Radioclare's 2023 log (Russian, Croatian)

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Radioclare
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Radioclare's 2023 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Mon Jan 02, 2023 4:59 pm

I like starting a new log and having a fresh start each year :) The main changes I'm making from 2022 to 2023 is that this year I am not entering any challenges and I am not updating every day. I do love a good challenge but I think I've done the 365-challenge every year since 2019 now and I'm starting to feel like a break :lol: So what am I planning to do this year?

German
My focus will continue to be on maintaining my level my reading. Specifically, I'm aiming to read one book per month, so 12 German books in total. I think this is an achievable target for me, despite the fact that I somehow failed to achieve it in 2022.

Esperanto
I don't often set goals for Esperanto but I have three Esperanto novels in my 'to read' pile and I would like to get through all of them this year. Two of them - Kometo en Muminvalo and La kurioza incidento de la hundo en la nokto - were Christmas presents. The third one - La ponto super Drino - has been in my pile for years and I've just never got around to it, but I'm determined this is going to be the year. I'll be going to the Brita Kongreso de Esperanto in Cambridge in April, so that will probably be my main Esperanto speaking opportunity this year.

Russian
I'm not committing to doing 30 minutes a day but I do intend to continue studying fairly regularly. I want to continue expanding my vocabulary but I've lost the will to live with the Memrise course I'm using at the moment, so perhaps I'll try a different one. I want to finish the Red Kalinka video course I'm currently subscribed to fairly quickly, so that I can stop paying the monthly subscription. I also want to finish revising the New Penguin Russian Course, but I haven't decided which textbook I'm going to use after that. I feel like I'm starting to get a bit better at reading now, so I definitely intend to continue with that. My plan is one book per month, so 12 for the year in total. It feels like it ought to be achievable so long as I can get into the habit of reading little and often. I feel like my main focus for the year needs to be listening, and in particular watching TV series, as that is something I really didn't succeed at last year. So I'm going to pick a telenovela with hundreds of episodes and try to get hooked on it. These goals aren't hugely measurable but as I said at the end of my 2022 log, I'm not really sure what I'm trying to achieve with Russian any more. I don't want to lose the progress I have made (because it's been so painful :lol: ) so hopefully I can avoid that at least.

Croatian
Maybe this will be the year I get to go to Croatia again :) Even if it isn't, this year I want to work on my active skills more because I think last year I failed to do any writing in Croatian at all, so I need to find a way to encourage myself to write in Croatian on a regular basis. I haven't yet decided what that's going to be. Last year wasn't a great year for Croatian reading so I want to do better with that in 2023; probably one book per month again. I watch an episode of a Croatian telenovela on the treadmill most days, so I feel like my listening is under control, although now I have a VPN I could perhaps branch out and watch some different programmes on the websites of the main broadcasters. I'm toying with the idea of doing some intensive reading, perhaps with LWT, to try and expand my vocabulary but I feel like this is something I've considered doing many times and never actually pursued, so we'll see whether that happens. I also received a new BCMS grammar book for my recent birthday, so I'm planning to work through that in detail over the next few months.

I hope everyone has had a good start to the new year and is feeling full of January motivation :) I always enjoy seeing the flurry of activity on the forum at this time of year!
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Re: Radioclare's 2023 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby IronMike » Thu Jan 05, 2023 11:35 pm

Radioclare wrote:The main changes I'm making from 2022 to 2023 is that this year I am not entering any challenges and I am not updating every day.

Wha?!?! How could you? Think of your fans! ;)

I will miss my guaranteed daily log-read.

Enjoy Ponto super la Drina. I have that as well and started it a few years ago, but I'd read it in English so recently I wasn't enjoying it. I'll wait till I forget more of the story before I start it up again. ;)
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2023 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Fri Jan 06, 2023 10:57 am

IronMike wrote:Wha?!?! How could you? Think of your fans! ;)

I will miss my guaranteed daily log-read.

I actually feel like I'm skiving every evening when I don't update :lol: So we'll see how it goes, so far I've still ended up doing 30 mins of Russian every day.

Enjoy Ponto super la Drina. I have that as well and started it a few years ago, but I'd read it in English so recently I wasn't enjoying it. I'll wait till I forget more of the story before I start it up again. ;)

I haven't read it in any language so will be interested to see what it's like. If it's not too hard and I like it I might try to buy it in the original next time I'm in a Croatian bookshop. I've decided my first Esperanto book this year is going to be the Moomins one, though; I've never read any of the Moomins books either but I'm going to Finland later this month so it feels appropriate :)
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Re: Radioclare's 2023 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Le Baron » Fri Jan 06, 2023 2:30 pm

I didn't know The Curious Incident...had been translated, I haven't read it in any language. I have a Moomin book though; I got it at the UEA, which you'll know is in Rotterdam here. It's like a secret society there you have to make an appointment to go in. Though the bookshop might be just walk-in I can't remember.

Even though there's a tone of slight resignation in the new log (or maybe I misinterpreted it?) concerning no solid goal for Russian, you might actually find yourself moving forward at some pace once your work is no longer cut out for you. I did, once I stopped having large-scale Spanish goals with deadlines to meet.
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Re: Radioclare's 2023 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Mista » Fri Jan 06, 2023 6:11 pm

Do you know Terence Wade's Using Russian Vocabulary? I came across it at the university library the other day, and took it home with me, but I haven't looked at it much yet, since I'm supposed to be studying German at the moment. For me, vocabulary and active skills feel like the most fruitful focus areas at the moment, so this book seems perfect, at a first glance. If you have any experience with it, I'd love to hear what you think of it.
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Re: Radioclare's 2023 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Fri Jan 06, 2023 6:51 pm

Le Baron wrote:I didn't know The Curious Incident...had been translated, I haven't read it in any language. I have a Moomin book though; I got it at the UEA, which you'll know is in Rotterdam here. It's like a secret society there you have to make an appointment to go in. Though the bookshop might be just walk-in I can't remember.

It was only published last year by Esperanto-Asocio de Britio: https://www.bookdepository.com/La-kurioza-incidento-de-la-hundo-en-la-nokto/9780902756588. I've read it in English and it's a fun book :) I've never been to the UEA HQ but I imagine it's an interesting experience!

Le Baron wrote:Even though there's a tone of slight resignation in the new log (or maybe I misinterpreted it?) concerning no solid goal for Russian, you might actually find yourself moving forward at some pace once your work is no longer cut out for you. I did, once I stopped having large-scale Spanish goals with deadlines to meet.

I've been struggling with motivation for Russian since February; obviously because of what's going on in the world and also because a lot of my personal motivation to get better was coming from a desire to travel more extensively in Russia. Also more generally, I don't like learning languages (I only like having learned them :lol:) and it feels like I've been learning Russian for a long time without quite being able to make a breakthrough to the stage where I can actually use it to do things I enjoy. I think I am edging closer to that stage though and so it would be silly to quit now and waste all the hard work. You may well be right re goals and I've certainly had several years of pretty specific goals so a year without them feels like it's going to be quite fun :)

Mista wrote:Do you know Terence Wade's Using Russian Vocabulary? I came across it at the university library the other day, and took it home with me, but I haven't looked at it much yet, since I'm supposed to be studying German at the moment. For me, vocabulary and active skills feel like the most fruitful focus areas at the moment, so this book seems perfect, at a first glance. If you have any experience with it, I'd love to hear what you think of it.

I don't, but having just googled it I really like the look of it! I definitely find it easier to learn vocabulary by theme than at random. As with all these interesting-looking Russian textbooks, it looks quite expensive to buy though :(
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Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
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Re: Radioclare's 2023 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby IronMike » Sat Jan 07, 2023 1:27 am

Radioclare wrote:
IronMike wrote:Wha?!?! How could you? Think of your fans! ;)

I will miss my guaranteed daily log-read.

I actually feel like I'm skiving every evening when I don't update :lol: So we'll see how it goes, so far I've still ended up doing 30 mins of Russian every day.

Enjoy Ponto super la Drina. I have that as well and started it a few years ago, but I'd read it in English so recently I wasn't enjoying it. I'll wait till I forget more of the story before I start it up again. ;)

I haven't read it in any language so will be interested to see what it's like. If it's not too hard and I like it I might try to buy it in the original next time I'm in a Croatian bookshop. I've decided my first Esperanto book this year is going to be the Moomins one, though; I've never read any of the Moomins books either but I'm going to Finland later this month so it feels appropriate :)

My friend who was in our embassy in Belgrade bought me a copy of The Bridge on the Drina in BCS. It's hard. ;) Read it in English and it was an amazing book.

Moomins! We have several nice hb copies of Moomin troll in Russian and English. Got them in Moscow. Our Finnish and Swedish friends were fine propagandists for Moomin troll. I make cocktails nightly on a Moomin troll tray. ;)
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2023 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Sat Jan 07, 2023 3:25 pm

IronMike wrote:Moomins! We have several nice hb copies of Moomin troll in Russian and English. Got them in Moscow. Our Finnish and Swedish friends were fine propagandists for Moomin troll. I make cocktails nightly on a Moomin troll tray. ;)

:) EAB is going to publish the Moomins series in Esperanto over the next few years. The first book is already out and the second should follow soon.
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Re: Radioclare's 2023 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby DaveAgain » Sat Jan 07, 2023 4:32 pm

Radioclare wrote:I've been struggling with motivation for Russian since February; obviously because of what's going on in the world and also because a lot of my personal motivation to get better was coming from a desire to travel more extensively in Russia.
I saw an Instagram post earlier from an american living in Georgia, who had just started learning Russian because "everyone there speaks it" [in addition to Georgian].

Perhaps you could window-shop the various Russian speaking countries with a view to travel?
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Re: Radioclare's 2023 log (Russian, Croatian)

Postby Radioclare » Sat Jan 07, 2023 7:53 pm

DaveAgain wrote:I saw an Instagram post earlier from an american living in Georgia, who had just started learning Russian because "everyone there speaks it" [in addition to Georgian].

Perhaps you could window-shop the various Russian speaking countries with a view to travel?

Yes, of course, you're right; there are other places I can travel to speak Russian. I've spoken it in Ukraine before and had opportunities to use it in Lithuania and Latvia if I'd spoken it better at the time. Georgia is definitely on my bucket list for one day; it looks so beautiful :) I was planning to do the Transiberian Railway though - possibly even as a honeymoon - and I feel like that's not going to be an option for some time. I also really wanted to go to Belarus; it's one of a handful of European countries I haven't been to yet.
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