Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

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

Postby Radioclare » Thu Sep 09, 2021 9:08 pm

9 September
The heatwave is over - got rained on when I went for a walk at lunch today.

Russian
Opened my textbook for the second day in a row and started a new chapter, which is on the theme of health. I looked up a couple of new works including "питание" (nutrition) and "закаливание". Honestly, I haven't found a satisfactory translation of that last one but, if I've understood correctly, it seems to have something to do with taking cold showers or jumping into cold water. It was included in the book within a list of five things which you need to do for a healthy lifestyle. The others were all fairly normal suggestions like eating healthily, taking exercise etc, so pouring cold water on your head was a bit of a surprise addition :lol:

Otherwise I just cleared my Memrise reviews and watched another episode of Кухня.

Croatian
I finally managed to finish 'Kraj' this evening. I can't pretend I really enjoyed this book. Once I'd got to the end I read a few reviews of it online and found one which described it as "a demanding but rewarding novel likely to appeal to a very small audience". I think that's a good summary of it and I wasn't in the small audience it would appeal to :lol: But it did give me approx 300 pages towards my Croatian Super Challenge. And now I can read something more fun :)

Total - Russian: 64 mins, Croatian: 130 mins
9 x

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

Postby luke » Fri Sep 10, 2021 12:47 am

Radioclare wrote:Russian
I looked up a couple of new works including "питание" (nutrition) and "закаливание". Honestly, if I've understood correctly, it seems to have something to do with taking cold showers or jumping into cold water. It was included in the book within a list of five things which you need to do for a healthy lifestyle.

Я согласен!
YA soglasen!
:)
(I agree!)
(thanks google) :)
1 x

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IronMike
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Russian, 3/3 (DLPT5, 2022) 2+ (OPI, 2022)
German, 2L/1+R (DLPT5, 2021)
Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
Esperanto, C1 (KER skriba ekzameno, 2017)
Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5189
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby IronMike » Fri Sep 10, 2021 2:36 pm

Radioclare wrote:Russian
I looked up a couple of new works including "питание" (nutrition) and "закаливание".

Many of us non-Russians would laugh at the seemingly illogical Russian thought process, re: закаливание, whereby Russians insist it is healthy to cut a hole in the ice on a frozen lake in January and immerse yourself in the freezing water several times, yet God forbid you walk around on a sunny Fall day in 10C weather with an unzipped jacket.

My kids were several times yelled at by Russians for walking around with jackets not zipped up or shoes untied. Then my wife and I would be yelled at for allowing that. On one occasion, on a not-too-cold winter day (maybe 5C), our girls were walking and talking in front of me and my wife. They were both wearing their winter coats but neither wore a hat. Two young Russian ladies, probably mid-30s, had passed me and my wife. As they approached our girls, they split around our girls, and each Russian lady grabbed one of our daughter's hoods, and placed it on our daughter's head, and continued their walk. All while not stopping their conversation.
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Fri Sep 10, 2021 8:28 pm

Wow :shock: I have to admit, I really don't understand it! I spent a week taking cold showers in Ukraine in 2011 (the hot water was turned off for the summer) and I found it horribly unpleasant. And I really wouldn't be impressed if someone made me try to wear a hat/hood at 5C.

10 September
Not going to lie, this was not my most productive day of the week; think I'm ready for the weekend now :lol:

Russian
After work I cleared my Memrise reviews and had another session with the B1.1 textbook. I started some of the comprehension exercises on the healthy living text and so far they all seem pretty straight forward. Then I went out for a meal and had a couple of glasses of wine, so that was the end of any serious language-related activities :)

Croatian
I've really been enjoying the Instagram stories from Kristijan Iličić over the past couple of weeks. When he's travelling he posts 100 stories a day, which are a mixture of photos and videos (the videos being a mixture of Croatian and English commentary). He's just been in Somalia - which is not a place that most of us would choose for a holiday - and the posts have been absolutely fascinating. He's then spent a couple of days in Dubai, on his way to Djibouti. I have to admit I wasn't very excited about the Dubai content, because to me one photo of a tall building looks very much like another, but he actually posted some really interesting stuff yesterday from the less prosperous parts of Dubai, showing the souk and the places where the construction workers who build all the tall buildings live, for example. I'm sure I've mentioned him before, but mentioning again just because it is so rare to find such high quality content in Croatian :)

Total - Russian: 47 mins, Croatian: 50 mins
8 x

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

Postby Radioclare » Sat Sep 11, 2021 8:11 pm

11 September
A day at home with no plans, so that meant I had plenty of time for language activities.

Russian
While I was doing the housework this morning, I decided to listen to the podcast 'Что это было' again. I got through two episodes; one about Afghanistan and one about a train, travelling to remote parts of Russia and giving people medical help. It really is a good podcast and my comprehension is high enough to get something out of it (even while hoovering :lol:).

Later in the day I cleared my Memrise reviews, did some more comprehension exercises from the B1.1 textbook and started reading another book in Russian. This is 'Таинственный мистер Кин' (The mysterious Mr Quin) and yes, you guessed it - it's another collection of Agatha Christie short stories. I'm pretty sure I had this one in English as a library book when I was a child, but I don't remember it very well.

Total - Russian: 104 mins, Croatian: 74 mins, German: 57 mins
7 x

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IronMike
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Russian, 3/3 (DLPT5, 2022) 2+ (OPI, 2022)
German, 2L/1+R (DLPT5, 2021)
Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
Esperanto, C1 (KER skriba ekzameno, 2017)
Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5189
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby IronMike » Sun Sep 12, 2021 12:17 am

IronMike wrote:
Radioclare wrote:4 September
We'd ordered a skip for the weekend so wanted to make the most of it.

What does that mean? The "ordered a skip" part? I'd never heard that.

If I'd kept up with reading the Omniglot blog, I would have had the answer to my question!

Yesterday I discovered that a French word for skip is benne [bɛn], which also means cable car, cable way, dumpster, bucket, bin, barrow or dump truck.
...
The hedge in my garden was cut down yesterday, and soon work will start clearing the end of the garden where my new studio will be built. Now I need to hire a skip for all the stuff that needs to be taken away.
1 x
You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
CEFR --> ILR/DLPT equivalencies
My swimming life.
My reading life.

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Radioclare
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Sun Sep 12, 2021 7:17 pm

12 September
I blocked my social media again today. I'd unblocked it so that I could tweet for the 6WC but honestly, I didn't find I was very motivated by the 6WC this time around and with the exception of Kristijan Iličić's travel posts on Instagram, I don't think I saw anything worthwhile on social media during the entire 6 weeks.

Russian
I read the second short story from the book 'Таинственный мистер Кин'. This was quite long for a short story - around 25 pages - and it took me 45 minutes. The main word I looked up was "скупердяйство" which Google Translate gives as "miserliness".

I cleared my Memrise reviews, made my weekly painful attempt at writing at least 100 words in Russian, then tackled some more of the comprehension exercises in the B1.1 textbook. One of them was a listening exercise about pedometers and getting 10 000 steps a day which I enjoyed, because I'm on a mission to get 10 000 steps every day this year :) I surprised myself by actually finishing the comprehension exercises today, so I can start the grammar part of the chapter tomorrow.

German
Yesterday I started reading a novel called 'Noah' by Sebastian Fitzek. It's about a man who regains consciousness after being shot, unable to remember who he is, and ends up living on the streets. Someone is trying to kill him, but it's not yet clear who or why. Interestingly, the backdrop for this story is the beginning of a global flu pandemic. The book was written in 2013 so it's nothing to do with Covid, but given recent events it doesn't feel like unrealistic sci-fi to read things like people being given temperature checks at airports. There seems to be a vaccine or at least some sort of treatment for the illness, so don't know how much of a role it will play in the plot. Often I only figure out what a Fitzek novel is actually about when I get to the end of it :lol:

Total - Russian: 106 mins, Croatian: 58 mins, German: 98 mins
9 x

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

Postby Radioclare » Mon Sep 13, 2021 9:00 pm

13 September
Worked from home today. And have had a pretty productive evening without my social media :)

Russian
I cleared my Memrise reviews after work and learned some new words from the 10 000 words course. Then I tackled the grammar section of my current chapter in the B1.1 textbook. This section is all about something called a "деепричастие". Honestly, I'd be lying if I said I could explain what this is in any language :lol: I'm starting to feel like the grammar in this textbook might be too hard for me and I just need to go back to a beginner textbook and practise noun endings again!

Later in the evening I read another short story from the Agatha Christie collection. That felt quite relaxing in comparison to the grammar study :)

Total - Russian: 47 mins, Croatian: 56 mins, German: 40 mins
11 x

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

Postby Radioclare » Tue Sep 14, 2021 9:06 pm

14 September
The weather was miserable today. Really starting to feel like autumn. I normally go on holiday somewhere sunnier for the first couple of weeks of September and I'm definitely missing that :lol:

Russian
It was so wet that I didn't want to go outside for a walk at lunchtime, so I went on my treadmill instead and watched an episode of 'Кухня'. I remembered this episode from the first time I watched it; it was about the kitchen being inspected by immigration officials, looking for illegal workers.

It was one of those days when I seemed to have loads of Memrise reviews, so I spent about 20 minutes clearing those after work. Before dinner I also got stuck into the grammar exercises in the B1.1 textbook, which actually weren't as bad as I was expecting given my extreme lack of expertise with whatever a "деепричастие" is :D

After dinner I read another chapter of the Agatha Christie. I'm doing pretty well with this book and already 87 pages in.

German
Really enjoying 'Noah' by Sebastian Fitzek, although quite strange to be reading about a pandemic. They only have 2 000 dead at the moment so it doesn't really compare to our pandemic yet, but I guess "yet" is the key word with a pandemic. The chapters I read today included references to people wearing masks on public transport, people with east Asian heritage being abused in the street (this fictional pandemic apparently started with a pig in the Philippines) and panic-buying in supermarkets. All sounds quite realistic today, but I imagine I would have found it quite far-fetched if I'd read the book when it came out in 2013. I don't often look up German words when I read but I did have to google "Hamstereinkäufe" today and learned the verb "hamstern" which means to hoard. Do hamsters hoard things? I'm guessing they must :lol:

Total - Russian: 101 mins, Croatian: 55 mins, German: 40 mins
7 x

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IronMike
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2554
Joined: Thu May 12, 2016 6:13 am
Location: Northern Virginia
Languages: Studying: Esperanto
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Tested:
BCS, 1+L/1+R (DLPT5, 2022)
Russian, 3/3 (DLPT5, 2022) 2+ (OPI, 2022)
German, 2L/1+R (DLPT5, 2021)
Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
Esperanto, C1 (KER skriba ekzameno, 2017)
Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5189
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby IronMike » Wed Sep 15, 2021 12:57 am

Radioclare wrote:...which actually weren't as bad as I was expecting given my extreme lack of expertise with whatever a "деепричастие" is :D

I love деепричастия! It's also a fun word to say. Almost as fun to say as достопримечательности.

Wishing you happy studying. :lol:
2 x
You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
CEFR --> ILR/DLPT equivalencies
My swimming life.
My reading life.


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