My first log

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Just_a_visitor
White Belt
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu May 14, 2020 3:20 pm
Languages: Russian (N)
English
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... hp?t=14557
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Re: My first log

Postby Just_a_visitor » Thu Jun 25, 2020 6:58 am

Ingaræð wrote:THOUGHTS
-
Just_a_visitor wrote:The pain is, I can't get used to doing either of them regularly - and that's the way to nowhere.

Calling me out here.... :oops: :lol: I've barely progressed in any language since I started logging here. Some of the reasons are my fault, some are things beyond my control, so I'm not going to beat myself up about it too much.
In my case, it's me and only me to blame
And I've been thinking about logging more frequently, but... :(

So, my update for June 25th (abt 6 weeks since I'm here).

It looks like the choices I make for my SC "film" part for English are determined mainly by theatrehd.com programmes. They, like many others, have gone online, generously providing free streaming of some plays from the previous seasons.
During the last fortnight, I watched three of them (except usual operas). I won't count Globe's "The Merry Wives of Windsor" - that's what I decided about Shakesperian plays.
What is left, is "The Small Island" (3h 18min) and "The Madness of George III" (2h 28min).
"The Small Island"
I watched the performance for the second time, the first one was on the big screen this autumn. It seems so long ago: a real cinema theatre, just imagine! Almost unbelievable...
One more (in)famous trip is featured here, happened almost a decade after the one I listened about a month ago. Compared to the passengers of the luxury MS St.Louis in 1939, those who disembarked HMT Empire Windrush in 1948 were lucky devils, even though the reality failed to meet their expectations. For the National Theater, the story is told by one of their descendants, Andrea Levy, who managed to win Britain, "the Mother Country" for Jamaicans, with her books.
I think I could read the book, or watch the mini TV series based on it.
Then, "The Madness of George III".
It's a Nottingham Playhouse production of Alan Bennet's play with "Mycroft Holmes" in the leading role. Actually, after "Coriolanus" watched a week or so before, Mark Gattis is no longer just a "Sherlock's big brother" in my eyes but also a noble Roman patrician - morally noble; not all of the high-rank characters were.
But back to poor George.
I really liked both acting and the play; but, suddenly I realized how little I know about the events behind.
Just think: the Plantagenets and the Tudors had Shakespeare to tell their stories - no matter, how accurate and close to the truth these stories are - everyone now is familiar with their names, at the very least. Henry VIII and Elizabeth I had become household faces long before Hollywood took them aboard - just remember Schiller or Donizetti. The Stuarts (for me) always were and will always stay Alexander Dumas and Sir Walter Scott's characters.
But the Hannovers? A blind spot for me, except, maybe, V&A.
So, to mend it, I decided to read or watch something on the topic, so that it could gain me a few points for the SC, at the same time. The first thing my eye fell upon, was a series of Lucy Worsley's documentaries, about 60 min each. That's how I've got a to-watch list for the next days!
One more good news: I've started reading at last! A BOOK, not the Internet stuff. It's Mark Zusak's "The Book Thief" and I've read about one-third of it so far. I'll include it onto my scoring list when it's finished - just to keep the maths easier.

GERMAN
Nothing to report SC-wise.
Keep going (so so, to be honest).
Keep fighting the temptation to boost or re-direct the process just for the sake of scoring (successfully up to now!).
So far, all the stuff I'm reading or watching is way too short to meet the requirements.
Well... It may seem good and reasonable and reserved, but the fact is, that I could have made it much better. And much, much more - even within self-imposed limitations of "Free & Legal Challenge".
Speaking of which, it reminds me that I started with Duolingo. Never tried it before. Not a big fan yet.

Now that I'm looking at what I wrote, I think again that I definitely should report oftener - every week, maybe - just to keep it shorter.
And I will. I hope I will. Otherwise, it's trouble to read and even greater trouble to edit my posts.
4 x

Just_a_visitor
White Belt
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu May 14, 2020 3:20 pm
Languages: Russian (N)
English
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... hp?t=14557
x 111

Re: My first log

Postby Just_a_visitor » Fri Jul 31, 2020 9:56 pm

I'm about three weeks late to post,
but I haven't lost, I'm still here, and haven't even given up with my personal German FLC.

Honestly, during the last few weeks, I got so frustrated with its restrictions that the only thing I seemed to be waiting for, was the two-month trial to be over - and it has just been, at last.
Surprisingly, instead of rushing to the library/bookstore/my own bookshelf for so long-forbidden "paid-for" stuff when the appointed date came, I decided to keep it going for one more month (August).
The reason is, I feel I was too distracted by this and that, to concentrate my efforts on pursuing the FLC in due course. Maybe, in August I'll do better.

So far, with the English part of the SC, I'm on track.
With German, I'm far, far behind, but it doesn't discourage me the least bit.
2 x

Just_a_visitor
White Belt
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu May 14, 2020 3:20 pm
Languages: Russian (N)
English
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... hp?t=14557
x 111

Re: My first log

Postby Just_a_visitor » Mon Jan 04, 2021 5:31 am

2020 was pretty tough to live through - no need for personal details.
Language-wise, all my good intentions ended in nothing, but I won't blame myself. Instead, I'll make one, or two, or more attempts - as many as it may happen. Actually, I'm already trying to "reboot" my German studies.
The harsh truth is, the lower your level is, the higher cost you have to pay for the breaks - luckily, that was no news to me, and so I accepted the necessity to start again almost from scratch as a given. Indeed, Speakly diagnostic test placed me somewhere near the beginning, and now I'm in the middle of my 30-day free trial period with this app. Also, I've started reading a bilingual children's book. I'm no way an anti-coursebook type - it's just that at the moment I'm not using any.
Before my summer break, tied by self-imposed restrictions of FFC, I completely excluded books and CDs I had at home, which caused unnecessary tension. Now, to release it, I'd rather bring the books back: I usually find some comfort merely in turning over the pages.
The idea of FFC still strongly appeals to a part of my mind, and I believe that I might try it once more, but when I'm in a calmer state of mind. And - no more strict plans for the time being.
Also before mid-summer, I'd watched the full Deutsche Welle's Beginner course, which I feel I need to re-watch, but not now.
Binging on German opera left me with so very useful words as das Schwert, der Zwerg, and the like - an invaluable resource to tackle everyday problems, indeed :) Now that I wrote it, I realised I should have remembered the word for a giant, too - but no, somehow Fafnir and his less lucky brother remained unclassified species to me, and I had to look it up in the dictionary. The word is der Riese - now I know this one too! ;)

As for my English, though I haven't done anything on purpose, I guess I even could be well on track with the film part of SC. I'll do the maths someday later.
8 x

Nogon
Green Belt
Posts: 305
Joined: Sat May 13, 2017 6:21 pm
Languages: German (N), Swedish (C), English (?), French (A2), Esperanto (A2). Reading Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Afrikaans. Wanting to learn Polish, Yiddish
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16039
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Re: My first log

Postby Nogon » Mon Jan 04, 2021 6:19 pm

Just_a_visitor wrote:Binging on German opera left me with so very useful words as das Schwert, der Zwerg, and the like - an invaluable resource to tackle everyday problems, indeed :) Now that I wrote it, I realised I should have remembered the word for a giant, too - but no, somehow Fafnir and his less lucky brother remained unclassified species to me, and I had to look it up in the dictionary. The word is der Riese - now I know this one too!

I could guess correctly from those words, which opera(s) you had been listening to :D .
Don't underestimate those words' usefullness. Both Riese and Zwerg appear in a lot of composite words, for example "Riesenproblem" oder "Zwerghuhn". You never know when you might need even the most "useless" word - and knowing it is always good for making people gape at the range of your vocabulary ;) .
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Just_a_visitor
White Belt
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu May 14, 2020 3:20 pm
Languages: Russian (N)
English
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... hp?t=14557
x 111

Re: My first log

Postby Just_a_visitor » Sat Aug 14, 2021 2:52 pm

It's been ages since I last posted here.
Now, 4 1/2 months before SC finishes, I have to admit that I'm definitely going to fail with the German part of it.
As for the English part, I don't know... I haven't kept any records but it well may be the chance that I'm on track or even a bit ahead.
However, no matter my SC achievements or failures, I'm going to return to my - not learning, maybe - but reading and watching routines, now when I'm settled, at last, in my old flat, with my old dear books back from storage, still sitting in boxes around me. I missed them so badly since late January!
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