I keep making long bulleted lists without making them actually bulleted.

[avrelia]

I am alive and well.
I love autumn.
I feel slightly guilty when I don’t post often. When did it started?

The only common feature of the people from Latin America that I know, is their annoying (to me) habit of speaking Spanish – apart from those who speaks Portuguese. Couldn’t they speak Russian? Otherwise, their heritage and appearances are as diverse and fascinating as everywhere else (okay, I can speak only for Russia and Canada.

I am taking courses in the George Brown College. Mostly English. Surprisingly, larger parts of both classes (College English and Grammar and Punctuation I ) are Canadians – with English as their first language. It’s gratifying, you know. ;)

Another thing: getting deep into studying English again made me appreciate Russian language. I don’t mean that it is better or easier than English, but going back to those building blocks that constitute any language reminded me how much I love the Russian. ::cuddles Russian language::

I was busy. With stuff. In the mean time I collected I number of posts I wanted to read and/or comment on. Only I don’t remember where are they. I am also trying to do something about writing feedback to you. (I mean a lot of people on my flist at beyond.) Being and amazing procrastinator sometimes I just want to write a blanket feedback:

Dear you! And you, and you, and you!

I’ve read and enjoyed your fic (two, three, all of them) Thank you.

Only it would be odd. Besides, the fun thing about feedback is to write something special and thoughtful. That’s where I mostly suck.

But, honestly, if you read this? I love what you write. Thank you.

Comments

[gobi-rex.livejournal.com]

I know how you feel about studying English. Actually this reminds me how I often wish I could go back and start over, beginning with the basic building blocks. I started studying English in 2nd grade and then came to the US at the end of 8th grade. After that, it was learning by immersion and I sometimes felt jealous of my left-behind classmates who did it the formal way. I may know more idioms and etc, but they have a better feeling of how the two languages relate to each other. And I don't want to lose Russian. Yet every time I pick up my Russian 'spravochnik', I feel guilty about not doing something with an English usage/style guide and vice versa. I still aspire to learn a third language someday, but I'm afraid to compromise the other two. Plus, I have this (perhaps silly) idea that it would be easier/more beneficial to study another language from the Russian perspective. Argh.

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

I still don't know what is the best way to sudy a foreign language. Knowing all the rules without being able to speak fluently, or vice versa.
Honestly, I also want to learn another language, and I remember how much fun was to study German (I had an opportunity to study it for a year when Iwas in the university). And I don't think another foreign language will compromize English or Russian for you - it can actually make it clearer how languages work (that's what I remember form my experiences).
Of course, I cannot find a reason to study German now. Though I'd love to.

[gobi-rex.livejournal.com]

And I don't think another foreign language will compromize English or Russian for you - it can actually make it clearer how languages work (that's what I remember form my experiences).

Thanks for the encouragement. I'll definitely keep it in mind. My mother has two friends who study languages as a hobby, so it's definitely doable, at least for some people. The idea of being able to explore and understand another part of the world/culture is just too tempting.

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

It is tempting. I've heard that the more languages one knows, the easier a new language is learned. I met people here who claim the ability to speak around ten languages - and I am in awe with them. Thouh I'd love to be able at least read two more languages.

[gobi-rex.livejournal.com]

I've heard that the more languages one knows, the easier a new language is learned.

I certainly hope so. I also heard that Eastern Europeans supposedly have an easier time learning new languages than most other nationalities. Well, I've met people whose abilities disprove this theory, and I've met people whose abilities support it.

I met people here who claim the ability to speak around ten languages - and I am in awe with them

I've met such people. I'm insanely jealous of their abilities. The most memorable example of such polyglot skills is a geography professor I'd met in college. I attended his USSR Geography class just to listen to his lectures. What a guy! A gay Jew from an immigrant orthodox Jewish family in New York, specializing in cultural geography of Eastern Europe. He spoke a number of Eastern European languages, and of course, Hebrew. (Plus, he shared my passion for squid) You either loved him or hated him. I also attended his cultural geography class later in my college career and it just blew me away. Just thinking about his lectures puts a smile on my face :) Anyway, enough fangirling.

I once visited a discussion forum for "One hundred years of solitude" by G.G.Marquez. A lot of people there swore what an amazing experience it was to read the book in its various translations. (And here I am, kicking myself for not having expressed interest in it earlier, while I had the opportunity to get my hands on the Russian copy) I enjoyed the English translation, but I can't help wondering how it would be in other languages. And it would be nice to read the original.