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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 5592 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 233 of 668 27 May 2013 at 2:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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If I were you, I'd put El Capo to one side for a while and spend the next month watching shows from Spain
in preparation for your trip. A good one to start you off is "Aquí no hay quien viva" which can be streamed online (I can PM you a link if you want). In terms of courses I can see your point. Excellent though that LL course is, if you have completed Using Spanish, it'll be too easy for you (though it might be worth spending a couple of hours whizzing through it with a notepad and writing anything down that seems interesting or that you didn't know already. Not sure what I'll do when I go back to Spanish and finish Using Spanish, but I'd be tempted to try a book on business Spanish or some other specialist area. Alternatively you could get books to start preparing for the DELE exam (I think I remember Cainntear using one called "El cronómetro"). 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5184 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 234 of 668 31 May 2013 at 2:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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I finished Assimil's Using Spanish today!
Mini-milestone. Went through it twice in exactly 5 months. I feel it was well worth the time and effort. I learned a lot of new vocabulary. I feel a bit more comfortable with tricky grammar issues. My listening improved quite a bit. I learned tons of good idioms. It was quite enjoyable too. You are right, randomreview, that I should watch something from Spain instead of El Capo. I have had a lot of success with my approach to Spanish of "I'll do whatever the heck I feel like" so I am not going to worry too much. I also have a crush on Marcelita in El Capo and cannot wait to see what happens. I don't really have any need or desire to get any sort of Spanish certification or take a test. I don't see how it would be useful for me in my situation and the thought of preparing for an exam makes me want to puke. I much prefer the thought of preparing for two weeks on the beach in Spain!! I definitely like my strategy of having one major project I am working on (like Using Spanish or FSI) and then using native resources for the rest of my Spanish time. It makes me feel like I am always making progress. Right now I feel like diving into FSI again would be a good idea. Then, after FSI I won't use any courses anymore. If I start FSI I will use it four days a week and use native materials the rest of the time. I'd really like to read the entire Harry Potter series. Since my last post I have not done much else other than Using Spanish. I doubled up lessons the last couple days so I did not watch any Spanish TV or do anything else. I did have some decent skype chats. One of my best partners has not been available due to a new baby so I have had to start talking a bit with a new partner (who has terrible English). Having a partner with terrible English is not quite as enjoyable. I also did a good meetup. Those are fun. I wish there were more natives. I often crack a joke with something out of Assimil and I just get blank stares. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5592 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 235 of 668 31 May 2013 at 3:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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Of course you are completely right about your method. Congratulations on completing Using Spanish.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| HermonMunster Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4442 days ago 119 posts - 211 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 236 of 668 05 June 2013 at 4:45pm | IP Logged | ||
Hey James. Congrats on completing Using Spanish. I was just catching up on your log. When it comes to the accent marks, a faster way than toggling would be to learn the alt codes. When I first started learning I wanted to be a good writer because that's primarily how I communicate with my Mexican coworkers. In a week or two you'll get it down and will be able to type them really fast. This will protect you if you ever have to use a shared computer that doesn't allow you to change any settings. á alt-160 í alt-161 ó alt-162 ú alt-163 ñ alt-164 é alt-130 ¿ alt-168 ¡ alt-10161 hold the alt key and type the numbers then release the alt key. I think it's great that you are learning to write the right way. It's getting to be a lost art. I've had people tell me that I write better than most of the people they know. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5071 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 237 of 668 05 June 2013 at 5:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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No offense meant to Hermon Munster, but I think he may find this method a simpler solution. To anyone, who needs or wants to type accent marks quickly and naturally, there's an easier way to type, intuitively, on an English keyboard in windows by using the "US International Keyboard" setting. When you select this option, you get a keyboard icon in the lower right-hand toolbar on Windows 7. Clicking the icon allows you to switch between "US" and "US-International" keyboard options.
There's no need to memorize onerous and unwieldy alt codes. You simply select "US-International" as your keyboard and for accents type the lowercase apostrophe key then a letter and you will have it accented: áéíóú. For the ñ: press the alt key then the "n" key. For the ü: type the shift plus apostrophe key and then the "u". For ¡¿ type alt then ! or ?. Simple. Takes a bit of getting used to, like when you have "US-International" selected and you are typing English, you have to remember to hit space bar after you type quote marks or apostrophes, but it's second nature now. Just do a search for accents and "US-International keyboard windows" for further information. Edited by iguanamon on 05 June 2013 at 5:10pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ajackso3 Newbie United States Joined 4362 days ago 29 posts - 52 votes Speaks: Spanish | Message 238 of 668 05 June 2013 at 6:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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Similar to iguanamon's solution, you can also add Spanish keyboard software and assign a shortcut to toggle between the 2.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5674 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 239 of 668 05 June 2013 at 7:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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Or you can just keep the Spanish keyboard installed, since any character you want to write in English you'll also be able to write in Spanish. It just takes a little getting used to (it took me forever to find the arroba @, [Alt Gr]+[2]).
But really, iguanamon's solution is the best, i think. You can keep the keyboard layout you're used to and you've got quick access to accents. I'm also not much of a talker, but it's been so long since i've spoken Spanish (since i came to China, really) the two or three times i've heard it spoken here (in a year and a half) i can't help but immediately interrupt them and ask "¡¿DE DONDE ERES?!", hah! I miss speaking Spanish... Iba a preguntarte cuando pensabas irte a España porque yo voy a pasar el verano ahí, pero ya veo que no estarás ahí hasta noviembre. Bueno, ¡espero que te diviertas un montón! En cuanto al curso de FSI, creo que lo podrías hacer si de verdad te interesa, pero no sé si valdrá la pena. Seguro te va a ayudar a soltar la lengua, hablar sin tener que pensar tanto, pero como mucho del material será un repaso de lo que ya sabes creo que te aburrirás un montón. Después de haber completado los dos (¿tres?) cursos de Assimil y haber "chateado" ya un tiempo en línea y por Skype (que también es por internet, pero bueno..), tu vocabulario será bastante bueno, no? A lo mejor el Quijote sigue un poco misterioso pero las conversaciones cotidianas no te causarán ningún problema. Yo, al acabar Platiquemos, dejé los libros de texto al lado y me puse a leer, ver la tele, comunicarme con la gente y aprender más vocabulario. Cuando fui a España me sorprendí porque dentro de un día o dos hablaba castellano, no perfectamente, pero sin dificultades. No creo que necesites el FSI, para mí lo mejor del curso fue encontrar cosas nuevas en cada unidad y sentir todo el progreso que había hecho al final de cada una. Si me hubieras quitado eso, ese sentimiento de estar explorando algo nuevo, de ir abriéndome paso en el idioma, creo que me hubiera muerto de aburrimiento. Pero ¡tú decides! Yo me divertí mucho con Platiquemos, pero por las razones que ya mencioné. De todos modos, no sé siquiera si sigues pensando utilizarlo. Pero es un magnífico curso :) Bueno, ¡te deseo mucho éxito! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| HermonMunster Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4442 days ago 119 posts - 211 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 240 of 668 05 June 2013 at 10:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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@iguanamon No offense taken. You just made my life so much easier. Much more efficient than using alt codes. I learn something new everyday.:-) áíéóúñ I only had to press 12 buttons to do that instead of 24 and I was able to keep both my hands in position. Thanks
2 persons have voted this message useful |
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