Chove's Log

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SGP
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Re: Chove's Log

Postby SGP » Thu Dec 13, 2018 4:40 am

chove wrote:I suppose it might be that there's no "ch" sound in English. I'm okay though because we have it in Scots/Scots English :)

There are two ways non-natives of German would pronounce the non-[k] "ch" if they haven't really learned it yet. One of them is "sch", and the other one would be "k".

chove wrote:
rdearman wrote:
chove wrote:I suppose it might be that there's no "ch" sound in English. I'm okay though because we have it in Scots/Scots English :)

How do we manage to say the word "Cheese" or "Chove" for that matter, if we don't have a ch sound? Or am I missing something here?


Like the "ch" in loch, but I don't know the IPA or anything like that. Alas.

The non-[k] "ch" has two possible IPA letters.

1. x
2. ç

And yes, the first one also exists in Scots, Spanish (ejemplo), ... .
The second one isn't too far away either. But it is softer. And it definitely is included in the most "mainstream" variant (sozusagen) of pan-Germany Hochdeutsch.

A number of natives within the German Sprachraum would pronounce every single non-[k] "ch" as [ç]. There may be others within it who pronounce every one as a [x] instead.

Well, there possibly is a third IPA letter, too, like ɣ in "goed" (Dutch). But I suppose the above could be enough for now ;).
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chove
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Re: Chove's Log

Postby chove » Sun Dec 16, 2018 10:05 pm

The man on the GermanPod beginners lessons is annoying me a lot now, so I've just stopped listening to those. A shame, it seems like a good resource otherwise for revising/relearning stuff I'm supposed to know. (I've done two years of German with the Open University, but those were just the beginners' courses and I've been focussing on Spanish more recently for that qualification.) It's a problem with audio things (and video as well) that if someone in them annoys you it's hard to continue. (I can see what people mean about the students on the Michel Thomas courses, yes.)
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SGP
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Re: Chove's Log

Postby SGP » Mon Dec 17, 2018 4:11 am

chove wrote:The man on the GermanPod beginners lessons is annoying me a lot now, so I've just stopped listening to those.

I suppose finding an alternative wouldn't be too difficult. When I was very young, I didn't consider my native language something wide-spread outside of three certain countries. Auch bekannt als: die üblichen Verdächtigen. Also Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz. Later, I really was surprised how popular it is, both in Europe and worlwide.

A shame, it seems like a good resource otherwise for revising/relearning stuff I'm supposed to know.

Not sure if you were a free user or one with a subscription plan. But in case you still can access some of their resources anyway, they also have PDF transcripts. (Although I am not sure about the details of their various plans. The only thing I keep recalling is that "first month 1$, then 19$" thing...)

It's a problem with audio things (and video as well) that if someone in them annoys you it's hard to continue. (I can see what people mean about the students on the Michel Thomas courses, yes.)

What would that Annoying Factor be about?
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chove
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Re: Chove's Log

Postby chove » Mon Dec 24, 2018 2:36 am

I've got quite far into Harry Potter in Spanish, finally. I kept restarting and changing my approach but now I'm just reading as well as I can and trying to at least get the gist of what's happening. I'm at the bit where they go to Diagon Alley to buy stuff for Hogwarts. It's a good level for me, it's not too difficult in terms of language and it lets me see grammar stuff that I mostly know in context. I haven't actually read it in English though a friend did find me a copy recently in a charity shop. I seem to be able to follow the plot so far though, which is nice and a bit of a confidence-booster.
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chove
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Re: Chove's Log

Postby chove » Tue Jan 22, 2019 5:38 pm

This evening I have a half-hour trial Spanish lesson via iTalki. I hope it's as useful as the Polish lessons have been, my Spanish speaking lags behind my reading a lot, I haven't had much oral practice with it outside of the occasional online tutorial for my course.
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cjareck
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Re: Chove's Log

Postby cjareck » Tue Jan 22, 2019 6:23 pm

chove wrote:This evening I have a half-hour trial Spanish lesson via iTalki

Good luck!
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chove
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Re: Chove's Log

Postby chove » Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:12 pm

cjareck wrote:
chove wrote:This evening I have a half-hour trial Spanish lesson via iTalki

Good luck!


It went well! She says I speak Spanish better than I think but agrees that I need a lot more oral practice. I will probably book another session soon!
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chove
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Re: Chove's Log

Postby chove » Wed Jan 30, 2019 8:33 pm

My iTalki Spanish teacher reckons my spoken Spanish is a lot better than I think it is. She says I seem to know most of the important grammar at least in theory, I just need more practice with it, especially speaking and listening. I've tended to go back to my textbooks because I think I need to revise everything, but I'd probably benefit more from reading more and trying to get more speaking practice. For one thing I should actually get round to watching El Ministerio del Tiempo without the English subtitles, because I'm a big fan of it and I already know the plots of the episodes so I'd have some context to work with there. It's my anxiety and low confidence holding me back here, I think, so I need to make myself do things I find challenging and not worry about failing.
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chove
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Re: Chove's Log

Postby chove » Sat Feb 02, 2019 10:34 pm

Well, the big news is that my dad has offered to pay my flights and accomodation to go to Germany with him and my stepmother in the summer, so it looks likes I need to relearn German by then! My main worry about travelling is my mental health problems, but hopefully everything will be okay. Free holiday, yay! So this means I'll be making German my main language for the foreseeable future instead of Spanish. I'll try to keep the Spanish up and I'll still do my iTalki lessons in it, because I'm hopefully starting the next year of my degree in the autumn and that's a Spanish year, but I need to get my German up to scratch before June! I'm hoping the trip will be good motivation to keep studying it, because I find German harder than Spanish and it's easier to get discouraged with that.
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chove
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Re: Chove's Log

Postby chove » Mon Feb 04, 2019 10:23 pm

Haven't really studied this past week because I've been feeling a bit low and finding it difficult to concentrate (I had to cancel last week's Polish lesson), but I did get to practice a bit with a Polish taxi driver. We mostly spoke in English but there was a bit where he couldn't remember the word "duck" and was describing one and I said "kaczka?" and he went "Yes! You *do* speak Polish!" :lol: I knew it would be useful some day! :lol:

Hopefully I'll be okay for my Spanish lesson/conversation on Wednesday, and I've rescheduled my Polish lesson for Friday. I've had to come off my antidepressants because of some unpleasant side-effects, and while I've mostly been coping with that it's knocked my ability to focus on things a bit and I'm in a bit of a slump with motivation.
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