Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

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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 » Mon Apr 26, 2021 10:01 pm

26 April
I logged in this morning and thought "Oh great, I only missed 15 emails over the weekend", quickly followed by "How did my life get to the stage that I consider only getting 15 emails over the weekend to be a good result?!" :lol:

Russian
I had some Esperanto accounting work to do this evening, so I didn't get to Russian straightaway after dinner. I did do some proper studying though, probably because I always have more enthusiasm for studying at the start of a new textbook than at the end of one! I continued working through the opening text about Puskin's family. All the reading I normally do is extensive, so I figured maybe I should read this text intensively and take notes on all the vocab I'm not sure of, make sure I understand why given words and phrases are in certain cases etc. I don't normally ever do this, so it's taking a bit of effort. I only got through around four paragraphs in half an hour (I was copying the Russian sentences out and trying to translate them to English) so I may be stuck on the theme of Puskin's family for quite some time.

Total - Russian: 35 mins, Croatian: 46 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
Learns: Russian
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Tue Apr 27, 2021 10:49 pm

27 April
One of those days where no amount of caffeine seemed sufficient to make me feel awake in the morning, and then I went on the treadmill around 22.00 and felt more awake afterwards than I had for days.

Russian
Still reading about Pushkin's family. Actually I didn't know very much about Pushkin and his family before, so it's quite interesting. Forcing myself to copy the sentences out one by one is certainly a good way to make me focus on precisely what they mean, although if I continue through the book at this pace then I may be talking about it on my log for years to come.

While I was on the treadmill I watched an episode of 'Татьянин день'. Today was a high comprehension day - weird how my comprehension seems to fluctuate so much. I am really enjoying the main storyline now and was actually tempted to watch a second episode because this one ended on a cliff hanger, but eventually managed to restrain myself.

Total - Russian: 73 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
Learns: Russian
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Re: Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:49 pm

28 April
Absolutely disastrous day at work today. I think tomorrow will be a long one.

Russian
Nothing very exciting to report today, I'm afraid. I'm still busy studying sentences about Pushkin's family. Although this probably sounds really boring, I'm actually finding it more enjoyable than the exercises in Schaum's at the moment, probably just because it's a change. I've looked up a few words I didn't know at all, like помолвка (engagement, betrothal).

Total - Russian: 34 mins, Croatian: 47 mins
6 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 » Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:05 pm

29 April
Today has indeed felt like a long day.

Russian
I didn't do any grammar today because by the time I finished work, alcohol was required. Instead I went on the treadmill and watched an episode of Татьянин день. It's all very exciting. Two characters have just been arrested for murder. And Татьяна 1 has paid a criminal to produce a fake birth certificate, proving that the father of her child, Сергей, is not in fact the father of her child. Сергей is meanwhile still married to Татьяна 1's best friend, Татьяна 2, who is pretending to be pregnant. After dinner I also listened to a Russian Progress podcast, but that was slightly less dramatic :lol:

Total - Russian: 65 mins
6 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 Apr 30, 2021 9:51 pm

30 April
One of the reasons that this week at work has been so stressful is that I'd booked today off as holiday. With the benefit of hindsight, it wasn't the best day to have chosen. But I'm now in Northumberland (in the north of England) for a long weekend, and after so many months of lockdown it's really nice to have a change of scenery and be in the countryside :)

Russian
Most of today has been spent travelling and I've been struggling to stay awake at times, which is my excuse for not having done any grammar. But luckily I did remember to pack a Russian book before I set off this morning, so this evening I have started reading 'Убийство в Восточном экспрессе' (Murder on the Orient Express). I've read this one multiple times before, both in English and Croatian, so I'm pretty familiar with the storyline and I'm hoping it will be a nice easy one to read in Russian.

Total - Russian: 34 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 May 01, 2021 8:49 pm

1 May
Had a beautiful walk in the countryside today, alongside Hadrian's Wall. The weather wasn't amazing, but the rain more or less held off.

Russian
I felt more awake today, so I did do some grammar study this afternoon. Well, I finished reading about Pushkin in my new textbook and then I tackled the first couple of exercises. The exercises were more about comprehension than grammar, which was a nice break after doing so many grammar exercises in Schaum's. These were things like finding a sentence in the text which had a specific meaning, which felt relatively straightforward.

Afterwards I spent half an hour or so reading 'Убийство в Восточном экспрессе'. So far this does feel like a nice easy one :)

Total - Russian: 83 mins
6 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 » Sun May 02, 2021 8:39 pm

2 May
Another long walk in the countryside today :)

Russian
I was tired when I got back so I didn't open my textbook. Instead I read another couple of chapters of 'Убийство в Восточном экспрессе'. Although I know the storyline well enough to remember the solution to the crime, it's still a fun read. Actually, I think it's possibly more fun to read once you know the solution because it's easier to spot the clues.

Total - Russian: 32 mins
6 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 » Mon May 03, 2021 8:53 pm

3 May
The weather was appallingly wet today. I managed a short walk in the morning before the long drive home. Back to work tomorrow.

Russian
The morning walk wasn't sufficient to get me to 10 000 steps, so once I got home I needed to go on the treadmill. I took the opportunity to watch an episode of 'Татьянин день'. My interest in the storyline is waning slightly again, possibly because it's all quite intricate at the moment with characters plotting against each other and a couple of characters being arrested for a murder they didn't commit. My Russian isn't always good enough to follow the finer points of this.

Later in the evening I read a few more chapters of Agatha Christie and learned some new words: алый (scarlet), выкуп (ransom), похищение (kidnapping).

Total - Russian: 79 mins, German: 68 mins (yesterday, after updating my log)
4 x

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

Postby Caromarlyse » Tue May 04, 2021 8:16 am

Radioclare wrote: learned some new words: алый (scarlet), выкуп (ransom), похищение (kidnapping)


I didn't know that, but knew похмелье (hangover) and похороны (funeral). It made me think that пох- indicates something is bad. Having looked on Wiktionary, there appears to be no etymological basis to this supposition, but having also looked in a paper dictionary for words starting with this combination, a large proportion of them are indeed negative.
1 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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Contact:

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

Postby Radioclare » Tue May 04, 2021 10:56 pm

Caromarlyse wrote:I didn't know that, but knew похмелье (hangover) and похороны (funeral). It made me think that пох- indicates something is bad. Having looked on Wiktionary, there appears to be no etymological basis to this supposition, but having also looked in a paper dictionary for words starting with this combination, a large proportion of them are indeed negative.

That's really interesting! I knew those words too but hadn't made the link to them all being negative.

4 May
Back to work. Missed 35 emails over my 4-day weekend and nothing drastic went wrong, so it could have been worse.

Russian
Read another chapter of 'Murder on the Orient Express'. Today's new word was "пуговица" (button).

Also made a bit more progress with some of the exercises in my new textbook. The main one I was working on today involved writing sentences using new vocab from the text about Pushkin's family. I still can't figure out how best to approach learning vocabulary. I feel like I should probably go back to Memrise, clear my truly horrendous backlog of reviews and then start using it to learn the new words this textbook is littered with. But every time I think about opening Memrise I can't face it :lol:

Total - Russian: 48 mins, Croatian: 45 mins
5 x


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