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| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5675 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 393 of 668 16 March 2014 at 3:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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If you search for "Me llamo Earl" and add something like "ver online" you can find lots of places to watch. It's really easy to find Spanish movies to watch online, it seems that Spanish copyright sticklers aren't quite as crabby and let things float around online a bit longer. For example, i see that Series Pepito has temporadas 1-4. Not sure how many there are in total, but you shouldn't have trouble finding all that have been dubbed into Spanish online. You might also consider watching some Spanish shows like Aída or La que se avecina. I honestly don't know too much coming out of the western hemisphere other than Chavo del 8 :P
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5185 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 394 of 668 18 March 2014 at 2:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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Awesome. Thanks, Crush. I found all four seasons available on qserie. I have a problem with those websites because, for some reason, my computer does not show the videos when I click on the episodes. It works on qserie. In fact, there are tons of series available on that website. You are right, it is easy to find Spanish stuff to watch online.
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5185 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 395 of 668 23 March 2014 at 1:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, nothing too much new this week. I did a bunch of different things. I read a few days out of Man, Economy and State; I listened to a few podcasts on Spanishpodcast.org; I watched a Hallmark movie dubbed into Spanish and I watched a bunch of episodes of My Name is Earl.
This week was a good example of "I do whatever I feel like" when doing my Spanish time. I have dropped the Simpsons for now. I finished the first five seasons and left it there. Earl seems to make me laugh more. Plus, it is easier for me to understand. I am not sure about the podcasts. I did them this weekend because I forgot my book at the office so I had to do something else. The podcasts are very easy for me to understand. She speaks clearly and slowly and there is almost no vocabulary I don't understand. That being said, I definitely learn from the podcasts as she explains idioms and how certain words are used. I feel like I learn more Spanish from the 40-ish minutes in the podcast than I would from reading a regular book. Plus, it is nice to hear the natural spoken Spanish. She usually focuses the podcasts around conversations. Anyway, I think I will stick with do them occasionally. I have wanted to summarize my abilities here for a while. I am going to do a short summary based on wikipedia's summaries of B1 and B2. Wikipedia describes B1 as: Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. -> I can definitely do this. I can understand many dubbed TV shows pretty well, I can speak to customers at work fairly well, I can have enjoyable social conversations on skype and at meetups. No problem here. Can deal with most situations likely to arise while travelling in an area where the language is spoken. -> I can definitely do this. I had very few problems in Ecuador or Spain. This is a bit trickier because the other person is not usually as cooperative as in social settings. Also, bus drivers, donut store employees, etc often do not seem to speak in as proper Spanish as others. Anyway, I have no problem at all saying I meet this standard. Can produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest. -> I can definitely do this, but this is my weakest so far. Writing is by far my weakest point. Occasionally I will get stumped and need to "talk around" a gap in my Spanish, but I don't really have any problem with this. I make a lot of "little" mistakes when writing that do not seem to be noticed when speaking. Also, my use of accent marks is not good as I don't do it when I write. That being said, I have had very long text chats about economics and other things without any problems and I feel confident I meet this level of written Spanish... expecially because they use the word "simple" when qualifying the type of connected text. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. -> I feel confident saying I can do this too. This requires a lot of use of the subjunctive. I am definitely not perfect with this category, but I can certainly do it and be understood quite well. I could improve here a bit, but I think I meet the standard. B2 descriptions: Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialisation. -> I would say "probably" or "usually" to this one. I have watched in-depth videos of discussions in my work specialty and do not have any problems understanding them. I am reading economics textbooks and don't have any problems understanding them. However, I would say my vocabulary is limited in complex and technical areas. My vocabulary is quite general and not particularly specialized. I don't think I'd feel comfortable taking a course in my work speciality or in economics at a Spanish speaking university. Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. -> Again, this is "probably" or "usually." I can do this when speaking one on one. However, when interacting in a group of three or more it becomes very difficult for me to be fluent and spontaneous. On the positive side, I can definitely say the interaction is definitely "quite possible without strain for either party." Often I will be speaking in English with someone who I feel has quite good English and we switch to Spanish to make it easier for us. That makes me feel good. Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options. -> I would say "probably not" on this one. I have written clear, detailed texts on areas of my work speciality, but it was quite a major project and I needed it to be proofread. I could get the point across in this section, but I would not feel comfortable saying I meet this level. The cool thing is that I do not really feel the need to improve my written Spanish yet even though it is clearly my weakest point. I really want to improve my speaking and understanding. With these things considered and having taken a few online tests, I feel very confident saying I am closer to B2 than B1. I definitely need to take some time and make a significant push to get my grammar and active skills up to a solid B2. I'd really like that. 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 396 of 668 27 March 2014 at 7:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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I received my "Gramática de uso del español" today in the mail. It looks amazing. Special thanks to Iguanamon for the recommendation. From reading the online description I had feared that it might be too hard, but it looks like it will be about right. Actually, it might be a bit on the easy side. I randomly looked at various lessons. About a third were quite easy things and the rest of the lessons seemed like things that were either challenging or things I would definitely benefit from working on.
The book is well made. It is durable and made from high quality materials. It is 8.5 x 11. About every two pages is a unit. There are 116 units over 240 pages. The second page of each unit contains exercises. There are roughly 40 problems for each unit so I estimate there are more than 4500 problems in the exercises. The book is entirely in Spanish. The directions are "dummy-proof" in the sense that they use explanations with diagrams (circles, arrows, etc) so you cannot possibly not understand the directions. It appears that the book is written so it can be used by someone with any native language. I see nothing in it that indicates it was designed to address difficulties of English based learners. I had planned on waiting for quite a while before using this resource. I am still going to wait for a while (likely until I finish my goals for the year), but I will almost certainly do it sooner than anticipated. I see that there is also a C1 book that follows this. That is amazing. I hope to eventually get there. Edited by James29 on 27 March 2014 at 7:17pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| sctroyenne Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5201 days ago 739 posts - 1312 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Irish | Message 397 of 668 27 March 2014 at 8:32pm | IP Logged | ||
I got the same while I was in Paris. It really is very clear and nicely organized. Some topics merit more exercises but it's great to have a concise summary of each point organized so that it's easy to look up. 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 398 of 668 27 March 2014 at 10:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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Great point. I had not considered it as a reference tool. It is indeed organized fairly well as a reference tool.
I should also note that they have a lower level A1/A2 book. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| BAnna Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4432 days ago 409 posts - 616 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Turkish | Message 399 of 668 29 March 2014 at 11:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks to both you and Iguanamon for the mention of this book. I paged through it at a bookshop while I was in Spain, and just ordered a copy today. It looks extremely useful.
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5185 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 400 of 668 30 March 2014 at 1:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, it is a great looking program and it is nice to see learners of Spanish help each other find good resources. I never would have found that book if it had not been suggested to me. I had searched Amazon dozens of ways for advanced Spanish grammar and that book never popped up.
Anyway, time to update my goals for 2014: Read any 15 books in Spanish. -> 4.5 done (Anthem, Joven Abogado #1 and #2, Narnia #1 and more than half of Man, Economy and State) Watch any 100 30 minute TV episodes in Spanish -> more than 87+ done Re-read Cassell's Colloquial Spanish -> finished the "E" section. Re-read Practice Makes Perfect "Subjunctive Up Close." -> No progress yet. Discussion: I'm moving slowly through Man, Economy and State. I am roughly a third through the second volume. I timed my reading the last few times and I am reading faster now. Previously I needed to allow three minutes a page. Now I an noticeably faster than that. I am watching Me Llamo Earl episodes. I ran out of the Latino dubbed versions and have switched to the Castellano version. I don't like it nearly as much. It is harder to understand and I just don't find it as funny. It is a good show to watch because Earl narrates a lot and summarizes what is going on. I'll probably just finish up the first season and then watch something else. Maybe I'll do the other seasons later, maybe not. This is the beauty of my approach. I do whatever I want to do. I like it. I really try to do things that I like and that will keep me interested. I really try not to force myself into anything. I try to set general goals (15 books, 100 TV episodes, etc) so I can switch resources and not feel guilty. I have also been doing Spanishpodcast.org lessons. I like them. I am slightly torn because they are definitely easy for me. I'd say that in the entire 35-45 minute podcast there is usually only 1-3 words I don't know. I understand everything quite easily. It, of course, would be harder if I did not follow along with the text. My logic, however, is that she explains things and uses content that is really helpful. Today she explained uses of "andar" in context and I felt it was quite helpful. The explanations are entirely in Spanish so it is not like I am spending any time in English for those 35 minutes. I figure, which would be better... 35 minutes listening/reading to one of these podcasts that is entirely in Spanish and teaching intermediate Spanish OR 35 minutes listening and reading to something like Harry Potter? I don't know. I think I would actually enjoy the podcasts more. I might substitute the podcasts for my evening 30 minute TV show. The podcasts are easy enough that I could easily do them in the evening when I need to just relax. I should say that I never find Spanish exhausting anymore. I used to have a hard time doing anything in Spanish in the afternoon or evening as it just drained my brain too much. Now it is quite easy. I enjoy sitting down and watching TV for 30 minutes. I do, however, like to have a cup of coffee before going to meetups and I am often not as sharp as I should be in the evening when I need to actively use my Spanish. I had a ton of free time yesterday and I had some good long conversations with potential new language exchange partners. I must compliment myself... I think my one on one conversation is actually quite good and I think my accent is quite good also. I got some serious compliments from my new partners. It makes me realize that watching TV and reading books is really what I should be working on because it is my comprehension and vocabulary that holds me back. I can say almost anything I want to say and even if I get stuck it is quite simple for me to just back up and say the concept in a slightly different way. I have realized that I am probably one of the big problems in getting a good language exchange going. When talking about setting up new sessions I really could not set anything up. My schedule is such that I simply cannot committ to talks much ahead of time. Thinking about it from the other person's perspective I'm imagining them being disappointed that I am basically saying... yes, I'd love to talk with you again... "I cannot talk at all this week except at 5am, but it might be possible that we could talk again sometime on the weekend, but I'm really not sure." Good luck finding someone like that. Anyway, we'll see. In actuality, I should be working on more complex conversations anyway as I feel very confident in exchange type settings. I've been slacking on the workouts so I am not making much progress on Cassell's. I'll probably hit it pretty hard in the spring. I'd really like to pound through books and get the 15 books done as soon as possible. yesterday I wrote up a list of books I'd like to try. I am trying to compile children's novels that are not about wizards or fantasy. There are not a lot out there. If anyone has any suggestions I'd appreciate it... especially if there is a Spanish audio book. I am thinking of taking a week off in April or May and I seriously thought about buying a ticket to somewhere in Mexico or Colombia for a week. I won't be able to take time off in June-October so April/May is looking tempting for a trip. Knowing myself, however, I won't do it on such short notice. Edited by James29 on 30 March 2014 at 1:56pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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