Radioclare's 2021 log (Russian, Croatian)

[IronMike]

Thanks both ...but what happens if I shake hands with a Russian across a порог? Does this result in eternal bad luck?!

Knowing Russians, probably. Even worse if you shake hands across a table set over the порог while sitting on cold concrete and you sitting on the corner of the table and your female guest sitting on the crack of the table. The universe would probably end right there and then.

Unless you have a swimming pool filled with guinea pigs. Then quickly jump in there and swim. All will be safe.

[Radioclare]

I think sitting on cold surfaces is a big no-no in Croatia too, but all the others are new to me

21 February
I didn't have any plans today, which made me happy

Russian
I read two chapters of 'Breaking Dawn' and, after yesterday's experience, I decided to just go with the flow and not look up a single word. This didn't really hinder my understanding of the story. I remember this book in a lot more detail than the previous one, which helps with overall comprehension.

The theme of the day in Schaum's was verbs with the stem -ова. Each of these sections starts with a long list of verbs which have the given characteristic and I'm copying this out by hand, in the hope that I retain at least a few new verbs. Some of these lists are so useful that I've considered putting them into Memrise, but I'm sure that I must have around 2,000 overdue reviews in Memrise at the moment so I'm resisting that temptation

Croatian
I continued with my aim of writing 1,000 words in Croatian every Sunday. If I didn't also have the aim of writing 500 words in Russian every Saturday, I'm sure this would feel like a real chore. But after writing in Russian, writing in Croatian feels positively relaxing.

I also watched another episode of 'Drugo ime ljubavi' while on the treadmill. It's all very dramatic at the moment

Total - Russian: 104 mins, Croatian: 136 mins

[IronMike]

The порог thing includes handing anything over it. Don't take bags or luggage or anything. Let them enter your house first.

Unmarried people should not sit on the corner, or you'll never, ever, marry. Of course the cold concrete thing your uterus will fall out. There's also the whole zip up your jacket or you'll die in the cold (~50F and below), but dunking yourself in an iced over lake is healthy for you. Go figure.

I can't find anything on the "crack of the table" so maybe I'm misremembering.

Don't put an empty bottle back on the table. At least in the Russian (and FSU) military, these bottles are called мёртвые солдаты. They go on the floor. And I'm sure you know the whole "once you open a bottle of vodka you finish it" and of course you need three.

Another military one: do NOT congratulate someone on a promotion until after they put the new rank on. If you congratulate them prior to putting the new rank on (like, when their promotion is announced, which is normally weeks or months prior), that is bad luck and they will think they will lose the rank.

[Radioclare]

That's really interesting, I'm going to watch out for all these in the series I'm watching The only superstition I've noticed there so far is that whenever one character is going on a long journey, all the other characters sit down with them for a minute in silence before going out of the house. I'm not sure whether doing this brings good luck or whether not doing it brings bad luck, but it does seem to be an obligatory ritual.

22 February
I spent an hour or so on a Teams call with colleagues in Brazil this afternoon, trying to do a remote review of some work they'd done on a subsidiary of one of my clients. They were supposed to have done the work in English but for various reasons they'd done it in Portuguese instead and so they had to talk me through all the important spreadsheets. Portuguese is absolutely impenetrable for me

Russian
Today was all about verbs with the stem "ну". I looked at the vast quantity of information on verbs which I still have to get through in Schaum's and I don't think I'm going to hit my goal of getting to the end of this textbook by the end of March. I can't actually remember whether I mentioned here that that was one of my goals, but privately I was trying to set quarterly goals for the year and that was one of them. Now I think end of April is probably more realistic. It doesn't really matter, I only picked the end of March because it felt nice to have a quarterly goal.

I read two more chapters of 'Рассвет' and there were no guinea pigs or porpoises, so all was good. I am, however, edging closer and closer to the birth scene, which I remember thinking was one of the most disturbing things I had ever read in fiction when I read it first time around in Croatian. It remains to be seen whether it seems equally gory when I read it in Russian.

Afterwards I watched an episode of 'Татьянин день' on the treadmill. Fifty episodes in now!

Total - Russian: 124 mins

[Radioclare]

23 February
I had a pretty frustrating day at work today, mainly caused by people not doing things they were supposed to. I didn't finish until after 8pm, which is one of the later finishes I've had this year.

Russian
After dinner I forced myself to open Schaum's and today was about verbs which are similar to писать. The textbook gave a good list of them but there were too many consonant changes for me to get my head around and I didn't even get all of the subsequent exercise correct whilst having the list in front of me. Never mind, it's one of those days where it feels like sufficient achievement just to have opened the grammar book.

I read another two chapters of 'Рассвет' to try and cheer myself up with some vampire escapism. I did look one word up today - выть - which seems to be "to howl", used in the context of werewolves.

Croatian
I watched another episode of 'Drugo ime ljubavi', which continues to be very dramatic. I've also started reading a thriller called 'Propali kongres', set in Zagreb in 1990, with a killer on the lose who is threatening to inject random groceries on the supermarket shelves with cyanide. Sometimes you read something in a foreign language just for the sake of reading something in a foreign language, but this isn't one of those books In fact, it's one of those rare books where I find myself trying to slow down with reading to enjoy the writing rather than rushing to find out what happens next.

Total - Russian: 68 mins, Croatian: 45 mins

[Radioclare]

24 February
I got my jab today It was all really convenient - the vaccination centre was about 1.5 miles from where I live so I was able to walk there, get jabbed and walk back during a slightly extended lunch break. The worst thing about the whole experience was that I hadn't realised everyone was required to wait for a strictly enforced 15 minutes after the jab in case they had an allergic reaction. I should definitely have brought a book!

Russian
Otherwise it was a fairly frustrating day at work, still clearing up other people's mess, so I didn't get very far with Schaum's tonight. I studied a brief section about verbs which are conjugated like надеяться and did a short exercise afterwards.

I was only going to read one chapter of 'Рассвет', but I lacked self control and read two Then I watched 'Татьянин день' on the treadmill. I don't feel like I got a lot out of it today, but I was having some problems with my earphones which probably didn't help.

Total - Russian: 107 mins

[Serpent]

The порог thing includes handing anything over it. Don't take bags or luggage or anything. Let them enter your house first.

If they're just popping by you can also step outside the door to pick up the bag or hug the person or whatever. If you're the one popping by, give them time to step outside or ask for permission to enter

afaiu порог is associated with death, as in rural areas people would bury their dead just outside the threshold So obviously this doesn't make sense in a modern apartment

You know, reading this back, I'm actually still confused If they were swimming with porpoises, shouldn't it have been "с морскими свиньями" rather than "с морскими свинками"?

I had no idea морская свинья exists I think the editor also didn't know it, and replaced морскими свиньями with морскими свинками Twilight is weird enough that I definitely wouldn't be surprised if they swam with guinea pigs

btw in the meaning of 'generic laboratory animal' we use подопытный кролик, not морская свинка

edit: totally agree about ушиб/синяк. also, one can have a синяк where there's been no ушиб, like due to an injection or cardiovascular disease etc.
синяки под глазами (plural) means bags under eyes btw. in the singular синяк под глазом would be a blacked eye in general синяк emphasizes eiither an aesthetic problem or cause and effect, so it's probably more likely to come up in fiction (and the only times it makes sense to use it about yourself). ушиб generally sounds more serious and painful. if you're speaking about yourself then it's more natural to say я ушиблась/ударилась/упала etc thаn у меня ушиб.

omg, makes me remember a silly and problematic joke about a babushka being diagnosed with ушиб всей бабки

[Radioclare]

Thanks for the explanations! I was very confused about those guinea pigs

25 February
I was interviewing for most of today, which meant I got no work done and I couldn't go outside at lunchtime for a walk. This made me grumpy.

Russian
I only managed a short session with Schaum's again this evening. The topic of the day was verbs which are conjugated like ждать.

I accidentally ended up reading three chapters of 'Breaking Dawn'. I read two, then realised I had stopped reading just as the gory birth scene was about to start. So I decided to read that and get it over and done with so that I didn't have to come back to it tomorrow. I looked up a few useful words in the process, like "тазовая кость" (pelvic bone).

Total - Russian: 86 mins, Croatian: 46 mins

[IronMike]

I accidentally ended up reading three chapters of 'Breaking Dawn'.

"accidentally" hahahaha

[Radioclare]

26 February
It's advised not to drink for two weeks after the Covid jab, so I faced the unusual prospect of wine-less Friday today My boyfriend very kindly bought me some non-alcoholic wine to have with dinner though and it was actually pretty nice

Russian
I couldn't use being drunk as an excuse not to study Russian grammar, so I had to persevere with Schaum's. Today I was studying verbs like давать. I think that brings me to the end of the first conjugation verbs, so tomorrow I get to start on the second conjugation verbs.

I deliberately read three chapters of my Twilight book this evening And I looked up a few words: "позвоночник" (spine) and "лось", which I think is a moose.

Total - Russian: 136 mins