Ani's 2017 Log

[IronMike]

Hey, how's Alaska? First snow yet? None yet here in Moscow, but I think we'll get some before October's out.

[DaveBee]

Seriously and honestly, I don't know what exactly Europeans and Americans think about Russians or if they think about us at all , but there are so many mythes about my homecountry .

I caught part of a travel programme/documentary about Russia earlier (Russia with Simon Reeve) and at one point the presenter (Mr Reeve?) pointed out the geography behind Russia's security concerns about its western border, to explain the Ukraine/Crimea situation.

Which reminded me of:
a)Your comment,
b)Towards the Flame (a book I'm too cheap to buy in the french-language translation, but won't let myself read if its not in french)
c)the Pushkin House book prize.

...the Prize was created to encourage public understanding and intelligent debate about the Russian-speaking world.

[zenmonkey]

Just a quick note on the vous/tu thing. Do what feels comfortable to you - as a foreigner you get a lot of leeway and as cavesa wrote you have quite the right to decide as the woman in the exchange - it might sound sexist, but c'est comme ça.

As a counter-point, I use 'tu' with my Tibetan teacher (she's French and the L1 is therefore French) because I'm about 30 years older than she is. She used 'vous' out of 'age respect' but I've let her know she can 'tutoyer' me. I specifically said "if you wish, please ..." She's in transition - mostly uses 'tu' but sometimes keeps the 'vous'. So I led the informal use (based on age/client role) and she is following, but only if she's comfortable with it.

It doesn't matter to me too much. In Tibetan, we are keeping mostly to an informal register between us, unless it is a specific exercise (different sets of rules).

[Cavesa]

Yes, the age gap is an important factor. The general rule "if he could be her father" is a good lead. I'd say the general rules of the order of shaking hands is the same in whole europe and americas, isn't it? Those rules are basically the same as those telling us who offers the "tu".

Formality is not just about tu/vous. In some cases, the two people use tu but still use bonjour. Salut feels weird. And there is other stuff in the registers, it is not just about the pronouns.

I know all this may sounds to the anglophones like a set of rules that tie people, that limit the communication, and create barriers. But it is a system that allows a lot of nuance and also a lot of freedom for people to choose a form of communication they find comfortable. Don't be too worried about it. We all are learning the nuances on the go our whole lives. We get to different situations, we progress through the categories, the rules change a bit as the decades pass. Everyone has made at least a few mistakes, so don't worry too much. And it is totally true that foreigners are not being judged harshly. Actually, any well meant and more or less correct attempt is gonna be a huge point for you, as most anglophones, out of those who bother to learn another language, don't bother with this.

[Ani]

Hey, how's Alaska? First snow yet? None yet here in Moscow, but I think we'll get some before October's out.

I wrote a long reply to you but I don't know where it went! I must have gotten distracted before it went through. So sorry. Alaska is good We had snow in the mountains since last week (the close ones -- Chugach range) but no snow on the ground here yet-- in fact it is raining here today. Boo. I'd be highly surprised here as well if we don't get snow before Halloween, but I'll be leaving for FL in a week so I'm secretly hoping it will hold out until I go. Just because I don't want to deal with digging out all the gear.

Zenmonkey & Cavesa -- that's very helpful and reassuring! Maybe I was over thinking the problem a bit. I don't know... I have a definite case of I.just.want.to.be.perfect going on right now and every little unknown is causing me great stress.

----

So tiny update. We are going to be temporarily relocating to a remote area. Just from now (DH is going, I'm going to FL for a while!) Until the end of January. I can't remember if I mentioned it on here before (and I'm on my phone so checking would be hard), but it's official now. DH had a chance to see the housing that we'll have & he's very happy with the work situation. Most people think we are nuts because it is isolated and cold and even slightly darker through the winter than where we live now, but we'll make it fun. We'll still have to be driving most weekends to take the kids to their skiing programs (5 hours each way.. Yay..) So we will be stopping in at our house here and there and the kids will still be able to see their friends a bit. So the real question is.. How will this affect my language learning time... And the answer is.. I have no idea

[zenmonkey]

Best luck with that commute! It might even help on the learning! I drive 5 hrs each way to see my kids every other week. It's long but doable. I use it as learning time with audiobooks and podcasts. (But I'm alone.)

With kids and Alaska weather - I hope it works out. Bring a tranquility kit.

[Ani]

Best luck with that commute! It might even help on the learning! I drive 5 hrs each way to see my kids every other week. It's long but doable. I use it as learning time with audiobooks and podcasts. (But I'm alone.)

With kids and Alaska weather - I hope it works out. Bring a tranquility kit.

Hmm... My first thoughts on what might be in a tranquility kit are making me laugh. You know we've considered inventing aresolized benadryl so when the kids get too wild we could just spray it at them and they'd drop down asleep Or maybe I need some opiates for myself..

It'll be ok though..winter in AK is always a little rough, but we'll have plenty to keep us busy. I hear there is a homeschool group up there, a library... OMG hold the phone...

In the process of writing this I googled the library. *conversational French every Friday afternoon* ... In a town of 300 people.. Who'da thunk it... Maybe I can make some friends

If it's not like -10 there are groomed cross country trails and a bunch of outdoor things to do also.

Oh and unrelated but language-y. My 7 year old daughter started Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata and LOVES it. She translated and marked all the grammar in the first section with minimal help, underlining verbs in purple, conjunctions in green, adverbs in pencil, nouns in pink and prepositions in red and drawing arrows to the object of the preposition based on looking at the change in termination. I really want to upload her work but I can't make it work tonight.. Maybe tomorrow. I'm super proud

[zenmonkey]

The language stuff is super cool.

Tranquility kit should include a tranq dart gun, whisky , a shoe to throw at the kids, earplugs, tibetan throat music to be used as a threat, and an entire back seat video entertainment system with earphones ....Benadryl sounds good too.

And duck tape.

[Ani]

The language stuff is super cool.

Tranquility kit should include a tranq dart gun, whisky , a shoe to throw at the kids, earplugs, tibetan throat music to be used as a threat, and an entire back seat video entertainment system with earphones ....Benadryl sounds good too.

And duck tape.

That is A+ parenting! You are clearly more advanced at this game than I am

[Ani]

2017-10-17 23.12.29-570x570.jpg

Here is a little snippet of DD's Latin analysis. It's pretty hard to tell apart the colors in the photo -- she's got pink, red, and orange going on there. All the little arrows are going from the preposition to its object. (She was aiming for the macron but she often missed and it looks like she's pointing at the verb)

She also used Pixton to make this comic.
https://pixton.com/ic:06luxcwx
All suggestions for adding humor to the plot line was rejected. I thought we were literally going to have to watch a lady teach her cat Latin line by line, but we got a little relief at the end. She claims this will be a series and she wants a blog to post them on. We'll see 7 year olds aren't known for their consistency.

I think I am going to work though LLPSE (new abbreviation for Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata) slowly, thinking or aiming toward a modified Dowling Method ( http://www.wcdrutgers.net/Latin.htm )
Where I'll talk to her about the uses of cases in comparison to her English grammar, gradually start slipping in the correct case names, and then set up a way for her to write them out/ memorize them in their entirety. I've never taught Latin to a child before but I know I don't want to do it the way it is usually done. She's really bright in language so I want to move quickly enough but without any super steep jumps. Thoughts and opinions welcome.