Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

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Radioclare
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
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Location: England
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Esperanto, German, Croatian
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Sat Jul 31, 2021 7:38 pm

31 July
The weekend :) Although between housework and holiday planning, I don't think I've managed to spend any more time on languages today than during the week.

Russian
Once I'd finished the housework I cleared my Memrise reviews. I'm on a bit of a roll with Memrise at the moment; I've logged into it every day this week and learned 10 new words per day, which is my goal.

Then I moved on to the B1.1 textbook, which involved more exercises with participles. There was a particularly good exercise today which gave sentences using the word который and made you rewrite them using a participle instead.

I also read another chapter of 'Собака Баскервилей' and I'm actually getting reasonably close to the end of the book now. I think I should finish it at some point next week. And then move on to something easier than Sherlock Holmes :lol:

Total - Russian: 51 mins, Croatian: 99 mins, German: 76 mins
7 x

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Radioclare
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2250
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:59 pm
Location: England
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Esperanto, German, Croatian
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Sun Aug 01, 2021 8:35 pm

1 August
Today was my parent's wedding anniversary so we went out for a family meal. It's nice to be allowed to do things like that again :)

Russian
I tried to get some language learning in before I went out, because I knew I was likely to drink some wine with lunch. After breakfast I read another chapter of 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'. I'm quite near the conclusion of the story now, so it's really exciting. Theoretically I know the story quite well, but it must be at least 10 years since I last read it so I actually got caught out by one of the unexpected twists today.

Afterwards I cleared all my outstanding Memrise reviews and tackled some more grammar in the B1.1 textbook. I've finished the activities on the present participles and moved on to activities about past participles instead. Honestly, this isn't a part of grammar that I'm particularly worried about mastering at the moment, but the exercises in the book are so thorough and helpful that I may end up mastering them despite myself :lol:

Before I went out I just had time to force myself to write 100 words in Russian. I know writing 100 words isn't a lot, but I figured it's better to force myself to write a small amount and at least do it regularly, than to aim for a larger amount (I was aiming for 500 words/week at the start of the year) and never write anything because it feels too difficult.

When I got back from the meal I still hadn't reached my target of 10 000 steps, so I went on the treadmill for a bit and watched some Russian Progress videos. The first one was a continuation of the previous video I watched, interviewing a Brazilian polyglot in Russian. Again, I didn't find this a terribly useful video; I guess I'm just not very interested in polyglots. The second video I watched was shorter and about how difficult it is to cycle in Russia, because there aren't many proper cycle lanes.

German
I spent quite a bit of time reading this afternoon and finished 'Die Todesliste'. I did enjoy it in the end, but it definitely isn't the best Forsyth thriller I've ever read. There didn't ever really seem to be enough doubt that the good guys were going to catch the bad guys, so it just didn't really feel like there was much suspense.

Total - Russian: 98 mins, Croatian: 58 mins, German: 97 mins
11 x

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Radioclare
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Languages: Speaks: English (N), Esperanto, German, Croatian
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Mon Aug 02, 2021 10:12 pm

2 August
Monday morning and I received precisely zero emails over the weekend :)

Russian
I cleared my Russian Memrise reviews at lunchtime, then after work I read another chapter of 'Собака Баскервилей'. The new word I looked up today was "намордник" (muzzle, for a dog).

I also spent another 20 minutes or so with the B1.1. textbook. Yesterday's exercise was on participles of imperfective verbs and today's was on participles of perfective verbs.

After dinner I watched an episode of 'Татьянин день'. Most of the scenes took place in quiet rooms today, so my comprehension was a bit better :) All the other characters were trying to hide from Татьяна 1 that Сергей is in prison, but one of them accidentally let it slip today.

Total - Russian: 107 mins, Croatian: 55 mins
8 x

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AroAro
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Languages: • Native - Polish
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby AroAro » Tue Aug 03, 2021 6:25 am

Radioclare wrote:2 August
Monday morning and I received precisely zero emails over the weekend :)


Such a radical drop in the number of emails! I hope you don't get bored in your current job :)
3 x
corrections are welcome

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Radioclare
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2250
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:59 pm
Location: England
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Esperanto, German, Croatian
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Tue Aug 03, 2021 10:41 pm

AroAro wrote:Such a radical drop in the number of emails! I hope you don't get bored in your current job :)

It really is a big change - it's going to take me a while to get used to :D

3 August
Worked in the office today and then went to visit my parents in the evening, which was a nice treat.

Russian
That meant I didn't spent quite as much time on languages today as I have been recently. This morning I watched half of an episode of my Croatian telenovela while on the treadmill, so I finished that once I got in. That didn't get me to 10 000 steps, so I then started watching another episode of Татянин день as well. Татьяна 1's evil husband Игорь has promised that he'll get Сергей out of jail (he's the one who put him there in the first place) but only if Татьяна tells Сергей that she doesn't love him and never speaks to him again.

Total - Russian: 55 mins, Croatian: 49 mins
7 x

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Radioclare
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2250
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:59 pm
Location: England
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Esperanto, German, Croatian
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Wed Aug 04, 2021 10:10 pm

4 August
Back to working from home again today.

Russian
As soon as I finished work I started reading 'Собака Баскервилей'. I thought I only had one chapter left, but it turned out there were actually two. It took me 45 minutes to get through both of them, but I managed it and finished the book :) That's the 11th book I've finished in Russian this year and definitely one of the hardest.

Total - Russian: 54 mins, Croatian: 75 mins
8 x

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Radioclare
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2250
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:59 pm
Location: England
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Esperanto, German, Croatian
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Thu Aug 05, 2021 10:03 pm

5 August
Another day at home. The weather was rubbish today - cold and wet.

Russian
I've gone a couple of days without opening my textbook so I spent quite a lot of time with it this evening to compensate and got through a lot of the grammatical exercises on participles. I think I should be able to finish this chapter over the weekend.

I started reading a new book 'Мистер Паркер Пайн' (Parker Pyne Investigates) by Agatha Christie. It's a collection of short stories so I read the first one this evening, which was about 20 pages.

Total - Russian: 109 mins, Croatian: 101 mins
9 x

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Radioclare
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2250
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:59 pm
Location: England
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Esperanto, German, Croatian
Learns: Russian
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Fri Aug 06, 2021 9:59 pm

6 August
Yay, Friday :)

Russian
After work I sat down with the B1.1 textbook again and managed to finish the chapter. I just had one exercise to do, followed by an end-of-chapter test. I did better on the test than I expected :)

I then read the second short story in 'Мистер Паркер Пайн'. Reading Agatha Christie is so much easier than reading Conan Doyle!

Total - Russian: 94 mins, Croatian: 83 mins
8 x

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Radioclare
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2250
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:59 pm
Location: England
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Esperanto, German, Croatian
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Sat Aug 07, 2021 7:45 pm

7 August
No plans for this weekend, but I'm going on holiday on Wednesday so had a few things to sort out for that.

Russian
While I was doing the housework this morning, I decided to try listening to a Russian podcast. I had started listening to podcasts back in March 2020 as part of my commute, but obviously that didn't work out(!). At that point I was downloading podcasts to my iPod, but this morning I just had a quick google and started listening to "Что это было?", which is a podcast from the BBC Russian Service. I listened to quite a few episodes while I was cleaning on a variety of different themes. There was one about the Belorussian athlete who has sought refuge in Poland, one about the risk of Covid spreading at the Tokyo Olympics, one about elections in Armenia, one about the meeting between Putin and Biden. Overall I was fairly happy with my level of comprehension, although it was definitely lower when I was hoovering :lol: I wish I could find something interesting like this to listen to in Croatian.

Once the housework was over I cleared my Memrise reviews, read another short story from the Agatha Christie collection and then started a new chapter in the B1.1 textbook. This chapter seems to be about working in Russia. The first exercise was a crossword, where the answers were the names of different professions. Then there was some text to read about foreigners who have started businesses in Russia. I've read the text but stopped short of starting the several pages of comprehension exercises which seem to follow it.

Total - Russian: 137 mins, Croatian: 114 mins
10 x

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Radioclare
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2250
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:59 pm
Location: England
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Esperanto, German, Croatian
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Sun Aug 08, 2021 4:53 pm

8 August
Another day at home. The weather hasn't been very good. I haven't checked the forecast for the rest of the week but suspect I might be having a wet UK holiday :lol:

Russian
After breakfast I cleared my Memrise reviews and read another Agatha Christie short story. Then I got stuck into the comprehension exercises in the B1.1 textbook. There was a good variety; some exercises which involved matching words to definitions, followed by an exercise which involved matching phrases to their opposites. I could get through these exercises quicker if I filled in the blanks in the book rather than writing out all the sentences in full in my notebook, but I can't bring myself to write in the book. I feel like this is possibly a textbook I'm going to want to come back to at some point in the future when my level improves.

This afternoon I went for a walk and listened to another 'Что это было?" podcast. I'm guessing this used a horrendous amount of data, but I'm paying for a large amount of data in my contract and not using it anymore since I stopped commuting, so I figured it didn't really matter. The episode I listened to today was from a couple of months ago when the Euros were about to start and it was talking about how the summer was going to play out with tourism in Europe and the rules in different countries re spectators for the football. There was also discussion of the potential difficulties for Russian tourists in travelling to Europe given that the EU hadn't approved the Russian vaccine and I think there was a suggestion that Russians who really wanted to travel should go to private clinics and pay for Pfizer instead. It was a good podcast anyway and lasted just the right duration for my walk :)

Croatian
I'm still watching an episode of the telenovela 'Čista ljubav' on the treadmill every morning and so I'm 65 episodes into it now. A very exciting storyline, which I won't attend to explain :lol: I'm also reading a novel called 'Hladna fronta' by Pavao Pavličić. I've read quite a lot of his books already, but they've mostly been detective stories; in particular, he's written a series about an amateur detective who works for a newspaper and has a best friend in the police who he helps with investigations. This one isn't a typical 'krimi' and although I'm over 60 pages into it, I'm still struggling to get my head round what it's about. There's certainly a mystery, about a woman who disappeared several decades ago, but the main focus of the plot seems to be a young woman who is suffering from something called "meteoropatija", which means that changes in the weather make her unwell. It's more than just feeling some sort of aching in her bones when the pressure changes; she's just fainted and taken to her bed for a week ahead of a big storm, for example, before making a complete recovery once the storm broke. I have zero idea where the story is going and whether there's going to be a scientific explanation for this! Still, I always enjoy Pavao Pavličić's writing, so I'm having fun reading the book even if I feel like I don't quite "get" it.

Total - Russian: 119 mins, Croatian: 119 mins
7 x


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