Jeff's language log

[jeff_lindqvist]

2020 - Summary of week 29

Time for a short update. I finished two books this week. Almost done with the second Amos Decker novel.

GA: More podcasts.

IT: Today (Sunday) I spent some time reading in Imparo l'italiano - another dusty book. It is the first part (of three), aimed at beginners, some forty years ago... I thought I'd be able to read it with nearly 100% comprehension, but I immediately realized that there are gaps in my vocabulary.

PT: More Duolingo and stories.

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I got hold of a bunch of second-hand books in French, German, Italian and Portuguese. That pile will keep me busy for years.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2020 - Summary of week 30

Time for a late update. I finished the second Amos Decker novel plus at least one other book. Another game of Frostgrave. Just before the week's martial arts session started, we listened to "Pumped up kicks" (in Old English):


...and "Smells like teen spirit" (in Latin):


GA: More podcasts. I shared the link to Galaxyrocker's blog with the other gaeilgeoir in the area.

IT: A few more lessons in Imparo l'italiano.

PT: More Duolingo and stories.

[galaxyrocker]

GA: More podcasts. I shared the link to Galaxyrocker's blog with the other gaeilgeoir in the area.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I hope to get some more grammatical stuff up soon, as opposed to my musings on things from South Connemara.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2020 - Summary of week 31

I finished at least five books this week - one of them was the third Amos Decker novel. The fourth isn't availabe yet, so I'll read something else in the meantime.

GA: More podcasts. One featured a phone interview with Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh - singer/fiddler of Altan, another a live performance of the trio Fidil. Galánta ar fad! Bhuail mé le roinnt acu cúpla bliain ó shin.

IT: I finished Imparo l'italiano. It felt nice to expose myself to written Italian again. Maybe a book some day?

PT: More Duolingo and stories. Some are obsessed with reaching the highest position in the Diamond League. For those who wonder, I kind of like the tool. It's something I can spend 5 minutes on now and then. I can't really do that with a chapter of TY/Colloquial/Assimil/Linguaphone. I know that it isn't the same thing as being taught by Michel Thomas. Or being immersed in another country. Or having 101 lessons on iTalki. Or taking a course at the university. And so on. And for what it's worth, the stories give higher XP as I progress. (Starting at 14, eventually reaching 28.)

ZH: Time for some Chinese again. You are my sisters / 你是我的姐妹, episodes 17-18.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2020 - Summary of week 32

I finished two books this week and started a couple more. Details below.

ES: Today (Sunday) I restarted Pippa Mediaslargas.

FR: I decided to pick up the old Maigret et le clochard (Georges Simenon) which I started reading one and a half year ago. Now I finished it.

GA: More podcasts. One featured an interview with fiddler Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh. I'm not too familiar with his works, other than the album he did with Mick O'Brien some years ago - Deadly Buzz. Since the beginning of 2020 when I started listening to Irish podcasts every day, this interview is the one I've understood the best. No doubt thanks to the topic.

One song from the week before kept haunting me. Óró mo bháidín with singer/harpist Síle Denvir. It's from the recording Caithréim -Music and songs from the plays of Patrick Pearse.



I managed to find all verses.

Crochfaidh mé seolta is rachaidh mé siar,
Óró mo churaichín ó!
'S go hOíche Fhéil' Eoin ní thiocfaidh mé aniar,
Óró mo bháidín!

Curfa:

Óró mo churaichín ó!
'S óró mo bháidín,
Óró mo churaichín ó!
Óró mo bháidín!

Nach breá í mo bháidín ag snámh ar a' gcuan,
Óró mo churaichín ó,
'S na céaslaí á dtarraingt go láidir 's go buan,
Óró mo bháidín.

(Curfa)

'S nach éachtach a léimreach thar tonntracha árd,
Óró mo churaichín ó,
'S nach éatrom í iompar aníos thar an trá,
Óró mo bháidín.

(Curfa)

Nach lúfar í ag iomramh soir agus siar,
Óró mo churaichín ó,
'S a sárú ní bhfaighidh tú ó Árainn go Cliar,
Óró mo bháidín.

(Curfa x2)

Sources:
http://www.celticlyricscorner.net/cassidys/oromo.htm (verses 1, 2 and 4; see also the translation)
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=12006 (verse 3; there are also some posts further down in that thread about other composers)

PT: More Duolingo and stories. I was sent a link or two about Nathaniel Drew's 7-day project. I thought I had seen that guy before, and yes I had. He did something similar with Italian (that clip was already marked as viewed). By the way, this week's Duolingo discovery is that some lessons give more points if you chose the Hard version. Reviewing older lessons also give more points now.

No Italian, no Chinese.

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Earlier today I banned thirteen (!) spammers in just few minutes. Then another three posted...

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Oops, I almost forgot. I'm on vacation now.

[Iversen]

When I see those verses I almost feel tempted to restart my Irish studies.

[galaxyrocker]

Síle Denvir is one of my favorite Irish singers. In fact, her version (well, Liadán's, of which she's the singer) of Amhráin Mhuínse is without a doubt my favorite version of that song, and perhaps my favorite song in Irish overall (Colm Phádraig Sheamuis is a close second, along with Pócaí Folamh is Cloigeann Tinn). She's really a great talent.

[galaxyrocker]

I figured I should share the version of it.

[jeff_lindqvist]

Apologies for the late reply. Thanks for commenting, both of you!

Iversen - your posts are certainly inspiring as well. I've lost count of the times I've almost considered restarting a bunch of languages. Unfortunately, the day has only ~24 hours.

galaxyrocker - Síle Denvir was totally unknown to me until last week. I'm happy that I discovered her. This "Óró mo bhaidín" was played in another podcast just the other day, with another singer, similar but not identical arrangement, some different verses. As for Amhrán Mhuínse (beautiful!), I'm sure I've heard the melody somewhere else. My memory says it was a long time ago, say the early 1990s.

[jeff_lindqvist]

2020 - Summary of week 33

As I'm on vacation (=staycation), I've managed to squeeze in a lot of language related activities. I've finished a bunch of books this week and started a couple more. Details below.

CA: My subconscious mind told me that I had something in Catalan. I opened one of the storages, and yes, Primer Curso de Catalán (Roser Latorre). It's in Spanish. I think this is the first time I study anything through another medium than Swedish/English/Danish. So far, the lessons have consisted of a short text, a vocabulary list, some grammar points, something about pronunciation, a translation of the text into Spanish, and finally exercises (pronunciation, ES→CA, CA→ES, dialogue).

DE: I picked a random book in my flat, finished it in a few days, opened another one, finished that one as well, then a third one - yes, finished. Well over 500 pages read this week.

ES: I finished Pippa Mediaslargas.

GA: More podcasts.

GD: During a spare quarter of an hour I started reading Asterix agus an cealgaire. I also watched a short interview on BBC Alba where they visited Gweedore, which means one or two minutes of both Gaelic and Irish.

PT: More Duolingo and stories.

RU: Random book. Too difficult, but finished. Then another one (a childrens' book - more suitable for my level) - also finished.

ZH: You are my sisters / 你是我的姐妹, episodes 19-22.

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One last thing. Yesterday, I discovered a bilingual author, thanks to the Swedish radio programme Sommar: Siri Hustvedt (link to the show, MP3, ~64 minutes). I didn't know that this American author actually speaks Norwegian. (Bergensk, if anyone wonders.)