Il viaggio di Shandra

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Tristano
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Re: Il viaggio di Shandra

Postby Tristano » Thu Jan 04, 2018 12:42 pm

shandra wrote:Thanks :oops: But you've never listened to me babbling in English :?
Now I'm paying more attention to grammar because of the challenge, but I can still make beginner mistakes :oops:


Oh you never heard me then :lol: And I don't pay any attention to the grammar, I was almost convinced that English didn't have one :mrgreen:
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Neurotip
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Re: Il viaggio di Shandra

Postby Neurotip » Fri Jan 05, 2018 5:30 pm

Tristano wrote:Based to what I read, I can't believe you're only B1 in English :) Time to update your profile?


Seconded. I feel like my Italian is close to B1 but it's nowhere near as good as your English. With careful looking I can spot a couple of places where 'the' is lacking or singular/plural issues ('I spent *the* Xmas holidays reading', 'It's about *the* Italian congiuntivo', 'an abridged version for English learner*s*', 'toys made for nostalgic thirty-year-old*s*') but not much else.

I assume that 'With the right use of congiuntivo he finally win the heart of the girl.' was a heroic attempt to revive the English subjunctive... right? :D If so I heartily approve.
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Neurotip
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Re: Il viaggio di Shandra

Postby Neurotip » Fri Jan 05, 2018 5:38 pm

Tristano wrote:
shandra wrote:Thanks :oops: But you've never listened to me babbling in English :?
Now I'm paying more attention to grammar because of the challenge, but I can still make beginner mistakes :oops:


Oh you never heard me then :lol: And I don't pay any attention to the grammar, I was almost convinced that English didn't have one :mrgreen:


Ha ha! I'm told it does. Once a Hungarian guy asked me to explain 'had been going to do something' -- half an hour and three sheets of A4 later we were no further forward.
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shandra
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Re: Il viaggio di Shandra

Postby shandra » Thu Jan 11, 2018 7:50 pm

Hi everybody.
I spent last week on passive activities.
I finished my third book for Tadoku. These three remain is a sort of fanfiction: Pride and Prejudice told through Mr. Darcy's eyes. I found it enjoyable. Now I'm reading Origin by Brown.

I signed in for the Goldlist Challenge because I want to try this method of vocabulary acquisition. It could be great for me to write words by hand, instead of finding a list online and simply copy/paste it into an SRS.
I have some A4 notebooks that seem good for this challenge. One has big squares, perfect size for hanzi or kanji. Needless to say, I considered using it for HSK2 vocabulary (300 words). Then I took a deep breath and said to myself that it was my nth attempt to postpone Cambridge First activities. Better one thing at a time.

I have 2 lists: 750 words for First and around 1500 for Advanced. I know at least 80% of B2 vocabulary, but I don't want to make an initial selection. Instead, I'll write IPA near the word and I'll check the right pronunciation. This is my main weak point about Speaking. I hope this could be an effective way to correct my bad habit.

Thanks for reading :)
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Xenops
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Re: Il viaggio di Shandra

Postby Xenops » Thu Jan 11, 2018 9:20 pm

shandra wrote:... and (drum roll) finally Pride and Prejudice.
The first half of Austen's book went so slowly that I thought I would put it down for another year, but in the second half things started to move.
I desperately tried not to, believe me, but in the end I had a crush for Mr. Darcy. It doesn't matter if he looks more like Macfadyen or Firth, I can love both. :oops:



To be honest, that one's probably the fastest and most interesting Austen book to read. :lol: Sense and Sensibility didn't have the interesting characters, Emma I liked but it was slow, Persuasion drove me nuts (I don't remember why--time to try it again?), and Northanger Abbey I started and need to finish. The last one is supposed to be a satire of gothic novels, so it might be as entertaining if you haven't read gothic stuff, like Castle of Otranto, Jane Eyre, The Mysteries of Udolpho, etc. Better known works like Dracula and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are on the tail-end of gothic and going into horror.
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Re: Il viaggio di Shandra

Postby aaleks » Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:49 pm

Xenops wrote:
shandra wrote:... and (drum roll) finally Pride and Prejudice.
The first half of Austen's book went so slowly that I thought I would put it down for another year, but in the second half things started to move.
I desperately tried not to, believe me, but in the end I had a crush for Mr. Darcy. It doesn't matter if he looks more like Macfadyen or Firth, I can love both. :oops:



To be honest, that one's probably the fastest and most interesting Austen book to read. :lol: Sense and Sensibility didn't have the interesting characters, Emma I liked but it was slow, Persuasion drove me nuts (I don't remember why--time to try it again?), and Northanger Abbey I started and need to finish. The last one is supposed to be a satire of gothic novels, so it might be as entertaining if you haven't read gothic stuff, like Castle of Otranto, Jane Eyre, The Mysteries of Udolpho, etc. Better known works like Dracula and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are on the tail-end of gothic and going into horror.

I read Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park, in translation of course, when I was 20-21. I like Pride and Prejudice so I've (re)read it several times (and I prefer Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy :D , partly because I like the BBC version more). And then, during my very first attempt to learn English, I tried to read Pride and Prejudice in English. And well, yes :roll: , I skipped the first half of the book :lol: because I knew that things would go slowly there, and I had probably about 10 known words per page at best back then :mrgreen: so it was too much for me at the time. Nevertheless, somehow I managed to get to the end of the book :o , I really don't know how and how long it took me :roll: :lol: .

Speaking of the other book. Emma was OK, I've even read it again a couple of times. Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey respectively: a shadow of Pride and Prejudice, strange with strange characters, simple. But all they were quite readable.

And then there was... Mansfield Park. If I remember correctly I read it after the other five. It's one of the most boring book I've ever read. But... There's Комментарии/Comments in the end of the book, something like a historical note, and according to it Mansfield Park is probably the best of Austen's books :? . So maybe it's something wrong with me not the book? or translation isn't good? or maybe it's cultural differences and I just don't get that kind of English humor? Theoretically I can read the book in English now but... no, I won't :oops:
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zatris
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Re: Il viaggio di Shandra

Postby zatris » Fri Jan 12, 2018 4:47 pm

Nabokov has a wonderfully ambivalent essay on Mansfield Park. It's in Lectures on Literature. Absolutely worth the read.
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shandra
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Re: Il viaggio di Shandra

Postby shandra » Fri Jan 12, 2018 5:21 pm

Thanks, @Xenops and @aaleks for sharing your reading experience with Austen's novels. :)

I read Northanger Abbey at University, and I remember it as a funny novel (at least for me). Maybe I'll read it again, it is also very short compared to the others.

Sense and Sensibility made me feeling sad because Marianne married a man (mad for her), but that she didn't love just to give to her family and to the reader a happy married ending.

Mansfield Park was really slow, but it kept me company during two long rides on the train.

Emma was an annoying character.

I'd like to watch BBC Pride and Prejudice.
I like the 2005 version because of the cast. They were (or at least looked like) young people. Have you ever seen Bennett sisters in the 1940 movie? :lol:
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shandra
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Re: Il viaggio di Shandra

Postby shandra » Mon Apr 16, 2018 5:45 pm

Hi fellow language learner.

Just to let you know, I passed JLPT N5.
My score is 84, which means only 4 points above the bare minimum to pass.
I can't be proud, but it made me consider going on and take N4, one day.

Last February I bought a Kindle. Since the beginning of this year, I've already read 5000 pages in English (see my signature for my books' list). I'm ready for the new Super Challenge, but I know I'll take a more relaxed pace.

I have also a collection of titles in Spanish, but reading in a second language steals time to the first. I checked also informations about Siele. I like the format of this test because it is possible to take it in two different sessions (es. reading + writing and listening + speaking).

In March I spent two wonderful weeks with Middle Egyptian (aka hieroglyphs). I suggest you Allen's book about the language and Pinch's about myths.
I tried to attend a university class but the first day I sadly discover it was aimed at the students who already take the introductory course in October. It was really a pity.

Then I considered study Latin, so I began a book about Ancient Roman History. I passed Easter holidays chez my fiance's parents and recover his Latin and Ancient Greek books from their basement.

Last week I sold my copy of the Italian edition of Japanese for College People. The buyer is the partner of a friend's friend recently come in my city. We're considering study for N4 together, but she prefers Italian material, so we can't use the same resources. I'm not sure what to do because it is middle April and I've studied nothing yet...

This fortnight I've been interested in Indian cooking. I watched many recipes video in English and Hindi, and three funny movies with subs (two Bollywood style and two comedies). I'm trying to learn Devanagari but it is strangely difficult. Cyrillic was so easy (half is Latin alphabet). With Japanese Hiragana and Katakana, I needed only some stories to remember their shapes. I learned Hangul in a day. Devanagari script instead is really fleeing, although I easily understand how it works (how vowel change shapes to form syllables).

As you may infer, I'm happily living with my language wanderlust.

My only problem is that I've still not been able to stick with an English grammar and writing routine.

Thanks for reading :)
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Neurotip
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Re: Il viaggio di Shandra

Postby Neurotip » Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:32 pm

Congratulations! The effort it takes to achieve even a basic level of Japanese must be enormous. You've put in the hard yards and it's paid off, and you should be proud.

I too have spent a wonderful two weeks with Allen and his Middle Egyptian book, at least four or five times in my life - indeed it is sitting by my bed as we speak and I have a whole shelf of Egyptian resources. I've never managed to keep going with it, but it is such an amazing feeling to look at a line of hieroglyphs written, or carved, three thousand years ago and to understand something of what they mean.

And will you please update your profile? :D -- B1 indeed...
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