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James29’s Spanish Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5784 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 353 of 668 21 January 2014 at 5:48am | IP Logged |
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Ah, the many happy hours I spent watching the Simpsons in Spanish...
Do any of you guys ever watch the same episode in the two different dubs or was that just me. On the whole I preferred the dub used in Spain because the Latin American dub missed out (presumably intentionally) some of the more sexual jokes IIRC and because I'm not a big fan of so-called "neutral Spanish". Both dubs were fun, though and I loved comparing them and seeing the different ways things were expressed. Anyone else do that? If anyone wants to try it, the first episode I tried it with was "Treehouse of horror XVII" (series 18, episode 4) and it's a really goid one to try it with. Latino Euro 4 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 354 of 668 21 January 2014 at 2:28pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the links, Randomreview. I am making a conscious effort to choose Latino Spanish when I have the option. Early on I did watch a couple of episodes in Castellano, but I lost the link to the videos. I have used a lot of Castellano in the past (Assimil, audio books, skype partners, Spain trip, etc) and feel comfortable with it. My future with Spanish will be linked to Latino Spanish so I am forcing myself to use it more.
I noticed that there is a Quebec audio version of the Simpsons in French. If I ever learn French I would love to watch that. That won't be for a few years, unfortunately, as I won't be embarking on French for quite a while. 2 persons have 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 355 of 668 21 January 2014 at 4:38pm | IP Logged |
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James, mate, how would you feel about creating an anki deck for the Cassell's book instead of just
revising it? I've long thought it a shame that it's out of print and in this way you'd not only create a tool to help you revise more efficiently, you'd also be creating a lovely resource for others who'd never otherwise have benefited from the book. My idea is that the prompt side would have the headword and the "answer" side the entry. We could expain how to use the deck in the description. What do you think? If you're up for it, I am willing to take on half the workload (i.e. 13 letters) and can commit to one letter a week. We could be finished in just over 3 months. Of course, I understand if you're too busy with your business. Just an idea, mate. Let me know. 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 356 of 668 21 January 2014 at 5:22pm | IP Logged |
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Good idea. It is a great resource, but I don't use anki and I am quite a computer boob. Think of Homer Simpson trying to use a computer and that is me. When I tried anki I had a hard time just using the regular pre-loaded cards. Also, I really don't have a ton of extra time.
Did you know that there is an electronic/text copy of the book? Someone posted a link to it somewhere in my log. That could/would save a lot of time. 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 357 of 668 26 January 2014 at 3:04pm | IP Logged |
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I'm still chugging along with Spanish. Kind of a slower week this week for multiple reasons. I'll update my goals next week because I did not make much noticeable progress.
I finished the current chapter in Man Economy and State. I'll start the section on production next. I am almost 2/3 of the way through the first of the two volumes. I forgot the book a few times this week so I think I only read from it three or four times. I've been watching more episodes of The Simpsons. I am a few episodes into the fourth season now. I am very slowly working on the Cassell's book. I only read it when I am in the gym and I have been skipping the gym lately. Only one day in the gym this week. I had a few good long skype talks with my new partners. Technology is cool and it is amazing how much I learn about other cultures and other worlds. One of my partners is a Socialist Argentinan Economist. The monetary crisis they are having there prompted some very interesting discussions. I am learning how socialists think about these sorts of things. I went to the local Latino center for a meeting. There were very few people there and the conversation was actually in English (probably because my Spanish was worse than everyone else's English). Anyway, I learned of a few cool things they do at the center I may check out. We also had a very interesting conversation about racism in the Latino community. It was eye opening. They made it sound much worse than in the community as a whole. Meetups are ok. This week there were no native speakers. My Spanish does not seem that great at meetups. I think the wide range of speakers and conversations makes it difficult for me for some reason. I am MUCH better in one on one conversations. I'd like to read through some books with audio. I ordered Narnia from the library and hope to get it soon. I'm thinking about another trip. I REALLY need a vacation! Tickets to Latin America seem cheap for April-ish flights. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BAnna Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4623 days ago 409 posts - 616 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Turkish | Message 358 of 668 26 January 2014 at 9:37pm | IP Logged |
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A vacation sounds great!
Your approach seems to be a sound one and has been followed by many successful language learners: find things you're interested in and do them in the language you are studying. It's surprising what directions it can lead you and it can be much more motivating than just chugging through a textbook or set of grammar exercises. Although as one of my fellow team members on the German TAC team said, you may end up watching or reading a lot of stuff you would never do in your native language, like soap operas or articles about fish or something. I recently read a book with a lot of vocabulary having to do with plants (not really my thing). Regarding Meetups: somewhere I read (maybe it was from the Defense Language Institute materials?) that a multi-person conversation like a cocktail party is the hardest challenge for a non-native speaker, because there are so many topic switches, changes in who's speaking, interruptions, distractions, etc. not to mention background noise and maybe a glass of wine to juggle, so it's worth it to keep participating, and just accept that it might not be as easy as a skype conversation. I agree with you that books with audio are really helpful, the only caveat being that the audiobook be unabridged. Do you listen and read simultaneously or listen to them separately? I've tried both ways of using them and they seem to be helpful in different ways, but I'm still figuring out for myself what that means for my study. 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 359 of 668 27 January 2014 at 12:31am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the comments. I like to listen to the audio and follow along with the text. I have done this with a few books and I really like it. I hope to go through a bunch of kids books like this... Harry Potter, Narnia, etc and then move on to real books that I really enjoy like John Grisham and Dan Brown.
I should mention that this week I took an online level test. I passed the B1 test pretty easily, but narrowly failed the B2. I was fairly close, but not close enough. I note that they really tested technical grammar stuff. I was discouraged by the results, but I guess it does not really matter. I can do what I want and I continue to improve. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| AmyinBrooklyn Senior Member United States Joined 4052 days ago 87 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 360 of 668 02 February 2014 at 1:32am | IP Logged |
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Hi James29 -
So I was talking to my dad on the phone today about my quest to learn Spanish. It is something that he'd like to do some day and so he likes to ask me about my progress and what I'm studying and of course, I love talking about that (I think that's why we're all here so can talk about it and not bore those in our real lives). Anyway, he asked me when I thought I would be comfortable speaking Spanish. I realized that I honestly don't know the answer to that question. I've spent two hours a day for three months (and despite claims by bloggers to the contrary), three months didn't make a speaker out of me - and I'm ok with continuing to work. But I couldn't answer the question since I don't feel like I'm there yet and I wondered if I could get your take. How long did it take you before you felt like you were able to communicate in Spanish? Thanks so much! (ps - I hope you haven't already answered this - I did some looking but couldn't find an answer). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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