Allison's log: Spanish (TAC 2016)

[Allison]

Thanks! Like I said, I don't lack for legal options, so it's not a big deal right now for one of the shows I looked at to be region-blocked.

What I did this week:

• watched episode 37 of La reina del sur
• read El estafador pp. 258-263, for a total of 5 pages
• read some news articles

Some comments:
Work was really busy last week and between that and getting into Pokemon Go, I did not do much Spanish stuff. I'm even behind on the forum—I only responded to messages in my log yesterday and I have a lot of reading to catch up on. I don't want to jinx it, but I think it was a one week only thing at work, so this week will be better.

So this means that I'm now 84 pages behind in the Super Challenge, but I was far enough ahead on minutes that I'm still caught up.

Unfortunately, my attempt to place a hold on Tiempo de matar failed because the book is lost or stolen, so the library doesn't have any more copies.

[Allison]

I'm a couple days late with my weekly report...

What I did last week:

• news articles
• Read El Estafador pp. 263-352 for a total of 89 pages

Some comments
I did not watch or listen to anything last week, but I did make a big push to finish up El estafador, which I completed on Monday (that day's not included in last week's stats, which are Monday to Sunday), just in time to return it to the library. While there, I again browsed the Spanish stacks and it felt easier to do than the last time I was there, six weeks ago. It was fun to browse through, but I started on a book I already own—Manolito Gafotas, which is a book from the perspective of and in the voice of a 10 year old. It's a short one, too, so it probably won't take too long to finish. With my big push to finish up my book, I ended Monday only one page behind the Super Challenge pace for both pages and minutes!

Edited to add: Oh, and I almost forgot to say that I did borrow one book from the library: Cuentos de los hermanos Grimm para todos las edades, by Philip Pullman. It's a book of about 50 Grimm's fairy tales, translated into Spanish from Philip Pullman's tellings. I'm looking forward to using it for the short story challenge.

[Allison]

What I did last week:

• read
  • El estafador pp. 352-295, for a total of 43 pages
  • the introduction of Cuentos de los hermanos Grimm para todos las edades, for a total of 18 pages
  • Manolito Gafotas pp. 1-51, for a total of 51 pages
  • news articles
• watched
  • La reina del sur episodes 38-39
  • Pokémon: Diamante y Perla episode 1 (22 minutes)
• listened to
  • Notes in Spanish Intermediate episode 9
  • Notes in Spanish Advanced episode 32

Some comments:
El estafador, a review
I finished El estafador last week. (No specific spoilers ahead, but I'll discuss the book a bit.) I enjoyed the book and I'm glad I read it, but it won't be going on my favorites list. On a certain level, it was unsatisfying because things just happened and then other things happened and by the end there was an explanation of how earlier things had happened, but there didn't seem to be a point or an answer to the important question of "so what?" I mentioned before that I was frustrated with the book keeping the reader half in the dark and it seems like that was an attempt at having a point—to explain how things had happened—but that's not actually a point in and of itself.

Like I said, though, I largely enjoyed reading it. The sequence of events were interesting and before I got frustrated, the mystery was intriguing. The other characters weren't very filled in, but the narrator definitely was—he felt like a real (unlikable) person.

Manolito Gafotas, an initial impression
I started Manolito Gafotas, which, as I mentioned last week, is written in the voice of a 10 year old. Honestly, that gimmick is a little grating. I thought I might read this more intensively, but I'm finding myself speeding through so I can get it over with. It's not terrible, but I'm not too into it. It's a short book, so I'll probably be done with it soon. This series of books inspired two movies and a TV series, and I can see that I'd probably enjoy it more in a different form.

Language-wise, I think I'm missing more details in this than I did in El estafador.

Pokémon
I have been playing Pokémon Go, but I had never been interested in anything Pokémon before, so I was curious about some of the TV series and I decided to watch an episode with Spanish dubs to practice my Spanish at the same time.

Super Challenge
For the record, because it's been a while, I'm completely caught up to the Super Challenge pace.

Other activities
Work is still a bit busy, but maybe I can start back up with the non-reading and watching activities, like shadowing, grammar workbooks, writing, conversation? We'll see.

[Allison]

I made another jump in listening comprehension of La reina del sur! The last time I had a jump was the end of May, when I said this:

After a few weeks of feeling down about my listening, I made a jump in comprehension yesterday. Suddenly, I could understand much more of the dialogue of La reina del sur, some even to the point where I could probably transcribe it perfectly after hearing it once, if I were to want to do that. There were still a few characters who I couldn't really understand, but I could understand most of what most people were saying. It's so much more fun to understand what people are saying instead of getting the gist! This was a much-needed positive step forward.

This time, I'd say the majority of the dialogue were in the "probably could transcribe it correctly after hearing it once (if I had a good enough memory and fast enough typing skills)" category. Instead of a solid-but-general understanding of the dialogue, it was more of a word-for-word understanding. Again, it differs by character. For example, Paty is one of the harder ones for me, and with her, this progress meant I moved into the mostly solid-but-general understanding with sometimes understanding word-for-word category.

[Hank]

Patricia, Eddie, and Teo are the hardest for me to understand. My comprehension with Patricia is getting better, though. (How tall do you think she is?) I never got the hang of understanding Fátima. I think Oleg and Dris are the easiest to understand.

[Allison]

Oleg is definitely one of the easier ones. The last episode started with a conversation between Oleg and Flores, and it was a breeze to understand.

What I did last week:

• watched La reina del sur episodes 40-41
• read news articles
• read Manolito Gafotas pp. 51-73, for a total of 22 pages

No comments this week because I already posted about my listening comprehension jump.

[Allison]

What I did last week:

• read Manolo Gafotas pp. 73-86, for a total of 13 pages
• some news articles

Some comments:
Not a great week for Spanish, but I've gotta post the bad weeks as well as the good.

[Allison]

I'm so late on my weekly report, it's almost time for my next weekly report!

What I did last week:

• watched La Reina del Sur episodes 42-46
• read Manolito Gafotas pp. 86-138, for a total of 52 pages, and finishing the book
• read Cuentos de los hermanos Grimm para todos las edades, pp. 35-41, for a total of 7 pages (and one more short story for the short story challenge)
• did Practice Makes Perfect: Complete Spanish Grammar Unit 17.13-25 (definite articles, neuter article, indefinite articles, omission of articles)

Some comments:
It was a good week! I watched two episodes of La reina del sur back to back on Monday, which I don’t think I’ve done before. I had been having trouble getting myself reading, not being able to concentrate and not getting past a page, but after a work event I had been worrying about was over, I started reading smoothly again. I also started back up with the grammar workbooks, and did a short story.

I finished Manolito Gafotas. It was fine. The little kid narrator gimmick was annoying, but I got more into the book the more I read. Not great, not bad, but not particularly interesting.

I'm starting to get bored with my log. When I was starting out, I had all kinds of thoughts and opinions and updates, and these days it feels like it's just "I read some stuff, I watched some stuff, it was more or less than what I hoped to read and watch" every single week. I'm not sure if I'm stagnating in my learning or just my logging.

[Allison]

What I did last week:

• read Los juegos del hambre pp. 3-31, for a total of 28 pages
• watched episode 47 of La reina del sur
• did Intermediate Spanish Grammar Units 3-4

Some comments:
La reina del sur
I'm at the point now where the end of La reina del sur is in sight. Still 16 episodes to go yet, but I'm 3/4 of the way through. I'm finding it less interesting now that she's successful and glamorous instead of struggling and scrappy.

Writing
I seriously, for real, no really this time, need to do some output. My neglect of my Output Challenge is shameful. There's about 124 days left in the year. I'm going to basically ignore the official Output Challenge word count goal and set myself a goal of 5000 more words before the end of the year. That's about 40 words/day average, significantly below the Output Challenge 137 words/day average, which at the moment is so out of reach for my current habits that to use it as a goal would be counterproductive. I've seen from the Super Challenge how a goal that's a good stretch but still doable has worked to keep me on track (we'll ignore that I'm currently behind on pages—it's not that far, and I can catch up!). I currently have the embarrassing word count of 3487 (if I were on track, I would have 10 times that), so I want to end up with 8487 words at the end of 2016. So, for a weekly goal, my target will be writing 280 words, just like I'm supposed to be reading 57 pages and watching 103 minutes per week.

[maschingon]

Hola Allison! cómo te va?

Me interesa mucho el registro que estás llevando. 10 años!!!! Increíble... sólo hace como 5 meses que no escribo en español y ya siento que las vías neuronales no están tan ágiles como las tenía hace tiempo... Mi primera pregunta que te tengo es: qué pasó? por qué decidiste dejarlo por tanto tiempo? Ni siquiera viste películas / programas de televisión o algo así?

Esta será la primera vez que publique en cualquier foro en cualquier lugar en mi vida (Hola a todo el mundo!), así que espero que no sea de mala educación entrometerme en el medio de un foro ya activo. Y perdónenme, pero ni de pedo voy a leer toooodas las páginas que han transcurrido. Sin embargo, Allison, si me puedes remitir a algunas de tus publicaciones en particular que te parezcan importantes/interesantes, dímelo!

De todos modos, sí leí la primera página (y esta página), así que vi que nos invitaste a nosotros a que escribiéramos en español, así que te voy a aceptar la invitación. Pero a ese respecto, por qué rayos no estás escribiendo TÚ en español aquí?? Especialmente si "output" (producción?) es tu mayor problema??? Hazlo! te reto!

De todos modos, te dejo con algunas preguntitas más acerca de tu reencuentro con el español: Qué piensas ha sido de mayor utilidad esta vez? Y qué tal la reina del sur, te ha ayudado mucho o no? Recuerdo que alguna vez hace mucho tiempo vi los primeros dos capítulos. No es que no me gustaran, pero no era el tipo de programa que elegiría yo - además, me parecía que había muchísima acción y no suficientes conversaciones, o por lo menos por lo que se refiere a la utilidad que puede brindar al estudiante. Qué piensas tú a ese respecto?

Un saludo y mucho gusto,
Michael King / Miguel Rey (mi seudónimo)