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James29’s Spanish Log

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sfuqua
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4763 days ago

581 posts - 977 votes 
Speaks: English*, Hawaiian, Tagalog
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 529 of 668
06 October 2014 at 3:03pm | IP Logged 
Forgive me from appearing to give advice from my much lower level of Spanish, but I had a big burst in comprehension when I rather intensively LRed Cien Años de Soledad. I went through the book three times, some parts ten times, listening to the Spanish and reading the English an hour or two a day.
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Crush
Tetraglot
Senior Member
ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5863 days ago

1622 posts - 2299 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto
Studies: Basque

 
 Message 530 of 668
06 October 2014 at 4:57pm | IP Logged 
James29 wrote:
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.
I actually think that grammatically, the indicativo is the right choice, though perhaps you could argue that it's taking on the old pluscuamperfecto form (después de que contara: after he had counted). Really i think it's just because of its similarity to other similar expressions (eg. "antes de que" or "después de que" referring to the future, etc.) that nowadays the subjunctive just sounds better to native speakers. I'd say both forms are fine, the subjunctive might be more common but maybe it varies from region to region. If that's the only question that really gave you trouble, i'd say you're doing great!

Btw, i agree with Stelle that "antes de que" makes for a much more interesting story ;)
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James29
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5373 days ago

1265 posts - 2113 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French

 
 Message 531 of 668
09 October 2014 at 2:31pm | IP Logged 
well, that was not the only question I got wrong in the book... but it is an indication of the types of mistakes I was making. At the end I was making a decent amount of mistakes selecting between the indicative and subjunctive when I was not concentrating. Oh well, it is a long process.

my comprehension has definitely been improving this year due to the radio and all reading I have been doing. It is really what holds me back from what I want to do so I am thinking of making a big push. I have the 100 years book in parallel and will definitely read it sometime. Where did you find the audio, Steve? I like reading books with native audio.

I finished the first Alex Rider book (Stormbreaker) today so I will update my goals for 2014 now. It was a great book. I whizzed through it in seven days! I loved it and am glad there are four more translated into Spanish. 2014 goals:

Read any 15 books in Spanish. -> 13 done (Anthem, Joven Abogado #1 and #2, Narnia #1, Harry Potter #2 and #3, Alex Rider #1, 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.

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BOLIO
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4656 days ago

253 posts - 366 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 532 of 668
09 October 2014 at 5:29pm | IP Logged 
James, I just wanted to wish you a happy 5th year anniversary in studying Spanish. I found one of your old post saying early October was when you had started.

Thanks for doing this log for others.

All the best,

BOLIO
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James29
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5373 days ago

1265 posts - 2113 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French

 
 Message 533 of 668
09 October 2014 at 6:37pm | IP Logged 
Holy Cow!!! I did not realize that. I think I might have a beer tonight to celebrate! Thank you for noting that.
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BOLIO
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4656 days ago

253 posts - 366 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 534 of 668
09 October 2014 at 8:05pm | IP Logged 
La Victoria (a Mexican beer) would be appropriate considering it's name. Before a couple of years ago, you could only buy it in Mexico. They always advertised it as "La Victoria es Nuestra". Now it seems to be for everyone.

Again, great job on your journey.


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James29
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5373 days ago

1265 posts - 2113 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French

 
 Message 535 of 668
09 October 2014 at 9:29pm | IP Logged 
Well, I only have XX in the fridge. At least it is a Mexican beer.
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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 536 of 668
09 October 2014 at 9:37pm | IP Logged 
¡Enhorabuena! 5 years goes by pretty quick. I've only been here a little over 4 years myself. I do remember starting to follow your log back then. I commend you for sticking with this and being regular with your log. I try, but I can't keep interest in one going for more than 3 months at a time. You've come a long way and will go even further as a Spanish-speaker, I'm sure. Congratulations, again!


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