Hi, my name is Max Reinhold Jahnke. I'm 34, and I'm a mathematician from São Carlos, Brazil. The main reason I'm here is to write about my hobbies and connect with new people. I love #mathematics, #reading, #writing, #learning foreign #languages, watching TV shows, and playing video games.
I'm a post-doctoral researcher at the Federal University of São Carlos, and my research field is Partial Differential Equations. I will stop here because I don't want to scare anyone.
I usually read science, fiction, and fantasy. My favorite authors are H.P. Lovecraft, G.R.R. Martin, and V.S. Vinge. Now I'm reading the series The Expansion, and I'm loving it.
As I said, I like to learn foreign languages. Some years ago, I studied a little #Esperanto, but I didn't reach a high level. I can read the Esperanto Wikipedia and some news in Esperanto, but can't speak the language.
I'm always learning. Usually, it is mathematics and languages, but I also like to learn about other cultures, science, and technology. Most recently, I began learning how to bake bread, my main interest is in #baking #sourdough.
@jahnke, welcome! :)
That's a collection of hobbies I have a lot in common with (excepting maybe video games), so I'm looking forward to seeing what you share here! :)
I'm reading Game of Thrones at the moment (yes, *after* the TV series), and Lovecraft is on my list! I can't say I'm familiar with Vinge - is there a short introductory read you'd recommend?
I'd done German a couple of years ago - I use 'done' quite loosely, and to refer to my completion of the Duolingo course. What I ended up underestimating was that truly *learning* the language can't be a passive activity - I had no avenue to use it regularly, and my practice of translating one article a day to keep in touch with the language fell through due to lack of discipline.
Have a great time here! I've only been here (off and on) for a week, and it's been nice so far! There's a pretty eclectic set of folks on here, so there's no dearth of interesting things to stumble upon! :)
@jahnke, thank you, I'll bookmark and check both those recommendations out!
On languages - that's a good point, I should try that out. The article translation was working well for the same thing (though the vocabulary I was gaining was a bit stiff and formal), and helped with writing. My conversational German is poor-to-non-existent, though - I've found that you need to be able to perform at least a wee bit of thinking in the language to be able to converse in it, and I can't do that at all.
Dear @Zyzzyva,
In my opinion, the best book by Vinge is "A Fire Upon the Deep." But it is not short. It is worth reading anyway. On the other hand, Lovecraft has many short stories. You can read most of them online in one short sitting. One of my favorites is "The Cats of Ulthar": http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/cu.aspx
About language learning. You can go a long way of studying it passively. Just get some TV shows you are used to watching in English and rewatch it in German. I did it with friends many years ago. First, I watched it in Brazilian Portuguese, then I rewatched it with audio and subtitles in English. This is a great way to learn a lot of vocabulary. Be warned that this ability does not transfer very well to writing or speaking.