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Amy’s Spanish Viaje | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Warp3 Senior Member United States forum_posts.asp?TID= Joined 5330 days ago 1419 posts - 1766 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Korean, Japanese | Message 81 of 104 31 December 2014 at 1:29am | IP Logged |
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I guess your screen name isn't all that accurate now then.
I know what you mean about using language as an escape. A few years back there was a ton of stress at work (mostly due to the sheer workload at the time) but when I got in the car and fired up the Korean audio those worries disappeared for at least a while. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5170 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 82 of 104 31 December 2014 at 2:35am | IP Logged |
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Yup, I too use Spanish as a way to get away... for a "mini-vacation" for the mind. That's one of the reasons I started studying. To break away from annoying and stressful things at work.
I'm really interested in hearing more about your extensive telenovela watching. How is your comprehension? That's a ton of TV watching. I'm not really watching too much TV because I'm doing a lot of reading and just don't have the time. Sometimes I wonder if I should be watching more TV to improve my comprehension. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3939 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 83 of 104 31 December 2014 at 3:46am | IP Logged |
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I definitely understand the stress of a cross-country move! I hope that you're happy in your new home, and that
2015 will bring you great things! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| AmyinBrooklyn Senior Member United States Joined 3846 days ago 87 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 84 of 104 31 December 2014 at 6:33am | IP Logged |
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Thanks so much, guys! Yes, my screen name is now totally outdated for me! I wasn't really thinking when I chose it. By rights it should now be - AmywasinBrooklyn
It's nice to hear that I'm not the only one who finds study relaxing. It's such a strange thing to me because originally I was certainly all about achieving - passing some sort of language milestone. But these days, I just really enjoy the study. James29, thanks for the encouragement. I love my telenovela time. I've found a strain of Mexican telenovelas that are more like sitcoms than overly dramatic soap operas. For example, now I'm watching one about a nanny of seven kids (conveniently the mother died, leaving the dad available). That was is called Mi Corazon es Tuyo. Anyway, I watched the shows with the Spanish closed captions on so that I can read as I watch the show. If there's a word that I don't know, I occasionally look it up. Sometimes, I get lazy and just infer the meaning, but if comes up frequently or if I'm feeling particularly motivated, I look it up and add it to my Anki deck. There's a fair bit of slang and idioms, which I don't always worry about. Today I learned "me da mala espina" (there's something fishy). I think that my extensive TV watching has probably helped my comprehension immeasurably - particularly with fast or slurred speech. I can understand pretty much anything said in Spanish, and it's a good way to note how words are used or sentence structure. But I really do it because it's fun. I love the stories, the shows are funny and current (ie in Mi Corazon es Tuyo the collage-age daughter is always "hash tagging" things). I can't believe that it actually counts as learning because it's so enjoyable and the more I watch, the more I understand - even with an individual show because I'll get used to the way a particular character speaks and the words that are used in the show. I've found all my telenovelas streaming on Hulu. But Univision has a beta site where you can watch a lot of shows for free (with closed captioning). The ones that I have watched and liked are Que Pobres Tan Ricos, Mi Corazon Es Tuyo, Por Ella Soy Eva and Porque el Amor Manda Stelle - thanks for your good wishes for 2015. 2014 has not been friendly to me so hopefully there's nowhere to go but up. But I'm loving the California weather and being so much closer to family. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5170 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 85 of 104 31 December 2014 at 1:19pm | IP Logged |
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Thank you for the post. It is very helpful and I appreciate it. I hope you don't mind me asking some more questions!
Do you really find you understand "everything"? That's really what I want to be able to do. My speaking is far from perfect but I can get the job done fine speaking. I'd really like to boost my understanding so when someone calls me or I speak to a brand new person in Spanish I have no problem understanding them. I have fallen into reading novels and I really think it is helping a lot because it boosts up my vocabulary and I see a ton of Spanish every day. When I watch TV I find I feel like saying to myself "that was fun, but I think I would have gotten more out of reading." Do you think extensive TV watching is better for understanding than reading? Are you aware of any telenovelas that have 20-30 minute episodes? One additional problem I have is that I really like to "study" in my morning Spanish time and reserve TV for the evening where I am more pressed for time. I am never able to sit down and watch for more than 30 minutes... but I can often find evening time to watch a 22 minute episode of the Simpsons. I have searched for telenovelas with shorter episodes and cannot find any anywhere. Finally, how do you know if it is going to be a good series? It is a major commitment and I don't want to get into one and spend 20+ hours on it and then realize I don't like it. I'm assuming you endorse the ones you watched. Are there any particular types (or producers, for example) that are easier to understand than others? Sorry for all the questions. Edited by James29 on 31 December 2014 at 1:19pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| AmyinBrooklyn Senior Member United States Joined 3846 days ago 87 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 86 of 104 31 December 2014 at 8:22pm | IP Logged |
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James29 - You've been such a big help and inspiration to me that I'm so happy to answer any questions you might have so let me know if I don't answer everything.
I certainly don't understand every single word that is said in the telenovela - but you have about three years of Spanish study on me, so I'm betting that you'll understand more than I do. I usually understand very nearly everything, and there are only a few times where I'm tripped up, so I'll just rewind and try to look up the words or sometimes when I watch a second time, I understand. (I've found that my understanding gets better and better the more that I watch, but I do try to be active about my watching by looking up words or repeating a phrase aloud.) Telenovela vs reading. I don't have extensive experience with reading. I've only read a couple of children's books. I guess my question would be - are you reading to yourself or listening while reading or reading aloud. I think all of those are different activities that have their own benefits. I think the great thing about watching the telenovela with the closed captioning is that you're seeing the words (so reading!), but then hearing them spoken at different speeds in variety of accents (whereas with a book, if you're listening to the audio, it's in perfect narrator Spanish) So if your goal is to understand more of what is being said, then I think you really can't beat a telenovela. I also think you really can't beat it for understanding how to use words in different contexts. Or how to say things that you might need to say in real life (For example, one of the characters on my show just said that his cell phone battery was about to die - "Se esta acabando la pila se mi celular". I just didn't get that type of real life conversation from the books that I was reading. Length: Unfortunately, all the telenovelas seem to be 45 minute long episodes, but you could just watch half of a show! (Although, the further you are in a show, the more you'll have trouble stopping - which is why I can watch so many in one sitting!) The fun thing about a telenovela vs an American show is that it has a clear ending so it's fun to watch it all the way to the end. The producers that I like are Juan Osorio and Rosy Ocampo. They are the ones who have made the four shows that I've watched. I would say that you could stop watching a show, if it doesn't hold your interest, but I know that you hate to leave things unfinished! I've found that the shows start pretty slowly, but really get better and better as you learn the back stories of the characters and the show goes on. I would probably recommend Que Pobres Tan Ricos, if you were looking to start somewhere. I've found the shows that I liked just by looking through the Latin section of Hulu and giving things a try. Now that I know what type I like, I just look out for that type of show. Mi Corazon es Tuyo is currently being broadcast on TV so when it ends, there will automatically be something to fill the spot. I also really love that I'm learning about Mexican pop culture. I find that I look up the actors and actresses and read their wikipedia articles. My telenovela journey has been so fun. Honestly, I can't recommend it enough. I definitely think it has helped my understanding hugely. Let me know, if you give one of the shows a try! Edited by AmyinBrooklyn on 01 January 2015 at 8:02am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5170 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 87 of 104 01 January 2015 at 1:49am | IP Logged |
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That's a really helpful post. You make some good points about the value of watching TV. Thanks.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| AmyinBrooklyn Senior Member United States Joined 3846 days ago 87 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 88 of 104 02 January 2015 at 6:35pm | IP Logged |
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James29 -
Last night I was rereading an interesting book on the history of the Spanish language (The Story of Spanish by Jean-Benoit Nadeau and Julie Barlow - I highly recommend it). Anyway, I came across a quotation that seemed relevant to our talk about TV vs reading. "Linguists say that we 'write in a language but we speak in a dialect.' meaning that there is a big difference between how a language is written, in its standard form and how it is spoken, colloquially." Then they go on to talk more about Vulgar Latin. ;) I just thought it was an interesting comment. I think that from your posts that your goal is to be able to do both things as well as possible. Anyway, just food for thought! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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