Tea With Tarvos - Tarvos' Log 2019

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Via Diva
Green Belt
Posts: 262
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:11 pm
Location: somewhere around Moscow
Languages: Russian (N), English (~C1), German (~B1)
Wanderlust/abandoned: Czech, Swedish, Italian, Modern Greek, Esperanto, French, Dutch, Finnish
Hit-list (?): Icelandic, Hungarian, Sanskrit
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=929
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Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby Via Diva » Wed Sep 20, 2017 7:45 pm

DaveBee wrote:Stephan Zweig's Marie Stuart biog (available from eBooksGratuit).

i second any Zweig recommendation, but he wrote in German.
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tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
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Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby tarvos » Wed Sep 20, 2017 8:51 pm

I read German too, and I've already read some Zweig anyway, so you'd have to be specific about the book.
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tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
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Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby tarvos » Fri Sep 22, 2017 10:37 am

I am now reading Cei sapte beduini, but the first 75 pages or so go on so many needless tangents that I am a little bit hesitant about the book. I was hoping for a very good story and critique of the repressive communist regime that controlled Romania before Ceaucescu was unceremoniously shot. Unfortunately the tangents the book goes on have nothing to do with that other than wacky, random memories of times gone by.

So far, I am disappoint, Calin Kasper.
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I hope your world is kind.

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tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
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Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby tarvos » Sun Sep 24, 2017 2:54 pm

And by finishing Cei Sapte Beduini, I have completed my Goodreads challenge for this year. 40 books read this year and no signs of stopping. And I would like to add that very few of these are in Dutch or English - the biggest numbers of books read are actually in Spanish, Czech, and Russian. I have also read two Greek novels this year, and even a comic book in Korean (albeit with English translations).

And so I bought four more Swedish E-books to read (and also 4 Russian e-books), a haul which set me back less than €30. I have two other books left to read besides that, one in English (but a translation, from Hungarian) and one in Spanish. You may now place your bets whether I can manage 50 this year.

And I actually would still like some recommendations, especially for German, Italian, Portuguese, French and easy Mandarin. Modern Greek would be nice too, as would Esperanto.

I am going to tally all the different languages here:

Dutch: 2
English: 3
French: 3
German: 3
Spanish: 6
Italian: 2
Portuguese: 1
Swedish: 2
Romanian: 3
Czech: 6
Russian: 5
Modern Greek: 2
Esperanto: 1
Korean: 1


Out of my main languages, only Mandarin is really missing. And that's a case in and of itself, so not too worried.

Note the quite even distribution between the languages and also note that I have tried to read in some of my weaker languages as well. Also note that Dutch and English together form only 12,5% of my reading total.
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Theodisce
Orange Belt
Posts: 239
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2015 9:18 am
Location: Krakauer Baggersee
Languages: Polish (native), speaks: English, Czech, German, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian. Writes in: Latin, Portuguese. Understands: Ancient Greek, Modern Greek, Slovak, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Serbian/Croatian. Studies for passive competence in: Romanian, Slovene, Bulgarian.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1435
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Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby Theodisce » Mon Sep 25, 2017 5:37 pm

From the modern Greek literature I would recommend the essay Η δυστυχία του να είσαι Ελληνας of Νίκος Δήμου which sheds some light on the apparently sick Greek soul.

If you would like to read some Romanian non-fiction, the historical essays of Lucian Boia may be of interest. De ce este România altfel? has been translated in at least few languages.

In Czech I did enjoy crime novels of Miloš Urban.
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CZE 1900+ : 94 / 50

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tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
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Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby tarvos » Mon Sep 25, 2017 5:45 pm

That's great. I have continued with Gömda, in Swedish. I may take you up on the Greek - mostly because I have no more Greek to read and I am bad at Greek. Romanian I am less concerned about.
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tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
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Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby tarvos » Wed Sep 27, 2017 12:20 pm

I'm considering buying Les Rois Maudits, but the whole set will set me back €27, so I may wait until next month before I get me that thousand-page ebook.

I finished Gömda, which is a bit of a nasty read (trigger warning: lots of violence, rape, and abuse), and have moved on to Virginia Pérez de la Puente's El Sueño de los Muertos, which is a slightly easier read so far. Although the totally anachronistic cursing is hilarious to read. However, that's a 600 page monster, so don't expect me to be done with it tomorrow. (Next week is more realistic).
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tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
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Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby tarvos » Sun Oct 01, 2017 6:13 pm

I am a little sick, and therefore not much has been achieved (also because of work and other reasons, but mostly because today my brain is a bit slow.

If you've noticed, this year (actually in the past years in general) I've severely cut down on the amount of formal studying that I'm doing. Not that it was that huge before, but basically formal studying is limited to Spanish right now, and for Spanish it's limited to a slow, laborious preparation for a C2 exam. That choice hasn't been entirely conscious, but rather a logical result of this year's (and last year's) complicated situation. Not only do I have a normal full-time job, but I also have, next to rent and things to pay which limit my budget, had a miserable load of hospital things affecting my life the past years or so. The physical illness part of it has mostly died down again, but it requires constant vigilance and yearly colonoscopies and such are just no fun.

The mental part and stability is a lot stronger, and fortunately the choice to transition has actually made studying a lot easier as it has become much more possible to focus and concentrate. The downside is that with 2018's hormonal treatment, I am not exactly sure how 2018 will continue on the same path as 2017. I'm just hoping that a lot of the dysphoria will go away. However, 2017 so far has been excellent for my reading skills and I've added Czech to the list of languages I can reasonably claim to speak. What this means is that the majority of my time is now being spent reinforcing my existing languages, rather than haphazardly embarking on new ones. Not that that latter thing won't happen again or is out of question, but maintenance mode is quite necessary because unlike some people, I have about 15 languages to maintain at levels where I could be considered to be able to use them in conversation. (I'm not talking about things like Korean, Bulgarian and so on - they're all below that level, although there is a subset of languages where I could be said to have some basic notions even though I am by no means a capable speaker. We could include a bunch of languages in this group, about five.)

Right now I am reading Virginia Pérez de la Puente's "El Sueño de los Muertos", which started well but has gone into a lull of dry political wanderings without really advancing the story. I am about halfway, so the pace should pick up sometime soon.

And yes, that book is a whopping 630 pages as an e-book, and some Spanish books I've read this year have been equally massive. Someone who asks why I speak Spanish well should take a look at this year's book stats and they'll soon realize my page count for this year alone is over three thousand. (Not over nine thousand unfortunately). That kind of volume will do wonders.
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I hope your world is kind.

Is a girl.

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tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
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Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby tarvos » Fri Oct 06, 2017 7:30 pm

ESP: Como mi alumno tiene la descortesía de no aparecer en hora para nuestro clase de holandés, dispongo de tiempo para explicaros lo que está pasando en mi vida en cuanto tiene relación con lenguas. Debo decir que el punto focal ha sido formado por viejos amigos, en este caso el español y luego también el portugués. Sobre todo el español me ha tenido ocupada y, como es de esperar, de un modo muy intensivo. He terminado un libro de seiscientos páginas de fantasía (el título lo he mencionado ya, si os apetece saber más podéis mirar más arriba). Pero aparte de la lectura, que en español no presenta ningún problema, también me he ocupado de hacer tareas en preparación para el DELE C2.

En este caso esas tareas han sido el escrito, y el escrito en español tampoco me cuesta mucho. Porque la comprensión auditiva y escrita las he terminado ya, solo me queda practicar el oral - ¡y eso nada más haber acabado con la mitad del libro de preparación! Aunque me queda otra mitad todavía, sí preparo bien el oral no cabe duda de que el DELE va a estar muy muy bien. Podemos, claro está, practicar hasta que saque un diez, y creo que será posible. Para esa gente que me tacha de creída y presumida - a ver si vosotros hacéis bien las tareas que os corresponden. (Y además, justo antes de mi salida de España, mis compañeros me dijeron que yo pudiera sacar el C1 de sobra. Eso hace un año y medio ya. Bastante tiempo para mejorar lo debido para sacar un C2, ¿verdad?)

POR: O português, ao outro lado, não parece ser do mesmo nível. Não obstante, estou a ler O banqueiro anarquista do Fernando Pessoa (um conto que escreveu em português), junto com dos outros contos que originalmente foram escritos em inglês mais foram traduzidos ao português para este livro). O desafio das línguas de iTalki já começou, e escolhi estudar mais português para ele. O que descobri foi que posso entender bem gente que fala lenta, más a celeridade força mais erros. Pessoa também não é fácil de ler - mas temos de ler algo para melhorar, não é verdade?
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I hope your world is kind.

Is a girl.

User avatar
tarvos
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2889
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:13 am
Location: The Lowlands
Languages: Native: NL, EN
Professional: ES, RU
Speak well: DE, FR, RO, EO, SV
Speak reasonably: IT, ZH, PT, NO, EL, CZ
Need improvement: PO, IS, HE, JP, KO, HU, FI
Passive: AF, DK, LAT
Dabbled in: BRT, ZH (SH), BG, EUS, ZH (CAN), and a whole lot more.
Language Log: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fo ... PN=1&TPN=1
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Contact:

Re: Tarvos' новый лог

Postby tarvos » Mon Oct 09, 2017 5:18 pm

I have moved on from Pessoa (finished the three short stories in Portuguese) and am continuing with Lukyanenko's Night Watch (in Russian). I am exceedingly tired, so I have no idea how to deal with this and with my fatigue, but we'll see. I think it should be possible to read fifty books this year.

Yesterday I also bought a Turkish textbook (in Dutch). For future endeavours.
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