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Anamsc -- Spanish, Catalan, others?

  Tags: Catalan | French | Spanish
 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
anamsc
Triglot
Senior Member
Andorra
Joined 6194 days ago

296 posts - 382 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan
Studies: Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Written), French

 
 Message 1 of 7
22 June 2011 at 5:52am | IP Logged 
A veure si encara puc escriure en català...

Aquest setembre, potser que me'n vagi a viure a Andorra. Fa més de dos anys que no parlo res de català (amb la
excepció de unes quantes converses en festes o així) i em falta molta pràctica! Havia pensat que encara que ja el
parlo molt malament, podien entendre'l perfectament, però tras veure uns programes de televisió i escoltar uns
podcasts, ja no crec que sigui així. Per tant, en vull practicar una mica més abans d'anar-me'n a Andorra (si és
que hi vaig). També sé que en apendré molt més quan estigui a Andorra (si hi vaig), i per tant espero seguir amb
aquest log també si visc a Andorra.

Además del catalán, también quiero repasar un poco el español. Ya sé que es menos importante que el catalán
en Andorra, pero por otra parte es más fácil repasarlo aquí fuera del mundo hispanoparlante. Así es que quiero
ir incorporándolo poco a poco en mi vida.

Finally, I feel like I should learn some French and Portuguese. Other people who I have talked to who live in
Andorra have told me that very few people speak French as their preferred language there, and that while there
are more native Portuguese speakers, they almost all speak Catalan. However, it seems like if I live in Andorra, it
might be a good opportunity to learn some French (because of the closeness to France -- if I end up going to
Andorra, I hella plan on visiting Toulouse often) and Portuguese (because of the relatively large amount of native
speakers).

As of right now, I have no definitive plans for learning; I just want to kind of incorporate the languages into my
daily life a bit. And like I said, if I do end up leaving I want to keep up a log, just because I know my favorite logs
on here are those of people who a) are in the country where their target language is spoken, or b) are aiming for
native or near-native fluency (which is eventually what I want to reach in Spanish at least).


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Iversen
Super Polyglot
Moderator
Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6694 days ago

9078 posts - 16473 votes 
Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan
Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 2 of 7
22 June 2011 at 8:16am | IP Logged 
Jo crec que hi hagi tant de estranys hispano- o francoparlants en Andorra que es podria viure allà sense conèixer l'idioma local. Així que és molt simpàtic que anamsc pren seriosament el català - i pel que sembla també l'ho ha fet abans.
1 person has voted this message useful



anamsc
Triglot
Senior Member
Andorra
Joined 6194 days ago

296 posts - 382 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan
Studies: Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Written), French

 
 Message 3 of 7
25 June 2011 at 6:19am | IP Logged 
Iversen wrote:
Jo crec que hi hagi tant de estranys hispano- o francoparlants en Andorra que es podria viure allà
sense conèixer l'idioma local. Així que és molt simpàtic que anamsc pren seriosament el català - i pel que sembla
també l'ho ha fet abans.


Hola! Si, hi estic d'acord; el català a Andorra no crec que sigui imprescindible. Però em vull integrar si és possible, i
segons m'han dit el català és la llengua normal a Andorra -- per això intento estudiar-lo.

De fet, em fa vergonya parlar tan malament el català ja que vaig viure un any a Catalunya! Aquesta vegada penso
pendre'l més seriosament :).

Com has aprés el català? Has viscut en un país català?
1 person has voted this message useful



anamsc
Triglot
Senior Member
Andorra
Joined 6194 days ago

296 posts - 382 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan
Studies: Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Written), French

 
 Message 4 of 7
25 June 2011 at 4:42pm | IP Logged 
At this stage in my Spanish career, I think one of my main challenges is vocabulary. It's not that I don't have a
large vocabulary -- in fact, having what I think is a pretty large vocabulary for a second language learner is a big
part of the problem. What is really difficult now is figuring out what words I don't know. I'm past the point
where wordlists and things like that really help me, because the words on those are usually beginner /
intermediate vocabulary.

And I'm not talking about advanced, GRE-type words (although those are important as well). For example, the
other day I learned the Spanish words for "spark plug." That is not a word that I think I ever would have realized
that I didn't know how to say -- I can't drive, I know nothing about cars, etc. I doubt I've ever said "spark plug"
in a conversation in English. However, if someone had said it to me, I would have understood it without a
problem. I know that there are hella words like that out there, and that even though I don't have a problem
saying what I want to say most times in Spanish, there is still a huge gulf between me and a native speaker
vocabulary-wise.

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to improve my vocabulary? At the moment, I am trying to get sort
of "medium-brow" input -- I read a Spanish women's magazine (Vanidades), watch sitcoms (Qué vida más triste
and La tira), read the Spanish translation of the xkcd cartoon, and try to make sure I know what the article of the
day on Spanish Wikipedia is talking about. I also try to be conscious, when I'm thinking or talking or listening in
English, of whether I would know how to translate everything into Spanish, although that's harder to do because
most of the time when I am communicating in English I am concentrating on other things than my language
learning endeavors.

Any advice on this subject would be appreciated!
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July
Diglot
Senior Member
Spain
Joined 5264 days ago

113 posts - 208 votes 
Speaks: English*, SpanishB2
Studies: French

 
 Message 5 of 7
25 June 2011 at 10:17pm | IP Logged 
At the moment, I'm trying to improve my passive vocabulary by going though a book I love,
a chapter at a time, picking out the words that I don't recognize instantly and feeding
them into ANKI. It's amazing how many words you realize that you avoid noticing as you
read because they don't actually change the meaning of the sentence, but are simply there
to add some colour to the proceedings. For example, today I realized that I didn't
instantly know the verb 'haraganear' or what 'un brebaje' was.

I love re-reading the chapters and realizing that I now completely understand every
single word!

It might be worth a try with a favourite book.
1 person has voted this message useful



anamsc
Triglot
Senior Member
Andorra
Joined 6194 days ago

296 posts - 382 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan
Studies: Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Written), French

 
 Message 6 of 7
29 June 2011 at 6:45am | IP Logged 
July wrote:
At the moment, I'm trying to improve my passive vocabulary by going though a book I love,
a chapter at a time, picking out the words that I don't recognize instantly and feeding
them into ANKI. It's amazing how many words you realize that you avoid noticing as you
read because they don't actually change the meaning of the sentence, but are simply there
to add some colour to the proceedings. For example, today I realized that I didn't
instantly know the verb 'haraganear' or what 'un brebaje' was.

I love re-reading the chapters and realizing that I now completely understand every
single word!

It might be worth a try with a favourite book.


Hi July, thanks for the advice! It seems like you are doing something similar to me. You're right, it's so easy to
just figure out a word from context while reading and then just sort of forget it later. And also thanks for putting
those words there (haraganear and brebaje) -- two more additions to my flashcards!

How long have you been learning Spanish? How have you learned it?
1 person has voted this message useful



anamsc
Triglot
Senior Member
Andorra
Joined 6194 days ago

296 posts - 382 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan
Studies: Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Written), French

 
 Message 7 of 7
29 June 2011 at 6:53am | IP Logged 
I had a thought that it might be helpful, for anybody who is possibly reading this log, for me to list some of the
vocabulary I have learned. At least, I think I would find that helpful in a log! This way, even if you aren't learning
Spanish, perhaps you can be like, "Oh, I don't know that word in my target language, I'm about to look it up!"

So here are some of the words I have come across in the past couple of days:

     amañar -- to fix (for example, a sporting event), to tamper with
     amortizar -- to recoup the cost of
     chapucero -- shoddy
     como la copa de un pino -- a whopper of...
     DEP -- rest in peace (descanse en paz)
     el / la terrícola -- earthling
     el almizcle -- musk
     el bisel -- beveled edge
     el estiércol -- manure
     el fleco -- fringe
     el salero -- salt shaker
     la radiestesia -- dowsing
     los tórtolos -- lovebirds

I have to give a disclaimer -- sorry if the translations are not perfect or anything like that, or if the words are too
easy!


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