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James29’s Spanish Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| BAnna Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4432 days ago 409 posts - 616 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Turkish | Message 609 of 668 06 April 2015 at 2:57am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Great to see you are still making progress! Kudos to you for being persistent in the midst of your busy life.
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5185 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 610 of 668 12 April 2015 at 1:48pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Yup, I'm still chugging along. This was another week where I did a bit of Spanish every day, but much less than usual. I've put aside my Connelly book for a little while while I get some work things settled down. I did a few lessons out of the grammar book, a few lessons of the French Assimil and watched a few episodes of The Simpsons. I've now finished the eighth season of The Simpsons. I also watched a History Channel documentary and had some nice text chats with a language exchange partner. I'm still listening to Buenos Dias America every morning which is nice. That's about it for this week.
My writing is way behind my other skills. I'm basically scared to write in Spanish now because it makes me feel so inadequate. I really need to work on that skill. Well, I'm short on time today. Hopefully I'll get back on track soon. My guess is that by May or June things will have normalized a bit and I'll be able to really dive back into Spanish. My basic goal for the next two months or so is to get the Grammar book done. Then I'll re-assess the situation. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4819 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 611 of 668 12 April 2015 at 2:34pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I admire your persistent progress through at least a bit every day. I could do with
following your example, thanks for reminding me often. Don't worry that much about writing and just try and keep going like you usually do. I feel inadequate when writing in anything but English and Czech too (heh, more inadequate in Czech than English these days) and I guess it is pretty normal. You're obviously on the right track, I can see no reason why your writing should be a major obstacle of yours after some practice. By the way are you watching the Simpsons in Spanish or in French? Do you like the dubbing? I am considering watching the series as well but I am not sure what language to choose. Curiously, this is one of the very few shows where even the Czech dubbing is really good so I am a bit spoilt. ;-) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Clarity Groupie United States Joined 3332 days ago 85 posts - 107 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 612 of 668 12 April 2015 at 8:22pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Like many others on this site, I've also appreciated seeing someone "fight the good fight" in the midst of a demanding schedule. You've got the eye of the tiger, Jaime29!
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5185 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 613 of 668 12 April 2015 at 8:59pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Those are some pretty motivating posts... thanks for the encouragement. I find that working Spanish into my day actually makes the hectic times in my life much more bearable. In a way it is like a relaxing therapy.
I watch the Simpsons in "Latino" Spanish. One "back of my mind" reason I watch the Simpsons is that they have a Quebec French dubbed version and if I ever really do start working on French I'd like to use Quebec resources. 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 614 of 668 19 April 2015 at 2:29pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Well, it has been another "maintenance" week. I think I'll be in this holding pattern until the beginning of May. I've just got so many other things I need to work on in life that my extra Spanish time is just not going to get put in. That being said, even when I am super "busy" in my real life I still have free time and it is pretty easy to fill some of it with Spanish. I do get some meaningful Spanish time in every day even if it is only 30 minutes.
My basic weekday routine has been chiseled in stone now and is a good habit. I listen to Buenos Dias America on the way to work and then, when I get there, I have a cup of coffee and do a Grammar lesson. That's my basic weekday. I have about another 30-60 minutes after the Grammar lesson before I open the office. I used to spend a good chunk of that on Spanish, but now I am using that for work and other personal stuff. So, listening to the news and doing a grammar lesson is good enough to keep me going and advancing a bit. The grammar lessons are interesting because I usually feel like I am doing a detailed review of whatever the subject is for the day. Every now and then I'll get hit with a subject where I totally crash and burn and make a mistake on most of the exercises. In terms of intermediate grammar I have two glaring difficulties. One is still the distinction between the indirect object and the direct object. I often screw up when to use LO/LA/LE. I've studied it extensively, but simply have not found anything that makes it stick in my brain. I have noticed that just the sense of "feel" is helping me get this a bit better and I think eventually it will just fall into place like the subjunctive did. The other big difficulty I have is the conjugations of the commands... particularly in the familiar. If I stop and think about the conjugations I can do it, but they just will not come out naturally. The grammar book exercises have really helped me be less "sloppy." I'm correcting the things that are wrong, but I never really knew I was screwing up. Things like making sure the verb tenses match up in terms of time. For example, in the sentence "me dijo que iba a la tienda" I might have said as "me dijo que va a la tienda" without thinking about it. That's the sort of thing where people NEVER would correct me, but it must sound silly. There are a lot of these types of things... like using the past subjunctive after a conditional even if it is in the present tense (lo compraria si fuera mas barato - I used to use sea). I've asked a few native speakers about this and I find it interesting that I always get the similar responses from them. They, of course, always tell me the correct answer, but they cannot really explain why... the grammar book explains the why and it makes sense. Anyway, I'm loving this grammar book and will eventually do the C1 book. It takes a ton of time to work through it. I'm doing roughly 4 or 5 lessons a week and I feel like I've been at it forever. I guess I'm getting my money's worth! My reading has totally stopped for now. I think I'm roughly 60% through the Michael Connelly book and hopefully will get things back on track soon to finish up that book. I had a wonderful skype talk with an old language partner. It is funny how I have a lot of people I have spoken to over the years. I kind of lose touch with many of them due to life circumstances and schedules and then, a year or so later, we get caught up. It is nice. I'm working my way through the Spanish side of the French Assimil book and enjoying it. I think it will be fun to learn some French. I'm not going to try to get too advanced. All I really want to do is be able to hold a very basic conversation. When I finish the Spanish Grammar book I think I'll start looking at French a bit more seriously. I go to the meetups just about every week. Well, that's it for now. 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 615 of 668 19 April 2015 at 6:05pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
"¿Adónde va tu mamá?" "No sé, dijo que va a la tienda."
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| Clarity Groupie United States Joined 3332 days ago 85 posts - 107 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 616 of 668 19 April 2015 at 6:28pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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You are making me interested in your Spanish grammar books. They sound very helpful. Quick question. How do you listen to Buenos Dias America in your car? Do you download it?
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