A language learners’ forum

Ani wrote:That's so cool. I bet it is really tempting to call them up and just chit chat. When they get sick of you, you can hang up and try the next language

Except if they engaged a super polyglot to answer

The Portuguese is flawlessly idiomatic (with 'conseguir'), so I bet you can trust the other translations.

The wife and daughter #1 came back from London on Saturday night (RIP to those who perished today) with two books for me: Colloquial Welsh and Colloquial Breton. I love the Celtic languages. I'd studied Cornish seriously a few years ago (Kernewek dre Lyther) and got to (at least) a good reading level in it. I've also studied Irish for about a year, one night a week. It was slow-going, a class for those who weren't really that into language learning. It went too slow so I dropped after about 8 months. Got a good basis, so if I ever take it up again I think I can get back up to speed quickly. (Those damn Irish vowels...jeez.)

But I have a soft-spot in my heart for the Brythonic celtic languages. I started looking through the Breton book and listening to the first lesson's free audio (here). Wow, so much different than Cornish (its closest relative) and Welsh. So many nasalized vowels!

The funny thing was that I listened to a dialogue in the book and one of the characters was named Herve. Well, I work with a guy named Herve. I know that Herve is probably a popular French name, but who knows. I asked him today if he happened to be from Brittany. Hell, I would kick myself if I had a fluent Breton speaker down the street from me and I didn't take advantage of that.

Alas, he is from Lorraine, and is not a Breton speaker. Sigh...

So, had my first session of L-R this morning. Listening/reading The Martian in Russian. Somehow I got an ebook that is slightly different than the audio. It's annoying, but not too distracting. I know the story from the movie (didn't read the book), so I know what I should be reading/listening. We'll see how this goes. I'm doing this for 2 weeks as the March Esperanto-Sumoo just finished on Sunday.

For the Esperanto-Sumoo I read Sur Sanga Tero by Julio Baghy. Great book and follow-up to Viktimoj. Horrible stuff happened during the Russian civil war in 1917.

The interesting thing about Baghy's two novels is they are semi-autobiographical. He actually was a prisoner of war and taught Esperanto to other prisoners while in captivity in Siberia.

First week of L-R done. The Martian is going great. I'm following the story just fine, and learning the occasional new Russian word.

Tomorrow is my day to do some Esperanto reading in preparation for my test on 10 June. I'm reading a play now, which has 10 scenes, and questions for each scene. When I'm done with that play, I'll move on to more practice for the test. I'm now searching for a good novel to read once I finish Sur Sanga Tero. I'm thinking one of the Strugackij brothers' science-fiction novels. Plenty of them are translated into Esperanto, and I like sci-fi. I'll pick something probably by the end of this month, as I'll start my next 2-weeks of E-o reading a week from tomorrow. I'll probably finish Sur Sanga Tero at the end of the next cycle, so I'll need a new Esperanto novel by mid-May.

Wow, didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted.

Just finished 3 weeks of Russian, mostly with L-R'ing The Martian. Going well so far, a little over half done with the book, except that now the audiobook I got won't remember where I am when I turn my iPod off. I have to remember the minute that I stopped on. The chapters are too long for me to finish one on the metro ride into work, so I finish the chapter on the way home. Point is, if I could finish a chapter on the way in, then I'd only have to remember what the next chapter is, which my Kindle would clue me into. Sadly, I spend the first couple of minutes trying to find where I left off without falling down (never a seat during rush hour).

So today I'm starting back on Esperanto and the book Sur Sanga Tero. I have about six weeks till my KER exam (reading and writing only), so I have to get my language back up. I'll read daily on the train plus a couple/three times a week I'll add in some exercises from the edukado.net site. I did a sample test and did pretty well, but that didn't take into account the letter writing part. That's the one part where I'll have to work hard on; my production proficiency is not as good as my receptive (reading). I'll work on vocabulary for many situations so I'll be able to write about many things.

How is everyone else out there doing? I'll go read your logs now.

IronMike wrote:Going well so far, a little over half done with the book, except that now the audiobook I got won't remember where I am when I turn my iPod off. I have to remember the minute that I stopped on.

In your iTunes, select a file of the audiobook, right click on it and select "Get info", go to the Options tab, select media kind Audiobook and tick "Remember playback position". Sync your iPod again and try whether that sorts it out. I have this one audiobook where iTunes jumps half a page back or forth on pause even with this option selected, so it's not infallible. Generally it works relatively well though as long as the files are not too big.

Thanks blaurebell. It's already set up like that. I just think it is the Russian audiobook store I bought it from.

Strange! Maybe renaming the file might help?

The Esperanto study continues. I talked my Esperanto instructor from the winter class I took with the daughter into tutoring me, and she's already given me some hard work to do. It is an old sample KER C-1 test, and boy is it hard. Harder than the practice ones I took at the KER site. Makes me wonder if I should have chosen the B2 test this year. Oj! Seriously, though, even if I don't pass this year, at least I'll have a feel for the test and will know what to expect for next year.

So I started with the tutor last Sunday. I'm studying at least an hour a day (all I can fit in after work) and a bit more on the weekends. My studying consists of:

a) Reading to/from work. I almost 100% read on the way to work on the train, as there is more room. Coming home though, I've failed. The train is so full, I can't hold the book and hold the hand rail, if I can even get close to one of those. Current book is still Sur Sanga Tero.
b) Listening to pola-retradio. This is what I do when I'm not reading on the train. So pretty much each day on the way home I listened to a broadcast.
c) Work on the tutor's exercises. This week it has been grammar exercises and reading comprehension.
ĉ) L-R: I've found a few sources of L-R for Esperanto (see my post in the E-o Study Group). I listen to at least one segment a night.
d) Ĉu vi aŭdas ke... This book I've had for a long time, years actually. Never really got around to it. But now I have. I try to do one listening a night. The book is a series of news items (most from Monato so far) read by a fluent speaker, and then a set of questions (Vera/Falsa, ekzemple) to answer. I'm following the author's recommendation, namely, to listen twice then try and answer the questions. Then listen one more time to check your answers. Finally, check your answers in the answer key. Whether or not I get all the answers right, I always re-listen while reading the text.
e) If there is any time left, I'll read through some Esperanto magazines (La Ondo de Esperanto, Esperanto, Beletra Almanako, Heraldo de Esperanto, ktp).

The local Esperanto club (MASI) has an awesome opportunity today. One of the members is a docent at a museum here in town, and she's giving an hour-long tour completely in Esperanto! The wife, youngest D and I are going. Those two will simply go through the museum themselves, but I'll get the tour. An entire hour of live Esperanto. What a great experience! I'll let everyone know how it goes.