Hank's Adventure in Spanish (Now with 100% more Welsh!)

[Hank]

Maybe I don't know how to search, but I haven't found Spanish TV on Amazon Prime (though I like it for non-language-learning reasons). Just so you know, this month Hulu changed its business strategy and is now entirely subscription-based, and Yahoo now has a site using Hulu's video player where you can watch stuff for free: view.yahoo.com. And I've linked this before, but I've found it to be so helpful in searching for what has Spanish audio on Netflix: instantwatcher.com search.

I have a little ways to go before I finish La reina del sur, but I'm starting to think beyond that to my next show, though I don't know what to do next. I'll be interested to see what you settle on, if anything. I'm having similar thoughts about all of the narco shows and the length of some other shows' episodes.

Enjoy your vacation!

One of my coworkers has Amazon Prime and I had him look for Spanish language stuff. They have 20-some titles. I think they were all movies.

Thanks for the Instantwatcher link. I have seen that before. I have actually looked for it, but couldn't find it. I saved the link this time.

[Hank]

The only Spanish activities I did this week were watching TV and reading Spanish language posts on Facebook. I have to go back to work Sunday so I should get back into my usual routine then. I was probably overdue for a break anyway.

I started watching Univision's new telenovela Despertar Contigo. It has been enjoyable so far. Most of the characters are comprehensible. I didn't watch every night, but I haven't gotten lost yet. I also watched the first episode of El Color de la Pasión. It wasn't bad. I haven't found anything to replace Despierta América in the mornings.

My listening comprehension seems to be in a pretty good place. It takes me a few minutes go get used to Spanish, but after that I follow along well. Not perfectly, but I know what's going on. Hopefully I'll continue to improve.

[Hank]

My vacation is over and I'm getting back on track. The break didn't seem to hurt me too badly.

Reading- I'm making progress with De amor y de sombra. It took me a little longer than usual to get used to a new author, but I'm following along quite a bit better than at the start. There's still a bunch of unknown vocabulary. She started to book by introducing a bunch of characters and I think I have them all figured out, but I don't know what the relationships between them are. I guess I'll figure that out as I read. I think I mentioned it earlier, but I'm enjoying her writing style.

Listening- I signed up for the one month, free trial of Hulu but I haven't used it yet. I was going to download the app so I could watch at work but the reviews of the app are horrible. I couldn't bring myself to even try it out. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to subscribe, but I want to at least check it out first.

I have been watching Despertar Contigo on Univision. I have been enjoying it. It's kind of a pain that it's on every weekday because I know I'm not going to watch every episode, but so far I haven't lost the story even missing a few episodes. It takes me a few minutes to get warmed up to understanding what is being said, but after that I comprehend well. Except for one character that I absolutely can't understand. I know he needs money and that he's willing to do anything to get it, but there's a specific reason that he wants the money and I haven't figured out why.

Occasionally I start losing comprehension. I have noticed that if I stop watching and turn my attention elsewhere while still listening I usually start comprehending well again. I wonder if this isn't a side effect of having the TV on without really paying attention to it for so long. I usually have Despierta América on while I'm going about my morning routine but I don't actually watch the show the whole time.

Output- I didn't chat on HelloTalk much. I need to get back into studying verb conjugations again. I'm relying too much on my cheat card. I'm also struggling with uncommon verbs. For example, I know what I want to say and I know what the verb is, but I'm having difficulty coming up with the conjugation. But if were ever to find myself dropped of in the middle of Mexico I'm sure I would be able to function. Even though it wouldn't be terribly elegant.

Overall I'm very happy with my Spanish. I look forward to the day that it's more natural. Watching and understanding TV fairly well is so much fun. That's the activity I was most looking forward to when I started learning.

[Hank]

I completely forgot to update my log last week! I'll just throw out some random thoughts and do a full update on Friday.

I like looking up actors and actresses on IMDB to see what other shows or movies they have been in. It really irritates me when I look up a telenovela actor/actress and the title of the show is in English. Some of them aren't even translated directly. According to IMDB Tres Veces Ana is The Three Sides of Ana. That is so wrong!

I was at Lowe's yesterday and a overheard a couple of ladies speaking Spanish. I didn't understand enough to know what they were talking about. That was kind of a hit to my confidence. On the other hand, every sign in Lowe's is in English and Spanish. That was fun.

[Hank]

Better late than never, I guess. I have been suffering with a raging, sinus infection all week and I haven't felt like doing much of anything. I feel almost human tonight, though.

Normally I really like my routine, but occasionally it gets stale and I get bored. That's the situation I have been finding myself in the last couple of weeks. I have been reading a little and watching some TV, but not a great deal. And it isn't just Spanish, but all my hobbies. The boredom always passes but I never know how long it's going to last. I have learned not to fight it and just let it run it's course. I don't consider this a bad thing, and I don't let it bother me any longer. It just happens sometimes.

Reading- I have read a few pages of De amor y de sombra. Maybe 20 pages in the last couple of weeks. I'm enjoying it and it suddenly became much easier to read for some strange reason. There's still quite a bit of unknown vocabulary but I haven't been looking up all the unknown words like I usually do. If I can follow what's going on but only missing a noun or adjective or something here and there I don't worry about it. If I can't understand what's going on I'll look stuff up. I'm really interested to see how, or if, she's going to tie all these stories together. There are different story lines that seem totally unrelated even though I know the relationship between the characters.

Listening- I watched Despertar Contigo every night that I was able. I have been enjoying it. There are three characters that I have difficulty understanding, even though one of them is becoming more comprehensible. I have no clue how the writers come up with all these crazy twists and turns.

[Hank]

Acabo de comprobar mis billetes de lotería. Desafortunadamente también tengo que ir a trabajar. ¡Algún día voy a ganar!

Necesito limipiar mi escritorio. No puedo encontrar cualquier cosa. Está muy sucio.

I'm getting back into the swing of things and my routine is becoming fun again.

Reading- I made good progress with De amor y de sombra this week. I'm still not sure where the story is headed, not unlike El beso de la mujer araña, but I'm still enjoying it. I have had spells where I look up every unknown word, but I have still been doing quite a bit of extensive reading as well.

I looked on Amazon.com for books that might interest me. I'm ready for another action book. I would prefer books originally written in Spanish, but I haven't found many and the ones I have found don't seem terribly interesting. I found that Amazon has Spanish translations of quite a few Isaac Asimov books. I read his Foundation series many years ago, and I may give that a shot. My concern is that I remember the books being somewhat confusing. I'd really like to find a good translation of the John Carter of Mars series. I have read this a number of times. That's a great series until about halfway through when the books become about John Carter's children.

Listening- I watched Despertar Contigo every night that I was home, including recording a couple of episodes so I wouldn't have to miss two in a row due to my work schedule. There are days where I don't comprehend quite as well. I can still follow the story but I miss details. I haven't gotten totally lost yet, though. I have been tempted to rewind and listen again to the parts that I miss, but I guess as long as I know what's going on that I'm still making progress. I usually watch a few minutes of Tres Veces Ana, which comes on right after Despertar Contigo. After an hour of warming up to spoken Spanish my comprehension is pretty good with that show.

Output- I didn't do much output. I know this is something I need to work on. I know I can at least communicate, but I still need the practice. I haven't really messed with HelloTalk since my Mexican buddy quit logging on. I enjoyed chatting with him, but every other conversation I have had on there has been pretty boring. I went back to studying verb conjugations. It's getting better, but I still have to think about it too long. My inner dialogue has been popping back up in my head lately. I often consider writing my language log in Spanish.

[Hank]

Creo que no voy a actualizar mi registro todas las semanas. Parece que estar la misma cosa todas las semanas, y no parece muy interesante. Solo leo libros y veo la television. También me quejo sobre no hablar o escribir en español. Voy a continuar a leer el foro todos los días como siempre, y comentar de vez en cuando. Probablemente voy a actualizar mi registro cuando alguna cosa nueva ocurra. Gracias a todos para leyendo mi registro y todo el apoyo.

Por supuesto, podría cambiar mi mente y actualizarlo la proxima semana.

[Allison]

Creo que no voy a actualizar mi registro todas las semanas. Parece que estar la misma cosa todas las semanas, y no parece muy interesante. Solo leo libros y veo la television. También me quejo sobre no hablar o escribir en español.

¡Jaja! Eso me parece a mí, pero voy a continuar actualizando mi registro porque es útil para mí. Yo, al menos, disfruto leer tu registro, pero entiendo estar cansado de la misma cosa todas las semanas.

[Hank]

Recibí el libro Fundación por Isaac Asimov y empecé a leerlo. Es muy interesante. Leí este libro hace muchos años pero recuerdo algo de la historia cuando lo leo. Creo que esta es interesante. El cerebro está increible. Desafortunadamente, probablemente no voy a terminar De amor y de sombra pronto. Me gusta el libro pero no tengo muchas ganas de leerlo. No sé por qué. Quizás puedo terminar el libro algún día.

Todavía estoy viendo Despertar Contigo. En este momento es muy triste. El abuelo está muy confundido. Fue a la tienda para comprar pan y ahora está perdido en el ciudad. No me gustan las historias qué me pone realmente triste.

Escribí esto "off the top of my head". No tengo ni idea como se dice "off the top of my head" en español o si los hispanohablantes dicen esta frase. ¡No está muy mal!

[Hank]

Ayer iba a escribir esta actualización en español, pero me distraje. Mi cerebro no sirve bien por la mañana. Voy a escribirlo en inglés.

I didn't feel like watching Spanish language cartoons yesterday, so I listened to Aguila (regional Mexican music) on Sirius XM instead. I haven't listened to much Mexican music lately, so it sounded fun. I was amazed at how well I followed along. It appears that my music comprehension has made a big jump.

I'm still watching Despertar Contigo even though the interactions between the two main characters is getting repetitive. Maia and Pablo start working things out, then someone will lie about Pablo or he gets caught up in some scandal. Maia gets mad and swears that she's never going to talk to him again. This is starting to wear a little thin. It has probably happened 5 or 6 times during the course of the show. Can't the writers at least come up with something a little more original? The stuff going on with the other characters is still interesting, though.

One thing that I find interesting and/or weird. I feel like I miss a lot of dialogue at times, but I'm almost never confused about what's going on in the show. I don't know how that works. I feel like I should be confused or at least more confused. I noticed this because I like to give my wife an update of the episodes after I watch them. I do this just to watch her roll her eyes. For a time I wondered if my updates were accurate, but as I kept watching I realized that they were. The big exception to this is with Cindy and Christian. It's getting better, but I still have great difficulty understanding them. With Cindy I can sometimes get a broad understanding of what's going on, but Christian is still mostly a mystery.

I'm a little over halfway done with Fundación. I'm enjoying it. I still bounce between intensive and extensive reading, even though I find myself doing less intensive reading than I normally have been. I ordered the next two books in the series.