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James29’s Spanish Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5775 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 289 of 668 08 September 2013 at 4:03am | IP Logged |
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Congratulations.
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5367 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 290 of 668 08 September 2013 at 12:03pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks, guys. It will certainly be a challenge. The first 1-2 years will be make or break. Not to mention that we are having a new baby very soon. I don't mention my personal life much here in my log, but it just seems like everything is coming together at the same time.
By the way, Iguanaman, I think I thought up the idea to study Spanish while I was reading Rothbard's Man, Economy and State. I really need to read that book again as I think it must be one of the best books ever. I was looking for it in Spanish but can only find the first half of it translated. Kind of strange that someone publishes only half of a book. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5367 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 291 of 668 15 September 2013 at 4:15pm | IP Logged |
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OK, I had a baby this week. It actually was easier to do Spanish because I took the week off from work. I did a bunch of good FSI days. I spent my second day on FSI lesson 37 today. I will do it one more day. It is on the subjunctive and I want to really drill this into my head. I am doing all the drills fine except I have problems with the response drills on this lesson. I think I will do a third day on any lesson where I have any problems. I will then move on after three days.
I also watched an episode of El Capo and a few Caso Cerrado cases. I watched a Veridicto Final episode also. That was much tougher to understand than Caso Cerrado. Maybe it was just the very low educational level of the parties. I think I will continue with Caso Cerrado for court shows. I also got the Grisham book. I read/listened to the first few pages. I could understand, but it was tough. The narration was pretty quick and there were a bunch of words I did not understand. I would be able to read it and enjoy it, but it would be tough work. It is noticeably above my level. That was a disappointment. Also, the library says I can only have it for one week because it is no inter library loan. That really stinks. I won't do anything with it for now. No meetups or skype talks this week. Finding a new skype partner is going to be a problem with my hectic lifestyle. I have someone who I am trying to work with, but I keep canceling due to my scheduling. I finished Assimil's Spanish Without Toil this past week. I am glad it is done. I also finished the appendix of the Cassell's book. Great book. I highly recommend it to any intermediate. I am now reading Breaking out of Beginner's Spanish while I work out. It is more substantial than I remembered. I like it. I have only finished one chapter this second time through. I wrote the publisher of the Spanish Man Economy and State to ask them when they are going to finish the translation. They said it should be released in November! I'd LOVE to read that book in Spanish. That would be a dream come true. It would take a long time, however, so I need to be sure I am willing to commit to it. Well, I cannot think of anything else for now. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4820 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 292 of 668 15 September 2013 at 7:39pm | IP Logged |
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@James, Congratulations! If that's the first, things will never be quite the same again. If it's not the first, then it will
be just like it was the first time, only more so! :-) You mentioned the difficulty of finding Skype partners. Have you seen the thread about HTLAL google+ hangouts? htlal hangout thread There seems to be a lot of interest in Spanish there. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5014 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 293 of 668 16 September 2013 at 12:08am | IP Logged |
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Congratulations James!
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| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5254 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 294 of 668 17 September 2013 at 1:32pm | IP Logged |
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¡Enhorabuena, James! ¡No hay nada mejor!
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5367 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 295 of 668 22 September 2013 at 1:45am | IP Logged |
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Yup, having a kid is pretty cool. This is number two for us. Number one is an absolute delight and I am sure number 2 will be just as good. It does make me feel old, however.
Finished FSI unit 39 today. Easy unit. I really like FSI. It is much easier for me to do it 6 days a week this run through. Before I could only handle 4 days. Now I don't mind doing it at all. I am skipping the conversation build up right at the beginning because I can simply do the dialogue for fluency without needing the buildup. At this rate, I should finish FSI before the end of the year. I really like mapping out my Spanish. When I am done with FSI I want to really work on my listening/understanding as well as vocabulary. LR and TV will be my focus after FSI. The kid does make my hours a little crazy. I find myself sometimes with 2-3 hours in the middle of the night just holding the baby. He often cannot sleep well unless he is in someone's arms. If I am in the mood I just watch Spanish. I watched another episode of El Capo and a few Casos Cerrados. I watched one then the other and it really made me realize how much more I like Caso Cerrado. Even the crazy cases are kind of fun to watch. There is a small meetup that meets at an inconvenient time for me so I never go. This past week I happened to be available and went. It was nice. Just four guys. One guy seemed a lot like me in the sense that he is a very serious student who studies every day. We had a nice motivating chat. That was cool. I sat next to a mother and young child in McDonald's who were speaking Spanish. I wish I had the ability to simply speak to people in this type of situation, but I never do. I simply feel silly talking to them. There are not many Latinos around here so it is kind of a rare opportunity. Not much else in the world of Spanish. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5367 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 296 of 668 29 September 2013 at 8:31pm | IP Logged |
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Still chugging along with FSI. It is easier to do it every day this second time through it. It is not so mind numbing or difficult. I did a second day on lesson 42 today, but I will do it one more day before moving on. This is exactly the type of stuff I need to work on. It is on the subjunctive.
I can do the drills, but I just know I won't use it right in real life. It is easier when you know that it is the subjunctive... in the drills the whole point is "this is the subjunctive situation... let's drill it a ton of times." My problem is when I talk having the light bulb go off and say "ok, here comes a subjunctive situation." I must admit that I really like learning Spanish. I find it enjoyable. I thought about that today. There is tons of stuff to do around the house and my family is very supportive of me taking an hour on the weekends to do Spanish. I feel really thankful for their support when I am done with my hour. I am really not doing much more than FSI every morning. I watched one episode of Caso Cerrado. I also am now reading Breaking out of Beginner Spanish while I work out. It is going pretty fast. I am also doing it when I am just sitting around at my son's soccer practice and things like that. I had a short Skype text chat, but my language exchanging is really suffering. I don't think I will be able to do Skype talks for a while. This seems to be what is going to suffer now that I am busier. No meetup either. I just simply cannot find the time. Oh well. I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do after FSI. I really want to boost my vocab and understanding. If I can improve my understanding I will really be unstoppable. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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