Radioclare's 2022 log (Russian, Croatian)

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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 » Thu Sep 15, 2022 6:59 pm

15 September
Spent today exploring Flores, which is an absolutely incredible island and has some amazing waterfalls in particular. Some of the views I've seen today look like something straight out of Jurassic Park!

Russian
I cleared some Memrise reviews in a bit of spare time earlier and then this evening I attacked the prepositions chapter in Teach Yourself Russian Grammar again. Today's pages were about which prepositions to use with expressions about weeks, months, years etc. For once I felt like there were actually enough exercises to practise the topic, which was good :)

German
I finished reading 'Draussen'. I think that's my 5th German novel read this year (which makes me massively behind on my German novel reading goal!). The ending was good and I'm glad I persevered with it.

Croatian
I'm now reading a Croatian novel called 'Dosje 1714' by Milan Nikolić. I don't think it's going to be the best novel I've ever read in my life but it certainly reads better than the previous novel I read in Croatian. It's quite an interesting plot about a man who is murdered in a remote lighthouse.

Total - Russian: 38 mins, Croatian: 130 mins, German: 49 mins
10 x

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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 » Fri Sep 16, 2022 7:42 pm

16 September
Very exciting day today - travelled on a small boat from Flores to the nearby island of Corvo, then hiked down into, around and back up out of the island's volcanic caldera.

Russian
It was such a good day that I didn't do any Russian at all, so I've been stuck with doing 30 minutes this evening when I'm feeling exhausted. I started with Memrise as usual and then moved on to the prepositions chapter in TY Russian Grammar. Today's section was about which prepositions are used after which verbs which was really useful, although I suspect the summary in this book is far from comprehensive. And that was the end of the book! So I'll have to think about what kind of grammar study I'm going to start doing once I'm home next week.

Total - Russian: 30 mins
7 x

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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 » Sat Sep 17, 2022 7:52 pm

17 September
Spent a final morning on Flores before catching a flight back to Ponta Delgada this afternoon to start the long journey home.

Russian
Another busy day equates to a boring Russian update, I'm afraid. I managed to slot some Memrise time in earlier while I was waiting for food in a cafe at lunchtime. Later this afternoon I had a bit of spare time to read and managed a couple of short chapters of 'Тайна голландских изразцов'. I'm over 158 pages into it now but I've been reading it in such a disjointed way while traveling that I don't feel like I'm making real progress.

Total - Russian: 31 mins
5 x

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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 » Sun Sep 18, 2022 1:23 pm

18 September
A day of travelling today. Currently in Lisbon airport after a flight from Ponta Delgada this morning.

Russian
I decided that I'm only going to get more tired as the day goes on, so I tried to get my Russian in early today. I did some Memrise at the airport in Ponta Delgada this morning while having a coffee. And then on the flight I did a bit more reading in Russian. I came across the word прораб which I didn't know. Being on a flight I had limited options for looking it up but the offline version of Google Translate gave me "foreman" which would make sense in the context of the story.

Total - Russian: 32 mins, German: 148 mins so far (reading on the plane)
6 x

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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 » Mon Sep 19, 2022 8:40 pm

19 September
The first day back from a holiday is always strange but this was one was particularly unusual. A bit of work and a lot of laundry, interspersed with watching the Queen's funeral.

Russian
I cleared my Memrise reviews this evening, then decided that I'd better do some Russian listening. I didn't massively feel like it but I'm behind on my listening goals and I haven't done any at all while I've been away. I listened to a short podcast about the weather first, then watched a fairly recent Russian with Max YouTube video on talking about fears in Russian, which I thought was quite useful.

Total - Russian: 35 mins
6 x

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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 » Tue Sep 20, 2022 7:29 pm

20 September
First proper day back at work today. Spent most of it in meetings including one that involved travelling to the client this afternoon, so not much actual work got done.

Russian
I got on the treadmill this morning planning to watch the next episode of Novine in Croatian. But my VPN, which I need to watch this particular programme, decided that it was going to do a massive software update. That scuppered my plan so I decided I might as well listen to some Russian instead. I'm not generally a huge fan of Russian before breakfast, but YouTube recommended me a recent Russian with Max podcast which was about Lenin so I decided to give that a go. And it was really interesting :) I think I'm still somewhere in 2018 in his back catalogue of podcasts but I may start listening non-chronologically to listen to some of these history ones.

Total - Russian: 45 mins
5 x

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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 21, 2022 8:45 pm

21 September
Was able to work from home today so got a bit more work done than yesterday. Felt tired all day though - post holiday blues, I think.

Russian
I went on the treadmill after work today and was tempted to watch another Russian with Max podcast. But I decided to be virtuous and try to get back into watching a series instead. I started a series called 'Обручальное кольцо' earlier in the summer but I only got three episodes in before I gave up. It's so long ago that I'd forgotten what all the characters were called. So today I re-watched the first episode again to try and get back into it. Also started the next lesson in the Kalinka video course.

Total - Russian: 101 mins
6 x

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

Postby Radioclare » Thu Sep 22, 2022 8:21 pm

22 September
Went to the office today because they were giving out free flu jabs.

Russian
My other half, who normally drives me to the local train station, is away this week so I had to walk into town to get the train. This isn't a problem, because it's only 1.5 miles each way, and I planned to use the time to listen to lots of Russian with Max podcasts. I even got prepared last night and downloaded them so I could listen offline. What I didn't think to check was whether my headphones were charged. And 30 seconds before I needed to leave the house, I discovered that they weren't :cry: So I had a very long and silent commute!

I did do a bit of Memrise while waiting for the train. This evening I re-watched the second episode of 'Обручальное кольцо' . I felt like my comprehension was better today (when I was just sitting still) then yesterday (when I was on the treadmill). The audio isn't very loud on this programme for some reason so I had to have it at a ridiculous volume to try and hear it over the treadmill noises yesterday and it just wasn't really working out. As ever when watching Russian TV, my main problem is focus. My mind just gets bored of trying to understand and drifts off :(

Total - Russian: 56 mins, German: 90 mins
7 x

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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
x 10434
Contact:

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

Postby Radioclare » Fri Sep 23, 2022 9:34 pm

23 September
Was able to stay at home today, so that was good. And I seem to have got lucky with this flu jab because I haven't even got a sore arm today :)

Russian
To make up for the lost opportunity yesterday, I went for a walk in the sunshine today and listened to two Russian with Max podcasts. One was about mentalities in Russia and the second was about the singer Boris Grebenshchikov. I have listened to some of his music, though not for quite a long time, so that was quite cool :)

Total - Russian: 61 mins, German: 28 mins
6 x

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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 » Sat Sep 24, 2022 8:05 pm

24 September
The last weekend I was at home was 20 August. So the fact that I have nowhere to go and nothing to do this weekend feels like quite a treat :)

Russian
I spent half an hour or so reading 'Тайна голландских изразцов' this morning. I feel like I'm making slow progress but today is the first time I've opened the book since I got back from the Azores, so I'm the only person to blame for a lack of progress :lol: I looked up the word "холостяк" (bachelor) which is one I feel like I should have known.

I watched the third episode of 'Обручальное кольцо' this evening, which takes me back to where I was before I went on holiday. Ideally I need to watch the fourth episode tomorrow or Monday to keep up the momentum.

Croatian
I went back to watching 'Novine' on the treadmill this morning. It was a good episode but I found it a bit hard to get back into after my holiday; I'd forgotten what half the characters were called :lol: Never mind. I also finished the chapter about Croatian cultural institutions in 'Hrvatska na drugi pogled'. Honestly, it was very dry. I mean, the subject matter was dry anyway but the writing itself was really dull too. Lots of really long sentences with long words, everything phrased in a very stuffy way. I tried reading some of it aloud and there were some sentences where I ran out of breath before I got to the full stop.

German
I can't remember whether I said but towards the end of my holiday I started reading a Frederick Forsyth novel 'Der Unterhändler' in German. I found it a bit slow to get going and the first couple of hundred pages were sending me to sleep on my flights last Sunday. But I've been reading bits of it during the week and halfway through there's a really unexpected twist. So now I'm a lot more gripped!

Total - Russian: 131 mins, Croatian: 81 mins, German: 58 mins
7 x


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