Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

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

Postby Radioclare » Wed Sep 15, 2021 9:03 pm

IronMike wrote:Almost as fun to say as достопримечательности.

I think I almost cried the first time I had to try and spell that word, but now I've learned it I get weirdly excited whenever I see it anywhere :lol:

15 September
Have had a slight headache all day - possibly because my Croatian series was so sad that it actually made me cry on the treadmill this morning :oops: But today was an exciting today, because a printed copy of Enjoy Esperanto arrived in the post :)

Russian
Whatever the reason, I used the headache as an excuse not to do any Russian grammar after work. I did spend 10 minutes or so on Memrise, plus read another chapter of 'Таинственный мистер Кин'.

I didn't have time to go out at lunchtime because I had a 13.30 meeting, but I went on the treadmill for 25 minutes instead and watched an episode of 'Кухня'. I'm 17 episodes into season 1 already and I'm understanding so much more than I was first time around :)

Total - Russian: 79 mins, Croatian: 53 mins, German: 82 mins
9 x

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IronMike
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German, 2L/1+R (DLPT5, 2021)
Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
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Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby IronMike » Wed Sep 15, 2021 9:49 pm

Radioclare wrote:But today was an exciting today, because a printed copy of Enjoy Esperanto arrived in the post :)

w00t! That means mine might be coming soon!
0 x
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Radioclare
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Posts: 2250
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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 » Thu Sep 16, 2021 9:56 pm

IronMike wrote:w00t! That means mine might be coming soon!

I think yours is currently in a pile waiting to be signed!

16 September
I had a face-to-face meeting with a client today, which is the first time I've done that since early March 2020 :o A little bit weird starting/ending meetings without handshakes.

Russian
I haven't had the biggest day for language learning, though. By the time I'd got home, done some exercise and had dinner, there wasn't a lot of the evening left. I cleared all my Memrise reviews, learned 10 new words and then watched an episode of 'Кухня'. I didn't remember this one at all, though I'm sure I got to the end of the first season so I must have seen it. Perhaps I just didn't understand any of it first time around :lol:

Total - Russian: 42 mins, Croatian: 53 mins
8 x

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

Postby Radioclare » Fri Sep 17, 2021 9:38 pm

17 September
Worked from home today, so more relaxing than yesterday. I spent most of this evening reading in German though, so haven't done loads of Russian.

Russian
I cleared my Memrise reviews, which weren't too bad today, and then read another short story from the collection 'Таинственный мистер Кин'. This was quite a long story (30 pages) so it took me a while to get through it. I got about halfway through and realised I remembered it from when I read this book in English as a teenager :) The main word I looked up today was "жёлудь" (acorn).

Total - Russian: 57 mins, Croatian: 53 mins, German: 116 mins
7 x

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

Postby Radioclare » Sat Sep 18, 2021 7:36 pm

18 September
Spent a reasonable amount of time on housework today. I did a few things I'd been procrastinating for a very long time, like cleaning the oven.

Russian
I listened to a few more episodes of the podcast 'Что это было' while doing the cleaning. The first episode I listened to was about “умное голосование” which (if I understood this correctly!) is like a tactical voting system that tells people who they need to vote for in their constituency to have the best possible chance of stopping the ruling party from winning the seat. We had something similar in the UK at one point which told you who best to vote for to prevent pro-Brexit candidates winning your local seat (not that it worked :lol:). The difference in Russia is that the government is trying to block the "smart voting"; if I understood it correctly, they're trying to stop Google showing it in search results.

I'll be honest - I don't know much about Russian politics and the theme of this podcast was a bit above my head. So after that I went back and listened to an episode from April about the death of Prince Phillip. Not a theme I was madly interested in, but at least one where I was familiar with the concepts that were being discussed, so I felt like my comprehension was a lot higher. Then I listened to a third episode about Russian relations with Turkey. I wasn't 100% concentrating on this one, but I think the gist was that the Russian government had recommended people not to travel to Turkey for their holidays in May and officially this was because of the Covid situation in Turkey, but there were suspicions that it was also related to the fact that Turkey had expressed support for Ukraine joining NATO.

After that my head hurt and I did the rest of the housework in silence :D

Later I cleared my Memrise reviews, read another short story and finished the chapter in my B1.1 textbook about healthy lifestyles. I started the next chapter actually, which is about sport. I read the opening text, which was about how doing sport could be dangerous/result in you injuring yourself and so it would be better just to eat less. Not quite how I expected a chapter on sport to open :lol: After dinner I watched two more episodes of 'Кухня' too.

Total - Russian: 185 mins, Croatian: 53 mins, German: 52 mins
9 x

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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 » Sun Sep 19, 2021 7:37 pm

19 September
Today had less cleaning and more relaxing :)

Russian
I read another Agatha Christie should story this morning. The main word I looked up was "свинка", which I think means "mumps". That made me realise that I didn't know the word for mumps in Croatian, so I looked it up and found it was "zaušnjaci". By coincidence, when I was watching my Croatian telenovela on the treadmill this morning I learned the word for chickenpox ("vodene kozice"). So I looked up chickenpox in Russian - "ветряная оспа". So hopefully I'll recognise that one if it ever crops up in a book :)

Later I spent half an hour or so with the B1.1 textbook and got through most of the comprehension exercises in the sport chapter. There was a listening exercise about a figure skater which I enjoyed; I always find the listening exercises really helpful.

I watched another episode of 'Кухня' on the treadmill this evening and didn't recognise the storyline at all. I looked up my Super Challenge spreadsheet from last year and realised that I'd actually given up watching after episode 20 and this was episode 21. So I'm definitely doing better than last time :)

Total - Russian: 102 mins, Croatian: 51 mins
10 x

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

Postby vonPeterhof » Sun Sep 19, 2021 9:29 pm

Radioclare wrote:So I looked up chickenpox in Russian - "ветряная оспа". So hopefully I'll recognise that one if it ever crops up in a book :)

BTW the full name is hardly ever used outside of medical literature. The usual everyday word for it is "ветрянка".
4 x

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

Postby Radioclare » Mon Sep 20, 2021 8:23 pm

vonPeterhof wrote:BTW the full name is hardly ever used outside of medical literature. The usual everyday word for it is "ветрянка".

Thank you for clarifying :)

20 September
Working from home today, which is always a nice way to start the week.

Russian
I cleared my Memrise reviews in between cooking dinner this evening, then read another chapter of 'Таинственный мистер Кин'. I'm nearly 200 pages into it now. Today's new words included "возглас" (exclamation).

I also spent 15 minutes or so with the B1.1 textbook and got through a page of grammar exercises. I don't even know how to explain what the theme of the grammar in this chapter is. It seems to be sentences on the theme of "так...что", "так... как", "так... как будто" etc.

Before bed I watched another episode of 'Кухня'. I'm amazed by how much I'm enjoying this second time around. It actually made me laugh out loud today :)

Total - Russian: 105 mins, Croatian: 63 mins
9 x

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

Postby Radioclare » Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:20 pm

21 September
A strange day today - I commuted by train for the first time since March 2020. There were certainly a lot fewer people on my route than there used to be; I got a seat without any problems!

Russian
I spent most of my train journey looking out the window and reminiscing about when I used to do this every day :lol: But in between that I cleared all my Memrise reviews and learned some new words. I deliberately didn't pass the entire journey with Memrise, because I didn't want to create an unmanageable number of reviews for myself tomorrow. I could have listened to a podcast, except I didn't think to bring my wireless headphones with me. I had good old-fashioned wired headphones in my backpack, but my phone doesn't have a headphone jack and my iPod was in my boyfriend's car. So it was a very silent journey.

I still needed some steps when I got home, so I went on the treadmill and watched another episode of 'Кухня'. After dinner I also read another Agatha Christie chapter, but don't think I learned any exciting new words today.

Total - Russian: 80 mins, Croatian: 5 mins
8 x

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

Postby Radioclare » Wed Sep 22, 2021 9:30 pm

22 September
A slightly frustrating day at work - one of those where you start the day with a list of things to do and then you don't get to do any of them because something unexpected kicks off.

Russian
I cleared my Memrise reviews after work but then didn't get around to reading in Russian after dinner because I was reading a book in English for a change. It was one of those days when it would have been really easy to procrastinate opening the B1.1 textbook, but I forced myself to and actually had a really productive session with it. The grammar exercises really weren't too hard and I unexpectedly found myself at the end of the chapter :)

Total - Russian: 50 mins, Croatian: 54 mins
5 x


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