Time for another motivational post :P

Since I don't want my brain cells to get rusty, I've decided to keep working on my language skills. I wanted to know how I could gain vocabulary without actually having to do this boring kind of studying where you sit in front of a paper and try to remember each word. So I started googling and found a VERY interesting blog. The blog posts are mostly about aquiring languages (mainly the English language). There I found the perfect answer to my question:

"10 ways to increase your vocabulary" 

-->http://rliberni.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/10-ways-to-increase-your-vocabulary/

#1: I agree, the first tip ("Use a bilingual dictionary") can be of great help, but still I prefer to have a monolingual dictionary at hand as well. They just offer better explanations and detailed information about the way you can use a particular word or phrase.

#2: "Choose one lexical set at a time" : Ok, so this one is suuuuper hard, but indeed helps a lot in terms of gaining vocab. I tried it and first it was kinda exhausting to gather all the words. Say you have the lexical set "animals". So first you have to think of certain categories. I categorized the words like"terrestrial animals", "aquatic animals" etc. Then first you have to come up with the word in your own language. And believe me...it's hard to ask yourself "Ok, so what animals are there?". You know, it's like.. you do know the words in your mother tongue, but you just can't think of all the different animals. So I started asking various people (of most help was my mom - she's really good at that kind of stuff). I gathered the words and then translated them into English. There were truly words I had never heard before, like "chamois" or "cheetah". It's a lot of work, but it's a very good way to expand your vocabulary.

#3: "Sign up to Gapfillers word of the day": I did that right away, and I must admit it's pretty cool. Every day they send you a word or an expression via Email. Of course you won't keep in mind all of them, but you will remember at least some. Gapfillers is a really awesome website - I'll do an extra post on that one.

#4: "Play scrabble": I haven't tried this one yet, but once I'm back in Graz I'll ask my friends to play with me. Some of them are as fascinated by the English language as I am, so I'm pretty sure they'll love to do that :D.

#5 "Read and translate": Haven't tried that yet and doesn't sound soooooo interesting :P. Well, maybe at some stage I'll give it a try.

#6 "Use a thesaurus": Will do, will do. My American friend was shocked when I told him that I never really used it before. He was like: "WHAT?! I do that all the time when I have to write something for college- and I'm a Native Speaker." Yeah...he's probably right. I'll give it a try :P

#7 "Do crosswords": Best tip ever. I found a really cool website: http://www.boatloadpuzzles.com/playcrossword . More than 40,000 free online crossword puzzles. Most of the time I don't know the answer to the cues, but then you can just click on "Solve word" and there you go. I look the word up, write it down, and hope that I'll remember it next time.

#8 "Listen to the radio and write down any words you don’t know": Listening to the radio is not so much my thing. That's why I watch subtitled movies instead. There's always at least one or two words you've never come accross, or words you have come accross but you never really knew the actual meaning.

#9 "Choose a short, difficult, reading passage and do the same": yeaaahhh....not during my vacation :P

#10 "Look around where you are now": I did that once with a friend of mine who's also studying English. We labled everything- things in the kitchen, the bedroom, the living room etc. Maybe we'll do that again some time :D.

Russian fairytale: Baba- Jaga

The next fairytale is about "Баба-Яга" - "Baba- Jaga." Like the old witch in our European fairytales, Baba- Jaga is a reocurring, mean old woman in slavonic fairytales. She eats children and lives in a house made out of bones.

Once upon a time a young girl lived with her father and her step-mother in a nice little house. Her step-mother never liked her and so she did everything she could to make her step-daughters life miserable. One day, she asked her step-daughter to visit her sister, the girl's aunt Baba-Jaga, and ask for a needle and some wool. The girl was not stupid, and went to talk to her real aunt first. Her real aunt gave her advice on how to leave Baba-Jaga's residence in one peace : "There will be a door creaking- put oil und
erneath it; there will be dogs jumping at you- throw bread on the floor, and they will leave you alone; there will be a cat who wants to scratch out your eyes- give her some ham". The girl trudged to Baba-Jaga's residence, entered, and saw her step-aunt. The girl said: "My mother is sending me to get a needle and some wool". Baba-Jaga nodded and answered: "Wait here, I will be right back". Baba-Jaga left the room, and ordered her servant to heat up the bath: "Clean her, I want to eat her later". The servant went to the girl, who sat there frightened to death. The girld begged her: "Please, take more wood than would be necessary, and bring the water in a sieve" - and she gave the servant a blue headscarf. After some time Baba-Jaga came back to check on her. Once she saw that the girl was still sitting there, she left the room again. The cat entered the room and was given the ham. "Can't I somehow escape from here?", she asked the cat. "Take this comb and this towel, and run away. Baba-Jaga will haunt you. Put your head and ear on the floor, and when you hear that she's coming closer you throw the towel on the floor. A broad river will stop her for a while. Run awaay and after some time put your head and ear on the floor, and when you hear that she's coming closer you throw the comb on the floor - a thick forest will stop her for good". The girl thanked the cat and started running. The dogs wanted to bite her, but she gave them some bread; the door was creaking, but she put oil underneath it. The cat, however, was only sitting there, stared at the girl and let her pass. When Baba-Jaga entered the room, and saw that the girl was gone, she beat the cat and asked why he hadn't scraped out the girl's eyes. "I've been your servant for such a long time, but you haven't even given me a little piece of your dry bread once. She, however, gave me ham. Baba-Jaga also beat the dogs, and asked them why they didn't jump on the girl. "We've been your servant for such a long time, but you haven't even given us bread once. The girl, however, gave us lots of bread", the dogs answered. And also the door and the servant admitted that the girl was good to them. Baba-Jaga started running, and when the girl heard that she was coming closer, she threw the towel on the floor. A broad river emerged in front of Baba-Jaga. Baba-Jaga ran to her
house, got her buffaloes, and had them drink the water. She passed the river and ran, and ran, and ran. The girl, hearing that her enemy was coming closer, throw the comb on the floor. A big, dense forest finally stopped Baba-Jaga.
The girl returned home and told her father what had happened. Her father started ranting and raving, and shot his wife. The girl and her father lived in the house happily ever after.

Russian fairy tale: The golden fish

Since I have to read Russian fairytales for my Russian classes, I thought about posting some of them on my blog. I think that if you really want to know a culture, you should also know some of their fairytales =). Plus, they are just fun to read sometimes :P

Soo...the first fairy tale is called "Золотая рыбка" - 

"The golden fish"

Once upon a time a fisherman and his wife lived in an old,  run-down shack. One day, the fisherman went to the nearby sea to catch some fish. After some time he finally did catch a fish, but it was a fish he had never seen before. The fish was golden and was able to speak like a human. The fish said:

"Spare me, old man. Through me back into the sea and some day I will be of great use to you.". The man answered: "I will never need you" - and threw the fish back into the sea. He trudged back home and told his wife what had happened. "You poor old bastard! Can't you even see luck when it's right in front of you? We don't even have a bit of dry bread left. What do you want us to eat?!" The old man went back to the sea and shouted:  "Little fish, little fish! Come here! Stay with your tale in the water but come closer with your head!". The fish came and asked: "What is it that you need, old man?" "My wife is ranting. She wants me to beg you for bread." "Return home. You will have bread"

The man returned home and saw piles of bread on the table. "Yes, bread we have", the old woman said, "but our trough split apart". So the man went to the fish again and asked him for a new trough- which was granted. No sooner had he entered the shack, than the woman urged him to go back and ask for a big new house. He went back and again shouted: ""Little fish, little fish! Come here! Stay with your tale in the water but come closer with your head!" He told the fish that his wife wanted a new house, returned home, and instead of the old shack there was a beautiful big new house.  The man entered the house and already heard the old woman shouting:

"You silly fool! You think you ask for a house- and now everything is perfect? Go back and tell the fish I no longer want to be a fisherman's wife. I want to be a tsarina, so that everyone bows down to me." The man went back to the sea, shouted: ""Little fish, little fish! Come here! Stay with your tale in the water, but come closer with your head!" and told the fish what had happened.

The fish granted the wish, and when the man came back he saw his wife sitting on a huge throne. "Hello, wife", he said, causing his wife to start ranting again. "This old fool dares to call me, the tsarina, his wife. Guards, take him to the horse stable and flog him until it hurts". After the man was flogged and beaten, he had to work as a servant. Every day he was to clean the stable ,and if any dirty space remained, he was flogged again. One day, he was sent to the tsarina.  "Old man, go to the fish. Tell him I'm tired of being only  tsarina. I want to reign over the whole ocean and over all the creatures in it." The man did as he was told, but this time the fish refused to answer. Instead, the fish swam back into the depths of the ocean. Scared what would happen to him, the old man returned to his residence. But nothing was the way it had been. The huge palace, the soldiers in front of it as well as the servants were gone. What remained was the old run-down shack and the fisherman's wife. They were poor again, and had to live like this for the rest of their lives. Many times the fisherman tried to catch a golden fish again - but the golden fish was never seen again.