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James29’s Spanish Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| mike245 Triglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6782 days ago 303 posts - 408 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Cantonese Studies: French, German, Mandarin, Khmer | Message 297 of 668 30 September 2013 at 10:57am | IP Logged | ||
I can relate to this. For me, it's not an issue of how to conjugate various tenses or moods in Spanish (which is largely what FSI drills), but rather, some of the finer nuances of when to use the subjunctive, imperfect vs. preterite, etc. What I have found helpful is collecting lots of example sentences from novels and news articles and then studying them with Anki so that I get better at sensing when to use which. At least for me, that's much easier than just memorizing the list of rules and trying to apply them when I speak. And congratulations on the new baby! Edited by mike245 on 30 September 2013 at 10:57am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5593 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 298 of 668 01 October 2013 at 10:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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James, seriously, google subjunctive + José Ruiz Campillo. I know I recommended this before, but once
you get the logic of the subjunctive, the FSI drills will become a lot less mechanical and more meaningful. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lorren Senior Member United States brookelorren.com/blo Joined 4061 days ago 286 posts - 324 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Danish, Irish Studies: Russian | Message 299 of 668 02 October 2013 at 9:51am | IP Logged | ||
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Congrats on the new baby!
Good idea to use your time off to get more Spanish in. When my little boy was born, I watched so much stuff on Tivo because he'd keep me up half the night. We're trying for #3 (although I'm not holding my breath because we've been trying for a while)... should we have another baby, I'll have to be sure to load up some language materials for my hospital stay. Your trip to McDonald's reminds me of the time I went to Carl's Jr. with my kids and a friend's kid. There was a Spanish-speaking family and a couple of grown up Spanish speakers there. My kids wanted to talk to them; I told them that they could talk to the kids. So my little boy goes up to the kid and says "Hola! Comi estas!" (He doesn't know how to pronounce como correctly). The kid was too shy to respond. That was in the agricultural area of California, although we have quite a few Spanish speakers here as well. Not as many as before it became illegal for businesses to hire illegal workers, but still quite a few. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5185 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 300 of 668 02 October 2013 at 12:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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OK, Randomreview, you are right. I am a slacker on the subjunctive. I have now printed off the booklet and I will read it... eventually. I really don't have a conceptual problem with it and I know when and how to use it. It is that when speaking I don't have enough time for my brain to work. It needs to become more automatic. I appreciate your input. You have suggested some great materials that have really improved my Spanish and the pleasure I have in learning the language.
Life with the new baby is starting to normalize. My wife is amazing. I am not getting as much sleep as I need because I usually take care of him in the early morning. I guess not getting sleep is to be expected. It is making me get to work at least 1-2 hours earlier in the morning... so I am not having a problem putting in Spanish time. I really wish I could go up to people and speak Spanish like in McDonalds. I have a hearing problem and I feel strange when I am trying to listen to them... I want to be sure if they are Speaking Spanish before I say anything and I am sure it looks like there is some guy trying to eavesdrop on them. I have also been burned a couple times and spoken Spanish to some folks from India. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5185 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 301 of 668 02 October 2013 at 1:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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I just realized that yesterday marked the completion of my fourth year of learning Spanish. One of my mini-goals was to feel like I obtained a level of Spanish equivalent to a college degree in Spanish. I feel very confident that I have met that goal.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5185 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 302 of 668 05 October 2013 at 1:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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Finished FSI lesson 44 today. I am thinking that some of these lessons (like 44) are a bit too easy and might not be the best use of my time. I guess it is good for a review. Sometimes, however, the lessons are very valuable. I will keep chugging through FSI.
Watched a couple episodes of El Capo. I have watched through episode 48 now. It is interesting. I like the show. 42 episodes left. I don't see myself finishing it anytime soon, but it is easy to follow and easy to pick up after some time off so I will just slowly keep watching when I have time. I am working through Breaking out of Beginner's Spanish as I exercise and watch my son at practice. Again, here, I am wondering if it is a bit of a waste of time for me. It is an easy read, however, so I don't mind reading it. I need something very easy when I workout or else I simply won't do it. I did some minor skype text chats, but nothing meaningful. I still need to find another good exchange partner. I was very spoiled over the past couple years with my partners so finding someone new is going to be difficult. Plus, my life is so much different now I don't think I will be as good a partner as I have been in the past. I may end up having to go to Mexico for a work conference in the Spring. I am keeping my fingers crossed that will work out. If I end up going I will take an extra week. Not much else in my world of Spanish this week. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3954 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 303 of 668 05 October 2013 at 1:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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Have you considered looking online for a language partner? I found some good Skype Spanish conversation partners
on italki.com and conversationexchange.com. Lately, though, with my time being much more limited, I've started using tutors more than conversation partners. I figure it's worth 5 dollars to get as much Spanish practice in half an hour as I get in an entire hour with a language partner. I found my tutors on www.italki.com. Congratulations on your new baby - and on having attained your four-year Spanish goal! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5185 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 304 of 668 06 October 2013 at 2:14am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, I found one of my best language exchange partners on mylanguageexchange.com. I don't really like that site, however, because I am too cheap to sign up for the gold membership. Without the gold membership it is almost impossible to set up an exchange. I found my other really good partner on sharedtalk.com. I actually like sharedtalk pretty well. I have found a lot of partners there. I never really used italki. I could not figure out how it worked. It seems to be some sort of language version of facebook where you "follow" people... maybe I will pursue it further.
Also, I have been plotting out my future Spanish endeavors and if anyone has any input I'd appreciate it. I am trying to decide if I should read a bunch of children's books (like the Harry Potter series) or shadow Atlas Shrugged. I cannot make up my mind on which would be more productive for me now. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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