Jeff's language log

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gsbod
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby gsbod » Sun Aug 16, 2020 10:01 pm

jeff_lindqvist wrote: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.


As random as the books may be, if they are any good I'd be interested to know what they were?
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jeff_lindqvist
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sun Aug 16, 2020 10:14 pm

Ruth Rendell - Brautjungfer (suspense) - too many unknown words.
Doris Dörrie - Liebe, Schmerz und das ganze verdammte Zeug (four short stories) - just right.
Friedrich Dürrenmatt - Der Besuch der alten Dame (a play, really) - wrong format.
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Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
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jeff_lindqvist
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sun Aug 23, 2020 11:11 pm

2020 - Summary of week 34

A lot of reading and studying.

CA: Two more lessons from Primer Curso de Catalán. I remember noticing something interesting when I used Glossika some years ago, and it showed already in second lesson. What looks like the future tense in Spanish/Portuguese/French is a past tense in Catalan. (Spanish for comparison.)

Els pares de l'Eloi es van casar molt joves. / Los padres de Eloy se casaron muy jóvenes.

I did some searches and found an article on the topic:
Present and historical perspectives on the Catalan go-past (Bart Jacobs, PDF, 29 pages)

A few days ago, I read Iguanamon's log and found that he also had written about it.

I also was reminded of how telling time works. Catalan first, Spanish for comparison.

a les vuit menys cinc / a las ocho menos cinco - similar solution
a un quart de set / a las seis y cuarto - focus on different hours
fins a dos quarts de vuit / hasta las siete y media - different hours, Catalan counts quarters
a tres quarts i cinc de deu / a las diez menos diez - different hours, three quarters + five

DE: I finished another one of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's plays - Die Physiker. A bit easier to read. Then I found a dusty crime novel - Die Stunde des Todes (Paul Cleave). So far pretty OK. Between five and ten unknown words per page.

GA: More podcasts.I finished Bladhaire and started Barrscéalta, hosted by Áine Ní Churráin (the interviewee in the BBC Alba clip I watched last week). Up Donegal!

PT: More Duolingo and stories.

RU: I felt brave and opened a Я познаю мир. История России. I can't say that the comprehension is great, but it's something else than childrens' books about squirrels and frogs.

No French, Gaelic, Spanish or Chinese. Maybe next week.
13 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

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Iversen
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby Iversen » Sun Aug 23, 2020 11:31 pm

jeff_lindqvist wrote:Els pares de l'Eloi es van casar molt joves. / Los padres de Eloy se casaron muy jóvenes.


Well, you can see thing like "els van a casar" in Catalan (a perifrastic future), but that's an import from Castilian.
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jeff_lindqvist
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sun Aug 30, 2020 9:00 pm

2020 - Summary of week 35

Another week with lots of reading and studying. One of the books in English is The Loom of Languages. It was written a long time ago. I like the style. I'm not sure if the author really knew any Swedish, but often when he gives examples from my language, there are misspellings.

CA: Three more lessons from Primer Curso de Catalán. I always start a new lesson by reading the text. -How much can I understand? Then I go through the vocabulary. Another read through the text. If there is time, I go through the vocabulary again, and maybe read the Spanish translation. I spend up to four 15-minute sessions per lesson.

Yesterday I was looking for Catalan TV. I immediately found one drama on RTVE, aptly called Drama. It seems to be bilingual although I suspect it's mostly Spanish with some Catalan. Still better than nothing.

DE: I finished the book from last week, and started another one. Extensive reading. I want momentum. Between five and ten unknown words per page.

GA: More podcasts.

PT: More Duolingo and stories. They've made some changes to the app. The hearts are back. I earn a lot of lingots when a lesson reaches a new level.

RU: More Я познаю мир - История России. The old Professor Arguelles quote springs to mind:
There's that damn word again--what the hell does it mean?

ZH: You are my sisters / 你是我的姐妹, episodes 23-26.
16 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby iguanamon » Mon Aug 31, 2020 2:22 am

jeff_lindqvist wrote:...Yesterday I was looking for Catalan TV. I immediately found one drama on RTVE, aptly called Drama. It seems to be bilingual although I suspect it's mostly Spanish with some Catalan. Still better than nothing. ...

TV3 Telvisió de Catalunya has the most series available. Most come with a Catalan subtitles option. I've been watching an iconic (for Catalunya) comedy series Plats bruts. The shows are short, under a half an hour. The summaries of each episode are online here: Llista d'episodis de Plats bruts. I find the series to be quite funny, well written and it provides an introduction to Catalanisme. "Plats bruts" was made around the year 2000 and is in the style of "Friends/Seinfeld from that era. TV3 has 72 episodes available and I am currently up to episode number 44.

Also, there's a youtube channel 100x100 en Català that has several series (without subtitles) original in Catalan and dubbed series ranging from documentaries; history; drama; comedy; animation. The channel also has all (except one) of the Digui, Digui Catalan course videos. I started off with the dubbed animated series for kids from the US/Canada- Els germans Kratts/"The Wild Kratts". The episodes are around 22 minutes long. The Kratt brothers are biologists who protect threatened animals and tell their stories with a support team who help them and enemies who try to exploit the animals- no subtitles available. Their gimmick is that they can shrink and disguise themselves as versions of the animals and follow along with them. The animation is well done. The stories are, while definitely intended for kids, acceptable for adults. The language is less complicated than adult series but still challenging at a low intermediate level.

I'm happy with what's available for media in Catalan.
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jeff_lindqvist
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Mon Aug 31, 2020 7:03 am

You're being helpful as always, Iguanamon!

TV3 Catalunya looks familiar - I must have visited the site when I first started studying the language a while ago. Yes, I have (25 Feb 2019). Com si fos ahir now have more than 500 (!) episodes.
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Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

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jeff_lindqvist
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Tue Sep 08, 2020 8:14 pm

2020 - Summary of week 36

Back at work. I haven't done as much reading and studying as the previous weeks. The Loom of Languages continues to surprise me with misspelled words (all examples in the other languages seem to be correctly spelled). Finally one game of Frostgrave, and also one of Infinity - another skirmish game (deadly!). All the rules are online, in Spanish and English. Maybe I'll read the Spanish original some day.

CA: A few more lessons from Primer Curso de Catalán. I've also watched the first two episodes of Drama - with Catalan subtitles to make it more exciting. Occasionally I switched to English subs. This may be the first time I've heard this amount of Catalan. Every now and then I ask myself what language the characters are speaking, because (on a superficial level) it "sounds" like Spanish but it isn't. And then, in next scene, it is. At least the main character switches effortlessly.

DE: I finished the book from last week. I'm sure I have more German books. Somewhere. The fourth season of Weissensee has just started.

GA: More podcasts. Slightly related, this article was sent to me the other day:
This Canadian woman’s Irish accent sounds straight out of Ireland

Interesting from a Hiberno-English viewpoint.

Slightly related (again), one of my favourite bands Lúnasa shared a virtual live concert online (split-screen).

PT: More Duolingo and stories.

RU: More Я познаю мир - История России.

ZH: You are my sisters / 你是我的姐妹, episodes 27-30.
13 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

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jeff_lindqvist
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Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2773
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sat Sep 19, 2020 11:05 am

2020 - Summary of week 37

Time for a late reply.

CA: Another three lessons from Primer Curso de Catalán. One episode of Drama.

DE: I found a handful of easy readers and picked Die Zürcher Verlobung (Barbara Noack). Level C means a vocabulary of 1800 words.

GA: More podcasts.

PT: More Duolingo and stories.

RU: More Я познаю мир - История России.

ZH: You are my sisters / 你是我的姐妹, episodes 31-34.

Nothing exciting, I know.
9 x
Leabhair/Greannáin léite as Gaeilge: 9 / 18
Ar an seastán oíche: Oileán an Órchiste
Duolingo - finished trees: sp/ga/de/fr/pt/it
Finnish with extra pain : 100 / 100

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David27
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Re: Jeff's language log

Postby David27 » Sat Sep 19, 2020 11:09 am

What type of show is 你是我的姐妹 and on what platform do you watch it?
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