Comments on: FI3M is one year old today! Future plans, consultation & weeks before exam

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 22:42:39 +0000

This kid deserves a star! I've never been able to pronounce words in Russian—I usually end up saying goobadeegoobadeegoop or something like that; BUT his pronunciation was so articulate I had no problem with it

By: Xperian

Xperian — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:02:08 +0000

Congratulations on making a year, here's to another year of language learning!

By: UmitOrhan

UmitOrhan — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 18:29:00 +0000

I cant really believe that you started FI3M just 1 year ago! Oh man! Incredible… I was thinking considering the popularity of the blog that it must have been at least 3 years. Actually not surprised since you are a really good communicator and talented writer.
You will pass the C2 exam! No doubt it… I-We believe in you!
Also consider living in Istanbul for 3 months and learning Turkish! This might help you before you save up enough for Moscow! )
Cheers!

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 13:00:34 +0000

Thanks for the advice and good luck wishes!

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 12:59:52 +0000

Thanks a million for the link!!
Haha, das nächste Mal kannst du auf Deutsch schreiben

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 12:58:44 +0000

Thanks! Hope you enjoy your EU trip!!

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 12:58:29 +0000

Thanks!! It feels good to know that I can actually save my money and that it isn't all going directly to visa! Aaaah

By: Darya Shashkova

Darya Shashkova — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 02:24:49 +0000

ah, and Rostov-na-Donu! well, i don't see my earlier comment, i've told you about Saint Petersburg and Kazan
well, good luck with your missions and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

By: Darya Shashkova

Darya Shashkova — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 02:17:37 +0000

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Benny! your Russian and Japanese mission sound really good! well, I'd recommend you Saint Petersburg and Kazan. they are big cities. many people had visited Kazan yet and they are really content with it. I have a spanish friend, he'd studien the Russian there and liked it very much! and also, it's a pretty city.
i've studied in Saint Petersburg. it's great! it's rather cheapier than Moscow and the people are different, more european, i think well, i have many friends there, if you are interested for some info
Good luck with your German exam! Yes, you can!
saludos!

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 21:37:24 +0000

I can't compare it to any towns in Ukraine, but if you actually want to stick to Russia, Kazan is awesome. It's a really cool city with a ton of interesting culture (and a UNESCO World Heritage site if you're into that kind of thing; even if not, the Kremlin is pretty cool). It's kind of an East-meets-West place, where Orthodoxy and Islam coexist peacefully (for the most part), they have world-renowned universities (Lenin studied at Kazan State) and the city is bilingual (Russian and Tatar). I feel as though the last time I was there (early this year), prices were about on par with a mid-sized US city, definitely cheaper than New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, but (a little bit) more expensive than small-town USA. And it's just an overnight train from Moscow, so you can still go visit on the weekends or whatnot.

By: ardenttraveller

ardenttraveller — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 21:10:21 +0000

Congrats on becoming debt-free! Looking forward to the next mission.

By: Niko

Niko — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 20:15:00 +0000

Hey Benny, for practicing your listening (and reading) comprehension you can find hundreds of podcasts with scripts here:
http://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sendungen/wissen/archiv/-/id=660334/cf=42/nid=660334/did=2022892/1se8vk6/index.html?onlyWithDownloads=true&onlyWithAudios=true&fromDate=20.04.2010&searchString=&page=2&themeCat=&isSent=Ljava.lang.String%3B%403a18f788&toDate=28.05.2010

Check out the archives “swr2 Wissen”, “swr2 Aula” und “Welt am Draht” The topics discussed there are highly interesting and spoken in normal speed.
Hope you can use it
Niko
wieso schreibe ich eigentlich in Englisch?? zu spät, aber das passiert nicht nochmal

By: GlobalButterfly

GlobalButterfly — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 05:06:52 +0000

Congrats on your 1 year anniversary, as well as paying off your debt!!! Wish we could celebrate together. It's a shame I'm going to be in Europe next week and our paths won't cross. One day hopefully! Best wishes with your exam–I have no doubt you'll do great. You're Benny!!!

By: Polly

Polly — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:02:00 +0000

I personally find Norwegian and Danish more beautiful and interesting than Swedish, but if you really want to go extreme Scandinavian, Icelandic is the way to go.

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:59:42 +0000

Modest? I have to be realistic – there is a pretty good chance that I won't pass it! It's REALLY hard!! Maybe I didn't convey that well enough in this post
Thanks for the invitation! If I afford to make it to Japan, I'll try to travel a bit to cash in on that OJ

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:58:10 +0000

Thanks for the encouragement! It's cheaper to live everywhere if you know how I've been able to get by in some of Europe's most expensive cities on a modest wage! However, I'd like at least a minor level of comfort in Tokyo… I've already gone through the starving student stage of my life

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:56:23 +0000

Ahaha – this kid is great in front of the camera! Loved it, thanks for sharing

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:55:32 +0000

Moi aussi j'ai fait le DELE superior. Ouf…
Bah, vous êtes chanceux à Paris ! Quand même, j'ai écrit cette phrase-là trop vite. Aujourd'hui il fait beau à Berlin J'ai étudié dehors, c'était sympa !
C'est quand ton anniversaire ? Il faut demander tes vieux s'ils veulent t'acheter un cadeau pour t'aider à faire mieux dans les examens mdr je rigole

By: Benny the Irish polyglot

Benny the Irish polyglot — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:50:39 +0000

@Tom I did follow an academic course for German when I was a teenager. I also tried one for Spanish in my initial wasted 6 months of not being able to say anything. I might investigate other learning methods in future, I don't know how MT works to be honest. 8 hours seems like a great promise, but I'd be very sceptical if this was just using a different study method and not getting you to interact in some way. The whole premise of language hacking etc. is that speaking early and doing so with natives will get you that proficiency. If MT promotes that too then I might check it out, but if it expects you to suddenly speak after 8 hours of study then I'd be sceptical, but if you say it works for you then great!

I would follow a live version of my own advice in consultation, rather than using someone else's method (at least for the moment). My goal isn't to have people master "the basics" but to put them on the road to actual fluency. If the MT method is better for beginners, then it would interest me much less.

Thanks for the interesting comments!

By: Eric J

Eric J — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 05:44:19 +0000

Congrats on the anniversary! As for the C2, I wish you the best of luck, though perhaps you're being a bit modest about your chances?

If you make it to Japan and feel like checking out the more remote northeast region where I currently hold court, there'll be OJ on tap for you! If, however, you make it to Russia, I'll simply be jealous, as that language is on my list of “wannas” as well .