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Stelle’s Log (TAC15 Spanish and Rare) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3936 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes  Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 41 of 87 20 March 2015 at 4:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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@Cavesa, and the book is DONE! I hope that you can finish your not-quite-good book quickly. As for the penpal -
no, it's not difficult to think about what to write. It's just difficult to actually force myself to sit down and do it. It's strange; I love writing in English. But I strongly, strongly dislike writing in French or Spanish. @joshka, thanks for the kind words! Spanish Lots of podcasts this week! I listened to three episodes of Futuro Abierto and one episode of Nómadas. While Nómadas is still my favourite podcast, lately I've found myself more drawn to Futuro Abierto. I think that I like the debate aspect of the show - it challenges me to focus and pay close attention. I've also been watching Caso Cerrado. Not every day, but maybe two or three times a week. I just watch individual cases on YouTube, most of which are 20-25 minutes, so they're easy to watch on a weekday evening. It still makes me laugh to think that I can watch trash TV and call it language study. I finally finished El Sótano! In all honesty, it was a pretty terrible book - the kind of predictable, low-brow thriller that I don't enjoy reading in English. Still, it was fun to read. AND (and this is a big and!), it was my very first book originally written in Spanish! It feels like a milestone. I also learned a new Spanish insult: gilipolla. Apparently it isn't a very kind word. Ha! Other than that, one hour of conversation with Auri wraps up my Spanish for the week. Tagalog Still plugging away! Nothing much to report. Just more of the same. My receptive language skills are improving, I think. Reading is getting easier. But my productive skills are lagging. I think I'm going to keep focusing on receptive language until the summer, and then do a Skype blitz to get my productive language in gear. Other Stuff I've been so focused on languages for the past few years. My plan was originally to start working on language number five in May (since I started Spanish in May two years ago, and Tagalog in May of last year), but the truth is that my Tagalog skills are nowhere near solid enough to add another language. So another year of Tagalog and Spanish, and then I'll see how I feel in 2016. But I do like the rush of learning something new! I have two musically-inclined teens living with me now, and they've inspired me to learn to play the guitar. I've been playing for 20-30 minutes every day for the past week, using the lessons on the website www.justinguitar.com. I'm starting to get some good calluses on my fingers, and I'm really enjoying taking on a different kind of challenge. So I've decided: my language for 2015 will be guitar. Books - 2015 Spanish Sinsajo (young adult novel) Días pasados - Walking Dead tomo 1 (comic/graphic novel) Guía para un perro feliz (non-fiction book) El Sótano (novel) English Walking Dead Volume 20 (comic/graphic novel) Walking Dead Volume 21 (comic/graphic novel) French Chambre 426 (novel) Le Quartier des oubliés (novel) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3936 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 42 of 87 21 March 2015 at 4:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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I just had a very good Spanish session with an italki tutor. I haven't fully committed to actually sitting the C1 test,
but I think that preparing for it is exactly the push that I needed to help bump my Spanish up a level. Today, in the space of an hour, we discussed an article that we both read independently, about the danger of a "digital dark age". Then I gave an oral summary of an article that she assigned to me last week, about whether or not human actions have an effect on climate change. A spirited discussion followed the summary. Finally, she showed me an image of a painting by Botera, and we talked about physical beauty as a construct and its effect on the average woman. This is heavy stuff. It's interesting, it's challenging, and it's fun. I'm not going to lie - the hour is HARD. I cling to my coffee cup as though it were a flotation device. I trip over my words, stumble across whole subsets of vocabulary that I'm not familiar with, state and restate my opinion multiple times trying to get it "just right", and start feeling like I need a nap at about the 50-minute mark. If you're at a comfortable level of conversational Spanish and you're looking to level up, I highly recommend finding someone who will push you with challenging topics. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4801 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 43 of 87 21 March 2015 at 9:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have already finished it, stelle :-)
It's great to hear about your positive italki experience. Why is Caso Cerrady trash? I've seen it mentioned a few times and it appears to be available on youtube, so I consider watching it. Do you like it? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5167 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 44 of 87 21 March 2015 at 10:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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Caso Cerrado is great... but it is definitely trash. The topics are always about controversial or touchy topics. It is definitely interesting. The actors are amazing... plus, it is wonderful for Spanish practice as people speak in current casual Spanish and they are from all over the world. Definitely check it out.
Edit: some of the topics are just crazy... like the man who wanted to divorce his wife because she would breast feed their pet chihuahua... there are lots of sex related touchy subjects. Edited by James29 on 21 March 2015 at 10:46pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3936 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 45 of 87 21 March 2015 at 11:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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Cavesa, James29 explained it best! People come on the show and agree to accept Dra Polo's decision at the end.
It's full of crazy topics, many of them about sexual relationships between various people, and everyone argues and tries to convince Dra that they're in the right and she should side with them. Often it's ridiculous, but sometimes the cases are really sad, about topics like child abuse or serious illnesses. While the show is presented as true, the fine print says that some of the cases use professional actors. The Spanish on the show is from all over the world, with lots of Cuban and Puerto Rican Spanish, which is a good challenge for my listening skills.
Ha! I haven't seen that one yet. I did see one where a woman wanted to divorce her husband because he was a little person and he was renting himself as a baby. You know, typical couple issues. Edited by Stelle on 21 March 2015 at 11:02pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4082 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 46 of 87 21 March 2015 at 11:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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I watched a few Caso Cerrado episodes, but I found it just too silly. However, the
topics are actually not very heavy nor weird. If you come from an Anglophone country, especially from a fairly conservative society like the USA or UK, perhaps it may seem vulgar. But really these topics are "soft" by international standards. I watch Dutch television and their "16+" programmes would undoubtedly be outright banned in the USA and UK for all ages. One "16+" Dutch programme that I watch, and anyone who watches it knows exactly which one it is, had weirder stuff like open LSD, magic mushrooms, ecstasy (X) etc usage, and they go to a nightclub and dance (and the ambulance/health service test their effects on the hosts), as well as tutorials with live sex in the middle of the talk show floor, with commentary. One host went to a legal prostitution house in Amsterdam and did a small 5-minute documentary where the client pays to be vomited on, followed by other bodily wastes. And that is some of the "softer" things that they have done on that programme. The heavier stuff I am not sure if I can even write what they did on this website. Not to mention, it is broadcast on national television... Edited by 1e4e6 on 22 March 2015 at 1:12am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5167 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 47 of 87 21 March 2015 at 11:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, then, I guess Dutch television takes the cake. That's kind of crazy. I remember seeing some German soap/shampoo commercials and thinking they were a bit revealing, but that Dutch stuff sounds over the top. I guess it is all a matter of perspective.
With Caso Cerrado, I agree, it would be more interesting if it wasn't quite so silly. For this reason, I like La Corte del Pueblo better now. That show, too, has its problems... the judge is just rude to everyone and there is not the variety of accents (everyone is of Mexican heritage). Edited by James29 on 21 March 2015 at 11:51pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4801 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 48 of 87 22 March 2015 at 12:04am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks a lot!
I will surely try Caso Cerrado soon! And I've just considered learning Dutch for the first time ever :-D 1 person has voted this message useful |
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