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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| sfuqua Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4575 days ago 581 posts - 977 votes  Speaks: English*, Hawaiian, Tagalog Studies: Spanish | Message 409 of 668 13 April 2014 at 6:29pm | IP Logged |
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Pillars of the Earth threw me for a loop a couple of months ago; it looks better now. I was surprised recently that I can read Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey Maturin series; there are a lot of big words, but my love of and familiarity with the basic story lets me just keep cruising.
I'm the only one in my family, wife included, who doesn't love Harry Potter; I wish I could like it, but it just isn't that interesting to me either. 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 410 of 668 13 April 2014 at 6:53pm | IP Logged |
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What do you mean about Pillars of the Earth? Was it too hard for you? I spot check books all the time to get a sense for if I can read them or not. I go to the bookstore or find it online and read the first couple paragraphs of a few different chapters. Some books seem much easier than others. I think another important factor is if there is simply a narrator and that's it or if there are multiple points of view... also the complexity of the book and how many characters there are makes a big difference. I've never read Follett, but I'd like to try it out.
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| sfuqua Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4575 days ago 581 posts - 977 votes Speaks: English*, Hawaiian, Tagalog Studies: Spanish | Message 411 of 668 13 April 2014 at 8:48pm | IP Logged |
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Pillars had too many long sentences and too many unfamiliar words for me back in January. I took a glance at it yesterday, and it didn't look so bad. Maybe I've learned something. Your Spanish is much better than mine, so I doubt you would have that much problem.
I loved the book and the sequel in English a few years ago. It set off a couple of years of reading medieval history which I enjoyed immensely. The book is well researched, and the best I can tell, fairly accurate. It also passed the tear test. If a book gets a tear out of me while I read it, it passes the tear test. There is a scene where a woman gives birth in the snow, and... What a different world! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4832 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 412 of 668 14 April 2014 at 11:25pm | IP Logged |
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James, I have a few suggestions for native books which you may well like.
I am a few pages off finishing El asesino de la Via Lactea which is a fast paced thriller about the hunt for a serial killer on the Camino de Santiago. At less than 300 pages it is a little short, but it has kept me turning the pages. Also, it is part of a series of books about "detective Roncal", a complex character who lost his family in a car crash. When I'm done, I'm going to start on El Judio de Shanghai, a well regarded historical novel which was another one of iguanamon's recommendations. I also today ordered 97 segundos (again from iguanamon) and Espia de dios which looks really fantastic, and possibly in almost the same vain as "The Davinci Code". Here is an English language link to an article about the author Juan Gomez- Jurado p.s Also just found this Edited by dbag on 15 April 2014 at 1:07am 3 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 413 of 668 21 April 2014 at 5:49pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the response sfuqua. Follett is on my short list for books to read in Spanish.
Dbag, I appreciate the links; especially the first one. It looks like a good read. I will try to work it into my Spanish reading. I have been chugging along with the second Harry Potter book. I have one chapter left. I did not really like it too much until the last few chapters. I have no special desire to read any more of the series. I am somewhat disappointed in my comprehension. I am following along and listening to the Spanish audio. I read a short chapter summary in English after every chapter and I get the general thrust of what is happening, but I almost always miss miss some fairly important things. When I finish the book tomorrow I'll go back to Rothbard's Man, Economy and State. I'd like to get M E and S done asap. I am moving fairly quickly through the sixth season of The Simpsons. I also watched a 30 minute public access TV show from Miami that is done in Spanish by a guy with a business similar to mine. He has done four per week for a few years now and as far as I can tell all of them are on youtube (at least there were 500+). This will really help if I want to improve my Spanish for my business. It may be too boring to sit through too many but we will see. I watched a History Channel documentary in Spanish. Good and interesting, but they usually had the English audio going in the background which made it very difficult to focus on understanding the Spanish. I always forget to mention my trips to the Mexican restaurant next door. I go about once a week. They have a cheap menu for lunch. I have found that if I get there before noon they are almost empty and the waitor/waitresses will chat with me. I had a very nice talk with a waitress last week. I had not seen her for a while and she complimented me saying I had noticeably improved since I saw her last. I finally got up the nerve to talk to some Spanish speakers in Walmart while I was doing the shopping. Two women roughly 60 were in front of me in the checkout. They were nicely arguing about who was going to pay for who in Spanish. When the opportunity arose I simply asked them "de donde son?" The looks I get around here when I start speaking Spanish are quite interesting. People are perplexed. There are few Spanish speakers around here. Anyway, we had a great short conversation and they really appreciated me saying hello. I had a skype talk with someone new. It was nice. Some people are just so much easier to understand than others. Big decision at work. I needed new business cards and I made the decision to add Spanish to my card. I have been nervous about this for a while, but I decided to do it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| 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 414 of 668 21 April 2014 at 6:45pm | IP Logged |
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That's how a lot of my own Spanish conversations have started: "¿De dónde son ustedes?/¿De dónde eres?" I always feel weird though, it's as if they had to be from somewhere else just for speaking Spanish. But it's the easiest way for me to break the ice and until i come up with a better line (somehow "hola" just doesn't cut it), it'll have to do.
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| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5072 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 415 of 668 21 April 2014 at 8:30pm | IP Logged |
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Spanish-speakers in the US are not accustomed to hearing anglophones speaking Spanish, beyond hola, gracias, and ¿cómo está ud.?. It almost always comes as a shock to them to hear that your level goes beyond the barest of basic words and phrases.
So, as Crush says, you have to go beyond a simple ¡Hola! in order to indicate to them that you are not like the folks in this video: ¿Qué hora es? The Mexican Soap Opera for People Who Only Had 3 Weeks of Spanish in the 4th Grade and part 2! Edited by iguanamon on 21 April 2014 at 8:37pm 3 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 416 of 668 27 April 2014 at 1:25pm | IP Logged |
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My goals for 2014:
Read any 15 books in Spanish. -> 5.75 done (Anthem, Joven Abogado #1 and #2, Narnia #1, Harry Potter #2, and more than three quarters of Man, Economy and State) Watch any 100 30 minute TV episodes in Spanish -> COMPLETE (100+ done) Re-read Cassell's Colloquial Spanish -> finished the "G" section. Re-read Practice Makes Perfect "Subjunctive Up Close." -> No progress yet. Discussion: I've updated my goals to show that I finished the Harry Potter book. This week I bumbled around a bit with different things, but still managed to do some Spanish every day. I think I'd feel lost if I went a full day without any Spanish. Even just a 22 minute episode of the Simpsons is enough to give me my Spanish fix. Anyway, I did a bit of Man, Economy and State. I also watched the second Harry Potter movie. I really enjoyed it a lot. I note that the dubbing was incredible. I could barely notice that it was dubbed. The voices were timed perfect and they had emotion and seemed appropriate to each character. The cool thing was (having just finished the book) that I could understand all of the Spanish. It felt just like watching a movie in English. That was cool. It also made me re-think the series and I will probably do the third book sometime this year. I've been moving through the Simpsons at a pretty good rate. It is just nice and "comfortable" to watch the episodes in the evening. Plus, I really identify with Homer. He makes me chuckle. I had a nice chat with one of my old regular skype partners. That was cool. I doubt we will be talking too much due to our schedules, but we certainly keep in touch. Nothing new with meetups. I don't really count them as practice time any longer. One of the guys from quite a while ago came back and we had a great long chat. He speaks at a higher level than me and I enjoy talking with him. I can do great in one on one conversations, but when more than one other person is talking my speaking seems to just turn off and it does not come out. I have not been going to the gym so I have made no progress on the Cassell's book. I'll finish it this summer when I start taking the family to the beach or out on the boat. It will be a great beach book. I am running a bit so at least I am staying healthy. I did some internet surfing for new resources. I think I'd eventually like to work El Chavo del Ocho into my evenings (probably when I finish the Simpsons series). If anyone knows of a good site to watch the full series I'd appreciate it. The best site I found has 80 episodes. That's plenty, but they are not organized in any particular way. Wikipedia says there are 298 episodes (with 30 being lost). I'd love to find a place where I can systematically work through the episodes in order. For some reason, I cannot find DVDs for sale anywhere either. A comment of encouragement to anyone who is stuggling with their listening/comprehension skills. Just watching TV shows and reading with audio really helps. I have noticed quite a bit of improvement in my ability since I started my goals for this year. It just works. It takes time, but it works. A year or so ago I never would have imagined I could have progressed so much. Edited by James29 on 27 April 2014 at 1:29pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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