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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 3950 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes  Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 1 of 87 29 December 2014 at 12:22am | IP Logged | ||
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I'd planned on carrying on with my old log, but it was just getting too unwieldy. I decided that I wanted a fresh
start for 2015, so here it is! about me I'm a Canadian in my mid-thirties. I've been teaching French Immersion for 12 years. I'm currently teaching second grade again, after a three-year stint teaching adults on a military base. Over the past decade, I've lived in Victoria (British Columbia), Toronto (Ontario) and Middleton (Nova Scotia). Now I'm back in Toronto, where we plan on staying. While city life does have its negative points (traffic!!!), I love how multicultural and multilingual my adopted home is. I love books, chocolate, travel, hiking and zombie movies. I'm really bad at whistling and at keeping my desk tidy. my languages Spanish: I started learning Spanish in May 2013, and fell hopelessly in love with the language. My goal when I first started was to learn enough Spanish to get along on the Camino de Santiago, an 800-km hike in Spain that I did with my Dad in March and April of 2014. My long-term goal is advanced fluency in Spanish. I would like to be as comfortable communicating in Spanish as I am in French or in English. I would currently classify myself as high-intermediate. I'd like to be at a solid C1 level by the end of 2015. Tagalog: My husband is Filipino. He moved to Canada in his mid-twenties, and his English is absolutely beautiful. His siblings and parents are also Canadian citizens, and all of them speak English fluently, but they often speak amongst themselves in Tagalog. I started learning Tagalog last Spring, and it's been very slow-going so far. My main goal is to develop my listening comprehension skills to the point where I can follow a group conversation. Whether or not I can speak fluently is actually less important, since it's pretty common for Filipinos to liberally mix Tagalog and English when speaking. My current level is probably somewhere around A1. I'd like to reach A2 (or maybe even B1) by the end of 2015. French: French is my secondary native language. My Dad is francophone, and so is our extended family, so there was a lot of French in my house growing up. I went to school in the francophone school system from kindergarten to the end of high school, and my second Bachelor's Degree (education) was at a French university. I moved out of my bilingual hometown after high school, and have lived in anglophone areas ever since. I've been teaching French to beginners (or small children) for most of my adult life, which means that most of my French over the past 12 years has been pretty unsophisticated. I haven't read for pleasure in French in a very long time. English: English is my dominant native language. We spoke a lot of English at home, particularly when my Mom was in the room. I did my first Bachelor's Degree in an English university (anthropology and psychology). Most of my reading and media consumption have been in English - well, at least until I started studying Spanish. I used to consider myself a well-read person, but over the past few years, most of my mental energy has been focused on language learning. I would like to read more books in English in 2015. my old logs Stelle Speaks Spanish (and Tagalog) July 2013-December 2014 Stelle's Taga-log December 2013-October 2014 (combined with my other log at that point) Happy language learning to all of us in 2015! Edited by Stelle on 29 December 2014 at 12:54am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3950 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 2 of 87 29 December 2014 at 12:27am | IP Logged | ||
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Español / Spanish
This post will be updated throughout the year to add resources, movies, TV shows and books. current level (as of December 29 2014): I would classify myself as high intermediate in Spanish. I can read young adult novels without much difficulty, I can hold a conversation for an hour on Skype without using any English, and I can follow the plot of TV shows (although I don't understand every single word or expression). My writing skills are less solid, since I very rarely write in Spanish. I did the "prueba de nivel" on the Cervantes site this morning (Dec 29th 2014). It took me about 40 minutes, and according to the results, I'm at level C1.3-C1.4. I'm not sure exactly what that means in the real world. I can say that the listening component was difficult. prueba de nivel I started learning Spanish in May 2013. If you're interested in what I did to get to where I am, you can check out a blog post that I wrote linking to all sorts of great resources for Spanish learners: Spanish From Scratch goal for 2015: I would like to end the year at a very solid C1 level. I may even look into taking a formal test at some point, although I'm still undecided. plan for 2015: * complete the Super Challenge. As of December 29th, I've read 50.9 50-page "books" and watched 26.4 90- minute "films". The goal is 100 of each, although I'd like to surpass that. * finish FSI Basic Spanish. I completed up to unit 46 before stopping last February. I plan on starting again at 35 and finishing the entire program. * continue with weekly hour-long Skype conversations with my italki tutor. resources: resources for learners: drills, test prep, reading, grammar, listening and other fun stuff FSI Spanish Basic Aveteca GLOSS podcasts: Buenos días América: daily half-hour news show (USA) Fallo de sistema: weekly hour-long "geek culture" show (Spain) Nómadas: weekly hour-long travel show (Spain) Futuro abierto: weekly hour-long show debating social issues (Spain) Radio ambulante: intermittent show telling Latin American stories (USA) Catástrofe Ultravioleta: soft science and stories (Spain) TV shows: Isabel: historical drama. Waiting impatiently for season 3! (Spain) El internado: creepy and addictive show set in a boarding school (Spain) Los Simpsons: dubbed cartoon (Latin America) Aquí no hay quien viva: funny show set in an apartment complex (Spain) El tiempo entre costuras: historical drama. Will read book first. (Spain) Caso cerrado: cross between Jerry Springer and Judge Judy (Latin America) Spanish books that I've read so far in 2015 Sinsajo (Suzanne Collins) - translation of Mockingjay, young adult novel Días pasados (Robert Kirkman) - translation of the first volume of The Walking Dead, comic/graphic novel Guía para un perro feliz (Cesár Milán) - non-fiction book about the philosophy of dog training El Sótano (Ángel Gutierrez) - thriller, originally written in Spanish books currently in my "to-read" pile: Harry Potter y el Cáliz de Fuego (translated) La ladrona de libros (translated) El tiempo entre costuras Como agua para chocolate La casa de los espíritus El asesino de la vía láctica El fin de los sueños (still have to locate this one) Edited by Stelle on 12 April 2015 at 4:28pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3950 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 3 of 87 29 December 2014 at 12:28am | IP Logged | ||
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Tagalog / Filipino
This post will be updated throughout the year to add resources. current level (as of December 29 2014): A1ish. My listening comprehension is weak, as is my vocabulary. I can put together simple sentences. I can speak relatively fluently on very limited topics (very limited), but I have a hard time carrying on a conversation that lasts more than five or ten minutes. I started learning Tagalog in May 2014. It's been slow going. I got burnt out in September/October and stopped learning altogether. I dipped my toes back in to Tagalog in December, and am ready to jump back in. goal for 2015: I would like to end the year at a solid A2 level - with a shaky B1 as my "reach for the stars" goal. My husband is Pinoy (Filipino) and my main focus is to be able to follow along during family conversations. plan for 2015: * complete three "learn Tagalog" resources: 1) Rosetta Stone. Yep, it's pretty much universally hated on HTLAL, but I've completed level one of three, and it's working for me so far, especially with the online resources like live tutoring. More on that in a future post. 2) Elementary Tagalog: Tara Mag-Tagalog Tayo. This first-year university textbook/workbook is very good. It's dry, though, and I stopped about 2/5 of the way through. I plan on going back to ET when I finish RS. 3) Complete Filipino: a Teach-Yourself Guide. Decent resource (although not as comprehensive as ET). The voice actors can be a bit grating, so I only got about 1/3 of the way through. I do plan on finishing TY, using the dialogues only, and just glossing over the scant explanations. * spend some time with native (or "native-ish") material every day, so that I don't get stuck in the rut of focusing solely on "learn language X" packaged courses. - chats with family, italki tutors or RS tutors - short texts corrected by native speakers - reading: children's books, RS graded readers - children's cartoons - popular songs - podcasts - GLOSS activities (haven't tried these yet!) free resources that I plan on using: italki: have texts corrected by native speakers anki: SRS with self-made decks (free for desktop/android, cost for iPhone) Kalye Speak: podcast with short dialogues and cultural explanations GLOSS: exercises and activities from the Defense Language Institute Children's videos on YouTube: cartoons and songs that I'll transcribe Memrise: mnemonic-based SRS that I use with pre-made courses My favourite Memrise decks are: Basic Tagalog Essential Tagalog Foundation Tagalog Hacking Tagalog (be careful - some errors in the last few levels) paid resources that I plan on using: Elementary Tagalog: textbook with accompanying audio and workbook Rosetta Stone: desktop version with a free three-month online subscription Teach Yourself Filipino: kit with dialogues and basic explanations italki: good source of affordable online tutors (or free language partners) Pinoy Culture: affordable children's books with reasonable shipping in Canada other free resources that I'm not currently using, but that other learners might find useful: Tagalog Phrases: thousands of Tagalog sentences with audio and translations Tagalog for Beginners: grammar overview on Unilang Learning Links: huge mess of free links, organized into thematic units Pimsleur Tagalog: first 15 lessons (I've already completed these) Edited by Stelle on 29 December 2014 at 4:29pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3950 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 4 of 87 30 December 2014 at 5:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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Today I tested the 2.5 km walk to school. If the weather stays mild, I'd like to walk to work at least three times a
week. The nice thing about walking more is that I almost invariably listen to Spanish while walking, so it creates extra language time. Win-win. Walking to and from school took me about 50 minutes, so 25 minutes each way. It's the perfect length of time for listening to a podcast, with an extra long intermission in the middle. Today's podcast: RTVE's Nómadas. This hour-long travel show is by far my favourite podcast - in any language. The show was "en Nueva York por Navidad", with Christmas music and talk of trees and skating rinks. I should have listened to it before Christmas, but the Christmas season goes until January 6th in Spain, so I guess it isn't too late! It was a very entertaining show, if you care to listen: Nómadas en Nueva York por Navidad One of the main interviewees was a New Yorker who was obviously a second language speaker. It was interesting to listen to him, especially when he said the names of boroughs, parks, etc. He dropped his Spanish "voice" altogether and used his ordinary, very anglophone accent when saying any place names. Picture the difference between "Manhattan" in American English, and "Manhattan" as said in a Spanish conversation, by a native Spanish-speaker. It wasn't incorrect, obviously, but I found it a bit distracting. When I speak another language, I prefer to say (ie. pronounce) place names in that language. Same with people's names. What do you do? Do you say your name or your country's name in your own accent, or do you "target language-ify" them? Edited by Stelle on 30 December 2014 at 6:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5068 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 5 of 87 30 December 2014 at 6:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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If I were describing the boroughs and neighborhoods of New York in any of my languages I would find it weird to pronounce Brooklyn or Harlem as they would be pronounced in them. The Bowery, Uptown Manhattan I couldn't bring myself to even try to pronounce it in any other way than in English. In the same vein, it would be weird to pronounce the São Paulo neighborhood of Liberdade as "Liberty". Funny, in Spanish and even English I say Nueva York. When speaking Portuguese it's Nova Iorque (Nohva Yorkee) but in Haitian Creole I say New York as I would in English. I live on an island with a French name Saint Croix- in Spanish and Portuguese it's Santa Cruz. In Haitian Creole I say Sen Kwa. In English, French place names tend to be anglicized across a large part of the English-speaking world and bear little relation to the original French, so Saint Croix is "Saint Croy" in English.
My name gets TL'ified. I guess there's not much consistency but it tends to work for me. Edited by iguanamon on 30 December 2014 at 6:25pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| eyðimörk Triglot Senior Member France goo.gl/aT4FY7 Joined 3905 days ago 490 posts - 1158 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French Studies: Breton, Italian | Message 6 of 87 30 December 2014 at 6:43pm | IP Logged | ||
Best of luck to you with your new goals!
For the most part, I TL-ify. There are however some times that I do not. If someone were to ask me in French what the town where I was born is called, I would say it with a French accent and offer to spell it if the question came from an official, but I would probably just say the name in my native south-Swedish accent if I was at a party and someone asked the same question. It's not a large town so no one is going to know it, it doesn't have an official name in any language but Swedish, and in that situation my "exoticness" is on display. In the case of a larger town that they might know, I would just use a French accent. A couple of weeks ago, for example, I met a delivery man who had biked through pretty much all of Scandinavia so when he asked me where I was from I gave my birth-town in Swedish, but told him the nearest city that he might (and did) know in a French accent. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Warp3 Senior Member United States forum_posts.asp?TID= Joined 5341 days ago 1419 posts - 1766 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Korean, Japanese | Message 7 of 87 31 December 2014 at 1:36am | IP Logged | ||
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I too tend to "stay in character" when saying a place name in a foreign language. Switching
back to English for a word or phrase just seems to disrupt the flow and it sounds off somewhat. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3950 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 8 of 87 31 December 2014 at 4:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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@iguanamon, @eyðimörk and @Warp3, thanks for sharing your thoughts! It's interesting to see that everyone
approaches names a little bit differently! I think that I'm more likely to TL-ify (love the new term, eyðimörk!) in part because I grew up speaking two languages, and it would have been very strange not to say place names in a particular language when speaking. Had I said "Montreal" (English pronunciation, with the T sound) in French class, I would have been corrected. And had I said Montréal (French pronunciation, minus the T sound) in a conversation with a monolingual English-speaker, I would have gotten a strange look. Of course, saying something like "I'm going to Montréal pour voir mes cousins." or "Veux-tu watcher un film downtown?" to my bilingual group of friends wouldn't have even registered as odd. Oh, it used to drive my Dad crazy when we did that! Haha! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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