Mista's new perpetual log (currently: Russian and Japanese))

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Mista
Blue Belt
Posts: 608
Joined: Wed May 11, 2016 11:03 pm
Location: Norway
Languages: Norwegian (N), English (QN). Studied Ancient Greek (MA), Linguistics (MA), Latin (BA), German (BA). Italian at A2/B1 level. Learning: French, Japanese, Russian (focus) and various others, like Polish, Spanish, Vietnamese, and anything that comes my way. Also know some Sanskrit (but not the script) and Coptic. Really want to learn Arabic and Amharic.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7497
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Re: Mista's new perpetual log (currently Russian + Latin)

Postby Mista » Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:34 pm

October is essay writing season at the university, so I've been quite busy writing both in Norwegian, Englsih and German. Apart from my literature classes, I'm studying Old Norse and Old French this term. I was still doing my Livius anki deck at the beginning of the month, but I've dropped it now. Thinking of making a new literature deck with one of Gogol's stories.

October Super Challenge update (total numbers)
French
Books: 4471 pages = 89 books
Films: 7144 minutes = 79 films
Started reading Maudit soit Dostoïevski

Ancient Greek
Books: 127 pages = 2 books
No change

Spanish
Books: 706 pages = 14 books
Films: 1422 minutes = 15 films
Continued listening to Crimen y castigo

Portuguese
Books: 504 pages = 10 books
Films: 1731 minutes = 19 films
No change

Swedish
Books: 1502 pages = 30 books
Films: 3776 minutes = 42 films
Continued with the Guillou series on audio: finished Äkta amerikanska jeans and started on 1968

Arabic
Films: 1341 minutes = 14 films
The film club is finally managed to screen a couple of Egyptian classics by Youssef Chahine that have been cancelled on several occasions due to Corona. I missed one of them, but did get to see Alexandria … why? and Saladin

English
Books: 12528 pages = 250 books completed
Films: 6124 minutes = 68 films
Read Zofloya, Frankenstein, A Streetcar named Desire, started on Ulysses and The Merchant of Venice

Icelandic
Books: 1209 pages = 24 books
Films: 1430 minutes = 15 films
No change

Sami
Books: 53 pages = 1 book
Films: 780 minutes = 6 films
No change

Russian
Books: 403 pages = 8 books
Films: 1971 minutes = 21 films
No change

Danish
Books: 2164 pages = 43 books
Films: 1989 minutes = 22 films
No change

Latin
Books: 192 pages = 3 books
No change

German
Books: 1070 pages = 21 books
Films: 3013 minutes = 33 films
Started reading Der geteilte Himmel

Italian
Books: 498 pages = 9 books
Films: 3023 minutes = 33 films
No change

Turkish
Films: 196 minutes = 2 films
No change

Japanese
Films: 593 minutes = 6 films
No change

Average per day
Books: 33 pages (of 41/70) (stopped counting English pages at 100 books)
Films: 63 minutes (of 75/135)

Nynorsk
670 pages = 13 books
1933 = 21 films
No change
7 x

Mista
Blue Belt
Posts: 608
Joined: Wed May 11, 2016 11:03 pm
Location: Norway
Languages: Norwegian (N), English (QN). Studied Ancient Greek (MA), Linguistics (MA), Latin (BA), German (BA). Italian at A2/B1 level. Learning: French, Japanese, Russian (focus) and various others, like Polish, Spanish, Vietnamese, and anything that comes my way. Also know some Sanskrit (but not the script) and Coptic. Really want to learn Arabic and Amharic.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7497
x 1459

Re: Mista's new perpetual log (currently German & Arabic)

Postby Mista » Sun Jan 02, 2022 8:39 pm

Looks like I forgot to post the monthly update again, so below is the SC summary for November. At the time, I had started the exam season, which was exceptionally busy this time bacause I had signed up for so many courses. My language work was purely focused on exams throughout that period, so I was reading Old French and Old Norse (grammar and texts), and writing English and German (literary analysis). Once exams were over, I came back to Arabic, and made a final effort to finish my textbook, Mastering Arabic 1. I met the wall a long time ago with that book, I can't handle the way it teaches verbs, and it turned out to be just as confusing now as it was in the summer. But I had reached chapter 18 of 20, where 20 was just repetition, so I spent the first part of the Christmas holidays, working through the rest of the book as well as I could, just skipping the impossible parts, and then switched to Assimil, which I got for Christmas. I'm currently doing one chapter of Assimil a day, and one session of Drops.

I did a course in German literature in the fall, and I'm planning to do another one now. This will provide me with writing and speaking practice. As a preparation, I'm planning to improve my pronunciation fluency by reading aloud. Starting tomorrow, I will be reading a chapter a day from Der Goldene Kompass (Philip Pullman). I would also like to get started on the reading list, but I don't know yet in which order we will be reading the books, so I thought I'd start with Kafka's Die Verwandlung, since it is short, while waiting for more detailed information. My German is at the stage where I could use some vocabulary work, but I don't need it to get the gist of what I'm reading. So my strategy will be to read and underline every word I would like to look up, and then do the dictionary work later, when I see that I have time for it.

Hopefully, I'll have the December SC update and final SC summary ready shortly.

November Super Challenge update (total numbers)
French
Books: 4685 pages = 93 books
Films: 7234 minutes = 80 films
Continued reading Maudit soit Dostoïevski, really an easy read, so it’s only taking time because I am so busy with other things. Also reading Old French grammar. Watched the film Beau Travail.

Ancient Greek
Books: 127 pages = 2 books
No change

Spanish
Books: 706 pages = 14 books
Films: 1659 minutes = 18 films
Finished listening to Crimen y castigo

Portuguese
Books: 504 pages = 10 books
Films: 1731 minutes = 19 films
No change

Swedish
Books: 1525 pages = 30 books
Films: 4458 minutes = 49 films
Continued Jan Guillou’s 1968 – looks like I’ll reach the half challenge mark this weekend. Read a literary theory text in Swedish translation.

Arabic
Films: 1341 minutes = 14 films
No change

English
Books: 13899 pages = 277 books completed
Films: 6275 minutes = 69 films
Read Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and dead, and continued reading some of the ones I started on earlier. I’ve also registered a whole bunch of articles I’ve read from the start of this semester, mostly on gothic literature.

Icelandic
Books: 1209 pages = 24 books
Films: 1430 minutes = 15 films
No change

Sami
Books: 53 pages = 1 book
Films: 780 minutes = 8 films
No change

Russian
Books: 403 pages = 8 books
Films: 2068 minutes = 22 films
They have had a Tarkovsky feature at the film club, where I watched Иваново Детство

Danish
Books: 2237 pages = 44 books
Films: 1989 minutes = 22 films
Read a short story by Balzac called “Farvel”, probably “Adieu” in French

Latin
Books: 192 pages = 3 books
No change

German
Books: 1100 pages = 22 books
Films: 3013 minutes = 33 films
Not much here, just some lecture notes

Italian
Books: 498 pages = 9 books
Films: 3023 minutes = 33 films
No change

Turkish
Films: 301 minutes = 3 films
Turkish movies are hard to come by, but I got the chance to see one at the film festival this year, Anatolia Leopard. Probably somehow inspired by Crime and Punishment, but with a postmodern twist at the end.

Japanese
Films: 1178 minutes = 13 films
3 movies at the film festival: Drive My Car, Happy Hour, Pompo the Cinephile.
Drive My Car is based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, and has feature for the language enthusiast: a production of Chekhov’s play Uncle Vanya, where all the actors speak their own native language, so some speak Japanese, some Mandarin, some Korean, and one even Korean Sign Language.

Average per day
Books: 33 pages (of 41/70) (stopped counting English pages at 100 books)
Films: 63 minutes (of 75/135)

Nynorsk
670 pages = 13 books
1933 = 21 films
No change
10 x

User avatar
MorkTheFiddle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2113
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:59 pm
Location: North Texas USA
Languages: English (N). Read (only) French and Spanish. Studying Ancient Greek. Studying a bit of Latin. Once studied Old Norse. Dabbled in Catalan, Provençal and Italian.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 11#p133911
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Re: Mista's new perpetual log (currently German & Arabic)

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Mon Jan 03, 2022 6:13 pm

King Lear and Donald Duck. I'm loving it!
:)
4 x
Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

Mista
Blue Belt
Posts: 608
Joined: Wed May 11, 2016 11:03 pm
Location: Norway
Languages: Norwegian (N), English (QN). Studied Ancient Greek (MA), Linguistics (MA), Latin (BA), German (BA). Italian at A2/B1 level. Learning: French, Japanese, Russian (focus) and various others, like Polish, Spanish, Vietnamese, and anything that comes my way. Also know some Sanskrit (but not the script) and Coptic. Really want to learn Arabic and Amharic.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7497
x 1459

Re: Mista's new perpetual log (currently German & Arabic)

Postby Mista » Tue Jan 25, 2022 8:05 pm

Arabic
I got the Assimil Arabic course for Christmas and have been doing a lesson a day since then. I have made it to lesson 31 so far, and my plan now is to continue to lesson 35 and then take a break to work on Russian for the 6wc (registration is open). One of the suggested activities that I have not done is to write out the full sentences in exercise 2 in Arabic script, so I’m thinking about doing that when I get back to the book after the 6wc, at which point I could probably use some repetition anyway.

One important thing I have learned from this book so far is how to pronounce the emphatic consonants, so all I need now is some practice in getting all the sounds right in words and sentences, and I think my pronunciation will be quite good. So far in January, I have had the course CDs in the car and listened to them and practiced pronunciation every time I’m out driving. One notable difference with these CDs from those I had for the Mastering Arabic course is that everything is in Arabic, which feels a lot more efficient and makes me more patient with them.

German
I’m doing another course in German literature this semester, where we are reading literature from the period 1900-1945. I started reading for my spring courses just after Christmas, and for this course, I have so far read two short stories, Tristan by Thomas Mann and Die Verwandlung by Kafka.

In addition to that, I have been practicing pronunciation in German too. As I discovered when I studied French, reading aloud is a very useful way of getting comfortable with the pronunciation of another language, particularly getting used to the sounds that don’t exist in your own language. In German, my main challenges are that consonants combine in completely different ways in German and Norwegian and that so many words are very similar but not quite the same. I’m working with Der goldene Kompass (Northern Lights) by Philip Pullman and plan to get through the whole book, currently I am on page 260. While reading I also underline words I want to look up later, and I have already looked up the words from the first four chapters.

English
My Corona strategy last semester was to make sure I had more than enough to do, so that it wouldn’t matter so much when everything else was cancelled. Actually, one of the reasons I ended up with that decision was that the summer course I applied for, in the Faroe Islands, was cancelled for the second time. As long as I stay in Oslo, however, the university is the only place I can be sure that regular activities will not be cancelled, so I’m sticking to that (I like predictability). So I’ve done the same thing again, and registered for more courses than anyone thinks I can possibly get through (but I can, at least I could last semester). This semester, I’m doing for English courses: 1) British civilization, 2) Victorian literature, 3) Colonial and postcolonial literature, and 4) Linguistics and literature. In addition to that, I’m doing a Comparative literature course in Fantasy and Science Fiction, where I will also be reading a couple of English books.

So far, I have read (only including fiction in this list):
- Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe (the one novel you cannot do without in postcolonial studies)
- The Last September, by Elizabeth Bowen
- The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin

December Super Challenge update (total numbers)
French
Books: 5145 pages = 102 books completed
Films: 7326 minutes = 81 films
Finished Maudit soit Dostoïevski, read some more Old French, and finally read Traversée de la mangrove by Maryse Condé on the train back home after Christmas. Took a short break during exam preparations to see Zazie dans le métro, which is the most brilliantly absurd thing I have ever seen on a movie screen.

Ancient Greek
Books: 127 pages = 2 books
No change

Spanish
Books: 706 pages = 14 books
Films: 1659 minutes = 18 films
No change

Portuguese
Books: 504 pages = 10 books
Films: 1731 minutes = 19 films
No change

Swedish
Books: 1803 pages = 36 books
Films: 4783 minutes = 53 films half challenge completed
Finished 1968 (audio) and Rysslands historia

Arabic
Films: 1341 minutes = 14 films
No change

English
Books: 14624 pages = 292 books completed
Films: 7054 minutes = 78 films
Read The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare), Sula (Toni Morrison), Leaf Storm (Gabriel García Márquez) and The Education of a British-Protected Child (essays by Chinua Achebe). Listened to some old lectures on American Literature as preparation to my exam on the subject (only available to registered students).

Icelandic
Books: 1209 pages = 24 books
Films: 1430 minutes = 15 films
No change

Sami
Books: 53 pages = 1 book
Films: 780 minutes = 8 films
No change

Russian
Books: 512 pages = 10 books
Films: 2068 minutes = 22 films
Read some more pages of Азазель, and finished Дядюшка Скрудж и Дональд Дак. Сокровище Десати Аватар one more time. This book seems just right at the moment, and I think I could get a lot out of some vocabulary work with this book.

Danish
Books: 2237 pages = 44 books
Films: 1989 minutes = 22 films
No change

Latin
Books: 192 pages = 3 books
No change

German
Books: 1595 pages = 31 books
Films: 3248 minutes = 36 films
Read a couple of literary articles, and finished Schiffbruch mit Tiger. Listened to an audiobook with fairy tales.

Italian
Books: 580 pages = 11 books
Films: 3023 minutes = 33 films
Finished La Polvere del Messico

Turkish
Films: 301 minutes = 3 films
No change

Japanese
Films: 1178 minutes = 13 films
No change

Average per day
Books: 33 pages (of 41/70) (stopped counting English & French pages at 100 books)
Films: 63 minutes (of 75/135)

Nynorsk
692 pages = 13 books
1933 = 21 films
No change

Final summary

Total for all languages, not counting more than 100 books per language.

Total pages: 19518 = 390 books
Total minutes: 37911 = 421 films

So I didn't actually complete the challenge for any language, but in total I think I did pretty good.
13 x

DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1967
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:26 am
Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... &start=200
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Re: Mista's new perpetual log (currently German & Arabic)

Postby DaveAgain » Tue Jan 25, 2022 8:23 pm

Mista wrote:In addition to that, I have been practicing pronunciation in German too. As I discovered when I studied French, reading aloud is a very useful way of getting comfortable with the pronunciation of another language, particularly getting used to the sounds that don’t exist in your own language. In German, my main challenges are that consonants combine in completely different ways in German and Norwegian and that so many words are very similar but not quite the same. I’m working with Der goldene Kompass (Northern Lights) by Philip Pullman and plan to get through the whole book, currently I am on page 260. While reading I also underline words I want to look up later, and I have already looked up the words from the first four chapters.
I was looking through the ZDF website earlier (Schulfach Deutsch bei Terra X plus Schule) and they have a short video about reading aloud.

For French I went through one audio book over several weeks. I would listen to a sentence, look up any unknown words in a parallel text, and then repeat it.
2 x

Mista
Blue Belt
Posts: 608
Joined: Wed May 11, 2016 11:03 pm
Location: Norway
Languages: Norwegian (N), English (QN). Studied Ancient Greek (MA), Linguistics (MA), Latin (BA), German (BA). Italian at A2/B1 level. Learning: French, Japanese, Russian (focus) and various others, like Polish, Spanish, Vietnamese, and anything that comes my way. Also know some Sanskrit (but not the script) and Coptic. Really want to learn Arabic and Amharic.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7497
x 1459

Re: Mista's new perpetual log (currently German & Arabic)

Postby Mista » Wed Jul 06, 2022 6:22 pm

Ok, I'm a little behind on my updates here. I was planning to get back to monthly updates on the Super Challenge, and I've had the May update ready for a while, but unfortunately I haven't posted it. Until now:

May Super Challenge update (total numbers)
English
Books: 1389 pages = 27 books
Films: 0
My reading has been dictated by my univerity reading lists this month, and that means a lot of English. I have read :
The Time Machine (Wells)
Chatter (Kross)
The Forbidden Worlds of Haruki Murakami (Strecher)
On Fairy-Stories (Tolkien)
North and South (Gaskell)
The Fall of the House of Usher (Poe)
HP and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
A couple of SF theory texts

In progress:
A History of English Literature (Alexander)
Ulysses (Joyce)

French
Books:
Films:

German
Books:
Films:

Italian
Books:
Films:

Spanish
Books:
Films:

Portuguese
Books:
Films:

Dutch
Books:
Films:

Latin
Books:

Greek (ancient)
Books:

Russian
Books:
Films: 438 minutes = 4 films
I’ve downloaded the sound files of the listening exercises at Speakly and put them on a CD, which I’m listening to in the car. 6 repetitions so far. I’m planning to go through 10-15 rounds of it before I change to something else.

Icelandic
Books: 58 pages = 1 book
Films:
I came home from Iceland on May 1 with a bunch of new books in the suitcase, which is why I’ve started here. I’ve finished Macbeth and have started on Game of Thrones.

Swedish
Books:
Films:

Danish
Books:
Films:

Arabic
Books:
Films:

Japanese
Books:
Films:

Northern Sami
Books:
Films:

Finnish
Books:
Films:

Average per day (31 days/610)
Books: 47/64 pages
Films: 14/126 minutes

Unofficial:
Bokmål
Books: 568 = 11 books
Films:
Finished 1Q84 (Murakami), book 3. Working on Hardkokt eventyrland og verdens ende (also Murakami) and Madame Bovary (Flaubert)
Nynorsk
Books:
Films:

The June update will hopefully be here shortly. Maybe even a more general update eventually.
2 x

Mista
Blue Belt
Posts: 608
Joined: Wed May 11, 2016 11:03 pm
Location: Norway
Languages: Norwegian (N), English (QN). Studied Ancient Greek (MA), Linguistics (MA), Latin (BA), German (BA). Italian at A2/B1 level. Learning: French, Japanese, Russian (focus) and various others, like Polish, Spanish, Vietnamese, and anything that comes my way. Also know some Sanskrit (but not the script) and Coptic. Really want to learn Arabic and Amharic.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7497
x 1459

Re: Mista's new perpetual log (currently German & Arabic)

Postby Mista » Wed Jul 06, 2022 7:00 pm

June Super Challenge update (total numbers)
English
Books: 1959 pages = 39 books
Films: 327 minutes = 3 films
I have read :
Ulysses (Joyce) YES, PEOPLE, I’VE READ THE WHOLE THING ! (Now I just have to read it once more to see if I can figure out what it’s all about ...)
Disgrace (Coetzee)

I have listened to :
The Fishermen (Obioma)

In progress:
A History of English Literature (Alexander)

French
Books:
Films:

German
Books:
Films:

Italian
Books:
Films:

Spanish
Books:
Films:

Portuguese
Books:
Films:

Dutch
Books:
Films:

Latin
Books:

Greek (ancient)
Books:

Russian
Books:
Films: 584 minutes = 6 films
More of the same speakly tracks

Icelandic
Books: 284 pages = 5 books
Films:
Still reading Krúnuleikar

Swedish
Books: 214 pages = 4 books
Films:

Read a text on Finnish literature and some passages from Kalevala, Runeberg and Kivi, all of which was set reading for a lecture on Finnish literature. Also reading a book on Finnish history.

Danish
Books:
Films:

Arabic
Books:
Films:

Japanese
Books:
Films:

Northern Sami
Books:
Films: 15 minutes
Watched the news one day

Finnish
Books: 78 pages = 1 book
Films: 101 minutes = 1 film
Read a couple of comic books (Tintin) and started on a third (Donald Duck).
Saw the movie Tytöt tytöt tytöt (Girls, girls, girls) at the cinema

Average per day (61 days/610)
Books: 42/64 pages
Films: 17/126 minutes

Unofficial:
Bokmål
Books: 1262 = 25 books
Films:
Finished Hardkokt eventyrland og verdens ende (Murakami)
Started on Stalins kyr (Sofi Oksanen)

Nynorsk
Books: 7 pages
Films:
A passage from Kalevala
6 x

DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1967
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:26 am
Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... &start=200
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Re: Mista's new perpetual log (currently German & Arabic)

Postby DaveAgain » Fri Jul 22, 2022 11:55 am

Mista wrote:
Icelandic
Books: 58 pages = 1 book
Films:
I came home from Iceland on May 1 with a bunch of new books in the suitcase, which is why I’ve started here. I’ve finished Macbeth and have started on Game of Thrones.
Mr Martin has a July 2022 post on his website that offers hope the book series still lives.:-)
So I am not going to give you all any kind of detailed report on the book, but…
3 x

Mista
Blue Belt
Posts: 608
Joined: Wed May 11, 2016 11:03 pm
Location: Norway
Languages: Norwegian (N), English (QN). Studied Ancient Greek (MA), Linguistics (MA), Latin (BA), German (BA). Italian at A2/B1 level. Learning: French, Japanese, Russian (focus) and various others, like Polish, Spanish, Vietnamese, and anything that comes my way. Also know some Sanskrit (but not the script) and Coptic. Really want to learn Arabic and Amharic.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7497
x 1459

Re: Mista's new perpetual log (currently German & Arabic)

Postby Mista » Thu Jul 28, 2022 9:29 pm

DaveAgain wrote:
Mista wrote:
Icelandic
Books: 58 pages = 1 book
Films:
I came home from Iceland on May 1 with a bunch of new books in the suitcase, which is why I’ve started here. I’ve finished Macbeth and have started on Game of Thrones.
Mr Martin has a July 2022 post on his website that offers hope the book series still lives.:-)
So I am not going to give you all any kind of detailed report on the book, but…


Thank you! I haven't read his updates in many, many years .... I'm not sure I'm a believer, but I'm ready to accept a miracle if I see it :roll:
2 x

Mista
Blue Belt
Posts: 608
Joined: Wed May 11, 2016 11:03 pm
Location: Norway
Languages: Norwegian (N), English (QN). Studied Ancient Greek (MA), Linguistics (MA), Latin (BA), German (BA). Italian at A2/B1 level. Learning: French, Japanese, Russian (focus) and various others, like Polish, Spanish, Vietnamese, and anything that comes my way. Also know some Sanskrit (but not the script) and Coptic. Really want to learn Arabic and Amharic.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7497
x 1459

Re: Mista's new perpetual log (currently Ukrainian, Russian and German))

Postby Mista » Thu Jul 28, 2022 9:36 pm

General update
Except for my last two SC updates, I haven’t updated anything since January, so this is going to be a summary of what I have been doing since then. For most of this time, I have been struggling with something that I now think must have been a mixture of post covid anxiety, overwork, vitamin D deficiency, iron deficiency, and possibly a round or two of mild covid. I won’t say any more about that here, except that I’m now mostly back where I should be.

Russian
I did Russian for the February 6WC, focusing on reading listening and vocabulary, using drops and speakly as my daily routine. I’m now getting back to Russian and have registered for a Russian literature course (one that I dropped out of halfway a couple of years ago) at the university. I’m hoping that the reading list is still the same and have started working on The Overcoat (Шинель) by Gogol, listening to it in the car and making an anki deck, which will hopefully be ready sometime in August.

Arabic
I returned to Arabic for a week or two after the 6WC was over, but at this time I was so tired and unfocused that I felt it was too much for me. I was therefore very quick to get started with Dutch instead, once I’d made plans with my family to spend the Easter holidays in Amsterdam (and Brussels).

Dutch
So I started doing Dutch on Drops for half an hour a day up until Easter, and once in Amsterdam I found a bookstore and got myself (what else?) a Harry Potter book (ok, I actually got 3, but I only started reading the first.

Icelandic
Immediately afterwards I switched to Icelandic since I had a trip to Iceland just two weeks later. Again, this was mainly Drops, and then some reading while I was there. And, of course, I came home with the suitcase full of books. I read Macbeth while I was there, and later I started reading Game of Thrones, which I finished yesterday. I’ll be doing a course in Old Norse (reading original texts) in the fall, so I thought a medieval themed novel might be a good choice. I also got Njáls saga (in modern Icelandic), among other things.

Finnish
By this time, I had been accepted to a summer course in Finnish, so I decided to get started with that for the May 6WC. Since I was still not in very good shape and struggling to get through my exams, I started out with 15 minutes Drops and 15 minutes Speakly, and eventually ended up with just 30 minutes of Drops. This turned out to be excellent preparation for the course, however. The course was very fast paced, and I was very glad I had done some preparation. While there, I also did some reading, and found that reading Tintin actually worked very well (i.e. I understood enough to get the drift and pick up some new words). I have no idea when I’ll be ready to try Harry Potter in Finnish, though, but of course I got a couple of the books, and also a couple of Moomin books. Since we took a day trip to Tallinn one weekend, I also got the first HP in Estonian (plus Game of Thrones in Russian). On the return flight, my suitcase weighed 25.5 kilos, and I had to take it aside, open it and take out some books to have it accepted.

Ukrainian
The university is offering a "Ukranian for slavists" course next semester, which I just couldn't resist. So after the Finnish course finished, I have been using the same approach for Ukranian (Drops), and also got the Colloquial Ukrainian and a grammar book from the library. I started reading the grammar book today, and my plan is to get through the introduction and pronunciation sections this week. Next week I'm planning to switch focus to Russian.
13 x


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