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

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
tiia
Blue Belt
Posts: 735
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2016 11:52 pm
Location: Finland
Languages: German (N), English (?), Finnish (C1), Spanish (B2??), Swedish (B2)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=2374
x 1997

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

Postby tiia » Fri Apr 21, 2023 10:49 am

And as the last time here a list of all the tasks/topics that were covered in the Swedish test. This time I knew already before the test, that I would like to remember the topics, so I tried to remember them as soon as possible after the test. But as you can expect, it's not 100% complete.
As my notes from last week were in two languages anyway (Swedish and German), this time I just write the list in English.
I think this list could also be interesting for preparation purposes, but in a forum as this one, someone may also just be curious about possible topics in such an exam.


Reading (total 8-10 texts, I definitely forgot something):
- Building a henhouse
- Sleep problems (sleep apnea)
- Planning to travel to the US with kids
- A visually impaired person and her life
- Job offer
- Apartment offer (just about 3-5 lines of text)
- Food waste

The text about the visually impaired person and the one about food waste were the longest ones with a length of about one page. The food waste one was what was considered to be the hardest one.


Writing:
1. You want to start a new hobby together with a friend. Write a message to that friend and tell them, what hobby, two things about the hobby and why they should join etc.
2. Write a message to your workplace and ask them for some time off in order to study something abroad. Explain when, where and what you would like to study and how that would be useful for your job.
3. Message for an online forum.Write your opinion and choose one of the two topics:
A) Exercise is the best medicine
B) Pro's and con's of a multicultural society


Listening:
- Founding of a Swedish school in St. Karins
- Boat fair in Göteborg
- A young woman had bought a bike. (What type of bike, why people were interested in it)
- Wild animals may go extinct. What is the impact of elephants in the nature?
- A student who started to organise events professionally
- Buying a jacket (situation in the shop)
- A woman doing a voluntary military service and what were the problems as a Swedish speaker to find information about that.
- Health and the impact of a persons weight on premature deaths (statistics)


Speaking:
1. Describe your neighbours

2. Dialogues:
2.1 You forgot the keys and need to call someone to open your door.
2.2 A family member has a birthday party abroad and you need to call your sons teacher to tell them that your son will be out of school, so that you can attend the party.

3. Situations (read the task for 20-30 sec, then talk 20-30 sec):
3.1 Describe a present you are giving your friend and why (you're talking to that friend)
3.2 Your friend is sick but doesn't want to go to the doctor. Try to convince them to go.
3.3 You have found something fromyour neighbours in the yard and try to return it to them.
3.4. A reporter from the radio asks you on the street for some hint how to save money.
3.5 You have some problem with a colleague at work. Try to tell them what the problem is.

4. Choose one of two topics:
A) Something with eating healthier
B) (I don't remember)
9 x
Corrections for entries written in Finnish, Spanish or Swedish are welcome.
Project 30+X: 25 / 30

User avatar
tiia
Blue Belt
Posts: 735
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2016 11:52 pm
Location: Finland
Languages: German (N), English (?), Finnish (C1), Spanish (B2??), Swedish (B2)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=2374
x 1997

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

Postby tiia » Thu Apr 27, 2023 9:07 pm

I started reviewing what I had learned in Basque before, now that I had not done anything for several weeks/months. I have forgotten quite some words, because I never really knew them. But it will come back quite fast.
The course got cancelled. And though it does make my weekly schedule easier, I am definitely not happy about it. :cry: Still thinking whether I should ask how many people even registered, because somehow that may be interesting to know? But I don't know.

Anyway, to not end on a negative note: even though the Swedish exam is over and I wanted to practise Spanish again at the language cafe, I ended up practising Swedish. Twice. And since I enjoyed P3 dokumentär so much while doing stuff at home, I have listend to several episodes after the exam, too. (Though I may be slightly picky, when it comes to the topics I chose so far.)
Finding a way to really integrate the language into my life would be quite useful to maintain or even improve the level I have now. I'm really curious about the test results and how well I actually estimated them based on the exam performance.
5 x
Corrections for entries written in Finnish, Spanish or Swedish are welcome.
Project 30+X: 25 / 30

User avatar
tiia
Blue Belt
Posts: 735
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2016 11:52 pm
Location: Finland
Languages: German (N), English (?), Finnish (C1), Spanish (B2??), Swedish (B2)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=2374
x 1997

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

Postby tiia » Fri May 05, 2023 1:24 pm

Finally the weather is nice (well there were some snowflakes yesterday and today) so I got some storage container from the office to my home, which had been waiting there already the whole winter. And I don't know really why, but I thought it would be a great idea to walk all the the way home carrying the container on a handtruck (Sackkarre, nokkakärry). I mean I could have taken a bus...
Anyway, that means I can clean my desk a bit and that includes sorting all the stuff from last year's interrail trip(s).
So here a flyer from Bilbao, that my friend picked up for me. (I guess you'll understand why.)
EuskeraMetroBilbao_2.jpg

Now I learned that Rotkehlchen is txantxangorri in Basque. (I'm too lazy to look up the name of that bird in English.)
The joy of learning random words in a new language :D Interesting to see, that both languages include the "red" in the name and that I could even remember that.
The (only) other word with "red" in it that I remember is bidegorri (lit. "red path" => cycling lane) - a very descriptive word as well.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
7 x
Corrections for entries written in Finnish, Spanish or Swedish are welcome.
Project 30+X: 25 / 30

User avatar
tiia
Blue Belt
Posts: 735
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2016 11:52 pm
Location: Finland
Languages: German (N), English (?), Finnish (C1), Spanish (B2??), Swedish (B2)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=2374
x 1997

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

Postby tiia » Sun May 21, 2023 4:44 pm

I could try out some Basque this week because my friend came over from Spain. The amount of Basque was limited and my skills are... :lol: Hearing on simple sentence usually meant thinking about a minute to understand it. My brain needs to do a lot of conscious decoding. And the pronunciation of j threw me off a few times. (The videos used have more something like a Spanish /ll/, but my friend uses something like a Spanish /j/. Btw both pronunciations are totally accepted.)

I also learn every now and then some dialectical words. The last video I watched had weekdays and therefore I was also taught the names for Saturday and Sunday that my friend is using instead of the standard ones. But what I find really funny is what the names actually mean. Monday is the first day of the week, tuesday is the day in between and wednesday is already the last day of the week (literally at least).
And then there are four more days... I'd like to have weeks like that for work :D

But in fact we used mostly a mix of Finnish and Spanish and then my brain started to throw in words in German... (usually at the beginning of a sentence and I mostly caught myself fast enough). I guess my brain started being either too comfortable or too confused.

At the language cafe I could also listen to some Russian and I was surprised how much I could guess what they were talking about. But that was probably mostly because I catched some (international) keywords and knew the people and their stories. If they would have talked about anything else, I would have been completely lost. But it was really interesting to see how much I still got, without knowing the language. (Remember all I did was about eight weeks of playing tim tam tom about a year ago.)
8 x
Corrections for entries written in Finnish, Spanish or Swedish are welcome.
Project 30+X: 25 / 30

User avatar
tiia
Blue Belt
Posts: 735
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2016 11:52 pm
Location: Finland
Languages: German (N), English (?), Finnish (C1), Spanish (B2??), Swedish (B2)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=2374
x 1997

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

Postby tiia » Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:35 pm

Waiting for exam results can take a while. On the 15th the two month period after the Swedish exam would have been over, so I was hoping for them to arrive soon. Yesterday I even looked up the post delivery days to know on what days I can even expect to receive any letter at all. (Post is only delivered every second weekday nowadays.) So I knew today would be another chance, and I was already pretty much hoping to finally receive my results as there would otherwise not be very many delivery days left before the 15th.
And the letter arrived! FINALLY!

tiia wrote:Speaking was definitely the worst part, especially because I messed up the one task. I hope it's still not too messed up and at least a pass (=B1), but I'm quite certain that this is definitely not a B2.
I do hope however, that I may get B2 for reading, because I felt like I managed quite well with that. I have no clue when it comes to writing and listening. I'm quite certain I should pass them, but the level? Let's not put too high hopes in there and expect (only) B1.


I got a 4 in all four skills. 8-)
So that means a B2. I'm surprised that it is even B2 in speaking after messing with two tasks...

It would be really interesting to know how it went for the other participants.



Not too much language learning during the last week, because I had my brother over for a visit and we also took a train to the Finnish-Swedish border (where he continued travelling through Sweden). So basically I have been in Sweden and crossed the border numerous times. So often, that I don't even know how often. It's kinda funny that it means that you also cross time zones or that you can be in two time zones at once.

I think this is just the perfect photo for this post:
Raja.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
18 x
Corrections for entries written in Finnish, Spanish or Swedish are welcome.
Project 30+X: 25 / 30

User avatar
Axon
Blue Belt
Posts: 775
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:29 am
Location: California
Languages: Native English, in order of comfort: Mandarin, German, Indonesian,
Spanish, French, Russian,
Cantonese, Vietnamese, Polish.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5086
x 3288

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

Postby Axon » Thu Jun 08, 2023 3:24 am

Congratulations on the excellent results!
7 x

Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
x 17566

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

Postby Cavesa » Sun Jun 11, 2023 6:20 pm

Congratulations!
1 x

User avatar
tiia
Blue Belt
Posts: 735
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2016 11:52 pm
Location: Finland
Languages: German (N), English (?), Finnish (C1), Spanish (B2??), Swedish (B2)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=2374
x 1997

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

Postby tiia » Sat Jul 01, 2023 4:18 pm

Something I should add about the Swedish exam: the YKI results can be converted to the scale used for the description of language skills in the public sector. Oral skills and written skills are treated seperately, but the general translation goes as follows:
B1 - YKI 3 - satisfactory (tyydyttävä)
B2 - YKI 4 - good (hyvä)
C1 - YKI 5 - good (hyvä)
C1 - YKI 6 - excellent (erinomainen)

That means my Finnish and Swedish skills would be basically treated the same :D And in addition to that it also means that I will probably never have a reason to take any other Swedish exam again, because I would have to be certain to have C2 skills and a need to prove that.
With a full B2 I am already eligible to study in Swedish (in Finland). Maybe some subjects may require higher skills, but generally speaking.
It would indeed make more sense to do another Finnish test than a Swedish one, except if I wanted to move to Sweden. That is because quite some jobs (in the public sector) require those excellent Finnish skills (but can probably make exceptions), but in most cases only satisfactory Swedish skills are needed.

Btw. at work we now have (in all the years I already work there) the first time a situation where we have to deliver some documents in Swedish. But luckily I don't have to do the translation. Instead I only have to write the Finnish version. :D

I went to Vaasa this month and heard quite some Swedish on the streets. I didn't use it though. It was interesting to see how much Swedish was used, despite there officially being only about 23% Swedish speakers (67% Finnish speakers and 9% other native languages according to wikipedia). One could easily assume that it would be more than just 23%.

Vaasa_butterfly.jpg
I really liked the walk at the sea in Vaasa including the wooden butterflies and some other animals. I didn't like the living mosquitos at night, though.
------

I finished the 24 Basque Lingua videos on youtube. The channel has more videos in general, but the rest are more separate ones. I'd personally even say that out of the 24, the last two don't really fit to the rest. Those last two ones are shorter, but so much faster, that because I had to pause the video a lot, you need the same time as for the other ones before.
So now I have to see how to continue with the book or someother resources/videos. Hopefully I can now manage with the book again. It had such a steep progression that I switched to the videos in first place. Hoping I would at least learn some more words etc.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
10 x
Corrections for entries written in Finnish, Spanish or Swedish are welcome.
Project 30+X: 25 / 30

User avatar
tiia
Blue Belt
Posts: 735
Joined: Tue Mar 15, 2016 11:52 pm
Location: Finland
Languages: German (N), English (?), Finnish (C1), Spanish (B2??), Swedish (B2)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=2374
x 1997

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

Postby tiia » Sun Jul 02, 2023 9:55 am

Something I wanted to add, but forgot: the actual costs of the complete Swedish journey over almost 6 years so far. Out of some reason I summed up the prices for the courses and then became interested in the total price.
Not everything was absolutely necessary, but anyway this is a non-optimized language learning journey. One cannot optimize everything and sometimes one doesn't want to.

Courses:
the first one was free, because it was still at uni.
The rest (10 courses of different length, most of them 12-13 x90min): 457€

Books:
Rivstart A1+A2 (used): 50€
Rivstart B1+B2: I got it from my parents for Christmas, but it would have be about 76€ today, though I think it was mor like 70 € when I actually got them. So 0...76€
Rivstart B2+C1: Also a Christmas present, but not yet really used. So this is not necessary to reach B2. Same pricing as the B1+B2 book. 0...76 €
Other books (dictionaries, graded reader, fictional books, some of them used):
About 60€ probabaly less.
I had to look up the price of one book and that price may have gone up since I bought it.
I also used one or two audio books from the library. (0€)

Books in total: 109€ - 262€, depending how you count some of them.
I guess I actually paid by myself only ~109€.
In order to reach B2, I'd say I used books worth about 185€.

YKI exam fee in 2023: 155€

Courses and exam fee: 612€
Including all books this makes 722-874€
In order to get the B2 certification, we end up with about 800€
(Ignoring that I got some as a present, but excluding the B2+C1 books)

Not included is all the tea I drank during the language cafés. (2,20€ each). Though I drank sometimes something else, too, this can be neglected. The people there already start heating the water before I even order. :D
It's also hard to include in the total price, because I often switch languages during the event.


I am honestly surprised how much the books added to the total price.
Anyway, although the price sounds like a lot at first, I have to say that considering that we're talking about several years and a certified B2, I think it's actually not that bad. (Finnish was more expensive, but Spanish was cheaper because of the amount of free university classes.)
10 x
Corrections for entries written in Finnish, Spanish or Swedish are welcome.
Project 30+X: 25 / 30

User avatar
språker
Yellow Belt
Posts: 88
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2021 11:46 am
Location: Vilnius, Lithuania
Languages: Swedish (N), English (C1), German (B2), French (A2), Lithuanian (B1 -- studying)
x 345

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

Postby språker » Sun Jul 02, 2023 3:12 pm

Still, language learning is a cheap sport, given how "long time" you get out of each book ;-)
tiia wrote:Rivstart A1+A2 (used): 50€
Rivstart B1+B2: I got it from my parents for Christmas, but it would have be about 76€ today, though I think it was mor like 70 € when I actually got them.
I have fond memories of these two books, from when I was teaching Swedish here in Lithuania for a couple of years. They are not bad, but for a native speaker they are so "politically correct" - selling how good Sweden is to those wanting to learn Swedish, but without ever saying so straightly.
3 x


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: CarlyD and 3 guests