Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian/Welsh)

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Radioclare
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Radioclare » Wed Feb 01, 2023 9:17 am

I'm in awe of how many hours you manage to fit in, especially for Russian :shock:
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Caromarlyse
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:31 pm
Languages: English (N), French (C1-ish), German (B2/C1-ish), Russian (B1-ish), Portuguese (B1-ish), Welsh (complete beginner), Spanish (in hibernation)
(All levels estimates and given as a guide only)
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Caromarlyse » Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:59 am

Radioclare wrote:I'm in awe of how many hours you manage to fit in, especially for Russian :shock:


I'm not sure you should be, given I'm trying to cultivate a more relaxed attitude!
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Caromarlyse
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:31 pm
Languages: English (N), French (C1-ish), German (B2/C1-ish), Russian (B1-ish), Portuguese (B1-ish), Welsh (complete beginner), Spanish (in hibernation)
(All levels estimates and given as a guide only)
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Caromarlyse » Wed Mar 01, 2023 7:24 am

FEBRUARY REVIEW
I finally caught Covid and was properly ill for a good week and still don't feel great. I have still been able to read, though, so I've got through a number of books.

French
    - 10.10 hours total
    - Read Il est grand temps de rallumer les étoiles by Virginie Grimaldi. This wasn't a bad book, but the premise (road trip to discover yourself) was a bit too similar to another French book I've read recently, so I didn't really enjoy it that much.
    - Bits and pieces of listening/watching, including several episodes from the L'heure du crime podcast and some episodes of Le dessous des cartes

German
    - 13.12 hours total
    - Read Grau wie Asche by Ursula Poznanski. This was the sequel to the book I read last month. I'm enjoying this series a lot, and thought this book was even better than the first one
    - Only Easy German podcasts

Portuguese
    - 38.92 hours total
    - Read Eleanor Oliphant está muito bem by Gail Honeyman. I liked this book a lot. It had been on my radar to read for a while, and when I saw that it was available in Portuguese translation, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. The translation did have a few issues: it's hard to know without having the English original to compare, but it seemed that there was the common issue of the word "tea" causing confusion, plus the word "cloakroom" in the sense of toilet was translated as a place to hang coats, which rendered one paragraph completely nonsensical
    - Watched the film AmarElo: é tudo pra ontem and listened to a podcast. Not much, now I come to write it down!
    - 5 hours of classes and another almost 4 hours of freer speaking practice. I had to cancel some classes when I wasn't well
    - Various prep for those classes

Russian
    - 57.06 hours total
    - Read След смерти by Blake Pierce (translation) and Комфортная книга by Matt Haig (also translation). I didn't like the first one - I am going to move on to some "better" fiction as this was a bit too trashy even for me. The second one was non-fiction and made me realise that I'm better off with fiction, as the story pulls me along and makes it easier to keep going. I have now got the word отчаяние (despair) down, though!
    - Listened/watched to some stuff from Easy Russian, Russian with Max, Давай поговорим, Russian twist and something from the Lifehacker YouTube channel.
    - 8 hours of classes, plus another 2 and a bit hours of a speaking club. Again, I had to cancel some
    - Various prep for those classes
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Caromarlyse
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:31 pm
Languages: English (N), French (C1-ish), German (B2/C1-ish), Russian (B1-ish), Portuguese (B1-ish), Welsh (complete beginner), Spanish (in hibernation)
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Caromarlyse » Fri Mar 31, 2023 9:36 pm

MARCH REVIEW
I didn't read anything but I did do a lot of other stuff!

French
    - 7.92 hours total
    - Just various podcasts. I listened to one entitled "faut-il repousser ses limites ?", which gave me a lot less actionable advice than I was hoping for

German
    - 5.87 hours total
    - Only Easy German podcasts again :shock:

Portuguese
    - 44.68 hours total
    - Watched the films Depois do universo, Pelé, Tudo bem no Natal que vem, Kardec, and Carnaval, and listened to a few podcasts
    - 8 hours of classes and another almost 8 hours of freer speaking practice
    - Although I didn't read a book, I did read a couple of short stories from a textbook, including my first by Jorge Amado
    - Various prep for those classes

Russian
    - 86.55 hours total
    - Listened to quite a few true crime podcasts, mainly going for ones where the matter was familiar to me already (which gives me a fighting chance of keeping up). (One of my current class topics is "crime and punishment", so these podcasts made sense in terms of practising the vocabulary.) I also discovered the О русском по-русски YouTube channel and (when I wasn't feeling up to much) binged on quite a few videos there about materials to learn Russian at different levels and a couple of interviews with students who've learnt Russian to a high level
    - Finished working through my vocabulary book, Русская лексика для жизни: теория и практика. It is well designed, bright and clear, and comprehensive (it says B1+ on the cover, but a video I watched from the above-mentioned channel suggested that being able to use the vocabulary from the book actively in writing would give you enough for the B2 level). I felt it was a bit sexist, though - lots of women doing the housework and losing weight whilst men were building muscle - but otherwise I thought it was very good
    - Some grammar - numbers (again!) and lots of verbs with prefixes (ones I'd already studied but they are not going to stick for at least another two years)
    - Watched the Soviet film Москва слезам не верит, which I absolutely loved
    - 12 hours of classes, plus 45 minutes of a speaking club. I'm doing a lot of retelling the content of what I've read, which I think is getting easier. Also, although I say I haven't been reading, I have been re-reading a graded reader for the purposes of telling the story of one chapter per class and doing translations (English-Russian) based on the text
    - Various prep for those classes
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Caromarlyse
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:31 pm
Languages: English (N), French (C1-ish), German (B2/C1-ish), Russian (B1-ish), Portuguese (B1-ish), Welsh (complete beginner), Spanish (in hibernation)
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Caromarlyse » Sun Apr 30, 2023 5:24 pm

APRIL REVIEW

French
    - 10.92 hours total
    - Quite a lot of podcasts, from L'heure du crime, Géopolitique, Le téléphone sonne...
    - I started reading Le mage du Kremlin but haven't yet got that far

German
    - 17.50 hours total
    - Only Easy German podcasts in terms of listening - I really need to broaden what I'm listening to again. I like German media, so I don't know why I've got into this particular rut
    - I read the third and last book in the series by Ursula Poznanski that I've been reading, Rot wie Feuer (thanks to radioclare for the recommendation). I really enjoyed it for the most part, considering it the best of the series, but the ending was a bit of a let-down for me: loose ends were tied up in a way that I felt was pretty implausible. But it was a good read
    - I've started a new book by Nele Neuhaus, In ewiger Freundschaft. This is the tenth book in a series I started back in 2019/2020. I needed a comforting read, and this is that. There is an eleventh book in the series due out in November, which I will no doubt also read in due course

Portuguese
    - 14.78 hours total
    - Watched the film 7 prisoneiros, and listened to one (!) podcast
    - 5 hours of classes and another 2 hours of freer speaking practice
    - Various prep for those classes
    - No reading for pleasure :?

Russian
    - 60.05 hours total
    - Watched the film Влюблен по собственному желанию (and understood next to nothing :|). I also listened to a few podcasts. I feel I need to push myself some more to break through my current listening level. What I've done to date has been fine to get me where I am now, but I feel my listening is now stagnating. Making myself listen to more podcasts designed for natives (and pay proper attention!) would probably help
    - 10 hours of classes
    - Various prep for those classes
    - I've started working with one teacher with the textbook series В мире людей. I'm enjoying it a lot - I feel it's the right balance between challenging and doable. There is quite a lot of focus on developing vocabulary (particularly in the sense of coming up with synonyms and antonyms of given words, and rephrasing sentences so that they convey the same message but are expressed differently). The listening exercises are really tough for me, as (so far at least) there have been a lot of colloquial idiomatic expressions that I have just not understood at all. I've felt I've been able to hold my own speaking, however; in fact, I think my active vocabulary in Russian may now well be better than in any of my other languages. The book is also not directly aimed quite so much at the younger adult learner - I appreciate this, because I've also worked a bit with ЮLang materials, which, whilst good, have a tendency to make me feel old!
    - I spent quite a lot of time reading, but I am very slow and it's quite mentally draining so I have not yet finished my current book, which is Барселона под звуки смерти by Анна Орехова. I will get back to it, though, as it's a decent read and there are a lot of interesting phrases I'm highlighting for future reference (and use)
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Caromarlyse
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:31 pm
Languages: English (N), French (C1-ish), German (B2/C1-ish), Russian (B1-ish), Portuguese (B1-ish), Welsh (complete beginner), Spanish (in hibernation)
(All levels estimates and given as a guide only)
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Caromarlyse » Thu Jun 01, 2023 5:19 pm

MAY REVIEW

My progress is changing as I'm learning to live with not being particularly well, meaning less time and energy to spend. This month I also deliberately focused on Krimis, because I needed relaxing activity, and this was it. I've just seen from an email from my local library, however, that it's June that is crime fiction month, so my timings are a bit out... In any case, it gave my German a boost and took time from the other languages.

French
    - 3.80 hours total
    - All listening/watching, including episodes of Le dessous des cartes, Le téléphone sonne, and Géopolitique
    - Le mage du Kremlin felt too much like hard work so I didn't make any progress there

German
    - 29.12 hours total
    -Easy German, Der Tag and Zeit Verbrechen podcasts in terms of listening. I also started watching the Netflix show Cleo, after it was mentioned in an article in The Guardian, but the first two episodes didn't particularly grab me so I haven't (yet) pursued it any further
    - I finished In ewiger Freundschaft, by Nele Neuhaus, which is a very hefty tome! As mentioned, this is the tenth book in a series (I have read them all). I think this is either my favourite or in my top two of the series; it was very good. I also read the tenth book in another series, Herzschuss by Andreas Föhr. Again, I have read them all. I enjoyed it less overall, but liked the last quarter of the book a lot

Portuguese
    - 29.48 hours total
    - Watched the films Jonas (twice), Que horas ela volta and O vendedor de sonhos (twice), and listened to a couple of news podcast episodes (from O assunto)
    - 5 hours of classes and another almost 5 hours of freer speaking practice
    - Various prep for those classes

Russian
    - 28.27 hours total
    - This was a bit of a disappointment. Russian is hard so it got pushed off when I didn't feel up to anything too demanding. I need to prioritise it though in terms of the time I can use, given it is important to me and drops off quickly if I neglect it
    - 6 hours of classes
    - Various prep for those classes
    - I continue to enjoy the textbook series В мире людей. We're going to supplement it with some revision of verbs of motion (a little bit each lesson, obviously with self-study out of class as well), which I'm pleased about, because there is never anywhere near the same opportunity to practise them. I also continue to study various verbs with prefixes and am continuing a topic-by-topic approach in a class where we develop vocabulary and practise discussions on the relevant topic; at the moment we're on crime, specifically fraud :shock:
    - No reading for pleasure, but now I've finished my German reading binge, I'm planning on picking up my part-read Russian crime fiction novel
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DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
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Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby DaveAgain » Fri Jun 02, 2023 7:18 am

Caromarlyse wrote: I also started watching the Netflix show Cleo, after it was mentioned in an article in The Guardian, but the first two episodes didn't particularly grab me so I haven't (yet) pursued it any further
Channel 4 have a funny German mini-series called Faking Hitler, if you've not already watched it.
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frenchfish55
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby frenchfish55 » Sun Jun 11, 2023 11:32 am

Caromarlyse wrote:APRIL REVIEW

French
Le mage du Kremlin

Why did you choose it?
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Caromarlyse
Green Belt
Posts: 387
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:31 pm
Languages: English (N), French (C1-ish), German (B2/C1-ish), Russian (B1-ish), Portuguese (B1-ish), Welsh (complete beginner), Spanish (in hibernation)
(All levels estimates and given as a guide only)
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby Caromarlyse » Wed Jun 21, 2023 6:53 pm

frenchfish55 wrote:
Caromarlyse wrote:APRIL REVIEW

French
Le mage du Kremlin

Why did you choose it?


I think it got promoted to me - I buy all my books as e-books, and the algorithm has learnt that I read stuff in French and German. Not much more to it than that. As I said, I haven't got very far with it yet, and I think I need fluffier reads at the moment.
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cito
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Re: Caromarlyse’s log (French/German/Portuguese/Russian)

Postby cito » Thu Jun 22, 2023 1:16 pm

Caromarlyse wrote:
frenchfish55 wrote:
Caromarlyse wrote:APRIL REVIEW

French
Le mage du Kremlin

Why did you choose it?


I think it got promoted to me - I buy all my books as e-books, and the algorithm has learnt that I read stuff in French and German. Not much more to it than that. As I said, I haven't got very far with it yet, and I think I need fluffier reads at the moment.


It was also all the rage in France in 2022, got nominated for literary rewards and was in nearly every bookstore I went to. When I went to Quebec this year it was similar, but the hype had died down.
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