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 » Sat Nov 20, 2021 9:42 pm

20 November
I spent most of the morning doing housework and most of the afternoon doing Esperanto work, but it felt like a productive day :)

Russian
The Memrise reviews weren't too bad today, so I decided to progress with reading some more of 'Светлый лик смерти'. After twenty minutes I finally got to the end of the chapter I've been stuck in for the past week or so. I am enjoying the story - and I have no idea who the murderer is - but I'm struggling to keep track of all the characters (in particular, all the members of the police force). I guess I'm not helping myself by leaving several days in between reading, but I do think it is more difficult to keep track of characters when reading in Russian compared to reading in any of my other languages because each character can be called so many different things.

Total - Russian: 32 mins, Croatian: 57 mins, German: 121 mins
9 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 Nov 21, 2021 10:30 pm

21 November
No housework and less Esperanto work today, so a very relaxing weekend day :)

Russian
Got through the Memrise reviews this morning and then this afternoon read an entire chapter of 'Светлый лик смерти'. There was a big revelation that seems like it's going to link together two seemingly unconnected parts of the story, so that was pretty cool.

Later this evening I listened to another Russian Progress podcast. This one was an interview format and, although the sound quality wasn't bad, I just never seem to really enjoy the interview ones. I should probably stop moaning about them and find something else to listen to :lol:

Croatian
I haven't updated much on Croatian recently because I more or less just do the same thing every day; watch an episode of the telenovela 'Čista ljubav' on the treadmill every morning before breakfast and then clear my Memrise reviews in the evening.

I've been loving 'Čista ljubav' though and quite sad that I've watched 148 episodes out of a total of 175, so it will soon be time to find something else to watch. There's plenty of drama in it and it's really interesting to see one particular actor, who always plays the hero in these telenovelas, play a convincing bad guy for a change.



Otherwise, I'm following the Instagram stories of the Croatian travel blogger Kristijan Iličić almost every day. He's posting stories from Equatorial Guinea at the moment, which is absolutely fascinating.

My favourite playlist right now is below. I highly recommend it if you want some retro Yugoslav music to cheer you up :lol: I've been listening to it over the past couple of weekends when doing boring Esperanto finance tasks and it's made me smile :)



I finished a novel I was reading in German last night so I'm back to reading in Croatian. I'm working my way through a novel called 'Bijes', which is a translation from Italian of a novel by Nicola Lagioia. I was reading this on the plane back from Spain a couple of weeks ago and finding it hard to concentrate on in a noisy environment but I read it in silence for about 90 mins this afternoon and made much more progress.

Total - Russian: 68 mins, Croatian: 155 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 » Mon Nov 22, 2021 11:10 pm

22 November
Worked from home today, which was a nice start to the week. Spent most of it preparing for a preparing for a presentation I'm giving tomorrow, so that was less fun.

Russian
The Memrise reviews were through the roof today; I got 29 out of my 30 minutes in just by clearing them :( By the time I'd done that I'd kinda lost enthusiasm for doing anything else, so all I've done is watch another episode of 'Кухня'.

Total - Russian: 56 mins, Croatian: 65 mins
5 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 Nov 23, 2021 10:46 pm

23 November
Had a meeting in London today, which is only the second time I've been to London since the start of the pandemic. It was weird - so many people, so few masks. Feeling pretty tired this evening.

Russian
I'd forgotten what it's like travelling for work and wasn't very well prepared to make use of the time in a productive way. If I'd been organised enough to bring some earphones I would have been able to listen to a lot of podcasts, but I forgot :(

I did a bit of Memrise at the end of the day when waiting for a lift. Then I've had a reading evening this evening and got through another entire chapter of 'Светлый лик смерти'. I learned the phrase "верховая езда" (horse riding).

Total - Russian: 66 mins, Croatian: 144 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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Contact:

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

Postby Radioclare » Wed Nov 24, 2021 10:33 pm

24 November
Worked at home today, so not as tiring as yesterday :)

Russian
But unfortunately I spent a lot of this evening trying to sort out some Esperanto accounting tasks, so I've done very little language stuff.

I got through the Memrise reviews, but couldn't find any motivation to learn new words. Then I just watched an episode of 'Кухня'. The episodes tend to be less than 25 minutes, so it's easy to watch one even if you don't quite feel like it :)

Total - Russian: 39 mins, Croatian: 50 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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Contact:

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

Postby Radioclare » Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:14 pm

25 November
Had my Covid booster jab this afternoon. Now have a very sore arm.

Russian
I had to queue outside for about 15 mins for the jab so I tried to do some Memrise but gave up when my fingers got too cold. I got a bit more done during the obligatory wait after the jab though.

Later in the evening I spent some more time reading 'Светлый лик смерти' and got through another chapter, although it took me the best part of an hour. I have less than 50 pages of the book left to go now and I still have zero idea who the murderer is.

Total - Russian: 77 mins, Croatian: 146 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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Contact:

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

Postby Radioclare » Fri Nov 26, 2021 6:34 pm

26 November
Felt like death warmed up for most of today after my jab. My arm was so sore this morning that getting dressed was a challenge :lol: And I've spent most of the day trying to decide whether I'm hot or cold. Never mind, it's the weekend now!

Russian
It was pouring with rain and I didn't fancy going outside at lunchtime, so I went on the treadmill for some extra steps and watched an episode of 'Кухня'. As per usual, I felt like I was concentrating on it better when I was on the treadmill than I do when I'm sitting at my computer.

We've got guests coming round this evening so I just snuck in a bit of Memrise before they arrive to take me over the 30 minute mark.

Total - Russian: 37 mins, Croatian: 63 mins
4 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 » Sat Nov 27, 2021 9:10 pm

27 November
Felt more normal today and have regained the use of my arm :D

Russian
A few Memrise reviews this morning, but the main achievement of the day is that I have finally got to the end of the novel 'Светлый лик смерти'. I realised today that I only had two chapters left, so I decided to read both of them. The identity of the murderer was a complete surprise to me, but if I had been clever enough to realise that Наташа was a diminutive of Наталья then I might have made a connection that enabled me to guess it a few chapters back. Never mind, it's good to have some suspense!

'Светлый лик смерти' is the second properly Russian (i.e. not translated) book that I've ever read and the 14th book I've read in Russian this year. It takes me to 138 'books' for my Super Challenge.

Total - Russian: 110 mins, Croatian: 55 mins

In other news, YouTube has started recommending me increasingly cheesy music from Slovenia. I feel like this guy would make a strong Eurovision entry :lol:

10 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 Nov 28, 2021 7:41 pm

28 November
Surprising amount of snow here today. Well, surprising for me because I rarely keep up with the weather forecast.

Russian
I've done quite a lot of language stuff today, but it's mainly been reading in Croatian and Esperanto rather than Russian. I haven't started a new Russian book yet after the excitement of finishing 'Светлый лик смерти' last night.

However, I did clear my Memrise reviews first thing this morning. And then this evening I did something which I haven't done for a long time (!) and did some grammar study. I felt like I was getting on pretty well with this before I went to Spain at the start of this month, then I made the decision not to bring the grammar book with me on that trip (which I think was the right decision - I genuinely wouldn't have opened it) but since I came back I seem to have managed to procrastinate opening it again. So I did open it today, but I made a decision not to learn anything new; instead I spent 20 minutes or so reading through things I'd already learned as a bit of revision :)

Total - Russian: 31 mins, Croatian: 114 mins, Esperanto: 97 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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Contact:

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

Postby Radioclare » Mon Nov 29, 2021 9:45 pm

29 November
Today was my birthday and my new firm is really cool and let's everyone have their birthday off work, so that's been a nice treat.

Russian
I was going out to do something with my family which I knew would take most of the day, so I tried to get some language study in before I left home. I started revising some more sections I'd previously covered from 'A Comprehensive Russian Grammar' and managed to spend about 15 minutes on this in total.

I then had a train to catch and I used a lot of the journey to work on Memrise; both on clearing outstanding reviews and learning some new words.

Total - Russian: 37 mins, Croatian: 46 mins
8 x


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