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James29’s Spanish Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| HermonMunster Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4634 days ago 119 posts - 211 votes  Studies: Spanish | Message 337 of 668 22 December 2013 at 5:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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hey James,
Good job on getting your 2014 goals down well in advance. Things just don't happen; people make them happen. I need to get serious about my reading like you are. I feel that reading really it the key to living the language in your mind. It's nice to see your passion for the Austrian school of economics. I have yet to read Man, Economy, and State, but it's on the 2014 reading list. Do you ever plan on using your knowledge to make a larger impact on the world? (consultant, writer (outside of language log blog) Just be careful not to Carl Menger yourself out. It can be pretty depressing knowing what 99.9% of people do not. Merry Christmas and happy new year. 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 338 of 668 23 December 2013 at 1:54am | IP Logged | ||
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Interesting you mention Carl Menger, Hermon. I thought about reading his text in Spanish considering it is much shorter than Rothbard's. I really enjoyed reading Menger. Rothbard should be a real treat and ME&S is, in my opinion, the best of the major Austrian works (that I have read). Reading his book is like a blind person learning to see. It is just so cool and eye opening.
If you intend to read ME&S in English you should know that the Mises Institute has its online version available free of charge (along with just about all other books they sell). I think having a successful business and investments is a great way to have a positive impact on the world. People often underestimate how much positive impact on the world well run businesses can have. I recently spoke with one of my employees about her desire to "do good in the world" and we got talking about how much good she does for our customers. It was eye opening for her to realize that she really positively changes people's lives and she had never thought about it because she only thinks of what she does as "work." I think she realized that if she left work to do volunteering she would likely have less positive impact on the world. 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 339 of 668 29 December 2013 at 2:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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Goals for 2014:
Read any 15 books in Spanish. -> 2 done! Watch any 100 30 minute TV episodes in Spanish -> more than 12 done! Re-read Cassell's Colloquial Spanish -> finished the "A" section. Re-read Practice Makes Perfect "Subjunctive Up Close." -> No progress yet. Discussion of goals: I finished Theodore Boone, Joven Abogado this morning. This might have been the most satisfying Spanish project I have done. It was perfect for me. I enjoyed the book (I like Grisham books) and it was exactly the perfect level for me. I simply marked with a pencil words that I did not know and I have been going back to look them up. I still have to look up most of them. There were anywhere from 0 to 4 words per page. In reviewing the words I underlined I realized that there were actually quite a few pages where there were no unknown words. Here are the words I underlined today: chandal, mantenimiento, aspersor, monticulo, linde, aturdido, desamparado, afanabar, matutina, parpadeaban, alboroto. That's 11 words over the course of 16 pages. This was an unusually good day because it was the last 16 pages of the book. It is quite amazing that I at the appropriate level of book it is very easy to determine the meaning of unknown words simply by the story and context of the words. I like learning this way because I hate looking up words in the dictionary. I also noticed that google translate is much more effective if I type in the full phrase of the unknown word. It seems to be able to identify and translate the phrases quite well. However, when using just a single word it often times screws up. I really hope to read the other two Spanish books in this series. I will work them into my studies this year and I have no doubt they will be two more of my books that I read this year. I must also comment that it was quite cool that the plot of the book heavily involved immigrants from El Salvador. One of them was illegal. The main character, Theo, taught three of them English. It was kind of neat to have a big chunk relate somewhat to Latino cultural issues. I have also been watching the Simpsons. I am watching a new episode every night. I have not missed a night. I have lost track of exactly how many episodes I have watched, but it is no doubt more than 12. I know that simply from looking back at the episdoes I have watched. I am now a few episodes into the third season. Watching the Simpsons is going to be very helpful for me. The thread on "understanding almost everything" is very appropriate for me. Here is the way I think about it. I can watch the Simpsons and it is quite enjoyable for me. It is relaxing and I am quite entertained. Do I "understand almost everything"? Certainly not. I NEVER understand the prank calls Bart makes to Moe's bar. I often find myself not understanding the insults and jokes the characters tell. There are arguments between Bart and Lisa I don't understand. The cool thing is that the things I don't understand don't really seem to have much of a bearing on the show. That being said, there are a few times where I don't understand a key conversation and I miss something important. I can tell that it is important and I can tell that I don't understand. I am sure this will all get better with time. I recieved my Spanish edition of Man Economy and State! Holy cow! This is one major book. I will start it next. It is in two volumes and has over 1000 pages. I don't think I will have a problem with the Spanish, but it is going to take a long time. I will read it for a while and then take breaks to read other books like Theodore Boone or Harry Potter. I also don't intend to read it on the weekends... I will read it for 30-40 minutes each work day. I am reading the Cassell's book when I work out. I am probably on pace to read about 10 pages a week. It is very easy to read and it is also full of very useful information. I am glad I switched to it from the idiom book. I have no doubt I will continue to read the Cassell's book and finish it quite easily later this year. I have not had a meetup for a little while. I really don't consider them study. They are mostly just social events now where we speak Spanish. We really talk about the same things over and over again. I enjoy it and will keep going, but I don't have any illusions that it is really helping my Spanish advance very much. I did some short skype talks and text chats. These are similar. They are fun and make me comfortable using the language, but I am not sure how much they really help. I definitely need to do them because they are the only real time I have speaking with actual native speakers. I am developing more regular partners now. This is good because I really enjoyed having regular and consistent partners. I am never able to talk to my "old" partners... it simply just does not work anymore. My "new" partners seem good (one from Mexico and one from Argentina). The conversations are much more formal with these new partners which I guess is good. I have again been thinking of French. I would love to know French, but I simply cannot see myself spending the amount of time necessary to get to a decent level. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4666 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 340 of 668 29 December 2013 at 3:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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Being a French fanatic, I will of course encourage you to go ahead and start learning French. ;-)
I've found the same thing about conversation partners, that it's hard to sustain the ones you have and sometimes hard to have interesting talks that don't just tread over the same old ground. I lucked out in March or April of this year in finding a guy from France that I still talk to regularly, but it's really pretty rare for that to happen. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| nj24 Diglot Groupie United States Joined 4664 days ago 56 posts - 106 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian, French | Message 341 of 668 03 January 2014 at 11:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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Saw a conversation on Austrian economics and had to comment. Seems that the Spanish language is popular among
Austrian economics fans. :) How cool that you are reading Man, Economy, and State in Spanish. Did you purchase it from Amazon? Must confess that I have not yet read it in English. I've just started reading an online copy of El caso contra el banco central by Rothbard. I have found the book fairly easy to read, and it's been a great way to pick up technical economic words in Spanish. I've found it difficult to locate Spanish translations of Austrian works though (seems many books have not been translated yet). 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 342 of 668 04 January 2014 at 12:39am | IP Logged | ||
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There is a great page with free links to numerous Austrian books here. Check it out. It is great. Also, you can check out message 258 in my log. I put a number of other links to videos, courses, lectures, etc.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| nj24 Diglot Groupie United States Joined 4664 days ago 56 posts - 106 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian, French | Message 343 of 668 04 January 2014 at 7:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks, James! That's a fantastic resource. I've been looking for a copy of A History of Money and Banking in the
United States but it seems it hasn't been translated yet. However, it looks like the books on that list will last me a while. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5784 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 344 of 668 04 January 2014 at 11:57pm | IP Logged | ||
OK, James. I just started a log. Thanks for the suggestion. Give it a try please, mate. If it's still boring or not very useful after 3 or 4 weeks, you can stop reading it with my blessing. Cheers. http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=37767&PN=1&TPN=1 Edited by Random review on 04 January 2014 at 11:57pm 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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