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TAC2010 Italian, Spanish, Catalan, German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| canada38 Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5306 days ago 304 posts - 417 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Japanese | Message 25 of 30 07 August 2010 at 9:57pm | IP Logged |
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Well it's been about three months since my last entry, but here's an update of my
progress. For anyone else out there who has lost motivation, like myself, don't give up!! Italian I haven't done any formal study of the language lately. Instead, I have been chatting online with an Italian friend several times per week. I find that I am having to use a dictionary less than before, so I am satisfied with this result. I think that for the duration of the summer, this will be my only use of the language. In September, when school resumes and things become more routine, I want to give myself two designated days per week for the study of Italian. I think this is a realistic goal based on my school schedule. Spanish My trip to Spain is quickly approaching. I've been speaking Spanish whenever possible, and trying to build up my vocabulary. I've been watching lots of movies dubbed into Spanish, and I also bought the Let's Talk Spanish Advanced CD Series. I am satisfied with my understanding of grammar, spelling and writing in general, but I need to build up my confidence with speaking. Feel free to check out my blog, www.barcelonajourney.com, where I will keep you updated about my travels in Iceland, Spain and the south of France. Catalan I've decided that for now I cannot study this language. If I decide to frequently visit Catalonia, this decision would accordingly change, but for now I want to focus more on Italian and Spanish. Edited by canada38 on 14 August 2010 at 10:22pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| canada38 Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5306 days ago 304 posts - 417 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Japanese | Message 26 of 30 28 August 2010 at 8:39pm | IP Logged |
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I've just returned from my trip to Europe. Most of the time was spent in Barcelona,
Spain. However, I also visited other parts of Catalonia, the Languedoc-Roussillon in the south of France, the tiny country of Andorra, and Iceland. I had a great time, and here are my observations pertaining to languages: - Icelanders in general speak English pretty well. Most of those whom I encountered spoke English very well, while a small minority could not express themselves adequately in English. - Their language looks very difficult on paper, and from my understanding it is hard to learn as well, however it sounds a lot more beautiful than it looks! - Catalan is alive and well in Barcelona. Most signs give emphasis in the following order: Catalan, English, then Spanish. - In tourist areas, I had no problem using Spanish, and English usually was fine too, although it wasn't always the case. - For non tourist areas, both inside Barcelona and it surrounding Catalonia, I was better off to use English than my limited Spanish since most of the people seemed to only speak Catalan, some English and even less Spanish. - In Andorra, it seemed Catalan is still the language of choice. I wasn't there for very long though, so it's hard to know for certain. - When I spoke Spanish (with people who understood the language), I was generally understood even though I likely made many mistakes. - I now realise that my French definitely needs improvement if I want to make myself understood in France. In addition, here is a short composition that I've written in Italian. Nothing overly exciting, but as usual, I post my practice writings on here: La mia estate Questa estate era molto bene. Lavorai in un laboratorio della chimica analitica. Ci sono altri due studenti e il professore. Il lavoro fu insieme difficile e gratificante. Continuerò questo lavoro in settembre quando la università riprenderà. Anche è stato il anniversario secondo per la mia ragazza e io. Visitammo un villaggio pittoresco di pesca. Avemmo della cena e del vino spagnolo. Infine, andammo per l'Europe. Vederemo Barcellona e le altre città della Catalogna in Spagna. Visitammo anche il sud della Francia, l'Andorra e l'Islanda. Mi piace molto queste regione. Era il mio tempo secondo in Europe. Ho avuto una buona estate! If someone wants to correct any grammatical faults, please do so! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Emme Triglot Senior Member Italy Joined 5158 days ago 980 posts - 1594 votes Speaks: Italian*, English, German Studies: Russian, Swedish, French | Message 27 of 30 30 August 2010 at 5:54pm | IP Logged |
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First of all, congratulations on your Italian, canada38! Your composition is good and with few errors. There are a couple of mistakes, but they don’t hinder comprehension at all.
So here we go: La mia estate Questa estate è stata molto bella. Ho lavorato in un laboratorio di chimica analitica. C’erano altri due studenti e il professore. Il lavoro è stato insieme* difficile e gratificante. Continuerò questo lavoro a settembre quando l’università riprenderà. C’è stato anche il secondo anniversario per me e la mia ragazza. Abbiamo visitato un pittoresco villaggio di pescatori. Abbiamo cenato fuori** e abbiamo bevuto del vino spagnolo. Infine, siamo andati in giro per l'Europa. Abbiamo visto Barcellona e le altre città della Catalogna in Spagna. Abbiamo visitato anche il sud della Francia, Andorra e l'Islanda. Mi piace molto queste regione. Era la mia seconda volta in Europa. Ho trascorso una bella estate! * ‘insieme’ might be used in this context, but is not really the best way to express this idea. I suppose you want to say ‘allo stesso tempo’. ** I suppose you mean that you and your girlfriend dined out, otherwise ‘abbiamo cenato’ would suffice. If I may offer my suggestion, I would advise you to pay special attention to the tenses, because that’s the area you seem to have more trouble with (but you probably already know that). As you can see I changed the ‘passato remoto’ into ‘passato prossimo’. Even though ‘passato remoto’ is used in the South of Italy to tell about past events like the ones you are narrating, in standard Italian one usually uses ‘passato prossimo’. ‘Passato remoto’ is rarely used, apart from literary narrative, or some historical texts (ex. ‘Napoleone morì sull’Isola di Sant’Elena nel 1821’). I hope this helps! Keep up the good work! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| canada38 Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5306 days ago 304 posts - 417 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Japanese | Message 28 of 30 20 September 2010 at 5:29am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the help Emme! I admit, I do have a lot of work to do for Italian verbs.
That's definitely an area I'll focus on in the coming weeks. Also, I was slow to respond because with classes resuming I've been quite busy. Here is an update on my language studies: Spanish I've now begun my second year of study of the Spanish language. This semester I'm taking "Intermediate Spanish I." So far, the class has been going well. There is surprisingly a lot of homework, but none of it is overly difficult. The professor seems genuinely interested in teaching the language. Also, since it is a higher level course, most of the other students in the class will actually be interested in learning the language, as opposed to the usual group of people solely fulfilling their university language requirement in introductory language courses. Another interesting thing to note: The professor seems to have a benign distaste for the Continental variety of Spanish... so I expect to get some interesting reactions when I persistently pronounce words as thervetha, corathones, relathión, etc. and the use of vosotros. The text book for the course is IMAGINA español sin barreras, 2nd edition, by Blanco and Tocaimaza-Hatch. The book has a "magazine feel" to it, with lots of colourful pages (I know, I know, content is most important, but that's there too!), and there are lots of supplementary materials (video, audio, exercises, pronunciation of new vocabulary) available online for the book too. The first major assignment for the course is to respond to a letter given in the textbook. The writer, Carlos, is in a dilemma because of work circumstances, he must have a long distance relationship with his girlfriend. They communicate mostly online, however he has made a fake online account (They didn't say Facebook, let's assume it is ;), to test her commitment to him. She starts an "online relationship" with this fake guy, and now Carlos has to confront his girlfriend with the truth. As Dr. Corazones, writing for the local newspaper, I have to give him some advice. Anyone can feel free to correct any mistakes, although don't feel compelled because I'll be handing it in tomorrow anyways. (Although I still would like to know any faults, not just for the mark in the class, but to learn Spanish correctly.) Here is my response to poor Carlos. Estimado Carlos: Esta situación es verdaderamente un problema. Has dicho que estás seguro de que ella te ama. Si esto es cierto, creo que tú puedes salvar vuestra relación. Creo que desde la segunda relación es también una relación virtual, ella no te ha engañado en la vida real. Tal vez ella le gusta esta relación que es solamente virtual, pero al presente no quiere ninguna segunda relación en la vida real. Sus deseos pueden cambiar con el tiempo, por lo tanto tú debes hablar inmediatamente con ella. La pregunta es, ¿qué vas hacer tú para que ella acepte la verdad? Debes estar seguro y debes verificar que no ha habido de la infidelidad. Si ella tiene remordimiento por la relación con el otro hombre virtual, puedes perdonarla. Además, debes pedirla si hay unos otros hombres virtuales o verdaderos. Si hay más hombres, ella no es la chica para ti. Entiendo que tú estás disgustado y preocupado, pero no debas estar ni deprimido ni enojado. Intenta tener una discusión pacífica con ella. Por ultimó, os sugiero que vosotros vivís en la misma ciudad. Espero que tú y Marcela podéis remendar vuestra relación. Te saluda atentamente, Doctor Corazones German I needed another elective course, so like any other language lover, I chose to study a language. Right now I'm in the the beginner Introductory to German I course. The professor is really nice, and most people in the class seem to actually want to learn the language. The textbook is Berliner Platz 1 Neu: German for Beginners by Lemcke, Rohrmann and Scherling. The explanations are concise, but the downside is that all exercises are entirely in German. This made the first homework assignment more difficult than was necessary. The book also includes Treffpunkt D-A-CH Cultural Reader and Exercise Booklet by Seiffert about Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I also bought Collins Easy Learning German Dictionary. The format of this dictionary is really great: there are no abbreviations and the words are coloured blue to separate them from their description. So far, I really like studying German. If I still feel this way when the course is completed, I'll very likely continue studying the language on my own. Unfortunately, I don't have any more room for arts electives. My goal is to get A+ in both of my language courses this semester. Italian My study of Italian lately has only consisted of conversations with my friend from Italy. My vocabulary is growing and is retained, but I have some serious work to do with verbs. I think that will be my focus in the coming weeks. I don't really have any time to continue with Pimsleur II right now, so I think most of my study of Italian will remain rather informal in nature. Edited by canada38 on 20 September 2010 at 5:31am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| canada38 Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5306 days ago 304 posts - 417 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Japanese | Message 29 of 30 07 December 2010 at 12:39pm | IP Logged |
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Wow, my last update was in September, terrible. To be honest, I've been living school
since September, and just haven't had time to post an update. Fortunately, 2 out of 5 of my classes are language classes! Regardless, here's an update of my progress since then: Spanish Yesterday I wrote the final exam for my Spanish course. I studied hard for it, so I hope I did well. My goal was to get an A in the course, but I might not since my midterm mark wasn't the best (I had an intermediate calculus test the same day, which had to take priority). Here's a summary of what I've learnt throughout the semester: - Gustar and similar verbs - Preterite - Imperfect - Subjunctive (in noun and adjective clauses) - Direct and indirect object pronouns - Imperative (commands) - Reflexive verbs - Por and para - Vocabulary focusing mostly on emotions, city life, media and family. Some of these topics were a review from last year. While on one hand it's good to thoroughly reinforce the basics, it also made the course somewhat dull. We spent a good amount of time discussing the culture of various Hispanic countries and watched a few short films, both fiction and non-fiction. One of the films was shot in Barcelona, and focused on different types of stores (florist, butcher, etc.). Interestingly enough, I had visited some of those exact locations in August! Italian Again, my study of Italian has remained rather informal. Nonetheless, I've been having weekly conversations with an Italian friend, so I am getting lots of practice. I asked my girlfriend to get me an Italian grammar book as a Christmas gift. During the Christmas break from school, I'll definitely focus heavily on Italian. German My study of the German language went really well. On almost every homework assignment (there was one given every class) I got a perfect score. I got above 90% on the tests and reviews (4 and 6 each). This was a really enjoyable course, but unfortunately, I am unable to take any more German courses. The final exam is in less than two weeks, and I am confident I'll be able to finish the class with an A+. Here's a summary of what I've learned in the German language: - Present tense verb conjugation - Questions - Articles - Separable-prefix verbs - Accusative case - Plural nouns - Possessives - Numbers, dates, times - Simple past of sein and haben - Lots of expressions and greetings - Vocabulary: languages, countries, talking with friends (drinks like coffee and tea, phone numbers, etc.), household appliances, public places (movie theatre, swimming pool etc.), stores and food, and family members. One benefit of learning German was that it did not interfere at all with Spanish or Italian. This was definitely a major problem when I spent a few months studying Catalan. Overall, I really enjoyed learning German. Right now I'm uncertain how I will continue studying the language, although to begin I'll likely finish the textbook used from the course. Fortunately, I have a much easier course load in the winter semester, that includes 3 Spanish courses and only 2 chemistry ones... which will definitely leave lots of free time for me to study Italian and German. Anyways, sorry for the lack of updates, and I hope to give atleast one more update before the year and TAC 2010 wrap up. Edited by canada38 on 07 December 2010 at 12:49pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| canada38 Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5306 days ago 304 posts - 417 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Japanese | Message 30 of 30 23 December 2010 at 11:01pm | IP Logged |
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The final marks for my classes have been posted. In Spanish I got an A-, and in
German I got an A+. I was hoping to do a lot better in Spanish, but that mark is good enough. I'll probably take a break from Spanish until class resumes, but I'll likely resume German soon. For Italian, I've spent the last two weeks focusing on verbs. Even though I was familiar with these tenses, I've made sure that I completely understand il presente, il presente progressivo, il passato prossimo, l'imperfetto, e il futuro. I also made sure I knew the conjugations for some common irregular verbs. For now I'm going to continue to focus on verbs, then perhaps work on vocabulary. Edited by canada38 on 23 December 2010 at 11:01pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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