tiia's log (FIN, SPA, SWE, EUS)

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tiia
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Location: Finland
Languages: German (N), English (?), Finnish (C1), Spanish (B2??), Swedish (B2)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=2374
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Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby tiia » Tue Jun 28, 2022 5:51 pm

Some weeks have passed and I can give some updates.

1. I passed the job training, which is somehow giving me the feeling of having achieved something. Somehow like a proof, that could really study in that language, if I wanted to. (It was not the first job training, but the other ones were easier language-wise)

2. My Basque textbook arrived. And today as a surprise also a small Finnish-Basque dictionary
Basque.jpg


3. I'm still playing duolingo Russian, though keeping the streak going has become difficult. It's been almost 7 weeks now, and I see that the last two weeks I started to loose interest. Not because of the language, but the methology. But I was expecting this somehow.

4. Swedish... The course is over and I need to consider how to continue now. I won't take the same course again, that is something I'm quite sure about. But there do not seem to be any good alternatives (again). Well, there is one, but it's on the same day as the language cafe.
I somehow miss the times when I could just go from the language class to the language cafe (it was like a 10min walk before the pandemic), but in this case the location is rather far from the language cafe, so it's not realistic to attend both. But because I would like to do a lot of other stuff, I will probably not take any class in autumn. (I would have wished for a sports class in Swedish as a supplement...)

5. As one can hear: the new course schedules are published. And there's a lot to decide. Too much I would like to do (not just languages) and not enough time. And of course my extra long holiday around Europe would make me miss the first 3-4 weeks of almost any class (except online ones).

6.a In the meantime I did finish another short story in Spanish. I think I started it in March and it was a lot of fun writing and developing the storyline.
6.b And I'm practicing a song in Spanish with my guitar. Found one, that I like and that is easy enough for me to play. :)

7. Finnish. I may have mentioned, that I'm aiming to take the Finnish YKI ylin taso (C1+C2) in November, but because of the lack of material regarding the test I enrolled in a preparation course, though I was really hesitating because of the price. It's only very few times, but super intensive since it's 4-5 hours in a row. I can still decide after that, whether I think I need more guided preparation or not. (There are finally advanced Finnish courses in autumn, now that I don't really look for them anymore!) At least we also got recommendations on how to prepare ourselves.
Since the teacher is actually one of the examiners at a testing facility of this test (even the one I have in mind to go to), they know relatively well, what is expected. However, the grading is centralized at the University of Jyväskylä.
Anyway, already before this, I thought I should now really focus a bit more on Finnish, to get the best out of the exam, so I also lent a few audiobooks from the library. I thought, that it I already plan on going by train through the whole of Europe, I will have a lot of time for listening. (I love looking out of the window during train rides.)

8. So, who remembers I thought about going to Spain for about a month in autumn 2018? Now, this is what came out of this idea: 6 weeks with Interrail with a clear focus on Spain, mostly in September. I got the ticket in May, when there was a 50% sale for contiuous global passes. I still need to do a bunch of reservations as I'm unfortunately going through rather Interrail unfriendly places with compulsory seat reservations. But I'm super excited to finally realise this trip!

9. Lot's of visits a different doctors during the last 2,5 months. Nothing serious now, so no worries. But I was sick around Easter, with some symptoms not improving further after some time, some other stuff just needed to be done etc. In total I accummulated far more visits than I originally expected.
I did reserve one time also with a German doctor, too (though it meant paying it myself), which was somehow a relieve, because I got some many more explanations on how to proceed and how some stuff is handled in reality vs. in theory. This doctor definitely understood, what kind of extra info I needed.
But there were also nice Finnish doctors (in fact most of them are), but it sometimes is just tiresome.

Meri.jpg
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thevagrant88
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Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby thevagrant88 » Thu Jun 30, 2022 8:45 pm

Keep us posted on Basque! By the end of this year I’m really hoping to take my Spanish to a much higher level and I’d been half-playing with the idea of using Spanish to learn a bit of a language with some kind of significant cultural contact with Spanish, Basque being an obvious possibility.

Have fun!
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tiia
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x 1997

Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby tiia » Sat Jul 16, 2022 11:14 am

Just another short update:
The Finnish class is over. I may write more about it at some other time. I don't know.

During the last week I had no motivation for playing duolingo Russian anymore. It was forseeable already during the last weeks as I had more and more troubles to keep the strike going. Well, it has been 7-8 weeks of playing almost daily. And at least I could understand one of the words at my job this week. :D So it's at least some kind of success. (Though it would have been possible to guess in that situation.)

Anyway, I picked up the Basque textbook now. So far I have made it almost through unit three (out of thirteen) and now peeked into unit four. However, I will have to revise older chapters every now and then as they cover quite something.
Each chapter starts with one or more texts (with new vocab underneath), then has several grammar points explained, excersises, a text about the culture and then more exercises.
The grammar is presented in a way it's not a complete overload, but still quite a lot of new stuff to learn. It is explained in words (and tables), so it works quite well for self-learning.
Excercises should work out for self-learners, too. One exercise in each chapter may be of the kind that one should look up words in a dictionary. Luckily the words to be looked up are presented in alphabethical order, so it works very well with the small dictionary I got. But even if one does not have a dictionary, one could just find the words in the wordlist at the end of the book.
The book also comes with solutions to the excersises and translations of the texts. This is extremely helpful, as I find the texts in each unit rather difficult. The translation includes explanations of idioms or phrases if needed. (I did need that for the text in unit three.)
As the texts can include some grammar that will only be covered later in the book, there are some footnotes what kind of form it is and in which chapter it will be covered. However, I don't see those footnotes in later chapters. - I assume because it is easier to write useful texts with more grammar covered at the later stage, but not in the very beginning.
Although I think the book explaines quite a lot, I still have additional questions (which is normal as I try to experiment with the stuff that I learn). Therefore being able to ask my friend in those cases comes in very handy. But I'd say it is definitely possible to use the book without a teacher.
There may have been one mistake in a translation of a phrase (I learned it differently from my friend), but all in all, it seems to be a good old textbook that is not really focused on a communicative approach. (The original they used is from around 1988, I think, but it was translated and adapted to modern times in 2009. So they definitely use Euros, and the list of translated literature from Basque includes books until 2006.)

Let's see how far I will get and what I will think of the book later. But so far it still seems like the right one for my needs. And the language is a real brain-twister so far, but that's exactly why it's so interesting.
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tiia
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x 1997

Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby tiia » Sun Aug 28, 2022 4:20 pm

So just a super quick post: I made it half way to Spain. And now I have to re-plan everything, because of some circumstances. Takes a few days more than planned to get there, but it should work out.

I spoke a tiny bit of Swedish in Sweden! Someone asked me whether I know where which wagon of the train was supposed to stop. I didn't know, but that doesn't matter. I did understand the questions asked and could react in an appropriate manner and the person understood me, too. (I still wonder, did I look more approachable eating a kanelbulle than everyone else, or was it just an accident, because the person stood next to me on the platform anyway?)
Otherwise I only bought food and understood announcements in the train. Nothing too special, though the train did only go to Malmö instead of Copenhagen. But there was always a translation into English. It was just slightly shorter.
I think that it was quit good for the few hours (!) I had in Sweden.
Travel.jpg
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tiia
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Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby tiia » Mon Sep 12, 2022 1:21 pm

Another short update:

A week ago I made it finally to Spain. Or better to say to the Basque Country. And to make it more difficult even to the probably most Basque region there is. :D I often cannot even understand the menu, because it may be written in Basque only. It is simply the default language here.

I'm mostly speaking Spanish with my friend (and their family) so that I have already difficulties when speaking Finnish. (But my friend wants to practice as it is otherwise almost impossible to speak Finnish down here.) Although I'm lacking words and making mistakes it is now the most natural thing to react in Spanish. It's really interesting to see how fast my brain has been adapting to the situation.

When people hear I'm on vacation here, they seem to be happy that I can at least understand castellano.
I haven't been doing so much stuff on my own yet, but I still have around two weeks here until starting the return trip. It will be really interesting to see how my Spanish is going to be after three weeks. Remember, that this is the first time inside a Spanish speaking country after starting to learn the language.
Not sure how much I will actually travel inside the country, but I for sure have already seen different parts here than a normal tourist would.
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tiia
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x 1997

Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby tiia » Fri Sep 16, 2022 8:35 pm

And the same day I wrote the last entry, I reserved tickets to Barcelona for the next day. Now I already returned, so it was quite a short time there. But I finally made it! It was originally (already years ago) the only place in Spain I knew I wanted to visit as Parque Güell was the one thing that kinda got me at some point. But already in school a teacher showed us one photo of Barcelona each week - for two years.

Barcelona, however, is not the best place for practicing Spanish. (It is very beautiful though and I could have spent more time there.) People are too used to tourists and switch the language too fast, especially in touristy places or when in a hurry. Anyway, I could use it a bit, but luckily I had the week before to get used to the language in advance.

small edit: mistake due to being disturbed by a playful cat. My hands are full of scratches. :D
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tiia
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x 1997

Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby tiia » Mon Oct 10, 2022 9:02 pm

Coming back from Barcelona ended up with getting another infection. I just didn't really know that yet, when I wrote the last entry. Damn, was I lucky...
About a week ago I arrived back in Finland. I have to be honest, I didn't want to leave. Visited my family a second time and other family members I hadn't seen for years.
I'm still trying to catch up with writing my travel diary (still one week missing), which for some reasons decided to write entirely in Finnish. It's sometimes hard to do so, as all the stuff happend in Spanish and then Spanish words pop up instead of Finnish ones. Ususally I don't write something like that at all, but I thought this time it could be a good idea to do so.
I also still want to look through all the photos I've taken. There are sooo many :)

I've visited the language cafe now twice since my return, and I see there a jump in my Spanish skills, too. It's just much more fluent. Today and also once during the vacations I did get compliments for my pronunciation. 8-)

And now I'd still like to tell one anecdote from when I returned. Maybe I'll later have to add some version of it to the "You know you're a language learning nerd, when..." -thread.

I was about to get on the ferry back to Finland and went to the check-in. Due to the type of ticket I had, I had to do this in person. I managed to do it in Swedish, which was really nice. Directly from the check-in I could board the ferry without any waiting time, as I had tried to used my time in Stockholm as well as I could. (Btw. did you know, that there are more places in Stockholm selling churros than in the center of Bilbao?)
So I boarded the ferry and at the entrance the staff was waiting and asking everyone, whether they needed help. I thought it might be a good idea to ask where my cabin was, as they would know way better how to find it. So the guy was asking me in Swedish, Finnish and English, which language I preferred. (English was definitely the third option he mentioned.) And then my brain got confused. I had planned to do this in Swedish, but somehow suddenly my brain mixed up sentences in several languages, meaning "Yes" or "I am ok with all of them". And so I simply couldn't answer at all.
He then asked a second time in all three languages and my brain was really stressed to say "yes" in any of those languages. I tell you, it feels extremely weird to stand in front of someone and not being able to answer such a simple question.
And then I responded with "Sí".
Out of all the options I had, my brain decided to use the only option that was not offered. :D
The guy then decided to use English (understandable, if you're unsure what the person actually speaks) and it was indeed very useful that I had asked, as the lowest deck is only accessible by two elevators out of 12 or so.

So this is what happens, when my brain becomes overwhelmed by all the possible language choices after having some kind of three week immersion in Spanish. (Though it had been already a few days since I had started the return trip.)
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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Tue Oct 11, 2022 11:16 pm

tiia wrote:Coming back from Barcelona ended up with getting another infection. I just didn't really know that yet, when I wrote the last entry. Damn, was I lucky...

Having a playful cat, better watch out for cat-scratch fever. Yes, it's a real thing.
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tiia
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Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby tiia » Wed Oct 12, 2022 5:50 am

MorkTheFiddle wrote:
tiia wrote:Coming back from Barcelona ended up with getting another infection. I just didn't really know that yet, when I wrote the last entry. Damn, was I lucky...

Having a playful cat, better watch out for cat-scratch fever. Yes, it's a real thing.

Well, I'm quite sure that I got that infection either in the hostel or somewhere else in Barcelona. One of the reasons being the symptoms starting during the train ride back... But that is not the only reason why I suspect that.
In Barcelona there was a cat I could cuddle with in a church yard, but it was really friendly and didn't caused any scratches. It just tried to lick everything and didn't want to let me go. :D

With the scratches from my friends cat, however, I was taking care, that nothing was looking suspicious in any way. They are now healed, but the scars are still visible. It's still sad though, that now I don't have a cat to play with anymore. :( (Even though that cat is a bit special, which is why you get so many scratches in the first place.)
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tiia
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x 1997

Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby tiia » Sat Nov 05, 2022 1:11 pm

One week to go until my Finnish language exam (YKI ylin taso). I don't feel too well prepared. Was ist a good idea to plan it just 6 weeks after my vacation? Probably not. :D But since the exam is only held about 2 times per year at this level, I had hardly any choice.

They did sent a link to a survey regarding previous study habits/language knowledge in the language for scientific purpose. So that included questions like:
- personal details and profession,
- in what situations you use the language (work, family, shop, etc.) and how frequent,
- whether you live in the place where the language is spoken* and
- for how long and for how long you learned the language.
I was slightly unsure in what category to put myself when it came to the time living here, because depending on whether I count my exchange year or not, I fell into different categories. Also the question how long you learned the language is tricky as people often understand is as "actively studying", but forget, that after a certain point you will just be using it. However, you never stop learning completely, not even your native language. (And that is why I usually like to answer "I started X years ago, and it took me 8 years until I said I was fluent.") At least there was a question on what activities you had done for learning the language more recently, so in this case it my still be ok. And I really missed a comments field at the end of the survey.

*There are also YKI-tests for other languages than Finnish and Swedish.

But even though I may have done not enough to get the most out of the exam, at least I finished writing the travel diary about a month after the return. That was quite some handwriting to do and in the preparatory course in the summer we were told that it would be a good thing to practise before the exam. So maybe I have done "something", even though a travel diary is much easier to write than the kind of texts I'm expecting for the exam. I expect writing to be my lowest skill for now, simply because it wasn't trained as much as the other skills.


Otherwise, I finished reading Teemestarin kirja and went to the movie. Or better say the cinematic adaptation of the book (Veden vartija). Although the movie is not as successful as they expected, the topic in general is super relevant today. I would not have thought that the availability of clean drinking water would become so much more important in Europe just 10 years after the book was written.
The movie itself changed a lot from the book. It's more like they took some key moments of the book and put them in a different order to make it easier to make a movie out of it. I do recognise the book there and the main story. But that's it. Maybe it's better not trying to compare the two too much. But I have to say I prefer the landscapes that I imagined in mind when reading.

When it comes to the book, I have to admit, that there is one point towards the end, where I don't understand the action of the protagonist at all. It's basically that she knows she's gonna be in struggle. She knows it extremly well in that moment. She sees all the alarm signs and I do think she understands them as well. And under those circumstances her choice what to do / not to do, is just somehow stupid. It doesn't seem to fit that well to her character otherwise. (They changed that part in the movie completely btw.)
But the rest of the book was a great read.


I don't know how much I should still write about my trip around Europe. I mean I wrote at least something, but if you have something in mind, you want to know, feel free to ask. :)
I'm still sorting photos and it will definitely take a while. At least they are now all on my laptop, so it's easier to share them. This one is probably going to be one of my favorites, though not the only one. It's from Zumaia and it was totally worth to come there a second time to see the rock formation during low tide while the sea level was already rising. During high tide all the rocks in the picture are under water.
Zumaia_small.JPG


PS. I slightly broke the space bar on my external keyboard some months ago. No repairment tips needed. Just to let you know, that if you spot missing spaces in my writings, it's because of that.
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