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Spanish Log (TAC 2014 Team Lobo) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5015 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 233 of 271 22 January 2014 at 1:16am | IP Logged |
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I found a short entry on the word pelao here. I am glad I got the spelling right!
Having just watched a few episodes of El Capo 2 just now (I'm well and truly hooked) I have also heard the word used to refer to children of both sexes. Edited by dbag on 22 January 2014 at 1:16am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5368 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 234 of 271 25 January 2014 at 3:27pm | IP Logged |
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You are making me want to start El Capo 2. I fear that once I start I won't be able to finish it.
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| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5015 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 235 of 271 30 January 2014 at 10:41pm | IP Logged |
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Yep, El Capo 2 starts out sensationally. It really is impressive. Talking of Tato, it is interesting to note that his mumble is just put on for the role. In this
interview he is actually very easy to understand. I would of liked to of posted an update on Tuesday evening as I have been doing, but I ended up having to sleep at work on Monday evening, then only had time for a quick shower in the morning before going to work again. I was shattered by the evening. In fact, work has been going great, and I am already booked up until the end of March. There are almost certainly going to be some very good opportunities coming my way soon, and I am enjoying it a lot. I just have to remember not to work myself to death. I am now up to episode 18 of El Capo 2. Another colloquial Colombian word I have come across is barraco (I hope its not too offensive to post here). You seem to hear this word all the time on EL Capo. I am really keen to get some episodes under my belt now. I seem to do better when I binge on series like this rather than just watching an episode here and there. I have read a good few pages of Las luces de Septiembre this week, this time highlighting words I didn't know, then writing those words on a list of paper. I then looked them up on Google translate, and saved them to a list I have by using the phrasebook function. (I already have around 200 words on this list from various sources, just a convenient way of saving words I had to look up in one place). I then wrote these words down on a piece of paper, and just looked at it occasionally throughout the day, trying to remember what the words meant. I learnt 20 words in one day very easily like this, without having to go through the tedium of Anki. One thing I don't understand is why this book for adolescents has so many more words that I don't know than one of his books for adults, La Sombra del Viento? Strange. Actually, I am thinking of ditching Las luces de septiembre for a while and just getting back to La sombra del viento, as it is far more interesting. At the weekend I traveled down to Essex to visit a friend and went to a fishing tackle trade show. There where a couple of stands selling fishing books, which I loved (I have over 100 fishing books in my collection) and on one of them they had a small box with foreign language books in it. I managed to find a book which was printed in Lima, about El Rio Madre De Dios. This is great as it has lots of pictures to provide context, and is easy enough to make for very good extensive reading material. I mean to order more stuff like this when I start getting paychecks again. That is about all I have managed this week. I wasn't expecting my work to take off quite so quickly, and it will take a little while to effectively balance it with my Spanish habit. Edited by dbag on 30 January 2014 at 10:42pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5368 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 236 of 271 31 January 2014 at 2:49am | IP Logged |
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Wow, that guy is a good actor. That's incredible how different Tato is in real life. I had been thinking that El Capo 2 would not be as good as the first season... maybe I was wrong.
How do you describe your level? Lately I have been a bit discouraged by my development. When you watch that interview you linked to can you understand it perfectly or do you get the general gist of it while missing some of the details? I have been working a lot on my comprehension, but I still often have a hard time sometimes with things. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5015 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 237 of 271 31 January 2014 at 9:06am | IP Logged |
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I definitely don't understand it perfectly. For some reason this interview is a bit harder than some others I have listened to. I find the interviewer the hardest! I need to concentrate quite a bit with this one, and there are bits I don't get.
For some reason my comprehension seems to vary hugely - for example I find this interview quite easy and can watch it in a relaxed manner. But I could easily click on another similar video and be lost again! One thing that is sure is that extensive listening has improved my level no end. I do think that some time soon I am going to have to do some intensive listening activities with sites like GLOSS or Audiria with challenging material, in order to get a bit of a leg up. El Capo 2 is pretty good, but I find I really have to commit to shows like this in order to enjoy them. By that, I mean that if I just watch one episode a day, I have trouble getting drawn into the story and tend to daydream to much, but if I watch 2 or 3 episodes I find myself wanting to watch more. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5368 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 238 of 271 31 January 2014 at 1:42pm | IP Logged |
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I am the same way with listening. I get frustrated sometimes. The last few days I have been quite frustrated. I am reading the first book of Narnia (the one before the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) with audio. I have not read it before. The first few chapters were quite easy to understand. I did not know a few words per page, but it did not interfere with my comprehension at all. Then, today, I felt somewhat lost. I also watch the Simpsons and can usually follow the episodes quite easily... although I miss some of the jokes and sub-plots. Then, every tenth episode or something, I just cannot really follow the show. I am beginning to think my problem is more related to my ability to focus. When I have other things on my mind or when there are things going on in the background I cannot quite focus perfectly and it destroys my ability to follow.
Anyway, cool to see you are continuing with your Spanish. I really like doing my other hobbies in Spanish and I think that is cool that you are doing fishing things in Spanish. It makes things so much more enjoyable. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5015 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 239 of 271 05 February 2014 at 4:31pm | IP Logged |
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I am now a short way through episode 36 of El Capo 2. That's not even quite half way through. To be honest I am feeling a bit capo-ed out. For language learning purposes its great that these telenovelas are so long but... why? When you really examine what actually happened in the first series, there is just no way it needed to be 90 episodes long. Apparently that's as long as all the series's of Buffy the Vampire Slayer put together!
The thing is, you seem to get several pretty boring episodes with not a lot happening, and then 1 or 2 episodes which are brilliant to make up for it. When I am finished with it, which probably won't be for a couple of weeks yet, I might slot in a mini-series or two before embarking on the next epic telenovela. For mini-series, read normal length television series for an English speaker. Profugos is the strongest contender, closely followed by either jorge or Rescatistas Now, watching a lot of target language TV is definitely a very necessary thing to do, but even with some great series at my disposal, it doesn't half get boring! The whole idea of having to sit through countless hours of TV almost puts me off the idea of ever picking up another language. I have been thinking of possible holiday destinations for if things go my way and I get offered a full time contract. Cuba is very high on that list. There don't seem to be a lot of charter flights though and there is no way I would even consider booking a package holiday. I have been doing a lot of reading about it though and the place sounds ideal- beaches, trekking, fishing, vibrant cities and of course Spanish speaking. I think it pretty much ticks all of the necessary boxes! I am thinking of working through some episodes of La Tremenda Corte which is something that Iguanamon often recommends. I haven't had the time to investigate much yet, but it seems that there are over 50 years worth of radio shows available with transcipts, and all of the black and white Mexican TV show. There are also a ton of documentaries on Cuba which look like they are worth watching. Whatever happens, I really think I need to spend some time in a Spanish speaking country this year. I don't have a lot else to report this week, other than that I measured my body fat and it is now 28%, so not much loss there. I will have to work harder to maintain my focus this month. And other than one or two big, ongoing family problems, things are going absolutely great and I am loving my work. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5015 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 240 of 271 12 February 2014 at 11:51pm | IP Logged |
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Not a great deal to report this week. I am now half way through episode 50 of El Capo 2 and have fell back in love with it, to a certain extent. My attention really seems to waiver if I try and watch more than a couple of episodes an evening.
I have watched / listened to a few other things here and there. As always, if I am alone in the house and doing other things, there is some type of Spanish on in the background, most often Radio Nacional de Espana. I had to do a sleep in for work, and as I woke up at 03:00 and wasn't due to restart work until 06:00, I picked up La Sombra del Viento, got sucked in, and read over 70 pages in one sitting. I am now on page 120 something. It is quite simply a beautifully written book, and for some reason I understand a lot more this time round. I have gone over the last several pages with a highlighter, marking unknown vocab. There are probably an average of 10 words a page that I either don't know, or kind of know but want to look up. In fact I really should do a bit of a vocab blitz sometime soon. Just a little bit of effort would go such a long way, and I feel like I am almost purposefully holding myself back by not doing it. Those 10, unknown words very seldom impede my understanding to a very great degree though. I feel very luck at the moment in that I have 2 stories on the go (El Capo and La Sombra del Viento that I am really enjoying for their own sake and not just for the fact that they are in Spanish. I forgot to mention last week that I had wrote a small piece which was corrected by MR Warper. There where some very basic, sloppy mistakes in there, so at some point I will have to make a conscious effort to write more. Also, I have just created an italki account and am thinking about what kind of teacher I want to search for, although it wont be for a couple of weeks yet. Gym wise, things are going great and my fitness seems to have gone through the roof. I managed to run 45 minutes without stopping earlier, which would have been unthinkable a couple of weeks ago. I am forcing myself to have a night off tomorrow as I have done hard cardio 5 days in a row. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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