3 Day Projects (2019-2023)

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Teango
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46-47. Chugging along (ru)

Postby Teango » Mon Nov 29, 2021 4:50 am

Russian #30-31 (1h)

Conversations and new vocabulary.

30 Russian projects Image

It's been one helluva "Thanksgiving" week! And while I haven't quite dropped the ball, I have been all fingers and thumbs lately. I still studied and practiced a little bit of Russian every day (at least an hour all together), but I just didn't get around to noting down the details. The important thing is that the wheels are still on track and in motion (just a little more Trans-Siberian «плацкарт» than Shinkansen «СВ» right now).
Last edited by Teango on Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:37 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Teango
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48. Lost in translation (ru)

Postby Teango » Fri Dec 03, 2021 7:46 am

Russian #32 (0.5h)

Short conversations, and some instructional videos on YT.

Sauntering at a snail's pace similar to last week (if it's even possible to "saunter" on a single ventral foot?), I'm thoroughly exhausted and depleted. I raided my storage unit for a Christmas tree and festive decorations for the apartment yesterday, and with a little additional elbow grease from Santa's helpers, our cosy home is now looking quite "Christmassy". While playing backbreaking sliding box puzzles in the unit, I also bagged some easy reading material in Russian for future projects.

After a fortnight of test-driving the iPhone Translate app, I think it's well past time to ditch it, eat my previous words, and return to the better-the-devil-you-know Google Translate app (at least for now). The iPhone app has some nice features that Google and DeepL don't offer, and provides superior speech recognition and text-to-speech, but the translations just don't cut the mustard. My wife and I decided to compare the 3 translation apps on my phone last night by throwing them some random examples:

    1. Break a leg!
    2. Knock, knock!
    3. I don't fancy any apples tonight.
    4. I'm sick and tired of screaming kids.
Here are the results of the Jury (green for correct translations; red for incorrect):

Google Translate (Accuracy: 3/4; Total touches on screen required: 4; Speech recognition errors: 1)
1. Удачи! (Good luck!) - Good enough, although "Ни пуха ни пера!" would have probably been better.
2. Тук-тук! (Knock, knock!) - Who's there? Score!
3. Я не люблю сегодня яблоки. (Today I don't love apples.) - Poor loveless apples! Unspecific time, oddly placed adverb. Perhaps "Сегодня вечером мне не хочется яблок." would work better here?
4. Я устал от кричащих детей. (I'm tired of screaming kids.) - Pretty much nailed it!

DeepL (Accuracy: 2/4; Total touches on screen required: 15 - yes, 15!!; Speech recognition errors: 0)
1. Сломай ногу! (Break the leg!) - Literal imperative translation, and I'm so tempted to add "Johnny" on the end...
2. Тук-тук! - Avon lady is back again! Correct translation.
3. Я не хочу сегодня есть "Эппл". - "Today I don't want to eat 'Apple'" - Good for you roboto-chan! Bad for me though.
4. Я устал от кричащих детей. - Nice to see DeepL keeping up with the Googles!

iPhone Translate (Accuracy: 0/4 - как ему не стыдно!!; Total touches on screen required: 4; Speech recognition errors: It depends...see note below!*)
1. Сломать ногу! (Break the leg!) - Sensei Kreese is getting impatient, ребята...в этом додзё милосердия не существует!
2. Стучите! (Knock!) - Literal imperative again, formal singular/plural. Second knock is "contactless"? (Sorry, poor techie joke.)
3. Мне не нравятся яблоки сегодня вечером. (This evening, I don't like apples.) - Nice try, but no fluffy bunny prize for you, Mr iPhone!
4. Мне надоело кричать дети. (I'm fed up of screaming, "Children!") - Hey Wifey, I think we found our winner tonight!

* Initially, the SRS on iPhone Translate completely stopped working. Eventually, after searching the Internet for way too long, I found a solution that worked: Delete all offline language dictionaries! Tut-tut, тук-тук! Not acceptable, Apple bods!!

TLDR; Google Translate uses a poor speech recognition system (SRS) and robotic TTS (text-to-speech), but still offers the most accurate translations in my experience. DeepL seems to offer improved SRS and TTS, but absolutely sucks in terms of usability and features. And iPhone Translate is flaky as hell, and despite some promising features and superior SRS and TTS (perhaps ok for RU-EN single word translations), you might as well lob a banana to Jojo the piano-playing barroom monkey and ask him to translate phrases half the time!
Last edited by Teango on Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Teango
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49. Back to the future (ru)

Postby Teango » Mon Dec 06, 2021 5:38 am

Russian #33 (2.5h)

Free-writing followed by corrections, two chapters of an audiobook, and searching for something suitable to read.

I'm in a bit of a slump at the moment and trying to motivate myself with new reading material. I initially tried listening to, and later reading, a non-adapted Russian translation of the Sherlock Holmes classic "A Scandal in Bohemia" (Скандал в Богемии), but my lexical coverage (the number of words I understood) was simply too low for the task and the language was on the whole rather antiquated. Then on the recommendation of a forum member, I gave "Пояс Ориона" (Orion's Belt) by Татьяна Устинова a whirl. No luck there either. Eventually, I found something closer to my level: "Алиса и крестоносцы" by Кир Булычев - a much beloved Soviet children's sci-fi novel. It looks fun and lighthearted, and has been left unread on my bookshelf (or in a box) for far too long. And as I understand around 95% of the text, which is good enough with occasional reference to a dictionary, it fits the bill nicely. I'm particularly looking forward to learning more about the character Алиса, the protagonist of the classic children's series "Гостья из будущего" (Guest from the Future), which I watched but didn't really understand several years ago with my wife.
Last edited by Teango on Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Teango
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50-51. On the wings of words (ru)

Postby Teango » Mon Dec 13, 2021 5:10 am

Russian #34-35 (2.5h)

Reading, conversations, and some back-and-forth texting with a friend.

Switching to "Алиса и крестоносцы" was a wise choice, and I'm happy to embark on a new literary adventure (who cares if it's written for children). My reading speed is that of a tourist snail who's just landed in Капустаград, but it's much closer to my natural reading level in Russian. I also bought the collected works of Булгаков on Kindle for $1.99 yesterday, which lists 74 titles on the Contents page and 2,956 pages in the description. I thought I'd read a few pages of "Мастер и маргарита" in the original, having read the English translation a couple of times back in the distant mists of time (it's also one of my favorite all-time novels). I was surprised how well I could follow the storyline and much of the detail, especially given previous attempts in Russian that went down like a lead balloon. Maybe this is a good sign that I'm at the stage where I can also start reading novels in Russian that I've read before in English or German.
Last edited by Teango on Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:38 am, edited 6 times in total.
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Teango
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Interlude

Postby Teango » Fri Dec 17, 2021 9:37 pm

I got ambushed by life's banditos again! That's to say…I fell off the horse this week due to a relentless onslaught of non-language-related commitments, breaking an otherwise satisfying epic chain of 13 language projects in a row. Have no fear though, this won’t deter the masked, boostered, sanitized, and socially-distanced buckaroo they call "El Teango"; ’tis but a temporary setback. Once I’ve dusted myself off and settle back into the saddle (edit: after Boxing Day), I’ll be ready once again to hit the dusty trail and ride off into the wild blue yonder. Yippie (yi yo) kayah!
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Teango
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52. Home on the range (ru)

Postby Teango » Thu Dec 30, 2021 8:33 am

Russian #36 (1h)

Read some more pages of a children's novel...but still oh so slooooowly.

With the kids home for the holidays, I've switched over to full-on "Optimus Daddy Daycare" mode once again...transformers ♩♫...backaches in disguise ♫♩♫ !! :shock: This means I've had just enough time to pick up my trusty copy of "Алиса и крестоносцы" at the end of each exhausting ("hey honey, we survived!") day and indulge in a little bedtime reading while all the other Waltons are sound asleep. Good night, Mary Ellen. Good night, Jim Bob.
Last edited by Teango on Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Teango
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53. Cities of gold (ru)

Postby Teango » Mon Jan 03, 2022 11:07 pm

Russian #37 (2h)

Reading and tinkering with ideas while sheltering from angry gray skies.

My family and I have been largely stuck indoors due to torrential downpours and storms over the past few days, and what with the huge spike in COVID cases, social contact has remained at a minimum, more reminiscent of the early days of lockdown. I've used this time (while the kids are asleep) to experiment with enhanced reading techniques to kick-start language learning in the new year. And while I've yet to settle on one particular "magic formula" that eclipses all the others, I feel I'm getting so much closer to something that matches my overambitious and starry-eyed vision: Ahhh...ah-ah-ah-ah...someday we will find the Cities of Gold!
Last edited by Teango on Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Teango
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54-55. Novel code (ru)

Postby Teango » Sun Jan 09, 2022 4:27 am

Russian #38-39 (2h)

Reading and vocabulary study.

The first half of the week has been largely spent on getting back into coding in the new year (including switching over from Python 2.7 to 3.10), while the second half has been dedicated to returning to martial arts training outside in the park. As part of refreshing my programming knowledge, I've written a language learning app to help me better acquire new words while reading, and restarted "Алиса и крестоносцы" to test run the app. So far it's working out very well; I just need to continue reading.
Last edited by Teango on Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:38 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Teango
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56. Yet another lockdown (ru)

Postby Teango » Sun Jan 16, 2022 6:34 am

Russian #40 (1.5h)

A little more reading and vocabulary study.

40 Russian projects Image

The week started well (I even set up a new productivity app and good habits on my phone), but then my son's class closed down due to COVID exposure (and this is not the first time by a long chalk, mind you), hence only one project got underway this week and all the good habits fell from grace and went to hell. Needless to say, I've since had my hands full for the second half on lockdown. The good news is that our PCR tests came back negative, but the school rules say we can't send our kids back until the 10-day quarantine is over. As parents here on the forum will know all too well, it's no walk in the park to work from home and look after boisterous young kids (and all the while continuing to pay extortionate preschool bills). I don't mean to complain, I'm just exhausted, and I'm dreading next week.
Last edited by Teango on Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Teango
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57. Corona blues (ja)

Postby Teango » Thu Sep 15, 2022 8:53 am

Japanese #2 (12h)

Reawakened my hiragana and completed Lesson 1 of Genki I textbook and workbook.

Apologies, everyone. As you may have noticed, I haven't posted a new project for the past 8 months. This is due to a long relapse of a serious chronic auto-immune illness. And just as I finally started to feel better and come off biologics, I was hit with COVID, despite being fully vaccinated and double-boosted. I've consequently been on lockdown with heavy symptoms for a further month and my most recent home test is still somehow positive. It's been a real rough ride for the whole family.

When not coughing up a fevered lung, I've spent the last few days studying Japanese from bed for a beginner's class at university. I haven't been able to physically attend any classes yet but have kept up with all the classwork and assignments. Blowing the dust off my Totoro pencil case, with sharpened pencil and eraser in hand, I've been tasked with writing out each kana umpteen times - I feel like I'm back in school and paying undue penance at the blackboard once again.
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