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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 249 of 668 12 June 2013 at 2:38am | IP Logged |
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Yes, my phone can play mp3 files, it is just that I am kind of a technology idiot and can only connect my phone to my office computer and I have the audio on my home computer.
I am liking FSI. I am picking up and ironing out a lot of the little things that I am very sloppy with. Today's lesson was good... I'll stick with it. I must say, however, that it is kind of daunting to think about how long I am going to need to work on it to finish it. Edit: spelling mistake. Edited by James29 on 23 June 2013 at 1:15pm 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 250 of 668 12 June 2013 at 7:17pm | IP Logged |
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It took me about 8 months ;) But that was basically starting from zero. I'm glad you're enjoying it, though. I don't think there's a better course out there.
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5376 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 251 of 668 12 June 2013 at 7:48pm | IP Logged |
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Wow, I just went back and looked through my log at my progression through FSI the first time. I took a lot of pretty long breaks, but in total it took me almost a year! I am going to go through it roughly the same way, but I doubt I will take as many long breaks. I figure I will be done with Unit 1 in about a week and then I will start only doing two lessons per week until I finish Unit 3. Then, I will do Unit 4 at one unit per week. With a few breaks worked in there I will be going FSI about half the time and it will take me about 7-8 months. I think I will read/listen to audio books and watch TV with the other time.
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5376 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 252 of 668 16 June 2013 at 1:47pm | IP Logged |
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Well, I finished Unit 1 today of FSI. Lessons 14 and 15 were still easy, but I screwed up a few things... my tongue got twisted a few times. Nothing major.
I am confused about the distinctions between le/la/lo and when it is mandatory to use which one. I have always used le for you, la for her and lo for him... I know there are different customs and ways of using the words in different countries, but I am realizing now that I am screwing something up... and there are situations I should be saying la/lo when I mean you. This is the sort of sloppiness I have been ignoring for a long time because it has no impact on my ability to speak or understand. I have tried to figure this out in the last several days, but I think my brain is too hardwired in its ways to figure it out. I posted a question in a different section of the forum asking for help on this. I read some more of my DHH Biblia. I am now half way through Revelation. I will finish it next weekend. I must say that it is the highest quality audio of any audio book I have listened to. It is dramaticized and the voices speak slowly and extremely clearly. I had a couple good Skype talks. I have one wonderful partner. I am still searching for another good partner. I have had some conversations with various people, but I find it is really necessary to have a lot in common... or else conversations end up getting really boring. I watched an episode or two of Caso Cerrado. This show is wonderful for learning Spanish... and it is kind of crazy too. The last one was about a husband who was suing his wife because she was breast feeding their Chihuahua! Another one I watched this week was about a brother who was suing his sister because she is sleeping with the man who killed her twin sister. I like it because after each break the judge gives a nice short summary of what is going on... this allows me to clear up any misunderstandings and/or confirm what I already understood. I must say, however, that I get very annoyed at how they insert commercials. I did a meetup. I had some nice talks with native speakers. I also saw someone who apparently was at a meetup about a year and a half ago and was simply shocked at how much better my Spanish was. This made me feel great! We got a response from a Spanish speaker to the page I wrote for the company's website. I had a nice talk with the customer and had no problems. He did talk fast and I had to clarify a few things to make sure I understood, but I really felt like I was totally doing my job in Spanish and he appreciated that. That was a pretty cool feeling. I actually got a chuckle out of the whole thing because before I called him back I looked up a few technical words I knew would come up in the conversation. Then, when we were talking HE did not know the words in Spanish... I, of course, had them on the tip of my tongue. Anyway, that was Spanish for this week. I'll keep on working through FSI. I'll work it hard until my trip to Spain then I will take a break from it. 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 253 of 668 17 June 2013 at 11:20am | IP Logged |
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The difference between la/o/e:
La and lo are direct objects. Le is for indirect objects. In Spain they tend to overuse le in situations where grammatically it should be lo (leísmo), though i don't think it's considered incorrect (at least not in Spain). In Latin America you'll find cases of loísmo and laísmo. Some examples: DO: I punched him : Lo golpeé. Him is the direct object of the verb, so we use "lo". Sorry for punching you : Perdone que lo/a haya golpeado. Can I help you with anything? : ¿La/o puedo ayudar en algo? I watched him from the window : Lo miraba desde la ventana. IO: I told you a lie : Le dije una mentira. I sang her a song : Le canté una canción. Santa Clause stole her raindeer : Papa Noel le robé el reno. What did you buy him? : ¿Qué le compraste? It's not always that straightforward, sometimes both are possible in different situations. Compare: Lo miré vs. Le miré el culo (o el móvil/celular, si prefieres ;)). La escribiré mañana vs Le escribiré mañana. (La carta) la escribiré vs. Le escribiré (una carta) A lot of times both sound fine, even if one would be more correct grammatically speaking. In Spain "lo" will often get replaced with "le" (¿Le ayudo en algo, senyor?) and, while maybe not as common as the leísmo in Spain, i've heard things like "La dije que iba a venir", i suppose a sort of "laísmo", in Latin America. So le/la/lo has nothing to do with who/what you're talking about (though the leísmo only applies to people) but rather whether it's the direct or indirect object of the verb. I'm pretty sure FSI goes into this pretty thoroughly. 3 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 254 of 668 23 June 2013 at 1:37pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks again for the input, Crush. Over the past week I got this all figured out and now I feel kind of silly for saying I did not get it. Coincidentally, FSI drilled this stuff pretty hard in the lessons I did this week.
I keep forgetting to mention a couple things I often note during the week and don't want to forget them. At work I am often in close quarters with people who I don't want to see my notes. It is often very awkward. Now I often prepare my notes and take notes in Spanish. It is awesome. My Spanish is like a secret code! I am surprised that it does not even mess me up to be speaking/thinking in English and writing/reading in Spanish. Pretty cool use of my Spanish skills and it definitely makes a difference and it makes very awkward situations much less awkward. Also, when talking with my wife about my Spanish level I often use a different standard. Originally, I used to say "if I got dropped off in a Spanish speaking country I probably would not die." Later, I would say "... I could definitely survive." Later, I would say "... I could probably work at a fast food restaurant." And, now, I say, "... I could probably do my real job." Sometime I will really need to spend a long time on writing. I do a lot of text skyping in Spanish and emailing, but I don't do any real professional writing. In fact, when I think about it I realize that my writing skills are so bad that I would not even want to write a letter to a customer in Spanish. I really need to work on that. In terms of Spanish this week... something really big came up at work and I had to completely skip a day of Spanish. That does not happen too often. I completed a couple more FSI lessons (16 and 17 I think). I am doing each lesson twice now. I love this course. Skipping the conversation build up makes a HUGE difference in time. It only saves about 12-15 minutes, but that makes the lessons seem so much shorter and less tedious. I will keep skipping them until I get to unit 3. I was not able to do these lessons perfectly. My mind would freeze sometimes. I definitely am not automatic with the past I tense conjugations. I need to think "is this an -ar verb or an -er/ir verb?" before I conjugate it. Sometimes I simply cannot hear what the audio is actually saying... like they say "ustedes" and I think they say "usted." I don't mind those mistakes. Also, I find the response drills the hardest drills because I need to think of who the audio is talking to and then take a couple steps. I messed up a couple of those. I did a nice meetup this week. I don't remember any Skype talks, but I am sure I probably did one and have simply forgotten it. I still have not found a good second Skype partner. I have a few people that I occasionally talk to, but nobody who really seems like they are going to become reliable for an extended period of time. I am seeing my trip to Spain get closer and closer. I cannot wait! I have been thinking a bit more about learning French. I even mapped out a strategy. I think it will be critical to learn it with Spanish as the base language. Otherwise, I will feel like I am neglecting Spanish. I need to always remember that Spanish is my real important language and French, if I do it, will be only for fun. I figure I could do MT1 and then the Spanish base of Assimil and get to a decent enough level to actually use the language a little bit. I think I could get motivated to do that. Anyway, I am not going to do French anytime soon. I want to finish FSI Spanish before I tackle any other projects. 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 255 of 668 23 June 2013 at 4:18pm | IP Logged |
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I definitely recommend the Spanish-base for the French Assimil course. I used it and thought it was great. I also found a copy of "El francés sin esfuerzo" in Spain. Get it if you can, it's amazing. It's a hardback yellow book with a little golden Assimil stamp on it. I think pretty much all of the old Assimil courses in Spanish are hardback yellow books. The audio can be found online, if you need help with that let me know. The (francés sin esfuerzo) books are all over Madrid in the foreign language section de las librerías de segunda mano. It'll put you back about 5€. My French still isn't that good, mostly 'cuze i've never used it, but i can get by (i could probably work at a fast food restaurant) and enjoy reading books, mostly thanks to Assimil's "El francés sin esfuerzo" course. The dialogues are fun and interesting and it covers quite a bit of grammar. I can't think of any major grammatical structure it doesn't go over. The newer course is also pretty good, though also not as thorough. The dialogs are fun, though. I haven't used the Using French course (i'm not sure if there's a Spanish version or not), so i can't comment on that.
The French FSI course doesn't even compare to the Spanish course, it's much duller and the format is different. I didn't like the drills as much nor how the dialogs were presented. However, the French in Action series is really good, even if you just watch the videos. It'll get you lots of listening practice at a native speed and teach you quite a bit :) Plus, it's all in French. EDIT: Also, if you're looking to pick up lots of books, i know tons of used book stores with HUGE selections in Madrid. Check out one of the Ábaco Libros Usados stores. They both have huge selections, are run by super nice families/people, and the books are incredibly cheap. You can find quite a few books for 1-2€, especially really common stuff, though on average i'd say they cost about 3-4€. Compared to the 15+€ they sell for at places like Casa del libro or El corte inglés, it's a bargain :) There's another nice used book store in Santa Engracia where i've seen lots of Assimil French (and German and English) copies. I'm so excited to be going back to Spain! I met a kid here who'd lived two and a half years in Spain and i think they summed it up my thoughts pretty well: "When i left Spain after two and a half years, i felt like i was leaving home. Now that i've been here in China for a year and a half, i can't help but wonder when i'll go back home to Spain." Edited by Crush on 23 June 2013 at 4:31pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5263 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 256 of 668 23 June 2013 at 5:40pm | IP Logged |
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The Planeta Agostini "Curso de Francés" is very thorough. It may be available in Madrid. If not, maybe I can help.
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