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Josquin’s Language Symphony (RU, IR, 東亜) | ||
Tags: Gaelic (Scottish) | Gaelic (Irish) | Icelandic | Portuguese | Multilingual | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | Italian | Japanese | Russian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6391 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes  4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 633 of 646 17 May 2015 at 4:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've never bought Assimil legally ;D Although I think it can be very useful even with no audio.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4433 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 634 of 646 18 May 2015 at 12:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi Josquin, good to see you back. As a matter of fact, I have been more or less absent from the forum myself over the last couple of months. It happens more or less once a year that I need to take a break from HTLAL, but I always come back, as I end up missing the interaction with all the weird and wonderful people aka HTLAL members.
I've read with lot of interest your latest posts about your motivation or lack thereof, and your change of priorities. I think it is a good thing if you end up finding out what you want and why you want to learn languages. I haven't been around on the forum as long as you, but I can see that it is easy to put extra pressure on yourself to "be up there" with the most active and polyglot learners. I felt a bit like that during my first couple of years here, but now I am much more relaxed about it, and I focus on quality and what interests me rather than quantity. I rather struggle slowly through one book in Russian, and feel that it was worth reading for the content, than trying to reach some quantitative goal of reading X pages in 6 weeks or similar. However, I dont't agree that you cannot contribute anything to the forum if you do not keep on learning languages. I mean, you have learnt various languages, you have been through the process, and your views or advice, as well as the thoughts you express here about motivation etc., are all interesting for other members, and can be very valuable for newbies who may be full of enthusiasm, but lack the experience of learning multiple languages. For me the forum is also about that. 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4638 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 635 of 646 24 May 2015 at 2:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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WHITSUNDAY, 24 MAY 2015
Thanks, Ogrim! Your kind words are good to hear. :) So, as usual, I have been pretty busy with other stuff, mainly my thesis and writing applications, but I have finally figured out how to proceed with my languages. I am going to focus on Russian and Irish for the time being. In fact, studying Irish has sort of become my "guilty pleasure", which keeps me from work. Русский I haven't got around to choose a book yet, but I'm still watching Кухня. Other than that, nothing! Gaeilge So, Irish is sort of my "true love" among languages. In fact, I think it would have been cool to study Celtic Studies as a minor in university, but unfortunately it's too late for that. However, it's hard to find good resources. That's why I have decided to give Learning Irish another chance. I just don't have a better choice. In fact, I've got the impression that Learning Irish gets better in the more advanced units, so it was probably good to learn the basics through Teach Yourself. I'm working on lesson 17 in Learning Irish now and I'll try to complement it with some dialogues from Gaeilge gan Stró. Other than that, I found an annotated reader of 20th century Irish literature at the library. I'll put it to use as soon as possible. Also, I plan on buying some Irish language novels, such as The Hobbit, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and Alice in Wonderland. Sooner or later, I'll have to take the plunge and deal with native materials. Moreover, I was delighted to see that a new book about the history of the Irish language will be published in June (link). I have been looking for something like this for ages! I just have to get it as soon as it will be published. Future plans with Irish include studying some Old Irish and maybe some other Celtic languages, such as Welsh. But I'll have to concentrate on Modern Irish first. Everything else would be putting too much on my plate again. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4482 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 636 of 646 25 May 2015 at 3:45pm | IP Logged | ||
So have you tried Duolingo yet? I think you only mentioned it in passing. I recommend it. I think the positives far outweigh the negatives. I don't suppose you had the presence of mind to get a copy of Harry Potter as Gaeilge before it went out of print (and no, you can't have mine)? You can still get used copies, but the price is going up. BTW, one of the prolific commenters in the Duolingo Irish section (galaxyrocker, IIRC), has said multiple times that he/she recommends against HP in Irish because it's "Master's Level" Irish, and even native speakers have trouble with it. To which I say, is amaideach é sin. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4482 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 637 of 646 26 May 2015 at 12:44am | IP Logged | ||
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the return of Harry Potter! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4638 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 638 of 646 26 May 2015 at 5:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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Go raibh maith agat, a geoffw! I think I'll get a copy sooner or later.
No, I haven't tried Duolingo yet, but I will. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4638 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 639 of 646 11 June 2015 at 11:49am | IP Logged | ||
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THURSDAY, 11 JUNE 2015
Gaeilge I have been concentrating on Irish for the last few weeks, and I'll probably continue to do so for the time being. My love-hate relationship with Ó Siadhail's Learning Irish continues, as I have reached unit 19. I'm trying to spice it up with some dialogues from Gaeilge gan Stró 2 and some excercises from Basic Irish, but Learning Irish is my main resource right now. However, I found a new interesting resource, called A Handbook of Irish by Alfred Bammesberger. It consists of three slim volumes, the first one being a textbook, the second a reference grammar, and the third one an annotated reader of 20th century Irish literature. As interesting as the reader seems to be, it's way over my head right now, so I'm dealing with the textbook for the time being. It teaches Irish like a dead language, but in a somewhat more engaging and accessible manner than Learning Irish does. The grammar is structured way more logically and with focus on important rules and structures instead of the detailed treatises on exceptions and minor subtleties that Learning Irish usually presents. I think the Handbook is a good resource for repeating and reinforcing basic grammar, but unfortunately it comes without exercises, which is a minor letdown. Be that as it may, the texts in Learning Irish are actually getting more interesting, but the presentation of grammar is as grotesque as ever. While skimming through the book, I noticed Ó Siadhail teaches the conditional mood (an modh coinníolach) before the present habitual. Yeah, right... Also, lesson 19 deals with the comparison of adjectives, which have completely different endings in Connemara Irish than in Standard Irish. Ó Siadhail doesn't even bother to mention the rules of Standard Irish, so that's a bummer as well. On the bright side, there is a German textbook I'd like to check out. It's called "Irisch für Anfänger" and might be a good complement to my other resources. With 38 €, it's rather on the expensive side, so I'll try to get it through the library first. I should probably get back to the Workbook to Learning Irish by Nancy Stenson as well. My passive skills have definitely made progress, but I should train my active skills as well. Last but not least, I'm expecting my copy of A History of the Irish Language to be delivered today. I hope it will live up to the very high expectations I have. I am very fond of the Irish language right now and interested in everything connected to it. If I were to go to university again, I'd probably go into Celtic studies (given that I found a university offering them...), but that ship has sailed long ago. So, self-study it is! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| BAnna Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4416 days ago 409 posts - 616 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Turkish | Message 640 of 646 13 June 2015 at 10:01pm | IP Logged | ||
I haven't been on HTLAL for ages, but do check back in periodically to catch up with familiar "faces" such as yourself, especially because of the insights found there and common experiences we all share in our pursuit of our goals (whether they be language-related or life-related). I read with great interest your latest thoughts, particularly:
Along those lines, there's this Buddhist idea of the human mind as being filled with drunken monkeys, jumping around, screeching, chattering, and carrying on endlessly undoubtedly in various languages as well in the case of us folks here :) and they can not be successfully fought with, silenced or forced out of our minds, instead we can only slowly come to tame them or make peace with them through awareness and/or meditation. Awareness helps one realize that these are just conflicting voices, but not the true voice we should heed or follow the advice of if we want to be at our healthiest and happiest. As always, wishing you all good things. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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