On humour in a foreign language: the funny thing is that Swedes always expect me to get their Swede jokes. Most of the times I can. But when I've made one, even in the same style, they often don't get it...
Obrigado, Expug! One of my friends used to translate songs on the radio in her head as a way of practising. I tend to prefer just listening to and learning TL songs directly, the in-head translation is too much pressure for me. Plus, I don't listen to all that much music, as it tends to distract me from whatever else I'm doing.
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I got a good amount of reading done today, and have almost finished the first chapter of
MI. This slow pace isn't sustainable, so here's hoping the actual course can make the book more interesting! Either that, or that we're not expected to go through
everything. The book does have some good tips for someone learning their first language independantly, or for those who aren't used to taking control of their own learning. It also has a very strict idea of what it means to 'know' a word. I'd like to apply it to some of my vocabulary, but I am happier with a more nebulous understanding for the rest. Fun fact: I've been using the word 'nebulous' without being one hundred percent certain of its connotations. A quick google confirms that I've been using it correctly, but there are a good number of English words that I've been just plain wrong about in the recent past. Maybe I
should adopt a stricter approach...
I fell for a brief moment down a rabbit hole of things about becoming a good conversationalist. This is a skill I've always wanted. I love talking, and sometimes I even like talking to other people! But the quality of the conversation depends very much on my interlocutor. I can't always carry a conversation on my own (in any language), even when I really like and want to talk to the other person. I have some friends who are amazing conversationalists, and who are really able to draw the other person out. I want to be like that. I got some stuff in English, and some stuff in Swedish. It'd be nice to be able to engage people in both languages.
I also did a fair bit of clozemaster today, in Swedish, German, Portuguese and Finnish. I'm not sure about the new feature they've introduced, where you instantly know if you're getting a word wrong or right. On the one hand, it feels a bit like cheating. On the other, it's a good way to tell what word they're looking for, when there are synonyms that will fit. I'm working around it. If I think I know the word they want, I'll type that in without looking, (although I do check sometimes before submitting, because who likes to be wrong? Certainly not me!). If I think I know what words should fit, I'll fiddle around until I find the first letter or two. If I don't get it by then, I just get the sentence wrong and try to type in the right answer, something I always used to do with wrong sentences anyway. If I truly have no idea and know it, I just click enter twice. It's working thus far, and doesn't seem to be too negatively affecting my ability to recall the words under my own steam.
Finally, I read a bit in the book of letters I talked about. I would also like to do some German reading today, and some German listening, if possible. I tried to find an audiobook on Spotify, but
Wachen! Wachen! had an awful sound at the very beginning that went on for too long for me to comfortably try listening to the rest of the book and the narrator of
Frostfeuer has an awful voice. Sorry, person, whoever you are. It was really horrible, like someone trying to talk through crushed rocks. I guess the next thing to try is
Steinernes Fleisch by Cornelia Funke.
A nice quote from the (subtitles of) the video of conversation tips:
Celeste Headee wrote:Du måste gå in i varje konversation med tron att du kommer att lära dig något.
ETA a small P.S.: I have over 2000 reviews in clozemaster Swedish/English
I usually never even have enough word played and unmastered at a time, but I was on a real clozemaster kick before I fell off the wagon, rolled down a hill and ended up lost in a forest for a few months...