tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87164421833604927342012-01-09T11:57:45.559-06:00Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.comBlogger411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-46363220762428387442012-01-08T18:01:00.001-06:002012-01-08T18:18:31.494-06:00

Just checking in to say I'm still around.  Okay, so my goal of posting every day hasn't worked out as planned, but aren't we all a tad overly ambitious when New Years strikes?  :) I recently moved back in with my parents, and in many ways I think it will be a good thing, though I intend for it to be temporary.  First of all, they get HITN on their TV, which is a Spanish-language network. 

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-63608688754223171632012-01-03T20:46:00.003-06:002012-01-09T00:39:16.338-06:00

A Handbook of Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian begins with a short introduction, then jumps into the geography and history of each country and how that history influenced various aspects of each respective language.  I found it interesting to learn about the different paths these countries took and understanding how those paths shaped their cultures.  Dialects are briefly touched on here, and again

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-23037655798255477342012-01-03T02:33:00.001-06:002012-01-03T02:33:31.652-06:00

Uh-oh, I just realized I missed yesterday's post.  Already breaking my resolutions!  I guess I'll cheat and count this as my post for the 2nd.  I've been a bit stressed and wasn't exactly thinking about this blog today (or yesterday if you want to get technical), because my 15-year old cat (look below) was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism.  That would be nadczynność tarczycy po polsku, but I

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-69961433713027700552012-01-01T23:19:00.000-06:002012-01-03T02:35:29.991-06:00

Happy New Year!  One of my resolutions is to post to this blog every day.  Yep, you heard right.  Having only added two posts last year, and just as few the year before, I want to bring this blog back to life, because I do feel more motivated when I write here.  I'm cutting it close today though, seeing as it's less than an hour until tomorrow. My mom has recently talked about getting out her

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-73683165842467228182011-05-23T16:10:00.003-05:002011-12-30T00:07:45.734-06:00

Well, it's been three months, figure it's time for an update.  Just joking.  :)  I've been studying my Lithuanian, which I mentioned adding to my language list a couple of posts down.  I'm going over the basics, and would like to start trying to read newspaper articles and other texts right away.   Lithuanian is supposed to be a pretty difficult language, and even though it's not in the same

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-90913647689697286842011-01-05T18:19:00.004-06:002011-12-30T00:07:25.997-06:00

I hope the new year has been good so far with a fresh inspiration to reach those language-learning goals. My only language resolution is to dedicate more time to practice in all areas: listening, writing, reading and speaking. I seem to have hit a huge slump in my language studies, and I want this year to be the start of a turnaround.

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-7056192857776485862010-08-24T23:38:00.003-05:002011-12-30T00:06:17.438-06:00

I think it was earlier this year that I decided to add Lithuanian to my list. Have I talked about this already? So much time passes between posts, making it hard to remember what I have or haven't said. My thoughts on Lithuanian: 'Hey, it's not so hard.' :D I know I'll be eating those words when I delve a little deeper, because right now, my only resources are Teach Yourself Lithuanian and a

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-87690235885144512612010-06-05T11:18:00.007-05:002011-12-30T00:03:49.489-06:00

I've been focusing a lot on vocabulary lately, especially Portuguese. The other day, I thought about giving up Spanish, but can't. You don't just give up something you've been working at for 15 years. I think Spanish has taken a back burner, because I've added so many languages to the list since beginning to learn it, and I take for granted that it's fairly easy (well, compared to some of the

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-70144564175744915442009-05-20T17:56:00.008-05:002011-12-30T00:03:23.118-06:00

I figured after nearly a month, it was about time I posted to this thing, even though I don't really have anything exciting in the world of language learning to report. I've been studying my Romanian for the last few days, as well as a little Serbian and Portuguese. I also tried to translate some Polish music this morning using this website.

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-17514998039560080652009-04-23T20:36:00.003-05:002011-12-30T00:02:01.407-06:00

I got a letter from the girl in Nicaragua I sponsor, and was struck by this sentence: "Soy la unica mujer en mi familia ya que tengo 2 hermanos." I have to say, I've never seen mujer translated to mean 'girl.' I wonder if this is a Nicaraguan Spanish thing, or maybe a mistake? I just thought it was interesting, and perhaps am proving I live under a rock, because for all I know, mujer is

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-72187583461691018762009-04-10T18:49:00.011-05:002011-12-30T00:01:26.766-06:00

I really want to get better at my languages. I'm tired of being at a standstill and my lack of motivation. So... No more passively listening to a newscast while organizing my desk drawer, or reading headlines in a newspaper but not the whole article. Goodbye to language blogs sitting empty or taking months to post. Gone are the days of books collecting dust on my shelf, telenovelas

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-63195493482252492772009-03-30T21:37:00.015-05:002011-12-30T00:00:37.648-06:00

When you're learning many languages, you can't help but wonder about others and even contemplate learning more, all the while ignoring the fact you need to focus on and improve those "many languages" you've already taken up. That being said, I've become curious about Creole. I don't know if I would get serious about it, but I don't see any harm in learning some basics. Ah yes, famous last

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-68844565081735049582008-12-30T23:24:00.009-06:002011-12-29T23:58:04.114-06:00

I've been concentrating on Serbian for the last few days. One thing I did was make myself a sheet of the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet with the cursive form next to each printed letter. I can't write in Cyrillic to save my life, so thought a visual reminder would help. Even though Cyrillic isn't a far stretch from the Latin, it still takes some getting used to. I imagine native writers don't

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-43415402896207645892008-12-13T17:29:00.003-06:002011-12-29T23:53:49.753-06:00

I need to figure out how to record myself in the languages I'm learning in order to get feedback, as well as in English. Just an idea for the near future and something I've been meaning to do for a while.

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-3632196392381659392008-11-24T16:31:00.010-06:002011-12-29T23:51:27.234-06:00

I've totally been neglecting this blog. I don't want each update to be the same ol' boring, "Today I studied Portuguese object pronouns," so unless I have something useful to say, I refrain from posting. As a blogger, I don't know which is worse: talking about boring things or not talking at all. At least this time I have something a little more interesting to post. In January of this year,

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-88948874339214920722008-10-24T13:32:00.005-05:002011-12-29T23:48:43.456-06:00

I've been concentrating on Dutch recently by reading through and copying the sentences in my Essential Dutch Grammar book to a composition notebook. I'll write the Dutch sentence, the English translation, then a literal translation. This is a good way to learn sentence patterns, which, other than basic straight-forward sentences, are often quite different from English. Some highschoolers

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-26501840310622567152008-10-01T21:22:00.004-05:002011-12-29T23:46:53.525-06:00

Here's an interesting article explaining Sarah Palin's accent.

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-66257154045376341162008-09-13T19:22:00.009-05:002011-12-29T23:46:36.261-06:00

I went to World Market a couple of weeks ago and bought two diaries in which to attempt to write the old-fashioned way: one for Portuguese and one for Bulgarian so far (I would definitely like to get better at handwritten Cyrillic).

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-71445140446958813432008-08-12T00:33:00.006-05:002011-12-29T23:45:25.362-06:00

I was looking at my Berlitz Romanian phrasebook this morning and thinking how much I love that language.  *starry eyes*

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-69490439212369488192008-04-09T16:58:00.009-05:002011-12-29T23:44:07.253-06:00

I went to the library this afternoon and checked-out a country profile book about the Netherlands called Holland by Mies Bouhuys. It's pretty dated, copyright 1971, but it's written in English, Dutch and German, so I couldn't resist. Though there are whole pages with text, most is in the form of photo captions, making it a good way to read some Dutch in small doses. Here's a random example,

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-10291002651530227252008-04-02T16:16:00.006-05:002011-12-29T23:42:16.497-06:00

I've been making Slavic vocab lists. When learning languages that share a family (and even those that don't), it's helpful to look for alike words and phrases. That is, instead of thinking in terms of a single language, condense and conquer. ;)

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-50861341688735244402008-03-12T17:59:00.022-05:002011-12-29T23:41:21.282-06:00

I thought I would write some quick sentences alluding to the warm temps we've been experiencing. These sentences are pretty basic, but it's been a long time since I've attempted to write anything in Portuguese. O tempo tem estado agradável esta semana.  O sol se põe mais tarde e nasce mais cedo agora que a primavera está praticamente aqui.  Quando está outono no Brasil, está primavera em

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-63968839699426930152008-02-27T13:28:00.002-06:002011-12-29T23:37:51.715-06:00

Since I thought Polish was Icelandic (of all things), I decided I should hone-up on my listening skills - an area I slack on in all of my languages. I brought along all my Polish books to my sister's and have worked out a plan for the dialogues: ~Listen 5x w/out looking at the transcript (to get a feel for what the speakers are saying). ~Listen and repeat 5x while this time looking at the

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-51163871613198439362008-02-17T23:46:00.017-06:002011-12-29T23:36:17.031-06:00

I love languages, but I've never been the type to dive head-first into the learning and it's a very frustrating trait to have. I listen passively, I read a paragraph (or worse yet, a sentence) and figure, "That's enough for today," I attempt to write once in a blue moon...oy vey! :)  Honestly though, I don't think it's that trait so much as it is I don't make use of what I've learned, no matter

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-13567602458494775962008-01-09T22:42:00.001-06:002011-12-30T00:28:37.612-06:00

Hi all, glad to say it's the second year of this blog, and my motivation for making serious progress in the languages I'm learning is higher than it's been for a while. The only thing I need to do is check my enthusiasm, so I don't get ahead of myself, which is always my downfall. I know I kept mentioning I would discuss my pronunciation of Portuguese, and will keep it brief by simply saying

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-63254012983033653142007-11-27T23:28:00.001-06:002011-12-29T23:26:14.153-06:00

I went to the library today and checked out 1944's An Invitation to Portuguese. It builds on your knowledge by asking questions and giving answers in Portuguese, plus some grammar notes, which is the only place English appears (fine by me). Seems like a good method, but this book is so old-fashioned, it's amusing and quaint.

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-23966958117007336072007-08-27T19:40:00.002-05:002011-12-29T23:25:48.762-06:00

I've been reviewing my Spanish over the last couple of days using my Side-by-Side Spanish & English Grammar book. I edited the notes I took, and realized how little I had decided to keep from what I had scribbled down. That's a good thing though, because that means I remembered/already knew a lot. I'm not obsessed with grammar, but since I primarily concentrate on reading and writing, it's

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-22562693664093855772007-08-16T11:21:00.002-05:002011-12-29T23:25:14.732-06:00

I'm still very much a beginner at Polish, although I do know and recognize some things. One of the hardest things about Polish is the pronunciation. I actually don't think it's all that difficult, but there are some groups of letters that take practice. Polish abounds with "sh" "ch" "zh" sounds, which are fine on their own, but it's not uncommon for these sounds to be combined, making some words

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-45320253692376563032007-07-18T17:57:00.002-05:002011-12-29T23:22:41.606-06:00

The University of Iowa's Department of Spanish and Portuguese has an interesting and interactive dialect page here. Unfortunately, not all countries listed have examples. Transcriptions are available, so one can follow along - good practice for beginner's.

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-67952951624698780372007-05-26T22:12:00.002-05:002011-12-29T23:21:31.051-06:00

Зовем се Кели. Американка сам и наравно говорим енглески. Не говорим српски, али учим и разумем мало. Са српском, студирам пољски и бугарски. Zovem se Keli. Amerikanka sam i naravno govorim engleski. Ne govorim srpski, ali učim i razumem malo. Sa srpskom, studiram poljski i bugarski. My name is Kelly. I'm American and of course I speak English. I don't speak Serbian, but I'm learning and

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-3747690270517866242007-05-21T19:36:00.000-05:002011-12-29T23:19:21.132-06:00

By this time I've gotten the book my older sister found for me, which is the Dutch version of In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan. Should be interesting. :)

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-78947873033937534862007-05-15T14:16:00.000-05:002011-12-29T23:19:03.289-06:00

I was talking to my older sister the other day, as she was touring the EU-member embassies (she lives in DC). At the time she called, she had been to Luxembourg, Ireland, and was just leaving Romania. She said she picked up some bilingual pamphlets for me, so that should be interesting. She also found a non-Spanish novel on Amazon, but wouldn't tell me which language it's in. I imagine

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-44157779308489289172007-03-31T15:24:00.001-05:002011-12-29T23:18:33.068-06:00

Here's another basic sentence: Има много хубави къщи на страната. There are a lot of beautiful houses in the country(side). I'm not 100% sure it's correct though. I do, however, know how to say, вали дъжд, and it's coming down super hard!

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-30776172100589010242007-03-29T18:16:00.000-05:002011-12-29T23:22:20.587-06:00

Казвам се Кели.  Родена съм в Индианаполис.  Не говоря български. My name is Kelly.  I was born in Indianapolis.  I don't speak Bulgarian. Three fascinating statements. :) I get so anxious to dive into the language that I often forget the importance of the beginning stages. Yes, it can be boring and slow-going learning such basic (and seemingly useless) phrases, but it's all part of the

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-30792326433985506032007-03-25T18:41:00.001-05:002011-12-29T23:17:02.361-06:00

I figured I should finally update this thing. Here's the scoop on my language learning: No longer dabbling in Persian. I've decided I don't want to learn it afterall, but I do have a strong interest in learning Lithuanian. That said, I'm resisting the temptation, what with all the other languages I've got going. I've decided to bring Norwegian back into the mix, but I really need

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-32670118896413246442007-02-23T15:37:00.002-06:002011-12-29T23:16:16.934-06:00

I know the last thing I should do is add another language to my list, but I'm seriously considering trying my hand at Persian - at least to get a start in it. It's an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, as well as in Afghanistan where it's known as "Dari," and in Tajikistan where it's known as "Tajik" (of all things) ;). Persian Dari Tajik

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-55189093498197438692007-02-20T01:47:00.001-06:002011-12-29T23:15:52.161-06:00

I didn't get as far with the Bulgarian as I would've liked, but that's because I wasn't letting things sink in. I did, however, get at least some of that Valentine's article translated. I've been reviewing my Spanish by making vocabulary cards. I started teaching myself Spanish when I was 16, so I have a pretty good grasp of Spanish vocab, but it's always good to review.

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-66703594961850469792007-02-13T09:53:00.001-06:002011-12-29T23:15:19.424-06:00

I've been focusing on Bulgarian this week. In the past, I've glanced around at various grammar features, so I'm familiar with some basic stuff, such as being able to identify the definite article equivalents, but I'm definitely still a beginner. I like to start reading immediately, even if just a short paragraph, so I printed off an article about Valentine's Day, which I'll try to translate

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-35452074983680011142007-02-01T02:50:00.000-06:002012-01-06T18:15:54.009-06:00

I'm teaching myself the Brazilian variety of Portuguese. If you're interested in Brazil, here are a few websites to take a peek at: Brazil Max Geographia Maria Brazil

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-69596435644538891322007-01-15T00:14:00.002-06:002011-12-29T23:13:31.010-06:00

Serbian is growing on me more and more. The funny thing is, learning this language was completely on impulse. The first Slavic language I was interested in was Bulgarian. I'm trying my hand at that one too, but I didn't add it to the list until a few months after Serbian, so I had grown a tad accustomed to the latter. There are similarities between the two (the Slavic languages tend to have a

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716442183360492734.post-73754020777688392192007-01-09T19:03:00.000-06:002011-12-29T23:11:31.681-06:00

I'm a bit preoccupied watching The Nanny on Serbian television. I'm not sure which language the actors are speaking, but it's definitely a Slavic one, and since subtitles are being used, I'm going to assume it's not Serbian (it's probably Russian).

Kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02559916598130505916noreply@blogger.com1