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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 521 of 668 14 September 2014 at 2:47pm | IP Logged |
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It sounds like your Harry Potter is my Percy Jackson. I read the whole series, not because I loved it, but out
of sheer stubbornness. It took me 3 months to read the last three books. If I'd abandoned the series after book 2, I would have read a lot more in Spanish over the past few months. After finishing PC, I read the Hunger Games in a little over a week - and I didn't have to remind myself to read. If you're not enjoying HP... Then maybe you should just read something else. I've recommitted to reading only: - books that I can read (ie. "easy" books) - books that I enjoy reading So if a book is too hard, or if it feels like a chore, I won't read it. Life is too short to red books that you don't enjoy! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5367 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 522 of 668 21 September 2014 at 2:15pm | IP Logged |
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I am going to update my goals for 2014 because I finished Harry Potter #3 today:
Read any 15 books in Spanish. -> 12 done (Anthem, Joven Abogado #1 and #2, Narnia #1, Harry Potter #2 and #3, Man, Economy and State, Think and Grow Rich, Cuando Era Puertorriquena, Short Stories in Spanish by New Penguin, Stories From Puerto Rico and El Intermediario). Watch any 100 30 minute TV episodes in Spanish -> COMPLETE (well over 100+ done) Re-read Cassell's Colloquial Spanish -> About half way through the appendix. Re-read Practice Makes Perfect "Subjunctive Up Close." -> No progress yet. Discussion: Yes, Stelle, Harry Potter just does not get me excited. It does not annoy me, it just feels "blah-ish." I don't get all the hype. With this third book I read a chapter a day quite consistently and that was fine. I did not mind it, but I definitely had no urge to ever read a second chapter any day. I must say that the quality of this audio book was great and I am not writing off reading the rest of the series. I read a short English chapter summary before the chapter and that really made a huge difference. I could see myself working through the rest of the series sometime in the future, but if I don't that is fine with me. I have never read the series in English so this story was all new to me. I could understand what was happening without the chapter summary, but I would miss some things. There was certainly a lot of wizard-ish vocabulary I did not know. Also, with magic you cannot really use your logic to figure out what the Spanish is saying. Spoiler warning: for example, in this book, Harry and Hermione go back in time to fix everything and save the day. I would have probably been lost if I did not read that chapter summary because they were talking about two sets of characters and re-doing a lot of the past events. It was somewhat confusing. Anyway, it feels good to be done with the book. I've been working through the Cassell's book again and am almost done. I am still eternally grateful to forum member Randomreview for recommending it. It really is a wonderful resource and I like it just as much the second time through. It is great for learning vocab for people like me who hate to do flashcards/anki. I had a free afternoon and did a ton of searching for books to read. I bought the next Theodore Boone book (I really like those) and the first Alex Rider book. Alex Rider looks like I may really like it. It is a spy book for young adults and there are five books translated into Spanish. I also downloaded the first Cherub book (another young adult spy-type book) and a parallel text of Animal Farm. I'm also thinking of reading Hunger Games (after reading Stelle's raving review) and The Giver (now a major motion picture). I think I'll stick with young adult books for a bit before diving into full blown adult novels. But as always, I have not yet committed to any of these and am still thinking through my road to success. The morning VOA news is great. Every day... like clockwork. If I am not spacing out (I don't have my coffee until I get to work) I can follow the Spanish quite easily. I had another "a-ha" moment this week. They were interviewing a Scottish woman about the vote and she had an extremely strong accent... I said to myself... I'll just wait until the Spanish translation comes on... and it was easier to understand. I had a nice chat with a native speaker at the meetup. It makes such a difference if I talk with native speakers. I feel like I get absolutely nothing out of talking to other learners that are at or below my level, but when I talk with a native I feel like I am really getting the practice I need. I'm very disappointed in my evening TV viewing. Early this year I was watching 5-6 episodes a week of the Simpsons quite consistently. I took a break from that and thought I'd watch some other things instead like Caso Cerrado. I really have not watched anything. Part of this may have to do with the fact that the last few months have been summer vacation for my son and he is staying up much later... now that he is back in school I may get back on track. I'm thinking of going back to the Simpsons. Caso Cerrado is much better for my Spanish and I think it is more entertaining... but if I don't watch it the Simpsons is obviously better. I've also been slacking with Skype talks. I'm just very busy at work and on the weekends. I don't have a good reliable partner now... mostly my fault because I really cannot reliably schedule talks. I had a long talk with a Spanish speaking customer this week at work. I always get excited when this happens because doing my job in Spanish is now my major long term goal. In a way I felt like I got a big kick in the stomach after talking to this guy. It made me realize that I have a long way to go both Spanish-wise and business-wise in order to be ready to handle a significant load of Spanish-only speakers. This guy called when I was out so nobody could even talk to him and all I got was his caller ID number and a message that some guy called and nobody could understand anything. Second, the guy was just plain old hard to understand. He talked fast and probably slangy. It was a very pleasant conversation, but in the end I really don't know if I fully understood his situation. I could understand the general basics of our conversation, but when he got into specifics I had to ask him to slow down a couple times. I basically just ended up proceeding like this: he rambles on for a few minutes and I try to catch as much as possible and then I ask him to pause and I repeat the gist of what I understood and ask him to clarify a few things. This seemed to work ok and, frankly, is very similar to what I do with English speakers. I had a hard time with some VERY basic things. For example, I never understood his first name. I asked him three times and I just could not understand it. I also could not get his mailing address. I could get his phone number, street number and town, but I realized that the problem was that the street name was likely an English word that he was pronouncing like it was Spanish and I simply had no clue. Anyway, I may be being too harsh on myself because the guy was obviously very appreciative of my talk with him and we really did have a productive talk. I have plans to go to Cabo San Lucas for work in January. I cannot wait! I've been reading the news and I think the hurricane damage will all be better by then. I really want to find something fun to do. I have not yet bought my plane tickets because I am thinking of maybe just going to Cabo for the conference and taking my week off in Mexico City or somewhere else. Edit: I've been thinking more about the call I had with the Spanish speaker because this defines where I want to go with my Spanish. I don't have any problems expressing myself in Spanish and saying what I need to say. That part seems relatively easy. The big problem with work is that the customers call and I am on the phone with them (hardest way to talk) and I have never spoken to them. Usually my customers seem to be relatively unsophisticated and relatively uneducated (so they do not speak textbook Spanish). This is what I need to work on... being able to get random imperfect Spanish thrown at me from a fast speaker and be able to understand it better. This is why I think Caso Cerrado is good. If anyone has any other suggestions I'd appreciate it. Edited by James29 on 21 September 2014 at 3:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BAnna Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4614 days ago 409 posts - 616 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Turkish | Message 523 of 668 21 September 2014 at 9:21pm | IP Logged |
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It'd be definitely worth finding a telenovela that you like (lots on Telemundo or Univisión here in the US see links
below). The benefits are that there are lots of different ones, lots of episodes since they are shown daily, though they do eventually end and the language is very colloquial. In the Mexican soap operas, you will hear slang like "chamba" job and "lana" money, that you aren't likely to see in textbooks. Often in the telenovelas, there is a shady businessperson (either cheating the honest people or selling something illicit) or disputes over property or inheritances, so you can pick up some business terms even from the "bad guys". Of course you do have to have some tolerance for implausible situations, violence and over-the-top love scenes. The majority of native speakers you will encounter in the US will not speak with a peninsular Spanish accent and vocabulary, so in your case I would avoid content with that variety of Spanish and focus on programming from whatever region it is likely that your future customers come from. And programs with a modern setting would be more useful to you than a historical one. There's sometimes also a book to go along with the program. I've enjoyed some episodes of La Reina del Sur and read the first few pages of the book. You might enjoy books by its author, Arturo Pérez-Reverte from Spain. That story is set partially in Mexico and partially in Spain, so maybe not the best choice for you. I'm sure others here have their favorites they will recommend. Univision telenovelas 2014 Telemundo telenovelas Arturo Pérez Reverte 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5367 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 524 of 668 22 September 2014 at 2:27am | IP Logged |
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Thanks, BAnna... I have read La Reina del Sur in English and I also watched the entire telenovela... and loved both. I'm actually thinking about reading the book in Spanish now. I also watched the first season of El Capo and loved it.
Getting into a good telenovela is probably a great thing for what I need... my preference is Caribbean Spanish and it seems basically impossible to find a Dominican or Puerto Rican Telenovela. The very few Dominican ones I found had stars from other countries. I'd also love to find any telenovela that has 30 minute episodes. With La Reina del Sur and El Capo it was difficult for me to find enough time for an episode in the evenings... 20-30 minutes is so much easier for me. I use my mornings for my "study" time and my evenings for things like TV. 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 525 of 668 27 September 2014 at 6:19pm | IP Logged |
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I usually update my log on Sunday, but I finished the Cassell's book today so I will update my goals now.
Read any 15 books in Spanish. -> 12 done (Anthem, Joven Abogado #1 and #2, Narnia #1, Harry Potter #2 and #3, Man, Economy and State, Think and Grow Rich, Cuando Era Puertorriquena, Short Stories in Spanish by New Penguin, Stories From Puerto Rico and El Intermediario). Watch any 100 30 minute TV episodes in Spanish -> COMPLETE (well over 100+ done) Re-read Cassell's Colloquial Spanish -> COMPLETE. Re-read Practice Makes Perfect "Subjunctive Up Close." -> About half way through. Discussion: The Cassell's book was definitely worth the re-read. Probably the best "beach book" I have had for Spanish. It's easy reading because it is mostly in English. You really feel like you are learning something. It is amazing how the author can make it so interesting to essentially read the dictionary. I also started the PMP Subjunctive book. I am able to do a chapter every morning. It takes 45+ minutes. The first time I did it I needed two days to do each chapter. I had to do one of the chapters twice due to making too many mistakes. I was forgetting to use the past subjunctive and was simply conjugating all the verbs into the regular subjunctive. I'm glad I am doing the book... I need the practice and I do make mistakes still. The book is a bit overly grammatical and technical... I don't mind it, but some people might not like that. Also, I am noticing that I do screw up spelling on many of the irregular verbs and I still often miss a lot of accent marks. I did not read any books this week. I'll start another book when I am done with the PMP book. I've got three books left for the year. I am surprised it is taking so long to get the 15 books done. I really thought I'd be done with my goals by this time. One good meetup... there was a very talented non-native speaker there and we had a nice chat. It was quite motivating. No good Skype talks. I had a couple short ones that got cut off due to bad internet connections. 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 526 of 668 01 October 2014 at 2:49pm | IP Logged |
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I bumped into a nice couple from Puerto Rico the other day on a bench and started chatting to them in Spanish. It was great. It made me feel like all this work is worth it. Nothing majorly substantive in the conversation... mostly small talk for about 10 minutes, but it was pretty nice just to be a neighborly person speaking "fluently" in Spanish with them. They really enjoyed it and were very surprised to bump into a Spanish speaker here.
Also, I've been working through the PMP Subjunctive book. I'm almost done. I should finish tomorrow. I'm doing great with it. I make some minor mistakes and usually the mistakes are matching up the tenses of the clauses and choosing the past subjunctive when I need it. There was one exercise problem that stumped me today: "El dependiente de la tienda salió después de que su jefe ___________ el dinero." and the verb for the blank is "contar." I made very few mistakes with any of the exercises, but I don't see why this one would be in the subjunctive. It seems like it is just a normal statement of fact that happens in the past. It is a fact that the boss counted the money and the sentence is just saying that the employee left after that historical fact. I would use the past subjunctive in this sentence if it used "iba a salir" instead of salió because that would make the counting unfulfilled/uncertain. I asked one of my Skype partners and was told that I am in fact wrong and contara would be the correct conjugation here. I could not get a great explanation as to why, however. Oh well, I am feeling like I am doing quite well with my progress on the various grammatical issues with the subjunctive. I am actually having fun doing the exercises every morning. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4136 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 527 of 668 01 October 2014 at 3:42pm | IP Logged |
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Hmmmm...that one's tricky. I'd use subjunctive after "después de que" in the present or the future, but - like you - I
wouldn't think to use it with past preterite, since it seems factual to me. I'll ask my Spanish tutor tomorrow, if you like! (The first time I read the sentence, my brain substituted the word "después" with the word "antes". That makes for a much better story in my mind. Ha!) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5367 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 528 of 668 06 October 2014 at 1:46am | IP Logged |
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I finished the PMP Subjunctive book today so I will update my goals now.
Read any 15 books in Spanish. -> 12 done (Anthem, Joven Abogado #1 and #2, Narnia #1, Harry Potter #2 and #3, Man, Economy and State, Think and Grow Rich, Cuando Era Puertorriquena, Short Stories in Spanish by New Penguin, Stories From Puerto Rico and El Intermediario). Watch any 100 30 minute TV episodes in Spanish -> COMPLETE (well over 100+ done) Re-read Cassell's Colloquial Spanish -> COMPLETE. Re-read Practice Makes Perfect "Subjunctive Up Close." -> COMPLETE. Discussion: So, I finished the PMP subjunctive book. I spent a couple days on the last chapter which is simply a large collection of exercises. I actually made a number of mistakes and did the long translation exercises twice. The regular chapter exercises were all limited to the issues raised in the chapter. The last chapter of exercises were for anything and everything... subjunctive or not... so you could not predict what was coming. I guess I was disappointed in my performance. I also note that I have a difficult time with words for "in spite of", unless, "provided that" and other similar concepts. So, that's the bad news. The good news is that I started the first Alex Rider book... this is perfect for me. I really like the story. The chapters are about right for one or two each morning. They range from 10-17 pages and I take about two minutes or so to read each page. I always am looking forward to see what happens next. The Spanish is just about perfect for my level. It feels like the same level as the Theodore Boone books. I don't need a dictionary at all. There are a few words I don't know on each page, but can easily figure them out. Then there are a few that I don't know but simply ignore because I just want to continue reading and it does not make much of a difference to the story. I do occasionally look up words just as a vocabulary exercise. In today's chapter there was a boat at a "muelle." It happened to be very important. The way the story was written it made me picture a point or a rock ledge that the boat had come up to to unload its stuff, but that just did not seem right. After reading for a while I tried to figure it out. The dictionaries and Google do not give the right definition, but "muelle" is apparently a type of pier. Anyway, I have gotten off topic. The Alex Rider series is about a 14 year old boy who gets recruited to be a spy for Great Britain. I am a bit more than half done with the first book and I am loving it. There are five books translated into Spanish and I think there are ten in English that, hopefully, will be translated. I bumped into a Mexican guy that I met six months ago. He told me my Spanish has improved since I saw him last. I also chatted with a Colombian for about an hour or this week. It was tough talking with the Colombian for some reason. I've been reading a lot of the ongoing threads about extensive reading. It will be important for me in order to progress, but doing the PMP Subjunctive book made me realize how important it is to really study hard too at higher levels. I don't want to just improve my reading... I really want to get my Spanish great. My listening/understanding has improved immensely this year... mostly due to listening to the news and watching a lot of TV. If there is anything that is really holding me back functionally it is my listening/understanding. I wish there was some way to "study" and "work hard" for listening/understanding comprehension. I don't mind putting in a good hard hour of "work" on my Spanish, but my problem is that I just don't have more time than that and if I put all my time into listening/understanding I fear my progress will simply stop. Well, I have really babbled in this post. Bottom line is that I am still loving doing Spanish every day and I am very glad this Alex Rider series looks like it will be great to read. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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