A language learners’ forum

Although I could follow the story with the audio book, I could tell I was not able to catch all of the words, even drilling down in audacity, so I bought the book, and am now catching up again.

Although the reader has a pleasant neutral voice, it is unusal that I have such difficulty hearing everything. I think he drops more lettres/sylables than in normal narrative speech (in an audio book).

Here are some examples.

- verkniff s[ich] ein Gähnen
- ein vogel, der s[ich] den Flügel gebrochen hatte
- Garten [de]s selbstsüchtigen Riesen
- an [d]er

I don't trust my hearing, but I did check the waveform with audacity, and they are definitely missing. I also think there is something about the way he shortens -en endings to -'n that is more pronounced than most narrators. (As everyday spoken speech, I am sure it is perfectly normal).

It is often recommended to use books from the same author, as they repeat vocabulary more often, so it's interesting to note that she prefers the verb "raunen" more than "flüstern" for whisper, and is also fond of "lugen" (to peek).

And a brief grammmar ausflug. Can "Sollten Sie meine Zeit mit Nichtigkeiten verschwenden wollen dann..." be rewritten as "Wenn Sie meine Zeit mit Nichtigkeiten verschwenden wollen sollten, dann..." ? And is having two modal verbs together usual?

Ta

How many chapters are we reading this week? I just read one and it was pretty short.

I was meant to take opinions. The chapter following is about 16 pages long and so I don't know how everyone feels about reading that in addition to chapter twelve. I'm behind, so I wouldn't mind if you all slow down but if no one else minds continuing on the two chapter trend, I'll put that in the first post.

I prefer to just read this shorter one. If I have to read this plus the 16-page long one, that will definitely take away time from other languages.

OK. It looks like I'm finished with this week's reading then.

I'm slowly catching up, although I still have three chapters to go before I'm back with you all. Who's still reading and who, like me, is behind?

For next week, would those magnificent beings who are all caught up rather read one chapter, or two? I think chapter fourteen should be combined either with chapter thirteen or chapter sixteen, as it is only five pages long. Chapter thirteen is shorter, so it is probably better to make next week a two chapter week.

EDIT: I realise my eyes and my maths betrayed me completely. The two choices I now offer: We can either read Chapters thirteen and fourteen next week, and chapters fifteen and sixteen the week after. That's 24 pages each week. Or we can read Chapter thirteen next week, and chapters fourteen and fifteen the week after, which would be 16 and 14 pages respectively.

I'm OK either way. I'm all caught up, but if other people are behind, we can go slow for a while. I have plenty of other things to work on anyway.

I am all caught up and I prefer 16 pages this week and 14 the next one.

Okay, I'll edit the first post later on tonight. We'll just read the one chapter this week.

Guys and gals, my plan is to catch up during the next week or so. Basically, I'll start working on it right after adding a few more things to the 6wc bot. My Italian has been going quite well, so it's time to get back to German and this awesome book.

So, the most important question: How far are you? I am a bit scared to read through several pages of this thread