Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

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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 » Sun Apr 24, 2022 9:33 pm

April 15, 2022: I started reading Русский Семантический Словарь, том II, 2002. This is a thematic monolingual russian dictionary of concrete nouns of objects or things made/created by man (the concrete nouns of natural things are dealt in the tome I, abstract nouns in tome III, and verbs in tome IV). The word entries are nested in word groups bearing a common semantic concept. The alphabetic order is only followed within each word group. Each word entry is provided with a definition, besides that some entries have collocations. The tome's core (the word groups and its entries) has 597 pages. Since yesterday I've been reading it at a leisurely pace of 3 pages by day. Today I reached page 83.


April 23, 2022: I finished reading and listening the historical novel "Спартак". Entertaining book about struggling for freedom, war, battles, bloodshead, love, hate, betrayal, honour, cunning and deceit. Language-wise very few unknown words. I've looked up only the ones which kept popping up, like for instance the adjective ненаглядный (= beloved).


April 24, 2022: I started reading the 1928 novel "Государство Солнца", 292 pages, by russian writer Николай Смирнов (1890-1933).

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Books read: 30
Pages read: 9,296
4 x

acorngalaxy
Yellow Belt
Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2021 4:04 pm
Languages: English, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, French, Polish (From highest to lowest levels of proficiency)

Struggling: Turkish
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Re: Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

Postby acorngalaxy » Wed Apr 27, 2022 2:04 pm

Hey! I'm just curious- after reading this many titles, how easy is it for you to read Russian books now? Approx. how many words do you look up/page?
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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 » Wed Apr 27, 2022 10:18 pm

acorngalaxy wrote:Hey! I'm just curious- after reading this many titles, how easy is it for you to read Russian books now? Approx. how many words do you look up/page?

acorngalaxy,

First, thank you for dropping by.

After reading (and listening) this many titles, it did get easier for me to read Russian books, my listening comprehension has improved by leaps and bounds and I am beginning to have an intuitive grasp of rules and patterns of Russian Grammar (which I previously knowed only theory-wise).

Regarding your question about how many words I look up per page, it depends on the book. Translated works from romance languages are, generally speaking, easy stuff. Literature works of russian writers are much tougher, because they like to use colloquialisms and idioms in the dialogs. Besides that, if I am also listening the work, I tend to look up less. If I am only reading, I tend to look up more.

For instance, when reading (without audio) Долина новой жизни, a 476 pages russian sci-fi novel, I looked up 94 words/idioms according to my notes. Therefore, a ratio of 94/476, approx. 0.2 word per page.

But nowadays I am looking up less. Currently I am only looking a word up if it keeps popping up in the text. In order to get acquainted with rare/low frequency words/hapaxes I have recently begun to read a monolingual russian thematic dicionary in addition to my novel readings.
5 x

acorngalaxy
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Posts: 56
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2021 4:04 pm
Languages: English, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, French, Polish (From highest to lowest levels of proficiency)

Struggling: Turkish
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Re: Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

Postby acorngalaxy » Fri Apr 29, 2022 2:13 pm

I see. Thanks for the insight!
0 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 » Sat Apr 30, 2022 10:32 pm

April 29, 2022: I finished reading the 1928 novel "Государство Солнца" by russian writer Николай Смирнов. This book, whose title can be translated as "The Sun's State", tells us about the incredible adventures of a real life character, the slovak-hungarian Count Maurice Benyovszky de Benyó et Urbanó (Hungarian: Benyovszky Máté Móric Mihály Ferenc Szerafin Ágost; Polish: Maurycy Beniowski; Slovak: Móric Beňovský; 20 September 1746 – 24 May 1786), which, imprisoned by Czarist Russia and sent for exile into the Kamchatka Peninsula, managed to scape from there and ended up in Madagascar, where he and a bunch of russians found a trading post on behalf of the Kingdom of France.

Great book! Entertaining and engrossing novel written in a simple language, told in first person by the character Lyonka, a russian teenager born in Kamchatka. This book has became my favourite one of all russian books I've read so far.

April 30, 2022:
1) I reached page 110 of Русский Семантический Словарь, том II, 2002.
2) I started reading and listening the historical novel "Цусима", by russian writer Alexey Novikov-Priboy (1877-1944). This work, about the 1905 naval battle of Tsushima, is divided into two books: "Книга первая: Поход" (First Book: The Expedition, 451 pages) and "Книга вторая: Бой" (Second Book: The Battle, 560 pages).

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Books read: 31
Pages read: 9,588
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 » Wed May 18, 2022 12:00 am

May 16, 2022: I finished reading and listening "Цусима", by russian writer Alexey Novikov-Priboy, a lenghty work comprising two books. The author, having served as a seaman in the russian battleship Orel (Орёл) when she took part in the 1905 naval battle of Tsushima Strait in the Pacific between Korea and Japan, tells us a first-hand account of the preceding expedition headed by Vice-Admiral Rozhestvensky round the World (from the Baltic Sea to the Tsushima Strait, stopping by in Africa, Madagascar and French Indochina), the battle itself with a thorough report of the fate of each russian warship envolved, and the battle's aftermath - his stint as a prisoner of war in Japan. Very compelling book, with an engaging travelogue of the expedition (book 1) and vivid and graphic descriptions of a navy battle in the Battleships' Era (book 2). Novikov-Priboy also strongly criticizes the Tsar's Navy top brass in general and Vice-Admiral Rozhestvenzky in particular, blaming them for the russian defeat.

The author's Russian diction is straightforward, not hard to follow. Specific nautical terms and words abound in the text, but there's a glossary of them at the end of the book 2.

May 17, 2022:
1) I reached page 182 of Русский Семантический Словарь, том II, 2002.
2) I started reading and listening the book "Водители фрегатов", 474 pages, by russian writer Nikolai Chukovsky (1904-1965).

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Books read: 33
Pages read: 10,599
2 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 » Sat May 28, 2022 8:15 pm

May 26, 2022: I finished reading and listening the book "Водители фрегатов". This is a book for young readers, written in simple Russian. It tells us about the circumnavigations of Age of Sail explorers: englishman James Cook, frenchman Lapérouse, russian Krusenstern. Besides that the book tells the story of John Rutherford, an english sailor who became a white chief in a Maori New Zealand tribe.

May 28, 2022:
1) I reached page 227 of Русский Семантический Словарь, том II, 2002.
2) I started reading and listening the book "Пираты Мексиканского залива", 410 pages, a translation into Russian of the 1869 novel "Los Piratas del Golfo" by mexican writer Vicente Riva Palacio (1832-1896).

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Books read: 34
Pages read: 11,073
4 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
x 245

Re: Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

Postby Eafonte » Tue Jun 07, 2022 8:53 pm

June 5, 2022: I finished reading and listening the book "Пираты Мексиканского Залива". I enjoyed it a lot.

June 7, 2022:
1) I reached page 261 of Русский Семантический Словарь, том II, 2002.
2) I started reading and listening the book "Наследник Робинзона", 224 pages, a translation into Russian of the 1884 novel "Lе héritier de Robinson" by french writer Paschal Grousset.

Books read: 35
Pages read: 11,483
4 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
x 245

Re: Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

Postby Eafonte » Sun Jun 12, 2022 5:46 pm

June 10, 2022: I finished reading and listening the book "Наследник Робинзона". This book has a slow plot, it only gains momentum in the last hundred pages.

June 11, 2022:
1) I reached page 274 of Русский Семантический Словарь, том II, 2002.
2) I started reading and listening the book "Побег к смерти", 209 pages, a translation into Russian of the 1948 detective novel "Road to Death" by Patrick Quentin (pen name, real authors: Richard Wilson Webb and Hugh Callingham Wheeler).

Books read: 36
Pages read: 11,707
2 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
x 245

Re: Russian by audiobooks with matching texts

Postby Eafonte » Tue Jun 14, 2022 10:17 pm

June 14, 2022:

1) I finished reading and listening the book "Побег к смерти". Very entertaining and compelling whodunnit full of plot twists, a pleasure to read.
2) I reached page 281 of Русский Семантический Словарь, том II, 2002.
3) I started reading and listening the 1940 historical novel "Великое плавание", 333 pages, by russian writer Zinaida Shishova (1898-1977).

Books read: 37
Pages read: 11,916
2 x


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