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James29’s Spanish Log | ||
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5376 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 305 of 668 06 October 2013 at 2:17am | IP Logged | ||
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I should add that I am obsessively cheap with my Spanish studies. I don't really know why. I guess it goes back to when I decided to learn... I figured I could do something very productive without spending any money. It does not really make sense because it does not bother me one bit to spend a couple thousand dollars to fly to Spain, but then, in the same trip I rent a cheap room with a kitchen so I don't spend much money... I guess it all just makes the hobby more fun.
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5376 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 306 of 668 12 October 2013 at 8:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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OK, finished FSI lesson 46 yesterday. I will take it easy going through the last 9 lessons and make sure I do them thorough.
I also watched a few episodes of El Capo and an episode of Caso Cerrado. I can understand them pretty well, but about every fifth or sixth episode of Caso Cerrado there is a person I cannot understand. I cannot understand the black guy on El Capo very well either. He really mumbles a lot. There are some little things I think I miss, but I am really able to enjoy the shows and it is not much "work" trying to understand them. I am still working through Breaking out of Beginner's Spanish. I think this will be the last time I read it. It is fun to read and I am picking things up, but I think I could get more out of something else. I am still not going to meetups, but there is a different group that meets at a different time and place I might try to go to. I had a couple good long Skype talks with one of my old partners. We spoke mostly all in English. I had a couple text chats with some new partners. it is tough finding a new good partner. I keep forgetting to mention that during the week I usually see the cleaning lady in my office. She is from El Salvador, but has been here in the US for a very long time. We used to speak Spanish, but now she prefers English. I figured out that it is because my Spanish is now better than hers. We talked about it. She rarely uses Spanish anymore. Her husband knows no Spanish and she only talks with her oldest son who has moved out of the house and she does not see much. It really gave me a different perspective on things to see that she is really losing the language. I wrote the publisher of Rothbard's Man Economy and State in Spanish and they said they are coming out with the second volume in November! I think that will be on the list to read (the full book) for 2014. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4829 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 307 of 668 12 October 2013 at 9:03pm | IP Logged | ||
Seems quite OK to me, and as we all know, there are so many free or cheap resources available now, and one can do a lot on one's own without needing to spend money, and much nicer to spend it on visiting a real place and getting the chance to speak the language in situ, or at least hear it. And it's not about being mean, but about getting most value for what you lay out. I suppose some people would get good value out of those $10k (or whatever) immersion courses, but I guess their needs are very specific. And even that would seem like a bit of a gamble to me. It would also be putting a lot of pressure on yourself. OTOH, paying a native speaker to coach you, or even just talk with you (I don't mean you specifically, but "one"), could also be good value for money, and not all that much in absolute terms. I used to pay a native speaker a fairly modest hourly rate to speak Spanish with me, and made a lot of progress. If I'd worked a bit more in between sessions, I'd have made even more progress! (That was before I discovered HTLAL, and the ins and outs of self-learning). 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4145 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 308 of 668 13 October 2013 at 12:26am | IP Logged | ||
I'm with you on this! Aside from buying a few novels (which I don't really "count", since they're not exactly language-learning materials), I haven't spent a penny out-of-pocket on learning Spanish. I bought my grammar workbooks with a book store gift card, and I've earned all of the credits for my tutoring sessions by teaching some online French classes (I just transfer any credits I earn directly into my italki student account, instead of withdrawing them). Other than that, I've used free resources: anki, Destinos, DramaFever, Duolingo, language exchange partners, YouTube, resources from the library, Notes in Spanish, and so on. I agree with you - learning a language for free adds a touch more fun to the challenge! And it's pretty easy to do in Spanish. Edited by Stelle on 13 October 2013 at 12:27am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5376 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 309 of 668 13 October 2013 at 11:21am | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, great points. It is very easy to learn Spanish without spending money. FSI is probably the best free resource. With a computer and a library account there is more than enough material to last a lifetime. I did buy some Assimil resources (both levels), but those seemed well worth it. I picked up little things here and there for $5-10 like Madrigal's' Magic Key (but I used a gift card for that), the PMP Subjunctive book, Breaking out of Beginner's Spanish and the Cassell's book. One of my biggest trophies is my El Codigo da Vinci book that I scored for $.01 from Goodwill.
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| HermonMunster Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4634 days ago 119 posts - 211 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 310 of 668 15 October 2013 at 7:28pm | IP Logged | ||
Hey James, I know this is alittle late but congrats on 4 years in the Spanish game. I know it took some major sticktoittiveness. Also congrats on the baby and the business. You are living the American dream. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5376 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 311 of 668 15 October 2013 at 8:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks, Hermon. It is hard to believe it has been four years. I was thinking today about the last time I worked on Assimil Spanish With Ease and relized that it was more than two years ago. Amazing.
Your comment about the American dream makes me want to mention something that I experienced a few times during language exchanges. I found it was not uncommon for a Latin American to tell me they were learning English and wanted to visit my country because of "The American Dream." Those comments coupled with experiences I had in the Dominican and Ecuador really gave me a new perspective on our country. But, yes, thank you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5376 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 312 of 668 19 October 2013 at 5:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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OK, a bit of a different week this week. I got pretty sick so that screwed things up. I still managed to do quite a bit of Spanish. I worked on FSI lesson 47 quite a bit. I split it up into two separate units because it is so big. I did the first half twice and then the second half twice and then I did the first half again today. I don't really have any problems doing the drills except for the ones where the sentences are just very long. Some of the sentences are just too long for me to remember all the words when I am giving my answer. The good news is that I am not really having any difficulty with the content. This is the stuff that always screwe me up (past subjunctive). I think I will spend one more day on the first half and then move on.
I also watched a few episodes of El Capo. I am liking it more and more. The characters are all in jail. I am not really following a couple of the subplots. I don't understand the exact problem between the Capo's team and the other inmates who are trying to kill them. I understand that the other inmate stole El Capo's money and he holds a grudge against him, but I don't really understand why it is such a big deal. And I don't really understand why the girls are fighting. Maybe it is just simple and there is nothing complicated to it. Edit/continuation: I also went to a meetup. It was very nice. I have not been for a long time. I am still reading Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish. It is too basic, but it is fun. I think I am more than half way through it now. I had a few good skype talks and text chats. My old partner is now more available so we are talking again. That is great news. Not much else new in the world of Spanish. Edited by James29 on 19 October 2013 at 5:37pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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