Ты говоришь русский язык?
Jan. 21st, 2011 12:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerYou guys! You guys! A miracle has occurred! I can read Russian!
But let me back up: in Russian class we're reading Sofia Petrovna. On Friday we read the chapter where Sofia's son Kolya just got arrested, and the suspense was simply unbearable, so on Saturday I ensconced myself before the fire and finished the book. Which took four hours and gave me a monstrous headache.
But then next class we were reading aloud, like we do. I read Russian like a dim third-grader: everything in a muttering monotone, stuttering over the hard words (a.k.a. "words with more than five letters") and stumbling against every piece of punctuation as if I've never met a comma before in my life. It is so embarrassing.
Except! Except! THIS TIME FINALLY I READ LIKE A NORMAL PERSON! My Saturday reading marathon must have flipped a switch in my brain, transmogrifying the hitherto esoteric and terrifying Russian orthography into words!
My professor was so transfixed that she let me read for three paragraphs. "Очень хорошо!" she cried at the end - "Very good!"
(My professor is awesome. She reads us Russian poetry! Tomorrow she is bringing us a Russian fairy tale! She has a necklace that looks like lifesavers!)
***
In other happy language news, the local library has the Spiderwick Chronicles in Spanish. I was a bit too old for the Spiderwick books when they first came out, but I figure reading them in Spanish will be like reading them as a child, because in Spanish I read so much more slowly.
Last year I reread Number the Stars in Spanish, to test this theory. I read it the first time the summer after second grade - my teacher for summer Spanish camp gave it to me, though in English; funny how things loop back like that. It was the first serious book I read, and had such an effect on me that though I didn't reread it till I read the Spanish version, I remembered the scenes, even the details, before I read them. It gave rereading an eerie echo effect.
But let me back up: in Russian class we're reading Sofia Petrovna. On Friday we read the chapter where Sofia's son Kolya just got arrested, and the suspense was simply unbearable, so on Saturday I ensconced myself before the fire and finished the book. Which took four hours and gave me a monstrous headache.
But then next class we were reading aloud, like we do. I read Russian like a dim third-grader: everything in a muttering monotone, stuttering over the hard words (a.k.a. "words with more than five letters") and stumbling against every piece of punctuation as if I've never met a comma before in my life. It is so embarrassing.
Except! Except! THIS TIME FINALLY I READ LIKE A NORMAL PERSON! My Saturday reading marathon must have flipped a switch in my brain, transmogrifying the hitherto esoteric and terrifying Russian orthography into words!
My professor was so transfixed that she let me read for three paragraphs. "Очень хорошо!" she cried at the end - "Very good!"
(My professor is awesome. She reads us Russian poetry! Tomorrow she is bringing us a Russian fairy tale! She has a necklace that looks like lifesavers!)
***
In other happy language news, the local library has the Spiderwick Chronicles in Spanish. I was a bit too old for the Spiderwick books when they first came out, but I figure reading them in Spanish will be like reading them as a child, because in Spanish I read so much more slowly.
Last year I reread Number the Stars in Spanish, to test this theory. I read it the first time the summer after second grade - my teacher for summer Spanish camp gave it to me, though in English; funny how things loop back like that. It was the first serious book I read, and had such an effect on me that though I didn't reread it till I read the Spanish version, I remembered the scenes, even the details, before I read them. It gave rereading an eerie echo effect.
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no subject
Date: 2011-01-21 08:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-21 01:28 pm (UTC)But I have a friend learning Chinese, which is even harder.
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Date: 2011-01-21 12:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-21 01:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-21 03:20 pm (UTC)I wish I could sparkle you, but my sparkletext won't recognize the Russian letters.
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Date: 2011-01-21 09:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-21 09:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-25 10:05 pm (UTC)=)
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Date: 2011-01-25 10:07 pm (UTC)Hi Jin! I'm from Russia (Saint Petersburg) and I'm majoring in English. Here in LJ I'm searching for people with similar interests who I could read in English. So I've addded you =) Btw, nice to hear of your progress in Russian!
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Date: 2011-01-25 11:25 pm (UTC)Your English seems pretty good to me already!
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Date: 2011-01-25 11:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-25 11:51 pm (UTC)Thanks for complimenting my English! I like learning it. I only wish we had more native speakers at the university here.
и что?
Re: и что?
Date: 2011-01-28 10:31 pm (UTC)