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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 209 of 668 10 February 2013 at 10:43pm | IP Logged |
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OK, I am more than half way through Using Spanish. I did lesson 32 today. I am pretty easily able to do one lesson each day, but I usually spend two days on the review lessons. The last couple lessons seemed more difficult. I am not doing the lessons as thoroughly as I did the other Assimil course.
I have done a couple more episodes of La Reina del Sur. I did episode 51 today. I realized that I am closing in on the end of the series. I don't know what I will do next, but I definitely want to do another TV series or telenovela. I had a nice meetup. One guy recently had a trip to Cuba and that was really cool listening to that. I have been doing skype talks in my spare time too. I have worked through a few more lessons of Assimil Spanish Without Toil while I work out. I am somewhere in the mid 30s and it is still very easy. I would hardly say I am learning anything, but I don't want anything hard to during my workouts so review is good. I have been bitten by the travel bug and want to plan another trip. Things at home and work might make that tough, but if I plan right I may be able to get in a trip this Spring or Summer. 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 210 of 668 18 February 2013 at 2:34am | IP Logged |
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I did lesson 38 today in Using Spanish and I am still loving it. Boy this is a great course that is just packed full of grammar points, vocabulary and idioms. Sometimes it is kind of funny too. I don't spend too much time with each lesson... probably only about 30 minutes.
I also watched some episodes of La Reina del Sur. I am closing in on the end. I think I am on episode 53 or maybe 54. Great show and it just keeps getting better. That's probably because the characters are fully developed and I am understanding it better and better. I have a cold today so I am somewhat isolated from my family and "resting." I watched a full length British movie called Hooligans with Spanish dubbing. I have not watched many British movies so this was interesting. I understood the Spanish better than I understood British culture. The whole movie is about soccer fanatics that go around and beat up fans for other teams. I knew soccer was popular over there, but this was simply out of control. We don't have any fans like that in the US and I don't understand how soccer can make people so out of control. Anyway, it was cool that I could watch a full length movie and understand basically everything that was going on (I did not, of course, follow every single conversation or word). I had a good meetup. There are new people showing up now which is cool, but still very few natives. I am still working slowly through Spanish Without Toil as I exercise. I probably did another three or four lessons since last post. I have been doing a lot of skype since I have been somewhat sick. I wonder sometimes if I should have been a psychologist... people really seem to tell me a lot of "interesting" things. I guess I am a good listener. Family considerations have pretty much put an end to my planning to take another trip. Oh well. I have thought a lot about what I need to do. My current goal is to be more competent at my job with Spanish speakers. My speaking is sufficient to get the job done, but definitely still needs a lot of work. My current weakpoint is listening/understanding and passive vocabulary. I am going to continue with Using Spanish, but I really need to be doing more things to improve my listening/understanding. I am going to pick out another telenovela soon. Then, after I feel my listening has improved significantly I would like to do another run through FSI. I think that will really help my speaking. Edited by James29 on 18 February 2013 at 2:35am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5023 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 211 of 668 22 February 2013 at 12:34am | IP Logged |
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I think the English language version of "hooligans" is called "Green street", " in America "Green Street hooligans" I believe. It is a British film, but is still considered rather American in style, at least compared to most British films which often have more graphic depictions of sex, drugs and violence, and are seen as being more "gritty" than their American counterparts.
The film actually reminds me of a book my dad has among the thugs about an American who gets into the football hooliganism scene. There is some really shocking stuff in that book! A similar film perhaps worth watching is The Football Factory Football hooliganism is a phenomenon that exists in most European countries I believe, (just this morning there was news that a group of supporters of a London team where attacked and seriously hurt in France) and also I dare say South America. In fact I felt bad that I had the fortune of being in Buenos Aires while La Boca played River Plate, and didn't go. I'm not into football at all, but I believe this is one of the greatest football rivalries on the planet and is on many peoples "bucket list". Opposing fans have actually killed each other before! Tickets where selling for about £140 which was way too much. Regards listening comprehension, I find that the podcasts which come with transcripts really help. 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 212 of 668 24 February 2013 at 5:51pm | IP Logged |
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I finished La Reina del Sur today! Over the past few days I simply have not been able to stop watching it. The last 10+ episodes are great. Overall, I am very pleased with this accomplishment and with the telenovela as a whole. They did some things different in the telenovela than the book, but that was fine.
My goal with the telenovela was to improve my listening/understanding which it definitely did. There were a few things I thought were confusing about how the telenovela played out the characters so I went to a summary/guide of the show and as it turns out I really did understand everything. One thing I could not find an answer to, however... who was Ramiro's real mother? I don't get it. I cannot imagine his parents were brother/sister, but I don't understand how else it could be. I think I will finish up a few things and then start on another telenovela... likely El Capo. dbag, you are right, the movie was Green Street Hooligans. I guess I will never understand it. When I was in Ecuador I went to a professional game and I was a bit nervous. I really did not need to be, however, as it really was totally safe. I am on lesson 42 in Using Spanish. I kind of slacked off a bit with Using Spanish while I pressed through the telenovela. I still like Using Spanish... it is really teaching me a lot of ways to say things... ways words work... like andar and marchar and ver and poner... they all have so many unique/different ways to use them... different than literal translations in English. I have been doing some skyping. More English skyping lately. Meetups are good. I saw the cleaning lady of my work building. She is a latino and I rarely see her. I don't think I had seen her for about a year. We spoke in Spanish and she was totally amazed at how good my Spanish was. In fact, it was kind of funny that she was embarrassed at how rusty her Spanish was... she was asking me how to say certain words in Spanish! She said some very complimentary things about my Spanish which made me feel good. I also had a colleague ask me to interpret for him. It went well. I had a hard time figuring out how to translate "outbreak" and "deadline", but other than that I did not really have any major problems. I had to translate the concepts in a few short sentences. 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 213 of 668 05 March 2013 at 3:18am | IP Logged |
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Well, I missed a day of Spanish this week. I had a work trip and I just did not do it. I also split one of the longer lessons into two days.
That being said, things are still going good. I started El Capo and really like it. I have watched three episodes. I am also slowly skimming through Assimil Without Toil. I am picking up a few pointers, but it is kind of a waste of time now. I continue doing some good Skype talks and text chats. More English than Spanish lately. I linked up with one of my early Skype partners who I lost touch with. That was cool as we seem to have very fun and interesting conversations. Meetups are cool, but few native speakers. I am really craving another trip. This week through March 19 are Las Fallas in Valencia, Spain. Oh, how I wish I was there. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5023 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 214 of 668 05 March 2013 at 8:46am | IP Logged |
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Wow, I can't believe its that time of year again! The best time to be there is the final five days. That really is a great festival, without masses of foreign tourists either. I will definitely be going again one day. Its an expenseive time to be there though- I think even a basic dorm bed costs upwards of 40 euros during that time. I often think that next time I would try and meet people through couch-surfing before hand, and try to get to small of the smaller, local parties that are all over the city.
Sounds like you've got the travel bug! Do you ever watch these shows? Buscamundos Espanoles en el mundo 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 215 of 668 10 March 2013 at 9:51pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the links, dbag. I will check them out. I have definitely been bitten hard by the travel bug. I was searching for cheap plane tickets this week. I found some super cheap tickets to Puerto Rico. Maybe I will go there for a week. Who knows. My friend from Valencia keeps sending me videos and photos of the festival and it looks amazing. Someday I will be there... I hope.
I am still chugging nicely along with Using Spanish. I did lesson 50 today. I got sidetracked from Using Spanish a bit with episodes of El Capo as it is quite an addicting show. I have now watched the first nine episodes. I can definitely understand the plot and I am really keyed into the suspense. I am almost certainly missing some of the sub-plots and I do not understand a lot of the slang. I have a hard time understanding one character. I love the show. I think I will like it better than La Reina del Sur. I wish, however, I could find episode summaries somewhere. I have looked, but not found any. Meetups are good. Speaking Spanish is almost effortless for me now. I remember that it was not too long ago when I would have a headache and be exhausted after a two hour meetup. Not anymore. The meetup group seems to be getting stronger and is better attended. Unfortunately, there are still usually very few native speakers. Friday I went out to dinner with a few friends. I met a guy who mentioned that he lived in Spain for four years and could speak Spanish. I had said nothing about knowing Spanish until I heard him say that. I was quite happy there was a Spanish speaker so I switched over to Spanish and told him how excited I was to speak Spanish and that he really should come to the meetup and I asked him where in Spain he lived and why he was there. After talking to him for these few sentences he was quite embarrassed and said in English that he apparently forgot most of his Spanish because he did not understand a word I said. I felt bad too. Oh well. I did a few good skype talks. More English than Spanish, but I am learning about Las Fallas and that is awesome. I am still slowly working my way through Assimil's Spanish Without Toil while I exercise. This is almost a waste of time, but I doubt I would do any real "thinking" work while exercising so I don't mind... plus I would be "wasting" this time anyway. I must say that I really love my journey of learning Spanish. The more I learn the more I like it. I thought again about learning some French, but I am having so much fun with Spanish that I don't want to give up any Spanish time. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| HermonMunster Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4634 days ago 119 posts - 211 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 216 of 668 11 March 2013 at 4:39pm | IP Logged |
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Hey James,
Good job on getting to the point where talking is easy. I can't wait until I get there. Your story about the guy who said he could speak Spanish was pretty funny. That happens to me a lot. "Oh you speak Spanish.(start speaking)." "Uhh yea, well, I have a friend who speaks Spanish." lol I know a guy who has it on his resume that he's fluent. That guy couldn't say squat at our last meetup. Glad that you can walk the walk and talk the talk. I guess it also goes to show that you can lose a language if you don't stick with it. It'd be a crying shame if anyone on this site ever let their hard fought skills fade away. I've been thinking about French as well, but I don't know if my brain can take anymore languages. I'm still learning words in English weekly. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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