Bookworm's adventures in the exile

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Cavesa
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Re: Bookworm's adventures in the exile

Postby Cavesa » Tue Jul 28, 2015 11:16 pm

Guys, don't tempt me with Hungarian! That is not fair! :-D
Yes, Budapest is just a six hours ride from Prague. Or five and half or something. However, since a boyfriend I used to love very much broke up with me there, I might need some more time to want to go there again. But it would be tempting. Hungary is one of the quite affordable destinations, especially compared with extremes like Sweden. Hungarian and Finnish are so beautiful, Hungarian would be more affordable but Finnish has got some Nightwish lyrics.

Hi, Suzie! Great to see you on the new forums!
Pratchett in Spanish: I find him fun, the translation is of good quality, and not too difficult. Sure, there are some words I don't know but normally understandable from the context. Of course, it is much easier for me than for many others since I've read all the books in either Czech or English before. Sure, I m not that comfortable with some tiny bits with speech impediments and such things but those are rarer or less rare, depending on the particular novel. And I don't think I can agree about the story arc being secondary. I'd say everything in Pratchett's books is an important part of the mix. I totally love the books :-D

Yeah, it helps my comprehension as well that I can even remember (or at least passively recognize) majority of the jokes :-D I haven't tried Pratchett in French yet though. But one in German is optimistically placed among my books.

Today was a Spanish day, apart from a few pages read in French and two verbs added to my awesome memrise course. I completed a few lessons in Gramática de Uso del Espanol. It is mostly review for me but I still make a mistake here and there. But I suspect some of the mistakes being due to listening to a lot of real Spanish while being lazy to study the grammar expicitly.

It had been nearly two months since I last watched something in Spanish, so I started Cuentame como paso today! It is great! I love it. The characters are nice, the story is fun, I suppose I'm gonna learn a lot about life in Spain during the last fourty years. And the episodes are short for a spanish series, under an hour. It might not seem like such a difference, but 60 and 70 minutes feel very different to me.

My Spanish SC: http://www.languagechallenge.surrealix. ... me=Cavesa2
no need to put a progress bar here.

I need to move forward in some long neglected Spanish sources. That's why I'm gonna introduce one more bar for Spanish (right now, it's gonna be la Gramatica de Uso) and one for German (not sure whether Klipp und Klar or Assimil should be the priority). I think I will however strive to keep my signature reasonable. I think getting at most six or seven bars (3 lines) might suit me.

Memrise:not much of a change, I'll get back to it tommorrow. I did something but I wasn't that much in the mood. But I am around 48000 place, which means I've completed the goal. New goal: Get to the top 25000 of all time.

P.S. I almost forgot! I tried the oxford placement test shared by Bryan. I got 42 out of fifty, which is upper intermediate on that scale. Not bad but still plenty of room for improvement.
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Elenia
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Re: Bookworm's adventures in the exile

Postby Elenia » Wed Jul 29, 2015 2:17 am

Glad to see the you're spreading the Pratchett flame. I'm in pretty much the same position, having read so much Pratchett in English. I think you will really enjoy the French translations, I did. Also, by that time you'll probably be able to read any given book with your eyes shut :roll: Then I guess it would be time to jump into Germna Pratchett (hereafter known as Deutschett. There is also Frenchett. I have employed my time well). I'm still struggling on with Alles Sense. The thing that mostly pulls me through is my excellent knowledge of the style. So I can still giggle at the jokes, but they lose some of their impact, and it is definitely more of a struggle. Which book do you have in German?

Good luck battling wanderlust!
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WalkingAlone13
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Re: Bookworm's adventures in the exile

Postby WalkingAlone13 » Wed Jul 29, 2015 1:11 pm

".Memrise- 57455th now, with some more German reviewed and learnt
The course overlaps are not being solved well. The auto-ignore function is not that reliable I'm afraid, especially when you learn in several base languages (There are really nice French and Czech based German courses btw).
Walkingalone13: Thanks! Of course I'lll be excited to follow you. Most people I follow have at least ten times as many points as I've got :-D That's one of the key problems of my character. I take too awesome people and compare myself to them, instead of being happy doing fine in my league."

I know the feeling! I did the same thing with Romina? and Kiki, who both get my weekly total in about two hours >_<
Here's me by the way :) http://www.memrise.com/user/Walkingalone/
I look forward to following you! :)
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Cavesa
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Re: Bookworm's adventures in the exile

Postby Cavesa » Thu Jul 30, 2015 1:42 am

Thanks, Elenia. Fortunately, I am too tired for wanderlust, too busy, too much in love with Spanish, too interested in German, too much amused with Russian (despite the fact I know quite nothing of it for now).

Meminence Walkingalone, what an honor! Just in case: On Memrise, I am Thawrea. Another name from a computer game.

Today: Watched a bit of Cuentame como paso, but not a full episode yet. Did some lessons of the Gramatica (sure, I will get the C level but I am now in the A level. Majority is a review but I still make mistakes in some units). And finished a book in English: Brown:Inferno. nice 460 pages for the ASCR.

I've got an unexpected problem. My computer fails to save changes to my .docx Super Challenge log:I mean the one with the "old" challenges, the new one is on the surrealix website. So, I thought of a back up copy here. ASCR=advanced super challenge residuals. It meant basically 200 movies (approximately an equivalent of 70-90 mins is a movie) and 20 000 pages (one book unit=100 pages). I just didn't want to let go. At the end of the Advanced challenge-end of 2013, I had completed just one part of the four. The three left are now visible in my signature as nice progress bars. I need to put the "log" into a more pleasant and shorter form but other than that, it's gonna be intact. Or rather, the still on going parts will be growing.

unfinished and abandonned Spanish 2012
Movies:
22 episodes of Erase una vez (once upon a time).
Los Pillares de la Tierra 8 episodes (+4)
Game of Thrones in Spanish = 10,5 movies
Da Vinci's demons +4,5
Malefica +1
El extraordinario viaje de T.S.Spivet +1
3 episodes of los demonios de da'vinci +1,5
1 episode of un mundo sin fin +0,5
34/200 (not counted in the current SC as it is documented elsewhere.

200/200 French
Books:
Vargas-le loup garou +2
Le Prince de la Nuit +1/2
Le Souffle de la Salamandre (Évelyne Brissou Pellen) +2
Another by her +3
Disparition a Dallas +1
Mortel corps a corps:+3,5
les Rivières pourpres by Jean-Christophe Grangé +4
Maxime Chattam: L'Alliance des Trois +4,8
Grange:L'Empire des Loups +4,5
Chattam: Malronce +4
Chattam: Le Coeur de la Terre +4,6
Grange: La ligne noire +5
Chattam: Entropia +3,8
Grangé:La Forêt des Mânes +5
Ch. Harris: Les Sorcieres de Shreveport +3,7
Marc Levy:Le premier jour +4,9
+2,3. Oublies de kilmore first half
+3,7 La morsure de la panthere by Charlaine Harris
La reine de vampires by Ch.Harris +4;
two Simenon novels unfinished:+1,5 book,
0,8 Chattam:Carnages
Ch.Harris: La conspiration = +4
Pevel: la Trilogie de Wielstadt + 7,5 books.
Ch.Harris:Pire que la mort +4,1
Pierre Grimbert:La Malerune 1-Les Armes des Garamont +4,6
Phillip Pullman: Les Royaumes du Nord + 5,6
+4 French books: M.Robert-La Malerune 2:Le Dire des Sylfes
+3 French books: Dominique Sylvain: La fille du samuraï.
+2,8 Dominique Sylvain:Soeurs de sang
+5,5 La Malerune 3: La Belle Arcane by Michel Robert and Pierre Grimbert
+8 A.Dumas:Les Trois Musquetaires
Jacques Chessex:Le Vampire de Ropraz +0,8
+8 books: P.Pevel, Les Lames du Cardinal and L'Alchimiste des Ombres
Le Dragon des Arcanes +4 books
0,5 book relevant parts of a dissertation on microbiology from Quebec
3,3 Le Phantom de l'Opera
Tolkien: Contes et légendes inachevés: Le premier Age +2,5
Tolkien: Contes et légendes inachevés: Le Second Âge +1,5
Levy: Sept jours pour une éternité 3
+4,5 reread L'Alliance des Trois by Chattam
+4,5 reread Malronce by Chattam
+4,4 Pullman:La Tour des Anges
+7,8 Pullman: Le Miroir d'Ambre
+4,8 Chattam:Le Coeur de la Terre
+2,5 Honaker: Terre Noire 1: Les exilés du tsar
+4,7 Levy: La premiere nuit
Maurice Dantec: Cosmos Incorporated +5,6
Pierre Pevel: Haut-Royaume 1-Le Chevalier +6,1
Herve Gagnon:Damne: L'Heritage des Cathares +5,2
194,3/200

Movies:
+5,5 Game of Thrones
+7,5 Grimm
+1 Intouchables
whole series La prophécie d'Avignon. + 4
+10 Pilot and all of Caprica.
Eureka pilot+whole series +38
Sanctuary (pilot and some episodes) +5
Engrenages +17
Profilage +30
episodes of Lost Girl +24
+1, Asterix et les jeux olympiques
Angelique, Marquise des Anges +1
+4 Les Revenants
+2 = Merveilleuse Angélique and Angélique et le Roy
Underworld 4 = +1
Belle et la Bete = +1
+1 Frozen in French
+5: Constantine, Blade, Blade 2,Thor 2,Xmen days of future past
Les dents de la nuit +1
+1= movie Ne te retourne pas
+1, La poil de la bete
+1 angelique et le sultan
Hero Corp +7
Asterix et Obélix au service de sa Majesté +1
+3 Into the Woods,Les Guardians de la Galaxie,Le Labyrinthe (the Maze Runner)
Kaamelot Livre I-Tome I +2
Kaamelot Livre I tome II +2
Kaamelot Livre II tome I +2
Kaamelot Livre II tome II + 2
+2 Kaamelott Livre III tome I
+1 Le Grimoire d'Arkandias
+0,5 part of L'Amour est un crime parfait
+2 Kaamelott Livre III tome II
+2 Kaamelott Livre IV tome I
+2 Kaamelott Livre IV tome II
+1,5 Kaamelott Livre V tome I
+3 Kaamelott Livre V tomes II et III
193/200

200/200 English
Books:
rest of the Feast for Crows.+4
first part of dance with dragons-4 books
Doctor who:the empire of glass-3 book
Doctor who: the sands of time-+2
Doctor who-the scales of injustice +3
Jordan:A memory of light +8
Andre Norton:The Time Traders (+2)
Dance with Dragons II +4,9
R.E.Feist:Shadow of a Dark Queen : +5,6
Rise of a Merchant Prince +4,7
R.E.Feist:Rage of a Demon King +6,4
Feist:Shards of a Broken Crown +5
The Name of the Wind +6,6
Robert Jordan: New Spring +4,2
Robert Jordan: The Eye of the World +7,8
6,9 the great hunt by r.jordan
+6,8, Magician by Raymond E. Feist
Unfinished books to finish the SC count:
Guyton:Textbook of Medical Physiology, part of it, +4 books
R.Jordan: The Dragon Reborn +6,7 books.
English books:Raymond E. Feist: Silverthorn +4,2
+5 English books: R.E.Feist: Darkness at Sethanon
pratchett:Dodger +4
+4,7 Pratchett: Raising Steam
+1 part of Pathophysiology of disease
The Fellowship of the Ring +5,3
Hussey:Get the Guy +2,5
+4,6 Brown:Inferno
+10 various pathology textbooks
+9,9 Rothfuss: The WIse Man's Fear
+5,5 Nesbø:Phantom
152,5/200

Movies: not that interesting, completed long ago, basically a list of series and occassionaly movies:
Chuck,A View to a Kill, Sarah Jane adventures,Grimm,Stargate SG1,Stargate Atlantis,The,Big Bang Theory,Lost
Doctor Who, Once upon a time
The Hobbit,The Fellowship of the Ring extended,The Two Towers extended,
Neverwhere
Futurama
Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid
The Guild, Bones,the Red Dwarf.
The Taming of the Shrew.
The Labyrinth
COMPLETE!

Last Update: 6.9.2015
Last edited by Cavesa on Tue Jan 05, 2016 9:01 pm, edited 23 times in total.
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Suzie
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Re: Bookworm's adventures in the exile

Postby Suzie » Thu Jul 30, 2015 1:49 am

Thanks for sharing your experiences with the Discworld novel, Cavesa! Sounds like it is a good idea to start the series with a well-known one, to get used to the specific language features of these books. I'll keep that advice in mind, and might return to the genre. Admittedly, it was a huge disappointment for me not to manage my book. I usually do like Terry Pratchett's creations a lot....

Wish you great success with Memrise!
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100 books: 100 / 100 complete
100 films: 100 / 100 complete

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Via Diva
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Location: somewhere around Moscow
Languages: Russian (N), English (~C1), German (~B1)
Wanderlust/abandoned: Czech, Swedish, Italian, Modern Greek, Esperanto, French, Dutch, Finnish
Hit-list (?): Icelandic, Hungarian, Sanskrit
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=929
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Re: Bookworm's adventures in the exile

Postby Via Diva » Thu Jul 30, 2015 1:56 am

Cavesa wrote:too much amused with Russian (despite the fact I know quite nothing of it for now).

Ahahaha.
Quite the same feelings about Czech so far, to be honest :)
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Cavesa
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Re: Bookworm's adventures in the exile

Postby Cavesa » Thu Jul 30, 2015 8:13 pm

Just briefly today:

I am still continuing with Memrise but slower to avoid burn out. I hate not knowing when I am gonna see a word again, something automatically clear with anki. Therefore I am afraid to "learn" tons of new vocabulary so that I don't get to an avalanche of a thousand reviews per language and day in a week. Any experience? Any hope?
I am around 43000th place.
Still working on my french conjugation course, which is gonna be much better than most those already offered. Really, some of them are totally weird, that is the reason for my confidence.

Other than that: Spanish: A few lessons of gramatica de uso and I need to finish vocabulario by anaya, the lowest level. The content is mostly review but sometimes, I find interesting gaps in my knowledge. And I watched an episode of Cuentame, I love that series!

Plans for today: pathology. Fortunately, one of my coursebooks will count for the ASCR.
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Cavesa
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Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
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Re: Bookworm's adventures in the exile

Postby Cavesa » Sat Aug 01, 2015 4:20 pm

Well, Russian isn't going smoothly because of the time I need to spend on other things primarily. But I don't mind

I was told my progress bars are basically an eyesore when it comes to browing the forum on mobile, which I can agree with and sorry, itjust hadn't occured to me, so I will probably restrict myself to three bars in a signature. The rest of the bars (as they work surprisingly well as a motivation) are gonna be a part of an editable post (like the one with the ASCR).

Another issue at hand:
German 6wc! German for the last time (hopefully)
My plans and tags:
assimil
grammar (mostly klipp und klar, some memrise grammar courses, such a list of partizip II)
vocabulary (sage und schreibe and memrise)
game (I'll finally finish Broken Sword 2)
book (not sure, but I might finally get to that damn Eragon :-) )

In general, this month I'll have less free time than in July (great for the 6wc, isn't it?) but it doesn't matter that much.

On speaking with some foreigners: next time ;-)
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Cavesa
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Re: Bookworm's adventures in the exile

Postby Cavesa » Sat Aug 01, 2015 4:27 pm

The progress bar garden:

those in the signature (the top 3):
ASCR English read pages: 15250 / 20000
ASCR French pages read: 19430 / 20000
ASCR French movies watched: 193 / 200

others, sorted by language:
Es:
Gramatica de uso A: 53 / 107
Vocabulario A1-A2: 40 / 40
Vocabulario B1: 0 / 34
Viva el Vocabulario A1-B1: 6 / 38
De:
Klipp und Klar: 34 / 99
Sage und Schreibe: 17 / 99
Assimil El Alemán active: 19 / 100
Assimil El Alemán passive: 62 / 100
Übungsgrammatikfür Anfänger: 27 / 186

It:
Učebnice současné italštiny 1: 5 / 26
Italština: 3 / 39
Una grammatica italiana per tutti: 0 / 67

Fr:
conjugation memrise course creation: 61 / 73
Ru:
Učebnice současné ruštiny 1: 0 / 25
Last edited by Cavesa on Tue Jan 05, 2016 9:02 pm, edited 56 times in total.
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Cavesa
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Re: Bookworm's adventures in the exile

Postby Cavesa » Sun Aug 02, 2015 12:23 pm

21/107 is not exactly what I call "almost done" but thanks for the encouaragement :-D

well, there are series like Cuentame como paso in other languages, probably inspired by it. The czech one is called Vyprávěj and it even got some international prizes. It is good and fun but it is of course being accused of portraying the life under the communists as less hard than it normally was and I suppose the new series from the really fresh history might be critisized even more, as that "history" is still too fresh on people's minds.

Thanks for the series tips. That should last for much longer than one SC to me :-)

Beginning of the 6wc wasn't that bad. Memrise and Sage und Schreibe. I've decided to have a separate memrise tag in the end.

Today, I don't plan to spend much time on languages, I need to study other things, but I should add a new verb or two to my memrse french conjugation course. And a bit of German, of course
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