Ogrim's Krambu - a plethora of languages, mostly European, both old and new

[Ogrim]

I have been very busy the last couple of weeks so I have not really had time to visit the Forum very often, and also I have had little time to study, so not much to report. I try to find a few moments every day to do some Arabic, but sometimes it is limited to a quick revision of vocabulary and a few minutes spent on the course audio, just to maintain the little progress I've made. Hopefully I will have more time soon.

General tiredness has also meant that I have read less than usual, and it has been mostly in English. I did read the novel Contact by famous astronomer and cosmologist Carl Sagan. It is what you call a hard science fiction novel, and I found it quite entertaining, although I prefer Sagain's non-fiction work. I always wonder why even sceptical scientists like Carl Sagan always presuppose that extraterrestrials are so much more advanced, technologically and even ethically, than us earthlings? Anyway, what is really missing from the book is a description of the language the ETs speak .

I've also advanced more on the history of Belgium (in Dutch), and it is more interesting as we draw closer to our own time - I find iit more appealing to read about recent history than about economical and political developments in Belgium in the 19th century. I am not moving forward very quicly, but should be able to finalise it in a few weeks time.

I've discovered a new Arab artist I really like and as usual I will share a couple of videos here. It is an Egyptian singer-songwriter called Hamza Namira (حمزة نمرة). I really enjoy how he draws on various musical styles to write his songs, making his music very interesting to my ears. He sings in Egyptian Arabic, and at least I am happy to notice that I can already make out some differences in pronunciation of a few words compared to MSA.

The first video is called "Insan" (إنسان ) (Human Being) and the second "El-Midan" (الميدان ) (The Square). This last one refers to Tahir Square, as Hamza Namira took part in the protests in what is known as the Arab Spring, and the lyrics are what I would call very patriotic. But I won't go into the politics, I just enjoy the song.

[Ogrim]

I got an e-mail from Amazon.fr yesterday informing me that e-books in Arabic are now available. There seems to be some 10.000 books to choose from! Yet another reason to pursue my Arabic studies - I now just hope they will include a good pop-up dictionary in Arabic as well, and in a few months/years/decades I may be able to enjoy a good Arabic novel on my Kindle .

I had an interesting Russian class this week - we started on a new article about sub-cultures and racism in Saint Petersburg. I learnt some very interesting Russian words, such as скинхеды and бонхеды - skinheads and boneheads. Seriously though, I did not know that in Russia, apparently the skinheads are anti-fascists, while the bonheads are neo-nazi racists. I don't know if I would be able to tell who is a skin and who is a bone if I met them on the street.

We also did a pretty difficult exercise where we got a list of verbs and had to choose the right case to follow the verb and if need be use a preposition. I really struggled with that one, so I've decided to try to drill some of the more useful verbs in context to make the preposition and case stick.


Français
Ça fait longtemps que je n'écris qu'en angalis dans ce log, donc aujourd'hui j'ai décidé d'en ajouter d'autres langues, et je commence avec le français, parce que je suis en train de lire un livre intitulé L'Univers à portée de main par Christophe Galfard, physiciste et cosmologue, ancien élève de Stephen Hawking. Je dois dire que c'est l'un de meilleurs livres sur l'Univers que je n'aie jamais lu. Il explique les théories de la rélativité ainsi que la physique quantique d'une manière très simple et convaincante, et le livre se lit comme un roman d'exploration, parce qu'il parle directement au lecteur. Les premières phrases donnent le ton : Imaginez-vous sur une lointaine île tropicale par une chaude et claire nuit d'été. L'océan qui vous entoure est aussi clame qu'un lac. Vous n'entendez que le doux clapotis des vagues sur le sable blanc. Toust est tranquille. Vous êtes allongé sur la plage. Les yeux fermés. Chauffé par une journée de soleil, le sable exhale un air saturé de parfums sucrés, exotiques. Tout est passible. Un cri bestial vous fait soudain sursauter et vous scrutez les ténèbres. Puis, plus rien.

Ou bien cette partie où vous voyagez entre les étoiles : Et puis voilà, vous y êtes. Le centre galactique est là, devant vous. Vous vous arrêtez. Une sorte d'immense beignet lumineux semble flotter au milieu de l'espace, un anneau en rotation, un anneau très coloré, composé de matière esparse mais dont émane une puissance phénomenale. Vous vous en approchez prudemment.

Fin bref, si vous vous intéressez à l'astronomie, à la cosmologie et à la physique tout court, je peux fortement recommander ce livre.

Romontsch sursilvan
Jeu continueschel sin sursilvan. En la Quotidiana, la suletta gasetta ch'ei dat sin romontsch, legel jeu gleiti mintgadi dall'iniziativa No-Billag. Quei ei ina iniziativa per ch'ei datti buca pli ina subvenziun publica als medis da communicaiziun. Ei dat ina votaziun federala il 4 da mars, et sche l'iniziativa gudignass, fuss ei il fin dalla radioteleviziun publica, e carteivlamein era la mort dalla radioteleviziun romontscha. Also pos ins capir che tuts ils politics romontschs seigien encunter questa iniziativa, era quels che sun dal partit PLD-Ils Liberals - l'iniziativa ei vegnida dils Giuvens liberals svizzers, che ei il moviment da giuvens dil PLD. Las sundaschas muossan ch'ei dat probablamein ina eclatanta maioritad encunter l'iniziativa, aber nus vegnin a saver sulettamein il 4 da mars suenter il referendum.

(Short English summary of the above: In French I am reading a really well written book about the Universe, which I can strongly recommend to anyone interested in astronomy and cosmology.

In Romansh I talk about the upcoming referendum in Switzerland on 4 March, when the Swiss will vote on a popular initiative to abolish the "TV license". In fact the initative would stop all public funding of media, and it would most likely mean the end of Romansh radio and TV, which is of course heavily subsidised. Most opinion polls seems to indicate a clear majority against this initiative, but we will only know the outcome for sure on 4 March.

[vonPeterhof]

Seriously though, I did not know that in Russia, apparently the skinheads are anti-fascists, while the bonheads are neo-nazi racists.

Huh, that's news to me. At least when I was a teen "skinhead" was pretty much synonymous with "neo-Nazi". In fact I think I first found out about anti-Nazi skinheads from sources in English. Not that I've ever had any close encounters with those milieux myself; this is probably the first time I'm encountering the word "bonehead". At least, outside of its use as a generic insult

[Ogrim]

Seriously though, I did not know that in Russia, apparently the skinheads are anti-fascists, while the bonheads are neo-nazi racists.

Huh, that's news to me. At least when I was a teen "skinhead" was pretty much synonymous with "neo-Nazi". In fact I think I first found out about anti-Nazi skinheads from sources in English. Not that I've ever had any close encounters with those milieux myself; this is probably the first time I'm encountering the word "bonehead". At least, outside of its use as a generic insult

Well, the article is some years old and talks about a specific sub-culture in St. Petersburg, it has an interview with an anti-fascist skinhead. I have no idea how representative it is of skin/bone-culture in general, and I really have no wish to get closer to those sub-cultures.

I've been reading with interest the different discussions on the forum about challenges, and especially noted Iguanamon's free and legal challenge. It seems like a fun idea, but I will never sign up to it. Firstly, I don't see the point in restriciting my choice of resources for learning a language, and secondly, I just don't think it would work for Arabic. I had a hard enough time finding good (paid) course material - what I have seen out there for free is either inadequate for my needs or will just not take you very far. So I am not going to give up my Langenscheidt course, my dictionaries and, when the time comes, my graded readers. This is not a criticism of Iguanamon's idea, as I said it sounds fun and I am interested to see how well those who take the challenge will do.

For fun I was thinking about a kind of counter-challenge: Learn a language the way I learnt Spanish back in the early 1980s. It means no internet resources (goodbye YouTube, Memrize, Clozemaster, Anki, Italki, Netflix, TV streaming, on-line dictionaries), no cable TV, no smartphone, no DVD or Blueray (VHS would be allowed though ), no e-books with pop-up dictionaries. By the way, no language learners' forum either. Just physical course books, CDs, LPs or tapes, books, newspapers or magazines you can buy in your local store or find in the library. If anyone wants to take this idea seriously, be my guest - but as I said I am not going to give up on any resources, so I'll continue enjoying modern technology for my learning while using my courses as the main method for Arabic.

I find a lot of Arab music on Apple music which I subscribe to. The nice thing is that when you add a song or an album to your collection, they give you recommendations for similar artists. This way I have built up quite a nice collection of Arabic, Russian, Romansh, Spanish, Catalan and German music, in addition to mainstream (and not so mainstream) pop, jazz and classical. The only thing that bothers me is that the titles of Arabic (and sometimes Russian) songs are transliterated in the Latin alphabet. It bothers me because it makes it much more difficult for me to look up the words to see the translation, especially when it comes to Arabic, where the same Latin letter can represent different Arabic letters. Luckily I can often find the title in Arabic by searching for the song on Youtube.

Ast the weekend is coming up, time for another videoclip . It is a song by Egyptian singer Amr Diab (عمرو دياب), one of the most popular artists in the Arab world. This song is called Waadtak (وعدتك) which I believe can be translated as "I promise you". It is a good example of Amr Diab's style of "Mediterranean Music", a blend of Arab and Western rhythmes.

[Ogrim]

Deutsch
Endlich habe ich das Buch über Belgiens Geschichte fertiggelesen. Es war nicht schlecht, aber ich fand es ein bisschen Langweilig und deshalb bin ich froh, dass ich jetzt mehr Zeit für andere Bücher habe. Jetzt lese ich unter anderem ein Buch auf Deutsch. Es ist ein Biographieroman der das Leben Franz Schuberts beschreibt. Bisher habe ich nur wenige Seiten gelesen, aber es gefällt mir schon. Der Titel ist ganz einfach „Schubert“ und der Schriftsteller ist Peter Härtling.

Die letzten paar Wochen beschäftige ich mich ganz viel mit klassischer Musik. Dank meiner Sprachstudien habe ich die letzten Jahre meistens Populärmusik zugehört, weil ich Musik mit Wörtern in den verschiedenen Sprachen suche. Es gibt natürlich auch klassische Musik mit Wörtern, und ein gutes Beispiel davon sind Schuberts Lieder. Dann gibt es auch Opera, Choralmusik und so weiter, aber für mich sind die Lieder Schuberts eine ideelle Kombination von Musik und Poesie. Ich meine, die meisten Lieder sind Gedichte von großen deutschen Schriftstellern, zum Beispiel, Goethe, Schiller, Heine und Wilhelm Müller, und meiner Meinung nach macht die Musik Schuberts die Gedichte lebendiger und leichter zu verstehen und fühlen. Die Musik gibt den Gedichten neues Leben.

Mein Lieblingssänger wenn es um Schuberts Lieder geht ist Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, und ich habe einen Videoclip gefunden wo Fischer-Dieskau singt das Lied „Erlkönig“ (es ist ein Gedicht von Goethe). Als ich vor vielen Jahren zum ersten Mal dieses Lied gehört habe, habe ich geweint, und auch heute, wann immer ich es höre, kommen mir Träne in die Augen, es ist so unglaublich schön!

(English version): I’ve finally finished the book about the history of Belgium. It was OK, but a bit boring at times, so no I’ve turned to a book in German called “Schubert” by Peter Härtling. It is a biography of the composer Franz Schubert in the form of a novel. I’ve only read a few pages so far, but I am enjoying it.

I have spent more time lately with classical music. Over the last few years I have focused more on pop(ular) music because I wanted music with lyrics in the different languages I am learning or dabbling in. Of course there is classical music with lyrics as well, and a good example thereof are the songs by Schubert. Then there is opera, choral music and so on, but for me the songs by Schubert are an ideal combination of music and poetry. After all, most songs are poems by great German writers such as Goethe, Schiller, Heine and Wilhelm Müller, and to me, Schubert’s music make the poems more alive and easier to understand and feel.

My favourite interpreter of Schubert’s Lieder is Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and I’ve found a videoclip where he sings the song Erlkönig (a poem by Goethe). When many years ago I heard this song for the first time, I cried, and still whenever I listen to it, it brings tears to my eyes.

[Deinonysus]

Fischer-Dieskau war der beste Sänger von Lieder! „Der Erlkönig“ ist einer meiner Lieblingsgesänge. Kennst du auch Fritz Wunderlich und Thomas Quasthoff? Meiner Meinung nach, Wunderlich hat die beste „Die Schöne Müllerin“ gesungen, und Quasthoff hat den beste „Schwanengesang“ gesungen, obwohl natürlich, Fischer-Dieskau hat diese Liederzyklen auch sehr gut gesungen.

Das Buch „Schubert“ scheint sehr interessant! Ich muss es lesen irgendwann.

Es tut mir leid, wenn ich Fehler gemacht habe. Mein Deutsch ist sehr rostig.

[Josquin]

Schubert habe ich vor Jahren einmal gelesen, weil ein Freund mir das Buch geschenkt hatte. Es ist mir immer noch in sehr guter Erinnerung. Vor allem die Verbindung von Fakten und Fiktion fand ich sehr überzeugend und packend, z. B. wenn Schuberts Mutter dem kleinen Franz "Kommt ein Vogel geflogen" vorsingt. Das ist so schlicht und einfach gemacht, aber trotzdem oder gerade deshalb so lebensecht und ergreifend. Ich finde, durch diesen Zugang nimmt man richtig Anteil an der Person Schuberts, anstatt ihn nur als diesen genialen, unnahbaren Komponisten zu betrachten. Wie viele große Künstler war aber auch Schubert vor allem eine recht tragische Figur. Mir hat das Buch sehr gut gefallen!

Der Erlkönig ist natürlich großartig! Ich weiß nicht, ob es dich interessiert, aber ich habe vor kurzem eine fantastische neue Version dieses Liedes gefunden. Der Sänger ist Samuel Hasselhorn, ein junger deutscher Bariton, von dem ich bis dahin noch nie gehört hatte, aber er scheint wirklich ein großartiger Liedinterpret zu sein. Vielleicht gefällt dir die Aufnahme ja! Viel Vergnügen (wenn man beim Erlkönig von Vergnügen sprechen kann...)!

[Ogrim]

Deinonysus, ich kenne Fritz Wunderlich, und besonders gefällt mir seine Interpretation von Mahlers „Das Lied von der Erde“, ich habe eine Aufnahme unter der Begleitung von Otto Klemperer. Die weibliche Stimme gehört Christa Ludwig. Thomas Quasthoff hingegen kannte ich nicht, aber jetzt habe ich mehrere Alben von ihm auf Apple Play gefunden, und ich stimme zu, dass er eine schöne Stimme hat.

Josquin, vielen Dank für die Aufnahme mit Samuel Hasselhorn. Er ist wirklich sehr gut! Bisher hat er nur ein Album gemacht mit Liedern von Schubert, Pfitzner und Reimann. Ich habe gelernt dass eine weitere CD mit Schumanns Dichterliebe in September dieses Jahres erscheinen wird.

Romontsch:
Ier eisi dau ella Svizra la votaziun silla iniziativa federala numnada No-Billag, da quei hai jeu gia scret sisu. Pli da 70% dils votants han detg Na alla proposta da smetter la finansiazun dalla radio e televiziun publica. Denton sto la SRG, della quala Radiotelevizun Romontscha fa part, insumma sereformar per esser pli effizienta e daventar pli moderna.

Ei ha dau era autras votaziuns ier, aber, schebein impurtontas, vevan ellas buca causau la medema passiun ni il medem debat sco quella che concernava la televiziun publica.

(Yesterday more than 70% of Swiss voters said no to the initiative to stop public financing of radio and television in Switzerland. Nevertheless will the Swiss public broadcaster, to which RTR belongs, have to make reforms in order to become more efficient and modern. There were also other referendums in Switzerland yesterday, and although some of them were important, they did not cause the same passion and debate as the one regarding public TV.)

Français
Ce weekend ai-je terminé le livre "L'Univers à portée de main" par Christophe Galfard, et je confirme ce que j'ai déjà dit : c'est une très bonne introduction à la cosmologie et à la physique quantique, et je le recommande vivement. J'ai vu sur Goodreads que le livre a été traduit dans des nombreuses langues, par exemple l'anglais, l'espagnol, le polonais, le suedois, l'allemend, l'talien, le portugais etc. Donc même si vous ne lisez pas le français, vous pouvez trouver ce livre dans une langue que vous connaissez.

Español
Acabo con unas líneas en español porque el sábado de casualidad encontré una página en RTVE con programas en sefardí, o Ladino o Djudeo-espanyol si se quiere. No pienso seguir en los pasos de Iguanamon y estudiar esta lengua activamente (al menos por el momento), pero me divierte escuchar estas emisiones, que no duran más de unos 5 a 10 minutos. Entiendo casi todo, y si hay palabras que no conozco puedo deducir el sentido por el contexto en la mayoría de los casos. Es la belleza de las lenguas románicas - cuando conoces al menos tres, facilemente puedes llegar a entender muchas otras. Digo entender, hablar es otra cosa y requiere poner el esfuerzo y el tiempo de estudiar cada lengua en sí, sin fiarse demasiado de las muchas similitudes con la(s) lengua(s) que ya conoces.

[Ogrim]

The last couple of weeks I have not been very diligent when it comes to active language study. I am having a "bajón", as you say in Spanish, with regard to Arabic. I've been feeling I don't really make much progress and sometimes wonder if it is really worth trying. I've been there before though, so I'll get over it soon, but in the meantime I have not felt like pushing myself too much. I've only spent a few moments revising stuff and re-listening to a couple of lessons in order to maintain a minimum of activity.

I have spent most of my free time lately redescovering great classical music. When I was in my 20s I listened to a lot of classical music and built up a nice collection of hundreds of LPs. I don't really have many of those LPs any more, with the introduction of CDs and digital I sold off most LPs some 15 years ago, so now I am buidling up my collection again through streaming services. Apple Music has a lot of good classical recordings, but with important gaps. I've discovered another streaming service exclusively for classical music, called IDAGIO, and I've signed up to the 14-days free trial period. Contentwise it seems great, but I have some issues with the design of the app itself. Anyway, I'll see when the time comes if I will spend the monthly nine euros to subscribe to this service.

To make my music hobby language-related, I will be reading books about music and composers in different languages. I've finished the book Schubert and I am well underway with a biographical novel about Gustav Mahler called Das brennende Herz. Both in German of course, but next in line is a biography about Tchaikovsky in Russian, and I may also add a book about Giacomo Puccini in Italian to my list.

This weekend I watched a movie in Dutch, called Toscaanse bruiloft, with substitles in Spanish. It is not really the kind of film I care spending time on, but my wife wanted to see it, and at least it was a good opportunity to listen to Dutch (the few times I listen to Dutch during the week is when I remember to switch on the Flemish news on radio or TV). I still find Belgian Dutch a lot easier than Netherlands Dutch, and I would say I got around 60 percent of the dialogue in the film, what I lost was mostly due to actors speaking rapidly and swallowing vowels and syllables. In any case, as romcoms go, it is more fun and less cheesy than most movies of the same genre.

[Xenops]

I recently watched "(Hotel) Beau Séjour", a short crime show in Flemish. I thought it was well done.