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
x 1459

Re: Mista's new perpetual log (Christmas interlude: German)

Postby Mista » Sat Feb 04, 2023 6:59 pm

January Super Challenge update (total numbers)
English
Books: 7085 pages = 141 books
Films: 2220 minutes = 24 films

I’ve read:
Marxism and Literary Criticism
1984 (Orwell)
Waverley (Scott)

Watched:
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

French
Books: 317 = 6 books
Films: 890 minutes = 9 films

Saw Close at the cinema

German
Books: 460 pages = 9 books
Films: 486 minutes = 9 film
Reading Leid und Verwandling and Das siebte Kreuz (Seghers). Listening to Der goldene Kompass.

Italian
Books:
Films: 120 minutes = 1 film
No change

Spanish
Books:
Films: 225 minutes = 2 films
No change

Portuguese
Books:
Films: 170 minutes = 1 film
No change

Dutch
Books:
Films:

Latin
Books: 94 pages
No change

Greek (ancient)
Books:

Russian
Books: 615 pages = 12 books
Films: 2231 minutes = 24 films
Listened to the first Assimil CD

Icelandic
Books: 892 pages = 17 books
Films: 142 minutes = 1 film
No change

Swedish
Books: 527 pages = 10 books
Films:
No change

Danish
Books:
Films:

Arabic
Books:
Films: 193 minutes = 2 films
No change

Japanese
Books:
Films: 295 minutes = 3 films
No change

Northern Sami
Books: 48 pages
Films: 15 minutes
No change

Finnish
Books: 138 pages = 2 books
Films: 201 minutes = 2 films
No change

Average per day (276 days/610)
Books: 29/64 pages
Films: 26/126 minutes

Unofficial:
Bokmål
Books: 2977 = 59 books
Films:
Reading Zuleikha åpner øynene (Guzel Yakhina)

Nynorsk
Books: 19 pages
Films:
No change
5 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: Russian)

Postby Mista » Sat Mar 04, 2023 10:15 pm

Ferbuary has been a disaster when it comes to the SC. I think everything I've read this month has been in English, and all of it has been for my classes. And I've fallen behind on that reading too ... Hopefully, March will be better.

Outside of the SC, I'm studying Russian. I'm once again taking a Russian language class at the university, which is immensely useful - we are doing translations from Norwegian to Russian, reading Russian texts (literary and cultural texts) from a textbook, and revising grammar. Apart from that, I keep on doing Drops every day.

February Super Challenge update (total numbers)
English
Books: 8423 pages = 168 books
Films: 2336 minutes = 25 films

I’ve read:
Immortality (Kundera)
The Quest of the Silver Fleece (Du Bois)
Outline (Cusk)

Working on:
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain (Saunders)
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller (Calvino)
The Story of Sapho (Scudéry)

Watched:
The Banshees of Inisherin

French
Books: 317 = 6 books
Films: 890 minutes = 9 films
No change

German
Books: 460 pages = 9 books
Films: 486 minutes = 9 film
No change

Italian
Books:
Films: 120 minutes = 1 film
No change

Spanish
Books:
Films: 225 minutes = 2 films
No change

Portuguese
Books:
Films: 170 minutes = 1 film
No change

Dutch
Books:
Films:

Latin
Books: 94 pages
No change

Greek (ancient)
Books:

Russian
Books: 615 pages = 12 books
Films: 2231 minutes = 24 films
No change

Icelandic
Books: 892 pages = 17 books
Films: 142 minutes = 1 film
No change

Swedish
Books: 527 pages = 10 books
Films:
No change

Danish
Books:
Films:

Arabic
Books:
Films: 260 minutes = 2 films
A bit more of HP

Japanese
Books:
Films: 295 minutes = 3 films
No change

Northern Sami
Books: 48 pages
Films: 15 minutes
No change

Finnish
Books: 138 pages = 2 books
Films: 201 minutes = 2 films
No change

Average per day (294 days/610)
Books: 28/64 pages
Films: 25/126 minutes

Unofficial:
Bokmål
Books: 2977 = 59 books
Films:
No change

Nynorsk
Books: 19 pages
Films:
No change
5 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: Russian)

Postby Mista » Thu Mar 16, 2023 1:36 pm

AI6WC challenge - English writing
I joined this challenge mainly to get some writing done. As I've mentioned before in this log, I struggle with writing on an emotional level. And as a literature student, I have to do a lot of it. My first project, however, is for a 1st year course in Brtitish Civilization (which I was originally supposed to do last year), where I have to write an essay comparing the Reformation in England and Scotland by tomorrow. I've read what I need to read and written the first page, so I hope I will manage the remaining four pages today. Our textbook is normally really annoying, because it tries to cover British history from the Neanderthals to Boris Johnson in 250 pages, which makes it so compact it's hard to make sense of anything. But now that I'm writing this essay, it's somehow become very useful, because you can pick one of the too simplistic claims of the book, and explain why it's too simplistic.

Wed Mar 15:
Reading: 101 min
Writing: 103 min

Total: 204 min = 3h24
6 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: Russian)

Postby Mista » Thu Mar 16, 2023 10:55 pm

AI6WC challenge - English writing
I haven't been as productive as I had hoped today. What have I been doing, exactly? I'm not sure. Mostly that stuff you always end up doing when you are supposed to be doing something else. Candy Crush. Facebook. Reading totally uninteresting news. Worrying about all those other things that you need to do, but had decided to put aside until you have finished the current project. But I also managed to do about half of what I had hoped to finish today. I now have 3 pages, and will have to do the final 2 by 4 pm tomorrow. That shouldn't be a problem, if I just sit down and do it. I have a class until 12 tomorrow, and after that, I'll just have to sit down in the library and get it done.

Thu Mar 16:
Writing: 154 min

Total: 358 min = 5h58
5 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: Russian)

Postby Mista » Fri Mar 17, 2023 10:43 pm

AI6WC challenge - English writing
I finished my essay today and uploaded it 15 minutes before the deadline. Then I started reading for the next project, an essay on how to analyze time in literature. This is 4 pages and due tomorrow at midnight - but as the teacher said, he won't start reading them until he gets up in the morning anyway, so I can use the night if I have to. I've spent over 5 hours on this today, and 2 hours in class in addition, so I've had a quite productive day today. Including the administrative stuff I did in the library, that makes a full work day.

Fri Mar 17:
Writing: 151 min
Reading: 165 min

Total: 674 min = 11h14
5 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: Russian)

Postby Mista » Wed Mar 22, 2023 12:47 pm

AI6WC challenge - English writing
This is not going very well at the moment. I was a bit worried before the weekend - due to some structural changes, I have a longer working day (or working night, to be accurate) on Satudays now, so instead of being finished at 3 am, I was at work until 8 am, and consequently spent most of the day sleeping. And then I didn't feel all that great when I woke up, but I pulled myself together and started working on my essay anyway. So the first thing I had to do was to read through the article I'm writing about, and I got through that, but it took me almost 5 hours, and it's just 40 pages, so I definitely wasn't working optimally (for this type of reading, I would expect 20 pages per hour). And then I fell asleep and slept through the whole night, even though I'd just been up for about 8 hours. On Sunday, finbally managed to sit down to try to do some writing, but I was so tired (despite having done nothing all day) that I just made some notes from the text and then went to bed early again. Monday and Tuesday I got nothing done at all. I'm still tired and suffering from back aches - I think they are causing the tiredness and lack of concentration - but I have nothing else planned for today, so I hope I will manage to get something done. Then I have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow.

Sat Mar 18:
Reading: 281 min

Sun Mar 19:
Writing: 18 min

Mon Mar 20: nothing

Tue Mar 21: nothing

Total: 973 min = 16h13
5 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: Russian)

Postby Mista » Thu Mar 23, 2023 10:32 pm

AI6WC challenge - English writing
The paper I was working on was a complete disaster. I managed to work on it for a whole 22 minutes yesterday - that's spread over 3 sessions :roll: - and then I just decided to give up. I think that was a good thing, because when I woke up this morning, it was with more thoughts on how I could approach the problem than I've had all week.

Meanwhile, however, I have another deadline tomorrow, an assignment on the history of the English language. This is easier to write, because it's not in the form of an essay, just a number of questions to answer. I've done that this afternoon - 5 questions, 6 pages, all done and delivered. What a relief!

The doctor gave me a referral to a manual therapist, where I have booked an appointment over Easter, but also some anti-inflammatory meds that may or may not work. As she said: if they do work, that will be an indication that I have an inflammation. It's a three-day cure, so if they do work, I will notice it fast, I suppose.

Wed Mar 22:
Writing: 22 min

Thu Mar 23:
Writing: 284 min

Total: 1279 min = 21h19
6 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: Russian)

Postby Mista » Sun Mar 26, 2023 11:03 pm

AI6WC challenge - English writing
The meds have a very good effect on my back, but on the other hand, my mood has been terrible all weekend - or most of it. I was finishing a novel today where, at the end, the protagonist pushes her friend out of the window (this is something of a spoiler, which is why I have left out which book it is), and somehow this seems to have had some kind of cathartic effect on me, all of a sudden my mind was just fine again. This was on the subway on my way home, so I went home and had something to eat, and read another chapter of Helen Sword's Air & Light & Time & Space, which was about all the different way you can deal with the writing process (like, do you plan to write for 30 minutes or 8 hours, for example). One of the things she talks about in this chapter, is that there are differences between different disciplines, so that historians tend to to a lot of planning before they start writing while literary scholars tend to do more experimental writing and regard the writing as part of the thinking process. Since I'm a literature student, I can't really afford to ignore that - I mean, I tend to be a planner myself, but what if literature writing just can't be done that way? - so I picked up one of her very concrete tips: the webside 750words.com. This is a tool to get into the habit of writing every day - it counts your words and lets you know when you reached 750, it doesn't post what you wrote anywhere but keeps it available for you alone, and it gives you all sorts of nice stats, like how much time you spent writing, how many words you wrote, how many per minute, which words you used most frequently, etc. So I registered on that site immediately, and then I decided to go down to the university and sit there for a while. So I spent a couple of hours there this evening, first making a personal reading list for one of my courses (we have to find material to use in connection with the term paper and hand in that list this upcoming week), and then I did my first writing session on this website, trying to start thinking again about that text that I haven't been able to write all week - and suddenly I was thinking again. I wrote 750 words in 37 minutes, and at the end of that, I had a good idea for what I could do for my term paper. It was brilliant!

I've also spent half a minute today wondering whether that website could be used for writing practice in some of my stronger froeign languages, like German or French. Or is 750 words per day just too much? Maybe I'll try it out in the summer, when I have more time to invest in it.

Fri Mar 24: nothing

Sat Mar 25: nothing

Sun Mar 26:
Writing: 144 minutes

Total: 1423 min = 23h43
8 x

DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1961
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:26 am
Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... &start=200
x 4030

Re: Mista's new perpetual log (currently: Russian)

Postby DaveAgain » Mon Mar 27, 2023 7:03 am

Mista wrote: I'm still tired and suffering from back aches - I think they are causing the tiredness and lack of concentration - but I have nothing else planned for today, so I hope I will manage to get something done. Then I have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow.
One thing I found helpful for a back trouble was lying on the floor.

Alexander Technique Constructive Rest Position
Posture Correction using the Alexander Technique - #3
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: Russian)

Postby Mista » Tue Apr 04, 2023 3:47 pm

DaveAgain wrote:
Mista wrote: I'm still tired and suffering from back aches - I think they are causing the tiredness and lack of concentration - but I have nothing else planned for today, so I hope I will manage to get something done. Then I have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow.
One thing I found helpful for a back trouble was lying on the floor.

Alexander Technique Constructive Rest Position
Posture Correction using the Alexander Technique - #3


Yes, that's my experience too. And it can never be said often enough, because I keep forgetting! I saw your post earlier, and it immediately put my mind to work, so I've had all sort of ideas cropping up in my head for small things I can do to make life a little easier, like whenever I feel too tired to do anything and head for the cafeteria at the university to have a coffee even though I know I've had more than enough that day, I could instead turn left instead of right, into the gym and find a yoga mat to lie down on for a while. I didn't see your links until now, so I'll have to have a look at those later.

March Super Challenge update (total numbers)
I've done a decent amount of reading this month, but unfortunately, almost everything has been in English.

English
Books: 10153 pages = 203 books
Films: 2336 minutes = 25 films

I’ve read:
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain (Saunders)
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller (Calvino)
The Story of Sapho (Scudéry)
The Street (Petry)
Cosmopolis (DeLillo)
Passing (Larsen)
Lucy (Kincaid)
Notes from Underground (Dostoyevsky)

French
Books: 317 = 6 books
Films: 890 minutes = 9 films
No change

German
Books: 540 pages = 10 books
Films: 573 minutes = 6 films
Finished reading Das siebte Kreuz (Seghers). Listening to Der goldene Kompass.

Italian
Books:
Films: 120 minutes = 1 film
No change

Spanish
Books:
Films: 225 minutes = 2 films
No change

Portuguese
Books:
Films: 170 minutes = 1 film
No change

Dutch
Books:
Films:

Latin
Books: 94 pages
No change

Greek (ancient)
Books:

Russian
Books: 615 pages = 12 books
Films: 2231 minutes = 24 films
No change

Icelandic
Books: 892 pages = 17 books
Films: 142 minutes = 1 film
No change

Swedish
Books: 527 pages = 10 books
Films:
No change

Danish
Books:
Films:

Arabic
Books:
Films: 440 minutes = 4 films
Some more HP, and The Last Queen at the Arabic Film Festival (I’m a little disappointed that I only managed one movie this year, but the timing was bad)

Japanese
Books:
Films: 295 minutes = 3 films
No change

Northern Sami
Books: 48 pages
Films: 15 minutes
No change

Finnish
Books: 138 pages = 2 books
Films: 201 minutes = 2 films
No change

Average per day (325 days/610)
Books: 26/64 pages
Films: 24/126 minutes

Unofficial:
Bokmål
Books: 2977 = 59 books
Films:
No change

Nynorsk
Books: 19 pages
Films:
No change
6 x


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