Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

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Eafonte
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Languages: Portuguese (N), english (B2-ish), german (B1), russian (intermediate), spanish (reading and listening).
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Re: Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

Postby Eafonte » Sat Oct 09, 2021 10:27 pm

October 9:

Today I started reading and listening "Капли крови", the first novel of the trilogy "Творимая Легенда" by Fyodor Sologub.

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Eafonte
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Re: Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

Postby Eafonte » Tue Oct 12, 2021 8:53 pm

October 12:

Today I finished reading and listening "Капли крови" and started reading «Дым и пепел», the third novel of the trilogy "Творимая Легенда" by Fyodor Sologub. I didn't find an audiobook available for this novel. I will write my appraisal of "Капли крови" and «Дым и пепел» together, when I finished the latter, as both now seem to me as forming a whole.

Books read: 8.
Pages read: 2,055.
3 x

Eafonte
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Re: Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

Postby Eafonte » Sun Oct 17, 2021 3:52 am

October 16:

Today I finished reading «Дым и пепел», the third novel of the trilogy "Творимая Легенда" by Fyodor Sologub. This title can be translated as "Legend in the making". Or better yet: "How reality becomes a dream and dreams become reality" in my humble opinion. The main character of the first and third novels, Georgiy Trirodov is a genius chemist, secret inventor and inspired poet, an introvert visionary widower which, having amassed a considerable wealth, founded and run a non profit school for orphaned children in a secluded countryside setting somewhere in the Russian Empire circa 1904/1905. This datation is nowhere to find in the novels, but can be ascertained by the text hinting at the revolution of 1905 and the russo-japanese war of 1904-1905. The life of Trirodov is oppressed by the red tape and bigotry of local officials and caught in the crossfire of violent and bloody clashes between extreme right and extreme left political factions of turmoil-ridden Russia of the first decade of the twentieth century. And the fate of Trirodov (and also the life of his beloved damsel) are weirdly interwoven into the life of Queen Ortruda and the political fate of her Majesty's Kingdom - this happens in the third novel.
The trilogy as a whole is a social fantasy work with some bizarre elements of science fiction and gothic novel genres, mixing reality with fantasy and the supernatural. For me, this Kingdom of United Islands (a fictional independent State of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean) is a downsized metaphor of what would be a Russian Empire with democratic overtones.

Language-wise I found the first and third novels difficult, much more challenging for the language learner than the second novel. And the reason for this is very clear. These first and third novels are set in Russia, with a lot of colloquialisms and terms related to 1900 Russian daily life and Orthodox Church. The language has a poetical colour, but Sologub doesn't tire the reader with long winded descriptions.

In a 1-5 scale, I give "Творимая Легенда" 3 stars. I would give 4 stars if the novels got rid of some redundant supernatural elements.

Books read: 9.
Pages read: 2,209.
4 x

Eafonte
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Re: Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

Postby Eafonte » Sun Oct 17, 2021 9:25 pm

Eafonte wrote:After that rant I discovered a cheap copy of a translation into portuguese of some of Bunin's works in a second-hand bookseller. So I ordered it. As soon as it arrives, I will be able to resume the reading of Bunin assisted by a translation. I also found a way to create a interlinear translated text. I hope this tool will help me with difficult texts in Russian even in the absence of a published translation:



October 17:

As the copy arrived, today I resumed the reading of Bunin's "Солнечный удар (сборник)".
0 x

Eafonte
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Re: Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

Postby Eafonte » Wed Oct 20, 2021 12:44 am

October 19:

Today I finished reading and listening Bunin's "Солнечный удар (сборник)". I didn't like this author, found the selected short stories by him in this book gloomy, depressing: sad tales about thwarted or unfulfilled love; a tale with a dreary string of deaths putting an end to boring and unfulfilled lives; stories of tragic deaths caused by unrequited love; a gruesome tale with a suicide pact; tales of romantic love prevailing only in a fleeting, ephemeral way, leaving a desperate lover in the end. Besides that, Bunin usually writes long winded descriptions of Nature.

Books read: 10.
Pages read: 2,500.
3 x

Eafonte
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Re: Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

Postby Eafonte » Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:44 pm

October 20:

Today I started reading and listening "Женская война", 506 pages, the translation into Russian of "La Guerre des Femmes", a 1845 novel by Alexandre Dumas Senior.

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oli1142
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Languages: Greek (N), English (Γ1), French (beginner), Persian (beginner), Russian (beginner)

Re: Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

Postby oli1142 » Wed Oct 27, 2021 12:57 pm

Hello

I m looking for the Audio of Russian for Dummies. Where can I find it?

thank you
0 x

Eafonte
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Posts: 108
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Location: Brazil
Languages: Portuguese (N), english (B2-ish), german (B1), russian (intermediate), spanish (reading and listening).
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Re: Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

Postby Eafonte » Thu Oct 28, 2021 3:00 am

oli1142 wrote:Hello

I m looking for the Audio of Russian for Dummies. Where can I find it?

thank you


Oli1442,

I don't know. Try to google it.
1 x

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einzelne
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Languages: Russan (N), English (Working knowledge), French (Reading), German (Reading), Italian (Reading on Kindle)
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Re: Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

Postby einzelne » Thu Oct 28, 2021 3:12 am

Eafonte wrote:I didn't like this author, found the selected short stories by him in this book gloomy, depressing: sad tales about thwarted or unfulfilled love; a tale with a dreary string of deaths putting an end to boring and unfulfilled lives; stories of tragic deaths caused by unrequited love; a gruesome tale with a suicide pact; tales of romantic love prevailing only in a fleeting, ephemeral way, leaving a desperate lover in the end.


Oh well, what can I say: you have saudade, the joy of grief, we just have тоска and безнадега without any joy:)
3 x

Eafonte
Orange Belt
Posts: 108
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 11:28 am
Location: Brazil
Languages: Portuguese (N), english (B2-ish), german (B1), russian (intermediate), spanish (reading and listening).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17202
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Re: Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

Postby Eafonte » Fri Oct 29, 2021 1:13 am

Oh well, what can I say: you have saudade, the joy of grief, we just have тоска and безнадега without any joy:)


Einzelne,

Благодарю вас за то, что вы научили меня новому слову — безнадега.

October 28,

Today I finished reading and listening "Женская война" . A masterpiece of Alexandre Dumas Senior: an entertaining reading, full of plot twists, adventure, romance, daring and chivalrous acts, and displaying a humorous and cunning antihero. Definitely a page turner in the last two parts (out of four). As an extra bonus the book, as a historical novel, teaches you a small bit of The Fronde , an aristocratic revolt around 1650 during the regency of Anne of Austria, Queen of France and mother of King Louis XIV. No flowery, no excessive descriptions. Very few unknown russian words.

Books read: 11.
Pages read: 3,006.
2 x


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