Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
Expugnator
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1728
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:45 pm
Location: Belo Horizonte
Languages: Native Brazilian Portuguese#advanced fluency English, French, Papiamento#basic fluency Italian, Norwegian#intermediate Spanish, German, Georgian and Chinese (Mandarin)#basic Russian, Estonian, Greek (Modern)#just started Indonesian, Hebrew (Modern), Guarani
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=9931
x 3589

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby Expugnator » Thu Dec 17, 2015 7:11 pm

Which Assimil Greek are you using? There are two editions afaik.
0 x
Corrections welcome for any language.

sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Fri Dec 18, 2015 2:23 am

I'm using Il nuovo greco senza sforzo with 92 lessons.

Expugnator wrote:Which Assimil Greek are you using? There are two editions afaik.
2 x

sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Wed Dec 23, 2015 5:16 pm

FR/ES/IT:

Finally finished that third Stieg Larsson book. Honestly, I was bored from chapter one. It wasn't the same style as his previous two books. Anyway, I have a lot of Spanish TV to catch up on - Season 6/7/8 of Aguila Roja and seasons 2/3 of Isabel. I'm also really into the main actors from El internado like Yon Gonzalez and Blanca Suarez so I want to see some of their series also that they star in.

As for French and Italian, once I finish my current reading backlog I plan to do some more work with them. I still need to read some Houellebecq saddening goodness and I'm going to try out some of Umberto Eco's philosophy of language essays.


German:

So I finished Deustchland 83. I thought it was fantastic. It got me really interested in the Cold War. I'm only used to hearing the American version of Cold War politics with a splash of Russian so seeing the German side of it and how the Americans and Russians played a part in their politics was quite interesting.

I'm still reading Und die Toten laesst man ruhen. I'm not sure if I explained it already, but it's a detective story in which a private detective is hired by someone who believes his brother's "suicide" was actually a murder. These books are short and contain a lot of new vocab so it's quite accessible to an intermediate learner such as myself. I'm really excited to read the whole series and see how much progress I make.

Before where even the most basic vocab gave me problems, I'm happy to announce that I've crossed that hump. Now, it's the more difficult vocab that's giving me problems. It's a necessary evil and it feels good though.


Russian:

My progress has halted and more than halfway through Assimil I need to re-evaluate my goals and why I want to push forth. I may have to take a little break and review the previous week again because this last one has been quite difficult for me.


Greek:

As of now, about halfway through Assimil like Russian, I find myself feeling differently about Greek. It feels like it "fits". I don't know how to explain it, but I feel somewhat comfortable in it. I'd hate to say this then next update mention how it got difficult or something, but that's just how I feel about it now. I think I really enjoy learning languages from that area. I might try Turkish and Persian soon.


Swedish:

Really melodic language. Anyway, I'm comfortable with everything I've encountered so far besides conjugations. That's something I definitely need to review. There's this certain appeal that Germanic and especially Scandinavian languages have for me. Pronunciation is a little tricky at times though. I find myself having to replay each audio lesson again to make sure I say words correctly.


Latin:

I haven't done much Latin study in awhile because I was trying to finish some other things, but I'm going to do a lesson right now.
3 x

sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Mon Dec 28, 2015 3:29 am

FR/ES/IT:

Nothing much with French. As I mentioned I have a huge reading and TV backlog. However, Italian and Spanish are a different story.

In light of Christmas, I binged some De Sica Natale movies in Italian.

Image
Image
Image

Yes, they have awful reviews on IMDB but I can vouch that these movies are actually pretty fun and enjoyable to watch. This is one of the times I wouldn't trust IMDB.

For Spanish I've already watched two episodes of Season 6 of Aguila Roja.


German:

Finished chapter 10. Reading is continuing to progress at a rate that is now rather noticeable. Chapter 10, despite its short length, went rather fluid for me. I learned some words from context but the more sophisticated ones needed looking up such as "voraussetzen". Just when I started getting used to the idea of German verb separations and numerous prefixes, they go on and add on a second one to some words. Go figure.

One thing that is especially frustrating, however. In compound words, for some I'll only know half of it. Sometimes I can't get it from context and other times it throws me off and makes me not recognize the half I already knew.


Swedish:

Can't complain, besides the pronunciation. One sentence stuck out to me due to the fact that I thought they were speaking English for a second - "Lad meg se" (I think?) It sounded exactly like "let me see". That was cool.

But yeah other than that, it's sort of tricky. Must be a Northern Germanic thing because English isn't necessarily an exemplary model of easy pronunciation at times.


Greek:

Ok, I'm utterly baffled by this "aorist" tense. Seriously. What the hell is it, why do I need to know it, and how the hell do I even form it? At first I thought it was sort of like the Romance subjunctive, but then I remembered that Greek already has a subjunctive. I'm going to need a linguistics book or something.

Besides that, I'm still sometimes getting letters mixed up. Especially lower and upper case. I think these little misunderstandings are bigger problems than I perceive them to be. I'm going to definitely have to do a quick review soon.
2 x

sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Thu Dec 31, 2015 7:27 pm

Since it's almost 2016, I decided to give a rundown of my languages + a normal log update at the end.

2015 -

French:

Had a long hiatus this year in French, but I also made a lot of progress. Verlan comes a lot easier to me at this point, I can pick out most words by sound alone, and I'm familiar with just about every aspect of grammar in the language. By far my best foreign language. I could probably reach native levels with an extended stay in a francophone country. My reading is fluent and about as fast as English.


Spanish:

I'm very comfortable in Spanish and when I hear it spontaneously I can usually understand everything - like French. But, I don't think it comes as quick to me in my head like French, or even Italian, does as far as speaking is concerned. For example, I usually need to be in "Spanish mode" for everything to be 100% readily available to me mentally which means I need to watch a movie or something. I'm not quite sure how else to explain it though. Besides that, there are some dialects that trip me up still. I tried to watch a Colombian crime movie and it baffles me how people say Colombia has the most neutral Spanish. Basically, I didn't understand much until I turned on the subs. However, the three big variants are fine for me (Spanish, Mexican, Southern Cone/Rioplatense). And to be honest, what I said about the Colombian accent goes for most of Central America and the Caribbean as well. I can understand a Chilean better than an Ecuadorian or Cuban.

Sometimes I run into a really formal vocab word that's like straight up Latin and is hardly ever used outside of literature, but as I read more technical stuff that problem is going away slowly but surely.


Italian:

My baby, my second French. I love the strong Latin influence I find in words, the dialects, accents, and everything. I made huge progress in my Italian this year from listening in on family conversations in dialect and understanding a bit more than half to watching movies and reading difficult literature with little to no problems. I've made huge strides in understanding the Roman dialect and some Neapolitan (Gomorra La Serie is still pretty difficult to understand at times, but Romanzo Criminale not so much anymore give or take some situations). I want this to be my third best language, or at least tied with Spanish. I need to start reading more technical stuff like philosophy of physics and language. By the way, Italy has a pretty solid philosophy scene with a lot of untranslated works - like French. I just learned that this year. Aesthetics, philosophy of physics/science, philosophy of politics, and philosophy of language are pretty big in Italy.


German:

Very happy with my progress. I've read The Metamorphosis in German and watched my first German series - Deutschland 83. I'm very excited to progress in this language and I think it's going to be one of my main focuses of 2016. I hope to read at least 20 books in German for 2016 and eventually go through some Family Guy dubs or something then move on to native media. My goal is C1 this year.


Portuguese:

More or less neglected in 2015, but I'm back on it. My reading is at least B2, but I can't say even remotely the same thing for my listening. I'm not sure if I want to reach more than a B2 level all around, but if it happens then it happens. I'm going to watch some telenovelas and other series as well as L/R when I can. As I said, I'll be happy with B2.


Swedish:

I'm looking to get to around a C1 level if possible. I haven't yet finished Assimil, so I can't say much. I can say however that there are many movies and series I'm interested in seeing so the motivation is there. Not to mention my new interest in Germanic languages.


Greek:

Taking a slight break not due to difficulty but because of time. I still love this language a lot. The one thing that came out of no where and gave me problems was the "aorist tense". I still have no idea what it is, but that's one of my 2016 goals.


Russian:

Same with Greek. I like the language but time constraints are a problem. Along with Germanic languages, I've developed an interest in Slavic languages. I'm going to try to check out Polish, Czech, and Croatian.


Latin:

No particular goals. I'm happy if I finish Assimil and read "Winne ille pu" and The Little Prince in Latin. I'm just going for a B1 equivalent level here. I hope to try to read Aeneid one day in Latin but if it doesn't happen, then oh well.


I'm going to be putting a big focus on Germanic languages (German, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, maybe flirt with Icelandic) and possibly Slavic languages (mainly Polish and Czech or Croatian). New year, new interests, new challenges. Sorry Romance. You guys amused me since I started my language learning journey but it's time to move on.

Happy new year to all and good luck with your goals.


Log update -


French:

Watched Episode 1 of Season 7 of Fais pas ci fais pas ca. Watched some scenes of the new movie; Antigang. Some scenes I couldn't understand, but then I went back to them the next day and I heard them perfectly. Hate when that happens. It's usually only with French too.


Spanish:

Another episode of Aguila Roja.


Italian:

Gonna start a new series soon, not sure when. I'll post it when I decide on it. Besides that, I'm starting the short book called L'amore molesto by Elena Ferrante.


German:

Finished the 11th chapter of my book. Almost finished! German feels really good for me now. That sensation I've been trying to get for 1-2 years now has finally come. That's to say, my only obstacle in reading now is all of the unknown vocab for the most part and some slight grammar hitches. This is my 2016 focus. I want a C1 by next year.


Portuguese:

L/R'ed two chapters of Amor de perdicao. It's a 19th century romantic novel. Vocab isn't hard, conjugations are easy to pick up. The hard part is pronunciation. I'm excited about making quick progress in Portuguese.


Swedish:

29th lesson in Assimil
0 x

sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Sat Jan 02, 2016 1:37 am

Yay 2000 views broken!

By now just about all of us are in 2016, so time to rev up our engines for this (hopefully) wonderful New Year!
0 x

sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Tue Jan 12, 2016 1:43 am

FR/ES/IT:

Finished season 7 of Fais pas ci fais pas ca in like two days. Eager for season 8! Still have a huge backlog, but I'm working on it now. I started on Hero Corp which I plan to binge next weekend for my three day vacation.

Watched an episode of Capadocia. Some of the jail speech was hard to get with certain characters and I don't have much exposure to these particular accents but it's coming along. Great show so far, one episode in. It's like a way darker Orange is the New Black.

Reading Erich Fromm "Psicanalisi della societa contemporanea", going to start a series soon.


German:

Started the second book, a few chapters in. Alot of the same vocab from the previous book so it's good practice. Still kind of hard though.


Portuguese:

Huge strides! I L/Red Amor de perdicao, then my listening comp when up a huge amount. So I watched Sessao de terapia (already saw the Italian one), now I'm watching Family Guy and the Simpsons. It's going great so far. Can't wait to dive into movies.


I don't have time for the other updates, but I'll write those another time.
0 x

sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Sun Jan 17, 2016 6:04 pm

Hello everyone. Well, I'm taking a Latin American literature course which is exclusively in Spanish. It's pretty cool and hopefully it will boost my speaking a bit. Everyone in there is either a native speaker or if not, they have a decent level but a REALLY thick American accent. This is the first time I'll be writing papers, taking notes, and learning in another language so hopefully it works out well.

Also, I think I'm the only non-Spanish major in there so yeah.

French:

Watched two episodes of Hero Corp. Getting bored of French again, ugh. Another hiatus incoming. Atleast Davodka's new album came out, and it's incredible.


Spanish:

Three episodes of Capadocia + courses last week. I usually find most Mexican Spanish rather clear, but some characters in this show are hard to understand. Mainly "Bambi". Not surprising considering it's a prison based series, but it can still get a bit frustrating missing a sentence here and there.

Italian:

Finished that Fromm book. Watched an episode of Il comissario Montalbano & E' arrivata la felicita'. Thinking about reading some Perec or Houellebecq in italiano.


German:

Watched a few episodes of The Simpsons in German without worrying about comprehension. I enjoyed it. It's nice hearing the language and picking out some new words here and there. Still working through In alter Freundschaft. I'm having fun with German finally and it feels great.


Portuguese:

My biggest accomplishment of 2016 so far. One day I decided to just watch Sessao de terapia, couldn't understand much and got bored. Got some Family Guy (Uma familia da pesada), started watching it, and suddenly I understand like 70% if not more. Woo! I kind of have the conjugations down too, not too far from perfected if I do say so myself. The future subjunctive is different but not impossible.


Russian:

Lesson 65. No real complaints for this lesson or the past few.


Latin:

Lesson 71. Vocab is easy for me. Really excited to start reading some children's books soon, then maybe some Cicero one day!!


Been flirting with Polish and Romanian. Romanian is pretty fun, Polish is just something to pass the time which may turn into something more one day. I'd like to mess around with some Japanese again soon.
1 x

sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Fri Jan 29, 2016 3:03 pm

French:

Five episodes of Hero Corp and Kaboul Kitchen. Hiatus paid off, again.


Spanish:

More Capadocia. Also my Spanish class where we're studying pre-colonial literature at the moment and uses old Spanish when it was more like Portuguese as far as grammar goes. There are some heritage speakers there who sound like they're from Mexican or Puerto Rican families and I think the prof is Colombian or Mexican so I get some exposure to different accents.


Italian:

About halfway through "Il cavaliere inesistente" by Italo Calvino. Also watched two seasons of Il commissario montalbano and La leggenda di John, Jack, and Al. That movie was pretty funny. I only saw parts of it before but after watching it all it was pretty fun looking back on it.

Also, the new I Cani came out yesterday which I've been jamming out to all day. Niccolo went for a way more mature sound.


German:

Reading and grammar study. Watched an episode of the Simpsons auf deutsch and, well, it could have gone better. I hardly got anything but I got below the gist which is a start.


Portuguese:

Started watching a series called A menina sem qualidades which is like a Brazilian teen drama on MTV (guilty pleasure). It's not half bad and it uses a lot of language I'm not ready for, but it's nice to just hear the language and start picking out words and sounds. I'm really only getting the main gist of it but they don't speak as much so yeah.


Russian:

Lesson 71 of Assimil


Latin:

Lesson 74
1 x

sillygoose1
Green Belt
Posts: 380
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:25 pm
Location: USA
Languages: _
NA: English
C2: French
C1: German, Italian, Spanish
B2: Russian, Portuguese
A2: Japanese
A1: Mandarin
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=751
x 631

Re: Sillygoose1's Language Extraordinaire

Postby sillygoose1 » Sat Feb 06, 2016 2:36 pm

French:

More Hero Corps, not so much Kaboul Kitchen lately because I've been a bit busy. It takes about 3-4 episodes for Hero Corp to be watchable because before that it goes kinda slow. It's pretty funny though. Les freres Astier are always a treat to watch.


Spanish:

Some more Capadocia + old Spanish literature for my class. Old Spanish is pretty cool though. It resembles Portuguese grammar more than anything especially in object placement and contractions. dela/della, diole/hablole. I also read somewhere that ancient Spanish had this thing that Portuguese still uses with the future tense like falar-o-ei/hablar-lo-e.

Besides that I'm about due to start a new book soon. Probably today since I finished my Italian one. I need some more Unamuno in my life right now so he's gonna be the one.


Italian:

Finished Il cavaliere inesistente by Italo Calvino. I enjoyed it. It's a short read and it's good all the way through. He's really great with prose and it's a shame more people don't know about him outside of Europe.


German:

Chapter 7 of In alter Freundschaft. Even though I found this series by chance, apparently the author is pretty big in Germany and also has his own crime TV show since 1995. I had no idea and here I am reading his books. Anyway there's some decent street language and idioms in this book. I'm finally getting used to separable verbs to the point that they no longer cause me distress and I'm almost very comfortable with declensions. They make sense to me when I see or hear them but I still can't form them coherently.


Portuguese:

Finished the series A menina sem qualidades. I'm still not 100% sure on what it was supposed to portray but it definitely gave off more of a Skins vibe that any other show I've watched similar to it like Fisica o Quimica or something like that. The series got pretty dark at times considering it's about a group of high school kids. If you're into MTV or Skins style teen dramas (which is my guilty pleasure) you should check it out.

My plans now are to read O homen duplicado and watch a series called Amores Roubados.

Image


Swedish:

Finished the 40th lesson last night and might do two today. I'm on a Swedish kick lately especially since I've been improving in German. I don't think it's as easy as people claim it is for native English speakers however. Yeah there are some obvious cognates, but the pronunciation and some vocab is way too Germanic still compared to English.


Russian:

Lesson 78 today, ready to get my behind kicked in. I'm hoping most of the gaps will be filled when I go onto Perfectionnement Russe. Honestly Slavic languages have what seem to me so many unnecessary grammar rules. Ugh. Vocab is still not sticking too well. I don't even remember most of the lessons I did before after having been on the Active wave for like a month now. I'm sure it'll work itself out like German did.

I need to practice conjugations and soft/hard noun endings.


Greek:

This aorist tense is a pain. Same problems with Russian also. There's a point in Assimil where everything is going great, you understand the lessons, can understand them on the recordings without looking at the book, then BOOM. All of a sudden, "what the hell is that?", "what did I just read?"

On lesson 46.


Latin:

Didn't get a chance to do a lesson yesterday and somehow I'm further in Russian than in Latin! On 76.
1 x


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests