Nótaí galaxyrocker - Ancient Celtic Languages, (Old) French, Latin, Old English

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galaxyrocker
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- Irish and French with wanderlust ramblings

Postby galaxyrocker » Sun Jun 12, 2022 5:08 pm

Lawyer&Mom wrote: Didn’t you mention there was a possibility of getting Irish citizenship? Could you finagle that and then do the program in Brest? If you got in once I imagine you could get in again? Perhaps with even better French?


Yeah, the Irish citizenship path would take five years or so, if I get a normal work visa (or a critical needs one) as opposed to the student work visa. Unfortunately, despite having the exact same name as the critical needs work visa (Stamp 1G), it does not count towards citizenship benefits. So it is always a possibility, in the semi-distant future. As is doing one here in Ireland, as courses will be cheap once I get citizenship. There are ways to speed up the process (marriage, etc) but I don't want to bet on any of those.
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- Irish and French with wanderlust ramblings

Postby księżycowy » Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:01 pm

Congratulations on getting into Brest! And I hope the decision isn't too agonizing.
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galaxyrocker
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- Lots of French

Postby galaxyrocker » Sun Jun 19, 2022 9:14 am

Not going to rant about decisions and choices I have to make this time! Really, this isn't the place for it, even if I did put my thoughts here because it's tangentially related to my language learning,

Watched two documentaries on ARTE: L'odyssée de l'écriture 2 and 3. ~52 min each. Part 3, especially, was interesting. It talked about how writing sytesms have changed, mentioning Ataturk shifting to Latin, and all the change Uzbek had to go through. From Arabic, to Latin to Cyrillic back to Latin. Then it talked about Chinese and Japanese, and how, especially in Chinese, people are forgetting how to write the characters because of pinyin and technology. As someone who has some interest in Chinese and Japanese (Japanese more so), it makes me wonder about learning to write. I think I would like to, if I ever focus on it, because it's quite neat and seems like it can be meditative if need be. Overall, really interesting episodes.

Watched an approximately 50 minute video on the history of castles. Was quite interesting, which an obvious focus on France. Went through how architecture and purpose of castles changed over the years, and discussed everyone's best friend the trebuchet. Was neat talking about the shift from castle to palace once things had stabalised and it because a place to show off wealth rather than necessarily for defense.

Went through a fourth documentary episode, on the fall of the Maya kings. It talked about LIDAR and how it was used to discover new cities, as well as what varying factors helped contribute to the fall of the Maya empire(s). It was a fun video, especially having visited Maya area before. About 50 minutes long.

Started watching another Arte series: Les chemins du sacré. Watched the first episode, L'expeérience de la nature (~ 50 min). It was neat, talking about traditional cultures, but also played into the whole "White Westerner goes to Peru to do ayahuasca and finds new world" trope for part of it's bit on the respect for the sacredness of nature in Peru. There was a neat bit, if short, in French Polynesia about respect and love for the Ocean and then they talked about the Maya and volcanoes. Good listening practice. I find it kinda funny they subtitled the French of the French speaker in Polynesia; I had little trouble understanding him, so I don't really think it needed it, though maybe that was the subtitles.

Listened to five episodes of Intermediate French. Watched some youtube videos on non-fiction books (favourite ones, recommendations, reviews, etc.) and wow. I wasn't struggling too much with documentaries or Inner French, but the step up to natural conversation is quite difficult. I could pick out some words, but I found it harder than Lupin when I was watching it. Will have to keep watching these faster videos, maybe an hour a week. Also listened to an episode of the medieval history podcast, to help facilitate this, without the transcript. I need to start transcribing these on my own; they speak fast, natural French and it's probably the best way to jump to the next level if I don't move there (or for when I do), though seeing the CLE Comprehension Orale mentioned, I might see about that too if the international bookshop here has it for a reasonable price.

I've also done quite a bit of reading, getting around 70 pages read in Cosmogonies (new updated progress bar below), which is handy. It's good, though I still don't see why he feels the need to assume a connection going back to the paleolithic as opposed to independent innovations. To me it seems quite logical to associate rivers (and thus water), with snakes for example, and it could easily have been independently motivated. Otherwise, it is good and he repeats a lot of the same words so it works as a good SRS (I'm still using Anki). I also got a year free of Duolingo Super for a survey I did as a mod on Reddit...now to decide whether to jump on and do it. Maybe I'll do Latin there, which will help if I do the masters and won't feel super strongly about keeping up with if I get bored, though I also need to start adding back in explicit grammar study for French, with Grammaire Progressive

For Irish I went to the normal conversation circle, but that's about it. I did find a grammar book that has a good 20 pages on one of my weaker points (mainly because it's not covered in many grammars), but the library here is closed on the weekend during summer, so I'll have to go Monday and get it. And i still need to work on my pronunciation. I really want to do that month-long course, but it's a month away and I'll unfortunately likely still be working on masters research as opposed to just the writing of the thesis, so I don't think I'll be able to. If I stay in Ireland, I might look at moving out there to live while job hunting, however. It might be cheaper than Dublin, but honestly who really knows anymore? Holiday homes and AirBnB are killing this country.

I did some stuff with Old Irish too, working through a chapter in Quinn to reinforce what I had covered from Stifter two weeks ago. I need to get more consistent about this.

Overall, I need to get better at focusing on stuff, however. It's difficult to stay focused for the entire 30 minutes of a IF podcast, even when I'm out walking around. I keep wanting to check Discord, or Reddit, etc. It's a shame what the internet has done to my attention span.

Recap:

French Listening: ~ 415 minutes (wow, wasn't expecting it to be that high)
French Reading: ~70 pages
Cosmogonies: La Préhistoire des mythes : 181 / 300
Procrastination (I should be doing my masters presentation, which might be why I was so productive with French this week): Quite a lot.
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galaxyrocker
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- Do I ever study Irish?

Postby galaxyrocker » Sun Jun 26, 2022 1:03 pm

19/06:

Watched another video on books that featured the YouTuber going around to various bookstores in Montpelier asking for recommendations. Thus it had a lot of natural conversation. Was a bit easier, but still more difficult than documentaries. 30 minutes in length Watched another one about how someone had fallen in love with non-fiction. As a mostly non-fiction reader, it's interesting to me hearing others opinions on non-fiction. It wasn't horrible in terms of being able to understand it. (15 min) Also did an episode of Intermediate French, where he read through the first story written about Lupin, adapting it to be simpler, of course. It was interesting and I might try to read some of Lupin eventually. (30 minute).

20/06: Nothing. Worked on thesis presentation mostly

21/06:

Half-listened to an episode of Intermediate French. Didn't pay enough attention to even count it, but understanding is holding strong on them.

22/06:

Listened to two episodes of Intermediate French (60 min total). Was out walking while I did so, so stayed mostly focused. I really don't see how people can listen to audiobooks or podcasts as, even when I'm interested, I find my mind wandering. At least it's helping me train my mind to focus some of specific stuff. I noticed this when I was binging the History of Rome podcast while driving.

One episode was on whether we can enjoy a creator's work while disliking the creator (the author specifically mentioned Spacey) and the other was on antisemitism in France, and the history of it. Not going into any detail with them, because of the political associations with both. But Hugo has said he's starting to pick up speed in his speech, and I can still understand most of it when I don't zone out, which is good. And what I don't understand is mostly lack of vocabulary, not lack of grammatical structures or hearing the words, another plus.

Watched a video on '5 non-fiction books to read'. Basically the same as all the others. It's good practice, even if they don't focus on more academic oriented books.(12 min). Wasn't too difficult to understand, he spoke clearly and slow enough.

23/06:

Watched the second episode of Les chemins du sacré (52 min) Focused on L'expérience de la sagesse. Started in Japan talking about Zen both with Kyudo (and art I've always wanted to try, and which I just learned is available in Dublin...so maybe a reason to stay lol) and the tea ceremony, as well as American's talking about 'mindfulness'. Then went to Canada to talk to a teacher syncretising yoga and taiji to discuss them and how they can lead to wisdom/the sacred etc. Then they went to India, to the source of the Ganges to discuss yoga in the place where it arose, and talked about how yoga arose, with Shiva as the first yogi. And how the asana were created with pramayana and how they were named around creatures as they were with the natural world. They then stayed in India and started talking about mendicants in Hinduism and them trying to escape Samsara. They then went to Dharamshala to talk about Tibetan Buddhism there after the exile of the Dali Lama.

Then to Greece to talk about how Plato and Aristotle searched for the truth in their philosophy. Epicureanism was mentioned as well. Here they had a French philosophy professor on and I found it was much more difficult to understand him, speaking faster than the rest of the documentary and the voice-overs, though if I focused I could generally make out most of it, words once again being the main issue. Finally, they returned to a French-speaking Buddhist monk in Kathmandu.

Overall, a very interesting episode, I quite enjoyed it.

24/06:


Went by the International Bookstore in Dublin. Sadly, it didn't seem they had the Comprehension Orale series, though they had a lot of other CLE stuff (and pretty much everything in the X Progressive series)

25/06:

Listened to an episode of Intermediate French about his vacations in Thailand (30 min). While he's talking faster, as long as I can keep focus I do think it's getting to be a bit easy for me. That's a good sign, and vocabulary still remains the major issue (that could be fixed with using the transcriptions and making notes of the words I don't know). I think I'll keep at it though as it's just an easy, usually interesting podcast that I can listen to in a bus ride or on the walk to the grocery or around campus. If I can find other good podcasts I'm interested in, I might replace it, so am open to recommendations. Most I've tried so far that seem interesting ended up being too difficult (too quickly spoken).

As to reading, I'm still working my way through Cosmogonies. I'm within the last 100 pages, and, depending on how much time I have, could finish it this week or next. My next read will likely be trudging through a book on the history of the book. It's nice and long, nearly 800 pages if I remember correctly, and is available at the university library so I don't have to buy it. I made about 40 something pages this week.

Overall, I did nothing with Irish or Old Irish this week, either. Not even doing the conversation circle. Thesis topic presentation is Tuesday, and pop-up Gaeltacht is Thursday so I'll get back into it then hopefully. I do need to incorporate some Irish reading before going to bed; the stories in the book I'm currently reading aren't that long, so it shouldn't be hard. Maybe tracking it here will help me.

Recap:

French Listening: ~ 229 minutes
French Reading: ~40pages
Cosmogonies: 222 / 300
Annála Beaga ó Iorrus Aithneach: 147 / 366
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galaxyrocker
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- Adding Irish back in to the mix

Postby galaxyrocker » Sun Jul 03, 2022 9:36 am

26/06

Listened to an episode of InnerFrench, on how our tastes originate (34 min) . He quoted and discussed Bourdieu, so it was definitely interesting. Wish I had focused a little better, as he also put it in context of a film, Le goût des autres, as well, talking about how tastes are formed. Bourdeiu is definitely a philosopher I want to read some of eventually, though, along with several other French cultural theorists.

Finished chapter 3 of Quinn's Old-Irish Workbook and read chapter 15 of Stifter. Old Irish is ridiculous, that's all I have to say. The nouns aren't horrible, but the verbal system is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. Every verb has two forms, and, well, sometimes these two forms bear no resemblance to each other due to sound changes in the prehistory of the language. Words can't begin to state how crazy it is. I love it.

27/06

Listened to two episodes of InnerFrench: Français ou européen ? (41min) and La menace plastique (38 min). The former was basically a history of the EU and what it means to be a European citizen v a French one, while the latter is about the issue of plastic pollution worldwide.

28/06

Didn't do anything, as I had my thesis presentation. I think it went pretty well, now just to finish it up.

29/06

Watched another episode of Les chemins du sacré, this one titled L'expérience de la marche, which talked about pilgrimages and just general walking (as a group or solitary) in terms of approaching the sacred. (52 minutes) This episode really resonated with me, as I love to walk. There's something peaceful about it, and walking in nature is definitely an amazing experience, especially if you go without headphones. I really need to get in that habit more, of just walking without necessarily having something to listen to.

Finished Cosmogonies today as well. Overall, it was an interesting book though I don't think I can agree with a lot of the conclusions. It seemed to rest on the assumptions that myths are all interrelated throughout history, even those outside of the same cultural sphere. I could agree, at least on a basic level, as we can reconstruct Indo-European beliefs from the beliefs of its daughter languages/cultures, but can this truly be extended to languages that are not related? That's where I'm not so sure. Working on the assumption it can, however, you do get some interesting trees (which do always separate Europe and America, leading more credulity to the fact they could be independent innovations). But, overall, I just don't think it can be done; there's really only so much room for innovations that can be done and stories that can be told, and I think the similarities are often overstated.

He also made a weird assumption that stories in groups where there's linguistic isolates evolve more slowly. I don't think this assumption can be true at all. He makes an example of the Koreans, but I feel everyone knows just how influenced the Koreans have been by both the Chinese and the Japanese throughout history (I mean, even within the languages look at the areal similarities between Korean and Japanese!). Can we truly say these evolved more slowly, and thus more likely represent an older form, and that there wasn't borrowing involved from one tradition to the other? Or the same with the Basques (which some well-respected scholars argue, poorly in my opinion, is IE or even Celtic !), who've clearly been impacted by the Romans, then all the others that were their neighbors (Spanish, Celtiberians, etc) over the centuries? Not entirely sure. Same with using the myths to describe the type of society of the upper Paleolithic period (patrilocal) and to predict what the artists had in mind in the rock paintings across the world as well as help decide possible migration patterns out of Africa and to the Americas. While the author admits these are bold steps, it's still just a little too far for my taste. Though I guess that's what happens in pop books.

Overall, it was a good book though and 300 pages of mostly readable French. I did do some taking down of words when I felt like it, but it was mostly reading and looking up only if I couldn't understand the sentence. Sometimes relying on GT to do that for me, though always making sure I understood why it was translated the way it was afterwards. And remember to take all this with a grain of salt, as I'm not 100% sure I understood it all !

30/06

Went to the Pop-Up and spoke Irish. It was great fun, and reminded me of what drew me to Ireland in the first place. It makes the decision between Brest and Ireland even harder -- during the day, I want to go and study what I'm most interested in; going out and doing stuff with friends I want to stay now that I'm somewhat building up a social life here in Dublin. And there's also the possibility of moving to the Gaeltacht when my lease here ends if I don't have a job, which could be a blessing or a curse, depending.

01/07

Started reading the next book in French: Histoire du livre et de l'édition, by Yann Sordet. It's a 700 page behemoth, and even though I'm only like 15 pages in it's already more complex than the previous two I've read. It seems to lean much more towards being an academic work, even if also meant for a pop audience. I think I'll have a lot to learn from this.

Also read some Irish, but only like 5 pages, and did go to the conversation circle for a little bit, though the pub was closed and it just ended up being me and one other person speaking some Irish at another random pub for a drink.

02/07

Listened to two episodes of InnerFrench during my grocery shopping today (I walk there and back so it's perfect for it). The first was Être homosexual en France (39 min), where he mostly talked about books, laws, etc relating to it. The other was Le Tour de France (41 min) where he talked about the history of the Tour, doping issues as well as current issues about one team dominating and how they're trying to make it a fairer competition to the other teams (by instigating budget limits on teams, if I understood correctly). He also mentioned how the worst-placing cyclists get paid very little, like on the order of €400 if I remember correctly, despite the 3 weeks of work and stuff they're putting in. Kinda crazy.

Spent the afternoon with a friend of mine from the Gaeltacht who was in town. Learned to get better at pool through Irish, was great craic. Tired out afterwards, but definitely so new motivation to start doing more in Irish. It also made me recognise the issue I'm having with making the decision between Brest and Ireland, even if it doesn't make me any closer to solving it. Also listened to an episode of Baile an Droichid (30 min) a radio drama from the 80s and 90s that was written by a strong native Connemara man who was active in Gluaiseacht Chearta Sibhialta na Gaeltachta (The Gaeltacht Civil Rights Movement) and widely regarded as an author and poet and actor. What's more all the characters on the show are strong natives from Connemara, so it's among the best I'm going to find to practice, even if it doesn't have a transcript. I do have audio material (from the 60s, so even more traditional) with a transcript as well, but I'd rather try my ear on this first as it's an actual radio drama.

Read chapter 16 in Stifter, will do the exercises soon. I like covering the material in Stifter, then doing it in Quinn to review. I've found them to be fairly complementary.


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

June recap (at least since I started keeping track of minutes listened)

French Listening: 809 minutes -- Not too shabby
French Reading: 300 pages -- Pretty much just read Cosmogonies, as I had finished Les Gaulois before the month

It's funny to see how much I've done. I might end up doing a super challenge even without intending to do one, which is funny, as it was always the listening part that put me off. I still contend it's not fair to do 90 minutes of film versus 50 pages for a 'book', but I think that's mostly me not being a huge fan of visual media in general (I don't watch movies or much TV, even in English). Thank goodness, I'd count podcasts for it, in which case I might get it done early - I'm already like 12 books in from the two French books I've read, and it's not even been two months yet. Though we'll see if I keep this pace, especially with my next behemoth of a read clocking in at 700+ pages.

Really, it's interesting to me approaching French after Irish. With Irish, I was limited in material I had. Especially quality material written by strong native speakers and not by learners or weaker natives. And most of it was old. So you were left with a very limited set of things to grow off of.But with French, that's just not true. There's so many cultural theorists out there, so many philosophers, so much pop-history and semi-pop-non-fiction writing. It's really a whole new world of material. Lots of documentaries about every subject imaginable, same with fiction books, not to mention the graphic novel tradition in France, which I find super interesting even if it doesn't really appeal to me.

Not to say I dislike what's available with Irish; I love it, love learning about the old folktales and ways of life that was recorded by the folklore commission. I love the radio drama that's in Connemara Irish, and I love just using Irish. It's a special part of me and has been part of me for over a decade now (hard to believe, honestly), but I can easily see the appeal of major languages now. It's weird as I never felt this with Spanish when I was dabbling in that for my teaching job. Perhaps it's because I never took it as seriously, especially in terms of reading and listening immersion (despite doing a total of 6 weeks immersion courses), but it's definitely something I'll do when I return (and I'll return eventually, at least to get passive skills). It does already have me planning a whole new way to approach my next language, if it's a reasonably big one. And it likely will be (maybe Finnish, or Japanese again). Though, of course, this depends on Brest versus staying in Ireland.

Weekly recap

French Listening: 245 minutes
French Reading: ~100 pages
Irish Reading: ~10 pages (yikes)
Irish Listening: ~30 minutes
Cosmogonies: 300 / 300
Histore du livre: 20 / 722
Annála Beaga ó Iorrus Aithneach: 157 / 366
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galaxyrocker
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker --Consistency for once!

Postby galaxyrocker » Sun Jul 10, 2022 9:17 am

03/07

Watched the All-Ireland Hurling Semifinal today in Irish (70 min). Wasn't difficult at all, really, though I can certainly use some practice, which makes it different from Baile an Droichid which is a bit more difficult. Likely because it's sport commentary versus actual real life situations, so there's always context and there's a lot more repetition. Then spent over two hours talking about Old Irish and Indo-European linguistics after an Old Irish Discord chat.

Watched L'expérience de la solitude, episode 4 of Les chemins du sacré (52 minutes). Talked about people who use solitude to reach the sacred, such as Buddhist monks, but also went to animal trappers, etc.

04/07

Listened to an episode of InnerFrench, where Hugo interviewed Steve Kaufmann (40 minutes). It was entirely in French, and they spoke at a more natural speed. I didn't have much trouble, apart from the usual focus issues, but it is what it is.

05/07

Two episodes of the rebroadcast of Baile an Droichid (~ 60 minutes). Lots of reading in both languages as well. An episode of InnerFrench on Islamophobia in Franc (34 min)

06/07

Two episodes of Baile an Droichid (60 min). Generally not too difficult to understand, but sometimes it is. It's nice to get practice with this though, I've needed it. Episode of InnerFrench on l'Heritage and things relating to inheritance. (35 min)

07/07

Finished up Les chemins du sacré with the fifth episode, L'expérience de la beauté (52 minutes). It was a good series, wasn't too difficult to understand in terms of the French. I did struggle with some words, and the voiceovers, but both those things will come. Need to find a new documentary series, or new documentaries in general. There's plenty on YouTube, however, so I'm good to go.

Several hours of Irish speaking at the monthly sean-nós night at Club Chonradh na Gaeilge.

08/07

Watched another documentary: CHAMANISME TOLTÈQUE, LE RÉALISME SPIRITUEL (48 minutes) a documentary by Paul Degryse. It was weird. It was basically him talking and like an undercurrent of throat singing in the background the entire time. It was like he talked and just let it film, picking up everything. Lots of background noise, you could hear people working and cars driving by and everything. Not sure what I thought, and I'm taking everything said with a huge grain of salt, but it was good practice, especially practicing while there were other noises going on.

Listened to another episode of Baile an Droichid (30 minutes)

09/07

Nothing, really.


Weekly recap

Lots of reading throughout the week, in both Irish and French. I don't include how much I read on a specific day, but it's generally pretty constant that I'm reading something each day. The Irish book I'm reading Annála Beaga ó Iorrus Aithneach is fine. Collection of seanchas (folklore) from the Iorras Aithneach area of Connemara. They're fairly short which makes it easier to binge them in a setting too.

The French book, Histoire du livre is a different story. It's an academic book, as I've mentioned, and it's quite intense. It definitely seems to be written at a higher level than the previous two French books I've read (both non-fiction, but pop) and can be a real struggle going through at times. Especially when I'm intensive reading and looking up all the words. And with extensive reading, my lack of vocabulary sometimes catches me out, as does my lack of understanding some of the grammar structures that are used. So overall, it's given me more practice and I'll probably persevere with it as it's at least an interesting topic. My big worry is about finishing it before I have to turn it back in due to the degree ending.

French Listening: 221 min
French Reading: 76 pages
Irish Reading: 51 pages
Irish Listening: 220 min
Histore du livre: 96 / 722
Annála Beaga ó Iorrus Aithneach: 208 / 366


I was doing the math for a super challenge, and it's less than 10 pages and 15 minutes a day listening (5000 pages, 9000 minutes listening), and it's interesting as it always seemed so much more to me looking back on it. Even if I start n ow, a simple 10 pages of reading and 30 minutes of listening would let me finish it before the end of next year. I'm not going to register officially, but I might use it as some sort of informal goal, especially if I don't move to Brest. I've already got a good start on it, with regards to French even. But I'm not going to focus on it, either, as I said. I don't want to feel restricted to it if something else comes up, or some other language steals my interest in that time. Or if I stay in Ireland and do decide to focus on the C1, which is a huge possibility if I stay. So it's going to be more a general guideline than anything else. It's funny how keeping track of my progress has both made me more likely to do it and also more likely to want to try to quantify everything and set challenges.


That said, with French I've realised I probably should move away from documentaries. They're generally not too difficult, but often far away from real conversation. The main problem is they interest me much more than any TV series, which makes sitting through them much easier (same with InnerFrench, where I'm usually walking while listening). Need to get back to listening to the medieval history podcast, perhaps, as that's more at a natural pace. If anyone knows any other history podcasts, or podcasts in general I'd be thankful for recommendations. I prefer Renaissance and before in terms of history, but beggars can't be choosers.
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Amandine
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- Irish and French with wanderlust ramblings

Postby Amandine » Sun Jul 10, 2022 9:40 am

There is a podcast called Culture 2000 (from the studio Frequence Moderne) on various different historical and social topics. They're about an hour long so they go reasonably in depth (for a general interest show) but its a mixed gender group of 5 talking about it so it's also rather chatty and natural. It might split the different for you between the historical topics and the more conversational tone. There are A LOT of episodes so surely topics that interest you.
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galaxyrocker
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- Irish and French with wanderlust ramblings

Postby galaxyrocker » Sun Jul 10, 2022 9:46 am

Amandine wrote:There is a podcast called Culture 2000 (from the studio Frequence Moderne) on various different historical and social topics. They're about an hour long so they go reasonably in depth (for a general interest show) but its a mixed gender group of 5 talking about it so it's also rather chatty and natural. It might split the different for you between the historical topics and the more conversational tone. There are A LOT of episodes so surely topics that interest you.


That sounds absolutely perfect, many thanks!
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker --Consistency for once!

Postby DaveAgain » Sun Jul 10, 2022 5:11 pm

galaxyrocker wrote:That said, with French I've realised I probably should move away from documentaries. They're generally not too difficult, but often far away from real conversation. The main problem is they interest me much more than any TV series, which makes sitting through them much easier (same with InnerFrench, where I'm usually walking while listening). Need to get back to listening to the medieval history podcast, perhaps, as that's more at a natural pace. If anyone knows any other history podcasts, or podcasts in general I'd be thankful for recommendations. I prefer Renaissance and before in terms of history, but beggars can't be choosers.
A key-word search on the Radio France website can often suggest interesting programmes.
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galaxyrocker
Brown Belt
Posts: 1119
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:44 am
Languages: English (N), Irish (Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge B2), French, dabbling elsewhere sometimes
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=757
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Re: Nótaí Galaxyrocker -- Still No Decisions

Postby galaxyrocker » Sun Jul 17, 2022 9:40 am

10/07:

Watched 35 minutes of the Kerry-Dublin All-Ireland Football Semifinal. Was on the phone for the first half, but caught the end, watching it in Irish. Will do the same for the Hurling Final next week, and Galway're in the Football final in a fortnight so will definitely be watching all 70 minutes of that one in Irish. Went and saw Seo Linn at a gig. They're a band who gained prominence in the mid 2010s because of their Irish covers of English pop-songs with Coláiste Lurgan. While I'm not a fan of the covers in general (complex issues of colonialism and translations and implicit assumptions about what makes a language 'modern'), they were entertaining. Well worth the €13.50, and I was speaking Irish the entire night so there's also that.

11/07:

Another episode of Baile an Droichid: episodes 11/12 of the first series. It was interesting as at one point some of the characters were in Dublin and were watching the national lottery draw. The host of the draw said "Gwayltockt", the completely anglicised (yet, sadly, all too common) way of saying 'Gaeltacht', and the characters all snickered at the pronunciation. Just something interesting to take notice that I'm sure the native Irish speakers then and today would also notice. Makes me really want to focus on my pronunciation again, as it's certainly my worst aspect.

Watched a documentary in French on mythological beasts (52 min). It was quite fun, talking about how they appeared in various Eurasian cultures, as well as how they might have originated. Covered dragon, unicorn. Reminded me a lot of an episode of the Medieval history podcast I had listened to, on bestiaries of the middle age.

They also covered the chupacabra in Puerto Rico, and some theories about it being a mutant created by aliens in the Bermuda Triangle which led to it talking about how the internet has led to lots of creatures and 'images' of mythical creatures, etc. Showed someone in Texas who had a stuffed chupacabra (which ended up being a crossbreed between a wolf and coyote when genetic analysis was run on it), and Johnny Depp claiming to be attacked by one.

Did a few translations from Old Irish to English in Stifter. Need to get back into this, as I want to follow Old Irish even if I stay in Ireland.

12/07:

30 minutes of Baile an Droichid, episodes 13/14 of the first season. Not much issue understanding overall. Some words here and there but I can usually get the gist, though sometimes one of the main actors (played by Joe Steve) talks like a really old man would have in the 80s which can be a bit difficult, though it's good to hear what traditional Irish would've sounded like.

Listened/watched the first documentary in a new series (49 min), L'histoire à table, which discusses basically a history of cuisine and food throughout history. This episode started with Rome,and talked about how it was prepped and eaten by the rich and poor, as well as the various foodstuffs that were important (fig, olive oil, meat, fish, etc)

13/07:

Listened to episodes 15/16 of Baile an Droichid (30 min) today. I found that it seems my intonation has started to improve after listening to it when talking to myself. That's a good sign, and hopefully it'll help my pronunciation magically too. I still wish I could find lessons in Dublin, but given the quality of Irish teachers here (even those paid by professional Irish-related organisations) I'd be shocked if they were good, even if someone was wanting to give them.


Relistened to the first episode of Passion Medievistes (15 min) on Spotify (so no transcript). I was honestly amazed at how much easier it was to understand this time around than when I first listened to it a few months ago, where I absolutely needed the transcript. That's good, and makes me feel like all my listening hours are indeed paying off with the language, even if I tend to focus on documentaries and podcasts over other shows. They talked at what I would consider a normal speed as well, as it's a podcast interview made for French speakers, not learners, so that's even better.

14/07:

Episodes 17/18 of Baile an Droichid (30 min). Went to the conversation circle, was great. Actually got to use some French there too!

16/07:

Two episodes of Passion Médiéviste podcast (30 min) on Spotify. One episode of Baile an Droichid (30 minutes). Went to GaelGáirí, the stand-up comedy show in Irish. It was fun, and funnier than I thought it'd be. Some of the acts were truly great.

Weekly Recap and Thoughts

French Listening: 146
French Reading: 74 pages
Irish Reading: 73
Irish Listening: 185
Histore du livre: 170 / 722
Annála Beaga ó Iorrus Aithneach: 281 / 366

On the final stretch of Annála Beaga. Even though it's outside my 70 pages for the week, I might put aside Histore du Livre for a day to be able to finish it. It's quite fun and generally an easy read. There are words I don't know, and I should be adding them to Anki or something, but I'm just enjoying reading it right now. Maybe I'll do a reread at some point in the future, especially if I prepare for the C1. Otherwise, just been getting in listening practice and I'm quite comfortable with both listening in French and in Irish now, though both could still use some refinement, mostly in vocabulary. But that'll come, especially with more listening and Anki.

I still haven't made a decision between Brest and staying. Housing in Dublin is god-awful, but I've got a place in the Gaeltacht hopefully that I can fall back on. It'll suck, in some ways, as the Gaeltacht is quite insular and rural, and I won't have a car. I can get into Galway once or twice a week if need be, but that still adds up quite quickly. There's also no gym that'd be within a 30 minute walk (maybe within a 30 minute bike ride, but then I'd have to get a bike), so that takes out one of my daily habits too. If I move there, I'd ask the people at the Acadamh at least for classes, and really try to focus in on getting to C1. Even if I just stay for a month, which is what's likely to happen if I go to Brest, especially because of visa waiting times (I kinda dropped the ball on that).

It's just a tough decision. Brest would allow me to pursue my dream of what I want to study -- Celtic Studies -- and maybe even get a PhD at the end. But Ireland offers me my best chance to stay in Europe long-term, especially if I can get a critical needs job. Going to try to make a list of pros/cons against them all and see what happens, I guess. It's agonising.
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