Jeff's language log

[galaxyrocker]

Not sure how much Irish you're reading recently, but Litriocht is having a free world-wide shipping event through the end of the month. Just use Gaeilge17 at checkout.

[jeff_lindqvist]

Thanks! I may have a look when I get back from my mini-vacation.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2017 - Summary of week 40

Time for a late update. Last week, I only found time to do my Duolingo and Anki sessions. The reason for that was the upcoming trip to Oulu, Finland. (Hence, this post will be very similar to last year's.)

It took me and my friend three flights to get from one middle-of-nowhere to another middle-of-nowhere. At the hotel we stretched our legs for a short while and then went to have some pizza, well in time before the planned session. I met some fellow musicians I had played with a lot during the previous years. After nearly three hours of music, it was time to get ready for the evening concert. At Uusi Seurahuone we met Brent Cassidy (Festival Director), and then it was time for the Swedish dynamic duo Reeds and the Irish up-and-coming act Ríanta. The concert ended at midnight, and one hour later I went to a pub for very late session.

Saturday morning started with a well-needed breakfast. Around lunchtime we went to Valve Studio Cinema for the first presentation called Rann Na Feirste: A Community on the Brink?. After that, we spent some time in the café and chatted with our friends from Reeds while waiting for the next presentation - The Song Tradition of North West Donegal. Chinese take-away, then I went to a session which was packed, so I headed for Valve where Reeds gave an extra concert. Then my friend showed up and we went to La Torrefazione to have some smoothies. This evening's main event was a concert starting with the Oulu-based band Droichead and finally the Irish band Dervish (!). Great stuff. I even had energy to stay up for another midnight session next door.

On the Sunday I went to the lunch session at the Oulu Music Centre. At 15:00, it was time for the Rann Na Feirste-based family group Clann Mhic Ruarí. A fantastic concert with nothing but songs in their native Irish. They were followed by Altan (!!). Wow. I got a signed copy of their latest CD and spoke a little Irish with them. Around 19:00, the final session started - eventually joined by Ríanta and Clann Mhic Ruarí.

Again, not a lot of language-related activities, unless speaking my L2 English throughout most of the weekend counts. I also uttered the occasional Finnish or Russian sentence, and of course some Irish when I met someone who I knew spoke it.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2017 - Summary of week 41

A really bad week for languages. I took a few days to recover from Oulu-related issues such as impressions, travelling and lost sleep.

Anki - this works fine.

Duolingo - another weekend challenge: 25 lingots for 250 XP. No problem, I reached that goal on Sunday morning.

IT: Yesterday (Sunday) I went for the first real walk in over a month. This means ~45 minutes at my ideal pace (which is faster than most of my friends/family). During the walk, I shadowed the rest of the Italian lessons. Considering I've mainly studied with Duolingo (and some FSI half a year ago), my comprehension is quite good for this kind material.

I had a thunderclap headache yesterday (miraculously cured by the walk), but still managed to finish one book. For you bookworms out there, I also finished another two today; one of them a 400 p crime novel in three 30 minute-sessions.

A new week, and hopefully more time for languages!

[Brun Ugle]

You read 400 pages in an hour and a half?! No wonder you had a headache. Seriously though, have you learned some kind of speed reading technique, or are you just naturally a fast reader? I used to be much faster than I am now. I seem to have lost my ability to sit still and concentrate. But I don't think I could ever read that fast even back when I read a lot.

[jeff_lindqvist]

You read 400 pages in an hour and a half?! No wonder you had a headache. Seriously though, have you learned some kind of speed reading technique, or are you just naturally a fast reader? I used to be much faster than I am now. I seem to have lost my ability to sit still and concentrate. But I don't think I could ever read that fast even back when I read a lot.

Both, I think. I read fast, and I've read books on speed-reading. Time was limited and I wanted to finish the book before I had to return it. Generally, I read up to three pages per minute in Swedish and English (it varies depending on the type of text), and a lot slower in weaker languages.

The headache was caused by other factors.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2017 - Summary of week 42

A better week for languages!

Anki - daily reviews. I haven't added anything for well over a month now.

Duolingo - it keeps challenging me during the weekends. Now and then I check the other languages. Everything isn't available through English, but it seems one can learn English from Indonesian (!) and Czech (!), Catalan from Spanish, and Spanish from Chinese. This can be fun.

RU: Yes! At last I finished my bilingual Dan Brown project (Inferno). As always after these books (which are the only one I seem to want to read in Russian) I feel that they're way over my level. Even with English as a crutch (and a very important crutch), Russian is nearly indecipherable. I'm really curious to find out what it feels like to learn a language by reading. I'm nowhere close.

YUE: Yes! Finally some Cantonese. I watched The legend is born: Ip Man which is yet another biopic about the legendary Wing Chun master. Occasionally I understood a whole sentence.

I also read two Swedish crime/suspense novels (blazingly fast) and started the latest by Dan Brown - Origin.

A new week, and hopefully more time for languages!

[jeff_lindqvist]

2017 - Summary of week 43

Time for a very late update.

Anki - daily reviews. Most decks are at a manageable level.

Duolingo - I find that certain skills are easy (maybe I've reviewed them more often?) while others seem totally new. Still I haven't added any new language.

DE: All of a sudden some listening comprehension in German! I was zapping back and forth and found myself watching the last 30 minutes of The Ascent of Civilization: The Arabs. Sadly, it was the final episode of the six-part mini series.

GA: I visited a friend and listened to one of our new favourite groups - Clann Mhic Ruairí. No real studying to speak of, but all the liner notes are in Irish. I was surprised to find a Swedish gaeilgeoir in the credits!

ZH: Yes! The week ended with the classic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (it must have been ten years since I saw it). I came to think of something I read a long time ago - Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh were said to have struggled a lot with the script as none of them are native Mandarin speakers. Anyway, I had no problems with their accents. I don't think their work is too different from Da/No/Sw actors learning their parts in one of the other languages.

I got a cold just before the weekend, and it hit me like a truck.

Immediate plan: to have a go at Czech and Cantonese again.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2017 - Summary of week 44

Time for an update.

Anki + Duolingo - nothing special.

EO: No and then I chat a little in Esperanto through the Amikumu app.

ES: You know you're (known as) a language nerd when... a patron enters the library, approaches my desk and asks "¿Español?".

YUE: Another film - Election 2. It has been compared to the Godfather. As far as I can remember, the first film was entirely in Cantonese, but this one had some Mandarin as well. I think I saw Simon Yam speak both languages depending on the scene.

My dry cough stopped me from participating in Gutamålets dag, which is the yearly event for the dialect/minority language in my area. I understand it but don't speak it. Nothing strange. Even the regional accent of Swedish (which I speak) is disappearing, which is a bigger threat according to the guild. Gutamål is kept alive in small pockets on the island, in FB groups, theatre, music, poetry and through other cultural activities. There is also a dictionary app, said to include 42 000 words.

During the Sunday afternoon, the cough wasn't that bad, so I went to a concert to listen to J.S. Bach's Jesu, meine Freude (BWV 227) and Cherubini's Requiem in C minor. Following the German and Latin lyrics while skimming the Swedish translations kept me awake.

I visited Codecademy again, and saw that I had done 63% of the Ruby content when I took a break half a year ago. I started over and finished it yesterday. Yeah, like I'm an expert on Ruby now.

Still no Czech.

[Teango]

I visited Codecademy again, and saw that I had done 63% of the Ruby content when I took a break half a year ago. I started over and finished it yesterday. Yeah, like I'm an expert on Ruby now.

Surely a case of Ruby off the Rails! I hope your cold clears up soon, Jeff.