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

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

Postby Elenia » Thu Jan 18, 2018 5:56 pm

tiia wrote:@ Elenia I did some search in the forum and you seem to have used Rivstart for self-learning. How did it work out? Because that would be the most obvious choice as we already use that book.
They even published a Rivstart B2-C1 last year. Still, the books are not cheap, I I don't know whetherthat will ever have an relevance for me, but it's nice to know there's material up to C1 at all. Even it's not really C1 as it is with many courses, I assume one still get's further than with other series.

Having read the "Wat makes a good log"-thread: What would you like to read more in this log? Books? Resources? Weird stories like Elias, the shark? Or something completely different?*


*Except politics due to the forum rules, although it would be actually useful to write about a certain aspects of politics in a language other than German or English.


I have to say, I didn't get very far through the Rivstart books. Maybe up to chapter four or five in the A1-A2 book? But I'd say they're a pretty good choice. They are geared for classroom learning, but the group/pair activities I saw can be done on one's own. They are also the books used by SFI (Svenska för invandrare) here in Sweden, as far as I can see. Otherwise, I sing the praises of FSI.

As to what makes a good log: I wouldn't profess to know. I've been following your log because I like it, so I'd personally say keep on logging how you want to :) it's working for me!
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tiia
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Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby tiia » Thu Jan 18, 2018 8:11 pm

Elenia wrote:
tiia wrote:@ Elenia I did some search in the forum and you seem to have used Rivstart for self-learning. How did it work out? Because that would be the most obvious choice as we already use that book.
They even published a Rivstart B2-C1 last year. Still, the books are not cheap, I I don't know whetherthat will ever have an relevance for me, but it's nice to know there's material up to C1 at all. Even it's not really C1 as it is with many courses, I assume one still get's further than with other series.

Having read the "Wat makes a good log"-thread: What would you like to read more in this log? Books? Resources? Weird stories like Elias, the shark? Or something completely different?*


*Except politics due to the forum rules, although it would be actually useful to write about a certain aspects of politics in a language other than German or English.


I have to say, I didn't get very far through the Rivstart books. Maybe up to chapter four or five in the A1-A2 book? But I'd say they're a pretty good choice. They are geared for classroom learning, but the group/pair activities I saw can be done on one's own. They are also the books used by SFI (Svenska för invandrare) here in Sweden, as far as I can see. Otherwise, I sing the praises of FSI.

As to what makes a good log: I wouldn't profess to know. I've been following your log because I like it, so I'd personally say keep on logging how you want to :) it's working for me!


I had tried to find some information about using them for self-learning but didn't really find that much, except you and aokoye mentioning them here as a good resource. Btw. we're now at chapter 8 of the A1+A2 book.
What I like about the book so far is that it's breaking the habit of using gender clichees too much. E.g. there's a young guy, who's more into shopping then a middle aged woman. Family members are introduced through a text about the aunt winning a Nobel price for chemnistry. Somewhere else I saw a text about a family, where it's the husband working from home and taking more care of the kids. (I'm not at that chapter yet.)

My Swedish dictionary arrived today, and so did four packets for different neighbours as the last package messenger didn't find the house for two days. His collegue delivered them today. (No, the house is not hidden nor particularly hard to find.)

Some time ago I wrote in Spanish about the problems I was having with the DVD menu of Charmed (Embrujadas). In the meantime I figured out that, although using the mouse for navigation is awful in this case, it works great using the keyboard.


På svenska: Mina grannar har två katter, en hankatt och en honkatt, som är jättegulliga. Jag träffar dem ofta i trappuppgången och framför porten. Sedan väntar de att de kan gå hem. Hankatten är ganska tillgiven. Man kan (nästan) alltid mysa med honom. Honkatten är blygare, men jag också kunde mysa med henne igår. Ibland sitter jag på trappan med en katt. Kanske är det lite sällsam, men jag tycker mycket om katterna. (Okej, jag tycker egentligen om alla katter.)


edit: Typo in the Swedish part.
Last edited by tiia on Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Elenia
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Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby Elenia » Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:15 pm

tiia wrote:
Elenia wrote:
tiia wrote:@ Elenia I did some search in the forum and you seem to have used Rivstart for self-learning. How did it work out? Because that would be the most obvious choice as we already use that book.
They even published a Rivstart B2-C1 last year. Still, the books are not cheap, I I don't know whetherthat will ever have an relevance for me, but it's nice to know there's material up to C1 at all. Even it's not really C1 as it is with many courses, I assume one still get's further than with other series.

Having read the "Wat makes a good log"-thread: What would you like to read more in this log? Books? Resources? Weird stories like Elias, the shark? Or something completely different?*


*Except politics due to the forum rules, although it would be actually useful to write about a certain aspects of politics in a language other than German or English.


I have to say, I didn't get very far through the Rivstart books. Maybe up to chapter four or five in the A1-A2 book? But I'd say they're a pretty good choice. They are geared for classroom learning, but the group/pair activities I saw can be done on one's own. They are also the books used by SFI (Svenska för invandrare) here in Sweden, as far as I can see. Otherwise, I sing the praises of FSI.

As to what makes a good log: I wouldn't profess to know. I've been following your log because I like it, so I'd personally say keep on logging how you want to :) it's working for me!


I had tried to find some information about using them for self-learning but didn't really find that much, except you and aokoye mentioning them here as a good resource. Btw. we're now at chapter 8 of the A1+A2 book.
What I like about the book so far is that it's breaking the habit of using gender clichees too much. E.g. there's a young guy, who's more into shopping then a middle aged woman. Family members are introduced through a text about the aunt winning a Nobel price for chemnistry. Somewhere else I saw a text about a family, where it's the husband working from home and taking more care of the kids. (I'm not at that chapter yet.)

My Swedish dictionary arrived today, and so did four packets for different neighbours as the last package messenger didn't find the house for two days. His collegue delivered them today. (No, the house is not hidden nor particularly hard to find.)

Some time ago I wrote in Spanish about the problems I was having with the DVD menu of Charmed (Embrujadas). In the meantime I figured out that, although using the mouse for navigation is awful in this case, it works great using the keyboard.


På svenska: Mina grannar har två katter, en hankatt och en honkatt, som är jättegulliga. Jag träffar dem ofta i trappuppgången och framför porten. Sedan väntar de att de kan gå hem. Hankatten är ganska tillgiven. Man kan (nästan) alltid mysa med honom. Honkatten är blzgare, men jag också kunde mysa med henne igår. Ibland sitter jag på trappan med en katt. Kanske är det lite sällsam, men jag tycker mycket om katterna. (Okej, jag tycker egentligen om alla katter.)


It's now officially past my screen cut off line, so I'll make this quick. I haven't noticed that, as I haven't worked much with Rivstart (as said). But FSIs gender stereotypes really show it's age. Just today I listened to lesson eight and if was about a husband and wife going shopping. Of course the wife bought a new dress and wanted to go to a fur shop with a sale on, although the husband thought they had shopped enough for the day :roll: so if you have a low tolerance for that sort of thing than I'd say you should steer well clear.

Won't (and can't) really give corrections on the text, but it seems like your Swedish has taken a huge leap. Well done! I would say that you should write '...jag kunde också mysa med henne igår' or even 'jag kunde även mysa med henne igår', but as I still don't understand sub-clauses myself, perhaps you shouldn't listen to me at all. (As in, I do not know if that sentence is a sub-clause or not.)
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tiia
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Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby tiia » Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:37 pm

Oh, I guess you're right, that it's not a sub-clause. (I probably should have known that... I most likely have had this main clause sub-clause thing back in school in German and Latin... Not sure about English, though.)

Btw. I had to look up quite some words for the text above. But that's the way to learn the words I need in my life, isn't it?
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Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Thu Jan 18, 2018 10:59 pm

tiia wrote:På svenska: Mina grannar har två katter, en hankatt och en honkatt, som är jättegulliga. Jag träffar dem ofta i trappuppgången och framför porten. Sedan väntar de att de kan gå hem. Hankatten är ganska tillgiven. Man kan (nästan) alltid mysa med honom. Honkatten är blygare, men jag också kunde mysa med henne igår. Ibland sitter jag på trappan med en katt. Kanske är det lite sällsam, men jag tycker mycket om katterna. (Okej, jag tycker egentligen om alla katter.)


In case you want a few grammar pointers:
Sedan väntar de att de kan gå hem. (vänta på - to wait for something/someone, transitive verb)
(...)men jag kunde också mysa med henne igår. (word order; treat this as another main clause)
Kanske är det lite sällsamt (agreement/congruence; in this case, if you use impersonal det and add an adjective, it should also end in -t (rare exceptions exist))
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tiia
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Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby tiia » Thu Jan 25, 2018 5:04 pm

Okay short update: I didn't get the job, but I actually don't mind that much. There were also some circumstances feeding my doubts whether I should really do this, even if they would actually offer me a job. So at least I can say that I've tried this opportunity, which otherwise would have been too good not to try. So I don't have to regret anything.
It also means I can travel more. :D So after two years I'm going to go to Finland again. :)

I wrote three rather short emails in Finnish today and again I had the feeling that my writing skills declined a lot, although the third one was already better somehow. It's just like it felt when I wrote the text for the islandhoppers here. The text is by far not perfect, I don't even know whether it would be worth a correction at all. But next time I'll try to do better.

Today I should still do the homework for Swedish tomorrow. We now started with chapter 9 of the book. Next week friday are the exams, so there's really not much left of the two courses.
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tiia
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Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby tiia » Sun Jan 28, 2018 11:45 pm

I booked the flight today. :) It may be a rather expensive holiday this time, but I feel like I just have to do it. I haven't been there since February/March 2016, that's almost two years.

When I deceided, which dates I should take, I thought "well that's rather long time planning for you this time", just because I chose the latest date within the prospective time window and that was in the middle of the next month. Then I realised, that this day was only 17 days from now, so basically just in around two weeks.
Pretty much all of my latest travels since ehm.. since I'm travelling abroad alone* basically have been done maximum three weeks ahead I think. (At least what the booking dates tell me.) Often it was even less than two weeks before the arrival.

Damn it tiia, you're a master at making long time plans, aren't you? :lol:


But honestly I keep prosepctive dates often for quite some time in mind, before fixing them (Which was the case this time). On the other hand somtimes it's just that I book as soon as I realise there is an available time window for travelling at all.


*My first travel alone was within Germany to get to know my current city. I planned around 3 months ahead to get cheap train tickets.
I started travelling alone also abroad in 2011, when due to some circumstances I thought "I have to go. There's nothing holding you back right now. Go as soon as possible. Tomorrow." - In fact "tomorrow" was a bit too ambitious for travelling to Finland, so I left exactly one week after the decision. I've seen so much during the one week I stayed there. Probably the most memorable trip I've done alone. Weird time back then...
(No, that was not my first time in Finland, but my third.)


edit: corrected the year of the last visit.
edit2: I found one flight that was booked 1 month before the journey.
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tiia
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Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby tiia » Fri Feb 02, 2018 8:45 pm

I had both language exams today. The grades should be published the 5th of march.

På svenska: Först skrev jag det svenskt testet på morgonen. Testet var lätt, men jag gjorde en fel eller kanske mer än en. Efter testet vi sjöng en sång tillsammans, därför att vår lärare tycker om att sjunga sånger med hennes kurser.
Sedan hade jag en fritimme. Jag gick på ett litet café som är i biblioteket. Där åt jag lite, drack en te och läste lite på spanska. Sedan gick till spanskt testet.

Back to English: The Spanish test was a lot more difficult, of course it was at whole different level of the CEFR scale. But later I found out, that I was by far not the only one, who struggled a bit with it, especially with the listening comprehension. I mean, the audio was quite clear, but rather long and maybe a bit fast.* It was difficult to keep track which question was now being answered. (They were printed on two pages, not really in chronological order, as they were divided into different types of tasks.)
I also struggled with answering the reading comprehension part, as I think I understood the text, but was confused what the answer should be to those questions. So we'll see what the result will be. It would be just nice to pass. The grade doesn't really matter, and even passing doesn't really matter, I would just like to have a positive outcome, as there's no option for me to re-take the course.

*It didn't seem that fast compared to watching Embrujadas, more like the same speed, but it was full of relevant information, which is making everything a lot harder.


Btw. I'm now at the second half of the fourth season of Embrujadas.
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Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sat Feb 03, 2018 11:55 am

tiia wrote:På svenska: Först skrev jag det svenskt testet på morgonen. Testet var lätt, men jag gjorde en fel eller kanske mer än en. Efter testet vi sjöng en sång tillsammans, därför att vår lärare tycker om att sjunga sånger med hennes kurser.
Sedan hade jag en fritimme. Jag gick på ett litet café som är i biblioteket. Där åt jag lite, drack en te och läste lite på spanska. Sedan gick till spanskt testet.


Grammar time!

Först skrev jag det svenskt svenska testet på morgonen. (definite ending - definite articles den/det/(de for plural) adds an -a to the adjective; the gender matters when it's indefinite, but not when it's definite, cf. German ein rotes Haus vs. das rote Haus - it's the same principle, really)

Testet var lätt, men jag gjorde en ett fel eller kanske mer än en ett. (noun gender)

Efter testet sjöng vi sjöng en sång tillsammans, därför att vår lärare tycker om att sjunga sånger med hennes sina kurser. (word order - V2, verb in the second position 1 [Efter testet] (=this is one unit) 2 sjöng 3 vi;possessive reflexive pronoun - it's her (own) courses/classes, not someone else's - it's also used as an object)

Sedan hade jag en (fritimme)/håltimme. (Just choice of words, I've never used fritimme; håltimme is a more common word)

Jag gick (på)/till ett litet café som (är)/ligger i biblioteket. (choice of words - I use "på café" when it's a separate building or at least far from where I am at the moment;(ligga)/ligger is a handy "location" verb for all kinds of businesses, shops, institutions, departments, services)

Där åt jag lite, drack en kopp te och läste lite på spanska. (The sentence works without kopp, but that's what I would say)

Sedan gick jag till spanskt testet spansktestet/spanskatestet/spanskprovet/spanskaprovet. (missing pronoun; compound noun, with or without a middle -a-, -testet or -provet both work fine)
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tiia
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Re: tiia's log (Finnish, Spanish, Swedish)

Postby tiia » Sat Feb 03, 2018 1:44 pm

Wonderful!

I'll try some exercises on the adjective thing. I actually had been wondering about this already, when I read the title of one graded reader for Germans learning Swedish: "Den blodiga stranden". I didn't get, why the adjective had the ending -a.

Ok then till caféet, because the library is really just the next building from the place, where the language courses are held.

So in Swedish it's more like a "hole hour" than a free one? :D (In German it's Freistunde btw. But one can say "ein ziemlich zerlöcherter Stundenplan" when speaking about a schedule with lots of these.)
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