m about halfway done with a BBC Russian article I found online (really most of it I understand, there are just some technical words/phrases I’m unfamiliar with). I’m pretty excited that I basically understood ~70% of the article at first read.

Spanish - I have yet to start the reading book and duolingo, and I’m on the 5th episode of the podcast. I’m just beginning this journey!

Talk with you all soon,
G

[gpd9eq]

Quick update for today, 04 May:

Русский - у меня ещё 13 категорий в первом уровне. Я сделал только три, потому что я хотел начинать своё изучение испанского языка. Сегодня подумав после Дуолинго, я решил написать свой прогресс по русскому языку на русском языке, чтобы практиковать больше всего уменьшившийся навык. Пожалуйста, напишите, если я сделаю ошибки!

Spanish - today I completed all of chapter 1 in Spanish for Reading. It was rather tiring, so I will not do duolingo or my podcast today. Topics included nouns, cognates, adjectives, an introduction to participles and the passive voice, prepositions, conjunctions, and the verb ser. The book itself is well laid out, as it will give several small phrases/sentences to illustrate points. The end of the chapter had a several paragraph long reading, which I managed to do knowing all but 4 words/phrases. It was a basic reading, but that’s always a good start!

Хороших выходных!

[Bex]

I will be following your log with interest, I was thinking of using "Spanish for reading" as the next textbook I work through after I've finished my current one.

It will be interesting to see what you think of it.

Good luck with your language learning journey.

[GnomeChomsky]

I’ll be using a book called “Spanish for Reading” primarily,

I'm looking forward to reading your log too!
Just out of curiosity, which Spanish for Reading book do you have? And do you like it?

[gpd9eq]

Today’s work wasn’t too intense, but it was definitely fun!

Русский - я ничего не делал в Дуолинго, однако я закончил первую русскую статью, которая называется «Украина приняла закон о государственном языке. Что будет с рууским?»
Статья очень интересна, особенно благодаря моей любови языков и культур. ББС Русская написал эту статью, и я её вам очень рекомендую!

Spanish - pretty light for today, I just did 4 categories on Duolingo. I’ll be going over my notes from Chapter 1 of Spanish for Reading here soon, but I don’t plan on starting another chapter today. For those who asked, I’m using the Spanish for Reading published by Barrons. As I’m only 1 chapter in, I can’t provide too in-depth of a review, but I will say I find it quite useful as the self-instructional course it intended to be. Each new topic makes use of sentences and phrases to illustrate points, and carefully reading and understanding these phrases are key to the long reading passage at the end of each chapter. So far it’s excellent!

Have a great evening everyone,
G

[gpd9eq]

Hi everyone, a small post for the past couple days:

Русский - только начинал новую статью о Боэнге и о них проблемах 737 - мне очень интересно! Ничего не делал в Дуолинго.

Spanish - I finished the first checkpoint on Spanish duolingo! I’m going to get each topic up to that point to level 5 (completely gold) before continuing on. On CoffeeBreakSpanish Im up to episode 9, which is a review of the previous 8 episodes. It’s an awesome Podcast and I’m learning a lot! I’ve been working pretty late, so nothing new on Spanish for Reading yet :/ just reviewing when I can.

See ya!

[gpd9eq]

Hi everyone, I’ll probably update every couple days just due to my work schedule. Anyways:

Русский - я сделал 4 категории, и сейчас у меня ещё 9 до того, что я закончу первый уровень всех категорий! Я тоже прочитал всю статью без словаря, и да, были несколько слов, которых я не знал. Ничего страшного - скоро я буду переводить.

Spanish - I’ve achieved level 5 in “Intro” on Duolingo, as well as level 4 in “phrases” and “travel”. Again, I plan on attaining level 5 in all of the categories prior to the first checkpoint before moving on, so my Duolingo updates will be bland for a while As for Spanish for Reading, I’m about 1/3rd of the way into the second chapter. We’ve continued with conjugations and the reading passages are very geography-heavy, so I’m definitely studying those words hard. I do continue to review chapter 1 every couple days just to stay brushed up. Finally, I’m on episode 11 of the CoffeeBreakSpanish podcast. They’re definitely focusing on just phrases and how to say things, which by itself isn’t a great method, but it is an excellent addition to everything else I’m doing. Being able to hear correct pronunciation is a big plus!

До скорого! ¡Hasta pronto!
G

[GnomeChomsky]

Hi G! It turns out that I do have Spanish for Reading by Barron's. I have read through Chapter 1 at this point. Are you doing anything special when you're going through it? So far, I've just read and answered questions in my head but I'm wondering what other people are doing?

[gpd9eq]

Hey Gnome! Great to hear about SfR. I’ll answer the questions verbally, too. Another thing I do is take notes throughout each chapter (generally on each subsection) and I’ll write down vocab I didn’t already know. This way each time I review my notes I’m revisiting previous grammar and vocab without having to reread the chapter itself.

[gpd9eq]

Здравствуйте, изучающие языков друзья!
I’ve been on a work trip for the past few days, so here’s some updates:

Русский - я фокусировал на испанский язык больше русского, но я прочитал вторую статью. Она о недавних крушениях Boeing-а и я рад сказать, что я всё понял с первой попытки. Конечно, были неизвестные слова, но с контекстом всё понималось. Я также буду продолжать Дуолинго.

Spanish - I finished up lesson 3 of Spanish for Reading, and it was awesome! The reading at the end was super interesting and I find myself having relatively no problem understanding it. After a couple more chapters, or more specifically more complex grammar lessons, I’ll start reading articles entirely in Spanish. The readings in SfR are awesome, but since nearly every sentence is introduced throughout the chapter to illustrate concepts, understanding the full reading isn’t difficult. With Duolingo, I’m almost up to 5 gilded skills. Again, I’m going to complete each section of skills to level 1, then go back and get them to level 5 before continuing. This has been pretty effective with cementing the lessons. No recent podcast work, but I really haven’t had a bunch of free time!

Hope everyone’s language journey is continuing on well.

See ya,
G