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[tiia]

The thing is that Finnish books are pretty much non-existent on usual international websites, although at least on amazon there are now some books. But I have seen computer translated books there, so be careful with that! You should always look for Finnish or Nordic companies, when buying books in Finnish. Personally I don't read ebooks, but most stores should have it as an option.
(I guess the situation should be similar for Swedish books?)

Adlibirs is definitely a website to check out. They don't sent parcels abroad, but ebooks should work out.
Also suomalainen has ebooks available online. And I think it's the only type of book you can still get from them when living abroad. Problem: the website is in Finnish only.
(If the link doesn't work, click e.g. "Kaunokirjaillisuus" and then use the filter: "Kansityyppi" and choose "sähköinen kirja" (electronic book).)

[tiia]

Yep, Adlibirs has problems with foreign addresses, I rember there was something... I'm not sure whether it will work with suomalainen. Getting Finnish books outside of the Nordic coutries is difficult. Both as hard copy and electronically.

Would a hard copy e.g. from a library be an option for you? I know also that will be difficult and very limited, but...

Lots of literature also doesn't get translated into Finnish.

However two more options you may want to try, whether they work for you:
CDON (I don't know them at all, so I don't know, whether you can use an address outside the Nordic coutries.)
and it seems there is storytel.fi, I think Elenia had used them a lot for Swedish, so she might know more?

I don't know whether Finns like electronic books or not. Generally it appears to me that they like using technology and such, so ebooks would fit in here quite well, but it also seems to me as they're using their libraries a lot more. So that might be also a thing to consider.

[Ani]

The Three Body Problem. I got up to the start of chapter 5 of this approximately one week ago and haven't read anymore since. I've come across posts here and there on the forum about it and it sounds like it gets really exciting eventually so I just have to keep at it I suppose. I thought it'd be a modest commitment to read one English book per month but so far I'm not doing very well at keeping up.

I thought it kinda progressed slowly, then kinda hit a wall, and then got way better before the end -- so hang in there!

[reineke]

[StringerBell]

I have logged 135+ hours of Swedish listening over the last 21 months.

So that averages to ~6.5 hours per month or ~1.5 hours per week...It's definitely something to be proud of, but I also think you've made huge gains with a relatively small amount of exposure, to be honest. When I think about where I was at 135 hours of Italian (an easier language in my opinion) I was so far behind where I am now (which is still not near the finish line). Plus, my hours were condensed into a much shorter time frame, which I think makes them more effective (just my opinion based on zero science).

My second reaction was: I’ve been looking for an L4 that would be easy in terms of accessibility to learning materials and native materials. I hadn’t considered French because of prior experiences with the language, and having the education system here basically ruin the language for me. But watching this 6-episode tv series and feeling how transparent (admittedly, with subtitles, but that’s the same with Swedish) it was... I bet it would take me no time at all (aka several months) to get it polished up to at least the level my Swedish is at overall, if not far past it.

Thus it’d be easy twice: abundance of learning and native materials, less to be invested effort-wise to get to intermediate.

I think it would be a cool idea to have one "easy" (ha ha) language and one "tough" language.

I sort of have that going on with Italian and Polish. Italian only feels easy by comparison. On it's own, it's still damn hard to really master...everytime I start to feel like, "yeah, I've totally got a grip on this language" then 20 new expressions or reflexive verbs or weird constructions show up to take me down a notch. So while I'd never say that Italian is easy, when I switch over from Polish, it feels like it's time to relax. If French feels familiar or easier to you...why not spend at least 10 or 20 minutes per day with it (or however much you want).

[Neurotip]

I was playing with Russian for a couple of days. // I should stop entertaining L4s, I really don't have the time or energy.

Now stop being naughty. I really want to learn Russian as well so you shouldn't encourage me.

And I am through 6 viewings of episode 1 of Viltu læra íslensku, each with somewhat more comprehension than the previous viewing, because I've been working through those transcripts with BÍN and Digicoll.

That's more or less what I'm doing, patchily. I think VLÍ is an excellent resource for doing this because it's presumably only semi-scripted (indeed there is some corpsing in later episodes...).

it seems like "svona" and "þá" are used in every other sentence which makes it difficult to figure out what they mean other than maybe fillers. There are also more verb tenses than I know how to make yet so that makes figuring out what eg. "tengist" means a bit of a struggle. (I need to read that Alaric Hall guide to BÍN or whatever it was.)

BÍN is a bit of a learning curve, but it is absolutely worth the effort, and really all you need is to make a note of what the headings mean (present, past, accusative, etc.). I use Firefox and have shortcuts to both Digicoll/WISC and BÍN, so I can just type 'bin tengist' into the search box and bíngo. (PM me for details if you like.) The poor man's way of doing this, which usually works OK, is to search for the part that probably won't inflect in Digicoll, like 'teng*'.

I agree, you can't really sit down and learn how 'svona', 'þá' etc. are used, but on the other hand I've found you do get used to them after a while. Perhaps Soffia or others can fill in here, but I've noticed 'svona' comes up a lot with the meaning 'that sort of thing' or 'one of those', but also with less obvious meanings (I've seen a sketch on TV where a mother is talking to her baby and says 'svona svona svona' a lot).

[Iversen]

I have looked through about ten pages of google hits with "svona" in Icelandic (skipping page 1, which mostly points to dictionaries), and to me it seems to be fairly wellbehaved - in the sense that you mostly can translate it into "such" (with nouns), with "like that/in that way" as an independent adverb and with "so" almost everywhere else, like with adjectives.

For instance there is a book called "Hvað er svona merkilegt við það?" (what's so strange about that)

"Svona stundir ástæða þess að vera í fótbolta" (such moments justify being into football - or literally: such moments give-cause-for this: to be in football).

And finally:
"Svona (með skjáskotum, ljósmyndum og sýnishornum) verður bókarkápa til" means "Like that (with screenshots, photographs and a sample) a book cover (or rather: the dust cover for a book) is made" (or rather "like that (a) dust cover ... 'becomes to' (reality)".

And the tenderly caring mom just says "so so so" to her wailing baby to calm it down.

But then I tried to Google "bin tengist" and didn't get any bingo...

[Neurotip]

I'm kind of embarrassed because in my original post about "svona," I was only intending to remark on how my studying was going in general, I didn't think I sounded that confused about things and I feel bad if it came across that way and made other people do work for me.

Oh, don't worry - I only replied because I love this sort of word-work and am also personally interested in learning more about the word. No implications implied! I hope you don't mind if I continue to hog your log for the purpose...

But in some of the examples within Viltu læra íslensku, to me, it didn't seen like any of those fit, and it seemed like a filler kind of word like "um," "so," "yeah." (And not "so" as in "so cold" but like "so" as in "soooo....")

I agree, both Digicoll and ordabok.is describe svona exclusively as an adverb, and even Venturi's 'Corso di Islandese Moderno' agrees. Wiktionary is the same although it acknowledges a corresponding adjective and amusingly has an entry for 'svona, svona' as a single word ('there, there; conveys comfort').

However this is clearly incomplete, just taking a few instances from early VLI episodes:
'Það var svona allt í lagi' '*so* that was OK' - conceivably the given meaning 'in that way', but equally likely a discourse marker, even a sort of conjunction
'Engin ókyrrð og svona í lendingu?' 'no turbulence or whatever / and stuff' - pronoun or similar
'Pokann. Svona. Gjörðu svo vel.' 'The bag ... like that ... there you go.' - OK this one is an adverb I suppose
'Já, hann er með frekar svona, ekki með þykkt, hann er með þunnt hár' 'Yes, he's got rather erm, not thick, he's got thin hair' - pure filler

I started watching Trapped (Ófærð). ... Ólafur from Viltu læra íslensku is in it!!!

Oh my word, hat-tip to you if you're right -- I watched Trapped before seeing any of VLI but I certainly didn't recognise Ólafur. Is it Rúnar Freyr Gíslason you're referring to?

[Elenia]

It's pretty hard to stick with it when you're not sure what "it" is

---

Haven't watched anymore Trapped since finishing episode 3 a few nights ago. I thought I should squeeze some Swedish in there. I started Gentlemen and Gangsters. I'm not sure what the point of this show is yet, and I do not particularly care to find out.

Viltu læra íslensku? No I don't if it's at the dentist's office. This show is too real.

I'm not sure how this "remembering vocabulary" thing works without SRS. It feels like the words bounce off the surface of my eyeballs. I wish I could feel it when it's working, if it's working.

Obviously I'm sorting through some doubt and insecurity here, as usual

So tempted to do something like what StringerBell's got going on, an hours-per-time-period goal that doesn't get bent or broken no matter what. I'm floundering for what feels like most of this year. I could use some kind of "don't worry about the details just jump in" thing. It's the worry that gets me in the end! Never trusting what I'm doing will work, reverting back to the structure of courses and endless repeating of dialogues and readings and Anki, and hating it.

It will work, it will work, it will work. 'It' is what your doing, keeping contact with the language, and it will work.

[StringerBell]

I'm not sure how this "remembering vocabulary" thing works without SRS. It feels like the words bounce off the surface of my eyeballs. I wish I could feel it when it's working, if it's working.

I've definitely had this feeling many times. I read somewhere that learning a new language is embracing the unknown, something that most people (including me) are really uncomfortable with. I think about that every time I have a sense of what I'm reading or listening to, but I'm not getting the whole picture; it's like a psychological transformation... being able to accept uncertainty and vagueness.

I'm starting to flirt with doing a tiny bit of SRS to deal with this, but only in a very minimal and specific way; my new thing this week is when I come across a word I've seen a lot of times and I understand the meaning but I can't produce that word myself if I were attempting to speak, I put it in Anki. I will probably abandon this soon, as I really just don't enjoy flashcards. But I think doing this can be helpful with words that you already have associated meaning with.

When I tried putting words into Anki words that I saw one time and didn't really know, it was a total failure. However, if I'm really selective and only use the words I'd have no trouble understanding if I read them (but just can't produce myself), then I'm able to recall them after one or two tries. I think the first step is to just be able to understand the meaning even if you don't know the word well enough to produce it yourself. It doesn't matter how many times you have to look it up, or guess from context. Slowly, you will start to remember.

StringerBell's got going on[/url], an hours-per-time-period goal that doesn't get bent or broken no matter what. I'm floundering for what feels like most of this year. I could use some kind of "don't worry about the details just jump in" thing. It's the worry that gets me in the end! Never trusting what I'm doing will work, reverting back to the structure of courses and endless repeating of dialogues and readings and Anki, and hating it.

Not to toot my own horn but an hours-per-time period goal could really help. You could try for a shorter time period (like 3 or 6 months). Having this kind of focus is kind of freeing; it doesn't really matter what I do, it only matters that I'm enjoying myself and that I reach a certain amount of time. It prevents me from doubting myself when I'm trying to read a novel that's clearly too advanced for my skill level or doubting the efficacy of listening to a particular story for the 40th time.

As long as I'm in contact with the language for that time, that's all that counts. It doesn't feel like flitting around aimlessly (even if that's what it could be called). When I start my language time, I think "what am I in the mood for now?" and I'm really excited about the possibilities. When I get bored or frustrated with one thing, I switch to something else. My #2 rule is not to do anything that I hate or find boring.

Have I convinced you yet???