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sushi13 Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 4689 days ago 49 posts - 64 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Spanish
| Message 1 of 17 06 October 2014 at 5:25am | IP Logged |
For a few years now, I've tried learning Korean. Which definitely wasn't a success..
I did not know what to do, it was complicated, I wasn't motivated, not consistent,
etc. I can name so many reasons why I failed. So at the moment, I am putting Korean
on hold.
I had to choose my classes at school for the first semester, and I decided to add
Spanish to my schedule. Why? Because it was the only interesting online class that I
hadn't done yet and the normal class offered was on a subject that I absolutely hate.
I also thought that it would look good on my CV to write that I know (very) basic
Spanish.
But in the end, I was still happy because I love languages! My classes are actually
pretty good! I've had horrible Spanish classes a long time ago, so I wasn't expecting
too much. But I was impressed. My teacher is actually a native speaker from South
America, so she actually does know how to pronounce the language. She takes time to
talk to all of us, one by one, at least 5-10 minutes every class (which I have 5 times
a week). Sometimes more. Which is great. I learn well and she keeps me motivated!
But, since it is an high school beginner course, it does not go very fast and we don't
learn as many words as I'd like to. So a week ago, I decided to study on my own too.
And with my classes, my motivation just doesn't go away. Since I can't run away from
it.
I actually believe that I can really learn Spanish. So it's a new language to study
and I'm going to make an habit of studying a language, and when I decide to learn
another one, I might be more motivated then when I was studying Korean!
Anyway, for Spanish, I am using;
-Duolingo: I try to do at least one lesson a day. Which I've been doing for one
entire week! I'm learning a lot of words and I see how sentences are created. I also
learn a little bit of grammar. Therefor, I really enjoy Duolingo, it's fun!
-Butterfly Spanish: It is a youtube channel that I found not too long ago. The girl
is Mexican and she teaches words, grammar and a little bit about cultures. So I
haven't watched a lot of her videos.. But, I am going to study them from time to
time. Maybe 2-3 videos a week would be nice.
-Extra: It's some kind of sitcom for Spanish learners. It's actually pretty funny
because it's so ridiculous. But it's great, because they speak slow and clear. The
language is easy too. So I practice my listening comprehension and I do learn some
words. Again, I can see how sentences are made. The show taught me how to say; ''El
perro está en el horno.'' IT's a really cheesy sitcom!
I don't really have any other resources, I'm trying to find more. Even though, this
is good for now...
1 person has voted this message useful
| sushi13 Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 4689 days ago 49 posts - 64 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Spanish
| Message 2 of 17 07 October 2014 at 3:11am | IP Logged |
¡Hola, muy buenas!
Today, I learned a lot of new words. I learned some vocabulary to describe people. I
haven't memorized all of them yet. But, I'll be working a lot with them this week in
class. I might also download Anki and make some flashcards of the words I learn in
class.
On my own, I completed the lesson on family on Duolingo. I also took some time to learn
the differences between the verbs ''Ser'' and ''Estar''. I've seen that people usually
some problems with them, so I decided to learn them now. It seems pretty easy; Estar is
mostly for salutations and localisations. Ser is basically for everything else. I also
practiced the vocabulary I learned on Duolingo.
2 persons have voted this message useful
| Xenops Senior Member United States thexenops.deviantart Joined 3826 days ago 112 posts - 158 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese
| Message 3 of 17 07 October 2014 at 4:37am | IP Logged |
iBienvenidos al español! (Welcome to Spanish!) If you are open to using Anki, a computer-based flashcard system, you can do great things with it. Gabriel Wyner's book gives great hints, as does his website (book link here: http://www.amazon.ca/Fluent-Forever-Learn-Language-Forget/dp /0385348118/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412649272&sr=8-1&keyword s=gabriel+wyner)
You can also try "Notes in Spanish" podcasts. This helps with listening, especially when you get to the intermediate level, though they do a beginner level (with some English).
Have fun! :)
2 persons have voted this message useful
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5866 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque
| Message 4 of 17 07 October 2014 at 9:02am | IP Logged |
Estar is generally considered to be used for temporary situations, whereas ser is for more permanent things, though that rule isn't always perfect, such as está casado and está muerto. Perhaps it's as Lope de Vega said: "No quiso la lengua castellana que de casado a cansado hubiese más de una letra de diferencia": Spanish didn't want there to be a difference of more than one letter between casado (married) and cansado (tired) ;) As for "ser muerto", that generally means to be killed (muerto used as the participle for matar) whereas "estar muerto" means to be dead.
Generally though you can consider the permanence of the situation to decide whether to use ser or estar:
Esta mañana estoy muy feliz - I'm happy this morning (but not necessarily always)
Soy feliz aquí - I'm happy here (in general)
Está triste - He/She is sad (right now)
Es muy triste cuando tus hijos no tienen qué comer... - It/That is really sad when your children don't have anything to eat (it's a sad thing in general)
Está aquí - It is here (this is its location, focusing on WHERE it is)
Es aquí - This is the place (focusing on the thing, often used when looking for a building or some place and you finally get there, sorta like saying "Here it is!" "Here we are!")
4 persons have voted this message useful
| sushi13 Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 4689 days ago 49 posts - 64 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Spanish
| Message 5 of 17 08 October 2014 at 4:51am | IP Logged |
Hola,
Yo estoy muy cansada de estudiar y trabajar.. Hoy, estudio los preposiciónes y
reviso los conjuncióny la lettra ''G'', pero no tengo tiempo por aprender más.
Por qué? Yo voy a la escuela a son las 7 de la mañana y la escuela termina a
son las 3:30. Yo soy en el bus por una hora. A son las 6, yo voy trabajar. Mi
trabaja termina a son las 10:00.
I tried writing in Spanish a little. My verbs aren't right, but I only know the
present.. I was so busy today, and I haven't been able to sleep for the past
few days. I'm so tired and even if I tried and tried studying Spanish, nothing
stays in my hear. At least I took some time to study. Tomorrow will probably
be better. My brain will be more awake and happier, and he'll want to memorize
new words. I worked on prepositions and conjunctions today. I didn't see a lot
of things.. I tried my best to make some time.. I might try to download some
podcasts on my Ipod, so I can listen to them on my way to school.
1 person has voted this message useful
| sushi13 Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 4689 days ago 49 posts - 64 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Spanish
| Message 6 of 17 09 October 2014 at 5:49am | IP Logged |
¡Hola! Estoy contenta y un poco cansada. ¿Y tú?
Hoy, estudio los partes del cuerpo humano, el tiempo y un poco de gramática.
Repaso los preposiciones porque pienso que son dificíl de recordar.
I also remembered yesterday that I should say ''a las 8 de la tarde'' instead of
''a son las [...]''. I have to include some grammar in my plan. I mostly only
studied vocabulary.. My word count on duolingo is at 242. Can I remember them
all? Probably not, but I'd say that I remember at least 220 words. I'm trying
to look up some grammar books that I could buy, but I can't find many reviews
and I do not want to pay too much either. I was thinking about that book called
''Practice makes perfect- Complete Spanish Grammar'' and another book from the
same collection that includes vocabulary and a lot of exercises. Reviews seem
to be good, so I might order them tomorrow if possible. It's been only 10 days
since I decided to start learning Spanish on my own outside of class. And I can
tell that I somewhat improved. My capacities are still very limited, but I
think that at the end of the month, I'll be a lot better and able to hold longer
conversations.
I used Italki to chat a little. One of my language partner told me that my
Spanish had improved, so that's good. It's hard to make conversations and
practice my Spanish, since I have a very limited knowledge.
1 person has voted this message useful
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5866 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque
| Message 7 of 17 09 October 2014 at 11:57am | IP Logged |
Palabras que terminan con "ión" serán casi siempre femininas (como un francés: -tion): LAS preposiciones, LAS conjunciones. Para decir la hora, decimos "a la una", "a las dos", etc. No necesitas ese verbo en el medio (a son las ...). Pero ahora que leo el siguiente mensaje veo que ya te has dado cuenta, ¡muy bien! La palabra "partes" también es feminina: LAS partes del cuerpo. Y no te olvides que el adjetivo tiene que concordar con su sujeto: "... las preposiciones ... son difícilES de recordar"
Keep up the good work!
2 persons have voted this message useful
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4659 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 8 of 17 09 October 2014 at 3:08pm | IP Logged |
Sushi, I wish you the best on your studies. Enjoy what you study and have fun.
1 person has voted this message useful
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