Bookworm's adventures in the exile

[Cavesa]

You're welcome.

What I've been up to languagewise, during the last few days:
German: memrise, a few lessons of Sage and Schreibe. More German planned at the expense of the others in the days to come, it's 6wc after all.
French:creating that conjugation memrise course. I am nearly in the half now. I got to a nice pace and method, an average level=1verb takes me under 7 minutes to add Some Kaamelott watching.
Spanish:Moved a lot with a loooong overdue Vocabulario from the Anaya series. I had it with me on a bus. I am getting close to the end. Usually, there is like one or two unknown words per lesson. But I totally loved the lessons on trains and planes, as those were perfect. Exactly the things you need to know. No idea why it surprises me to see useful stuff in books. Weird.

Apart from that: My post got accidentally lost and not posted on the thread about the self-assessment checklist. Brief thoughts:
-that checklist is probably the best way to self-assess level we've got now. Online tests test only comprehension or grammar usually
-yes, your level of perfectionism affects the results. It is hard to decide whether to count something in, because I can do it, or not to, because I will butcher the language doing it. I was surprised to see a significant difference between rdearmans self-assessment and assessment by his tutor. It is another illustration how subjective many opinions are. Well, perhaps he travels to France soon, passes the real exam-real, normal situations described, and tells us who was right, whether the tutor or him I have the opposite experience, I tend to be much more of a perfectionnist than any tutor
-my levels following the checklist: C2 English and French. Spanish: comfortable B2, not THAT far bellow C1. That is good news, the list gives me some directions for future studies (grammar is gonna help a lot). German? It appears I might be A2, if I am not too much of a perfectionist (my inner perfectionist screamed "you cannot do that well enough" very often, even for the other languages). I comfortably got over 80% at the A2 list, the B1 was like 20-25% of the skills. I've got a lot to work on in the years to come

On another thread, speakeasy shared this link: http://www.routledgetextbooks.com/textb ... efault.php
I think the eternal question "TY or Colloquial" has been solved. At least for now. While TY spends time creating not too cheap apps (even though of good quality, it seems), Routledge-Colloquial puts all the audio freely on the internet, you just download the mp3, no need to rip stupid old fashioned CDs anymore, there are further exercises online, a good overview website and everything. Looks like I'm gonna buy some Colloquial books in future The only problem, I don't know how far they take people, there are no cefr or other indications. Intermediate is such a versatile word...

[Elenia]

On another thread, speakeasy shared this link: http://www.routledgetextbooks.com/textb ... efault.php
I think the eternal question "TY or Colloquial" has been solved. At least for now. While TY spends time creating not too cheap apps (even though of good quality, it seems), Routledge-Colloquial puts all the audio freely on the internet, you just download the mp3, no need to rip stupid old fashioned CDs anymore, there are further exercises online, a good overview website and everything. Looks like I'm gonna buy some Colloquial books in future The only problem, I don't know how far they take people, there are no cefr or other indications. Intermediate is such a versatile word...

Wish I hadn't spent all my money on other things now, some Colloquial books look like they'd be great! The 'CD only' TY thing really is a pain, although I was helped out with the Dutch course...

[Cavesa]

They seem to be great, they probably are, but even their second tomes don't lead that far. So, I will be probably getting some once I learn a language with no basic course based in Czech (that is not for my need of Czech base. But there are some Czech based courses of excellent quality. Usually the TY/Colloquial style but more content, more exercises, higher end level).

Today I again moved a bit forward that deck of French conjugation.

Since the forum is a huge procrastination hell and the progress bars seem to be working so great for me, I will make a few language unrelated ones that should help me get through my studies in the weeks to come. Sorry for the disturbance in the Force here:
1: 8 / 29
2: 14 / 17
3: 0 / 17
4: 9 / 94
5: 10 / 180
[progress=6]0122[/progress]
If this doesn't help, I'm afraid nothing will.

[Komma]

Hello,
just wanted to drop by and say hello, as you visited my log quite a lot (when I was active some time )
I haven't read through all of it, but I will catch on in the next days And also start learning myself again.

The progress bars really are a cool thing of this new forum...

Greetings, Komma

[Cavesa]

I hoped my next post would be either travel plans announcement, change of study plans announcement, a list of fun Spanish books to read after my exam and so on. Nope, instead it is clearing up the mess on a grammar related issue, where I mentioned a large minority whose majority chooses not to become completely competent in their native language and who, for scientifically proven reasons, loses capacity to simply rectify the situation at an older age.

About the word gipsy: When you live in a country where attacks by this ethnic are a normal thing (I have been attacked twice so far), where there is a lot of positive discrimination and where you nearly cannot meet any non-problematic individuals of the community, you become less sensitive, I should have expected many forum members do not have the personal experience. Hearing a certain set of accent+vocabulary+grammar mistakes (the linguistic characteristics relevant to that thread) in a shop automatically makes people reach for their purses and for good reasons, or look out in the streets. The anglophones in general might be more sensitive about the whole correctness thing thanks to smaller contact with this part of the reality. An important language issue: it is not about what the ethnic asks to be called. In the reality of today's Czech Republic, Cikáni is the least offensive of the existing terms. When people want to be mean and cynical, we use the new, correct terms we've been fed up with by the media. Words like "nepřizpůsobivý"="maladjusted" or "spoluobčan"="fellow citizen" or "mladík"="young man" are the new terms to use when you are being mean, judgmental or racist. A journalist using them protects themselves from any kind of accusation but the readers know immediately the truth, that usually gets confirmed. I guess most Czech learners wouldn't expect such problems with totally normal words that used to have a positive meaning in past, all three of the examples. "Roma" is nowadays a much less honor bearing word than "cikáni". Why? Because the name doesn't change anything.

I should have been more carefuly and used a neutral sentence like "there are many poor people who haven't learnt their native language properly and lost a lot of their learning capacity" but what kind of example would be that? Totally nonexistant.

About my paragraph on wrong choices that affect neurophysiology and learning capabilities, I recommend reading some articles about professor Watson who was basically talking about the same sad phenomenon in the context of Africa and was being condemned unfairly as a racist by whole world for his words. No race is inferior in intellect due to genetics, many ethnics are in average of lower intellect because of poverty and/or wrong choices made by their parents, under influence of their community. A brain damaged in early childhood by malnoutrition, illness, or simple lack of proper input from the parents, is not gonna reach its full potential. And among other things, these people won't have the same linguistic capabilities as the children who grew up without such problems. I wasn't trying to claim the "roma" (I really hate that word) were inferior becase of being "roma". I've even met one family of educated "roma" in past. Nope, they just usually cannot speak proper Czech by fault of their choices and those of their parents. They are not competent and just underperforming.

About my mention of a sentence with both "african american" and "white" included, in my pathology textbook. I was actually going to write about this weird phenomenon anyways, as I find it a major trouble of the English language and learning it. Don't the natives find the whole hyped correctness just wrong? You are expected to use these new words even in totally inappropriate contexts and it is as well not fair to use an euphemism for one group and not for the other, in my opinion. Political correctness in biology can be a problem. At least, it brings the reader to valid questions like this: If the African Americans in the US have much lower/higher incidence than the whites, do African Somethings in other regions have the same (dis)advantage? Are the differences in biology important or is it the lifestyle of that particular minority in that particular country? I strongly believe science should be ethical but free of politics and minor social issues.

Trully, political correctness is a great idea that turned really ugly and is one of the reasons why the US (as a major representant of both the anglophone world and this phenomenon) is losing popularity and support in the world. I will be more careful in future and will do my best to follow the standards of this forum. I might even take a break from communicating with people at all (including posting on a forum). I've had an extremely bad summer, full of problems, and I am losing patience with people, I am gradually stopping to care about a lot of things, I am no longer comfortable with tolerance of some of the different opinions, when they are simply not founded well, with some ideologies. That is not a good basis for communication in any community. Especially in a community that has grown so close to my heart.

So, I apologize for offending some of you, that wasn't my intention and I feel honestly sorry about that. However, I didn't say a single word that wasn't true and my original post that started it was an example relevant to the discussion. While we are all equal in many ways, our skills are simply not. We are not all fully competent in any skill and native language acquision is no exception.

[zenmonkey]

I think your post appears to voice the idea that the primary reason for non-standard speech is due to "many ethnics are in average of lower intellect". This alone can come across as offensive. It is a generalisation and a stereotype that just does not stand to scrutiny when ever research has been carried out on study bias, impact of education, language on these test. I suggest you read up on the Flynn effect and consider the implications of that on your attitude towards the Roma.

I've even met one family of educated "roma" in past. Nope, they just usually cannot speak proper Czech by fault of their choices and those of their parents. They are not competent and just underperforming.

It's likely that the family that you met appreciates the implication that they are somehow of lower intellect.

For example, my German production will always be substandard - I'm learning late, I struggle with case use and I'm sure that a small handful of older Germans will judge this to be part of my 'inferior intellect' - after all - I come from a minority European stock. Do you see the problem with this?

Why just not stay away from these landmines and not make generalizations about the ability, intellect of entire swaths of people?

PS - (edit) despite what might come across as a harsh response above, I love reading your blog and enjoy your persona here, it is a criticism of content, not the person.

[Serpent]

Actually black seems to be an accepted term nowadays. And yes, the treadmill is unfortunate, but it's not like the people in question ruin one word after another, generally outsiders do.

I surely hope you can feel welcome on HTLAL despite the differences. That's exactly why no politics and no religion is a rule...

(the linguistic aspects of political correctness can be okay, but it does require a tremendous faith in humanity from all sides Honestly I'm upset with how easily people throw around the terms that they *know* to be offensive to others )

[Cavesa]

Good news everyone!

I passed the nightmare exam last Tuesday (with lots of luck). And I've been catching up on my sleep deficite (and I'm back to a few cups of coffee a day, instead of a few litres of coffee a day), therefore I think I can come back to full communication with people without risks of being careless again.

I am back in my language routinesagain. I've decided not to try to catch with the 6wc, I deserve some nice feelings of freedom and no preasure now. But I think the November one will be fine this year, looking at my schedule. And next year, the February and May should be great, as I am now passing to the second half of my studies, which means a different system of time schedules (basically full exams scattered thorough the year, instead of a hell breaking loose twice a year) and I think it will suit me better. My worst problem with classical semesters has always been the gradual rise of distaste (or even hate) towards most subjects so by the time I was supposed to study the most, I was always the least willing to It shall be different from now on and it should mean fewer large breaks in language studying. Basically no more university caused month or longer breaks.

What I've been up to during the last few days: Apart from language unrelated fun, like a few dates and lots and lots of sleep, I've been reading and watching for my SCs.

I've had some French speaking opportunities (translating for my dad and his French client, I should learn some more vocabulary concerning technologies in an appartment. I don't know such vocabulary in Czech either, so it should be an overall enriching enquiry. And the guy is really nice, came here to study Czech, he's nice to talk to.). I am slightly rusty, catching myself with a few too long word searches or gendre mistakes is not nice, but it is understandable after a few months of more or less silence and there was no huge obstacle in communication, even when it came to the technical stuff.

I've finished season 2 of Kaamelott and I love the series more and more! I'll continue with the rest. It means +2 movies for my ASCR.
I am as well counting approximately a 1000 pages of pathology textbooks as 10 book units for the English ASCR. I probably read more than that, but as I read some chapters more times, others not at all and from more books, I think putting it in a bundle of 1000 pages is not an overstatement but it does justice to my reading efforts.

I am now reading:
English:
1.Rothfuss: The Wise Man's Fear (awesome!!!),
2.Tolkien: The Two Towers (I love the books, about to begin this volume),
3.R.Jordan: The Shadow Rising (A long book), basically, a fantasy feast.
And today, I accidentally got a few second hand fantasy books in English cheaply
French:
1.Tolkien:Contes et Legendes inacheves:Le Second Age (I like it, even though it is really dense)
2.Chattam:Autre-Monde1:L'Alliance des Trois (a reread, I love the series.)
And I've got a few more lying on my shelf.

Other than that, my studying priorities are as my bars suggest:
German:Assimil, Klipp und Klar,Memrise
French:finish my verb review "course" on Memrise
Spanish:my grammar books and such things, the verb courses on Memrise. And I've got an SC to finish
Russian:finish learning the basics of the cursive script, dive in the coursebook. Via Diva set a high example with her Czech progress, I am feeling slightly ashamed

[Cavesa]

Finished reading Tolkien:Les contes et legendes inacheves: le second age +1,5 book unit for ASCR
Quite dense 150 pages. But I love Tolkien.

6 doubleages of Gramática de uso. In general easy as usual, however a few mistakes were there. One of them was not inverting questions every time, probably due to being used too much to natives not inverting them sometimes. A mistake I should correct.

Program for the rest of the evening: Perhaps a few more doublepages of Gramática, and Rothfuss.

[Cavesa]

Spanish:
watched 1 episode of Cuentame como pasó
did several doublepages of grammar

French
rereading Autre Monde. I love those books. And I really want to finish my ASCR. I should read much more, the new academic year begins in two weaks

English ASCR: reading Rothfuss, I should be finished this week. I love the book!

German!
Finally reviewing the active wave with audio. reviewed lessons 1-9. Tommorow, I'll review 10-19 (that is where I stopped learning last time) and I'll continue the passive wave (last time, I stopped at lesson 60)