#NaBloPoMo May 2: Your Passion

Does everyone have a passion? It feels like I have spent a lifetime seeking a passion, without finding one. Does that make me abnormal? Dear Reader, what is your passion? On my journey I have found loads of things that interest me: learning languages, travelling, learning in general, reading, working out. But there is no flame burning within me. There is nothing I could not live without. 

Taking a photograph of my passion seemed to be a task of the tougher kind. Until it hit me - a word. No thing would reflect my passions - or object of interest, but a word would.

So, ladies and gentlemen - the word that sums it all up:

Mакедонски јазик [MK: Macedonian Language]

It was rather surprising how easy it was to get around in Skopje. You see, everyone spoke English - tadaa! Macedonian, however, is fairly easy to understand (especially written but also spoken) as well if you have previous knowledge of any Slavic language and know how to read Cyrillic. Piece of cake. The majority of signs were in Macedonian and Albanian. Information for tourists (about sights and such) was in English as well. I thought it was a bit funny that many companies had English names, usually starting with Euro-. Seems like someone wants to join the European Union.

Macedonian is a South Slavic language, forming a continuum with Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian. The language is fairly new, as it was implemented as an official language in 1945. It is during and after this time that the language was codified and it developed a literature. Unlike the majority of other Slavic languages, Macedonian has no case system. It also has definite articles. This is so confusing. 

Aiming.

Dear fellow language-learners. 

As you may have noticed, this month is all about habits and promises and resolutions and whatnot. Let's make a short summary of how to say these things in the languages spoken at the Playground.

• English: Habit. Goal/aim. Motivation. Success. Failure. 
• Finnish: Tapa. Päämäärä. Motivaatio. Onnistuminen. Epäonnistuminen. 
• Swedish: Vana. Mål. Motivation. Framgång. Misslyckande. 
• Spanish: Costumbre. Meta. Motivación. Éxito. Fracaso. 
• Polish: Obyczaj. Cel. Motywacja. Sukces. Porażka.
• Russian: привычка. цель. мотивация. успех. неуспех.
• Slovak: Zvyk. Cieľ. Motivácia. Úspech. Zlyhanie. 
• Hungarian: Szokás. Cél. Motiváció. Siker. Kudarc. 

[Habits] [Photo Diary] In 2015...

Life is all about habits - it's all about turning our wishes and desires into a form of behaviour that will turn into a habit. Only a habit will provide the constancy required for any real change in the current state of affairs.

In 2015, this is one of the things I want to turn into a habit:

Скажите мне.. .

Вижу, что у меня здесь много посетителей из России.  Это очень интересно. Вы здесь, но ничего не говорите :) Иногда я пишу что-то о русским языке, но это не случается так часто. О чем я могу писать? Что вас интересует? 

Po polsku

Letni Dzień

To już jest koniec lata.

Ja tutaj słyszę muzykę, nic nie robię.

Za chwilę zacznie padać deszcz,

świat jest cichy.

A myślę, jak piękny jest ten język.

Jak piękny jest ten świat.

Mowię, że ten jest tylko letnim projektem.

Mowię, że tylko chcę go ulepszyć.

Wydaje mi się, że to nie prawda.

Jesteś wyjątkowy, jesteś tajemnicą.

Mowiąc prawdę, nie potrzebuję ciebie,

ale bez ciebie nie mogę żyć.

Ja chcę cię znać, jak znam mój własny.  

Hello Polish [Language Challenge]

Long time no see. But my language studies have continued and next time it is time to begin with Polish [an evaluation of my progress in Slovak will come later next week].

I did learn from past mistakes and decided to take a small test of Polish, in order to have some idea of where the journey would begin. As a reference point, I decided to use the Polish proficiency test at www.transparent.com at http://www.transparent.com/learn-polish/proficiency-test.html

So, no perfection but the score is OK.

I believe that I need to work on:

• Some grammar 
• ...but mostly vocabulary. 

Vocabulary is the key for communication! As with Slovak, focus will be placed on creating text and translation. Here the advantage is that my Polish is a lot better than my Slovak so I will be able to create more freely!

Mango & Peach Smoothie

This mango & peach smoothie is refreshing and the lovely color is energizing. [Oh. Let's learn languages the smoothie-way..] The following ingredients are needed for 2-3 servings:
1 mango
1 apricot
Some orange juice
Skimmed milk.

Just throw everything in a mixer and enjoy.

Prísady: mango, broskyňa, pomarančový džús a mlieko bez tuku

Składniki: mango, brzoskwinia, sok pomarańczowy i mleko beztłuszczowe.

Ингредиенты: манго, персик, апельсиновый сок и обезжиренное молоко

Oops. [Language Challenge]

This week, while working on my language project/challenge, I realized that I had completely forgotten one of the essential rules of goal setting - having a tangible goal. 

How can I really see any improvement if I don't know where I stand and have no idea where I am heading?

In order to solve the issue I decided to jolt down all the words that I could think of in Slovak in order to define my current level. The solution is far from ideal because it wasn't thought through. I also don't believe that the amount of words can be used to measure one's level in language.It doesn't work that way - in the ideal life, quality should come over quantity.

Apart from this mishap, I am quite happy about the challenge so far. I have done some writing, I have learnt some new vocab. All in all, it's fun AND it's a way to kill time on the train. 

Básnik sa modlí za deti

In my Slovak book (Slovak for You) there is a wonderful poem written by Milan Rúfus and I thought I would share it with you.

I have translated the poem into English and Swedish. Both translations are below. At the end of this post, you will find a youtube video of another text by Milan Rufús. Listen to it, and you will hear what a wonderful language Slovak is.


Básnik sa modlí za deti 

Nevedia prečo,

no vel'mi im to treba.

A možno ešte viacej ako chleba.

Aby im v duši pusto nebolo.

Aby ich mali radi okolo.

Aby im bolo mäkko

ako v mame.

Ked' bolia veci, ktoré nepoznáme,

tu každé diet'a,

plaché ako laň,

na hlave musí cítit' teplú dlaň.

Bože,

o takú dlaň Ťa l'udské mlád'a prosí.

V čase, ked' ešte ani nevie, Kto si.

Nášiel Ťa hore ten džavot tenkých hláskov?

Nášiel. Dal si im liek.

A nazval si ho láskou. 

The Poet Prays for the Children

Not knowing why,

but it was to them very necessary.

Perhaps even more so than bread.

So that their souls would not be empty.

So that they would be loved.

So that they would feel as soft

as in their mother.

When the unknown hurts,

here each child,

shy as a dove,

must feel a warm hand on her head. 

God,

the human youth is begging You for such a hand.

In a time, when it does not yet know, Who you are.

Did the chatter of thin voices find You up above? 

It did. You gave them a remedy.

And called it love. 

Poeten ber för barnen

Utan att veta varför,

behöver de det så mycket.

Kanske även mer än bröd.

Så att de inte känner sig tomma i själen.

Så att de blir älskade. 

Så att de känner sig mjuka

som i mamma.

När det okända gör ont,

här ska varje barn,

skygg som en duva,

känna en varm hand på sitt huvud. 

Gud,

en sådan hand ber människobarnen dig om.

I en tid då de ännu inte vet Vem du är. 

Hittade pladdret av tunna röster Dig däruppe?

Det hittade dig. Du gav dem ett botemedel.

Och kallade det kärlek. 

Moja ranná káva (SK: my morning coffee)

Ahojte!

Ako sa máte? Tu je všetko dobré.

I'm currently visiting my parents, or to be more precise - their dog. My parents are off travelling this weekend and I am having a loooong weekend from work. In a while I'll also need to defend my thesis. Then, what?

I'm quite happy about having been able to work on my Slovak this week. SJ (the main train operator in Sweden) had quite a chaotic week, which gave me loads of time to study Slovak.

The material that I use for my Slovak adventure is a book called Slovak for You by Ada Bohmerova. It's not the most interesting textbook I have seen, but it serves its purpose. I'm also carrying around on the Little Prince (Malý princ), attempting to read it once in a while.

My problem when it comes to Slovak is that I understand it. Is that a problem? It sure is! Because I understand quite a bit, I don't make much of an effort to actually memorize the Slovak version of words and grammar. The other day I was trying to put together some sentences, which was very hard as I intuitively wanted to use the Polish alphabet instead of the Slovak one. Silly me!

I believe that one can learn a lot by analyzing words and sentences. So, let's analyze the "Ako sa máte?" 

Ako sa máte? How are you?

Ako = how (compare with jak in Polish and как in Russian)
sa - this is actually a reflexive formant, which belongs to the verb mat' (to have).
máte = they have.

Conjugation of mat' and nemát' 

Ja mám - ja nemám
Ty máš - ty nemáš
On, ona, ono má - on, ona, ono nemá

My máme - my nemáme
Vy máte - vy nemáte
Oni, ony majú - oni, ony nemajú

And how to reply...

• Ďakujem, dost' dobre/celkom dobre. Quite well, thank you. 
• Bohužiaľ, nie vel'mi dobre. Unfortunately, not too well. 
• Dobre/ nie dobre. Well/ not well. 

The Multiple Language Experiment - Summer 2014

A while back I wrote about picking up some of my old languages.  I have given this some thought and have decided to do a little language project as I finally have the time to do so. I spend a total of 80 minutes on a train each working day, so why not spend the time efficiently.

3 languages. 5 days a week. 5 weeks for each language. 15 weeks.

The languages are Slovak, Polish and Russian. And this is how I'm going to do it:

• Day 1: Read from a book or other text
• Day 2: Read an article on current affairs
• Day 3: Translate the article into English
• Day 4: Translate a poem into English
• Day 5: Write a short story

I will be starting with Slovak because it is the weakest of the three languages. The goal is to be able to produce something in the language, a written text.  We will see how it goes.

Pravda [SK: Truth]

Pravda

Pravda! -- Ja o nej poznám veľa.

Jej hlas mi vždy bol najdrahší.

Bohovia si ju nerozdelia

v hre pri hazardnom mariáši.

Jej trpezlivým slovom večným

kdekto sa lživo honosí.

No jej sú cudzie sladké slečny,

neznáša zlaté podnosy.

Pravda je ako voda v studni

-- čistá a prostá, hlboká.

Pravda je úsvit nezáludný,

ktorý ťa budí z obloka.

Je v tvrdých dlaniach zapísaná,

zasiata v brázdach našich čiel.

A nie je ťažká žiadna rana

na cestách, ak si za ňou šiel.

Ján Majerník,  Stalo sa, 1978

Truth

Truth! --- I know much about her .

Her voice was always the dearest to me.

May the Gods not break her

in the game of hazardous poker.

On her eternal voice of patience

many would falsely pride themselves.

Indeed, hers are strange sweet ladies,

 not carrying golden plates.

Truth is like water in a well

-- pure and simple, deep. 

Truth is the non-deceptive dawn

that awakes you from the window.

She is written in the hard palms,

planted in the furrows of our aims.

And on the roads no blow 

is heavy, if you'd gone for her yourself.

Ján Majerník,  Stalo sa, 1978 - translation mine

Slovak is pretty amazing [Považuj každý deň ako svoj najlepši]

One more day in this country. For now. Oh-oh. I will miss it – will try to keep learning some Slovak in the future – even though I haven’t been so active about learning it since I moved here, mostly because of the constant lack of time.

At this moment in time I understand Slovak pretty well, but when trying to speak it, it all turns into a fabulous mix consisting mainly of Polish with some Russian and some Slovak thrown in.

Anyways. I think proverbs are fun, so I decided to post some Slovak ones. See how pretty the language is? And wise? You other Slavic speakers may practice your guessing skills….

 

S pravdou najd’alej zajdeš.

Človeka pri pijatyke a pri hre poznáš.

Silená modlitba nejde do neba.

Na zajtra je len hnev dobre odkladať.

Do domu, kde láska byva, slniečko sa rado diva.

Kto nemá v hlave, má v pätách.

Premôž svoj hnev, pokým je malý.

Považuj každý deň ako svoj najlepši.

Lepši chlebik v pokojí, ako koláč v rozbroji.

a potom si spomeniem

Last night – in a crowded and smoky bar – I remember how much I love Slavic languages and the countries in this part of the world. My fascination with Central Eastern Europe and Slavic languages started when I saw a picture of a sunflower field in then Yugoslavia. I was not old then, I’m older now. The fascination persists. The thought of leaving made me sad. Fortunately Sweden is near and there plenty of flights from there to down here.

 

jar sa blíži [the spring is approaching]

The Slovak word for spring, jar, is quite interesting as it reminds of few other Slavic languages. In Polish spring is wiosna, in Russian and in Ukrainian it is весна. In the Balkans the word for spring are quite similar: in Bulgaria one speaks of пролет, in Serbia it is пролеће and in Croatia – proljeće. The only version being close to the Slovak version is – not so surprisingly - the Czech jaro.
My point? There is none – except that it is a lot of fun comparing languages.

One thing I’m often thinking about is the mutual understanding between languages and where to draw the line. Say, I am fluent in Swedish – does that mean that I’m capable to function in Norwegian? My initial reaction is no! Even though I might understand some of the things the other person is saying - I might be able to read a book even – the risk of being misunderstood or to misunderstand is too great! It is very often, however, that I find myself alone with this view. In general I think that the limits of languages knowledge are too fluffy. It is often the case that a long list of languages on the CV looks great, the higher the level the better. Insight into one’s own skills is often forgotten. Countless are the times people have claimed to be fluent in English – until they had to write a piece in advanced English or talk to someone from Ireland. Fluency – to me – means that one is able to communicate fluently no matter the context.

What I’m trying to say here is that one’s language skills are often judged based on what a subjectively written piece of paper says. Sometimes there are such things as language testing, but if these tests are not carried out by professionals, then what kind of a result do you expect?
And then there are those who have worked hard to acquire a foreign language and speak it like a native. That should be the goal and you who have done it, you are a great inspiration!

(this post was supposed to be about the wonders of wearing a leather jacket after a long winter, but oh well – I got a bit carried away)

Ночь, улица, фонарь, аптека, Бессмысленный и тусклый свет.

Look what I found on Wikipedia: one of my favourite poems by Aleksandr Blok!

***

Night, street, lantern, drugstore.

Meaningless and dull light.

Live another quarter of a century -

Everything will be the same. There is no way out.

 

You will die – then start again from the beginning.

And everything will be repeated like before:

Night, the channel’s icy ripples,

Drugstore, street, lantern. 

****

blizkie ,'the close ones'

This week I have entertained myself with reading reports on poverty in Russia and Bulgaria. The perception of poverty in these country makes an interesting read, but it will not be the main topic of discussion today. Instead, it will be the words близкий – near, close.

This word appeared in the Russian report and there was something similar in the Bulgarian one, so of course I needed to do a little comparison between my main three: Russian, Polish and Slovak to look for similarities.

	Russian	Polish	Slovak
	близкий	blizki	blízky

 

While we are at it. Say hello to my new friend - привет моему новому другу:

Russian	Polish	Slovak
сова	sowa	sova

dôležité veci.[SK: important things].

Language tip: write down a list of things that matter to you. Translate. Memorize.

Language & Food

One way to efficiently learn a language is through food. When living abroad – and also when travelling – one is faced with the challenge to read the menu or to find the correct ingredients in the supermarket. Food is important!

Food is also a big part of the culture of the country where one is residing or visiting. One of my tips for language-learning is to familiarize oneself with local food and dishes and to look at the grammatical structures behind the names (if there are any).

 

 

Autumn is duck season in Slovakia. The duck is usually served cabbage (red, white or both), potato pancakes and/or dumplings. These are the following phrases you may see in restaurants or in cookbooks:

Pečená kačica s červenou kapustou = roast duck with red cabbage

Pečená kačica s dvoma druhmi kapusty, lokšami a knedľami = roast duck with two kinds of cabbage, potato pancakes and dumplings

Grammatically there are a lot of fun things going on there. See the declension of cabbage? But do you notice how different the endings can be?

Another tip, especially for all those who love cooking, is to look for interesting recipes. One’s language skills improve quickly while translating recipes and trying them out in practice!