Lemus log

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
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Re: Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Sun Dec 30, 2018 5:50 pm

lavengro wrote:Good luck Lemus with your language learning this coming year, I will be following your log with interest and appreciate the detail about your reading material.
Lemus wrote:...
Incidentally, if anyone has any recommendations for Farsi-language TV shows (either shot in Persian or dubbed) that are either available online or compatible with a US DVD player could you let me know?

You may already be aware, but many external DVD readers are no longer region-tied, and it should be possible to play Region 2 DVDs via VLC Media Player software.
Lemus wrote:...
Abandoned Marquez sadly. I was just unable to get into it.....

Truth be told, that is a lot of soledad.


Yes, I perhaps got through twenty or so years of soledad, give or take.

Thank you for the support and I am glad you enjoy reading the log!
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Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
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Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
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Re: Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Thu Jan 10, 2019 2:55 am

With the first post of 2019 I am happy to announce that I finished my Ferrante novel. This marks the first real book I have ever finished in Italian! Enjoyable novel too, if anyone is looking for recommendations, although not so fantastic that I feel a need to immediately move onto the sequel.

That also means in my 15 book challenge I stand at three, one apiece in German, Italian, and Spanish. That means as long as I finish one substantial non-English novel a month I will hit my goal. It seems quite doable when thinking of it like that, but there still is a long way to go for sure!

310 Italian cards in Anki now, with some more that I still need to add from the book. German and Spanish reviews are of course, continuous although falling in time required given that I am only adding things in Italian right now.

With it being New Year’s and all I of course am also thinking if I want to add something new in 2019. I probably will at some point, with my goal being to wait until I finish my 15 book challenge but I can’t promise it will be that long. Russian and I have had an on-again, off-again relationship for some time now and I would love to pick that up again. Portuguese has also been tempting me lately, as I may have a chance to go to Brazil near the end of the year. Ideally I can hold out until at least the summer, although we shall see…
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Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Sun Jan 27, 2019 5:55 pm

Not too much to report in terms of progress, but I haven't added to this log in a while so I thought I would check in.

Italian Anki now stands at 471. I started a new book, a travel memoir by Paolo Rumiz called the Trans Europa Express, describing his travels from the Artic Ocean down to Istanbul, mostly by way of Russia. Really enjoying the book. The descriptions are well done, but the level of detail is making it clear how much Italian vocabulary there still is to learn!

I may be tempting fate since I swore I wouldn’t try again with Russian until at least I finished my current goals and then I go and read this book….

Nearing the end of Rosetta Stone Farsi. Really struggling at this point with the grammar and such. If I wasn’t so close to the end I would probably ditch it, but I’m far too stubborn not to finish now that I’m on Unit 11 of 12.

Spanish and German Ankis remain where they were, at 335 and 498 respectively. I haven't added to German in so long that my daily reviews are now down to single digits.
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Lemus
Orange Belt
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Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
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Re: Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Thu Feb 07, 2019 4:23 am

Finished the Trans Europa Express! This marks the third book ever I’ve read in Italian and first ever that was non-fiction (although only the second that counts towards my personal challenge).

I quite enjoyed it. I love travel memoirs and it is interesting to read one that is not written by a Brit or an America. Even in English translation I can’t recall seeing many of those in any bookstore in the US. Everything seems to fall into either classic (Paul Theroux, Patrick Leigh Fermor), inspirational (Under the Tuscan Sun and that sort of thing) or humor (Bill Bryson). Don’t get me wrong-I have read and very much enjoyed many of those books, it’s just interesting to see something different. Rumiz is apparently quite the prolific author so I will see if I can track down any more of his stuff.

Travel memoirs are also quite inspiring as they always seem to feature lots of characters who are multilingual. I suppose that is necessary though, as who else will the author talk to as they travel the world but locals with unusual language abilities?

Anki-wise I am now just short of 600 for Italian. I am planning on one more in Italian and then pivoting over to Spanish or German for a bit.
Now I will be beginning Margaret Mazzantini’s Non Ti Muovere, a novel that comes highly regarded about a man speaking to his daughter while she is in the hospital with a coma.
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Lemus
Orange Belt
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Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
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Re: Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Wed Feb 20, 2019 1:49 am

Finished Non ti Muovere, bringing me to three Italian books out of the way! While a little melodramatic at times, in general I very much enjoyed it. I’m feeling rather ambitious now and I think I will try to tackle a classic next, perhaps Il Gattopardo.
776 cards in Anki, suggesting that once I fit my five book goal I should be at a thousand. Keeping Spanish and German in a holding pattern as before.

I’m not sure if I should push through and get to five books in Italian first or stop after four and switch for a bit. I’m leaning towards the latter for variety’s sake, but we will see. The temptation to just finish off my Italian goals may prove to be stronger.

I found myself a copy of Pimsleur Persian, and in keeping with my general poorly organized approach to Persian learning I decided to start that. This is my first time with Pimsleur and so far (five lessons in) I’m really enjoying it. I undoubtedly could be going about learning Persian in a more efficient way, but let’s be honest, there is no pressing need in my life for me to learn Persian so I’ll move at whatever pace I feel like!

I also acquired a grammar book and have been flipping through that rather unsystematically. Pimsleur is fun, but I do find sometimes I miss having a more systemic explanation of why things are the way they are.
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Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Sat Mar 02, 2019 5:11 pm

I’ve decided to push through on Italian and clear it off with both book and Anki cards before moving onto what I have now decided will be Spanish.

I did start Il Gattopardo, which is good but has been tremendously challenging. Some pages I need to look up seven or eight words, which means I am missing a fair bit. It’s also not been great for my confidence, so I have temporarily abandoned it (after finishing Part 1) for an easy crime novel (La Ragazza Cattiva). That has been flying along which has restored my faith in my Italian abilities-just because I’m struggling with classic literature written half a century ago does not mean that I don’t know Italian!

935 on Anki. Almost there! Realizing of course that I should end up way over 1,000 given that I still have two books to go. 1,000 cards though was the goal, not the limit and cross it would be a huge win.

Also enjoying the fact Netflix dropped season two of Suburra, its Italian crime drama. I still have to watch it with subtitles given the heavy slang and accents of the characters but I can notice how much easier it is to follow than when I watched season one.

Making some real headway on Persian as well. This is my first time using Pimsleur and I really like it. Certainly you couldn’t learn a whole language this way, and definitely not for a language like Persian where there are only 60 lessons available, but it is an enjoyable thing to listen to when out walking (I only whisper the words to myself though-I’m not sure how people on the street would react to someone muttering to themselves in a Middle Eastern language!).

What I really like is how the lessons are paced. I find myself very eager not to miss a day but also satisfied when the lesson is over that I am finished and don’t need to be doing any more.

As a side note, I remember reading some criticism here that Pimsleur had you play-act being creepy to women. You do spend a lot of time trying to get a woman to come to dinner with you, but it is always made crystal clear your wife is coming along too. I would guess this is something relatively unique to the Persian course, but it is interesting that they do tailor them somewhat. I would be curious to see how these conversations are structured in the more commonly used courses.
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zenmonkey
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Re: Lemus log

Postby zenmonkey » Sat Mar 02, 2019 5:50 pm

Lemus wrote:As a side note, I remember reading some criticism here that Pimsleur had you play-act being creepy to women. You do spend a lot of time trying to get a woman to come to dinner with you, but it is always made crystal clear your wife is coming along too. I would guess this is something relatively unique to the Persian course, but it is interesting that they do tailor them somewhat. I would be curious to see how these conversations are structured in the more commonly used courses.


Valid criticism, I'm doing the Hebrew course and it's:

Now ask:
Do you want to have a drink with me?
She says:
Yes, I want to have a drink with you.
Ask:
At the restaurant.
She says:
No, at the hotel.
Now ask:
Do you want to drink some wine or some beer?

Or variants of "at your place, not a your place, at her place, etc..."

Then you are asked then to play her role... etc. There is a lot of beer or wine drinking, shopping, eating, at hotels, restaurants... but what you are actually learning in an engaging way (even when you dislike the conversation) is the constructions : "I want + to verb" and longer and longer co-locations of "now", "later", "at ...", "from ..." etc...

If you get past the "heteronormative, memorisation of pick-up lines to get to a hotel" aspect ... I completely agree with what you are saying:

What I really like is how the lessons are paced. I find myself very eager not to miss a day but also satisfied when the lesson is over that I am finished and don’t need to be doing any more.


Enjoy the Persian!
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I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar

Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Sat Mar 30, 2019 10:33 pm

It’s been a while since I updated the log since I usually like to do so when I hit some sort of milestone. I have not hit any such milestones for a while, but there is no reason my log just needs to record an unending stream of success. As I’m sure we are all aware you have your ups and downs. Some weeks you just don’t get as much done as you would like and that’s just how it goes.

I had hoped to pivot over to Spanish by April but I haven’t hit my Italian goals yet. I abandoned Il Gattopardo about halfway through. It wasn’t the book’s fault, my Italian just isn’t good enough to get through it (yet). I switched to a mystery novel instead for my fifth Italian book. I’m about two thirds done so I should hit my goal of five books in Italian by the end of the week. Anki count is well over 1,000 though (1,167 as of this morning) so at least one of my major goals for the year has been hit.

Also just hit lesson 40 of Pimsleur Persian. I’m not positive what my next step on Persian will be once I finish in a couple of weeks. I have some time to think about it though.
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garyb
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Re: Lemus log

Postby garyb » Mon Apr 01, 2019 8:59 am

I've read around 70 books in Italian now, and Il gattopardo was definitely the hardest. I can't remember where it fit into that number, but it was after the first few dozen or so at least. I'm sure it's a great novel, but between not being too familiar with the historical context and spending at least as much time looking up words as reading them I can't say I have great memories of it. I can't blame you for finding it hard and putting it aside; seems like a very sensible decision!
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Lemus
Orange Belt
Posts: 149
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2018 5:05 am
Languages: Know: English (N), German (B2), Spanish (B2/C1), Italian, Portuguese
Study (on and off): Persian, Russian
x 489

Re: Lemus log

Postby Lemus » Sat Apr 06, 2019 11:33 pm

garyb wrote:I've read around 70 books in Italian now, and Il gattopardo was definitely the hardest. I can't remember where it fit into that number, but it was after the first few dozen or so at least. I'm sure it's a great novel, but between not being too familiar with the historical context and spending at least as much time looking up words as reading them I can't say I have great memories of it. I can't blame you for finding it hard and putting it aside; seems like a very sensible decision!


Thanks garyb, that does make me feel better. The problem then is not classic literature in general but the particular piece of classic literature I picked.

Bouncing back from that particular defeat, I finished the mystery novel which means I have completed my Italian goals. Five novels read and over 1,000 words in Anki! The count currently stands at 1,191 although I would expect that to fall a bit as I’ve noticed that Anki has been getting a bit more aggressive removing the “leeches” as my review counts are rising.

That means the pace I am at is about where I want to be. One-fourth of the year finished and I have met the targets for one of my four languages.

Now the focus moves to Spanish. I am going to finish up Arturo Perez-Reverte’s Falco trilogy first. I read and very much enjoyed the first one a while ago and so far am finding the second one as good. At time it gets a little corny (is there a beautiful women in all of Spain who does not immediately melt at the sight of the protagonist?) but they are enjoyable reads.

I also have been building up an extensive Netflix queue of Spanish content. I am beginning with the new series Tijuana, which is about the murder of a gubernatorial candidate in Baja California.

Persian is moving along at its normal pace as well. Sometimes I suspect I will never actually buy a table cloth in Tehran, but it’s good that I will have that ability in my back pocket just in case.
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