Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Mon Aug 08, 2022 10:06 pm

8 August
Had a full day working from home today. Think this week will involve less travelling than last.

Russian
I feel like the 6WC is definitely doing its job of making me attempt more study in the evenings. As well as my normal Memrise I read an entire chapter of the detective novel this evening and also did a little bit of study from TY Russian Grammar. Today's topic was reflexive pronouns and it seemed pretty straight forward compared to the chapter on reflexives in Esperanto which I was trying to tackle at the weekend :lol:

Croatian
I watched the final episode of 'Uspjeh' today. Really enjoyed it - there were some great twists. Thanks for the recommendation, DaveAgain!

Total - Russian: 56 mins, Croatian: 128 mins
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Tue Aug 09, 2022 9:02 pm

9 August
Another day working from home, but went out for dinner this evening which cut short language-learning activities a bit.

Russian
I had to go to the postbox at lunchtime to post something for the Esperanto association so I used the time to finish a Russian with Max podcast which I started days ago and never got to the end of.

This evening after work I continued with the pronouns section of TY Russian Grammar and completed all the exercises on relative pronouns, which went pretty well.

Also did a bit more reading and I think I might actually finished 'Стечение обстоятельств' this week. I've done a better job of focussing on it over recent days and I hit the 90% mark this evening.

Croatian
I finally sorted out a VPN at the weekend so this morning on the treadmill I started watching 'Novine'. Honestly, after the first episode it hasn't grabbed me as much as 'Uspjeh' did. I felt like there were too many (male, middle-aged) characters introduced all at once and I don't have a handle on everyone's names yet. But I'm going to watch the second episode tomorrow and hopefully get into a bit more.

Total - Russian: 59 mins, Croatian: 84 mins
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Wed Aug 10, 2022 9:26 pm

10 August
It's hot in the UK at the moment, which makes it harder to be productive. I don't dislike hot weather but I prefer it in countries with air conditioning :lol:

Russian
I haven't done loads this evening. But I did finish reading 'Стечение обстоятельств' which feels like an achievement because it seems like I have been reading this book for absolutely ages. Consulting my spreadsheet I can see that I started reading it on 16 July so it's actually been less than a month, but it's still felt like a bit of a slog. I actually quite like this series by Alexandra Marinina but I don't think this is the strongest book in it; if I'd read this one first, I'm not sure I'd have read any more.

Anyway, that's the 7th book I've finished in Russian this year, taking me to a total of 2,722 pages read. That means I'm behind schedule with my goal to read 5000 pages in Russian this year. But I don't think I'm going to start reading something else in Russian straightaway because I'm significantly further behind with my TV goal, so I need to force myself to do some more watching/listening rather than reading. I also know that I'm away from home for two weeks in September, during which time I can definitely read and do Memrise reviews but am unlikely to be able to watch any TV.

Croatian
Tonight was a night for reading and I also finished 'Pitanje časti' by Jeffrey Archer in Croatian. I really enjoyed this one - it was a good spy story :) I'm also behind on my Croatian reading goal, I think; this is only the 5th book I've finished in Croatian this year.

Total - Russian: 59 mins, Croatian: 113 mins
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby rdearman » Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:15 pm

When did you start Russian?
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Thu Aug 11, 2022 8:23 am

rdearman wrote:When did you start Russian?

How long is a piece of string? :lol:

I first bought TY Beginners Russian in 2004. I think I studied it for about 5 days before I decided it was too hard and starting learning Esperanto instead.

I tried again in 2011 before a trip to Ukraine, but when I was there I was barely at the stage of being able to read a menu and order food.

I added Russian to my log title in 2016, although I think all I managed to learn in that year was how to type on a Cyrillic keyboard. I didn't make any significant progress in 2017 or 2018 either.

So I guess I'd say 2019 is when I started learning "properly"; that was when I first did the 365-challenge and started doing 30 minutes a day.
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby IronMike » Thu Aug 11, 2022 12:17 pm

Radioclare wrote:
Croatian
I watched the final episode of 'Uspjeh' today. Really enjoyed it - there were some great twists. Thanks for the recommendation, DaveAgain!

Damn. Not available in the US. I need something for when I finish Novine.
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Thu Aug 11, 2022 10:11 pm

It's so annoying when you can't watch things from the location you're in :( I've had to install a VPN to make HRT think I'm in Croatia so I can watch Novine.

11 August
It's getting hotter. And harder to do anything productive. I actually spent a fair amount of time this evening on Esperanto-related accounts and admin tasks, so I haven't done a whole lot of language stuff.

Russian
I had meetings around lunchtime today so I wasn't able to go out for a walk. I would probably have melted in the heat anyway! I went on the treadmill for a few short sessions of 10 minutes or so in gaps between calls, during the course of which I listened to a Russian with Max podcast. It was about conditionals which is quite a difficult grammar point to explain in a podcast, I think.

This evening I had vast quantities of Memrise reviews. I was supposed to be watching another episode of the telenovela I started the other week but I got sidetracked by a video the YouTube algorithm suggested for me. I've been trying really hard not to watch any Russian Progress videos recently but I couldn't resist this one, which was the guy behind the channel getting a Serbian lesson from a Serb who speaks really good Russian. It's quite a long video so I only listened to part of it today but there were some really interesting bits, drawing attention to pronunciation differences, spelling differences etc. It was interesting to see what someone who speaks Russian would find different or difficult about learning Serbian.

Total - Russian: 89 mins, Croatian: 51 mins
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Fri Aug 12, 2022 9:40 pm

12 August
A short day at work today. And a very hot one. Can't wait for the weather to get a bit cooler.

Russian
I listened to a Russian with Max podcast while I went out for a walk this afternoon. It was about yoga and a lot of it went over my head but that was more due to my lack of knowledge about yoga than a problem with the Russian. I still haven't watched another episode of the telenovela but I did finish the video about learning Serbian which I started last night.

I also did a bit of grammar study after work and I managed to finish the chapter on pronouns in TY Russian Grammar :)

Croatian
I also finished the chapter about art and architecture in Hrvatska na drugi pogled. Definitely not my specialist subject.

Esperanto
I logged some Esperanto time today because I've made a start on translating another short children's book. I've probably said it before but I honestly think there is nothing like translation for making you feel like you can't string a basic sentence together in a language. In fact sometimes it even makes me question my ability to understand English :lol: Some people seem able to translate things in one take and get them perfect. I can't do that; I have to translate everything badly first (which is the step I've accomplished today!) and then come back to what I've written after a break, figure out why it sounds wrong and try to correct it.

Total - Russian: 73 mins, Croatian: 60 mins, Esperanto: 45 mins
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Sat Aug 13, 2022 9:58 pm

13 August
Had a fairly quiet morning at home today and then went to visit family this afternoon.

Russian
I got a bit of Russian done before going out, clearing my Memrise reviews and then starting the first of multiple chapters about verbs in TY Russian Grammar. This first one which I was working on today was mainly about the present tense of verbs, so not too taxing :) There were some useful exercises though to help practise verb conjugations.

Croatian
I've also started a new chapter in 'Hrvatska na drugi pogled'. This one is about the Croatian school system. It maybe sounds like quite a dry subject but so far I've found it really fascinating. The bit I read today was about the history of education, from the 18th century onwards, so describing attempts to set up a more formal system of schools during the Habsburg empire. Introducing a school system sounds like a good thing but in an empire with lots of ethnic groups it raised complicated questions like what language pupils should be taught in. It sounded like pupils in Croatian schools had a hard time of it in the 19th century; they were not only expected to learn German but also Hungarian. Yet in many ways the school system at this time was quite progressive; the female teachers were paid the same as male teachers, for example, which certainly wasn't the case in England back then.

Total - Russian: 32 mins, Croatian: 72 mins
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Sun Aug 14, 2022 10:00 pm

14 August
Still really hot. I'm getting quite excited about the chance it might rain tomorrow.

Russian
I finished the chapter about verbs that I was studying in TY Russian Grammar this morning. This is just the first of several chapters about verbs in the book though - and this one only covered the present tense - so there's plenty of difficult stuff yet to come.

I listened to a Russian with Max podcast but just while sitting down; it felt too hot to go out for a walk in the middle of the day. I didn't really enjoy it while sitting down; I think I need to be doing something else at the same time to enjoy these podcasts!

I spent a lot of time this afternoon attempting to plan my upcoming trip to the Azores. So this evening I decide to re-watch an old travel video from Антон Птушкин where he visits four of the islands. I'm sure I first watched this at some point in 2020 prior to this trip getting cancelled for the first time. I enjoyed watching it again; it reminded me of some things I wanted to see on Pico and Faial in particular.

German
I am ashamed of how many books I have in the German part of my to-read pile. Today I started reading a novel called 'Flugangst 7A' by Sebastian Fitzek. I'm only about 50 pages in at the moment but my expectations are high; I normally find Sebastian Fitzek's books extremely exciting.

Total - Russian: 114, Croatian: 88 mins, German: 57 mins
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