What Are You Reading?

[BIGDAN]

[Virginia]

Another one of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books; love her!

[manderlyh]

Went to the library today and got three beginning German.

I know I'll suck at it, even though my mom spoke it, she would never teach me.

I wonder if those Rosetta videos work like they claim.

The three or so different dialects would/will make me looney.

Rosetta Stone works very well, especially if you get the software and practice on a regular basis.

I sub at the Boise Language Academy, which is a school for new immigrants to the United States who are not fluent English speakers.

Today, the teacher I subbed for has two classes where she takes the kids once a week into the computer lab and they do the Rosetta Stone for English. The kids wear a headphone/microphone headset and they do the lessons independently. This is just part of their "English Language Development" class, but it's quite interesting.

I was sitting in the back of the room while I listened to a Vietnamese boy said, "What are you doing?" over and over again until the software decided it was satisfactorily pronounced. At one point, he took his headset off, (after saying it about twenty times), and said to the boy next to him, "will you say 'what are you doing?' for me?"

I was in the back of the room, kind of just watching them, cracking up.

Later on in the day in a different class, a girl from Iraq was stuck on the same thing. She was getting irritated, and I thought she was saying it just fine, and she kept looking at me like "WTF?"

Finally, in a really, really high-pitched voice, she said, "what are you doing?" and it went to the next exercise. We laughed.

So, Hotplant, long story longer: Rosetta Stone is used in the public schools in Boise for English Lanugage Learners. I'm thinking it works pretty dang well.

Oh and more: German is pretty hard for English (language 1 /L1)speakers to learn, even though English is a Germanic language. German L1 speakers can read Old English easier than English L1 speakers.

********

What I came in here for:

I'm STILL reading Grapes of Wrath. I've had a bit of ADD with books lately, but I'm almost done.

Man, I need to finish this book up, because it's starting to really depress me, (I'm almost done, I think I have less than fifty pages left). I LOVED it the last time I read it when I was in high school...

edited: I left the Joads in their high-ground barn...I finished it.

Edited October 6, 2009 by manderlyh

[Hotplant]

Thanks for the info Mandy. But after checking out the prices, even used on Amazon...like 200 -300 bucks used. Forget that!

So I found "Babbel.com" it is pretty cool. It's visual also, which is how I learn so I've been doing that. I like the features they have. Like when a picture pops up with the German word or phrase you can change the picture until it's one that will stick in your mind. It doesn't have a speak back function...maybe it does, I've only started last week or so.

But, it's a start and it's free.

I'll be happy if I can just get 'travelers conversation' down.

I just read In Her Wake, a true story about a daughters search for answers to her mother's suicide. By Nancy Rappaport.

Kinda creepy.

Edited October 8, 2009 by Hotplant

[a clockwork tangerine]

Rosemary's Baby. So far, it's really similar to the movie.

[Aspensound]

World Without End by Ken Follet

that´s a good one, a bit less than 1.100 pages.

[slagfarmer]

World Without End by Ken Follet

that´s a good one, a bit less than 1.100 pages.

Great Book have you read The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett?

[C0mmunicati0nBreakd0wn]

So far, a really good book.

[Cecil.]

Dracula the Undead by Dacre Stoker.Follow up to Dracula (1897) Bram Stoker.

[Spalove]

just started:

Lady Chatterley's Lover

[sirchris]

and

[Aspensound]

Great Book have you read The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett?

Yes I read it when it was published, I though it was even better than WWE, but all the way very great books both.

If you could find Finnish writer Mika Waltari´s The Adventurer or Michael The Finn

http://en.wikipedia....rer_%28novel%29

I myself like it very much. (Maybe because the writer is Finnish)

[redrum]

'Al Capone Shines My Shoes' by Gennifer Choldenko

[redrum]

World Without End by Ken Follet

that´s a good one, a bit less than 1.100 pages.

Got any info on your signature pic? That looks like an old vihuela.

[Aspensound]

Got any info on your signature pic? That looks like an old vihuela.

Does it look like one?

It shouldn´t, I drew it about 10-15 yrs ago as "sword in the stone"

[Medhb]

Went to the library today and got three beginning German.

I know I'll suck at it, even though my mom spoke it, she would never teach me.

I wonder if those Rosetta videos work like they claim.

The three or so different dialects would/will make me looney.

That is so cool. I would love to learn German also as that is my ethnicity (well the majority anyway)

I've heard Rosetta Stones are great too, too bad they aren't in the library, they cost an arm, a leg, and a kidney.

[Medhb]

Just finished "The Help", have "The Lost Symbol" qued up on my Kindle but right now reading a couple books about starting an online business.

[Virginia]

Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol"

[djzoso]

astonishing X-men (now i'm just letting the geekiness flow)

[Janet]

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby

[Virginia]

Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol"

Finished this today; there was content that may be of interest to some folks here.

[sirchris]

[kirchzep27]

jim harrison-in search of small gods

calendars

back in the blue chair in front of the green studio

another year has passed, or so they say, but calendars lie.

they're a kind of cosmic business machine like

their cousin clocks but break down at inopportune times.

fifty years ago i learned to jump off the calendar

but i kept getting drawn back on for reasons

of greed and my imperishable stupidity.

of late i've escaped those fatal squares

with their razor sharp numbers for longer and longer.

i had to become the moving water i already am,

falling back into the human shape in order

not to frighten my children, grandchildren, dogs and friends.

our old cat doesnt care. he laps the water were my face used to be.

Edited November 24, 2009 by middlezep

[sirchris]

[BIGDAN]

just started:

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Hi 'Spalove'

"Filth"

I've just finnished a trilogy, Brethren-Crusade-Requiem, there seems to be so many Crusader-Templar Books out at the moment i am having a hard job decieding what next to read, any ideas?

So i will stick to "Practical Aromatherapy by Shirley Price", i read it before but the old ones are usually the best.

Regards, Danny