(no subject)

[shadowkat]

1. After a long walk through another section of the neighborhood -- this section is filled with $5 million dollar mansions, and looks like Greenwhich, Connetitcut, with it's old trees, English Tudor homes, and gardens -- picked up groceries and wandered home. In the process, I walked through five different levels of class -- ultra rich, upper middle class, lower middle and working class -- also at least three-four different ethnic groups -- Bengali, Russian, Carribbean, Korean, and Northern European. Heard four different languages -- Bengali, Russian, Yiddish, Korean, and some language, I've no clue what it is. I got home and tried to have a conversation with one of people in my building about a bunch of emergency police vehicles parked down the street -- but alas she only spoke Russian and I only spoke English -- it was conversation with nothing but hand gestures.

I'm considering trying Russian on Duolingo, except -- apparently it's hard to read the Cyrilic. Which can understand -- seen Cyrillic -- I don't see how people read it.

But it's a lovely day, in the low 70s and clear blue skies. I may go on another walk later. Have to do it in stages -- can't walk too long, due to lower back pain.

(I love reading these stories about people taking up running to lose weight and change their lives -- I can't run, it would kill me. My sisterinlaw can't either -- she tried and it killed her back. I have friends who were runners and can't due to tendenitits and shin splints. I used to run five to ten miles when I was a kid. I ran cross-country and track in Junior High, and ran through high school and college. In college I was doing five to six miles a day in Colorado, with high altitude, but I was also swimming and had gotten my life-saving certificate. And I'd hiked to the top of Pikes Peak, and the previous summer hiked around Wales with a backpack, and had hiked Bandlier National Park. So I was in great shape. IF you try to run and you aren't in good shape, and haven't built up serious muscle in your thighs and core, and you aren't thin -- you are likely to kill yourself. Running is not a safe exercise. I've had two physical therapists, a massage therapist, and a pain management back specialist advise me not to run.

Particularly if you are running on concrete in an urban area -- the pounding on knees, stress on the heart, and back...alone. I really wish the media would stop pushing running and jogging for weight loss. Walking and swimming are far safer.)

2. Found a new comfort show on Netflix -- Chef's Line -- it's an Australian cooking demonstration competition reality series -- that has an innovative set-up. Four amateur cooks compete against the line of chefs who work at one of the premier restaurants in Australia. Added to this -- they are focusing on ethnic restaurants that represent cuisine from around the world. It also borrows heavily from Great British Bake-Off in being kind and showing the best of humanity. Actually, I'd say it is kinder than Bake-Off and less competitive. More focused in exploring different cultures and cuisines and techniques than competition.

The first episode was Vietnamese Week featuring Melbourne restaurant Dandilion, a modernized take on Vietnamese cuisine. The second episode is African Week, and features Adelaide restaurant, Africola, run by a South African chef. It features ethnic cuisine, various people from other countries who are now living in Australia, and everyone is really kind to each other. The expert chefs have even helped the amateurs at various points.

Also, Australian accents -- which I rather adore.

Comments

[cactuswatcher]

Although I'm hesitant to suggest Russian as a second language for English speakers who don't have a experience with foreign languages (I think you said you had some French somewhere), I would definitely say that the Cyrillic alphabet should be the least of your concerns for learning Russian. When we teach it, the first hour is spent going over the alphabet. There is always a quiz over the alphabet the second class meeting. Thereafter I don't know of anyone having any trouble with it. As long as you can hear the letters as they sound in words, then spend an hour or so connecting the sounds to the shapes, identifying the letters in words (you don't have to actually read the words yet!) and writing them for yourself, you should have no problem. Most people enjoy trying to write the Russian script which looks different from the printed script! You could save that for another day if it seems like too much to learn at once.

I don't know how many people said how hard the Russian alphabet must be to learn, when I told them I started learning Russian. I always smiled and nodded, though it was a complete fib. People thinking I was doing something difficult seemed more fun than telling them the truth!

[shadowkat]

I took the equivalent of six to seven years of French, and stayed in France for a summer ( granted the French wasn't the French I'd been taught, but rather a combination of Gallic and French or Breton. It would be like learning English and going to Yorkshore or Scotland, and thinking wait, this isn't what I was taught at all or learning Russian and going to the Ukraine.)

I have a five year old's understanding of the language. I could sort of understand it, I know when people are speaking it, and I can say maybe one or two phrases that's it.

My father took Russian -- his Russian is about at the same level as my French. It's really hard to master a language unless you are using it constantly.

I'm considering Russian, because I have a lot of Russians around me, although they could be Polish -- I really can't tell the difference. My Russian co-worker is always correcting me -- "No, that's Polish." LOL!

Dawn Gilipin (aka superplin)is learning Russian on Duolingo, but she's also a bit of a linguist -- fluent in Italian and has picked up various other languages. She said the difficulty on Duolingo was figuring out Cyrillic. Everything else was fine.

Here's a quick lesson

[cactuswatcher]

Not complete but most of what you'd need to learn the Russian alphabet. Certainly enough to see what you'd be in for:

а А - pronounced just like 'ah'
б Б- pronounced like English ‘b’ in context.
в В- pronounced like English ‘v’ in context. The Russians borrowed it from Greek, after the letter in Greek became pronounced like a ‘v”
г Г- pronounced like English ‘g’ never like English ‘j’. Think Greek gamma.
д Д- pronounced like French ‘d’. Think mangled Greek delta.
е Е- pronounced like the first two letters of “yes”
ё Ё- pronounced like “Yo” as in “Yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum”
ж Ж- pronounced like the ‘z’ in “azure” in English or as ‘j’ in French as in “je”. Think of it in print as a “k” written both backwards and forwards.
з З- pronounced like ‘z’ in “zoo.” Some people write capital ‘Z’ in script somewhat like this. In fact very much like a script capital ‘З’ in Russian
и И- pronounced like ‘i’ in “machine.”
й Й- pronounced like ‘y’. Called ‘short и’ it’s always a consonant, and never has a vowel sound.
к К- pronounced like ‘k’
л Л- pronounced like ‘l’. Think of it as a fat ‘l’ with a little hook in front. The hook is very important!
м М- pronounced like ‘m’. in script this letter also has a little hook in front of it.
н Н- pronounced like ‘n’. A letter you’ll have to memorize.
о О- a little tricky. Say the English word “Oh” in exaggerated fashion. Notice it starts out ‘o’ but ends in ‘u’ The Russian o is the same with out the ‘u’ sound at all. Technically that means you do not want to keep rounding your lips more as you pronounce the Russian sound.
п П- pronounced like ‘p’. Of course think Greek pi
р Р- confusingly pronounced ‘r’ as in Spanish or Italian with a tongue flap. It’s another letter borrowed from Greek namely rho. English ‘r’ isn’t quite right. Some Russians (including Lenin!) pronounce it like a French ‘r’. But I’ve only heard that once or twice in person.
с С- like English ‘s’ which should not be too strange, but never like English ‘k’.
т Т- like French ‘t’. (the script version looks much different.)
у У- like English ‘oo’ in moon.
ф Ф- like English ‘f’. think Greek Phi.
х Х- unlike anything in English, Scottish ‘ch’ is said in the throat. This letter is with a similar rasp, but against the roof of the mouth not in the throat. It is usually transliterated as ‘kh’ but that’s only a help if you already know what it sounds like.
ц Ц - like English ‘ts’ as in “hats”. You no doubt seen the English word “tsar” which has this letter in Russian
ч Ч- like English ‘ch’ as in “church”
ш Ш- like English ‘sh’ in “should”
щ Щ- like the previous two letters mashed together ‘shch’. I’ve seen the English example “fresh cheese,” but I know that still seems confusing. The famous beet soup is “borshch.”
ъ - (hard sign) no sound of its own, but it affects the consonant before it.
ы - a unique sound with some trickiness you’d learn from hearing a teacher. It’s a bit like the English ‘uh’ followed by ‘y’ or ‘uhy’. You’d really need to hear it.
ь - (soft sign) no sound of its own, but it affects the consonant before it.
э Э- the same vowel as in English “set” or “get’
ю Ю - sounds like the English word “you”
я Я - sounds like German ‘Ja’ or the first two letters of English “yacht”
Russian vowel pairs:
а,я... э,е... о,ё... у,ю... (ъ,ь)
The two letters mostly have much the same sound, except at the beginning of a syllable the second starts with a “y” sound and after a consonant that consonant is pronounced soft. instead. Hard and soft consonants are beyond what I can show you in writing. ы,и... work the same with consonants, but the first never starts a word and the second doesn't have that "y" sound at the start of a syllable. ъ and ь were long ago vowels but no longer have any sound of their own.

Re: Here's a quick lesson

[shadowkat]

Thank you. That looks like a lot of work to transcribe -- appreciate it.
I don't know if I can master it -- my brain has to keep track of so many things that it doesn't want to already...because of work, not sure it can handle figuring out the differences between Russian and English.

That was my difficulty with French, actually, I kept getting it and English confused. I was putting e's on the ends of a lot of English words, where they did not belong.

ETA: On my walk this afternoon, saw a lot of written Bengali -- which looks like a far more flowery take on Cyrillic, with a bit of Arabic thrown in.
Not recognizable at all.

[wpadmirer]

Running is definitely hard on the body. I ran for decades. I did marathons, and I loved it. But I've got a wonky hip now and can't.

Also - I ran two marathons and never lost a pound. I weighed exactly the same when I started training as I did when I finished the marathon. So it doesn't always work as a way to lose weight.

However, with rock climbing and boxing, I have lost weight, lost inches around my waist, a full cup size in my bra, and gained muscle mass.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, I'd have to agree -- I've never lost weight running. I've lost wait walking long distances and not eating any sugar and carbs. Also not drinking anything with sugar in it.

Not surprised that rock climbing and boxing help with weight loss and muscle mass - particular in the arms -- because you are working those muscles.

[wpadmirer]

Rock climbing will also build the legs. Top roping is all about the legs.

[yourlibrarian]

I love reading these stories about people taking up running to lose weight and change their lives -- I can't run, it would kill me.

Me too. I just posted now about the amount of physical activity I can tolerate. Mike mentioned to me on Saturday, when he went off to play baseball, that another player's wife also says to him "Don't hurt yourself" when he goes off. He said "Why isn't it ever 'Have fun?'" I told him it was because he wouldn't be going if he didn't have fun, but it would be nice not to have him return with a new injury every time

[shadowkat]

Yeah. It's all fun and games, until you can't walk or have troubles sleeping without pain, or sitting without pain.

I've learned to be careful. I can't walk long distances, and hiking is limited to two miles at the moment, maybe three. Yoga helps, but limited in the moves I can safely do without seriously injuring myself.

Living in and walking around a city is hard on the feet and knees.

[yourlibrarian]

Ugh yes, I can't imagine that sort of pounding on my knees.

[shadowkat]

Exactly. And add to that all the stress, noise, etc of the city. It's not conducive to running. I had a Physical Therapist who did a fifteen minute rant on why people shouldn't run marathons in NYC. He said after every marathon -- he got flooded with injuries.

[rose_griffes]

I can't run; my hips start to hurt within a couple of days of starting the training, and they don't stop hurting for several days after I stop. And I'm fairly slender(ish).

On the other hand, I have a childhood friend who adores running. She's been overweight for years, but runs regularly. It seems to work fine for her.

I'll keep that cooking show on my list of possible "filler" TV--something to watch while I'm sewing, or whatever else.

Ooh, forgot to say: are there any adult continuing education classes in your area? Language classes are usually more helpful than apps or websites, and if it's conversationally-focused, it could be interesting. (Apps and websites are really awesome for supplementing classes, but it's very hard to acquire langauge without human interaction. Our brains just don't work like that.)

[shadowkat]

I can't run; my hips start to hurt within a couple of days of starting the training, and they don't stop hurting for several days after I stop. And I'm fairly slender(ish).

Yep, for me hips and knees...I honestly think if you have arthritis in knees, hips or back, you can't run.

Apparently running and weight loss is a myth? Because wpadmirer made the same comment -- also I never lost weight running. I've only lost weight by changing what I eat. That's it.

I'll keep that cooking show on my list of possible "filler" TV--something to watch while I'm sewing, or whatever else.

It's excellent filler television. I watched it while eating -- which it works very well for, and while cleaning. Very relaxing, and everyone is very nice to one another. It made me like human beings again. So works very well as a palate cleanser and alternative to the nasty news.

are there any adult continuing education classes in your area? Language classes are usually more helpful than apps or websites, and if it's conversationally-focused, it could be interesting. (Apps and websites are really awesome for supplementing classes, but it's very hard to acquire langauge without human interaction. Our brains just don't work like that.)

There are --- but not nearby (ie. 45-2 hour commute) and bad times. Also, expensive. I don't have time for them. The app however is free -- so I may try it and then try it out on co-worker and people in the building. It's not like I don't have Russian speakers wandering about within easy access.