rdearman - FLC Log for Czech & Setswana

[Maiwenn]

Audiostory.cz seems to offer rather generous samples of their audiobooks (audioknihy) on their site/youtube.
For instance, here is The Little Prince (23 minutes): http://www.audiostory.cz/titul/show?titul=11
and A Christmas Carol (10 minutes): http://www.audiostory.cz/titul/show?titul=154

[Brun Ugle]

There are lots of audiobooks on YouTube, but it’s difficult to say if they are legal or not. Some are definitely not. I found a bunch of Sherlock Holmes. The originals are out of copyright, but I don’t know if the audiobooks were pirated or if someone made them out of the goodness of their heart.

[jeff_lindqvist]

Anything from Rozhlas.cz should work, for instance literary works at Čtenářský deník - Klasická díla ke stažení v MP3 zdarma or crime dramas at Dvojka (e.g. Murder on the Orient Express). By just skimming the first list, I see (the later chapters of works by) Anne Brontë, Charles Dickens and Jonathan Swift:
http://www.rozhlas.cz/dvojka/stream/

Maybe the earlier chapters have been removed from the site, maybe they're not visible, I don't know. (I had no luck with the search engine.)

[petr]

A shout for help? Does anyone know any Czech readings of classic novels? For example; Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, etc.? I'd like to try LR and I know I can get the L1 version to read, but need the Czech audio in order to do L2R1 (Listen in Czech & read in English)

You can find more than 2300 audiobooks in Czech here: https://www.alza.cz/media/audioknihy/18854400.htm
You can listen to on your phone/pc or all audiobooks can be downloaded as mp3 files.

Dickens: https://www.alza.cz/media/oliver-twist-d482751.htm?o=1
Verne: https://www.alza.cz/media/cesta-kolem-sveta-za-80-dni-dvacet-tisic-mil-pod-morem-a-dva-roky-prazdnin-d419786.htm?o=3

If you need any help let me know.

[DaveBee]

What a coincidence. Today, someone shared this on facebook:

http://us7.campaign-archive2.com/?u=512 ... ign=buffer

http://www.rozhlas.cz/napoveda/aplikace

Český Rozhlas (the state owned radio company) gives audiobooks for free, if you get their mobile app. And there is both old and new stuff, it seems.

https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... cco#p65697

[rdearman]

FYI it is easier to get the PDF of the bible for setswana (sometimes called tswana) than download the app. I wanted this because I wanted to take the bible text, and use ANT to extract the most common words and look those up first.

http://rcbi-resources.yolasite.com/pdf-bibles-various-languages-and-translation.php

[rdearman]

Setswana Update:

Finding a downloadable version of the bible in Setswana with text was impossible. So I wasn't able to do an analysis of most common words. However, one of the apps works so I get parallel text. It will not allow you to copy words (to paste into the dictionary) which is really frustrating. But I've resolved to just work with it. I've read through the grammar book Reneke provided and familiarised myself with all the reasons I don't read grammar books. I didn't understand much, so I need to get some example sentences from the bible and deconstruct them with the grammar guide. I have to say there is far to much begot-ing in the bible. I've switched to the old testament now. It is useful for reinforcing "he said", "he saw", "he made", "day, night, light, darkness" and all that good stuff.

I've spoken to a guy I used to work with from Nigeria and seems one of his friends (or friend of a friend) speaks Setswana and might be willing to help me learn pronunciation and talk to me. One of the advantages of learning a smaller language, people are keen to help you.

I've been studying for 20 minutes per day and listening to the radio station every other day in the background in order to try to get a flavour of the sounds. So other than anki, the bible and the radio I don't really have many resources. I'm planning to combine the peace corps MP3's into a single mp3 which I can listen too while walking, keep driving those words into my brain.

A long while back Moses McCormick published his FLR method on HTLAL. I copied all the phrases he learns for his FLR method. I'm going to try to translate all these into Setswana. Hopefully, if my friends mate can correct and record them for me I'll be able to memorise them properly. Otherwise I'll just try my best with pronunciation guides.

Czech Update:

I do 20 minutes on the train of my online course. It is useful and helps with pronunciation. I finally got my library books in this weekend, two phrase books and Teach Yourself Czech. I'm reading through the TY book, trying to average 15-20 pages per day before I need to return it. I'm hoping to read it through and then I'll just take it out again later. The phrasebooks probably aren't as much use as I thought. Perhaps later.

I have also lined up a possible native speaker to practice with. Lot easier with Czech, since I know a lot of people in Prague and in the UK.

[iguanamon]

...Finding a downloadable version of the bible in Setswana with text was impossible. So I wasn't able to do an analysis of most common words. However, one of the apps works so I get parallel text. It will not allow you to copy words (to paste into the dictionary) which is really frustrating. But I've resolved to just work with it. I've read through the grammar book Reneke provided and familiarised myself with all the reasons I don't read grammar books. I didn't understand much, so I need to get some example sentences from the bible and deconstruct them with the grammar guide. I have to say there is far to much begot-ing in the bible. I've switched to the old testament now. It is useful for reinforcing "he said", "he saw", "he made", "day, night, light, darkness" and all that good stuff.

I prefer the Old Testament for language-learning. First, having been raised as a Southern Baptist, I am familiar with it, so, I know the story. Second, the language isn't overly complicated and it's a narrative. Third, there's a lot of repetition with context. It's great for getting numbers, the basic language and vocabulary down. Fourth, if you get stuck on vocabulary or a concept- the English version is always there for help. Fifth, for me, parallel text is a powerful and often underrated learning tool. For me, the Old Testament has been a natural srs. Still, surely there must be a downloadable pdf of the Bible somewhere out there for you to use to extract vocabulary? Continue to "seek and ye shall find".

I've spoken to a guy I used to work with from Nigeria and seems one of his friends (or friend of a friend) speaks Setswana and might be willing to help me learn pronunciation and talk to me. One of the advantages of learning a smaller language, people are keen to help you.

This is so true. Having a friend help me was an important part of how I learned Haitian Creole without having ever set foot in Haiti. We would have lunch or cocktails together and she would teach me the vocabulary of what was around me and I would practice what I was learning in my course and reading a couple of times a week. I like your idea of using Moses McCormick's method to help. One of the things I was trying to do when I started this challenge was to spur learners to get creative and make the best use of what is available to learn. Looks like you are already doing that, with Setswana.

[rdearman]

Setswana Update:
I've done the week and I'm spending a lot more time on Setswana than Czech I've noticed. I've developed a bit more interest in this language than Czech, mostly because I have to work harder at it. So the FLC is very good for that purpose. I've also managed to find a full course free to download which was written for the Peace Corps by the Institute for Applied Linguistics, Washington, D.C.. It is in the public domain but hard to find and the copy available is scanned in from some well worn old booklet. Still it is readable and I'm learning a lot! It is actually a teacher guide, but gives all the dialogues which the teacher would give the learners, and the explanations the teacher would give. So it is a brilliant resource (I've included the link in the first page of this thread).

I've continued to try and parse the bible using the parallel text, but it isn't a word-for-word translation, so you do need to work out the word order and what is what. Still it helps to see the same words in a different way. Still frustrating the bible app will not let me copy a word, and I have to keep switching between the app and the browser to type in long words.

I listen to Botswana Radio 2 during the days at work in the background and they do the news in English every other hour, so I get some local news and information about the country which is fascinating. I understand absolutely zero when they are speaking Setswana, but I'm getting a feel for the rhythm of the language and trying to spot word boundaries.

Finally I've searched twitter for some people who tweet in Setswana and I've followed a couple of them. Strangely the official Botswana twitter account uses English. But the website is in both languages. I have found a lot of books and resources, a lot more than I had thought I'd find. Actually it is pretty resource rich, but given that it is a national language for 2 countries, SA & Botswana I suppose it shouldn't be that much of a surprise.

My friends friend seems to not be a Setswana speaker after all, so that path has gone bust.

Czech Update:

For Czech I have started using Clozemaster today, and I'm continuing with the online course. I am not impressed with the TY book. I think it needs the audio to really be useful.

[rdearman]

Setswana Update:
Struggling with getting a seat on the train this week, and so restricted to mostly apps or anki when travelling. I've found a set of Setswana phrases from a South African tourist website and scrapped together all the Setswana phrases and words into an Anki deck. This one is text only, and I haven't yet uploaded it to ankiweb. I'm planning to add some more text and phrases which I'll copy from the instructors manual for the Peace corps. I've found a set of videos on You Tube about learning Setswana, someone has generated a playlist with Peace Corp videos and other Setswana sources. So I've bookmarked that and I'll watch those as and when I get a chance. I've decided that pronunciation will be a problem, especially with the "click" consonants so I'm spending some time just listening to the pronunciation guide and trying to replicate the click sounds.

I've subscribed to a couple of Setswana tweeters and spend a little time trying to decipher and pronounce some of the shorter sentences. This sort of stuff I'm more likely to read than the bible. I'm basically trying to spend 20 minutes per day, plus anki decks.

I've been trying to fill out some of Moses McCorrmic's "FLR" phrases in Setswana using the dictionary. I'm hoping I can find someone via twitter who might be willing to give corrections on some short text.

Czech Update:
This is pretty straightforward. I spend 20 minutes per day doing either my free online course from the library, clozemaster, anki deck. I've not yet done anything useful. However, I do have a native speaker on tap who's willing to help me, but cannot seem to synch schedules. So I think I'm going to write up some islands which may come in useful and have her record them for me in Czech for me to memorise.