kanewai's book shelf (current: italian)

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sfuqua
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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby sfuqua » Sun Dec 06, 2015 3:33 pm

I loved the post about being a few months away from reaching B2.

I thought I'd let you know that I think that I am just a few months away from reaching B2 also :)
1 x
荒海や佐渡によこたふ天の川

the rough sea / stretching out towards Sado / the Milky Way
Basho[1689]

Sometimes Japanese is just too much...

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kanewai
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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby kanewai » Tue Jan 05, 2016 10:55 pm

Super Challenge II results - reading

I'll post my thoughts on these in outside posts; this is mostly just a data dump.

French

Image

read

Jean Giono. Colline. 1929
Émile Zola. L'Œuvre. 1886
Pierre Boulle. La planète des singes. 1963
André Malraux. La condition humaine. 1933
Jean Giono. L'homme qui plantait des arbes. 1953 
M. Joseph Bédier. Tristan et Iseut. 1900 
Phèdre. Jean Racine. 1677 
Albert Camus. La peste. 1947
Marguerite Yourcenar. L'oeuvre au noir. 1968 
Jean-Jacques Sempé, René Goscinny. Le petit Nicolas. 1960.
Jean Genet. Notre-Dame-des-Fleurs. 1944 
Fred Vargas. Pars vite et reviens tard. 2001
Marcel Proust. Le Côté de Guermantes. 1921
Georges Bernanos. Journal d'un curé de campagne. 1936 (partial)
Gustave Flaubert. L'éducation sentimentale. 1869.  
Margeurite Duras. L'amant de la Chine du Nord. 1991
Victor Hugo. Notre-Dame de Paris. 1831 (in process)


I still have quite a few books on deck!

at home / on kindle

Marcel Proust. Sodome et Gomorrhe. 1922
André Breton. Nadja. 1928  
Chateaubriand. René. 1802
Jean Anouilh. Antigone. 1944.
Paul Claudel. Le soulier de satin. 1929 
André Gide. Les caves du Vatican. 1914
Jean Giono. Le moulin de Pologne. 1972
Louis Aragon. Aurélien. 1944
Alexis de Tocqueville. De la Démocratie en Amérique. 1935
Oeuvres complètes de Gustave Flaubert
Oeuvres de Victor Hugo


watch list

Ágota Kristof. Le grand cahier. 1986  
Marguerite Duras. Un barrage contre le Pacifique. 1950.
Vercors. Le silence de la mer. 1942
Julien Gracq. Le rivage des syrtes. 1951
Ismail Kadaré. Le Général de l'armée morte. 1963  
Anatole France. La révolte des anges. 1914  


Italian

Image

read

J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter e l'Ordine della Fenice. 2003
Hugo Pratt. Una ballata del mare salato. 1967
Carlo Collodi. Le avventure di Pinocchio. 1883.
Luigi Pirandello. Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore. 1921
Giuseppe Tomas di Lampedusa. Il gattopardo. 1958 
Giorgio Bassani. Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini. 1962
Umberto Eco. Il nome della rosa. 1980
Italo Svevo. La coscienza di Zeno. 1923     (partial)
Paolo Giordano.  La solitudine dei numeri primi.  2010.  
Dante Alighieri. La divina commedia.  Inferno. 1317
Dino Buzzati. Il deserto dei tartari. 1940    
Primo Levi. Se questo e un uomo. 1947
Italo Calvino.  Le città invisibili. 1972
Primo Levi. La tregua. 1963
Umberto Eco. Baudolino. 2000 (partial)
Italo Calvino.  Le città invisibili. 1972
Italo Calvino. Le cosmicomiche. 1965
J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter e il principe mezzosangue. 2005
Dino Buzzati. Il segreto del Bosco Vecchio. 1935.
Elsa Morante. La storia. 1974 (in progress)

I don't have so many at home, and should be able to finish these.

Umberto Eco. Storia delle terre e dei luoghi leggendari. 2013
Prima Levi. Il sistema periodico. 1975
Luisa Adorno. Arco di luminara. 1990
Carlo Flamigni. Giallo uovo. 2002

I'd really like to dive into some of the classics, though they aren't standard Italian & will be difficult. At the least, I'd like to cover Boccaccio, Petrarch, and the rest of Dante.

Giovanni Boccaccio. Decameron. 1353
Francesco Petrarca. Canzonieiri. 1327-1368
Ludovico Ariosto. Orlando furioso. 1516
Leonardo da Vinci. Notebooks. to 1519
Niccolò Machiavelli. Il principe. 1532
Dante Alighieri. La divina commedia. Purgatorio. Paradiso. 1555
Benvenuto Cellini. La vita. 1728
Giacomo Casanova. Storia della mia vita. 1798


Spanish


Image

I might as well wrap this up with my Spanish wish list for the next round!

Miguel de Cervantes. Don Quixote
Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina). El Aleph (1949); Ficciones
Federico García Lorca. Gypsy Ballads
Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia). El amor en los tiempos del cólera, 1985; Memorias de mis putas tristes, 2005; Del amor y otros demonios, 1994
Manuel Puig (Argentina). Cae la noche tropical, 1988; El beso de la mujer araña; La traición de Rita Hayworth
Carlos Fuentes (Mexico). Aura, 1961; Los años con Laura Díaz, 1999; La silla del Águila,  2003; Gringo viejo, 1961;  La muerte de Artemio Cruz, 1962
Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru). La fiesta del Chivo, 2000; El paraíso en la otra esquina, 2003; Los Jefes
Arturo Pérez Reverte (Spain), El capitán Alatriste, 1996 (series); El maestro de esgrima, 1988
Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Spain), La Sombra del Viento, 2001; El Prisionero del Cielo, 2011
5 x
Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

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kanewai
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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby kanewai » Tue Jan 05, 2016 11:00 pm

Date dump 2: French and Italian Films

reviews to come.

French

Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec. Luc Besson, 2010
Irma Vep. Olivier Assayas, 1996
Saltimbank. Jean-Claude Biette. 2003
La loi. Jules Dassin. 1959.
Trans-Europ-Express. Alain Robbe-Grillet. 1966. 
L'immortelle. Alain Robbe-Grillet, 1963. 
Les plages d'Agnès. Agnès Varda. 2008. 
La mort en ce jardin, Luis Buñuel, 1956
L'éden et après. Alain Robbe-Grillet, 1970. 
Le temps qui reste. François Ozon. 2005
La france. Serge Bozon, 2007
Vous n'avez encore rien vu. Alain Resnais, 2012
Salut les cubains. Agnès Varda. 1963
Chronique d'un été (Paris 1960). Edgar Morin, Jean Rouch. 1961
F. est un salaud. Marcel Gisler. 1999
Rififi. Jules Dassin. 1956
Panique au village. Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar. 2010

Italian

La meglio gioventú. Marco Tullio Giordana, 2003
Matrimonio all'italiana.  Vittorio de Sica, 1964
Reality. Matteo Garrone, 2012.
Pranzo di ferragosto. Gianni di Gregoria. 2010
Io non ho paura. Gabriele Salvatores. 2003 
Cesare deve morire. Paulo and Vittorio Taviani. 2012
Uomini contro. Francesco Rosi, 1970.
Milano calibro 9. Fernando Di Leo. 1972
I clowns. Federico Fellini. 1970
La città sconvolta: caccia spietata ai rapitori. Fernando Di Leo. 1975
I cannibali. Liliana Cavani. 1970
La strada. Federico Fellini. 1954
L'età di Cosimo de' Medici: L'esilio di Cosimo. Roberto Rossellini. 1972.
Giuliete degli spiriti. Federico Fellini. 1965
Cronica de un amore. Michelangelo Antonioni. 1950
I vinti. Michelangelo Antonioni. 1953
Bellissima. Luchino Visconti. 1952
Django. Sergio Corbucci. 1966
La decima vittima. Elio Petri. 1965
La corona di ferro. Alessandro Blasetti. 1941
Accatone. Pier Paolo Pasolini. 1961
Gruppo di famiglia in un interno. Luchino Visconti. 1974
Latin Lover. Cristina Comencini. 2015
Un sussurro nel buio. Marcello Aliprandi. 1976
Il conformista. Bernardo Bertolucci. 1970
I fuorilegge del matrimonio. Orsini, Taviani, Taviani. 1963
La grande strada azzurra. Gillo Pontecorvo. 1957
I tre volti della paura. Mario Brava. 1963
Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave. Sergio Martino. 1972
1 x
Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

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kanewai
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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby kanewai » Tue Mar 01, 2016 3:37 am

The longer I don't write, the more I have to write, and so the more I put it off. It's time to accept that I'm not going to be able to summarize the past half year - or however long it's been since HTLAL fractured - and just jump right back into it.

Italian

My goal now is to finish the last couple books on my shelf, and then to focus hard on Spanish.

La storia (Elsa Morante, 1974) is a fantastic story about one family's experiences in Rome before, during, and after WWII. It's unlike anything I've read. The heroine is completely emotionally broken by fear, and her young children are growing up in a world that doesn't make rational sense. It's fantastic. It's also 700 pages, and it is taking me forever to get through it.

L'umanità, per propria natura, tende a darsi una spiegazione del mondo, nel quale è nata. E questa è la sua distinzione dalle altre specie. Ogni individuo, pure il meno intelligente e l'infimo dei paria, fino da bambino si dà una qualche spiegazione del mondo. E in quella si adatta a vivere. E senza di quella, cadrebbe nella pazzia.
Man, by his very nature, tends to give himself an explanation of the world into which he is born. And this is what distinguishes him from the other species. Every individual, even the least intelligent, the lowest of outcasts, from childhood on gives himself some explanation of the world. And with it he manages to live. And without it, he would sink into madness.

Purgatorio (Dante, 14th Century) - The Inferno gets all the press, but the poetry in Purgatorio is even more fantastic. It's also nice to be back in the world of light. Here Virgil and Dante are met by Cato, the gate keeper of the seven kingdoms of Purgatory:

Chi siete voi che contro al cieco fiume
fuggita avete la pregione etterna?"
diss' el, movendo quelle oneste piume.

"Chi v'ha guidati, o che vi fu lucerna,
uscendo fuor de la profonda notte
che sempre nera fa la valle inferna?

Son le leggi d'abisso così rotte?
o è mutato in ciel novo consiglio,
che, dannati, venite a le mie grotte?"


What souls are you to have fled the eternal prison,
climbing against the dark and hidden stream?'
he asked, shaking those venerable locks.

'Who was your guide or who your lantern
to lead you forth from that deep night
which steeps the vale of Hell in darkness?

'Are the laws of the abyss thus broken,
or has a new decree been made in Heaven,
that, damned, you stand before my cliffs?'


Image
(The Gates of Purgatory, William Blake. Canto IX)

(I thought Cato killed himself, so I'm not sure why Dante didn't stick him in hell with the other suicides. I'll have to read up on this).

I have some other classics on my shelf. I'd love to work my way through The Decameron, and - while I'm in a Renaissance mood - at least some works by Petrarch. Machiavelli's Il principe is on my list too. There are so many books, and so little time.

I've pretty much finished with Italian tv. I enjoyed Montalbano, but after seven seasons I've had enough. The show is starting to feel repetitive. I've enjoyed some other detective shows (especially Il commissario De Luca), but thought that most of the ones available are junk.

I'm having a hard time with podcasts also. Some weeks I think that I just need to listen, even though my comprehension is limited. Other weeks I am just not interested at all.

Surprisingly, I've been enjoying DuoLingo. I run hot and cold with this program. I liked it. Then I didn't. Then I really didn't. And now I like it again. It's a funny thing - sometimes the "best" program can't be quantified - it's whatever matches your mood at any particular time.

Final verdict for Italian: I'll finish Elsa Morante, some day soon, then focus on the classics for a few months. Then it will move to my 'dormant' list, ready for reactivation one day.
1 x
Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby kanewai » Tue Mar 01, 2016 4:08 am

French

I finished the second Super Challenge with the two authors I started the first one with: Hugo and Flaubert.

Notre-Dame de Paris was a five-star read, and might be one of my favorite novels ever. The action and focus was much tighter than with Les Miserables, and there was a bit less moral preaching. There was still light and dark, and good and evil, but the good people had a dark side and the bad people had a good side.

I've never seen the Disney cartoon, but they must have massacred the book. This is not in any way a children's story.

L'Éducation sentimentale, by contrast, was much less focused than Madame Bovary. There were a lot more characters and subplots, the book was very political, and the action would jump forward by a couple years at a time without warning. It was also incredibly cynical. The heroes (if there were any heroes) would be revolutionary when revolutions were fashionable, royalist when the royals were fashionable, and cut-throat capitalists if they thought that cutting a few throats, or stabbing their friends in the back, would get them ahead in society.

I started Sodome et Gomorrhe (Proust), which jumps right into some gay drama in high society. I'm going to like this book, I think. I've put it aside for now, as I want to try and clear out my Italian shelf.

I've also been immersed in three great tv series:

Season 2 of Les revenants just came out on Netflix, but I've decided to watch Season 1 again first. It's actually even better the second time.




I'm on Season 4 of Un village français. The intensity of each season is increasing, and I'm ready to binge until the end - even though I know that horrible things are bound to happen along the way.




And finally, Ainsi soient-ils is the story of five first-year seminarians in a Capuchin monastery. There is plenty of drama, but it's nice that they treat the characters with respect, and focus on the spiritual aspects of the dramas rather than the soap-opera scandalous aspects. I finished Season 1, and have heard that the next two seasons are even better. I hope they are released in the States soon.



-------------------------------------------------------------

Reading this you'd think I only focus on high-end books and shows. But really, not so much. My favorite North American shows this year have been much more fun and pulpy ...




2 x
Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby kanewai » Tue Mar 01, 2016 4:30 am

The flirts

I'm involved with a major international conference, the the IUCN World Conservation Congress, which is coming to Honolulu in September. In May or June I'll start an intensive push to bring my Spanish and French each up a level. I know my study patterns well enough at this point to know that a 3-month intensive works for me. It's hard to keep up the intensity for anything much longer.

So in the meantime I'm fooling around with some old languages, and starting on some new ones. I'm sticking with the fun and *free stuff - Duolingo, Lyrics Training, and Language Transfer - and trying to keep it light. Old friends include Arabic and Turkish, new ones are German and Russian. I don't have any illusions that I'll make much progress in any of them, but it's nice to keep up the exposure.

(*I love Language Transfer, and should probably make a donation at this point)

I have no idea how long I'll keep this up, especially with Russian - I know nothing, and wonder how far I can actually get with Duolingo. So far I'm only on the alphabet. German at least is somewhat familiar, and I did the Michel Thomas course a few months back just for kicks.

I'm also traveling this November to Myanmar, and I'd like to learn some Burmese before I go. This is a bit more intimidating; there aren't many beginner's resources, and I don't know how much time I'd actually be able to devote to serious studying.
1 x
Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

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kanewai
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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby kanewai » Sun Mar 13, 2016 8:50 am

Spring Cleaning

DuoLingo

Two weeks ago I remembered what I originally liked about you, DuoLingo. Now I remember what I hate about you.

DuoLingo punishes you for skipping a few days. I'll take the test and skip out of a section and feel good. And then I'll skip a few days - not of language study, just of DuoLingo - and suddenly I'm faced with a screen shot full of "weak skills" I need to work on. And though when I test out I'm given real-world sentences, when I have to practice "weak skills" I get the dumb sentences about turtles eating ice on the table.

On the good side, it really helped my Italian reading to do ten minutes of DuoLingo first. I can't fully explain this, as the writing in my book was far more complex than anything on DL - and yet it helped. Maybe these simple drills oiled the machine, primed my brain, in some way? This is a concept to explore further.

Italian

It's not you, Italian, it's me. I'm breaking up with you. I will always remember our time together with fondness. I hope we can still be friends. But my future lies with Spanish, and the two of you just don't get along. Is it the Latin blood in you, that neither of you can tolerate the competition? I hate that I need to choose between you. Perdonomi, mio amico.

But first I need to finish La Storia. 100 pages to go. Its taking forever, and I'd rush through this last stretch but it's too good to do that. I didn't realize how good it was until someone asked me what I was reading. It's a novel about Rome during WWII, I said. But that conjured images of soldiers and battlefields and partisans fighting fascists in the countryside and brave souls helping Jewish refugees flee over the mountains. And it's not about that. It's more about the domestic side, I add. But that's still not right. And that's when I realized that this is not like any book I've read before. It's set during the war, but it's more internal. It's about the damage that WWII did to the soul of a people. And it's not a perfect novel - it meanders, and there are a few too many tangents - but it's amazing.

I tried to finish it quickly using an English version from the library, but it just wasn't the same.

Turkish

It was totally cool hanging out with you again. I love the way we just reconnected, as if no time had passed, even though it's been a year. Or maybe two? Damn time passes quickly. Let's not wait this long again.

French

I know I know I know I keep promising you that I'll order those CLE courses from Amazon and that we'll spend some quality time together. I know that you think I take you for granted, but I don't. I honestly don't. And I am going to order those courses and I'm going to devote so much time just to you. I promise.

Just not yet.

Russian and German

You were more than a one night stand. For reals. I felt like we really had something. And I know that messing around with you on DuoLingo isn't even close to a real relationship ... but maybe one day ... who knows?

Burmese

All your language books suck. Did the military junta do this to you? You have 33 million speakers. How the hell is there not a standardized system of romanization? I found three vaguely decent resources. All three use a completely different system for noting tones, vowels, and consonant shifts. And none were written by professional linguists or language teachers. Gah.

I spent two full days with you. Two beautiful spring days. Let me describe the stages:

Stage 1. Maybe I'll learn the alphabet. That's a good place to start.
Stage 2: WTF? This isn't an alphabet. This is a secret code that the high priests used to intimidate the common people.
Stage 3: I'll work on oral skills. But ... what the hell is an aspirated vs an un-aspirated consonant? You keep giving me examples that sound exactly the same.
Stage 4: Make up your damn mind how many tones you have. One book says three, one four, and one five. And what the bloody-bleep is a "creaky" tone?
Stage 5: There's no way I can do this without knowing a bit about how those squiggly lines are supposed to relate to the sounds they expect me to make.
Stage 6: This is not possible
Stage 7: Dammit this sucks.
Stage 8: I miss Assimil and Pimsleur and Michel Thomas and all the old gang.
Stage 9: I need a drink.
Stage 10:THIS MAKES NO SENSE!!! I can't do this. I am not enjoying this. I mean, that one thing that I actually understand is kind of cool. And maybe some other things sort of almost make sense. And all those circle things are kind of fun to write ...
Last edited by kanewai on Sat Mar 19, 2016 4:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
6 x
Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

Cavesa
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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby Cavesa » Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:28 pm

I love your log!

Thanks for the great lists from your super challenge. Perhaps I've already said that before. Well, in that case it won't hurt to say it again. :-)

Reading about your frustration with Burmese, I suppose both you and I (and the whole world) should start donating to the Language Transfer. And voting for Burmese and other languages that NEED the resources more than Italian.
0 x

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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby kanewai » Fri Mar 18, 2016 8:59 pm

Reading about your frustration with Burmese, I suppose both you and I (and the whole world) should start donating to the Language Transfer. And voting for Burmese and other languages that NEED the resources more than Italian.


Yeah, it's time! And it's payday - it's time to head to LT and finally make a donation.

French

I've been watching Season 2 of Les revenants and Season 4 of Un village français (1942). Les revenants is darker this season, with more of a sense of evil haunting the survivors. Un village continues to be solid tv. This season opens with a train of Jewish refugees being stranded in town, and the SS giving orders to round up 28 Jewish citizens and hand them over.

Italian

I will finally finish La storia this evening - I only have thirty pages left! And it's been a great read, but I am ready to move on - it's taken me about four months to reach the end.

Burmese

I spent a lot of time last weekend working through the writing system, and copying words from the first few lessons of Burmese by Ear. The writing really is like a secret code, and it can take me twenty minutes to write a single word, but it helps. Asian languages use consonants differently than European languages, and too often I can't tell if I'm hearing an r, a d, a t, or something else entirely. I definitely can't hear the difference between aspirated and non-aspirated consonants hl vs l, hs vs s, etc.

Writing out the words helps me understand what I'm hearing. I have a basic understanding of what all the lines and circles mean, and it's easier to listen to the recordings. Burmese by Ear isn't a very exciting program, but it is well thought out and useful.

Turkish and German

I finished up Turkish Language Transfer, and have continued playing around with Turkish and German on DuoLingo. I'm not sure how long I'll last.

Spanish

I need to get moving if I'm going to be ready for the Super Challenge! I've set the first weekend in April as the time to dive in and do a few intensive weeks of Spanish in order to get me back up to cruising speed. By then I'll be done playing with Turkish and German, and will hopefully be over this initial hump with Burmese.
0 x
Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50

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kanewai
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Re: Kanewai's meandering log

Postby kanewai » Tue Mar 22, 2016 3:11 am

I finally checked out Memrise after reading about it for years. And one thing lead to another, and I now have ten languages on my plate.

And since I can't figure out which ones to delete, I'll just see how long I last with them all, and let some of them fade away naturally. Most of them are languages I've studied before, so using Memrise and DuoLingo is mostly to review and refresh my memory.

The list:

Anglo Saxon - new
Arabic - review
* Burmese - new.
French - tv and novels
German - mostly new
Italian - novels
Japanese - review
Russian - new, though just flirting with it.
* Spanish - review for now, then push to next level
Turkish - review

I'm not really committed to most of these; I'll play around with them online as long as they're fun and stress-free. I've saving my stress for Burmese and Spanish.

I was going to finish up Italian this week, but then I read reviews about Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels. There have been some amazing reviews, with some calling them the best novels of the past couple decades. I had never heard of her until this weekend - somehow I missed all the buzz.

The novels are available for the kindle (US), so ... I've got to check them out. So I'll push Spanish off just a little while longer while I revisit Naples.
2 x
Super Challenge - 50 books
Italian: 11 / 50
Spanish: 50 / 50
French: 16 / 50


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