Systematiker's attempt at a log

[Systematiker]

I've got the Bible with audio,

Which one? I am asking, because there are three main versions in the bookstores these days (plus several others not that widely spread among general public). The "normal" ecumenical one, used by various churches (except for those who like to twist the text too much, from what I've heard), which is a high quality translation, sounding a bit "dated", which is ok, it is the Bible. The second one is a "recent" translation of the Jerusalem Bible. The translators had been working on it for thirty years, they had started more or less illegally during the communism (the regime was strongly against all kinds of religion, actively fighting it in every way they could think of), and worked with both the French Jerusalem Bible and the original languages. I've recently bought myself a copy and the bits I've read so far sound very good. Than there is one translation that is the most modern, yet I would warn language learners against it. Bible21 is the most modern, using contemporary language on purpose, but perhaps too much. Especially some parts sound really weird. Perhaps you might be learning more "colloquial" language from it, I don't know, but you may encounter difficulties, if you want to use it as dual language text, side by side with the Bible in another language.

And now I hope I don't look too stupid, trying to tell you something about our Bibles

This is actually extremely helpful! Thank you!
I initially had the Bible21, since that was the only version with audio, and I wasn't sure how precise it was. The formatting and date made me guess it was probably a "contemporary language" paraphrase, but I couldn't tell. The YouVersion app also has under Čeština the text without audio for the Bible Kralicá 1613, the Ceský studijní preklad, and the Slovo na cestu. However, I've just checked the Gideons' app, and it also has the Český ekumenický překlad with audio (and now that I've seen that word two different ways and can guess its meaning, I have to figure out whether it is spelled with r or ř).

I'll probably do once through the ecumenical version, comparing words, and then once through Bible21, since the language itself is less transparent. I'm using more contemporary versions in Portuguese (Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje) and Swedish (Svenska Folkbibeln 98) because I've got 99%+ transparency and don't need to compare words, so I've started on the contemporary version as it's the one most often with audio. I'll do a text-only read-through of a more traditional version afterward. I'm not currently doing French in a plan, mostly because the Louis Segond 1910 sucked to read (but had audio) and I've been too lazy to mess with evaluating my other options. In Spanish, though, it's the Reina Valera that has audio and is most widespread for Protestants, so I've been using the 1995 and 1960 versions (more the 1995, but the 1960 version is quite poetic).

Thank you again, especially for getting to this before I got rolling on a reading plan (and, it means I can start - the YouVersion app only allows one version of each automated plan active at a time, so by switching to another app as my source I don't have to wait for a low-intensity plan to finish out / drop a current one half-through)!

Edit: it's just the audio . So I've got to use the audio there and BibleServer to read it online. Well, at least it's still possible. I'm listening only right now, in about John 4, catching a fair bit (and I think I've got part of the conjugations in present and past, and definitely an instance of the instrumental case [but idk how much it varies]).

[Cavesa]

Don't use Bible Kralická. It is an extremely important translation from the historical point of view, but definitely useless for someone learning modern Czech. Český studijní překlad is, from what I've read, trying to be very precise, to respect the originals as much as possible, but that again may not be the best quality for language learning. Or perhaps it could, since wikipedia tells me it comes with a lot of linguistic notes and references to the original languages, perhaps that would be ideal for you. I personally dislike Bible21 based on bits I read from it in a bookstore and some quite negative reviews of it, but it is possible it does have some qualities for learners, even though I find it too informal and I don't think that any Bible should be the ideal resource on contemporary and quite informal Czech. But it may be just my prejudice, I read it was the most sold book of 2009, which is a great thing. Slovo na cestu looks interesting, I did't know about it.

And there should be Nová Bible Kralická, which should be the famous historical one "translated" to modern Czech with some corrections based on the original languages, available in 2018.

Překlad means translation. And it is with ř.

[Systematiker]

Thanks for that information as well!

I figured the Kralická was the Bohemian Reformation era thing, but I didn't know there was going to be an updated version (though it makes sense). If I were going to buy a physical copy and have the textual notes, the Český studijní překlad would probably be great, but it's just the text that is available on the app so I'll be missing the study notes - and really, I'm hoping that I'll get enough words to hook onto that I can work out the sentences rather than needing something with 1-1 equivalency. I'm definitely going with the Ecumenical Translation first.

I end up doing all this reading on top of the normal reading I do in the Bible for my personal reasons - slowly this is making up the bulk of my daily reading of anything, but that's OK too.

And thanks also for the spelling and clarifying my definition - I had it loosely in my mind as "version", so you've save me a bit of trouble there as well.

[Systematiker]

Actual update time!

Spanish
ES Reading: 3019 / 10000 ES Film: 127 / 200
ES NT: 51 / 89
Ah Spanish. I'm back to FSI, doing unit 17 now, audio only in the car. It's OK. Output practice is good. And I always find plenty to do in Spanish when I feel like doing something. Or r/musicaenespanol is a good way to waste time.

French
FR Reading: 1718 / 10000 FR Film: 79 / 200
There's not been much in the bars here, but I have been reading small amounts (unlogged) and listening to podcasts. I'm just kind of plugging along in French at the moment. r/ecouteca is neat, too.

Portuguese
PT Reading: 0 / 10000 PT Film: 12 / 200
PT NT: 16 / 60
Not doing too poorly here. The main issue is the reading plan - it's about four chapters each day, but it isn't adjusted for chapter length. I'm in Luke, which means super long chapters - with the audio, sometimes 12-13 minutes each, so I've missed a few days. Other than that, though, not much, as I haven't been listening much to PT podcasts or watching film.


Catalan
CAT Reading: 3 / 10000 CAT Film: 5 / 200
Pretty much just some podcasts. I'll watch something over lunch tomorrow probably. I'll be doing an NT plan when my current Spanish one is done (I use automatically tracking plans within the app, and there are only so many plans that work for me, and one can't have more than one instance of the same plan running. There's a 40-day NT I could do, but that was hard in Spanish).


Swedish
SV NT: 5 / 365
The other film and reading bars haven't changed any, they are still
SV Reading: 455 / 10000 SV Film: 31 / 200
I also re-started a novel, with way better understanding, but then somehow have mislaid it. If I can find it, I'll be reading on that as well. There's also been a bit of Swedish music posted on, I think, Morgana's log, which was slightly a rabbit hole.

Danish
Morgonandagten when I run - which, due to the weather, hasn't been daily lately. So I'm twice failing on that front. Maybe I'll feel like it again tomorrow. No change in the film or reading bars at the moment.
DK Reading: 30 / 10000 DK Film: 5 / 200

Latin
This has been lacking a bit, I need to do some more reading.

Ancient Greek
Working with some students, and regular NT practice. Read a few verses today, feeling pretty good without a dictionary.

Hebrew
Not a great deal, but I'm about to go look at some OT passages, so that's something.

Korean
I've finished Pimsleur Korean I, and I probably won't do II anytime soon. For some reason, they introduce a past tense form in like the last lesson or two, and that's a bit much all of a sudden. Well, it's time to start back on the book...tomorrow.

Dutch
I've been attracted to Dutch again the last couple of days. Not quite enough to get off the ground doing anything, but I might pick up my novel yet today.






Czech
Oh hello Czech. I totally didn't listen to most of the Gospel of John in Czech the other day. Nope, not me.

[Systematiker]

Well, the week was off to a good start, but then distractions happened. A busy weekend on top of that made for not tons of progress. And then I decided to spend my free time for a few days playing computer games instead of doing anything useful. And I could even switch the language, but haven't.

Spanish
I've only made it to Unit 20 of FSI. I'm getting used to having a phone that can actually hold music as well as anything else, after upgrading, so I've spent a lot of my commute listening to a playlist I'm slowly developing. This is odd for me, I don't normally listen to that much popular music (I'm more Coltrane and Bach), but I've garnered so may neat suggestions from videos shared here and elsewhere that I've at least got a multilingual playlist. That's not really Spanish-specific, but it's the reason I didn't do much. I did get some new books in Spanish.
ES NT: 54 / 89
Currently reading:
La violencia del Amor
El Club Dumas
Lorca's Obras Completas
Luther's Commentario sobre Galatas

French
Also a victim of the free-time sink. I read a little bit of Philosophie du moyen âge, and a translation of Luther's Explication du Psaume 51, the latter of which I would have finished if I hadn't been playing so much. I picked up an Irène Némirovsky book, after Blaurebell talked so highly of her, but haven't started it yet.
FR NT: 2 / 365

Portuguese
Not even podcasts lately, but I've started reading a translation of Bonhoeffer's Discipulado.
PT NT: 18 / 60

Catalan
A few podcasts, and the music...
Currently reading when I remember:
Arrels

Swedish
I've been running into a lot more Swedish, and really getting songs stuck in my head has had a lot to do with my digression into music instead of language study in the car (hey, but that's why I do this, to enjoy it, right?).
SV NT: 8 / 365
Currently reading:
Röda rummet
Vägen till Jerusalem

Danish
Literally nothing aside from the Morgonandagten

Latin


Ancient Greek
Well, I read a pericope every week now, that's something, right?

Hebrew


Korean
High hopes for progress after finishing Pimsleur have not materialized. I really need to sit down and do some Korean.

Czech
We didn't start yet, right? Because I didn't start...

[big boots]

And then I decided to spend my free time for a few days playing computer games instead of doing anything useful. And I could even switch the language, but haven't.

What kinds of games do you like playing?

One of the first things I did after re-starting to learn German as an adult was to find a German copy of Monkey Island 2, the English version of which I'd played through many times as a kid. My vocabulary wouldn't have been up to playing just any arbitrary game, but knowing many of the lines in the English version off by heart made it a very effective (and fun) learning tool.

[Systematiker]

And then I decided to spend my free time for a few days playing computer games instead of doing anything useful. And I could even switch the language, but haven't.

What kinds of games do you like playing?

One of the first things I did after re-starting to learn German as an adult was to find a German copy of Monkey Island 2, the English version of which I'd played through many times as a kid. My vocabulary wouldn't have been up to playing just any arbitrary game, but knowing many of the lines in the English version off by heart made it a very effective (and fun) learning tool.

I'm playing Civilization V at the moment. I used to play a lot, and kind of got out of the habit of FPS, RTS, and RPG stuff when I was in grad school. I actually haven't played much of anything for years, but I've got some friends who use Steam to hang out and play together, and then I had to buy something to activate my account, and I've played all the previous Civ games...

I did go and change the language to French after this post though, so next time I'll be getting a little out of it

[Systematiker]

Alright, a little intentional focus, and things are coming right along.

I'm still not doing FSI Spanish worth a doggone, but I suppose that'll come, or not, it's really just to make me feel more confident at speed in conversation.

I've decided not to use the Modern Korean book I have digitally, but rather sit down with my old copy of Korean in 100 hours. I got this as a gift in 2006 - there's a gift inscription that a friend wrote, and all I can read is my name, her name, and the date. I did the first section of the first lesson today, which was all 100% familiar stuff, but I don't feel that I should skip anything. I can handle doing a section daily Tues-Fri, probably. I'm also going to try to watch some shorter YouTube stuff when I have lunch. Korean needs to have some serious attention given to it, I'm running out of time to get stability before a serious setback happens.

I also took some intentional time with Greek today, and I think I've got a cycle of working with Greek text for those four study days as well.

And I've not only begun to catch up on missed days in Danish in the NT (the plan's not in the app, so I forgot about it), I've also started reading Den kristne frihed , which is familiar enough that I can follow what's going on and get some benefit out of it.

I'll probably finish my Explication this afternoon, and work on the Spanish Galatas commentary. It really helps that I'm going to teach an intensive course on some of this, so reading through these is actual work as well as language study. Really, it's helpful that I can combine so much of my work with language study - all this NT reading, a lot of theological reading and re-reading, the exegetical work with Greek and Hebrew - that's all something I'd be doing (maybe not the same amount of NT every day) in English if I weren't doing it in another language, it's kind of a "maintaining currency" thing both for the parish and for teaching.

Digression time: Various perspectives of translation also are really insightful, even when I've read the original. For example, a major theological influence for me (and a significant part of my own academic work) has been the works of Wolfhart Pannenberg. I'm actually a translator into English for a volume trying to explain his overall program - he's been often misunderstood. I found a copy of some of his major works in Spanish the other day, and the translator wrote a 20-something page introduction to Pannenberg's thought, complete with a pictorial chart that is honestly one of the best explanations of what is actually going on there that I've ever encountered (and the shortest!). It's super amazing, and super useful - and if I hadn't decided to re-read the volume in Spanish (after having read it in German probably 10x in my heavily marked copy, and English a couple of times for quotes for the translation as well), I would never have encountered that. 90% of my office/study time can (or is by default) be done in a TL, even if it's sometimes double work or slower, and I really treasure that opportunity.

In language-related but rarely mentioned German, it's summer and it feels like summer in Germany here, and that makes me want to read Die Wahlverwandtschaften. I don't know why, it started a while back, I've read it almost every summer since 2009 or 2010. There's not many books I re-read, or read every year, but that's one of them (and those years I finish it and still feel like it, I read Werther as well). Actually, I have connected this habit to languages before - I usually read the Lord of the Rings in the winter, and this last year I tried The Hobbit in Spanish instead. I don't think I ever finished it, I'll have to go back and do that.

[jeff_lindqvist]

There's not many books I re-read, or read every year, but that's one of them (and those years I finish it and still feel like it, I read Werther as well). Actually, I have connected this habit to languages before - I usually read the Lord of the Rings in the winter, and this last year I tried The Hobbit in Spanish instead. I don't think I ever finished it, I'll have to go back and do that.

I always get into LotR mood around Christmas - it started in 1989 when I bought some supplementary material for the Middle Earth Role Playing game (MERP). Among many #1 associations with Christmas holidays, LotR (and the languages) is one of them.

However, I haven't read the books since maybe 2002 (finished in three or four days!), but I have seen the movies at least once a year.

[Systematiker]

I figured it's time for a change of name, the "attempt" seems to be working, anyway.

Spanish
ES Reading: 3019 / 10000 ES Film: 127 / 200
ES NT: 60 / 89
I'm a bit behind on my NT reading, but otherwise still just plugging along. I keep on reading, occasionally watching, and with half a year left, I'd have done the Super Challenge just fine. I haven't made much progress on FSI, it just is such a drag. Haven't read too much either, but I might finish Galatas this week. Lots of podcasts.

French
FR Reading: 1887 / 10000 FR Film: 79 / 200
FR NT: 15 / 365 FR Bible minus Pent: 32 / 90
Here, one notices that I picked back up the old whole-Bible plan I had for French. I won't make it in the number of days, but since my reading speed has increased, I shouldn't have as much problem completing it. I'll be done with the remaining two months in three, then I'll take a bit of a break. I've been neglecting watching in general, and French video in particular, as I can't seem to get into anything at the moment. I've started a couple things that I should get back to. For reading, I finished my Luther translation and will probably start the Némirovsky book soon. Listened to a few podcasts, including some faster news ones that I didn't have great understanding on before.

Portuguese
PT Reading: 0 / 10000 PT Film: 12 / 200
PT NT: 18 / 60
Totally got behind on the NT, but I've been corresponding a bit, and that's a good thing. I'm running into more and more PT on Facebook as well. Still reading Discipulado.

Catalan
CAT Reading: 3 / 10000 CAT Film: 5 / 200
CatRadio podcasts, and that's it.

Swedish
SV Reading: 455 / 10000 SV Film: 31 / 200
SV NT: 15 / 365
Moving right along in the NT, enjoying occasional music, bits of web browsing. I should carve out time to read, but I keep leaving my novel either at home when I have time in the study or in the study when I have time at home.

Danish
DK Reading: 72 / 10000 DK Film: 5 / 200
DK NT: 10 / 168
The daily podcast and the NT reading are really pushing me in Danish, and I feel slightly more comfortable in the language. I'm not sure why I chose to push it this hard. Perhaps because it's so much weaker in comparison. I did finish my little tractate, and I've got lots more where that came from, so I can indulge this whim while it lasts.

Latin
LAT Reading: 50 / 10000
Bleh, nothing.

Ancient Greek
GK Reading: 47 / 10000
Some good work on a couple of pages today. This is quite the slow process if I'm only going to do a couple of pages each week, but, well, it's still progress.

Hebrew
Oi. Nothing. Well, maybe I can still do a bit later this week. I'm toying with taking up Modern Hebrew again, but it's not wise.

Korean
Ha, so, the last time I said I did something was the last time I did something. In my defense, I haven't had the sort of desk-time that I normally have - Friday got eaten up by other obligations, I normally have Tues-Fri, and I took a half day today. So I should work on it tomorrow.

Czech
I'm resisting the temptation to start deciphering and goldlisting stuff (I want to try goldlist, I've never tried it before). Of course, since I've got enough on my plate at the moment, it's not that hard to resist the temptation.

Dutch
NL Reading: 66 / 10000 NL Film: 20 / 200
This is just here as a marker, I'm not expecting to report much on it.


I'm also resisting the temptation to take Gaelic and Basque back up. Or, depending on day, Welsh and Russian. They simply need to wait until I've got the ability to balance them out and won't lose progress in October. But that's the voice of reason, who listens to that?