Episode VI: A New Hope, Cavesa strikes back

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Cavesa
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Re: Episode VI: A New Hope, Cavesa strikes back

Postby Cavesa » Mon Dec 18, 2017 6:51 pm

P.S. Another 2018 resolution: I will resist Elenia's temptations, no matter how many cookies she promises! I am not starting another language until I move towards my goals with the ones already on the list considerably. And I'll finally finish the GdUdE with BrunUgle. Yep, my pace definitely reminds me of a race of very confused tortoises.
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Peluche
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Re: Episode VI: A New Hope, Cavesa strikes back

Postby Peluche » Tue Dec 19, 2017 5:11 am

You might be interested in the following book: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/312562875X/

I'm glad you've decided to concentrate your energy on German :mrgreen:
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tiia
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Re: Episode VI: A New Hope, Cavesa strikes back

Postby tiia » Tue Dec 19, 2017 8:12 am

Gemuse wrote:You might be interested in the following book: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/312562875X/

I'm glad you've decided to concentrate your energy on German :mrgreen:

I've looked into the beginning of that book and it so reminds me of these two videos (in German):
Original (Loriot)
Different text (extra 3)
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Re: Episode VI: A New Hope, Cavesa strikes back

Postby Elenia » Thu Dec 21, 2017 12:02 am

Cavesa wrote:P.S. Another 2018 resolution: I will resist Elenia's temptations, no matter how many cookies she promises! I am not starting another language until I move towards my goals with the ones already on the list considerably. And I'll finally finish the GdUdE with BrunUgle. Yep, my pace definitely reminds me of a race of very confused tortoises.


No Swahili? :( :( ;)

I'll have to resist my own temptations too, methinks. But other people's temptations are fine: tempt away!
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Cavesa
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Re: Episode VI: A New Hope, Cavesa strikes back

Postby Cavesa » Thu Dec 28, 2017 8:56 pm

Thanks for a reading tip, but I think I am already beyond that. I hope. Well, my German plans are a bit more scary.

No, Elenia, no Swahili for me. And stop tempting me! :-D (I know there is a Language Transfer course being made and it will be out sooner than German, I know it sounds beautiful, and I know how spread the language is) Just stop! :-D

.............................
Christmas is over and it was at times beautiful and at other times very difficult, like in most families. :-D

I didn't do anything during Christmas. Now is time for serious language learning. Starting tonight. I missed it.

When it comes to presents, I had asked for two books only, as it is difficult for my family to buy books for my specific tastes :-D The two I got are the rest of the Červenák's trilogy I had started before Christmas. I love reading Červenák in original, and would like to get to know other authors too at some point in future. Slovak fantasy is no priority, but I had been waiting for trying this author for too long! Btw, he writes historical novels too. And I got new skiing boots under the tree! I am so excited I need to share my happiness. It was no surprise, but I was still so happy I stayed at least an hour in those boots. I'm looking forward to trying them out. Last year, I didn't go skiing at all as I was in France. I am not complaining of course, I am just very eager to make up for this gap :-)

Today, there was a sales day in one of my favourite bookstores. 30% off. The bags broke halfway home (how can a bookstore give such fragile bags? Don't they realise people carry BOOKS in them?!). I got over half a meter of books, perhaps 70cm (not more). I know it is a strange unit, most people prefer not to measure the pile and it doesn't take into account the size of each book. I cannot buy any more books for some time now. I got a few medical books (two of them are big), two Červenáks in Slovak, 2 contemporary Czech fantasy books, two non-fiction books to help cover some gaps in my education, and a few language books of course:
Especial DELE B2 Curso completo by Edelsa which got to the waiting line,
a few versions of "Mluvník" ("speakbook"), which is something between a dictionary and a phrasebook. It is not a weird phrasebook sorted by touristy topics (I dislike those). You look up a Czech word, there are examples of various uses of the word, and translations of those sentences into the target language, where the sentence usually contains a different word. It is a tool to help people avoid literal translations. For example one Czech verb "držet se" leads to diverse phrases like Agárrense. Ánimo! Mantente a la derecha. No siento las piernas. And others. As you can see, it is a tool that requires some "feel for what is correct or weird", which is based on normal exposure, but I've found the quality of the examples good so far. I think it is rather reliable, much more than most phrasebooks. I think it could work well for me
The last language book (this shop doesn't have a too good selection of language books in general) is Němčina: vazby sloves s předložkami. German: the verb-preposition combinations. It is a dictionary of German verbs with the allowed prepositions, Czech equivalents, and (what is making the small book buying) lots of examples. I love examples! It is so sad that such great Czech based resources for German learners usually don't have equivalents for learners of other languages.

My learning plan for tonight: Spanish See you in a few hours.
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Re: Episode VI: A New Hope, Cavesa strikes back

Postby aravinda » Fri Dec 29, 2017 5:13 am

Cavesa, I enjoyed reading your previous log and am looking forward to reading many more interesting and informative posts in this new log.

And two queries:
Is there a specific reason to use the textbook, Espresso instead of Nuovo Espresso?
Also, can you recommend me a good medical/clinical microbiology textbook in French? :evil: I am looking for a textbook not too small or not too big. I don’t know whether you are familiar with this but my ideal would be something similar to Medical Microbiology Edited by David Greenwood & others:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Medical-Microb ... +greenwood
(Reading your log, I know you don’t like the subject much. Sorry about that. :twisted: ) I already have the Rémic ebook.
Thanks in advance! And good luck with your languages (and life in general)!
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Re: Episode VI: A New Hope, Cavesa strikes back

Postby Brun Ugle » Fri Dec 29, 2017 7:56 am

I don’t think I’ve ever had the need to measure my books in meters, but I’ve used kilograms several times. Picture me in a bookstore in Vienna a few hours before my flight trying to discreetly weigh the books with a little luggage scale because I had room for five more kilos in my luggage. It’s too bad you can’t just go into a bookstore and say, “I’d like 2 kg of fantasy, and 1 kg each of science fiction, crime and historical.”
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Re: Episode VI: A New Hope, Cavesa strikes back

Postby rdearman » Fri Dec 29, 2017 9:42 am

Brun Ugle wrote:I don’t think I’ve ever had the need to measure my books in meters, but I’ve used kilograms several times. Picture me in a bookstore in Vienna a few hours before my flight trying to discreetly weigh the books with a little luggage scale because I had room for five more kilos in my luggage. It’s too bad you can’t just go into a bookstore and say, “I’d like 2 kg of fantasy, and 1 kg each of science fiction, crime and historical.”

You can say that, they just look at your weird and call security.
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Cavesa
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Re: Episode VI: A New Hope, Cavesa strikes back

Postby Cavesa » Fri Dec 29, 2017 2:40 pm

Brun Ugle wrote:I don’t think I’ve ever had the need to measure my books in meters, but I’ve used kilograms several times. Picture me in a bookstore in Vienna a few hours before my flight trying to discreetly weigh the books with a little luggage scale because I had room for five more kilos in my luggage. It’s too bad you can’t just go into a bookstore and say, “I’d like 2 kg of fantasy, and 1 kg each of science fiction, crime and historical.”


I was about to order the same thing! But I would have settled for 0,5 kg of crime.

In my case, this temptation was a reaction to the ignorance of the employees. The biggest bookstore in Prague also sells stationery. When I asked, whether they had ink from a different brand, the lady answered: "Why would you want that, there is no difference" in the "you are a stupid spoilt brat" tone. Well, some of the brands sell blue or "black" ink that is too light to be comfortable to read for me. And it fades even more in a few months. So, if all the stationery makers are the same (don't get me started about various quality of other products, like pencils), aren't all the book authors the same too?

Btw, the luggage scale is awesome. I have the same luggage problem every time I'm travelling. You wouldn't believe that over half my stuff on the way home from France were books, if you looked at the volume. If you considered the weight, it would be 3/4, perhaps more :-D

Or perhaps you would believe.

I am in the middle of some Spanish learning now, I'll note it here a bit later.
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Re: Episode VI: A New Hope, Cavesa strikes back

Postby Xenops » Mon Jan 01, 2018 1:50 am

aravinda wrote:Cavesa, I enjoyed reading your previous log and am looking forward to reading many more interesting and informative posts in this new log.

Also, can you recommend me a good medical/clinical microbiology textbook in French? :evil: I am looking for a textbook not too small or not too big. I don’t know whether you are familiar with this but my ideal would be something similar to Medical Microbiology Edited by David Greenwood & others:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Medical-Microb ... +greenwood
(


I was wondering as well: do you happen to know of anatomy and physiology lectures in French that also have subtitles? It's a long shot, but I thought I would ask anyway. I've found a few on Youtube, but not many. If not videos, do you have recommendations for French textbooks? Merci.
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