Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

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Caromarlyse
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Caromarlyse » Fri Jul 23, 2021 6:25 am

Your new job seems to be having a nice effect on the amount of language learning time you have!
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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 » Fri Jul 23, 2021 8:58 pm

Caromarlyse wrote:Your new job seems to be having a nice effect on the amount of language learning time you have!

Yes, it really is! I'm sure it will get busier eventually, but so far I've been finishing at 17.30 every day and so having very long evenings for language learning :)

23 July
It was cooler today, thank goodness :)

Russian
I got stuck into the textbook exercises again after work. I made progress, but each chapter in this textbook seems to have so many comprehension exercises that it wasn't necessarily huge progress.

I also read another chapter of 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' and so far, so good. It probably helps that I genuinely want to read this story, but so far my level of comprehension feels a lot higher. The main word I looked up was "калитка", which seems to be a wicket gate.

I also watched another episode of Татьянин день, because I'm trying to watch three episodes per week. Honestly, I'm finding it a bit hard to focus on at the moment. I'm contemplating whether I should try to watch it on the treadmill - i.e. where I won't have any choice but to focus on it - but I can't face watching Russian first thing in the morning, so it would have to be an extra evening treadmill session and I'm not sure I'm sufficiently energetic for that :D

Total - Russian: 112 mins, Croatian: 56 mins
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Sat Jul 24, 2021 8:49 pm

24 July
The weekend :) Did a bit of boring housework this morning, some language learning and reading this afternoon and then spent the evening booking another trip to Scotland in a few weeks.

Russian
Today was one of those days when Memrise seemed to hate me and I spent an entire 26 minutes clearing the reviews that had turned up since yesterday. Never mind, overall I know it's helpful.

I only spent 15 minutes or so on the B1.1 textbook after that, pressing on with some more of the comprehension exercises. And then I read another chapter of 'Собака Баскервилей'. The new word I looked up today was 'верещатник' (moorland).

I also watched another episode of 'Татьняни день' (while sitting down :lol:).

Total - Russian: 103 mins, Croatian: 72 mins
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Sun Jul 25, 2021 9:13 pm

25 July
Nice quiet day at home. I booked a trip to Northumberland (in the north of England) for the bank holiday at the end of August.

Russian
The Memrise reviews weren't so numerous today, which was good. I continued with the B1.1 textbook and today mainly did a listening comprehension exercise. One of the best things about this book is that you can just scan a QR code at the start of the chapter and be taken to the relevant audio. I just wish the textbook had more audio. And more listening comprehension exercises in particular; I find this much more useful than the reading comprehension ones.

I made my weekly attempt at writing in Russian again and managed 100 words or so. It felt a bit easier than last week. I decided to write in Croatian yesterday and in Russian today so that I didn't risk confusing my brain again. I also read another 10 pages or so of 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'.

Total - Russian: 74 mins, Croatian: 74 mins, German: 98 mins
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Mon Jul 26, 2021 9:11 pm

26 July
I went to the pub after work tonight, because that's the sort of thing you can do when you only work until 17.30.

Russian
It was another fairly heavy day for Memrise reviews, but I got quite a lot of them done during my lunchbreak. After work I continued with the B1.1 textbook. One more listening exercise and then an exercise to form nouns ending in ание/ение from verbs.

Also read one more chapter of 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', which I continue to enjoy. The thing I looked up today was "взять расчёт", which in the context of the story I think meant giving notice/quitting a job.

Total - Russian: 81 mins, Croatian: 55 mins
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Tue Jul 27, 2021 10:17 pm

27 July
A more sedate and sober evening tonight :)

Russian
I had another listening comprehension exercise in the B1.1 textbook tonight, which was quite cool. Then I continued with 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'. Words which I looked up today included "трясина", which is one of those bits of the moor where if you stand on it, you're going to sink and die. I think the word used at this point in the English version is "mire". I'm just at the part of the story where Watson sees a pony sinking in it anyway.

Later I watched an episode of Татьянин день. There was a brief happy point in the storyline and now everything is going downhill. Татьяна 1's mother has just died and Сергей has been arrested for some sort of professional negligence which has resulted in an accident on a building site. My Russian isn't good enough to understand the exact details of what he's supposed to have done :D He hasn't done it anyway - he's been framed - but I'm sure the storyline will require him to spent a considerable number of episodes in prison.

Total - Russian: 132 mins, Croatian: 51 mins, German: 97 mins
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Wed Jul 28, 2021 10:16 pm

28 July
Worked at home again today, but going to the office tomorrow.

Russian
I've finished the comprehension exercises in this chapter of the B1.1 textbook now, so today I was starting the grammar section. I've decided I quite like using a monolingual textbook, because it just shows you the patterns of how things work without giving you big long explanations with complicated grammar words. Today I was practising those participles that all end in -щий (I can't remember what they're called in English and honestly, I'm happier not knowing :lol:). I found all the English-language explanations on this sort of thing in Schaum's went straight over my head, so practising them without all those explanations just seems easier.

Otherwise I read another chapter of Sherlock Holmes. This was quite a short chapter though, so I didn't really look up any words.

German
I forgot to say that I was reading a new book in German: 'Die Todesliste', which is a translation of Frederick Forsyth's 'The Kill List'. I normally find Frederick Forsyth quite exciting, but this one seems a bit less "thrilling" than the thrillers I've read by him before. The story is all about hunting down radical Islamic terrorists, which could be an exciting theme, but there just seems to be too much technical description of different intelligence agencies and departments (with all sorts of acronyms and codenames I can't keep in my head!) and not enough car chases or people getting shot :lol: From a language point of view, the most interesting thing about the book so far is that I've come across a use of the word "Schlagbaum" in the wild :) This was a German word I came across for the first time earlier this year in a video about Russian words taken from German. It was used in the book to describe an entrance barrier to some sort of restricted military facility.

Total - Russian: 63 mins, Croatian: 56 mins, German: 45 mins
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Thu Jul 29, 2021 10:11 pm

29 July
Had to go to the office again, which was a good reminder of why I like working from home :D

Russian
When I got home I still needed to get some steps in, so I watched an episode of Татьянин день on the treadmill. All fairly gloomy as it was about the funeral of Татьяня 1's mother.

Later I read another chapter of 'Собака Баскервилей'. This was quite a long one - 19 pages. Some of the words which I looked up included "сачок" (a butterfly net), "эшафот" (a scaffold - the sort someone is executed on), "каторжник" (convict). I don't think any of these words are likely to be useful in real life, but they were useful in the context of the book :lol:

Total - Russian: 82 mins, Croatian: 55 mins, German: 60 mins
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vonPeterhof
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby vonPeterhof » Fri Jul 30, 2021 5:31 am

Radioclare wrote:Later I read another chapter of 'Собака Баскервилей'. This was quite a long one - 19 pages. Some of the words which I looked up included "сачок" (a butterfly net), "эшафот" (a scaffold - the sort someone is executed on), "каторжник" (convict). I don't think any of these words are likely to be useful in real life, but they were useful in the context of the book :lol:

Should probably note that "каторжник" refers to a convict in the context of a specific type of historical hard labor sentence. The term isn't used officially in the modern Russian penal system (although many if not most prisons are still routinely referred to as "colonies"), and it's pretty much only ever used for the modern penal labor system as a pejorative, as a way of criticizing its exploitative and outdated nature.
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Fri Jul 30, 2021 9:56 pm

Thank you for clarifying, vonPeterhof :)

30 July
Payday today! With changing jobs it's been 6 weeks since I last got paid, so this was particularly welcome :)

Russian
It was really wet today, so I didn't get out for a proper walk at lunchtime. I went on the treadmill for a bit instead and watched part of an episode of Татьянин день. There were multiple scenes which involved two characters sitting talking on a bench next to a noisy road and I found those quite difficult to follow. My listening comprehension isn't very good when there's a lot of background noise.

After work I spent some time on the B1.1 textbook. I was doing some grammar exercises with the participles from the other day; they were quite repetitive, but useful. I also read another chapter of Sherlock Holmes, but didn't learn any new outdated words today :)

Total - Russian: 109 mins, Croatian: 53 mins, German: 60 mins
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