Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4136 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog
| Message 33 of 87 15 March 2015 at 2:06pm | IP Logged |
Hello HTLAL! I haven't updated in a while. Well, I did update once, but it was during the Week That Never Was, so my
words have vanished into the ether, as have any possible responses.
The past few weeks have been very busy at work, so language-learning has taken a bit of a backseat. I still do
something in Spanish and in Tagalog every day, but not as intensively as I would like. Now, however, I have the
promise of a full week off ahead of me! Yes, it's that beautiful time of year known as March break, and I plan on
filling my days with planning for work, learning languages, practicing the guitar, and organizing the house (in that
order).
Spanish
Honestly, not much at all to report. I got out of the habit of jotting down my daily Spanish in my notebook, so I'm
not even sure exactly what I've worked on for the past few weeks - although I do know that I briefly did something
every day.
I'm still reading El Sótano, but I let it slide for a few days, and now I'm having a hard time getting back into it. The
truth is that it's not a very good book. But I care enough about what happens to keep reading. I think that this week
I'm going to focus mainly on reading in Spanish. If I can focus on reading for a good hour a day, I'll finish the book
quickly and be able to move on to something new.
If I finish the book before the end of the week, I'll aim for an hour of TV every day. I can't seem to find El Internado
Season 3, which would be my first choice, so I'll probably watch Aquí No Hay Quien Viva.
I have a new Spanish pen pal. I want to practice writing, but I need some external motivation. I've started
corresponding with a woman in Spain. I write in Spanish, she sends me corrections and responds in English, I send
corrections and respond in Spanish, and so on. I'm finding it very engaging and useful so far!
Tagalog
Lots of talking with my in-laws this week. I'm able to put together more complex sentences, although there's a
ridiculous amount of hesitation in between words. I'm also able to follow the general gist of conversations - but only
if I focus very, very hard. If my attention wanders for even a split second, I completely lose track of the thread of the
conversation. I also sometimes get stuck on a word and find myself repeating it over and over in my head, trying to
remember what it means. (Mabagal. Mabagal. Mabagal. Mabagal. That means slow.) By then, of course, the
conversation has moved on and I have no idea what's going on!
I'm still working on Rosetta Stone. I know the strong feelings on this forum regarding RS, and I know that the strong
feelings aren't positive. But I'm pretty sure that I would have abandoned Tagalog altogether if I hadn't started RS, so
it's a good resource for me. I'm now on unit 9 (out of 12). The sentences are getting much more complex. My
receptive Tagalog is definitely improving, since I understand almost everything. But as soon as there's an exercise
requiring productive language, I find it much too difficult. I'm not too worried about that, since my goal with RS is to
increase receptive language. Besides, I'm also doing weekly live tutoring sessions and informal conversation several
times per week.
I've contacted a few people through italki, looking for pen pals who want to exchange written correspondence (me
writing in Tagalog, them writing in French). I have yet to get any responses, so I'm going to contact some people
through Conversation Exchange. I don't have time for Skype language exchange right now, but I can definitely make
time for a written exchange.
Books - 2015
Spanish
Sinsajo (young adult novel)
Días pasados - Walking Dead tomo 1 (comic/graphic novel)
Guía para un perro feliz (non-fiction book)
English
Walking Dead Volume 20 (comic/graphic novel)
Walking Dead Volume 21 (comic/graphic novel)
French
Chambre 426 (novel)
Le Quartier des oubliés (novel)
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mitcht Newbie Australia Joined 3733 days ago 32 posts - 36 votes Speaks: English*
| Message 34 of 87 15 March 2015 at 6:09pm | IP Logged |
Stelle,
You can find el internado through to season 6 here: http://www.dailymotion.com/RavenSubs
Season 7 you can find on some Spanish pay-to-watch websites but i haven't found it free.
Mitch
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Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4136 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog
| Message 35 of 87 15 March 2015 at 6:53pm | IP Logged |
mitcht wrote:
Stelle,
You can find el internado through to season 6 here: http://www.dailymotion.com/RavenSubs
Season 7 you can find on some Spanish pay-to-watch websites but i haven't found it free.
Mitch |
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¡Muchas gracias!
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turorudi Triglot Newbie Philippines Joined 3561 days ago 24 posts - 30 votes Speaks: English, Tagalog*, Japanese Studies: Hungarian, French
| Message 36 of 87 16 March 2015 at 10:19am | IP Logged |
Hi Stelle!
I am Cat and I visit your blog regularly (thanks for dropping by mine too!). If you want
to do a written exchange with me, let me know :) I am also on italki.
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Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4136 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog
| Message 37 of 87 16 March 2015 at 5:19pm | IP Logged |
turorudi wrote:
Hi Stelle!
I am Cat and I visit your blog regularly (thanks for dropping by mine too!). If you want
to do a written exchange with me, let me know :) I am also on italki. |
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Thanks for the kind offer Cat! I'll take you up on it!
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turorudi Triglot Newbie Philippines Joined 3561 days ago 24 posts - 30 votes Speaks: English, Tagalog*, Japanese Studies: Hungarian, French
| Message 38 of 87 17 March 2015 at 1:57am | IP Logged |
Yahoo! I look forward to it :)
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Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5001 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian
| Message 39 of 87 17 March 2015 at 5:34pm | IP Logged |
I wish lots of energy for the book you don't like. I am trying to finish one that doesn't
suit me well too and it is not an easy task :-)
By the way, do you find it difficult to find what to write about with your penpal? That
has always been my nightmare. The question "What should I write?"
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joshka Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3539 days ago 14 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, German
| Message 40 of 87 18 March 2015 at 2:43pm | IP Logged |
This log and your previous large one are a huge inspiration to us slightly less advanced Spanish
learners! Well done and keep it up :)
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