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James29’s Spanish Log | ||
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5373 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 193 of 668 05 December 2012 at 3:52am | IP Logged | ||
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All the hard work was definitely worth it. I loved the trip. I have been back since Sunday night. I'll update the log with what I did during my second week in Ecuador.
On the Saturday after the comedian I hitched a buseta (a mini van bus) to Salinas (a city on the beach). The roads were kind of crazy. The driver was incredibly aggressive and would pass big trucks on blind hairpin turns like it was nothing. I survived. The mini van went to Guayaquil and I had to switch to a bus there. I was not at all impressed with Guayaquil. The only time I felt uncomfortable was in the bus station there. It was a mad house. People were everywhere and it just did not seem like a pleasant place. The line for the bus to Salinas was very very long. Eventually when tickets went on sale there was a "stampede" to the window. I was near the front so I was not too worried... until one of the guys in front of me bought 16 tickets so, presumably, he could scalp them. Luckily I was about a foot taller than everyone so I was able to fairly easily force my way through. Salinas was awesome. What a great place. Nice inexpensive hotels. Nice restaurants. Amazing beach. I hung out there the next day on Sunday. Looking back, I wish I had more time to stay at Salinas. That would be a great place to stay for a week or two. Sunday evening I hitched a bus to Montanita. That is a surfing/party type town. I met some nice people there. It was not as "party-ish" as all the books say. Maybe that was only because I was there Sunday night when alcohol cannot be sold. Anyway, it has cool shops and things are pretty cheap. I kind of screwed up and took a room in the first decent looking hotel I found when I should have shopped around a bit. There were a number of hotels and hostals for nice rooms in the $10 range. Monday I took a surfing lesson. It was my first time and it was something I was really looking forward to doing. The entire lesson was in Spanish and I could understand everything. The instructor was great. I surfed for about two hours and was able to ride a few waves all the way in. I loved it. Monday night I went back to Cuenca. I got in quite late and kind of screwed up because I did not have a reservation. I was somewhat desperate and nervous and ended up staying in an "expensive" hotel for $36. Oh well. The next day I ended up finding a cheap hostal that charged $8 a night. It was not a beautiful place, but it was safe, quiet and right in the best part of town. I, unfortunately, came down with some sort of flu that day that really knocked me out. that whole afternoon and most of the next day I just rested. On Thursday (I think it was Thursday) I got a car and went out to some small towns on the way to the Incan Ruins (Ingapirca) with some people I met there. That was definitely the best day. I absolutely loved it. The little towns were awesome and the ruins were quite amazing. I did a tour at the ruins that was entirely in Spanish and I did not have any problems understanding. Friday I went on a tour of the city. That was cool. Friday night I went out to dinner and for beer with people I met in Cuenca. That was really cool. Saturday I took a plane to Quito. It was the first day of the festival there so things were a bit different. I got in a couple arguments with cab drivers at the airport. I was told by fairly reliable resources and the hotel that a cab should cost about $5 so when I was quoted $9 I was kind of irritated with the guy. He then got pissed at me when I offered $4. I then talked to another guy who quoted me $6 and said it was a bit more because of the festival. He seemed nice so I went with him after confirming that it would be no more than $6. Then, when we ultimately got to the hotel he said "that was further than I though... that will be $7." It was only one dollar, but I was kind of pissed off. I only had a $20 so I told him he quoted me $6 and I gave him the $20. He only gave me $13 in change. I was quite irritated with him so I told him he took a $1 tip. Then he made some smartass kind of comment about earning it and it being a long way. I said that was totally fine with me because I had been planning on giving him a $3. It was kind of cool to get into an "argument" in Spanish. I had never done that before and I am not much of an arguer. I did not really do much in Quito other than go to the same restaurant I went to before and had a great dinner. Then I had to get up at 4am the next day to catch my airplane. I did not have any problems getting to the airport or getting home. Overall this was an awesome trip. My Spanish developed quite a bit. I can honestly say I was immersed for over two full weeks. I really did not speak any Spanish except to my family and for about 20 minutes on the tour with a couple of Canadians. Now on to the next project. I am going to finish Atlas Shrugged and La Reina del Sur and then figure out what I need to do next. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| sfuqua Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4763 days ago 581 posts - 977 votes Speaks: English*, Hawaiian, Tagalog Studies: Spanish | Message 194 of 668 05 December 2012 at 6:32am | IP Logged | ||
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It sounds wonderful. I've got to keep plugging at Platiquemos and FSI, so I can have trips like this :)
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5373 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 195 of 668 16 December 2012 at 4:27am | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, I must say, the studying really made my trip well worth it. It is a really cool feeling to be totally comfortable getting around in a foreign language. In fact, this trip was such a great Spanish experience it has caused me to be a bit of a slacker since I have been back. I feel now like I really speak Spanish and "studying" is not as fun as being immersed.
I will probably forget some of the things I have done since my last post. I have managed to do something in Spanish every day, but some days it has been pretty minimal. I have read some more in Atlas Shrugged and the end of the book is within sight. I went to a meetup. Talking and understanding is pretty good. I did have a hard time understanding a Guatemalan who I think was speaking in very rough Spanish. I have done a bunch of Skype talks and text chats. These are going to be a big part of my future as now I can really have totally normal conversations in Spanish. I watched an episode or two of La Reina del Sur. It is getting really good. I am more than half way done now. I cannot think of anything else I have done. The thought of starting FSI again is getting less and less appealing. Right now I am thinking I will do Using Spanish when I finish Atlas Shrugged. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5373 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 196 of 668 23 December 2012 at 5:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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OK, I have been moving along with Atlas Shrugged and will finish it before the end of the year. I have about six hours left.
I think I watched one episode of La Reina del Sur this week. I did quite a bit of skype chatting... both text and with audio. This is getting better and better. It is tough to find convenient times with my schedule, but things are working out well. I went to a meetup. It was good. There were two new native speakers there. The meetups are pretty good, especially when there is a decent turnout. I started taking Assimil's Spanish Without Toil to the gym with me. I read it for a few minutes at a time between exercises. I have gotten through the first six lessons. I am doing it passively at first and then, maybe, I will go through it actively later. I have decided that I will start Assimil's Using Spanish on Jan 1. I will not go through FSI again as previously thought. I have not yet done Using Spanish and I really want to do something fun and interesting. It is possible that I will go to Spain in 2013 so I'd like to do Assimil before I go. Plus, I don't know if I have the motivation to go through FSI again right now. I have been spending much less time on this website. I find the posts are not as interesting to me anymore simply because I have advanced so far with Spanish and even if I start with French I already know exactly how I would do it. I am also very busy with work, family things and other hobbies. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5373 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 197 of 668 01 January 2013 at 5:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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I finished Atlas Shrugged! It will go on my bookshelf and likely stay there for a while. What a great book and what a great feeling of accomplishment to finish it totally in Spanish. Reading a well written interesting book makes all the difference in the world. It definitley helped me pick up a lot of vocabulary and it also got me good at "guessing" vocabulary as there seem to be a lot of words I did not know, but could figure out by either context or the root of the word. Anyway, objective accomplished.
I started Assimil's Using Spanish today and I think it was the right move. The first lesson was harder than I thought. It was all about the verb andar and all the idioms that use it. I am going to focus more on listening than I did with previous Assimil courses. I know most of the vocab, but the context and phrases are tricky to learn. I don't know how I am going to do this because I feel like I would benefit from more time on lesson 1... but at the same time I think I often have a problem with spending too much time on Assimil lessons. Today I spent 45 minutes on lesson one. I listened to it twice, then listened and read the Spanish, then listetned and read the English, then listed with the Spanish again. Then, I read through the lesson and notes carefully and checked my grammar and words I was not sure of. Then I listened to it again. Then I shadowed it three times. Then I listened to it twice. I also watched another episode of La Reina del Sur... episode 39. My Spanish goals for 2013 are to go through Using Spanish twice, finish La Reina del Sur and finish the Bible. Reading the Bible was one of my goals for 2012 so I feel kind of bad for not getting it done. Hopefully I will take another trip. I really want to go to Spain. I may have an opportunity to go to the Dominican this spring, but am not quite sure. Once I get that figured out I will know what my trip will be. I am thinking that no matter what happens I will go to Spain... another motivating reason for doing Assimil. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Rout Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5710 days ago 326 posts - 417 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish Studies: Hindi | Message 198 of 668 01 January 2013 at 6:23pm | IP Logged | ||
That sounds interesting! Just be prepared for the Caribbean accent, it's quite a leap. I guess immersion would be the best way to pick it up, but you may want to take a look at at least a couple of sources directed solely at Caribbean Spanish before going. The following resources helped me "hear" what they were saying (the hardest part of Caribbean Spanish is having to "fill in the blanks" for a lot of missing phonemes): Wiki page on Dominican Spanish Video on Puerto Rican pronunciation (very similar) DLI Spanish Head Start for Puerto Rico I've also been listening to podcasts from Puerto Rico. My favorite so far (about history, politics, etc.) is La voz del centro. The good thing about it is if you can understand Caribbean Spanish, the other forms are easy! Good luck, I hope you get a chance to go this year and tell us about it! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5260 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 199 of 668 02 January 2013 at 12:47am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with Rout, good advice. Caribbean Spanish is not as scary as it's cracked up to be. Congratulations on finishing Atlas Shrugged, what an accomplishment to read your first full novel in Spanish. As to it's content, I have a much different political philosophy, to each his own. If reading this book helped you to advance your Spanish, that's all that matters to me.
I would also suggest that you try to get a copy of the book, La reina del sur by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. It is a great read. Pérez-Reverte has an exciting writing style and his novels are very approachable at your level. You'll learn a lot of new vocabulary and it will enhance your watching of the telenovela based on it. It's one thing to read a translation of a book originally written in English and another to read one written originally in Spanish. The phrasing and rhythms are different enough to be noticeable. That takes nothing away from your accomplishment which is quite a worthy one, congratulations again. Keep up the good work! Edited by iguanamon on 02 January 2013 at 1:06am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5373 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 200 of 668 05 January 2013 at 2:57am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the comments and the links. I appreciate it. I visited the Dominican back in November of 2011 and I seemed to do fine with the accent (even though my Spanish was not too great back then). I still occasionally talk with the guy I stayed with. In fact, I actually like the Dominican/Puerto Rico accent and would prefer to use it more.
Unfortunately, my trip to the Dominican looks like it is not going to pan out. Oh well. I am thinking more and more about Spain. Perhaps Pamplona for the running of the bulls. I like to do crazy things every now and then. Finishing Atlas Shrugged was certainly an accomplishment. I am glad that I used the audio because that forces the pace along. It would take me forever to read that book at regular Spanish reading pace. It is funny that you suggest reading La Reina del Sur. I actually read the English translation because I wanted to better understand the Telenovela. I also went through an extraordinary amount of work to track down the audio book of the Spanish text which did not seem available anywhere. Anyway, in the end it was not a real audio book, rather a machine audio book which sounded terrible. Maybe I will read the novel in Spanish later. I think I would rather do Angels and Demons, however, because the audio book is available and that narrator, Raul Amundaray, is simply awesome. In terms of my Spanish, I am working with Using Spanish and I like it a lot. It takes me about 45 minutes a day which is just about perfect. I keep forgetting to mention that I am slowly working through Spanish Without Toil in a passive way while I exercise. That amounts to about 4 lessons per week. I am now on lesson 13 there. I went to a meetup too. Not much new there. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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