Expug's 2017 Log - It's now and forever

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jeff_lindqvist
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Re: Expug's 2017 Log - It's now and forever

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Tue Nov 21, 2017 10:11 pm

Expugnator wrote:The book "Refuse to Choose" is great light read. It's motivational. I can relate to the author, I have some scanner traits especially with regard to professional habits, but I also have one side that sticks to whatever habit I develop. 9 years exercising regularly and eating more healthy, 6 years studying languages regularly.


I liked that book a lot. There are long-term habits, short-term habits, and cyclic habits (more?) and all of them play important parts in my life. Some habits have been kept/maintained for years on a daily basis (or close to), others come back to me every now and then, like those biorhythms which go up and down at different intervals.
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Re: Expug's 2017 Log - It's now and forever

Postby Expugnator » Wed Nov 22, 2017 9:32 pm

#jeff_lindqvist I can relate to the Scanners when it comes to not carrying on many projects. It's easier for me to focus when it's either only planning or only executing. I am going to have more to say as I read the book, for sure.


==================
Yabla's video is an interview, for a change. Nice practice.

The day was chaotic. After some work issues early in the morning, I had to bring my girls to the doctor's, so my whole schedule got delayed. The girls have nothing serious, fortunately. I decided to come back by car because it was raining, so I got to listen to more Italian audiobook.

Started Tintenblut/Inkspell. I'm afraid this is going to take much more than planned. The book is so long. I'm not going to enforce listening/reading. When I have dead moments, I'll read in advance. When I'm busy at the desktop, I'll just listen to the audiobook and catch up in English text later. I do hope I can become so familiarized as to allow myself to just listen at one point. That's my most immediate goal for German, but my vocabulary still doesn't allow for that.

For all the trouble today, I made it up to the Russian listening-reading, not bad.
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Re: Expug's 2017 Log - It's now and forever

Postby Expugnator » Thu Nov 23, 2017 8:24 pm

I'm finally managing to tune in to the Argentinian podcast again and actually following its content (the language skills I already have, it's been mostly a matter of losing focus).

When I started Russian for real in late 2012 (practically 2013, it was November), I had 2018 in the foresight, and I though how nice it would be to be fluent by then. I didn't set any plan, and Russian was never a priority because I don't like studying it (while I do enjoy using it). And so 2018 is coming and I'm far from fluent, even though for the first time I see it's doable. Even with worse resources, my Georgian has always been better than my Russian. Now I have a concrete need for my Russian and I also think I'm finally on the right track, having reached a critical mass of semi-mastered passive vocabulary that precedes attaining basic reading fluency. So close and so far. I should feel discouraged, but I won't. I have the feeling that one year at this (slow) rhythm would be enough for reaching B2ish passive and B1-active skills, which is a solid goal for an opaque language, but I need it six months earlier, in June, less than 8 months from now. I really don't know what else to do besides what I'm already doing. I will try to book 1 class a week for practicing language islands. I really need all the travelling-related vocabulary in order to function as a productive tourist to the extent of being able to help out other Brazilians while there. Probably reading a phrasebook cover to cover, with audio, wouldn't be a bad idea. I could also add another slot for dubbed series, because these tend to be more productive for learning than native series, even those I have double subtitles for. Plus writing practice on those islands, on italki. Yet I don't feel like giving up on any other activity right now for the sake of it, for reasons I've mentioned already. Moreover, Russian is a language that was and is hard to stick in my mind, and I am not convinced that doing more minutres of study a day (other than my usual 40 min mon-fri) will make my learning any faster, because I think my brain needs chronological time to learn and accept Russian, after all the struggle of those years. For now, I'll keep working and hoping for the best, but I'm open to everyone's suggestions.

With Mandarin I have solid reasons to be much more optimistic. I can understand a lot from translated novels, both written and audiobook. I'm getting used to native-speed reading and I'm starting to parse the sentences with a good eye for what role each expression plays in the sentence, just based on the inflection and intonation. Mandarin is a good example of a language where listening to a text being read enhances its comprehension overall. With native series i'm probably slightly behind, but I think I can catch up.

Another French film for the record, Amour & Turbulences. Not bad. Now it's time for L'Apprenti Père Noël.

I totally forgot I had read the first volume of Inkheart with the Brazilian Portuguese translation, and I've been reading it in English now. Wahnsinn! No wonder the English names sounded so unfamiliar.

Better Estonian reading today. The beginning of this book sounds quite casual, with small talk and such, and it has even more dialogues than the average Agatha Christie.

This was a quite productive day. All the schedule then some more Clozemaster, though not all, and then more time for pending tasks.
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Re: Expug's 2017 Log - It's now and forever

Postby Expugnator » Fri Nov 24, 2017 8:14 pm

I had to go to the drugstore to buy stuff ahead in order to profit from the Black Friday, and so I spent more time on the Argentinian podcast. It was good opportunity for tuning in again to the content.

Then I had my second Russian lesson with the tutor who lives in São Paulo. It wasn't that bad to have it at the tablet, though it's much better at the desktop where I can alternate screens and use a translator (I still prefer to type on the Skype windown on the phone, because I can swype). This time the tutor focused on hotel vocabulary. I know, I know, hotel staff are supposed to speak English, but I want to be able to use as much Russian as possible. Some sentences were redundant, like you don't ask for a hotel in the surroundings, everything is booked online. I had some blanks when trying to talk, forgetting words that I would recognize instantly passively. Overall, I think I understood much more from the specific vocabulary that I thought, as I have never studied it on purpose, I've never mined sentences on a phrasebook. I'm a bit more confident. Towards the end, the iPad was running out of battery, so I had to switch to the phone and couldn't look at the lesson files (with the aggravation that the phone that is on Android kept disconnecting from the wifi as it does all the time, while the iPad remained connected all the lesson long). I'm going to officially book 1 lesson a week and see how it goes.

At my usual Papiamento news source, there are two online newspapers (a format much like the issuu network). I've always read La Prensa, which is heavy, blocked, and this time I tried Ultimo Noticia, which has a lighter typography, more blanks. The subjects also seem more soft news. I'm enjoying it.

So I went back to using the Portuguese translation to read along with Tintenblut. It's even easier to understand German now. I can allow myself to speed up by 20% the audiobook and save up time.
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Re: Expug's 2017 Log - It's now and forever

Postby Expugnator » Mon Nov 27, 2017 8:17 pm

The weekend had much partying and no remarkable study, other than a few pages of non-fiction and 1 Italian podcast. There was a good deal of forum reading, though.

Another book finished, Le avventure di Cipollino in Georgian/Italian. It is a great story. The Italian reading is above average in difficult, so that prevented an optimal learning exercise for Georgian, but I don't regret reading it.

Listening-reading German is becoming an effective, practical exercise. I've sped up the audio by 30% and I can still read German and check Portuguese when in doubt. I'm pretty much convinced that forcing oneself to read faster works well for consolidating nearly known words. Moreover, now I spend less than 5 minutes with German reading and that won't jeopardize my schedule.
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Re: Expug's 2017 Log - It's now and forever

Postby Expugnator » Tue Nov 28, 2017 8:27 pm

The third Russian class was a bit less productive. We're going through typical tourist phrases and there's some additional explanations, but I think I had better study the sentences on my own and just practice related conversation during the classes. How do you guys go about taking the most out of the lessons you book in your TLs?

I finally learned how to delete downloaded files on the Ximalaya app. No garbage on my phone.

Started reading A series of unfortunate events in Georgian/Portuguese. What a great series to read in translation! The writing is light, flowing, humurous. I read it much faster than Cipollino.

German listening-reading is quite productive at the 30% faster speed. My brain seems to have had some shock therapy and is making much more sense of the German I read, much faster. It hasn't been the case for Russian. Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End has started with too much narration and few dialogues, and the overall exercise hasn't been optimal.

I'm optimistic about current Language Transfer Greek. While I'm not benefitting much from studying another Assimil edition, other than vague passive skills, I think doing Language Transfer again, at an updated edition, will help activate the little vocabulary I have.
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Re: Expug's 2017 Log - It's now and forever

Postby Expugnator » Wed Nov 29, 2017 8:22 pm

Finished Råta - a great book - and got more recommendations: from the author herself, at the book's acknowledgements, I read about Tonje Tornes, author of Hulder. Should check it out. From a Brazilian page, Mari Moen Holsve's Halvgudene (this one seems to have a weaker plot. The reason I read about Siri Pettersen on a Brazilian page is that I was wondering if the book was avaliable in Brazil, because the auhor says an agent took it here. Well, no release yet.

No release yet but what I found might be way better than just reading Odinsbarn in Portuguese: the agent who took the rights for publishing it has a company specialized in nordic languages! They even go as far as helping people out who want to translate from Nordic languages on how to get finantial support from the governments. Maybe it's a chance for having more than a hobby!

As usual, I'll keep moving through several trilogies/tetralogies. I could go back to Tone Almhjell, start Tonje Tornes or Mari Moen Holsve or pick one of the audiobooks I already have and try audiobook-only. Instead, I'm going for a translation, Elena Ferrante's second book. The main reason for that is that I'm going to listen to the audiobook in nynorsk! Really looking forward to it tomorrow.

Checking my Bestillinger at the Norwegian online bookstore, I noticed that I spend around 2-3 months on each Norwegian book. As I only read 10 pages a day, I find it a decent time. I can enjoy the book in listening-reading and make sure I read it more-or-less intensively (I paste everything on Google Translate to help with context and reading faster, but I don't bother checking problematic words on Haugen, not yet at least).

Reading A Series of Unfortunate Events in Georgian has been great. It's fun and I can understand a lot. It might help that I'm using the Portuguese translation and not a weaker "L1", but I think it's my Georgian that is getting better as well, because I can read longer paragraphs without looking up the translation.

I'm turning La Sombra del Viento into hidden-moments-reading, alongside with non-fiction and Italian. That means I'll be doing some Spanish reading nearly everyday, and not just at the end of the schedule. With the podcast early in the morning, that's quite a bit for Spanish. Italian is also pretty okay, considering the audiobook and four pages from a novel. Now that I'm going to read Elena Ferrante's next novel in parallel Nynorsk-Italian, that adds up more time (I was also reading Cippolino in Italian just up to a couple of days ago, that should be noted). No time for Spanish or Italian watching so far, though.

Finished the audiobook La Luna di Carta. I didn't know Montalbano's novels were so short. Maybe the audiobook also happens to be abridged? Anyway, I'm going for something more in the non-fiction/testimonial range, Momenti di trascurabile felicità, by Francesco Piccollo.

Greek's πάνω-κάτω (up-down) for 'more or less' reminds me of Mandarin's 东西 (east-west) for 'thing'. Neither one is supposed to make sense.

As usual, the final lessons within a level at Hebrewpod101 have increased sharply in content and difficult, thus ceasing to be productive. It's supposed to be the Absolute Beginner level after all. I'm going to start a real textbook after this level.

As for Indonesian, though, I can't complain. I went through the Absolute Beginner level and now I'm doing Lower Beginner. I like the way they quickly point to differences in particle usage according to register. I also like the grammar explanations, even though they could be more complete - but this I can get later from a grammar book. I'm looking forward to studying from something more textual, though Assimil is so far pretty opaque at the first lesson. Linguaphone wouldn't be a bad idea.
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Re: Expug's 2017 Log - It's now and forever

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Wed Nov 29, 2017 8:58 pm

Expugnator wrote:Greek's πάνω-κάτω (up-down) for 'more or less' reminds me of Mandarin's 东西 (east-west) for 'thing'. Neither one is supposed to make sense.


I'm sure I've heard an explanation many years ago, but I don't remember it. After doing some searches, this seems valid enough:
To be honest it is indeed completely absurd. There is no solid information as the characters and their usage for the 4 directions are very old, dating to the oracle bone script from 1300BC. The characters certainly meant something completely different originally. But please see the facts (the character etymology) and my preferred colorful explanation for the meanings.

Actually we should wonder how 東(dong) and 西 (xi) came to mean East and West. Both characters are very old, appearing on Shang Dynasty oracle bones. As most Oracle bone characters they are remnant ideograms, assumed to mean:

東(dong) - a bag tied together at both ends
西 (xi) - a jar with a lid
Both originally being words used to describe storage vessels, its natural that 東西 became to mean "various items/things". As those ancient vessels disappeared so did the words in their original meaning.

For East/West the characters may have been borrowed for sound, for similar sounding words (to the bags and jars) meaning east and west.

Alternatively, a more colorful explanation I would prefer is that in the ancient Shang capital there where storehouses for 東 (bagged items like grain) in the East and 西 (jars of wine) in the West.


(Source: Why does dongxi mean things in Chinese?)

See also:
http://www.chineseetymology.org/Charact ... =%E6%9D%B1
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Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
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Re: Expug's 2017 Log - It's now and forever

Postby Expugnator » Thu Nov 30, 2017 8:47 pm

@jeff_lindqvist : I bet the first explanation you heard might be more plausible. This one sounds like trivia etimology. Still, it makes sense to think of both 'things' and 'east-west' as deriving from an original meaning to the characters.

=====================================
Yesterday I had to stay overtime and so I resumed watching Mr. Robot dubbed in Russian. Dubbed series are a really powerful learning asset. They are totally context-based audiodrills at the sentence level. I learn much more from a series than from Clozemaster, at least much more stuff that I need right now.

So, I started a new experience: an audiobook in Nynorsk! It looks different enough from Bokmål to feel like a different language, or at least getting used to an accent from the other side of a continuum. That will surely help me understand some more Norwegian accents when watching series. The book I'm listening-reading is Elena Ferrante's second book. The ebook is also in Nynorsk. It's a great exercise for Norwegian and I do check the original in Italian once in a while. The Italian itself seems much easier now after book 1 and after Cipollino, and I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up learning new Italian words thanks to Norwegian as well. This is going to be much fun!

Started a new series: Legends of Tomorrow. Still in the Arrowverse, in Georgian. I do want to add German to the combo, once I'm done with Captain Future. With Georgian and German, I can watch 1 full episode per day. They release an average of 5 of them per week, all series included. I'm some 40% through the releases and they don't release every week, so I bet it's possible to catch up.
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Re: Expug's 2017 Log - It's now and forever

Postby Expugnator » Fri Dec 01, 2017 8:11 pm

I'm trying hard to have some kind of consistency for Russian dubbed series. After all, it's both fun and effective. Yesterday I watched a bit more from Mr. Robot, less than 10 minutes, though. On the bright side, I went home on time.

Still regarding fun, I need to find a very good fantasy book series for listening/reading in Russian. I thought about The Chronicles of Amber, but the plot seems rather intertwined. I'm really looking forward to reading Rick Riordan, but Percy Jackson is one of the few available as ebook in Indonesian and, as for Russian where I am for audiobooks, I could only find two of the Olympian series so far. I think it's time for Terry Pratchett's Discworld then. Even if I start it through Russian, it doesn't mean I can't keep some books for other languages. If it's as easy as A series of Unfortunate Events, that might be the final kick my Russian is in need of.

Accomplished Language Textbook: Russian in Exercises

Image

This is a very useful book that helped a lot with my Russian. Just the timing wasn't the best one. This book has no explanations, so it's better to work on it when you already understand the theory and the rules behind the Russian grammar. I was until unsure about case endings and aspect, so for several lessons I only trained form and not substance.

Now I'm finally going to start Modern Russian Grammar: a Practical Guide, which is the book I need now.

I could get used to having 2 extra hours of study in a day. I'm getting done with many pending tasks, language and non-language-wise.

It's confusing how many "articles" and copula verbs Indonesian seems to have. They arer all quite lengthy for the function.
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