SalzSäule's Multilingual Mess

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SalzSäule
Orange Belt
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:17 pm
Languages: English (N), German (C2), French (?), Czech (Beginner)
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Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby SalzSäule » Mon Aug 08, 2022 12:09 am

Since moving is over, all my trips are done for the week, and I have no plans for next few days, I am finally back in a position where I can spend more time on my languages. I've tried (and still am) to compensate for lost time, as I would have liked to have committed 14 hours this week to Romanian... but, by the time I sleep, it will have been ten. Not gonna self-criticise, because I fitted it around a busy schedule, but it's annoying being behind.

Romanian:

I've carried on brute memorising the Assimil dialogues and now have the first seven roughly memorised. I've picked up a few expressions from these (oricum = in any case; deloc = pas de tout; grăbit = pressé; obosit = tired; odihnă = rest).

Today I also went through the verb conjugation paradigms again and tried to learn a few more. I have managed to notice that all the past forms for moods (presumptive, conditional, subjunctive) + future perfect + past infinitive end with fi + pastparticiple which makes 2/3 of the task of forming them easier. I then also started trying to learn the pluperfect conjugations of verbs, and have decided not to actively learn the simple perfect (which is restricted largely to one region), as this can be derived from the pluperfect anyway. The major hurdles left to learn are the subjunctive + imperative + presumptive forms, because by doing this I will have every paradigm covered to a reasonable point. I hope to have most of this ''roughly done'' by the end of this week.

As I promised the other day, I also worked through face and lua conjugations. Aduce too. I will start working through the list of frequent irregular verbs on the Romanian verbs wiki page too.

Earlier I read this blog post How often do you need to encounter a word before you learn it and found the author's summary of the main points quite interesting, even if not too revealing. I decided today to start doing scriptorium now by writing out the sentences six/seven times instead of four, and then adding to Anki like normal. By doing this I should write/type a sentence at least ten times in a week, and hopefully this will improve learning prospects.

Duolingo and DLI are on pause/slowdown, but I imagine I'll return to one of them tomorrow.

Some fun snippets from the past few days:

* Tu vrei să ajung să plâng ca un nebun - Do you want me to end up crying like a lunatic? (You-want-subj.-arrive-subj.-cry-like-a-lunatic)
* Înainte de apariția antibioticelor, medicii aveau tratamente eficiente doar pentru un număr limitat de boli. - Before the advent of antibiotics, physicians had effective treatments for but a handful of diseases. (Before-of-adventthe-antibiotics-physicians-had-treatments-effective-only-for-a-number-limited-of-diseases)
* Nu ești o rudă de-a mea - You're no relative of mine. (No-are-a-relative-of-of-me)
* Ei au spuns că cred că ar putea câștiga - They said that they believed they could win. (They-have-said-that-think-that-cond.-could-win)
* Aceastâ trebuie să fi umbrela lui - This has to be his umbrella (This-must-subj.-be-umbrellathe-his)
* Am plâns, când a intrat - I cried as she entered (Have-cried-when-has-entered)
5 x
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.

SalzSäule
Orange Belt
Posts: 106
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Languages: English (N), German (C2), French (?), Czech (Beginner)
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Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby SalzSäule » Mon Aug 08, 2022 2:13 pm

8th Aug. 2022 (1)

Might end up with two posts today, because I'm on a roll!

Romanian:

Worked through the presumptive (past+present) and subjunctive (past+present) moods, as well as recapitulating the pluperfect tense. With this I now have a foundation, even if crumbly, of perhaps 75% of tenses+moods. I still need to cover supine, passive, and imperative (and moan about past participles). I can feel myself getting slightly better at guessing a past participle based on the infinitive of a verb.

I have decided that this approach towards language learning, as I did with German all those years ago as a greenhorn, is something which I enjoy better. I tried to do French by just mass exposing myself to sentences + flashcards without trying to actively learn any grammar, and as a result my French is still dreadful because I can only confidently explain perhaps 10% of the entirety of grammar. For me, I think I enjoy it more to have a very solid structure of the building blocks of a language (even if only knowing a few hundred words) and to then start to build up vocabulary.

I've also been listening to the Romanian version of Let it go on repeat whilst reading the lyrics. Last night I did some more of Learn Romanian with Nico's dialogues, but the jump from the 2nd-3rd one is stupidly big. Another assimil dialogue was practiced earlier, in which a man got angry that he couldn't buy fruit and vegetables at a pharmacy (Nu se poate! E scandalos!)

Using a frequency word list from Wiktionary, I'm also plugging in lexical gaps. Some of these have appeared in the Scriptorium practice from today:

* Acum sau niciodată - Now or never (now-or-never)
* Chiar se întâmplă - It's really happening (really-itself-happens)
* Să nu strângeți prea tare șuruburile - Try not to tighten the screws too much (subj.-not-tighten-too-hard-screwsthe)
* O puteți folosi oricând - You can use it anywhen (it-can-use-anywhen)
* Orice se poate întâmpla - Anything could happen (anything-itself-could-happen)
* Această este moștenirea la care visez - This is the legacy of which I dreamt (this-is-legacythe-of-which-dreamt)
* Nimeni nu va știu - No-one will know (noone-not-will-know)
* La naiba! Unde naiba? - Damn! Where the hell? (n/a.-devilthe! Where-devilthe?)

The rest of the day will be focused mostly on verb drills, memorising dialogues, and some listening practice.
4 x
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.

SalzSäule
Orange Belt
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:17 pm
Languages: English (N), German (C2), French (?), Czech (Beginner)
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Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby SalzSäule » Tue Aug 09, 2022 1:14 am

Managed to squeeze a bit more in, not as much as I would have liked, but progress is progress!

Romanian:

I covered the verb conjugations for da, sta and ști and managed to write down the correct paradigm for c. 90% of all tenses/moods for fi. Soon I will need to focus more on verbs, as they are the most glaring lexical gap at the moment.

I went through two DLI dialogues and tried to memorise them (will have to practice again tomorrow). Listened to the audio for the Assimil course and SimpleRomanian and, with the latter, tried to identify common elisions and features of pronunciation in casual speech. Did the same to a lesser extent with Learn Romanian with Nico.

Picked up some stationery vocab. from Nico's dialogues (penar, pensulă, bloc de desen, ghiozden, ascuțitoare....) and some other words (afăra, cuier, slăbiciune....). Also did a tiny bit of Duolingo, focussed on reviewing the Professions vocabulary.

I didn't do much Scriptorium, but some sentences I grabbed from a RO video:

* Torn apă din ulcior în pahar - I pour water from the pitcher into the glass. (pour-water-from-pitcher-in-glass)
* Hai să începem - Let's begin.
* Cât de departe este cafeneaua? Imediat după colț. - How far is the cafe? Just around the corner. (howmany-of-far-is-cafethe? immediately-after-corner)
* Mi-e foame - I'm hungry. (tome-is-hunger)

I wanted to average out 2h a day of Romanian, so I should be on 16h by now on the 6wc board. But I'm currently behind by almost 4 hours and wondering if I can clear this hurdle. I am on summer holidays at the moment so now is the best time to do it, but I'm just so lazy sometimes. :(
3 x
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.

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Amandine
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Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2021 8:45 am
Location: Sydney, Australia
Languages: English (N), French (B1/B2), Russian (B1), Romanian (A1, casual playing on Duolingo), Yiddish (ditto)
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Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby Amandine » Tue Aug 09, 2022 1:22 am

I am dabbling a bit in Romanian at the moment - I want to keep it deliberately casual so just doing a bit of Duo, a bit of Mondly, a bit on Lingq but/am am finding your posts very informative and interesting to read. Mersi!
1 x

SalzSäule
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Posts: 106
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Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby SalzSäule » Tue Aug 09, 2022 12:49 pm

Amandine wrote:I am dabbling a bit in Romanian at the moment - I want to keep it deliberately casual so just doing a bit of Duo, a bit of Mondly, a bit on Lingq but/am am finding your posts very informative and interesting to read. Mersi!


Thanks, this is great to hear :D ! One day (probably at the end of the 6 week challenge) I will post a comprehensive list of resources I used.
1 x
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.

SalzSäule
Orange Belt
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:17 pm
Languages: English (N), German (C2), French (?), Czech (Beginner)
x 352

Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby SalzSäule » Tue Aug 09, 2022 11:21 pm

Today was a bigger success (3h 45m of Romanian).

Romanian:

Went back through Nico's dialogues from yday and tried to write a transcription again, with a much better success rate. Still struggled with în sfâșit (finally) and căciulă (beanie/hat). I managed to get through some more skills on Duolingo, but the vocabulary takes a lot longer to learn on there and what the course creators deemed 'relevant' is certainly interesting (why they think 'mason' or 'stallion' is necessary for a beginner...).

I did some more verb conjugations today with a lot more verbs (omorî, promit, timit, coborî, primi, găti, obosi, dori, glumi, încalzi, răci, sosi: to kill, to promise, to send, to descend, to receive, to cook, to tire, to want, to joke, to heat, to cool, to arrive) from Duolingo. I have another ten or so to add to that list tomorrow. I hate verbs :cry: Conjugation-wise, I'm fine with any ''group 4 infix'' words (all the ones above ending i) and I can usually get 50% of the conjugation paradigm for the other groups correct, but it's still very hard. Honestly if you consider taking up Romanian, do the verbs from day 1.

I've started going back through Assimil dialogues with the strategy outlined on the LearnAnyLanguage wikia fandom (although far more condensed) and it's working well. Later tonight I may go through another DLI dialogue again, who knows. Have been trying to compare EN vs RO subtitles on netflix too, it's easier but still hard.

Scriptorium today was based upon the frequency list, in an attempt to fill more gaps:

* Trec peste râu. Plouă peste tot. - I crossed the river. It's raining everywhere. (crossed-over-river. rains-over-all)
* Vino încoace! - Come hither! (n/a)
* Ai grijă de tine. Trebuie să ai grijă. - Take care of yourself. You need to take care of yourself (roughly) (have-worry-of-you. need-subj.-have-worry)
* Împreuna sau separat? - Together or separate? (n/a)
* A zis cineva ceva? - Did someone say something? (have-said-someone-something?)
* Tu nici măcar nu încerci. - You're not really trying. (you-neither-really-not-try)
* Mă simt amețit. Simt ca-nnebunesc. - I feel dizzy. I feel like I'm going crazy. (tome-feels-dizzy. feels-like-gocrazy)
* Tocmai am plecat. - I just left. (just-have-left)
* Nu scăpa paharul ăla. - Don't drop that glass. (no-drop-glassthe-that)

With this I should have the first 300 most frequent words covered, I have yet to look beyond that far to see what I do/don't know.
5 x
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.

SalzSäule
Orange Belt
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:17 pm
Languages: English (N), German (C2), French (?), Czech (Beginner)
x 352

Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby SalzSäule » Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:09 pm

Another day comes to a close. I ended up in Leeds for most of the afternoon, so my progress was halted somewhat. I intended to do 2h of Romanian a day, but I think soon I should up that goal to 2.5 hours (I'd like most of all to hit 100 hours over 6 weeks because it's just a nice number isn't it). Today was about that, and I've not slept yet.

Romanian:

I did some more Assimil texts using the Shadowing method from the Wikia mentioned in the last post. I think I will try to use this method for FSI too (although this is more difficult as the audio clips are much longer). I've now covered the first seven lessons again. I started with the preposition skill on Duolingo and strengthened the verbs 2 + professions one. Reviewed Anki and added some sentences, of course. Verb conjugations have yet to be done today.

After having listened to Romanian version of Let it go at least 20 times I can safely say it's getting easier to understand :lol:

My scriptorium today was focused, again, mostly on the word frequency list. I'm now up to most common 400 words.

* Ce vei face mâine? Păi, nu știu înca. - What will you do tomorrow? Well, I don't know yet. (what-you-do-tomorrow?well-no-know-yet.)
* Chiar imî place de Maria. Păi, spune-i! - I really like Maria. Tell her then! (really-tome-like-of-Maria. Then-tell-toher!)
* Pentru Dumnezeu. - For goodness sake. (for-God.)
* Du-te dracu'! La dracu' cu tine! - Go to hell or words to that effect. (Go-you-devilthe!At-devilthe-with-you!)
* Ai vizitat vreodată Italia? - Did you ever visit Italy? (have-visited-ever-Italy?)
* Cu singuriță! - Certainly! (with-certainty!)
* El spune adevărul întotdeauna. - He always tells the truth. (he-says-truththe-always.)
* Dus-întors? Doar dus. - Return? Just one-way. (gone-return? only-gone)
* Unde te-ai dus? - Where did you go? (where-yourself-have-gone?)
* Când m-am dat seama, că a fost furat... - When I realised it was stolen... (when-myself-have-given-realise-that-has-been-stolen...)
* Cum adică ''Să incendiem insula''? - What do you mean ''let's burn down the island?'' (how-really-subj.-burn-islandthe?)
* Cu excepția familiei Wheeler, adică. - With exception of the Wheelers, of course. (with-exception-offamily-Wheeler-naturally.)
* De fapt, adică mirosul drepturilor civile. - In fact, that's actually the smell of civil rights. (of-fact-namely-smellthe-ofrights-civil.)

Slowly incorporating more free writing into my routine too.
5 x
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.

SalzSäule
Orange Belt
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:17 pm
Languages: English (N), German (C2), French (?), Czech (Beginner)
x 352

Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby SalzSäule » Fri Aug 12, 2022 10:24 am

Didn't post an update for yday, so here it is. I didn't make 2h because when it's hot i'm lazy :(

Romanian:

Mostly did some Scriptorium, Duolingo and Assimil. I was working through a lot of prepositions yday (on Duolingo + Scriptorium) as well as professions vocabulary. Picked up some more random vocab. from subtitles and songs too. Sentences:

* Cât vă/îți datorez? - How much do I owe you? (howmany-toyou-owe)
* Vaccinurile sunt pregătite potrivit prescriptiilor fabricantului. - The vaccines are prepared according to the manufacturer's instructions. (vaccinesthe-are-prepared-accordingto-instructionsthe-manufacturer's)
* Acum am fost concediat mulțumită pisicilor. - Now I've been fired thanks to the cats. (now-have-been-fired-thanksto-catsthe)
* E mai bună, grație prezenței dumnevoastră. - I'm doing better now, thanks to your presence. (is-much-better-thanksto-presence-you)
* Suntem în relații bune datorită fiicei mele. - We're in good relations thanks to my daughters. (are-in-relations-good-thanksto-daughtersthe-my)
* Ești binevenit să pariezi împotriva mea. - You're welcome to wager against me. (are-welcome-to-wager-against-me)
3 x
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.

SalzSäule
Orange Belt
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:17 pm
Languages: English (N), German (C2), French (?), Czech (Beginner)
x 352

Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby SalzSäule » Sat Aug 13, 2022 12:27 am

So I missed my goal again, having only made it to 1h 15 (unless I do some more after this post) :( .

Romanian:

Did some Scriptorium and found a great beginner's story for Romanian (the prince with two swords, text in comments - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfPpEnZ ... x=4&t=534s). Did a bit more of Duolingo but it's going to be such a drag because I'm on a skill which is trying to mass teach me words like 'this one' 'that one' 'the same one' etc. etc. when will they understand just shoving in a bunch of similar pronouns into one lesson isn't actually a useful way to learn?

Apart from that I went through the frequency list and now know at least all 500 frequent words. I would love to get my hand on the Romanian Frequency Dictionary book, because it has actual sentences and is better formatted than the wiktionary page, but I can't afford that rn. I also have too many unread materials.

* Ar fi minunat - That would be wonderful (would-be-wonderful)
* Arcașul a ucis căprioara - The hunter killed the deer (hunterthe-has-killed-deerthe)
* Nu-mi pasă! Îi pasă cuiva? - I don't care! Does anyone mind? (not-tome-passes! tohim-passes-toanyone?)
* Ai încredere în mine! Încrederea se câștigă. - Have faith in me! Trust must be won. (have-faith-in-me. trusttthe-itself-earns)
* Mă doare capul. - I have a headache. (me-hurts-headthe)
* Te-am prins! - Gotcha! (you-have-caught)
* Fiecare caz diferă. - Every case is different (every-case-differs)
* Ești în calea mea. - You're in my way (are-in-waythe-my)
3 x
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.

SalzSäule
Orange Belt
Posts: 106
Joined: Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:17 pm
Languages: English (N), German (C2), French (?), Czech (Beginner)
x 352

Re: SalzSäule's German Log

Postby SalzSäule » Sun Aug 14, 2022 1:12 am

Closer to the goal, but I doubt we're gonna exceed 1h30 by the time I sleep.

Tried to do some more verb conjugation today, but it's driving me insane. Instead I've mostly been doing Duolingo + filling in some frequency gaps + learning through subtitles and lyrics translations. I should do some more Assimil and DLI soon, but it's hot so i'm lazy :oops:

On the plus side I guess I have 75% of Let it go in Romanian internalised. Some random words I need to make sentences for: băutura (drink), zilnic (daily), se mutat (to relocate)

Sentences:

* Înca ceva - One more thing (yet-something)
* Nu știu care restaurant e cel mai bun, fiindcă nu locuiesc pe aici. - I don't know which restaurant is best, being that I don't live around here. (No-know-which-restaurant-is-that-more-good-,beingthat-no-live-on-here)
* (De) câte (multe) ori ai văzut-o? De 6 ori. - How many times did you visit her? Six times. (of-howmany-many-times-have-visited-her? Of-six-times)
* Dacă există vreo șansă - If there's any chance (if-exist-any-chance)
* Aveți vreo idee? - Do you have any idea? (have-any-idea)
* Poate are vreo legătură cu asta. - That could have something to do with it. (Could-have-any-connection-with-it)

Will format properly tomorrow.
3 x
Da seufzt der Tropf im Purpur unter der unabwälzbaren Last seiner armseligen Individualität; während der Hochbegabte die ödeste Umgebung mit seinen Gedanken bevölkert und belebt.


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