SAC 2016 -- ceid donn

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ceid donn
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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby ceid donn » 2016-05-20, 18:50

Update for Week....5?

Well, I don't know about you but I'm having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week. So yeah, not getting much done with my languages.

In addition to work, depression, fatigue, other RL garbage, my premium account at Lang 8 was cancelled because of some hiccup with Paypal. Lang 8 is saying the credit card payment couldn't be processed, Paypal is just shrugging their shoulders, my cc company has no idea what they're talking about as they have no record of an attempted payment submitted...But since Lang 8 is an overseas company I'm thinking this must be something on their end and I just can't deal with it. It'll have to wait until I have the energy for this crap.

*sigh*


[flag=]fr[/flag]

Well, I did write something to post on Lang 8 but it's very short. I may just go ahead and start a French thread (if I haven't done so already--can't recall if I ever have) in the French subforum and let the minions of Unilang attack...when I have more energy.

In more productive news, I have been using this video for some dictation practice this week:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS3QeohCLkw

I have worked some on my songs, still trying to nail the lyrics, but I think I need to start on a couple of new ones. Also I picked up a new novel, Un Aller Simple, and have started reading that. It's quite short--hopefully I won't take too long reading it.

Weekend goal: work on songs, read my new novel and listen to this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5SoboXsBGQ

[flag=]gd[/flag]

I've worked on my songs and have done some Speaking Our Language, but besides that, it's been mostly speaking to myself in Gàidhlig. Don't know why that's been a thing for me this week, perhaps some kind of psychological defense mechanism? But yes, gibbering to myself in Gàidhlig.

Weekend goal: work on songs, read Litir for my study session with my partner and finish An Sgoil Dhubh.

[flag=]ga[/flag]

Haven't done much with my phrasebook this week but will try to get back to that tonight. I have worked through TYCI 1-4 with the audio and it's definitely getting easier all around--reading, writing, pronunciation, keeping it straight from Gàidhlig. I just wish I had the energy to really go full throttle with Gaeilge right now, but I don't.

Weekend goal: work on phrasebook, finish TYCI 5-7, and look for Irish songs to learn (still haven't found any I like!!!!)

But right now? I'm going to go play video games and decompress from this awful, awful week before I sit down to study, because my brain is just scattered....laterz.

ceid donn
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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby ceid donn » 2016-05-24, 18:58

Update for beginning of Week 6:

So, those weekend goals I listed up there? Yep, most did not happen. I totally forgot about something I had to do this past weekend when I posted that and I just did not have the time. Oh well.

I'm longing for Italian and really want to add it back, but no, not right now. I need to at least get through the rest of this semester--3 more weeks. Ugh. The ISD here just drags the end of the school year out and it's not even worth it. Teachers basically stop teaching anything right about now, as standardized testing is over with (which is all public school teach for anymore here in the US and don't even get me started about that BS), and so the rest of the school year the kids aren't even learning anything new. Teachers are exhausted and start stressing about the next year that they're not allowed to start prepping for yet and the kids become increasingly restless and bored. It's just a colossal waste of time for everyone. :roll:

Buuuuut enough of that. Time to focus on languages.

[flag=]ga[/flag]

I spent some time watching Gaeilge language videos on You Tube, wherever I could find them, and now have added "Use a Gaeilge-language ATM" to my bucket list (0:36):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymjsAAyEykg

And I did work a little on my phrasebook and listened to some audio files for pronunciation practice, but I did not finish my goal for TYCI. But since I have a short day today at work, I will be doing that this afternoon. Honest! :mrgreen:

Also, I had another dream in which I was speaking, or attempting to, in Gaeilge. So, progress? :D

[flag=]gd[/flag]

I only read one more chapter in my novel, but did work with SOL quite a bit on Saturday and Monday, mostly reviewing the intermediate series. I did not work on the Litir as my Sunday was completely consumed by the aforementioned forgotten commitment. So I did not get to meet with my study partner either. :? Will try to look at the Litir tomorrow, plus more SOL, as today I want to focus on Gaelic a bit more.

[flag=]fr[/flag]

Worked on "Je Veux", "Port Coton" and "La Vie Simplement", but I've been neglecting "Ecrire Quand Même" and need to work on that one more. I have decided my next song will "Le Bar de l'Hôtel" by Raphaël Haroche--a choice that had nothing to do with this rather disturbing official video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKm8ah9uhwc

Les paroles pose a bit of a problem for me--Raphaël's lyrics tend to be very ramble-ly and poetically Rimbaud-esque and thus can be quite a mouthful, especially when sung/sung-spoken in a range that's awkward for my alto voice, which is most of his recorded songs. I will have to play around with the capo and see if changing keys makes this one easier for me.


D'où vient, d'où vient le vent du matin
Que le jour, que le jour chasse en chemin?
Où s'en vont, où s'en vont les poussières qui brulent nos yeux
Nous troublent la vue & nous rendent amoureux?
Des plumes dans les cheveux et rien dans les mains
Ce coudre les paupières pour ne plus voir rien
C'est dans ma nature & c'est dans mon sang
Un poison violent mélange de mes parents

Refrain
Est ce mon squelette au bar de l'hôtel?
Est-ce ma toilette faite au scalpel?
Est-ce que ce sont mes effets au enchère?
Et cette détresse que je paye bien cher
Pour combien tu m'aimes, pour combien tu me quittes?
Tu me tiens en laisse, tu me laisses quittes

D'où vient, d'où vient que je t'aimai avant
D'où vient le hoquet? Comment tombe la pluie?
Combien coute, combien coute le bonheur d'une seul nuit?
Et comment sommes-nous arrivez ici?
Qui a fait les océans et les cœur brulé?
La colonne et le coup ne cesse de marcher
Est-ce que tout peux pourrir même ce qu'il y a de plus doux?
On nous jettes des fleurs ou bien des cailloux.


Like a I said, quite a mouthful. :yep:

Tomorrow I have the day off so I want to work on re-arranging my room/study area in anticipation of all the wonderful free time I'll have to commit to my languages once school is done for the year. So I'm not going to make too many plans for the week aside from doing as much as I can. But I will have a long weekend thanks to the national holiday here in the US, so I will try to make plans for this weekend.

ceid donn
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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby ceid donn » 2016-05-27, 16:42

OK, so here are my Memorial Day Weekend goals!

[flag=]ga[/flag]

I finished TYCI 5-7 and I read through 8-9 last night while watching the spelling bee (Taoiseach! :mrgreen: ). My goal for the weekend is to read through 10, do the work and audio for 8-10, and then start a big review of the first half of TYCI. I also wrote out a new batch of phrases in the phrase book, so I likely won't be worrying about that for the weekend.

The second weekend goal is to re-do the Duo tree. As much as that tree annoys me, I want to see how much I can get done and how I can re-golden-ize. Right now, only the very first lesson is golden.

Overall, I'm really very happy with my progress with Gaeilge so far. I definitely feel I'm making headways. I'm still lacking confidence with writing, but I have made noticeable progress with reading, listening, pronunciation and general grasp of the language. So, yay! :D

[flag=]gd[/flag]

I need to finish reviewing the intermediate series for SOL so I can work of the advanced. It's just all the SOL series each contain a surprisingly large amount of material to cover and I feel very compulsively obliged to have it all down. I mean, it's all very useful if not essential so it's absolutely worth obsessing over, but all the same, I really want to move on to the last series. So yeah, will be focusing on that.

I also need to finish An Sgoil Dhubh and write out the Gàidhlig counterparts for the last batch of Gaeilge phrases in my phrasebook. And last but not least, read the Litir for my study session of Sunday.

I feel that at the point in the SAC I could be doing more with Gàidhlig, and hope to pick up the pace with it once the semester is over with. I can say I'm have done much more than I was doing before the SAC, so that's something. but as my strongest language, I feel like I should be doing more.

[flag=]fr[/flag]

So for French, I plan to watch the video I meat to watch last weekend. Then I'm going to review some grammar with my PUG books, seeing I just recently found where they have been hiding. (In all honesty, I will not deny that my frequent tendency to "misplace" my PUG books may actually be my subconscious acting out avoidant patterns of behavior :whistle: )

And of course I plan to also work on my songs and try to read some of my new novel. Also, I need to get in some pronunciation practice--speaking, not singing--this weekend.

I definitely need to do more with French. Like Gàidhlig, I am doing more than I was before the SAC started, but I should be doing much more. Much of what I have done has been to practice these i already know, and I need to push myself to really refine my skills and just get better through more intensive practice. This is where the PUG books will come in handy, if I can avoid "misplacing" them again. :lol: Also, writing. That needs to happen, soon. And hopefully, before the SAC if up, a study partner.

ceid donn
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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby ceid donn » 2016-05-31, 20:22

Hàlo, a Sheachdain 7!/Hello, Week 7

So about my Memorial Day Weekend SAC plans...no, no, it wasn't that bad. I aimed high, and so naturally I fell a little short. But overall, I think I did well.

This is what I managed to do:

[flag=]ga[/flag]

-- I finished chapter 10 in TYCI and reviewed all of 1-10. Am I'm completely fluent in all of it? No, not be a long shot, but I'm making progress.
-- Quite a bit more listening practice
-- Duo? Yeah, didn't touch it all weekend. :lol: But hey, I met my goal for TYCI!!!

[flag=]gd[/flag]

-- I did a lot of review with the 3rd series of SOL but didn't get it all done. However I did do a lot work with the SOL videos, enough that I started "mishearing" English dialogue of the TV shows my mom was watching in the other room as Gàidhlig SOL dialogue. :mrgreen:
-- I worked on the weekly Litir, although my study partner had to cancel due to work.
-- I read a little more of An Sgoil Dhubh but did not finish it. Ugh. I am a tad disappointed with this one.
-- Listened to Rèidio Guth nan Gàidheal, in particular "Mar a Chuala Mi I", which is my old AGA teacher telling stories in Gàidhlig. Once I sort out a proper way to record the stream from Mixcloud, I want to use this series for dictation practice
-- Worked on my songs a bit

[flag=]fr[/flag]

-- I watched Pierre's video that I had planned to watch, plus a couple others
-- Watched a few hours of francophone gamers streaming on Twitch--I find slangy French very hard to follow and that's most of what these guys speak, but it's still good to be exposed
-- Did some exercises in my PUG book with verbs. Realized I probably need to do more of this. :oops:
-- Worked on pronunciation by reading a short story out loud. Still plenty of room for improvement but not too shabby. I might be bold enough one day to upload a sample of me speaking French here. You never know. :P
-- Read only a few pages in my novel, but hey. Better than nothing.

So yeah, I did quite a bit actually.

This evening I think I need to take a break from my languages. I still am working on cleaning up and re-arranging my study space--it turned out to be one of those projects that once you got started with it, it immediately required a lot more time than you had planned for it.

My plans for the rest of the week will be basically to carry on with all the things I've done this past weekend. A sort of "more of all of the above" goal. The big noticeable omission is that I didn't work on my French songs, and I will try to make sure I do that this week as well.

ceid donn
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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby ceid donn » 2016-06-05, 15:35

Ùrachadh 'son seachdain 7
Du nouveau pour la semaine 7
Update for week 7

It's almost actually summer! Better get started on my SAC!!! :mrgreen: :whistle:

Sorry, I'm in a bit of a funny mood this morning. May have something to do with this awful semester being nearly over with. Two more days of work and then I have to whole summer to study languages and wallow in poverty!

[flag=]ga[/flag]

I kind of...didn't do much with Gaeilge this week. :oops: I spent so much time with my other languages that Gaeilge got left alone in the corner. I did watch some videos on You Tube and read tweets as Gaeilge pretty much every day this week. The only big thing I did was I finally found a song I want to learn and started working it.

I'll be using various versions by Liam Ó MaonlaÍ and a couple of other versions I found on YT that present the song a little differently. I have no pretense of learning a single song and declaring myself a master of the Sean Nós style, but many elements of Sean Nós aren't difficult for me. It's ultimately folk music and it developed as folk music always has, from one person hearing another person, taking what they've heard and doing their own thing with it. I know there are purists who think Sean Nós must be a certain way and yeah, I have my degree in music already, so I don't have time for people like that. :lol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Tt9HgPXDo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN372P4fOgA

[flag=]gd[/flag]

I've done quite a lot of work with Gàidhlig this week. I just found out a highly recommended native speaker-tutor who lives here Stateside is going to be offering lessons again and I am going to see if her rates within my means. But I want to get my Gàidhlig spruced up a bit so I don't waste lesson time going over things I should already know well enough already. :roll:

I worked a lot with the LearnGaelic.net videos--I love their video section. It's awesome and 100% free, and anyone studying Gàidhlig really needs to take advantage of it. (That's for you lurkers! :lol: ) I worked on three Conversation videos, two Grammar videos, 4 monologue videos and 3 of the BBC An Là videos. Plus I did more work with the latter half of SOL series 3.

I also worked on Litrichean--I covered the two previous ones I did with my study partner and the one we've yet to get to yet, Litrichean 873-875, as they're a 3-part series on Ministear Iain Moireasdan, Fiosaiche Pheitidh (Minister John Morrison, the Petty Seer). And I worked on the two most recent ones.

Aaaaaaand, I finished An Sgoil Dhubh and started a new book, Nigheanan Mòra by Catriona Lexy Campbell. Also, I worked on my songs and started working on a new one, Dh'fhalbh Mo Nighean Chruinn, Donn. I'm familiar with it, as I have Mary Jane's CD and have listened to it quite a bit, but I don't really know any of the songs, like as far as performing them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXXL2wZV71A

Whew. Yeah. It was a lot. This is why I had no time for poor wee Gaeilge. 8-)

[flag=]fr[/flag]

I did not neglect French! Really! For realz! :lol:

I have been working quite a bit with Pierre's Robinson Crusoe video, because even though it's a very simplified version of the story, there is a lot there that I need to practice, both with listening and pronunciation. There are also some good grammar tidbits that I need plenty of repetition with.

Pierre just posted a new storytelling video, "Barbe Bleue", so I have that to work on next. Pierre got a lot of requests for more from that Robinson Crusoe video so I hope he keeps making them.

I also worked a bit in my PUG books. I am using L'Exercisier and Dites-moi un peu..., both B1-B2 level. They cover everything I need to improve on--which with French, is pretty much everything. :P

While I didn't work much on my new French song, I did go over my older songs a few times. Also I'll be adding "Eyes to the Island" to my batch of French songs--the chorus is in English but the verses are in French and quite easy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsg8irEaVao

I don't have any plans for Week 8 yet. I probably won't think about that until Wednesday, when i'm completely done with the semester.

ceid donn
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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby ceid donn » 2016-06-08, 3:14

Ath-ùrachadh 'son seachdain 7
Du nouveau à nouveau pour la seachdain 7

An updated update for week 7

First off, I'm very happy to see other people updating their TAC threads. It was starting to feel a bit lonely around here. :para:

I was going to post my Gàidhlig update sa Ghàidhlig and my français update en français but I've been drinking tonight, so that perhaps would not end well. :lol:

[flag=]ga[/flag]

I'm reviewing TYCI stuff tonight so I can continue onward with the book. I've been watching some videos on You Tube, read a couple of Irish Times articles sa Gaeilge and worked on "Sadhbh Ní Bhruinneallaigh", which I know the melody enough to try to sing it on my morning walks but I don't know enough of the words by hearts,so many lines really come out as gibberish. Oh and I did some Duo. I re-goldenize 8-9 lessons and got to level 15.

Week 7 goals: Complete TYCI 11-13 and try to start writing in Irish. And do more Duo. Also I need to work on my phrasebook.

I'm getting rather eager to start looking for a study partner. If I meet my goals this week I may start asking around on forums and see if I can find someone who can commit.

[flag=]gd[/flag]

Week 7 goals: Work on my Litrichaen and LearnGaelic videos, read some of my new book and START MY JOURNAL. It's time to get started with that, no more excuses.

[flag=]fr[/flag]

Week 7 goals: Work on my PUG books and Pierre vids, read some of my book and START MY JOURNAL.

But no journal writing tonight, because I'm a little too liquored up already and plan of liquoring up some more. :cheery:

ceid donn
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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby ceid donn » 2016-06-11, 15:08

I just feel like writing about something regarding my weekly studying so, here we go...

I didn't quite anticipate how mentally exhausted I would be this week so I perhaps set bigger goals than I should have. I haven't been very on task this week, since the last day of the semester, but I didn't completely neglect everything. The most annoying thing is how unmotivated I feel about working on my songs. I have the time but...ugh. Aside from my Irish song, I haven't been able to get myself to work on any songs. I did however spontaneously began singing "Maili Dhonn" as I fixed my morning tea, so I think it's just more mental fatigue than a loss of interest.

[flag=]ga[/flag]

EDIT: When I wrote this earlier this morning I used the grammar term "compound preposition" when I meant "conjugated preposition". *facepalm* I edited this section accordingly so my goof doesn't mislead anyone, as these are two different things in Celtic languages.

I've done some more Duo, read TYCI 11-13, and worked a very tiny bit in my phrasebook. This morning I'm focusing on conjugated prepositions because in Gaeilge they are just familiar enough to prepositions in Gàidhlig to really throw me. For example:

(Gaeilge > Gàidhlig)

ar > air (on)

orm > orm (on me)
ort > ort (on you)
air > air (on him)
aici > oirre (on her)
orainn > oirnn (on us)
oraibh > oirbh (on you)
orthu > orra (on them)

Don't even get me thinking about "idir", which has a false friend in Gàidhlig: idir > eadar (between), ach ar chor ar bith > idir (at all). Ugh!!! Funnily though, I learned recently that in Hiberno-English, they will say something like "I don't like that at all at all", that mimics the rhythm of the Gaeilge phrase "ar chor ar bith", and in Gàidhlig they also repeat "idir" for emphasis.

Mar sin, mar shampla:

Ní maith liom réamhfhocail as Gaeilge ar chor ar bith.
Cha toil leam riomhear sa Gheailge idir idir.

:mrgreen:

But as one can easily see, there are similarities and then there are differences, and when you're dealing with 8 or some commonly used preposition, this can get kind of confusing when my brain keeps wanting all Gaeilge prepositions to be like Gàidhlig ones. I've been using the Duo lessons on prepositions, because if I type in the Gàidhlig and it's different from the Gaeilge, I get it wrong, no fudging. But it's still frustrating because like 1/2 or 2/5 or so of the time, it's the same in both, so my brain wants to take short cuts and not think about when it's not the same. Also, my fingers have the muscle memory of typing Gàidhlig. So I might be thinking "orthu" but I still type "orra". :P It's just going to take practice. Lots and lots of practice. In addition to Duo, I'll work on this in my phrasebook too.

[flag=]gd[/flag]

Because I haven't been up to more extraneous mental labor, I've been doing a lot of reading out loud. Just whatever I find either on my shelf on online. About a hour or so each day. Haven't started my journal--that may have to wait until next week.

After my Gaeilge work this morning, I'm going to do listening practice with LearnGaelic videos and Litrichean while I play so video games. Weirdly, this is how I started learning Gàidhlig--I would listen to Gàidhlig audio files while playing Civilization III. This doesn't work as well with video games that require my full attention, especially dialogue-heavy ones, but sims like Civ III or sandbox games like Minecraft, where I can just chill and not have to follow spoken dialogue, actually work very nicely for passive listening practice.

[flag=]fr[/flag]

I worked a little on the next chapter in Dites-moi un peu, and I started on my first journal entry. It's better than nothing. :lol: I've been trying to get myself to finish my journal entry so I can post it, either here or on Lang 8. Will try to do that this weekend.

Anyhow, that's enough from me today. Time to get back to those pesky réamhfhocail....

ceid donn
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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby ceid donn » 2016-06-14, 23:56

Franchement, c'est mon anniversaire cette semaine et je n'ai pas envie de faire toute forme de travail. :partyhat:
Gu fhìrinneach, 's e mo cho-là-breith an seachdain seo agus chan eil mi airson obair sam bith a dheanamh. :partyhat:



(This is what happens when your birthday comes shortly after the end of the semester. :P )


[flag=]ga[/flag]

I'm working a bit with Duo. Focusing on prepositions and adjectives. Adjectives in Gaeilge can differ quite a bit from Gàidhlig and it's a bit of a headache.

tàbhachtach > cudromach
míleata > armailteach
scanraithe > leis an eagal
cáiliúil > ainmeil
speisialta > sònraichte
deas > snog
coitianta > cumanta (although coiteanta is used in Gàidhlig to refer to certain things like shared resources, community-owned land, public spaces, etc.)

And that's just a few of the ones tripping me up. I need to work on these in my phrasebook as well.

[flag=]gd[/flag]

I've been focusing on a couple of videos on LearnGaelic for some much needed review on a couple of grammar points. Also been working on pronunciation a bit.

My study partner is going on his summer vacay and so I'll have a couple weeks to work on whatever I want. I probably will take a break from the Litrichean. The LearnGaelic videos for more advanced learners are actually more challenging, if only because the narrator/actors tend to speak at a more natural pace than Rory does for his Litrichean. Also need to work on SOL.

I worked on "An Ribhinn Donn" last night but not much else. I shouldn't let my songs side too much. It can be a lot of work to relearn them because I'm not as good at memorizing Gàidhlig as I am with French.

[flag=]fr[/flag]

I have watched this video a couple of times. It's long-ish and not terribly exciting but it's very good listening practice. I found it quite easy to follow Cadic for most of the interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwUm7Zs6fW8

And this one--it's cute. That's his wife.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie-UaUVyyUU

I love how she admits she has no idea why the French say "poser un lapin à qqn"--that one has baffled me for ages. :lol:

I am not going to make any big promises for the rest of Week 8.

Il y a un gâteau ici et il doit être consummé immediatement. :silly:
Tha cèic ann an-seo agus thèid e itheadh gun dàil. :silly:

ceid donn
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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby ceid donn » 2016-06-19, 0:27

Cha d'rinn mi mòran le mo chànanan an t-seachdain seo. Le Gàidhlig, bha mi a' coimhead air bhidiothan air LearnGaelic ach le Gaeilge, cha d'rinn mi dad idir. Le Fraingis, bha mi a' coimhead air film Je t'aime, je t'aime 's mar sin sgrìobh mi aiste goirid mu dhéidhinn. Tha seo air sàilleibh a tha i glè theth an-seo na làithean sa chaidh. Air an àbhaist tha an t-Ogmhios mìos as teotha dhen bhliadhna ann an SAA an iar-dheas. Mar eisimpleir, aig an taigh agamsa an-diugh, tha i 106 Fahrenheit (41 Celsius). 'S e brùideil gu dearbh! Fiù is ged a tha mi a-staigh, fairich mi sgìth òrraiseach 's smaoin-sheachranach. Mar sin, cha eil planaichean agam airson an deireadh-seachdain.


Je n'ai pas fait beaucoup avec mes langues cette semaine. Avec le gaèlique écossais, je n'ai regardé que des videos sur LearnGaelic mais avec le gaèlique irlandais, je n'ai rien fait. Avec le français, j'ai regardé le film Je t'aime, je t'aime puis j'ai écris un court essai à ce sujet. Ceci est dû au fait que il a fait très chaud ici les derniers jours. Juin est typiquement le mois le plus chaud de l'année dans le Sud-Ouest des États-Unis, par exemple, aujourd'hui chez-moi, il fait 106 degrès Fahrenheit (41 degrès Celsuis). C'est vraiment intolérable ! Même si je reste à l'intérieur, je suis fatiguée, nauséeuse et distrait. En conséquence, je n'ai aucun plans pour le week-end.



A-nis, tha feum agam air cadalan. :silly:

Maintenant, j'ai besoin d'une sieste. :silly:

ceid donn
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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby ceid donn » 2016-06-23, 16:29

So, Week 9 update, or something.

It's still way too hot there. Yesterday it was 105 degree F, and toady it's suppose to be up to 106 again. Plus my depression and chronic anemia have been plaguing me. Energy? Not much.

It's suppose to get cooler after today, so hopefully between that and a bunch of iron supplements, I'll be feeling better soon and can get more work done.

[flag=]ga[/flag]

Late last night and this morning I've been doing a quasi-marathon on Duo to get myself up to the next level in Irish. I'm now level 16. And I've been working a little with some audio files to practice pronunciation and just speaking in general. Also read through this article about 6 bhotún choitianta sa Ghaeilge.

[flag=]gd[/flag]

I've been working with LearnGaelic videos some more and focusing in particular on idiomatic constructions I need to be more fluent with. My study partner should be back this weekend so I should get to work on the next Litir. I also need to get back to my journal, which I kind of started and then forgot about. :oops:

[flag=]fr[/flag]

Not much at all, aside from some passive practice with social media and music. When I feel better I'll get back to my workbooks and finish editing the second part of my little essay, but at the moment I just don't have the energy.

So, not a lot for now. Just waiting for the weather to be a bit less oppressive and my health to be a bit less awful. :?

Small post-posting update:

I'm going to be fiddling around with [flag=]ru[/flag] and [flag=]cy[/flag] on Duo, as well as try to do a little more [flag=]it[/flag].

[flag=]cy[/flag] Welsh is largely to scratch my Breton itch--studying Breton is just so time-consuming I just can't drive back into it right now. I love it, but, damn, it is hard for a Celtic language and quality resources, especially for English speakers overseas, are still scarce as feck. Welsh on Duo presents it in much smaller, easier-to-consume pieces, and hey, let's think of my dabbling in Welsh as a small nod of appreciation to how the Wales f.b. team has been so very respectful towards Bretons and the Breton language while in France for Euro 2016.

[flag=]ru[/flag] Russian is something I've been mildly wanderlusting for but have been scared to try again. I failed so miserably at it the first go-around a couple of years back and my Russian books on my shelves continue to haunt me. Maybe Duo can get me past my Cyrillic mindblock. I have done only a couple of Duo lessons using the Russian keyboard layout (the normal one, not the phonetic one) with a Cyrillic keyboard map up on the screen of my Chromebook, trying to touch-memorize the Russian keyboard, and so far, I'm not do so bad! It's rather encouraging and stimulating. I feel I need that right now, especially with all the mental funk from my depression.

[flag=]it[/flag] And Italian is because I miss it. It's such a cool, fun language and I miss my nightly routine with the GV Book2 files. Just don't talk to me about the subjunctive just yet. I'm having enough headaches with the more advanced French grammar I'm trying to tackle at the moment. :P

IpseDixit

Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby IpseDixit » 2016-06-24, 7:52

[flag=]it[/flag] And Italian is because I miss it.


Ben tornata. :D

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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby ceid donn » 2016-06-24, 15:36

IpseDixit wrote:
[flag=]it[/flag] And Italian is because I miss it.


Ben tornata. :D


:D Grazie, IpseDixit! Spero di scrivere un po' in italiano presto. Questo è un buon inizio, si?

(Funny how I was just saying in the other forum how hard Spanish words are for me to retain, yet as I was writing that, I was writing the Spanish equivalents first and then correcting myself. "es...no, è...buen...er, buon...buon comi-...ugh, no...inizio...." :lol: )

IpseDixit

Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby IpseDixit » 2016-06-24, 15:46

ceid donn wrote:
:D Grazie, IpseDixit! Spero di scrivere un po' in italiano presto. Questo è un buon inizio, si?


Direi che è un inizio perfetto! :)

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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby OldBoring » 2016-06-24, 16:22

IpseDixit wrote:Ben tornata. :D

...and now I've just learnt that "ben tornata" is a correct spelling...

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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby ceid donn » 2016-06-27, 21:57

Seachdain/Seachtain/Semaine/Wythnos/Settimana/Неде́ля 10

Well, I had a bit of illness over the weekend but I'm feeling better. (And no, my illness wasn't due to Brexit, but that mess hasn't helped. :roll: )

I did a lot on Duo, so i got a lot practice with Irish, Italian and Welsh. I am still doing Russian but it's going to be much slower going than with my other "dabbling" languages. I have to use my desktop PC for Russian as I can't do Cyrillic on my Kindle and switching between keyboard layouts on my Chromebook is impractical for Duo. And since I spent much of my weekend in bed, that meant I mostly worked on the Duo trees for the other languages.

Anyhow, it's properly summer now and I'm already 9 weeks into my SAC, so I figured I ought to look at how I'm doing overall with my main languages.

[flag=]ga[/flag] I'm very pleased with my progress with Irish. Sure I could be further along; nonetheless I'm gaining confidence with the language and feeling more at ease with learning it. Plus I'm halfway through TYCI and my review the Duo tree. If I finish both by the end of this SAC, as well as complete the phrase book I started at the start of my SAC, I will be very happy.

[flag=]gd[/flag] I feel that I've turned around on all the things I had been slipping on before the SAC. I definitely could be doing more but what I have been doing--watching LearnGaelic and SOL videos, reading, some writing, working on songs--has been noticeably fruitful and I do feel I am progressing towards fluency. It doesn't look like I will be able to afford private tutoring in advanced Gaelic conversation until I go back to work, so I'll have to make do with what I have for now.

[flag=]fr[/flag] Of my three main languages, French is probably the one I'm making the least progress with. But to be fair, progress at my stage is going to be slow and hard-fought. I feel I have gained confidence with reading. listening and writing, but my pronunciation and speech still need a lot of attention. Working on my French songs help but I definitely need to be more rigorous about this. At the start of the SAC I said I'd work with my pronunciation course, but I have yet to do that. So that's going to be a focus point now.

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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby ceid donn » 2016-06-30, 1:38

[flag=]cy[/flag]

I'm really enjoying Cymraeg. The Duolingo course is still a little rough and definitely needs some improvement but it's pretty easy so far. Perhaps knowing some Brezhoneg helps. There are definitely obvious indications of the two language's common roots. One of my Breton tweeps tweeted this today:

Du gallois pour terminer: "Cymru yn chwarae dydd Gwener" qui ressemble bp à notre #bzhg "Kembre a c'hoari digwener" = Galles joue vendredi.***


[flag=]cy[/flag] Cymru yn chwarae dydd Gwener
[flag=]br[/flag] Kembre a c'hoari digwener
[flag=]eng-us[/flag] Wales plays Friday

At times the two languages are very close indeed.

Looking forward to the Wales v. Belgium match to see how many tweets in Cymraeg I can understand. :mrgreen:

***A sidenote: it amuses me that words stemming from "gall"/Gaul can mean different things in these different languages, although all suggest a people distinct from their own:

[flag=]gd[/flag] gall - a lowlander (either Scottish or English); foreigner
[flag=]ga[/flag] gall - Northerner; Anglo-Norman, English; foreigner
[flag=]br[/flag] gall - French person; galleg - the French language (not to be confused for gouezeleg - any one of the Gaelic languages or the Goidelic branch collectively :wink: )
[flag=]fr[/flag] gallois - Welsh; Pays de Galles - Wales

In Cymraeg, "gall" can be an adjective meaning wise or sensible, but I cannot find any evidence it is related to the same root as these other words.

[flag=]gd[/flag]

Tha mi air obair leis am prògram, "Fa Chomhair an Leughadair," le Rèidio Guth nan Gaidheal a-nochd. Is e prògram ùr airson luchd-ionnsachaidh meadhanach gu àrd far leughaidh sinn leabhraichean sa Ghàidhlig. Cha chreid mi nach bi e gu leth cuideachail.

Leis a' chiad phrògram seo, thòisich sinn An Creanaiche le Rauiridh MacIlleathain a leughadh agus thug Michael Mackay sùil air puingean diofaraichte anns an teasca. Tha mòran fios aig Michael mu Gàidhlig agus mu thràth thug e gu mo chuimhne mun fuaimneachadh de "l" caolaichte sa Ghàidhlig--rudeigin a bheil mi air dearmad. :P

(Allow me to confess that typing in Gàidhlig is a pain the ass on my wee crappy Chromebook--in fact, that is my nickname for it, "Wee Crappy"--but I was too lazy to go into the other room to use the PC, so excuse any, very probable errors)

[flag=]ga[/flag]

Agus ar mhaithe le spraoi :mrgreen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwtZRG38cRE

"Tá mise stiúgtha leis an ocras anois!" Go deimhin :lol:

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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby ceid donn » 2016-06-30, 21:23

FFS

If anyone wishes to respond to linguoboy's above post, please quote it and post it elsewhere. I do not wish for this discussion to continue in my thread. Thank you.

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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn -- Gaelic & French & Irish!

Postby Johanna » 2016-07-01, 18:56

admin

The discussion about terms for different groups and how specific they are has been moved to viewtopic.php?f=1&t=46020&p=1052777#p1052777
Swedish (sv) native; English (en) good; Norwegian (no) read fluently, understand well, speak badly; Danish (dk) read fluently, understand badly, can't speak; Faroese (fo) read some, understand a bit, speak a few sentences; German (de) French (fr) Spanish (es) forgetting; heritage language.

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Re: SAC 2016 -- ceid donn

Postby ceid donn » 2016-09-06, 5:34

Suffice to say, my SAC is over.

What I accomplished this summer:

[flag=]gd[/flag]

I have expanded my vocabulary and read four novels this summer. I also did a lot of grammar review and my confidence with my pronunciation is improved. So some small steps toward being more fluent. Yay.

Next steps: writing more and finding more ways to actually use my Gàidhlig. I really could use a tutor for conversation practice but I'm still terribly poor.

[flag=]fr[/flag]

My pronunciation has improved dramatically, I think. I did a fair amount of work with repeating things out loud while listening to podcasts, videos and audio files and it has really helped. I reviewed the entire French tree on Duolingo and am currently doing French medium courses on Memrise for Breton, Spanish and Italian. I started the review French-English tree on Duolingo but I find it uneasy mix of annoying and boring, so I doubt I will finish it. My confidence with writing has improved a little--I can thank the PUG books for this. I think I need to just focus on those for now. I don't lack for opportunities to use French, but I do need to work on my writing more intensively.

Next steps: keeping up the momentum with French I gained this summer and really refining my writing skills. Also, I need ot get back to my songs which I have been neglected over the later part of the summer do to my health being adversely affected by the heat here.

[flag=]ga[/flag]

I finished reviewing the Duolingo Irish tree, finished TYCI, and started Stenson's Basic Irish (which covers a lot that I already know but repetition in a different setting doesn't hurt). I didn't get my phrasebook completed but considering what else i did finish this summer, I'm OK. I made a lot of progress with Irish. I still don't love it, but being better at it makes it a bit more agreeable for me--and the headaches it's given me has made me appreciate and love Scottish Gaelic even more, heh. And it's good to be able to read Irish tweets and occasionally reply in Irish with more ease now.

Next steps: finish the Basic Irish workbook and get started with the Intermediate Irish workbook. When the Duolingo Irish Tree 2.0 comes out (hopefully before the holidays), I plan to review the tree again, but for now I'll just keep it golden.

[flag=]it[/flag]

I just can't get into the Duolingo Italian tree, but I am enjoying the French language Memrise Italian course and have made some progress with that. My goals for Italian at this stage are really just about getting down the basics, and I am happily progressing in that area. I am still using the French-Itialian Book2 audio files too and this has been very helpful developing some basic listening skills and pronunciation.

Next steps: once I get more comfortable with the basics I will focus on learning the grammar more intensively.

[flag=]cy[/flag]

I have really taken to Welsh but I lack the available time to really devote myself to it. Nonetheless I am progressing slowly in Welsh. I am a little over half-way through the Welsh Duolingo tree and am at level 13. I am not in a big rush but I would like the finish the Welsh tree within the next two months. I also started doing a couple of light courses on Memrise to practice basic vocabulary, and it really helps, especially with keeping Welsh separate from Breton.

Next steps: finish the Duolingo tree and get the Routledge Welsh workbooks, if I can come up with the money for them, They also have a graduated Welsh reader I hope to get. But those Routledge books are so seriously overpriced. :x I'll have to see if my interest in Welsh holds up over the next months before investing in those.

All in all, I am very happy that I made progress in all my languages. It was definitely a productive summer for me!

[flag=]ru[/flag]

Russian was never really intended to be one of my SAC languages, but more of a little diversion. Given the limited time I have been able to allot for Russian I have made bare minimal progress on the Duolingo tree. I am thinking of shelving it (again) for now, as there are other things I am much more interested in working on right now.

Other projects for this fall:

[flag=]br[/flag]

I put Breton on hold for my SAC but I'm back, baby! I had hoped to have the Welsh Duolingo tree finished before I picked up Breton again, but the Welsh tree is taking a lot longer than I thought it would and I got tired of waiting. 8-) I reviewing with a couple of Memrise courses--one for the Assimil book and another for the Buan hag Aes textbook I did a couple years back. It's so nice to be back studying Breton. Plij' a ra din deskiñ brezhoneg!

[flag=]sw[/flag]

There is a Swahili Duolingo course due out this December for Swahili and I am prepping for it by reviewing the vocabulary for Simplified Swahili on Memrise--although I had forgotten what an avalanche of vocabulary that books hurls at you--and reviewing some grammar. Nothing too intensive--it's just to be ready for December.

[flag=]es[/flag]

I am trying to review some Spanish on Memrise--laddering it with French makes it a little more appealing for me. Again, this is not a language I have ever had much affection for and I don't like the idea of studying 3 Romance languages at the same time. I would prefer to spend the time spent on Spanish working on almost anything else, but damn it, my Spanish skills could use improvement especially since whatever work I get this fall with likely be with Spanish-speaking students, so here I am, giving it yet another go.


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