Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

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Radioclare
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Languages: Speaks: English (N), Esperanto, German, Croatian
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Thu Sep 01, 2022 8:52 pm

1 September
Early get-up today to go to the office. It's always hard trying to finish work for a holiday. But it's not anywhere near as difficult as it used to be at my old place.

Russian
I haven't actually been very diligent this evening. But this morning when I was on the train to work I listened to the next Russian with Max podcast on my playlist. I have to admit that I didn't really enjoy this one; it was a reading of the story "Three Little Pigs" and it just wasn't really my thing.

Total - Russian: 41 mins
9 x

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

Postby DaveAgain » Thu Sep 01, 2022 9:16 pm

Radioclare wrote: I have to admit that I didn't really enjoy this one; it was a reading of the story "Three Little Pigs" and it just wasn't really my thing.
Don't the Russians have a set of unique-to-them fairy tales? In John Wick there's talk of a Russian bogeyman figure, baba-yaga?
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Fri Sep 02, 2022 9:52 pm

Yes, I think you're right about Russian fairy tales. Fairy tales aren't really my thing though so I haven't really explored them.

2 September
A manic day today trying to get ready for going on holiday; both finishing things at work and trying to pack this evening.

Russian
I didn't finish work until quite late. While I was packing my suitcase, I listened to a couple of Russian with Max podcasts. There was one about health and one about education, whether you need to go to university to get a good job etc. I've been too busy to do anything else unfortunately. I have packed a Russian book to read while I'm away though.

Total - Russian: 52 minutes
7 x

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Radioclare
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Posts: 2250
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Languages: Speaks: English (N), Esperanto, German, Croatian
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Sat Sep 03, 2022 10:39 pm

3 September
A long day of travelling today. Flew from London to Lisbon, had a layover of a few hours there and then flew on to Ponta Delgada.

Russian
This means a pretty boring day for Russian study. I cleared my Memrise reviews this morning while waiting for my breakfast in Heathrow. And I learned 30 new words this afternoon while hanging around in Lisbon Airport.

Total - Russian: 31 mins
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Sun Sep 04, 2022 9:05 pm

4 September
Wonderful day on the island of São Miguel in the Azores today. It's been remarkably sunny and I've been revisiting some of my favourite spots from 2018.

Russian
This evening when I got back to the apartment I cleared my Memrise reviews. There were quite a lot today, mainly because I spent a fair bit of time learning new words in Lisbon airport yesterday.

I've been more diligent than normal and packed a textbook; although admittedly, only TY Russian Grammar which is pretty light in both senses of the word :) I'm persevering with the chapter on verbs of motion at the moment. The explanations are fine but there are nowhere near enough exercises so I don't feel like I'm really making much progress.

Total - Russian: 46 mins, Croatian: 3 mins
7 x

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

Postby languagelena » Mon Sep 05, 2022 5:25 am

Hi. I have a pdf file with exercises for verbs of motions. I can send you a link to google drive if you want. It doesn't have an answer key, but you can send me back your answers and I'll check :)
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Mon Sep 05, 2022 6:42 pm

languagelena wrote:Hi. I have a pdf file with exercises for verbs of motions. I can send you a link to google drive if you want. It doesn't have an answer key, but you can send me back your answers and I'll check :)

Hi Lena, any verbs of motion exercises would be gratefully accepted - there are many things in Russian grammar I'm not very good at but this is definitely my worst :lol:

5 September
Another beautiful sunny day on the Azores. We went to a place called Furnas today where there is a fumarole field; basically steam rising out of the earth. Pretty exciting stuff!

Russian
I got my 30 minutes of Russian in before setting off this morning. I warmed up by clearing my Memrise reviews, which weren't so bad today, and then I did some reading. I'm still slowly working my way through 'Тайна голландских изразцов' by Daria Desombre. I'm close to the 100-page mark now and I did actually enjoy the couple of short chapters I read this morning. I think I should try to be more diligent about reading little and often while I'm away.

Total - Russian: 38 mins
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languagelena
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby languagelena » Mon Sep 05, 2022 6:54 pm

Radioclare wrote:Hi Lena, any verbs of motion exercises would be gratefully accepted - there are many things in Russian grammar I'm not very good at but this is definitely my worst :lol:



https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dBGZ8Y ... sp=sharing
Check please if you have an access
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Radioclare
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Location: England
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Esperanto, German, Croatian
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Tue Sep 06, 2022 7:22 pm

languagelena wrote:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dBGZ8YEx2PRc9swU-Fb0V2LSfsuUZRju/view?usp=sharing
Check please if you have an access

Wow, thank you Lena! I can access it and it looks really comprehensive. I'm travelling at the moment but it will definitely be on my list of resources to work through once I'm home :)

6 September
An early start today to fly to the island of Terceira. Probably not the most spectacular island in the Azores but the main town, Angra do Heroísmo, is really pretty.

Russian
I had one of those experiences earlier when you turn up to check into your hotel at the time the hotel has said check-in starts and then it turns out your room isn't ready. So while I was sitting around waiting in the hotel bar I got through today's Memrise reviews.

This evening I continued with the third verbs chapter in TY Russian Grammar. The section on verbs of motion is surprisingly short, so today's theme was the conditional. As Russian grammar topics go, this one isn't too bad :)

Croatian
After I updated my log yesterday I spent at least half an hour reading in Croatian and I finished the novel 'Lenjinov gambit' which I started last week. Honestly, I thought it was absolutely terrible. Definitely the worst book I've read in Croatian. The plot was poor, the characterisation was poor, the writing was poor... I genuinely don't know how it got published. I know Croatian is a "small" language but the quality of literature is normally really high! Nine times out of ten when I finish a book in Croatian I'd be prepared to say it was just as good as anything I've read in English or German and that it's a shame it will probably never be translated, because it deserves to reach a wider audience. But this book... I felt like the author was barely capable of stringing coherent thoughts together on a page. The good news is that it was only 106 pages, so at least I didn't waste a lot of my life reading it!

Total - Russian: 33 mins
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Radioclare
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2250
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:59 pm
Location: England
Languages: Speaks: English (N), Esperanto, German, Croatian
Learns: Russian
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Re: Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Wed Sep 07, 2022 6:23 pm

7 September
Did a bit of a road trip around Terceira today. Not as spectacular as the island of Sao Miguel, but still pretty cool.

Russian
While I was waiting for some food earlier I got stuck into my Memrise reviews and also learned some new words. My main new word of the day was "скатерть" - tablecloth.

Later this evening I spent half an hour or so reading 'Тайна голландских изразцов' and I'm up to 120 pages now. The main word which I looked up was "смесь", as it seemed to be critical to the plot. The plot revolves around arson and - as far as I can tell - this word was describing some sort of mixture of chemicals(?) which the arsonist had used in order to start the fire.

Total - Russian: 53 mins, Croatian: 2 mins
6 x


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