katzensilber

[katzensilber]

Hey there :) I'm 34 and I study German and French!

Any Langblrs still here?

I’ve come back to Tumblr after 2 years and it seems like most of the langblrs I knew decided to leave so if you’re a langblr out there and are at least one of the following, please like or reblog so I can follow:

- Studying German

- Studying French

- Studying Korean

- Studying Maori

- Studying Suomi

- Studying Mandarin

- 25+ y/o langblr of any language

#langblr

[katzensilber]

I know I haven't been on here lately ahhhh but I have been spending every free moment READING, because with every year older that I get, I feel less and less knowledgeable... and I must remedy this. Although, frankly, I think I might be overdoing it a bit because. um. my full-time job also requires reading eight hours a day. And I'm starting to feel a bit Worn.

That said, here's my "currently reading" list with disorganized commentary:

Miteinander reden - Friedemann Schulz von Thun (I am enjoying this one but moving through it very slowly so far because it keeps giving me Ideas that I need to write about immediately or else message friends about, and then I forget to return to the book and keep reading)

Capitalism: A Very Short Introduction - James Fulcher (crap I forgot I was reading this actually, I need to get back to it)

Le lieutenant de Kouta - Massa Makan Diabaté (This is progressing slowly because I'm hand-copying it as I go, but at least it's generally quite an easy read, and particularly interesting to me because it's set in Mali, a country that is a special interest of mine)

Et si c'était vrai - Marc Levy (I started this, paused it when I briefly lost interest, then restarted; we'll see if I can maintain the motivation this time)

Dracula - Bram Stoker (yes! I am doing Dracula Daily! oh it's such a treat to return to this wonderful book ❤️)

Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy - Jessica Fern (I posted about wanting to read this book and then two friends messaged me separately saying they'd been wanting to as well, so obviously I did what anyone would do and made a group chat, introduced 'em to each other, and we're a mini-book-club now)

Sauve-Moi - Guillaume Musso (I started this just for the heck of it and I'm sorry but it's so bad so far. so bad. The protagonist looks in the mirror after a shower as an excuse to have her describe herself. And yes, she mentions her breasts. And then she wonders if, at 28, she's still desirable. I may not be able to stick this one out.)

Delusions of Gender - Cordelia Fine (I have been having memory issues again recently, so I can't remember a blessed thing about this book despite having started it... mayyyybe two weeks ago? I should probably stop reading so many things at once and give my poor brain-damaged head a break 🙃)

The ABCs of Socialism - Bhaskar Sunkara et al. (I have sooooo much to learn about socialism, and I guess I am starting here; already learned the difference between private property and personal property, so we're off to a good start)

Les Fiancés de l'hiver - Christelle Dabos (not my usual genre but I spontaneously joined a French book club that chose it as our first book, so hey! and it's not bad so far)

Mating in Captivity - Esther Perel (one of those "been on my TBR forever" books that I finally dove into when another friend mentioned starting it and I said "ooh ooh I'll read it with you!")

I also started reading Les Misérables and Le deuxième sexe but I am trying to FORCE myself to hold off on them for now and finish my somewhat more accessible French books first, before returning to those heavy-hitters. Oh and there's Vere aux Fantazie, the collection of short pieces in Esperanto that I really have no excuse for not having finished yet, seeing as I started it... a year and a half ago.

But honestly right now my current-reading list is too full of non-English stuff and/or nonfiction, and I think it would be wise to ease up on myself a bit and read some nice light compelling English-language fiction to balance out the rest of this mess. The last fiction book I finished in English was Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, a recommendation from a friend, which threw me for a fucking LOOP when I finished it a few days ago. Instantly went on my favorites list, but damn, I'm still licking my wounds.

#reading #booklr #bookblr #langblr #french #german

[katzensilber]

Ooh, also, I finished my current journal today (left) and am about to start a new one (right)!

I can't believe it took me over SIX MONTHS to fill this tiny notebook. I have not been writing enough this year.

Language stats (number of pages written in each language):

English: 46.5 German: 42 French: 6 Esperanto: 0.25

#langblr #studyblr #adult studyblr #journalblr #writeblr #language learning #mine

[katzensilber]

3 July 2022

Oops, not me randomly vanishing for... six weeks 😬 But I'm back! Just been enjoying spring and summer while simultaneously trying to deal with all the horrendous shit going on in the world. Time for a long-delayed study update...

Right now I'm approaching the end of a hot but very pleasant weekend. I've been weirdly social recently (by my introvert standards) so I felt the need to reset by having a weekend entirely to myself.

SATURDAY

On Saturday I had a lovely long "study brunch" at my favorite neighborhood café, and after that I strolled through the park and admired the flowers, stopping to sit on a bench and write in my journal for a while.

Then I remembered that a pan-African festival was happening this weekend, so I spontaneously hopped on the train and headed into the center of town, a place where I rarely go. I love my city, but the downtown area is... rather touristy. Still, I had a good time. The festival was gorgeous, and I got a bubble tea and strolled around enjoying the sights and sounds (and smells – so much amazing food!).

After that, I needed to rest in some shade for a bit to recoup from the heat and the overstimulation. I found a quiet spot under some trees between the river and the cathedral, and did some more writing while someone nearby played the handpan beautifully. That plus the birds in the trees made the loveliest background music.

Then of course, seeing as I was already downtown, I couldn't resist dropping by my favorite bookshop in the world, a huge building with five floors of books (!). I spent several hours (and too much money) there, before finally heading home tired but content.

SUNDAY

The next day, I headed out again, starting my day with a delicious Arab-style breakfast – ful medames, labneh, pickled vegetables, pita bread, and a small cup of strong sweet black tea.

Full up and craving a peaceful spot to sit and digest, I settled in at a popular café with a cappuccino and a bunch of French to study.

I've developed a particular method of advanced language study that works very well for me. It's centered around hand-copying a foreign-language text, which is probably too tedious for most people. But I can't argue with the results it brings. I do it this way:

I pick a book I'm interested in reading anyway, in a language where my reading skills are already pretty advanced (no more than roughly five unknown words, on average, per page).

I copy it word for word into a notebook, by hand, while reading the text aloud (doesn't have to be much above a whisper, but it is important to speak each word – especially at this slowed-down pace that will reveal all the weak spots in your pronunciation).

Whenever I encounter a word I don't know, I underline it and leave a blank line directly following that one, in which I write the translation or explanation of the word, after looking it up.

Whenever I encounter a word whose pronunciation I don't know, I look it up on Forvo and practice pronouncing it a few times before I say it in the context of the sentence and then move on.

Most books repeat the same vocabulary over and over, so even if I have to underline and translate the same word two or three times throughout the course of the book, at some point I will have learned it, and the next time it comes up I won't have to underline it anymore.

I'm very strict on myself when it comes to which words I look up. Just being able to get a general idea of the meaning from context is not enough – I need to be able to define the word in English. If I can't do that, it gets underlined and translated.

The book I was working on today was Le deuxième sexe by Simone de Beauvoir. I did not know the early parts of this book would involve so much biology! I'm learning a bunch of words I didn't even know in English (allogamy, autogamy, gonochorism...).

And that's long enough for one post, I think. A few more on different topics are coming up, though...

#langblr #studyblr #adult studyblr #booklr #language learning #reading #bookblr #french #mine

[katzensilber]

Language Journal Challenge, Day 6:

Today I actually took a lunch break, for once, and went to the bakery around the corner to get a latte and a piece of strawberry cake and write in German. Afterwards I walked back to work the long way, past the pretty church.

#mine #langblr #studyblr #adult studyblr #journalblr #challenges

[katzensilber]

Language Journal Challenge, Day 5:

Tonight I wrote some reflections on the Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach quote that I reblogged directly before this post. It’s an interesting one.

#langblr #studyblr #journalblr #adult studyblr #study challenge #challenges #mine

[katzensilber]

Currently reading

Title: Miteinander reden Language: German Notes: Fantastic book on the psychology of communication. I'm moving through it slowly, savoring the reflections it stimulates in me.

Title: Dracula Language: English Notes: I discovered the group reading challenge "Dracula Daily" only a few days into May this year, and decided to join in. It's been several years since I first read Dracula and I was definitely ready for a re-read.

Title: Le lieutenant de Kouta Language: French Notes: I started this book a few years ago, but it didn't really grab me at the time. Now I'm tackling it again and finding it much more interesting, and a faster/easier read than I remember. I'm working through it using my preferred method of intensive reading: copying it out by hand as I go, pronouncing the words aloud as I write them, and underlining the unknown words and looking them all up at the end of each page. Not everyone's cup of tea when it comes to study techniques, but it works exceptionally well for me.

Title: A Gentleman in Moscow Language: English Notes: A recommendation from my parents. Exceptionally enjoyable book, right up my alley so far. Every sentence is delicious.

#booklr #bookblr #langblr #adultbooklr #studyblr #adult studyblr #reading #mine

[katzensilber]

*listening to non-English music*

Friend: Can you even tell what they're saying?

Me: No, but it sounds pretty.

Friend: What's the point of listening to something you can't understand?

Me: ...it sounds pretty.

#langblr #language learning #foreign languages

[katzensilber]

Reading Roundup: February 2022

Oops, I'm late to the roundup again. But here we go!

Books finished in February:

The Devil’s Novice (Ellis Peters) Rock Paper Scissors (Alice Feeney) The Girls I’ve Been (Tess Sharpe) The House at Midnight (Lucie Whitehouse) The Guest List (Lucy Foley) The End of Temperance Dare (Wendy Webb) The Binding (Bridget Collins) The Hunting Party (Lucy Foley) Identitti (Mithu M. Sanyal)

Total: 9 books. Eight English, one German. One was part of a series. Two were by the same author. 100% fiction.

The three that really stood out this month were The Girls I've Been, The Binding, and Identitti. Honorable mention to The House at Midnight too, which I didn't love quite as much as those three but still had an impact on me.

#books #reading #bookworm #booklr #reading roundup #bookblr

[katzensilber]

10 March 2022

The only picture I have today is this adorable sentence from Ukrainian Duolingo. It’s late and I’m tired. But I’ve had such a multilingual day... I'm happy 🥰

🇩🇪 Listened to my morning news podcast in German

🇩🇰 Corrected a Danish-to-English translation at work in which the translator had made a lot of mistakes, but I wasn’t too annoyed, because it meant I got to read a bunch of Danish

🇮🇹 Read two more sections of L’amica geniale (I’ve reached the one-third mark!) and played guitar and sang a couple of the Italian songs I know

🇫🇷 Read three more sections of Et si c’était vrai

🇺🇦 Reviewed basic Ukrainian sentences

🇵🇹 Did Assimil Portuguese lesson 15 and reviewed the past two weeks of audio (i.e. all lessons so far)

I also went for a run to the local "outdoor gym" during my lunch break, briefly worked out on the equipment there, and ran home again. My brain and body are both exhausted now... it's time for bed. Good night friends 💕

#langblr #studyblr #polyglot #multilingual #language learning #adult studyblr #booklr #adultbooklr #various thoughts: #yeah i still generally hate what duolingo has turned into #but i'm such a beginner in ukrainian that i'm able to put up with it for the time being #l'amica geniale: continuing to be markedly better in italian than it was in english #et si c'etait vrai: whew what a lot of medical vocab at the beginning! #but now i know how doctors say 'clear!' in french ('on s'ecarte!') #danish: i was really surprised at how bad this actual paid translator was #he clearly didn't know the language very well #e.g. translating 'høykonsentrert fluortandpasta' as 'high-consistency fluoride paste' #when it was clearly supposed to be 'high-fluoride toothpaste' #and that was just in the very first segment i looked at /facepalm #portuguese: my lesson today made me actually laugh out loud #woman: 'what are you doing?' man: 'writing a letter to maria' #woman: 'but why are you pulling such awful faces?' man: 'i'm trying to concentrate on producing good handwriting so she can understand me' #woman: 'yeah... your handwriting is really bad. why not type instead?' man: 'no it's okay. this way she'll know right away that it's me.' #i freaking love assimil i swear... best language courses out there #mine

[katzensilber]

9 March 2022

Yesterday was International Women's Day – it's a holiday here, so I had a day off from work. After a lazy breakfast of pancakes topped with coconut yogurt and fresh raspberries, I met up with a friend and we strolled through the city's largest park for hours, enjoying lively conversation and basking in the sun. One of the trees in the park had this mysterious face in it!

I've finally gotten over the NRE I was experiencing with Portuguese and returned to my other Romance languages, Italian and French, in the form of L’amica geniale and Et si c’était vrai. But I'm certainly not abandoning Portuguese, either. I loved the philosophy of this exercise from my latest lesson. Here's an English translation of what it says:

"I can stop when I want. I'm never in a hurry. Life deserves to be lived calmly. I can allow myself this luxury."

I also read my first short story in Ukrainian, a children’s story about a kid who steals cucumbers. It was 343 words long, of which I knew 122 (36%) by the end. Not bad for my second day of studying this language, I’d say :D

- APT: lessons 12 & 13 - podcasts: Portuguese, German - three more sections of L’amica geniale - Ukrainian: one short text

#studyblr #langblr #booklr #adult studyblr #litblr #portuguese #italian #french #ukrainian #mine

[katzensilber]

4–5 March 2022

On the 4th: - podcast: German - 20-minute Youtube video in French - one hour of introductory Ukrainian - APT: lesson 10 - read simple Portuguese texts on Language Crush for about two hours

On the 5th: - podcasts: German, Portuguese - APT: lesson 11 - another half hour of Ukrainian - 15 minutes of Portuguese audiobook (O pequeno principe)

Yeah, I couldn’t hold off any longer… I started learning a bit of Ukrainian last night. I'm so linguistically susceptible. It’s pleasantly similar to BCSM so far, which is helping me.

When I’m at a comparatively low level in a language, I like to use hover-dictionary tools to help me read at a reasonable pace without having to waste too much time constantly looking up unknown words. I’ve been using the website Language Crush (LC) lately and I can recommend it. The site is still young, but it’s already fantastic.

I chose a Portuguese novel to be my first “big goal” for reading in that language – a thriller called A Célula Adormecida, by Nuno Nepomuceno. (I’ve read a book in Portuguese before – O Alquimista by Paulo Coelho – but it was years ago and was a rather easy and frankly disappointing experience.)

When I first put some chapters from A Célula into LC, they were listed as being “100% new words”. But after I’d worked my way through about 30 short texts for Portuguese beginners on LC (rated as levels A1, A2, and B1), in order to show the website how much Portuguese I already know, those same chapters were now listed as having only between 50–60% “new words”. Sounds promising!

Today, I went out to a café where I sipped an oat milk cappuccino while basking in the warm sunlight and people-watching out the window. I also wrote in my journal in German, and read some more of Night Train. I’m only about a fifth of the way through, but I am already really enjoying it.

#studyblr #adult studyblr #booklr #langblr #adultbooklr #german #mine #reading #ukrainian #portuguese #language learning

[katzensilber]

27–28 February 2022

On the 27th: - finished Identitti by Mithu Sanyal

This book continued to be so interesting to me. I did find the climactic scene to be a letdown, because it “broke the rules” of storytelling, but the rest of the book was still thought-provoking enough that I gave it a four-star rating.

On the 28th: - started Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier

I started a new book while dawdling over a long slow breakfast at a neighborhood café I've missed frequenting. Saw some cute graffiti on the way home, and enjoyed a serene sunset from my apartment window.

#booklr #bookblr #litblr #adultbooklr #books #reading #german #mine

[katzensilber]

22–24 February 2022

On the 22nd: - podcast: German - APT: lesson 6

On the 23rd: - podcasts: German and Portuguese - APT: lesson 7 - finished The Binding by Bridget Collins

On the 24th: - podcast: German - APT: reviewed first week of lessons

The Binding was so good. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy combined with a queer love story.

This week, I met a friend of mine at a café right on the harbor by the train station, and we caught up on each other’s news. Unfortunately she will be moving back to the US in the summer. But while I was walking home, I saw the first crocuses of spring, purple and gold – it felt like a sign of hope and lifted my spirits.

#studyblr #langblr #booklr #reading #adult studyblr #books #bookblr #mine

[katzensilber]

16–18 February 2022

On the 16th: - baked rolls - podcasts: German, Portuguese, French - Assimil Portuguese (APT): lesson 3 - read The House at Midnight by Lucie Whitehouse

On the 17th: - made baba ganoush - podcast: German - APT: lesson 4

On the 18th: - podcast: German - APT: lesson 5 - battened down the hatches against the storm

The biggest storm of my life passed over northern Germany this week, and for a few days the weather was wild. Rain was coming in under my windows even while they were all tightly closed… perks of living in an old house, I guess.

As I mentioned, the Assimil Portuguese book I’m using is in French, so every time I study Portuguese, I get some French practice too. I like studying my L3s through one of my L2s – it’s a great way to improve your skills in both languages at once. I prefer to study Romance languages through French and Germanic/Slavic languages through German.

#studyblr #adult studyblr #langblr #booklr #polyglot #portuguese #french #mine

[katzensilber]

Well, I got a little distracted from posting here recently. First, I got so charmed by Portuguese that I forgot about all my other languages for a while; and then, war broke out. But after doing everything I could to help in the short term, I decided there’s no point in neglecting my learning. The pen is mightier than the sword, and all that.

I did at least note down what I did in terms of studies for the past few weeks, so I’m going to split it up into a couple of posts… coming right up.

#studyblr #adult studyblr #mine #langblr

[katzensilber]

15 February 2022

Yesterday I had a day full of multilingual bits and pieces:

- Listened to more podcasts (German and Portuguese) - Did some TY Esperanto - Remembered I had a PDF version of Assimil's "Le nouveau portugais sans peine" (a book for learning Portuguese, in French) and did the first lesson from it - Explored lots of Portuguese music, made a list of artists to check out - Wrote in my journal a bit in French and Esperanto before bed - Read some more of Identitti

And I'm doing the second lesson of Assimil Portuguese right now. Not sure where this sudden Portuguese revival come from, but I'll ride this wave as far as it takes me...

#studyblr #langblr #adult studyblr #language learning #multilingual #mine #german #portuguese #esperanto #french #it makes my brain so happy to play with multiple languages every day #i could never be a monogamous language learner :P