Expug's 2018 Log - Sustainable Dabbling

[Elenia]

About Clozemaster text-to-speech function: it depends on the language being studied. My computer, for example, has the ability to read French, German and Dutch, but not Swedish or Finnish. My phone has the necessary files, so I can use the text-to-speech for those languages in the app.

[Expugnator]

Thank you, Elenia! I'll check on my home computer, but I bet it tends to work on mobile device. I remember hearing the text-to-speech Romanian even when I was using the webpage on Safari on my iPad.

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The weekend wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. I was incredibly busy at home, despite not having any social events. I spent Saturday afternoon at the home depot, buying the materials for the renovation. It's finally taking place. But as a result I did no app-studying. No Clozemaster, Memrise, Mond.ly or Duolingo.

At least I took care of the resources. I got more episodes of Õnne 13 and the series I'm watching in Georgian, also new series. Got a couple of new language books.

I had to shop for groceries on Sunday morning, so here's another
day shift taken. Then after lunch we went to the mall with the kids. When we came home I had to organize some stuff for the week, and I could also update my treadmill playlist, this time not only with the latest hits but also with the suggestions I got in Arabic, Norwegian, Russian and Italian. It's going to be a much more multilingual running time now, and I'm still looking for more Hebrew pop music. Suggestions?

At least I could have the Russian/Portuguese exchange I had planned last week, but it was rather short. The connection wasn't very good, typical of a Sunday evening. Well, I did have some practice and, most of all, positive feedback that encourages me to keep working. That Russian guy complimented me for my accent, to which I replied that the Portuguese and the Russian phonological systems are much more alike than, say, the English one. We even have non-phonemic palatalization which makes it pretty easy to pronounce soft n's, m's and l's. Soft "m" is pretty typical of the dialect of Minas Gerais - where I live though I wasn't born here - so it's a sound that is part of most Brazilians' repertoire even if just by hearing it from other accents. It's like making a hard, non-palatalized d or t; virtually any Brazilians can do it because it's an allophone in some Northern accents, and so we all have exposure to it, even if most of us actually say t and d as affricates.

Thanks to a class in the morning that was delayed by 40 minutes, I had a good reading headstart. I read non-fiction, Italian and Spanish fictions, which I usually do on the bus while coming back from lunch. I'm really enjoying Lucia Troisi's novel. Pity that I couldn't find the audiobook as a single purchase, outside of a subscription model. It's going to be nigtmarish when each language service or audiovisual service charges for subscription, so for each product you want you have to purchase a new subscription, while all you wanted at that time from that provider was that individual piece of content.

Today at Estonian's soap opera I noticed how I am comfortable with reading the subtitles and meaning, and so I start to consciously pay attention to sound. I have enough time to read the subtitle, the translation and still process consciously what's being said by the character. I want to keep working on it for

I was preparing to read further at noon as to anticipate my afternoon reads and even listen-reads, but I decided to catch up with listening-reading Norwegian instead, as I left for lunch before I could finish it and I usually do. I'm finding it no trouble to read in Nynorsk now and look up the occasional unknown word at the Italian original, though the long paragraphs still complicate a bit. Catching up on the audiobook file, so I can bookmark it and resume listening the next day, is no big deal either, as my listening skills have improved and just by hearing a few sentences I can remember around which page I was reading before.

I'm happy with my Greek exchanges, too, both with natives and with other Brazilian learners. I can't not learn Greek now, it's coming along so well. I thought I would spend a long time on it before I could proceed to other passions of mine in the Mediterranean, but here I am intermediate in Greek, learning Hebrew, having dabbled in Turkish already, which can be my next target, if not a second afro-asiatic language.

One of those learners said there was a TEDx Athens and so there are plenty of TED videos in Greek audio! (and subtitles in Greek and many other languages, naturally):



I spent quite a few minutes today (and at the weekend too) because I'm binge-listening to this song:



I like the rhythm. The lyrics are the typical break-up drama of the sertanejo music, but they have some really cool metaphors for the genre.

Something great about Norway's dialect diversity both in fact and as a policy at NRK is to watch two characters, mom and son, speak in totally different accents.

Finished the Beginner level part from the Yabla Chinese videos I have. Now I'm proceeding to the intermediate ones as the gap doesn't seem to be so wide between these levels.

I think I'm done with reviewing the alphabet in Hebrew. I haven't mastered it fully, I can't write either cursive or printed letters, fully, by heart, but as I'll keep practicing by doing Assimil exercises I think those final gaps will be taken care of. I could add a shorter resource for Hebrew that would take me some 5 minutes or less, like the review, but it's not wise to do so now that I can barely make it to my regular schedule+post-schedule each day.

[Expugnator]

I'm impressed at how recent A series of unfortunate events is. I thought the movie it was based on was filmed in the 80's, but it's from 2004. Don't know where I took from that the movie was part of my childhood. Anyway, the story seems to take place no later than the 1930's, with some anachronisms.

My sister suggested this blog about parenting. I wonder how much I can practice from it. It might be good for learning all the cultural references and specific childhood vocabulary which is typically local and not cognate.

Today I could finally read in Estonian more intensively, looking up expressions as well as individual words. My better knowledge overall actually helped more making sense of obscure collocations. When I started I couldn't tell a noun and a verb apart when either one had endings that could also have applied to the other in other contexts (this is quite recurrent in Estonian). Now I'm finally noticing a good grisp of syntax and so I can easily resort to the translation for the missing pieces of the Estonian sentence's jigsaw. I like to compare my opaque languages, and with Estonian I'm currently at the stage I was with Georgian around a year ago, when reading extensively was on the verge of becoming feasible. I still don't read extensively in either, but it's because I read so few pages that it's still better to keep it intensive or at least parallel. I mean, I could have got the gist of what's going on, but I learn more when I read intensively because there are enough unknown words on a page as of yet. Anyway, digressions aside, I've put Estonian into a consistent path towards basic reading fluency and I'm really looking forward to reading other light, translated novels.

I'm getting sick of The Indonesian Way. IT's a bit dry in terms of exposure to the language, working more like a wordlist. Reminds me of Teach Yourself. Even the dialogues which could have been so informative are merely reserved for the exercises. I'm supposed to study a dialogue in depth first, and not just listen to it as a listening exercise or fill-in-the-blanks, the way it is done at TIW.

Now a much productive day but enough for Hebrew, Indonesian and the Spanish reading, which is finally becoming nearly consistent. I'm already longing for more Hebrew and Indonesian each day, which shows I've left the dabbling stage and I could keep learning it with two textbooks/resources each without feeling overwhelmed by the novelty. The problem now is time, that I should reserve for other activities.

I forgot to line up a new French audiobook as I'm about to finish the trilogy. I really have no idea what to listen to, and I could listen to anything at my current level. I don't want fantasy, I want to keep contemporary urban fiction. I'm already listening to Musso in Russian, so something else would be welcome. I've totally neglected my to-read list in French, now that I've become comfortable with the language.

[Expugnator]

Yesterday I managed to successfully renew my French audiobook stock. I got another one by Kathérine Pancol and Houellebecq's Soumission. I have three sources for French books now, so that might last for a while. I'm not planning on doing French audiobooks longer anyway, as I need to start listening to German and Norwegian audiobooks extensively, actually being able to follow the story and consolidating my active skills as a bonus. So I expect to do these 2 French audiobooks and then do a German one next, an easy one which I'm not that keen about reading so as not to feel frustrated for not following the story most of the times.

The noun section of Modern Russian Grammar Workbook is already over and I don't think I've practiced cases enough. Will I really have to keep hopping from one book to another before finally having a decent command/memorization of the forms? Now I know much better, but far from being able to use the case system in my active skills with confidence. Anyway, I should be thinking about what textbook to do next. Something like Clozemaster (which already exists, thanks Xmmm) or kwiziq would be ideal, but I'm reluctant to join a subscribing model and I'd rather go for a single-payment purchase. Any more recommendations of books on cases, or any grammar books with plenty of exercises? I'm resigned that I'm going to have to this for the verbs of motion, so doing it for cases as well wouldn't be much of a trouble.

Ok, the Noun part is free. So I'm working on it and see what I need next. I'm still going to miss grammar explanations for some sentences and forms, I believe.

I'm so happy with my progress with Mandarin listening-reading. I'm thinking that maybe I should print a random page and mark the unknown words (and I mean words, not characters). I have the same problem with Greek, though, that I still don't have a reliable source for both audiobook and L2 text, so I'm always having to prepare in advance my next book, fearing that one will be the last. So far, I have three books I can listen to after Jo Nesbø's, but they're not the contemporary urban fiction genre that is the most productive for me.

Not a bad day, though busier for other things. Language-wise, pretty much productive and leaving me wanting for more in Hebrew and Indonesian.

[Expugnator]

Last evening I read a few remaining threads and then realized I'm starting to have free moments in the evening. The problem is I'm too tired for getting myself actively involved into app-learning, for which I additionnally need to keep the earphones beside. If I want to just read instead, I have to keep the tablet inside. Either way, I risk forgetting to put them back into my backpack for the next day.

Clozemaster Nouns is the way to go for Russian. Definitely. Speakly looks promising for Estonian, but it only works in the app for the time being.

Until now I didn't know Italian also had its "lei me ne voleva", equivalent of the French "elle m'en voulait". I wonder if it's used as often as in French, at whatever register, or if it's more strict.

Finnished "Polisse". A nice film for learning slang in French. Now I'm going to watch "Le convoyeur".

The difference I've noticed for the Intermediate level at Yable is speed. Native full-speed. I hope it works as good practice, as vocabulary-wise it seems slightly more sophisticated than the beginner level but not that much so.

Finished the second volume of A series of unfortunate events, still reading in Georgian. Already started the third one. I really hope the 4th one is out in Georgian when I finished the next, but I doubt so, and I already plan on continuing to read it in Russian.

Speaking of which, my trip to Russia is cancelled now. I'm relieved I don't have to focus especifically on Russian anymore. I haven't done anything extra for Russian during these months other than my usual regimen, apart from some 8 Skype lessons that didn't turn out that helpful. Anyway, if the second semester arrives and I'm still not comfortable with reading and watching TV in Russian so that I can actually enjoy the process, I'm going to start my second Slavic language which will finally make me move on from the plateau, the way Norwegian did to my German several years ago.

Today was busy. I did nothing at the computer in the morning, and in the afternoon I had extra work. So I had to stop after the dubbed series in Georgian. No Estonian parallel-reading, no Greek, Hebrew or Indonesian. I feel sorry because these tend to be the most fun part. Maybe I'm luckier tomorrow, even if there's also a lot to do.

[reineke]

Until now I didn't know Italian also had its "lei me ne voleva", equivalent of the French "elle m'en voulait". I wonder if it's used as often as in French, at whatever register, or if it's more strict.

What's the context?

Era chiaro che ce l'aveva con me,
Elle montrait clairement qu'elle m'en voulait.

[Expugnator]

@reineke: It's a typical volerne sentence, I can't find it again as it is somewhere in Elena Ferrante's novel. From what I could read, though, it's a safe bet to place it as an equivalent to the French one, which I'm already familiar with.

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Yesterday I finished Les yeux jaunes des crocodiles' trilogy. I recommend it, it did help my French progress consistently and bring me autonomy in listening. The actual audiobook isn't over yet because there's an interview with the author. A very interesting material language-wise. Going from profesisonaly

Now it's much quicker and easier to scroll down the full list of videos on a Youtube channel. That helps with Papiamento: I've been watching videos ever since the channel was created, 10 years ago. I'm still in 2009, and I used to spend several minutes a day to just to scroll down and find where I'd stopped.

Today was inverted schedule again. Not much reading in the morning because I was attending an interesting course. Let's see how the afternoon comes along. I really miss studying Hebrew and Indonesian.

Funny sentence at the Ret Karibense website:

Sinembargo awor no tin vuelonan pa motibo di e embargo(...)

We don't use that expression in Portuguese and it has always sounded funny in Papiamento and Spanish. Now a sentence where the expression clashes with the wordi its original form/meaning.

Finished Tintenblut (actually some reference pages left). I don't have any specific book with an audiobook lined up for German, so I 'm going to proceed into volume 3, so I can put an end to this neverending story (and I don't mean Michael Ende's books).

Some weeks are better for some languages. This week I'm seeing more progress - or at least a better comprehension - for Mandarin and Georgian, while things are more scrabbled than usual for Estonian and Modern Greek. At such days, I think I should resume watching English audio and L2 subtitles, because I can have exact translations for that L2 input. It's a different sort of input than having natural L2 audio with machine-translated subtitles, or parallel, non-intensive listening-reading.

So, Speakly is already becoming challenging for Estonian. It doesn't have the full sentence translated, though - only the missing word/collocation is in English. I expect some trouble in the near future (besides that of not accepting alternative translations, like both the contracted or full forms of the pronouns).

Language Transfer Greek is becoming more interesting now and introducing new content, or content that I still haven't reviewed enough. I like the method.

And that was it for today. No Hebrew or Indonesian.

[Expugnator]

I thought "Les Ecureuils de Central Park sont tristes le lundi" would represent the end of the sagga Cortès, but I was wrong. When I tried to start listening to "Trois Baisers" last Friday, amidst the chaos that was the past-thunderstorm evening, stuck in the traffic for 1h30 hour when I could have reached home in 25 min by foot - I vaguely heard some references to the characters in the Cortès saga. It turns out that "Trois Baisers" is a spin-off. Not only that: after the trilogy "Les yeux jaunes" come an entire trilogy named "Muchachas", which assumedly deals with Hortence Cortès' universe. So that's what will keep me busy for a while, even if I'm aware I may quit it anytime and replace it with a German audiobook, whenever I feel ready (which might assumedly take time, because I can't take German printed text extensively, leave alone audio).

Speaking of German, once again I couldn't make it to the lesson I had booked. It turned out I had a new Polyglot Meetup starting on Sunday morning. Another one of the founders found an amazing place, a cultural complex composed of indoor theater and open-air arena. The new meetup started timidly but I'm looking forward to having a typical cultural place, where we can have workshops on polyglottery and even dabble on some obscure languages, just for helping people discover their inner polyglot. Anyway, German still needs taken care of, and I've rescheduled the class for next week, this time earlier in the morning so as to have no excuse.

I did very little at the weekend other than reading the forum and doing very short rounds on Clozemaster (Mandarin and Speakly (Estonian). I feel I have those dead moments I can use for an app, but the problem is they demand me picking the earphones and plugging them on my phone. It's not like reading which is always accessible. Actually, even reading different books than the ones I do during the week requires preparation, as I need to keep the tablet at my bedside. I must confess I am afraid of leaving both the earphones and the tablet at my bedside because I fear I'd forget to pick them up and put them back into my handbag for the next weekday. Sad but true. Having dedicated earphones might solve part of the problem - I have one set for keeping with me when I commute, another one for the gym and yet another one at the computer where I study everyday, but no good, working one at home. That is to be fixed at my next trip either to the mall or to the stationery store. At least I managed to prepare the material for the weekend, which demanded a couple of hours spent at the home computer.

Today at Ret Karibense I played a video that was in Dutch with subtitles in Papiamento. These are rare to be found, so I thought I'd share it here:



For those who might get serious about learning Papiamento, there is a series of documentaries with audio in Papiamento and English subtitles:

Rebecca Roos Productions

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I was just checking on Google Maps for the size of my house, and then I hit 'play' on Side om side, when Celine said "Google-Maps -bildet av huset vårt. Se.". The odds...

I took the liberty (wrongly) to delete everything from Tintenblut on my HDD before I finished the remaining section on the characters. Anyway, just retrieved it from the email and finished it for good. Now comes Tintentod.

So, the first season of Fizruk is over, leaving me with no really cool Russian comedy series to watch. I'm really thankful for the transcripts made available, but they didn't work for me at the extent of helping me watch the next season of my own. Not even for Interny, where there were over one hundred episodes. I watched Anzhelika's season 2 and missed a lot. For the end of Kukhnya, I had to translate from Bulgarian on GT, which worked for following the story but not for optimal learning. Same option unveils for Nyuxach now - Bulgarian subtitles for Season 3. I'm going to watch them for sure, but not now.

Now I need to make my Russian input as comprehensible/n+1 as possible. I started with picking an easy, translated novel for Listening-Reading. Next I want to pick a dubbed series as my main watching activity of the day (as I wasn't finding the time for watching it as an extra activity). Before that, I'm going to give Luntik a try. The first episode has English subtitles, and most ones have Russian subtitles. Btw, the quality of the automatically generated subtitles for Russian has improved quite a bit, making it also a possibility for Fizruk. I'm going to wait till my Russian has improved even better, though, so I can profit from the increase in comprehension and manage to entangle the machine-generated and machine-translated alphabet(s) soup better.

Still plugging along through Language Transfer Greek. Just finished lesson 60, and luckily in lesson 61 the Greek script is back again.

FInally found time for Hebrew and Indonesian again, though I could still have done more. I went quickly through the Indonesian lesson, I must say, but the emphasis is put on doing translation matching exercises. Today Spanish reading was a miss, as I didn't have enough time on the commute back here nor do I have it now.

[Expugnator]

Today I had to find the spot in the text for the Mandarin book while the audio was already being played. I had no trouble matching L2 audio and L1 text, and I decided to go on for a few minutes before browsing the L2 text. I noticed that I understand quite a lot from the L2 audio.

Norwegian, on its turn, is becoming transparent. I'm approaching my next step in Norwegian which I had reached in French before, which is understanding even abrupt sentences uttered suddenly.

So I went with Luntik. It's going to be useful, because the little creature has to understand the world around itself, so there are a lot of explanations - so much self-referential language is used! I only hope I manage to follow it as comprehensible input and actually learning new words instead of merely recognizing the ones I already know. Episode 2 already lacks subtitles, so I had to do with the machine-generated ones, which unfortunately apparently can't be downloaded so I could have them in English in parallel as well (this actually prevented me from moving on on Fizruk right away). Anyway, let's call it an experiment.

Today I had some time left after all my tasks. Over an hour, for the first time in weeks. I didn't get anything done with it because something came up in the meantime, but it looks promising if I manage to keep the rhythm. I'm probably getting back into it again because I wasn't particularly productive in the morning, just average, which means it was the early afternoon that made the difference and I managed to concentrate in Georgian and German and not to get distracted as much as in the past days. Hebrew and Indonesian are still too little for my taste and my ambitions, and so I have to try and complement them with app learning.

[Arnaud]

Just for info, Барбоскины is subtitled in russian but more difficult than Luntik.
Luntik is subtitled from the episode 440 to 479, if you want to download to subs.