Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

This forum is for the Total Annihilation Challenge. See the sticky thread for more information.

Moderators:''', Forum Administrators

Koko
Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby Koko » 2014-10-20, 23:25

Question: is it a good idea to do a language like HV for a TAC?

I mean, it doesn't have a full dictionary and some of the verb forms aren't attested for. Albeit, most verb conjugations would probably be used less often than those attested. It's not an agglutinative language, so one can not simply make two words one (which would be an upside to a fairly small word list).

I decided to do Italian, Greek or Bulgarian, and either of the conlangs ^^ I'm looking forward for next year. It's k if start on th' eve?

vijayjohn
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:27056
Joined:2013-01-10, 8:49
Real Name:Vijay John
Gender:male
Location:Austin, Texas, USA
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby vijayjohn » 2014-10-21, 1:47

Koko wrote:Question: is it a good idea to do a language like HV for a TAC?

What's HV?

Koko

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby Koko » 2014-10-21, 2:49

The amazing High Valyrian language spoken natively only by Dany Targaryen in the wonderful A Song of Ice and Fire series.

User avatar
dEhiN
Posts:6828
Joined:2013-08-18, 2:51
Real Name:David
Gender:male
Location:Toronto
Country:CACanada (Canada)
Contact:

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby dEhiN » 2014-10-27, 17:30

I don't see why not; others do conlangs on here. Most afaik do Esperanto, or at least another IAL. But unless there's some unwritten rule I'm not aware of, there's nothing stopping someone from learning any conlang for their TAC. Of course, you may not find anyone here who could help you with your learning (corrections, etc.).

Regarding when to start, you could start now if you really wanted to. But you couldn't call it your 2015 TAC. You could create a 2014 TAC, or as Youngfun did, create a partial-TAC. If you want to wait until next year, that's fine too.

It seems that any sense of competition, in terms of a winner, isn't being followed anymore. And some write out clear goals (which sometimes change over the course of the year), while others (like myself :P) just give updates on their progress.
Native: (en-ca)
Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

Koko

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby Koko » 2014-10-28, 2:57

It's so close to the end of 2014, I might as well just wait ^^ Othetwise I would start now.

Who knows? I might not do it, actually, but when I finish with a language I might do HV or something. Depends. Yeah… I'll wait ^^

I've decided (yay!) :D : [flag=]it[/flag], [flag=]bg[/flag] and [flag=]el[/flag]

This because I really want to visit Greece after moving to Italy, and would prefer to not be all tourist-like and not speak proper Greek or something (and the reason I gave on the Wanderlust thread). I love the Bulgarian language and have grown to love ъ as I have the Japanese /ɯ/.

Since my Japanese class ends next year (end of semester), it'll be easier to focus on these languages, too. Another reason I'm waiting.

What techniques do you guys recommend? I've just been teaching myself Italian by writing on the forum and taking notes of the corrections; not actually sitting down and taking time to study (which I've honestly never done before. For anything, I retain a lot and have never needed to study for tests or even finals. I'm lost on how one studies). This has worked fine, but I don't think it's a good way.

User avatar
dEhiN
Posts:6828
Joined:2013-08-18, 2:51
Real Name:David
Gender:male
Location:Toronto
Country:CACanada (Canada)
Contact:

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby dEhiN » 2014-11-05, 3:18

I guess it depends on you, your goals, your learning habits, etc. You could create an initial goal for each language: take a resource and say that you want to work your way through that. Or you could be like me and have a vague concept of "I want to improve", and then keep learning new vocab and grammar using multiple resources in a sort of zigzag fashion. You will eventually improve, but it might take you a bit, possibly longer than if you used a specific resource. But again, a lot depends on your learning habits. And if you're not sure how to proceed, pick a method (at random if need be), try it out for a few weeks or a month, and then evaluate. You can always change your methodology!

I'm glad you picked your languages. My roommate is Bulgarian, and maybe once you learn some stuff you can teach me how to say hi!

PS. If you haven't already done so, you may want to join the UL Skype chat. There's one specifically for Romance languages and in it Italian is sometimes used. So if you're looking for a way to practice what you're learning, and don't have anything local, try the Skype chats. There are a few native Italian speakers on it.
Native: (en-ca)
Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

vijayjohn
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:27056
Joined:2013-01-10, 8:49
Real Name:Vijay John
Gender:male
Location:Austin, Texas, USA
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby vijayjohn » 2014-11-05, 6:28

dEhiN wrote:My roommate is Bulgarian, and maybe once you learn some stuff you can teach me how to say hi!

Pfff, even I can do that! :P In fact, even Wiktionary can do that. :lol:

Koko

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby Koko » 2014-11-06, 7:44

Здравей dEhiN! Как си?
(Ciao dEhiN! Come stai?)

È stato un dialogo familiare. Perché siete coinquilini, suppongo che non debbia essere formale.
That was an informal dialogue. Because you guys are roommates, I guess you don't need to be formal.


As for my method, I think I may try the Assimil (suggested by Ipse) for Italian. Until I can get it, I'll just try what I've been doing as well as take a few courses on sites I find on the Internet. There's one I found for Bulgarian, which I will probably be using for that. It's got a vocabulary game in which you choose lessons and test what you've learned from there. There's also a basic course with audio. I can also practise vocab on Memrise. I'm contemplating if I should do German instead of Greek. It has such a nice voice and its country is beautiful. Then again, Greek is the same (though it does sound a bit annoying). German seems to have a bigger pull on me.

<babbling>
Well, we'll see what I decide to do with Greek. Maybe I will complete my goals for it and I can do German next, or vice versa. Still got two months to figure it out. Even then, I'd rather work on two languages and have a better chance of actually going somewhere in 'em than be held back by a third. I could always save one or both for 2016…
</babbling>

Could it be possible to do a TAC and a partial challenge? Like I do the full year with IT and BG and do like a SAC with EL and DE while still doing the full TAC?

Koko

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby Koko » 2014-11-06, 7:49

dEhiN wrote:PS. If you haven't already done so, you may want to join the UL Skype chat. There's one specifically for Romance languages and in it Italian is sometimes used. So if you're looking for a way to practice what you're learning, and don't have anything local, try the Skype chats. There are a few native Italian speakers on it.

I'd love to and have been thinking about it, but I don't a mic or a computer of my own to do it.

User avatar
dEhiN
Posts:6828
Joined:2013-08-18, 2:51
Real Name:David
Gender:male
Location:Toronto
Country:CACanada (Canada)
Contact:

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby dEhiN » 2014-11-17, 3:46

Koko wrote:Здравей dEhiN! Как си?
(Ciao dEhiN! Come stai?)

Grazie, pero...I can't read Cyrillic :(. You would think I could since I learned the Greek alphabet (well Koine but close enough :D), and still remember it enough to sight read, and of course I know the Latin alphabet.

È stato un dialogo familiare. Perché siete coinquilini, suppongo che non debbia essere formale.

What do siete and che mean? Also in Italian, does si create a "sh" sound, akin to ci creating a "ch" sound? So should siete be pronounced "shete"?

Could it be possible to do a TAC and a partial challenge? Like I do the full year with IT and BG and do like a SAC with EL and DE while still doing the full TAC?

Anything's possible if you just believe... :P Seriously though, it's totally up to you. If that's what you prefer, go for it. Alternately you could start with 3 languages and then drop one, or change one for another. Heck I started with 6, then went up to 8, then jumped up to 20! I think that along the way you will learn and discover stuff about your learning process - what works, what doesn't, etc. Also your interests might change. Of course the TAC is partially an attempt to help us persevere so we don't abandon and change languages every month (or less!). But that also doesn't mean there can't be any change as the year progresses.
Native: (en-ca)
Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

IpseDixit

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby IpseDixit » 2014-11-17, 15:53

dEhiN wrote:Grazie, però...


"Thanks" is quite a weird answer to the question "how are you doing?"... at least in Italian...

È stato un dialogo informale. Visto che siete coinquilini, suppongo che non debba essere formale.


What do siete and che mean?


siete = you are (where you is in the plural form)
che is the relative pronoun, like that / which / who in English or que in Spanish and Portuguese.

Also in Italian, does si create a "sh" sound, akin to ci creating a "ch" sound? So should siete be pronounced "shete"?


No. The "sh" sound is represented by sc if the following vowel is either e or i and sci if the following vowel is either a, o or u (note that in this case the i of sci is mute).

Siete is pronounced ['sjɛte], or if you are not familiar with IPA, it's something like syeh-teh.

vijayjohn
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:27056
Joined:2013-01-10, 8:49
Real Name:Vijay John
Gender:male
Location:Austin, Texas, USA
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby vijayjohn » 2014-11-17, 19:17

dEhiN wrote:
Koko wrote:Здравей dEhiN! Как си?
(Ciao dEhiN! Come stai?)

Grazie, pero...I can't read Cyrillic :(.

And couldn't be bothered to look it up on Wiktionary? :twisted: Oh well, here it is in Roman script :P

Zdravey dEhin! Kak si? (note: stress falls on second syllable of zdravey)
IpseDixit wrote:
dEhiN wrote:Grazie, però...


"Thanks" is quite a weird answer to the question "how are you doing?"... at least in Italian...

He never actually answered the question. He was just thanking Koko for attempting to teach him some Bulgarian. :lol:

BTW, isn't ma a more common way of saying 'but' than però in Italian? No offense or anything, but I doubt dEhiN really knew how to say 'but' in Italian to begin with. :)

IpseDixit

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby IpseDixit » 2014-11-17, 19:39

He never actually answered the question. He was just thanking Koko for attempting to teach him some Bulgarian. :lol:


Oh ok, I actually didn't bother to read all the conversation. :whistle:

BTW, isn't ma a more common way of saying 'but' than però in Italian?


Nope, ma and però are actually equally common. A difference is that ma can be only in the beginning of a sentence, whereas però can also be in the middle or the end. For example, if you want to say "but I don't want to watch that movie.", if you use ma you have to say:

ma non voglio guardare quel film.

if you use però, you can say:

però non voglio guardare quel film.
or
non voglio però guardare quel film.
or
non voglio guardare quel film però.

No offense or anything


Why should I feel offended? Or maybe you was referring to dEhiN?

but I doubt dEhiN really knew how to say 'but' in Italian to begin with. :)


Well, now he does. I don't get your point...

vijayjohn
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:27056
Joined:2013-01-10, 8:49
Real Name:Vijay John
Gender:male
Location:Austin, Texas, USA
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby vijayjohn » 2014-11-17, 22:04

IpseDixit wrote:ma can be only in the beginning of a sentence

You mean clause?
Why should I feel offended? Or maybe you was referring to dEhiN?

Yeah, I mostly meant dEhiN, although I also just have an unfortunate tendency to apologize too much or worry that I'll say something offensive to somebody in general.
Well, now he does. I don't get your point...

Oh, OK. I thought at first that maybe it would've been better to say ma than però there (I thought però was more like 'however' and ma more like 'but') and that you just assumed he made a spelling mistake. But now you've clarified that, so thanks. :)

Koko

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby Koko » 2014-11-18, 8:07

@dEhiN: Здравей! Как си?= Zdravey! Kak si? IPA: [zdravɛj | kak si] (don't palatalise like IN^ Russian: that doesn't happen)

@vijay: like in English, it is possible to start a sentence with a conjunction.

…Speaking of this, am I the only one who absolutely hates when people say you can't start a sentence with and??!! It annoys the hell out of me and it takes all of my energy not to punch them straight to oblivion! Have you not read good literature :x ? THOUSANDS OF SENTENCES BEGIN WITH AND :x !! *sigh* And the same goes for "but." (though and is the one that gets me… :evil: :evil: :evil: ) I had this one teacher (same one who denied the possibility of simultaneous speaking) who said this and I lost respect for her even more, it was way below -9000 respect levels. It wasn't even for formal writing that she said this!!

@Ipse: grazie per correggermi! Posso chiederti perché è "visto che" invece di "perché?"

IpseDixit

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby IpseDixit » 2014-11-18, 13:21

vijay: whoops, yes, I meant clause.

Koko: it's very uncommon to use perché with the meaning of "since", especially if at the beginning of a sentence.

vijayjohn
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:27056
Joined:2013-01-10, 8:49
Real Name:Vijay John
Gender:male
Location:Austin, Texas, USA
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby vijayjohn » 2014-11-18, 18:33

Koko wrote:@vijay: like in English, it is possible to start a sentence with a conjunction.

I know, but all sentences are clauses while not all clauses are sentences, so saying that any clause can start with a conjunction means that whole sentences can, too. ;)

User avatar
dEhiN
Posts:6828
Joined:2013-08-18, 2:51
Real Name:David
Gender:male
Location:Toronto
Country:CACanada (Canada)
Contact:

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby dEhiN » 2014-12-10, 8:12

vijayjohn wrote:
dEhiN wrote:
Koko wrote:Здравей dEhiN! Как си?
(Ciao dEhiN! Come stai?)

Grazie, pero...I can't read Cyrillic :(.

And couldn't be bothered to look it up on Wiktionary? :twisted: Oh well, here it is in Roman script :P

Zdravey dEhin! Kak si? (note: stress falls on second syllable of zdravey)

Thanks.

IpseDixit wrote:
dEhiN wrote:Grazie, però...


"Thanks" is quite a weird answer to the question "how are you doing?"... at least in Italian...

He never actually answered the question. He was just thanking Koko for attempting to teach him some Bulgarian. :lol:

BTW, isn't ma a more common way of saying 'but' than però in Italian? No offense or anything, but I doubt dEhiN really knew how to say 'but' in Italian to begin with. :)[/quote]
Yes I was just thanking Koko, and no offense taken Vijay, but I did know però was but in Italian, I just didn't know how to spell it. Well I'd only heard it spoken (in an Italian language exchange) so I assumed it was spelled the same as in Spanish.

Also, molto grazie (can I say this, like muchas gracias in Spanish?) IpseDixit for the correction!

vijayjohn wrote:Yeah, I mostly meant dEhiN, although I also just have an unfortunate tendency to apologize too much or worry that I'll say something offensive to somebody in general.

You sound like you should've been a Canadian instead of an American!

Koko wrote:@dEhiN: Здравей! Как си?= Zdravey! Kak si? IPA: [zdravɛj | kak si] (don't palatalise like IN^ Russian: that doesn't happen)

Grazie!

Koko wrote:…Speaking of this, am I the only one who absolutely hates when people say you can't start a sentence with and??!! It annoys the hell out of me and it takes all of my energy not to punch them straight to oblivion! Have you not read good literature :x ? THOUSANDS OF SENTENCES BEGIN WITH AND :x !! *sigh* And the same goes for "but." (though and is the one that gets me… :evil: :evil: :evil: ) I had this one teacher (same one who denied the possibility of simultaneous speaking) who said this and I lost respect for her even more, it was way below -9000 respect levels. It wasn't even for formal writing that she said this!!

Yeah it annoys me too - how so much of the old grammar rules for English were because old-school grammarians wanted to force English to be like Latin! The other day I had to inform another native English speaker about split infinitives and how he was taught it as wrong because of these old-school grammarians. Actually it makes me so angry, I wish I could go back in time and punch out all of those who thought up these Latin-based rules....*breathe in, breathe out*
Native: (en-ca)
Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)

vijayjohn
Language Forum Moderator
Posts:27056
Joined:2013-01-10, 8:49
Real Name:Vijay John
Gender:male
Location:Austin, Texas, USA
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Contact:

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby vijayjohn » 2014-12-10, 18:32

dEhiN wrote:no offense taken Vijay, but I did know però was but in Italian

But I didn't! I thought it meant 'however' and that the word for 'but' was ma. :lol:
molto grazie (can I say this, like muchas gracias in Spanish?)

I think it would be molte grazie. However, so far, the only expression I've ever seen is grazie mille.
vijayjohn wrote:Yeah, I mostly meant dEhiN, although I also just have an unfortunate tendency to apologize too much or worry that I'll say something offensive to somebody in general.

You sound like you should've been a Canadian instead of an American!

But isn't that an Indian thing, too? :P

User avatar
dEhiN
Posts:6828
Joined:2013-08-18, 2:51
Real Name:David
Gender:male
Location:Toronto
Country:CACanada (Canada)
Contact:

Re: Total Annihilation Challenge Introduction

Postby dEhiN » 2014-12-10, 18:51

vijayjohn wrote:
dEhiN wrote:
vijayjohn wrote:Yeah, I mostly meant dEhiN, although I also just have an unfortunate tendency to apologize too much or worry that I'll say something offensive to somebody in general.

You sound like you should've been a Canadian instead of an American!

But isn't that an Indian thing, too? :P

Is it? I just assumed my tendency to apologize too much was due to growing up in Canada. For example, it's common here that whenever two people bump into each other, they both immediately apologise. This, even if one person was clearly at fault.
Native: (en-ca)
Active: (fr)(es)(pt-br)(ta-lk)(mi)(sq)(tl)
Inactive: (de)(ja)(yue)(oj)(id)(hu)(pl)(tr)(hi)(zh)(sv)(ko)(no)(it)(haw)(fy)(nl)(nah)(gl)(ro)(cy)(oc)(an)(sr)(en_old)(got)(sux)(grc)(la)(sgn-us)


Return to “Language Logs and Blogs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 25 guests