Rdearman 2016-24 You Can't Have Your Kate and Edith Too.

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
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: Rdearman 2016 - SC, OC, TAC, combined log (ZH, FR, IT, EO)

Postby Radioclare » Wed Jan 06, 2016 9:56 pm

rdearman wrote: Seems there is more grammar in Esperanto than I rememberd, I thought there was only about 11 rules.


You were mis-sold ;)

There are 16 basic rules of Esperanto grammar which sort of set out the principles of how the languages works; these are quite easy to grasp. In order for the language to be fully-functioning, there are then a number of conventions for how things are normally expressed (eg. things like lundo = Monday, lundon = on Monday, lunde = on Mondays). As in any language, these nuances take a bit longer to master completely and can make it feel like there is more "grammar" than you expect, but the advantage of Esperanto is that the basic grammar is so straight forward and regular that you can start focusing on those more advanced points almost straight away.

The thing which native English-speakers seem to struggle with the most is the accusative case. We certainly have people in Britain who have been merrily speaking Esperanto for 20 years or more without correctly mastering the use of the accusative :lol: It doesn't seem to have hindered their enjoyment though and for the most part, what they're trying to say is readily understandable regardless :)
4 x

User avatar
rdearman
Site Admin
Posts: 7231
Joined: Thu May 14, 2015 4:18 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Languages: English (N)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1836
x 23128
Contact:

Re: Rdearman 2016 - SC, OC, TAC, combined log (ZH, FR, IT, EO)

Postby rdearman » Wed Jan 06, 2016 10:09 pm

Radioclare wrote:
rdearman wrote: Seems there is more grammar in Esperanto than I rememberd, I thought there was only about 11 rules.


You were mis-sold ;)

Can I get some sort of PPI refund then? Should I ask the next time one of those PPI people call me?

Radioclare wrote:There are 16 basic rules of Esperanto grammar which sort of set out the principles of how the languages works; these are quite easy to grasp. In order for the language to be fully-functioning, there are then a number of conventions for how things are normally expressed (eg. things like lundo = Monday, lundon = on Monday, lunde = on Mondays). As in any language, these nuances take a bit longer to master completely and can make it feel like there is more "grammar" than you expect, but the advantage of Esperanto is that the basic grammar is so straight forward and regular that you can start focusing on those more advanced points almost straight away.

The thing which native English-speakers seem to struggle with the most is the accusative case. We certainly have people in Britain who have been merrily speaking Esperanto for 20 years or more without correctly mastering the use of the accusative :lol: It doesn't seem to have hindered their enjoyment though and for the most part, what they're trying to say is readily understandable regardless :)

OK, that's fine. I can remember most of the rules, and I can read most of the words in this PDF I downloaded. I'm actually fearful of confusing my poor brain, because there are so many romance language words in Esperanto my brain (which is already struggling and mixing French & Italian) is just going to give up.

I once spent about two minutes shouting at some Italian kid to "Only do half of it!" in what I thought was perfect Italian, until his mother reminded me, "Demi (half) is French, he doesn't speak French". Grrrrr....

Monolingual people don't have these problems you know. :roll:
3 x
: 0 / 150 Read 150 books in 2024

My YouTube Channel
The Autodidactic Podcast
My Author's Newsletter

I post on this forum with mobile devices, so excuse short msgs and typos.

User avatar
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: Rdearman 2016 - SC, OC, TAC, combined log (ZH, FR, IT, EO)

Postby Radioclare » Wed Jan 06, 2016 10:49 pm

rdearman wrote:Can I get some sort of PPI refund then? Should I ask the next time one of those PPI people call me?


Next time they call you should speak to them in Esperanto and they will soon go away ;)

Radioclare wrote:OK, that's fine. I can remember most of the rules, and I can read most of the words in this PDF I downloaded. I'm actually fearful of confusing my poor brain, because there are so many romance language words in Esperanto my brain (which is already struggling and mixing French & Italian) is just going to give up.


I have similar problems with mixing up Croatian and Esperanto, which you wouldn't think would be a problem on the face of it, but actually there are a lot of (neuter) nouns in Croatian that end in -o. And I think all Esperanto-speakers have experienced moments when they're not sure whether they have used the correct Esperanto word or just taken the word in their native language and added an -o to it :)
1 x

User avatar
rdearman
Site Admin
Posts: 7231
Joined: Thu May 14, 2015 4:18 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Languages: English (N)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1836
x 23128
Contact:

Re: Rdearman 2016 - SC, OC, TAC, combined log (ZH, FR, IT, EO)

Postby rdearman » Sat Jan 09, 2016 8:47 pm

It occurred to me today, I've signed up to go to a polyglot conference. WTF was I thinking? The dictionary defines Polyglot as a person able to speak or write several languages; multilingual. Errr.... I'm just a person who studies other languages, I'm not "multilingual" and if I had feelings of inadequacy on this website, I'm truly screwed at a Polyglot conference. :shock: :o Anyway, probably best not to think about it to much. But it has spurned me on to doing more reviews and watching a few more foreign films. I really, really, really need to bone up on some languages now.

Since my last check-in, I've downloaded some Esperanto anki decks. There are actually quite a few really good Esperanto decks, with audio as well. The problem I have at the moment with my anki decks is I have a lot of audio decks, and frequently forget my headphones. This means I basically can't do them and can only do the couple of decks I have with text only. These are mostly Hanzi, either sentences or single characters. So I decided to get the Esperanto ones which were just text only.

I mentioned a new French TV series (new to me anyway) which was showing on More4 in the UK called Spin (Les Hommes De L'Ombre) which I mentioned here: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1878 in the multi-lingual room. It is really very good. It is about an assassination attempt on the French president and two spin-doctors who try to get their candidates in line for an election. All the characters are very "intertwined" with each other, one spin doctor was the others mentor, etc, etc. Well worth watching even if you aren't learning French and are happy to read English sub-titles.

I also watch about 1/2 of a film called Les Hommes et Les Dieux which is about a monastery of Christian monks in Algiers and is based on a true story.
This film is loosely based on the life of the Cistercian monks of Tibhirine in Algeria from 1993 until their kidnapping in 1996.

It is quite good so far, and I'm planning on watching the rest this weekend.

I haven't done much with Italian or Mandarin this week, but I do plan to pickup watching some Italian TV again. I've watched the TV series "Carabineri" about 1-2 times, all without sub-titles. So I've done about 121,800 hours of watching with this series. The first time through I didn't understand anything, the second time more, I watched the first couple episodes the other day, and they were pretty easy, so it does help to repeat.
6 x
: 0 / 150 Read 150 books in 2024

My YouTube Channel
The Autodidactic Podcast
My Author's Newsletter

I post on this forum with mobile devices, so excuse short msgs and typos.

User avatar
rdearman
Site Admin
Posts: 7231
Joined: Thu May 14, 2015 4:18 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Languages: English (N)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1836
x 23128
Contact:

Re: Rdearman 2016 - SC, OC, TAC, combined log (ZH, FR, IT, EO)

Postby rdearman » Sun Jan 10, 2016 6:06 pm

I go months without posting, now I'm going like crazy. Probably will not post the rest of the week though, because I'm travelling abroad. The thought of going to the Polyglot conference has really put the wind up me, I've been preparing myself to do some cramming. As mentioned earlier it is sometimes difficult to do anki with audio, and all my cards for French or Italian are subs2srs type cards. Long ago I had some straightforward text only L1<->L2 cards in both French & Italian which I got sick of. I didn't delete them, but exported them and ignored. I've loaded them back up today, both have 1000+ cards due.

I am not as aggressive in the deletion of anki cards as emk seems to be, but I do suspend a lot, and I'm not actually all that bothered if I have a load of outstanding cards. I know some people obsess about keeping the review cards to zero at the end of each day, but isn't an issue for me. My plan here is to spend my anki time working on vocabulary for EO, FR, & IT. I'll do the ZH cards if I get a chance, but they've moved to the back of the queue now. I also plan to cram these vocabulary decks whenever I get a chance, like when flying, or commuting via train, etc.

I've also dug out all the Italian & French audio books I have collected last year while doing the SC, and I'm planning to listen to these anytime I get in my car and drive somewhere. I've loaded up every portable device I have; phone & tablet, laptop, etc with MP4's, MP3's, as wells as EPUB, PDF and whatever else I can find so I shouldn't ever be at a point where I don't have something in either French or Italian to do.

My plan is also to book some additional time with a tutor since I've only got three and a bit months to become at least semi-coherent in output. Of course I have no idea what I'm going to do about Esperanto... Let's not talk about Esperanto.
0 x
: 0 / 150 Read 150 books in 2024

My YouTube Channel
The Autodidactic Podcast
My Author's Newsletter

I post on this forum with mobile devices, so excuse short msgs and typos.

User avatar
Stelle
Blue Belt
Posts: 580
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:37 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English (N1), French (N2), Spanish (advanced), Tagalog (basic), Russian (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=13312
x 1527
Contact:

Re: Rdearman 2016 - SC, OC, TAC, combined log (ZH, FR, IT, EO)

Postby Stelle » Sun Jan 10, 2016 6:12 pm

Nothing like a fire to get you going! I'd love to go to a conference someday...I'll enjoy watching you get ready!
0 x

User avatar
rdearman
Site Admin
Posts: 7231
Joined: Thu May 14, 2015 4:18 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Languages: English (N)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1836
x 23128
Contact:

Re: Rdearman 2016 - SC, OC, TAC, combined log (ZH, FR, IT, EO)

Postby rdearman » Sun Jan 10, 2016 7:03 pm

Stelle wrote:Nothing like a fire to get you going! I'd love to go to a conference someday...I'll enjoy watching you get ready!

So you like to watch people crying then?
1 x
: 0 / 150 Read 150 books in 2024

My YouTube Channel
The Autodidactic Podcast
My Author's Newsletter

I post on this forum with mobile devices, so excuse short msgs and typos.

User avatar
Stelle
Blue Belt
Posts: 580
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 1:37 pm
Location: Canada
Languages: English (N1), French (N2), Spanish (advanced), Tagalog (basic), Russian (beginner)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=13312
x 1527
Contact:

Re: Rdearman 2016 - SC, OC, TAC, combined log (ZH, FR, IT, EO)

Postby Stelle » Sun Jan 10, 2016 7:36 pm

rdearman wrote:So you like to watch people crying then?

I teach first grade. It's part of my job description.
5 x

User avatar
rdearman
Site Admin
Posts: 7231
Joined: Thu May 14, 2015 4:18 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Languages: English (N)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1836
x 23128
Contact:

Re: Rdearman 2016 - SC, OC, TAC, combined log (ZH, FR, IT, EO)

Postby rdearman » Sun Jan 10, 2016 8:34 pm

Stelle wrote:
rdearman wrote:So you like to watch people crying then?

I teach first grade. It's part of my job description.

Hummm.... I thought first grade teachers are in reality just "crowd control". ;)
1 x
: 0 / 150 Read 150 books in 2024

My YouTube Channel
The Autodidactic Podcast
My Author's Newsletter

I post on this forum with mobile devices, so excuse short msgs and typos.

User avatar
rdearman
Site Admin
Posts: 7231
Joined: Thu May 14, 2015 4:18 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Languages: English (N)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1836
x 23128
Contact:

Re: Rdearman 2016 - SC, OC, TAC, combined log (ZH, FR, IT, EO)

Postby rdearman » Sun Jan 17, 2016 6:08 pm

I've been doing something close to nothing. But my excuse is I had to travel abroad for a week to Poland and so didn't have much opportunity. One thing I have discovered is I have absolutely zero interest in any type of Slavic Languages. Looks too hard, and they've got far too many Z's, Y's & J's for my liking. :)

Mostly what I did manage to do this last week was read this forum on the phone which was sub-optimum, but better than HTLAL.com on a mobile. A few anki reps, and that was it, except for TV. The hotel room had news channels in French & Italian, so I tuned one of those in when I was in my room and watched those. On my return to the UK, I spent Friday night watching Spin, a new (for the UK) French TV series about spin-doctors. And Saturday night I discovered they've started showing Young Montalbano second season on BBC 4.

I admit that I took a book to read on the plane, and my guilty little pleasure was that is was in English. A friend of mine gave me ~20 books of Sci-Fi and I have had them on a shelf most of last year because of the Super Challenge, so I decided I was just going to read in English. This has gotten me thinking about having a physical media (books, CD, DVD, etc) website for language learners. Some place to swap old books in your native language for books in your target language. Of course postage might be prohibitive, but I've got hundreds of books in English.

So to summarise, I have done sweet FA all week except watch some TV. :oops:
5 x
: 0 / 150 Read 150 books in 2024

My YouTube Channel
The Autodidactic Podcast
My Author's Newsletter

I post on this forum with mobile devices, so excuse short msgs and typos.


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: BeaP, Sizen and 2 guests