Little by little (TUR, DUT, ITA, FRE)

[Sonjaconjota]

Lately I’ve done some research about content and resources for Dutch. I found several podcasts that look promising (via podwatch) and three grammar workbooks, which I plan on buying at some point. They are rather pricey, but I’ll monitor the second hand online stores that I know to see if I can get them a bit cheaper.
I found out that rock music from the Netherlands is called Nederrock, and I came across two nice folk songs in Dutch by a band called Rapalje. These songs have interesting stories:
In my childhood there was a song called Alle, die mit uns auf Kaperfahrt fahren, and now I’ve learned that it was actually the translation of the Dutch song Al die willen te kaap’ren varen.

And then there is a song called Wat zullen we drinken.

In my youth in the 90s, a 1981 German version with the title Sieben Tage lang, sung with a strong Dutch accent by the band Bots, was a popular party song. It was of course based on their Dutch version Zeven dagen lang.

But it turns out that that song, for its part, was a version of Son ar chistr, a folk song in Breton, composed in 1929.

[Sonjaconjota]

2024/03/25
Today it was raining, and a Polish friend asked me why rubber boots are also called “katiuskas” in Spain, so looked it up. Turns out they are named after the main character in the operetta Katiuska, la mujer rusa from 1931.
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botas_de_goma
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katiuska,_la_mujer_rusa

Dutch 30 min
- I started unit 8, PONS Power-Sprachkurs Niederländisch A2B1. The topic that I just looked up last week, “e” as an ending for attributive adjectives, came up, but explained in a completely different way, which again confused me.
- reading: 3 chapters De duiker
- I watched a bit of the radio livestream at
https://www.nporadio1.nl/live
I learned the funny word “flitspaal” for “speed camera”.

French
- 5 min linguno.com

Turkish
- watching: youtube channel Daire:
Daire Turu: Deniz’in Galata’daki Kompakt Evi
The Flat: Loft Apartment in Bomonti Built From Scratch
(first round with English subtitles)
I’ve no idea why youtube shows me some of the videos with an English title and others with a Turkish one. I’ve noticed that it’s even different depending on the device I’m watching it with.


2024/03/26
Dutch
- listening: podcast De zwembadmoord 3 episodes
- reading: 3 chapters De duiker

Italian 30 min
- 1 topic Nuova grammatica pratica della lingua italiana A1B2
- vocabulary work: 2 topics HUEBER Italienisch alltagstauglich

Turkish
- watching: youtube channel Daire:
The Flat: Ekin's 3 Bedroom House in Kozyatağı
(first round with English subtitles)

2024/03/27
Dutch 30 min
- conversation class on italki
My former tutor is moving to Japan. For the time being, he’s offering only a few slots for classes, and later on, the time difference will be a problem.
So I was looking for someone new, and noticed a lady from the Netherlands who’s living in Istanbul. That has to be a sign, right? I had my first class with her today, and I think it’s a match, so I’m really happy.
- reading: 8 chapters De duiker

2024/03/28
Turkish 30 min
- reading: Momo


2024/03/29
Italian 30 min
- conversation class on italki


2024/03/30
Dutch
- reading: 3 chapters De duiker

Turkish 30 min
- reading: Momo

Italian
- I reviewed the relative pronouns, because yesterday I noticed that I’m struggling with them. So, they are really easy in Italian, as only two forms are used in daily speech, but this is a typical case of confusion due to speaking several Romance languages.


2024/03/31
Dutch
- reading: 3 chapters De duiker

Turkish 30 min
- I worked a bit on the review of unit 4, The Delights of Learning Turkish, coursebook, and looked up some of the topics in Harrassowitz Türkische Grammatik.
- watching: youtube channel Daire:
The Flat: Couple Living in a Hallway Turned House
(first round with English subtitles)

[Sonjaconjota]

2024/04/01
Dutch
- reading: 2 chapters De duiker

Turkish 30 min
- The Delights of Learning Turkish, I finished the review of unit 4 in the coursebook and started with unit 4 in the workbook.
- watching: youtube channel Daire:
The Flat: 28 m² Container House in Bursa: Economic and Ecologic
(First round with English subtitles)
I learned the word “vinç” meaning “crane”, which obviously comes from the English “winch”.


2024/04/02
Turkish 30 min
- working on the review of unit 4, The Delights of Learning Turkish, workbook
- watching: youtube channel Daire:
The Flat: The Flat: Living in a Tiny House All Year Long
(First round with English subtitles)

Italian
- listening: audiobook La salita dei geganti (about 1 h)


2024/04/03
Dutch 30 min
- I finished unit 8, PONS Power-Sprachkurs Niederländisch für Fortgeschrittene A2-B1

Turkish
- I finished the review of unit 4, The Delights of Learning Turkish, workbook.


2024/04/04
French 30 min
- 2 little topics CLE Conjugaison progressive du français A2B1 -> Getting closer to the end of the “présent de l’indicatif”!
- 1 little topic CLE Grammaire progressive du français A2B1

Italian
- listening: podcast Elisa True Crime (epis. 50 & 51)


2024/04/05
Dutch
- I read the last chapters of De duiker.

Turkish 30 min
- working on the review of unit 5, The Delights of Learning Turkish, coursebook

This weekend I attended a blues dance event in Madrid. I seized the opportunity to go and see some exhibitions, among others one about Chagall. One thing I learned there is that he grew up speaking Yiddish and did a lot of graphic work for journals published by groups trying to revitalize and modernize the Yiddish language.
I might have mentioned before that I own all necessary beginners’ resource to start Yiddish at some time, and I’m actually tempted right now... But too busy.


2024/04/06
Turkish 30 min
- working on the review of unit 5, The Delights of Learning Turkish, coursebook
- watching: youtube channel Daire:
The Flat: The Flat: Scandinavian Style House in Denizli
(First round with English subtitles)

I got to speak some Dutch and even some Turkish on the dancefloor.
I told one Dutch lady that I adore the Dutch language, that I love how it sounds. Her reaction was “I’ve never heard anyone say that before”, which I find very sad.


2024/04/07
Turkish 30 min
- working on the review of unit 5, The Delights of Learning Turkish, coursebook
Today I realised for the first time that Turkish uses the word “kalkmak” for both “getting up in the morning” and for “to take off, to start” for planes and trains.

[Sonjaconjota]

2024/04/08
Turkish 30 min
- I finished the review of unit 5, The Delights of Learning Turkish , coursebook.


2024/04/09
Turkish 30 min
- I started to review unit 5, The Delights of Learning Turkish , workbook.


2024/04/10
Dutch 30 min
I’ve ordered and received the first of the resources for Dutch that I’ve recently found and put on my mental wishlist:
Rob Verheyen: Precies! Lern- und Übungsgrammatik, editors: Buske.
It’s a book aimed at German speakers, and being both rather thick (about 340 pages) and an unexpected DIN A4-format, it is enormous, just comically huge. I think it’s great that I’m getting something for my money, it’s just not very practical to work with at the metro, or in bed ... or anywhere that’s not a big empty table.
One other aspect that I don’t like is that the editors are not using the CEFR. According to the preface, the book is meant for beginners and intermediate learners.
I really should finish the coursebook by PONS first, but I couldn’t resist and started working on the declination of adjectives with the new book.
I really like it, I think it might be that one big reliable grammar resource that I always like to have and that I was missing for Dutch so far.


2024/04/11
Turkish 30 min
- I finished the review of unit 5, The Delights of Learning Turkish , workbook.

Dutch
- listening: podcast Moorden in het Noorden (epis. 01)
I thought this would be a real-crime podcast about cases in the Netherlands. Turns out it’s about Scandinavian cases, because it’s the Dutch version of a Danish podcast. Okay, I’m in.


2024/04/12
Turkish 30 min
- reading: Momo

2024/04/13
Dutch
- I watched a documentary about Moluccans in the Netherlands:



Italian
- listening: audiobook La salita dei geganti (about 30 min)

Turkish 30 min
- reading: Momo


2024/04/14
Turkish 30 min
- reading: Momo

[Sonjaconjota]

2024/04/15
Dutch 30 min
- working on adjectives, Buske: Precies!
- listening: podcast Moorden in het Noorden (epis. 02)

French
- reading: I started a new book, Pierre Bottero: La quête d’Ewilan - Les frontières de glace (the second book of the Ewilan-triology) (first 3 chapters).

Turkish
- reading: Momo


2024/04/16
Dutch
- listening podcast Moorden in het noorden (epis. 03)

French 30 min
- 1 h conversation class online
- conjugation: 5 min linguno.com
- 2 topics CLEF Grammaire progressive du français

Turkish
- reading: Momo


2024/04/17
French
- reading: La quête d’Ewilan - Les frontières de glace (4 chapters)
- conjugation: 5 min linguno.com

Italian 30 min
- conjugation: 5 min linguno.com
- 1 topic Nuova grammatica pratica della lingua italiana A1B2
- vocabulary: 2 topics Hueber Italienisch alltagstauglich
- listening: audiobook La salita dei geganti (about 1 h)
- podcast Elisa True Crime (epis. 52 and 53)

Turkish
- watching: youtube channel Daire:
The Flat: A Bright and Simple House in Kaş
(first round with English subtitles)
- reading: Momo
So, I finally finished the first part of the book, and that’s it for the moment.
When I started reading Momo in December, I quickly realised that it was way above my level. But because I did not want just to give up, I set myself the goal to finish at least the first part without realising that even that would take me months. It’s always a good feeling to have persevered and managed to do something challenging, so I’m happy about that, but I’ll put the book away for the time being and stick to easier reading material.
I have not always written down exactly how many minutes I’ve been reading, but if it’s been showing up in my log, it was usually because I had dedicated about 30 minutes to it.
This allowed me to go back and roughly estimate my reading speed.
I’d guess it took me approximately 21 hours to “read” (= basically “translate”) 60 pages, so more or less 21 minutes for one page. That sounds about right.


2024/04/18
Dutch
- listening: podcast Moorden in het noorden (epis. 04)

French
- reading: La quête d’Ewilan - Les frontières de glace (3 chapters)

Turkish 30 min
- I wanted to start the review of the next unit in The Delights of Learning Turkish, but I realized that there was something from the last unit I still hadn’t really interiorized.
In Turkish, you use the ending “-di” with verbs to create the simple past. But you can also use it with adjectives and nouns when talking about the past, like “Öğretmendi = She was a teacher”. That’s easy enough with an affirmative statement, but gets confusing with negations and questions, because in this case, the “-di”-suffix has different positions, depending if it’s a verb or not.
I ended up reviewing the two topics in Harrassowitz: Türkische Grammatik and took some notes on my temporary DIN A5-sheets of paper.


2024/04/19
Dutch 30 min
- I started unit 9, PONS Power-Sprachkurs Niederländisch für Fortgeschrittene
- listening: podcast Moorden in het noorden (epis. 05)

French
- listening: podcast La Fabrique à Polyglottes (epis. 10)
- conjugation: 5 min linguno.com


2024/04/20
Dutch
- I started unit 9, PONS Power-Sprachkurs Niederländisch für Fortgeschrittene A2-B1

French
- reading: La quête d’Ewilan - Les frontières de glace (3 chapters)

Turkish 30 min
- half-hour conversation class online
- watching: youtube channel Daire
The Flat: Bali Style Decoration in a Summer House in Çeşme
(first round with English subtitles)


2024/04/21
Dutch
- listening: podcast Moorden in het noorden (epis. 06)

French
- reading: La quête d’Ewilan - Les frontières de glace (4 chapters)
- conjugation: 5 min linguno.com

Turkish 30 min
- I started the review of unit 6, The Delights of Learning Turkish, coursebook. Another unit with a LOOOOT of vocabulary, so I also made two crossword puzzles for practice.
- watching: youtube channel Daire
The Flat: A Fire Truck Transformed Into A Double-Decker Van
(first round with English subtitles)