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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Lorren Senior Member United States brookelorren.com/blo Joined 4244 days ago 286 posts - 324 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Danish, Irish Studies: Russian | Message 145 of 212 06 August 2014 at 7:03am | IP Logged |
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Today I got a lot done in Spanish. I read another chapter in Divergente, so now I have read enough to count for a book segment in the Super Challenge. I'm getting more details out of this book than I expected to... I'm sure that it helps that I read the book in English twice in the last week, but I'm getting more words than I expected to. There are places where I'll read an entire paragraph and I won't really know much that's going on, but then, there are many places where I understand almost everything.
I also noticed today that the past year of reading National Geographic En Español, translating the words that I don´t know, and practicing them in Anki has prepared me for actually reading a real book without help. I kept running into words that I´m familiar with. I keep thinking "ooh, I remember that word!" as I'm reading the text. It's pretty exciting. I also read about four full pages of text in National Geographic. I had to look up 22 words. Yeesh... to me, that now seems like a lot, but I guess that I did read 4 pages of text, and it was an article about the brain, which is not exactly the lightest of topics. Some of the words that I looked up today include schizophrenia, caress, slide (like in a slide show), magnet, and a word that means worm or maggot. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4137 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 146 of 212 06 August 2014 at 1:07pm | IP Logged |
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Maybe I should add Divergente to my list! I think my next book will be Los Juegos del Hambre - so, same genre,
anyway. Is Divergente the first Spanish book that you've read? Or did you start with something easier? I'm amazed at how so many learners can jump into difficult material! It took me a whole year of reading to work my way up to The Hunger Games. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Lorren Senior Member United States brookelorren.com/blo Joined 4244 days ago 286 posts - 324 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Danish, Irish Studies: Russian | Message 147 of 212 07 August 2014 at 11:34am | IP Logged |
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Divergente is my first real Spanish book that I'm reading... although I may at one point have read One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish in Spanish to my little boy at one point, but I wouldn't really count that.
I have been reading the National Geographic in Spanish; the number of issues that I have read amounts to about 700 pages of Spanish reading, outside of newspaper articles, that I've done before this. It's a different kind of writing though. Although there are at times quotes in the first person, it's mostly more of a narrative style. Since I read that slowly in front of Google Translate, translating the words that I don't understand and then entering them into Anki, it did help me build up enough of a vocabulary to help me out here. It helps that I read Divergent in English a couple of times in the last week. I'm not typically referring back to it as I read it in Spanish, although I do at times get curious and look up how they said a certain phrase in English, as opposed to the Spanish. In one part, they do use the phrase "por suerte", or "luckily" in the Spanish translation, while they use "thankfully" in the English translation. I would like to read Los Juegos del Hambre at some point. I liked the movies. Perhaps I should read it in English first though. I bet that they have that book at the library. If they have The Chronicles of Narnia in Spanish at my library, they probably do. Today I practiced Anki, finished the article that I was reading about the brain in National Geographic (I only had to look up 7 words, including sesame, marble (like the toy), flash, ladybug, and goldsmith. I also finished chapter 9 of Divergente. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Lorren Senior Member United States brookelorren.com/blo Joined 4244 days ago 286 posts - 324 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Danish, Irish Studies: Russian | Message 148 of 212 10 August 2014 at 9:40am | IP Logged |
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I finished chapter 12 of Divergente today. I don't have Kindle page numbers for the Spanish edition, but in English, that's past page 150. Not bad considering that it usually takes almost a month to read an issue of National Geographic, which I estimate has about 100 pages. I don't get everything word for word, but I'm getting enough to know what is going on. I'm doing the grammar mini challenge for the Super Challenge, so I'm typing out various sentences that use le, me, te, se, etc., in order to further improve my understanding of how these pronouns are used. It's used a lot, so I'm sure that will help.
I also practiced Anki, but I didn't get anything else done. We were pretty busy with a gymnastics meet for my daughter and a birthday party for my friend's daughter today. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Lorren Senior Member United States brookelorren.com/blo Joined 4244 days ago 286 posts - 324 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Danish, Irish Studies: Russian | Message 149 of 212 12 August 2014 at 11:16am | IP Logged |
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I didn't get around to doing anything with Anki yesterday, so I had a little more words than normal to do today. I'll end up with more words than I'd like tomorrow as well, but after that, it shouldn't be too bad.
I read a short article out of National Geographic en Español. I had to look up 26 words, including dilute, blacksmith, scaffolding, guild, and niello. I didn't know what that last word was, so I had to google it. It is a mixture of metallic substances that is used when engraving. I finished Chapter 16 in Divergente. I still have a ways to go in the book, but I'm wondering if I should reread the first book with more understanding, or move on to the second book (which I still have to get). I guess I'll decide that later. In the hardback English version of the book, I'm past page 200. It looks like both of the books that I ordered from Amazon.com won't be shipped to me... one of the orders was already refunded to my account, and the other merchant said that when it is returned to them, then they will refund the order. So... I guess I will have to reorder them. If I don't get the other book refunded, then I'll have to file a claim. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Lorren Senior Member United States brookelorren.com/blo Joined 4244 days ago 286 posts - 324 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Danish, Irish Studies: Russian | Message 150 of 212 15 August 2014 at 8:03am | IP Logged |
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It's been a couple of days since I had the chance to update, but I've been making progress.
I go through Anki fairly quickly today... some days, there will be a ton of words that escape my mind, but today, I did pretty well through the words the first time. Most of the words that I didn't get right the first time through I got correct on the second time going over the words. I did get some more reading done in Divergente. I finished chapter 19, which is at page 250 in my English hardback copy. That's another book segment for the Super Challenge, and is a little over halfway through the book. Still not sure whether I want to reread this book again when I'm done, or go on to Insurgente next. The advantage to rereading Divergente is that the words will be more familiar, but the advantages to moving on will be that I'll get new words to read. It's funny, when I read Divergente at lunchtime, it's almost like a Spanish switch gets turned on in my brain. Reading is coming much more easy to me, and I really don't think much about translating as I read. Of course it does help that I just recently read this book twice in English, but I'm not sitting there trying to parse every word. I am highlighting some of the passages in the book in order to do the grammar mini challenge for the super challenge: I'm focusing on the use of words like lo, le te, los, etc. I'm putting them into a word document, and I will spend a little more time parsing the sentences that I highlight so I can understand how those words are used a little better. I was wondering about the word cuervo as I was reading though. I looked up the word in Google translate (I could figure out the word in the context of the book, but I wanted to know for sure); anyway, Google said that the word meant raven or crow. Ordinarily, that wouldn't be a problem... they're separate birds, but they're both birds, and they're both black... so they're very similar. However, in Divergente, Tris gets ravens tattooed on her collarbone, but she gets attacked by crows in her simulations. The book uses the word cuervo to describe her getting attacked by crows. I checked, and it also uses cuervo to describe the ravens that she gets a tattoo of. How are we supposed to know the difference? My kids are starting Rosetta Stone... my boy is doing Spanish, and my daughter is doing French. I am using more Spanish with my boy now that he is studying it. Since I have been through the course, I know that when he is through, that will not be the end. Still, I think that we can get him fluent by the time he is 18. He is 7 right now. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4651 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 151 of 212 15 August 2014 at 8:30pm | IP Logged |
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Hey Lorren, I just saw the movie Divergente the other day. I am chasing you as far as being able to read and have quite a ways to go before being at your level but I can imagine the "Switch" that you refer to. That is very exciting. Care free reading in Spanish is one of my primary goals and I am glad you are moving along in that direction.
That is very interesting concerning the use of CUERVO. I look forward to an answer from our learned friends. That is great to hear about your kids. I hope they keep it up and learn many languages. Take Care, BOLIO 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Lorren Senior Member United States brookelorren.com/blo Joined 4244 days ago 286 posts - 324 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Danish, Irish Studies: Russian | Message 152 of 212 16 August 2014 at 4:39am | IP Logged |
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Thank you for your kind comments. I'm betting that you know more Spanish than you think though... it sounds like you probably speak it better than me, and perhaps have more grammar down. I've just been focusing more on reading, so that skill is much easier to me.
I had to look up the side-by-side translation of the part where Four asks Tris about her Raven tattoos. Here is the comparison (with the Spanish translated into English): English: "Birds," he says. "Are they crows? I keep forgetting to ask." I try to return his smile. "Ravens. One for each member of my family," I say. "You like them?" Spanish (translated into English by me): "Birds," he commented. "Are they crows/ravens? I always forget to ask you." "Yes" I respond, intending to return the smile. "One for each member of my family. Do you like them?" So at least in this book, there seems to be something lost in the translation. Especially considering the ravens represent something good, while the crows represent something bad (they attack her). I don't know about Veronica Roth's Spanish skills, but I doubt that she intended them to be the same thing. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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