Radioclare's 2018 log (Croatian/Russian)

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Radioclare
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Radioclare's 2018 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby Radioclare » Mon Jan 01, 2018 6:04 pm

Hello from Äkäslompolo in Finland, where it is beautifully cold and snowy :) I'm starting a new log for 2018 as I like keeping my years distinct and a new year is a good opportunity for a new start.

Last year I had quite detailed goals, which I posted here in the hope that it would be motivational, but I'm not sure it actually was. So this year I also have quite detailed goals, but I'm going to keep them to myself and see whether that is more helpful :lol:

Broadly, the three things I want to achieve this year are:

1) Stop my German getting any worse (mainly to be achieved by reading lots of German novels).

2) Keep improving my Croatian.

3) Learn enough Russian that I'm no longer ashamed of the (lack of) progress I've made.
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2018 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby Radioclare » Sat Jan 06, 2018 9:52 pm

I got back from Finland late on Wednesday night and had my first day back at work after Christmas on Thursday. That was a bit painful, but in general I feel a lot more positive about life, the universe and everything since having some time off :)

German
Wednesday was a huge day of travelling, so I was able to read the majority of a novel in German: 'Kind 44' by Tom Rob Smith. This is a translation of an English novel and it's such an exciting story that I'd recommend reading it in any language. It's set in the Soviet Union during the 1950s and tells the story of a secret service officer who begins investigating a series of murders and ends up in a lot of trouble as a result. I finished it this afternoon, which means I've read one book already this year and got 509 pages in German for Tadoku :)

I've also been using a German-based textbook to learn Russian, because...

Russian
...for Christmas my boyfriend got me a copy of Assimil 'Russisch ohne Mühe heute' :) I've only done three lessons so far (because although I started it on 1 January, I spent several days reading and re-reading the opening chapter on pronunciation) but I'm really enjoying using it. I'm hoping to be able to do a chapter every day, though accept the fact that at some point work is bound to get in the way and mean that I can't.

I am also going back to using 'Colloquial Russian'. I was doing okay with this before, but have had a big break so I've gone back to the beginning again. Ideally I'd like to get through a chapter per week, but we shall see!

Croatian
I've spent a fair bit of time this week clearing my huge backlog on Memrise, and finally got to the end of it today. I really do want to do better with Memrise this year.

I haven't signed up for the Output Challenge because I find the thought of writing 50,000 words a bit overwhelming, but I've been trying to write 150 words in Croatian every day. Again, I know this isn't something I'm going to be able to keep up indefinitely, but so far I've managed six days and I've got 983 words. What this has shown me is mainly that my Croatian feels rusty, and so I'm going to do some grammar revision. I've started re-reading the huge BCS grammar textbook, a project which might take several months.

Edit - typo
Last edited by Radioclare on Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Radioclare's 2018 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby rdearman » Sat Jan 06, 2018 10:24 pm

You can do a half challenge you know. :)
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2018 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby Radioclare » Sun Jan 07, 2018 10:52 am

rdearman wrote:You can do a half challenge you know. :)


I'll think about it :lol: If I manage to do well at writing regularly, then I'll probably sign up a bit belatedly. But I don't want to sign up now, miss a few days of writing because of work and then feel like the output challenge is hanging over me, because my experience in previous years is that that puts me off writing anything at all!

That said, I will 100% sign up if you create a bot :D
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Re: Radioclare's 2018 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby Brun Ugle » Sun Jan 07, 2018 11:35 am

All the cool kids are writing their logs in their target languages this year. ;) That should be enough to fulfill the writing portion of the challenge.
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Radioclare
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Re: Radioclare's 2018 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby Radioclare » Sun Jan 07, 2018 3:58 pm

Nemam namjeru uvijek pisati ovdje na hrvatskom, ali možda ponekad :)

Zaboravila sam spomenuti da sam tijekom Božića pogledala seriju na španjolskom. Serija se zove "Sé quién eres" ("Znam tko si") i radi se o uspješnom odvjetniku Juan Elias, koji se probudi nakon prometne nesreće i ne može se sjetiti ničega. Uopće ne zna tko je i ne sjeća ni svoju vlastitu ženu ni djecu. Priča je još uzbudljivija zbog toga što je njegova nećakinja neočekivano nestala u isto vrijeme kao je on imao prometnu nesreću. Policija zato vjeruje da ju je možda ubio, a on pojma nema da li je to zapravo učinio ili ne.

Naravno ne mogu razumjeti španjolski, ali mislim da je BBC emitirala tu seriju prošle godine i moja sestra mi je dala DVD s engleskim titlovima za Božić. Bila sam tjedan dana na sjeveru Finske, to jest u Laponiji, i tamo je svanulo tek u jedanaest ujutro, a bilo je već mračno prije tri poslije podne, pa sam imala puno vremena gledati televiziju.
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Re: Radioclare's 2018 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby Daniel N. » Mon Jan 08, 2018 4:24 pm

Radioclare wrote:radi se o uspješnom odvjetniku Juan Elias

o Juanu Eliasu. You have to decline masc. names :)

ne sjeća ni svoju vlastitu ženu ni djecu.

Sjećati se uses G: ne sjeća ni svoje vlastite žene ni djece.

Bila sam tjedan dana na sjeveru Finske, to jest u Laponiji, i tamo je svanulo tek u jedanaest ujutro, a bilo je već mračno prije tri poslije podne, pa sam imala puno vremena gledati televiziju.

You cannot express a repeating action with an impf. verb in the past tense: it refers to a single event during that time. So, you said, it dawned only once in the week :) Use the impf. verb: tamo je svitalo...

Another option would be to use an adverb of frequency with an perf. verb: tamo je svaki dan svanulo... but it's more common to use impf. verbs even if you have an adverb that specifies repetition :/
Last edited by Daniel N. on Mon Jan 08, 2018 4:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Radioclare's 2018 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby Serpent » Mon Jan 08, 2018 4:29 pm

Image

-what was that?
-summer
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Corrections welcome

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Re: Radioclare's 2018 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby Brun Ugle » Mon Jan 08, 2018 5:40 pm

Radioclare wrote:Bila sam tjedan dana na sjeveru Finske, to jest u Laponiji, i tamo je svanulo tek u jedanaest ujutro, a bilo je već mračno prije tri poslije podne, pa sam imala puno vremena gledati televiziju.

It's the same in Norway. I keep trying to use it as a selling point to my family. I tell them they could come visit me and see spectacular sunrises and not even have to get up early. And if they want to see the sunset too, they just have to wait a little bit. There's none of that waiting around all day for the sun to go down like at some latitudes. They're still not buy it though.
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Re: Radioclare's 2018 log (Croatian/Russian)

Postby Radioclare » Mon Jan 08, 2018 9:05 pm

Thank you for the corrections, Daniel; they are very useful as ever, especially the point about aspect.

Daniel N. wrote:o Juanu Eliasu. You have to decline masc. names :)


I didn't know you had to do this even when it wasn't a Croatian name :cry:

Brun Ugle wrote:It's the same in Norway. I keep trying to use it as a selling point to my family. I tell them they could come visit me and see spectacular sunrises and not even have to get up early. And if they want to see the sunset too, they just have to wait a little bit. There's none of that waiting around all day for the sun to go down like at some latitudes. They're still not buy it though.


They sound like they are missing out :lol:
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