James29's Spanish and French Log

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James29
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Re: James29's Spanish (and sometimes French) Log

Postby James29 » Sun Mar 12, 2017 9:43 pm

Well, it was more of the same thing this week, but I've dumped French for now.

I'm watching Netflix in Spanish while I run on the treadmill... usually logging in about 10 45 minute episodes each week. I ran on the treadmill yesterday too so I got another 3 episodes in. I should finish Celia this week. The Cuban Spanish is finally feeling quite natural. I don't seem to be having any difficulties understanding it. I'm not sure what I'll do next. I've periodically been slipping in episodes of the Marvel series (Daredevil and Jessica Jones) and I'll finish those before I move on to some new telenovela.

I really commend Netflix for making all their original programming with so many audio options. The ones that they make with the original language in Spanish also seem to have the "audio description" option which looks great for language learners. It will at least double the amount of Spanish in each show. I find myself searching for new shows based on this option.

I'm also listening to VOA news every morning. I really pick up on many subtle things like bias, innuendo and dry jokes.

I went to a meetup out of town while traveling this week which was pretty nice. I also went to my local meetup.

I've had the desire to do a bit of real "studying" and am thinking I might dive into the C level grammar book sometime soon.

I started another Michael Connelly book this week, but only got a few pages into it and have not picked it up since. I think I'll leave that for a while until I have more time. Maybe when it becomes beach weather I'll start reading again. :)

I quit French again. I just don't see any real need for it. I am going to be taking a trip to Montreal this summer so maybe that will motivate me to get back into it. We'll see.
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Re: James29's Spanish (and sometimes French) Log

Postby James29 » Sun Mar 19, 2017 11:33 am

Things continue to move along nicely with Spanish.

This week I finished the telenovela Celia. I was moderately pleased with the show. The first half or so was great and really gave me a good feel for Cuba and who Celia really was. It must be tough to create a telenovela like that where you need to change all the main characters. When they started using new actors for the "old" characters I lost a bit of interest.

My understanding was generally fine. It was definitely more difficult than "typical" Spanish for me. I feel like I understood the vast majority of everything. There were a couple parts of the story I either missed or did not quite get. For example, did Gamita actually die? I must have missed that scene. I obviously know everyone he was with on the boat died, but I kept feeling like I must have missed what actually happened to him. Was I supposed to just assume he died? Also, I did not quite understand how Eliecer stole the money from Celia's concerts. I just don't understand what exactly they were doing to steal the money and how Eliecer's involvement made it possible.

For someone like me who wants to work on the Caribbean versions of Spanish this telenovela was perfect.

I moved on to the series Estocolmo on Netflix. WOW! This show is outstanding in all respects. It is a high quality Argentinian production. Apparently the actors are quite famous in Argentina. The lead girl (Rosiario) is completely adorable. I understand that the actress herself (Juana Viale) is a basket case in real life, but she makes watching the show quite a pleasure.

The show is a thriller/suspense/mystery which is exactly what I like. The plot is a bit "dark" as it is about investigating a human trafficking ring. The Spanish is quite easy for me to understand and it is nice to get exposed to Argentinian Spanish and culture as I have not watched anything from Argentina. I am liking it very much (especially Rosario's character :)).

I have become a HUGE fan of the "audio description" feature on Netflix. This makes watching TV about 3x better for learning the language. Estocolmo has this feature. Whenever there is no character conversation/speaking the narrator simply explains in Spanish what is happening on the screen. For example, "Rosario exits the elevator with a concerned look on her face. As she is walking down the hall in the darkness she hears her cell phone ring. She looks at the screen and sees it is a call from agent H. She looks concerned and ponders if she should answer it. She answers it" Then the conversation happens. Then the narrator continues... "Rosario hangs up the phone and rushes down the hall. She trips as she goes around the corner and Franco is there to help her up..."

The amount of Spanish audio with this feature is about 3x what it is with just the conversations. The Spanish used is great because it is clearly spoken and easy to understand. It is extremely helpful because you have all the clues on the screen about what is being discussed so you learn a ton of vocabulary and ways of speaking in idiomatic ways. I love this feature and now I cannot imagine watching TV in Spanish without it. I am packing my Netflix list with shows that have this feature... most notably the telenovela La Nina which has 80+ episodes.

Also this week I, of course, listened to the news in Spanish. This is just so easy and fun. It is just a part of my life now.

I also went to a nice meetup and had a few good talks with some native speakers.

I had a few phone calls from native Spanish speakers at work. I'm starting to actually make money with my Spanish at work and that is kind of fun. I'm not really actively pursuing this type of work right now because I am just so busy, but I really like getting new Spanish speaking customers. It feels really good to feel like all my hours of learning Spanish are paying off in real monetary ways.

The only thing I'm not doing that I should be doing is reading. I simply don't have the time to do it. Hopefully this summer things will lighten up a bit. I'll be traveling quite a bit in the coming month or so so it is possible I'll be able to read on the airplanes. We'll see.

French is in an "off" mode right now. It is still there, but I'm really focusing on advancing my Spanish for now.

That's it for another wonderful week in my Spanish journey.
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Re: James29's Spanish (and sometimes French) Log

Postby klvik » Wed Mar 22, 2017 3:33 pm

James29 wrote:Things continue to move along nicely with Spanish.

I moved on to the series Estocolmo on Netflix. WOW! This show is outstanding in all respects. It is a high quality Argentinian production. Apparently the actors are quite famous in Argentina. The lead girl (Rosiario) is completely adorable. I understand that the actress herself (Juana Viale) is a basket case in real life, but she makes watching the show quite a pleasure.

The show is a thriller/suspense/mystery which is exactly what I like. The plot is a bit "dark" as it is about investigating a human trafficking ring. The Spanish is quite easy for me to understand and it is nice to get exposed to Argentinian Spanish and culture as I have not watched anything from Argentina. I am liking it very much (especially Rosario's character :)).

I have become a HUGE fan of the "audio description" feature on Netflix. This makes watching TV about 3x better for learning the language. Estocolmo has this feature. Whenever there is no character conversation/speaking the narrator simply explains in Spanish what is happening on the screen. For example, "Rosario exits the elevator with a concerned look on her face. As she is walking down the hall in the darkness she hears her cell phone ring. She looks at the screen and sees it is a call from agent H. She looks concerned and ponders if she should answer it. She answers it" Then the conversation happens. Then the narrator continues... "Rosario hangs up the phone and rushes down the hall. She trips as she goes around the corner and Franco is there to help her up..."

The amount of Spanish audio with this feature is about 3x what it is with just the conversations. The Spanish used is great because it is clearly spoken and easy to understand. It is extremely helpful because you have all the clues on the screen about what is being discussed so you learn a ton of vocabulary and ways of speaking in idiomatic ways. I love this feature and now I cannot imagine watching TV in Spanish without it. I am packing my Netflix list with shows that have this feature... most notably the telenovela La Nina which has 80+ episodes.



I tried the "audio description" feature on Netflix and agree that it is a fantastic tool. Thanks for the tip!
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Re: James29's Spanish (and sometimes French) Log

Postby James29 » Wed Mar 22, 2017 7:51 pm

Yes, the audio description turns a regular telenovela (with native conversations) into a telenovela (with native conversations) and a real easy to understand audio track. It is like watching/listening to two different things in Spanish at the same time... but they are working together for the enjoyment of the show. Great feature and this is really going to make a huge difference for my TV watching.
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Re: James29's Spanish (and sometimes French) Log

Postby James29 » Sun Mar 26, 2017 10:41 am

I'm loving the telenovelas on Netflix. I spend roughly eight hours on the treadmill during the week and watch Netflix the whole time. I've got one more episode of Estocolmo and I'm several episodes into La Nina. Estocolmo is very well produced and is very interesting. The storyline is complex and it is hard to follow. I think it would likely be hard to follow for a native. There is a lot of jumping back and forth between things that happen three years apart. Also, there are "dark" sides of people that get disclosed as the story goes on and it is difficult for me to pick up on some of the surprising character developments. That being said, it is an amazing series. I would not recommend it for someone who is just starting watching TV in Spanish as I think a beginner would get lost very quickly.

La Nina seems good so far. As with any new telenovela it seems like it takes a few episodes to get acquainted to the characters and accents. I'm really not sure how the story will develop. I'm just glad it is not about drug dealers like every other telenovela. I'm going to give it a few more weeks before I decide about it.

I've also put Ingobernables on my Netflix list. That looks awesome. It just got released this week. I'm sure it will be an extremely popular series.

I'm still listening to the news on the morning commute. I also usually go to the weekly meetup. Nothing new with this.

I had two new customers this week at work who were Spanish speakers. Both spoke English fine. With one of them we spoke in Spanish for a good 45 minutes or so. No problems. We had a very nice conversation. The other guy was Puerto Rican and spoke perfect English. I think the reason we did not speak much in Spanish was that it seemed like he did not speak much Spanish anymore and maybe he simply more comfortable in English. Anyway, I'm quite pleased with my Spanish in this context and eventually I hope to dedicate more time and effort to developing more Spanish speaking customers. That is one my major long term goals.

I've been quite busy lately and really don't have much time for anything else. I'll be traveling the upcoming couple weeks so I probably won't get a chance to do as much Spanish. I probably won't be able to update my log either.

This week I did a bit of French. I got ambitious for one day and started LRing the Grisham book I have. I read the first chapter in English, then listened to the French while following the English text, then listened to the French while following the French text. I think I could learn French this way. It is tough, but with a really enjoyable book it would be possible. Hopefully sometime my life will normalize enough to spend some consistent time on French. I think just 20 minutes a day for 6 months would really advance my French to a level where it was usable.

Well, that's it for a while. Onward and upwards.
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Re: James29's Spanish (and sometimes French) Log

Postby James29 » Fri Apr 07, 2017 10:59 pm

I have been traveling for the past week and the daily schedule has been totally out of whack. The bad news (in terms of Spanish) with this is that I've been running outside and not able to watch Netflix as much. The good news is that I am in a place where I am able to speak Spanish every day with random people I bump into.

I'm getting in an occasional episode of La Nina on Netflix. I'm up to about episode 17. I like it well enough to be able to tell I'll keep watching it until the end. I think 80-90 episodes is the right amount for a telenovela. If this show had 150 or 200 episodes I'd be uncertain about whether or not I'd be able to watch the whole thing. With 80ish episodes it seems like it is not as huge an investment.

I have a much more outgoing personality in Spanish. I'm talking to all sorts of people in Spanish. If I see someone is from Mexico on their name tag I'll just launch right into Spanish. If I hear an accent I'll do the same. I'm talking to waitresses, cab drivers, hotel staff, security guards, random people in line, etc. In a funny way I'm noticing that the people who "have to" be nice (i.e. they are doing their job) are much better for Spanish practice.

This is the first trip in 3+ years where I brought a book in English instead of Spanish. I'm kind of kicking myself a bit because the book is not turning out to be that great and I would really like to be reading Spanish.

Well, I'll be back home in a few days and hopefully I'll get back into the regular routine.
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Re: James29's Spanish (and sometimes French) Log

Postby James29 » Sun Apr 16, 2017 2:11 pm

It is more of the same with Spanish. I'm just chugging along and using Spanish in my regular life.

I'm watching episodes of the Netflix telenovela La Nina. I'm on episode 20 now. It is a fine telenovela. It is not anything I'm raving about, but it is nice because the story is original and has some diverse sub-plots. The basic plot is about a girl who goes to medical school after years of being essentially kidnapped (recruited?) by Colombian guerrillas. It is easy to follow. The main characters are too young for me to relate to/bond with but there are some sub-plots with the Dean of the medical school, his wife and some of the professors that I like.

I'm watching the show with the audio description which I like. I don't really notice it now. It describes whatever is on screen when the characters are not speaking. It is meant to create a novela that blind people can listen to and follow. I like it quite a bit. In terms of the actual Spanish, it is fairly easy to follow. I don't seem to have any problems understanding and it really just seems like a second language to me. I think it is really helping me just be comfortable in the language.

I'm still slightly perplexed by the usted/tu selection. In La Nina they seem to use these words in ways that I just don't really understand. For example, there is a young couple that are both the same age and they use usted with each other even when they are kissing. It just seems odd. Then they seem to use tu (or vos) in other circumstances. I'm starting to feel the usted/tu thing is not really as simple as the whole "formal/informal" thing we always hear about. It really "depends" and often times it is really just particular to the particular people, their country of origin, the circumstances of the moment, etc. I feel pretty good with it and I think noticing the various times/places/situations in which the choice is made is really helpful.

I don't think watching telenovelas improves my vocabulary hardly at all. I do think it transforms the vocabulary I already have into much more usable vocabulary. I'm seeing how things fit together and how words are used in different ways and in different contexts. I think it also allows me to be much more comfortable when speaking and gives my Spanish a much more "comfortable"(or perhaps colloquial?) feel.

I'm still listening to VOA news every morning. It is very easy to follow/understand especially because it is the same reporters over and over again and I am familiar with their voices and speaking patterns. I really just think of this as my regular daily dose of news and not really Spanish time.

I'm having more and more interaction with Spanish speakers at work. I had a few conversations with native speakers and did really well. One of them was with an ongoing customer who I have worked with for close to a year. He brought up that my Spanish has improved quite a bit. He said that now I understand everything and I don't ever ask him to clarify or explain things. He says I also speak more fluently. It is tough for me to see my progress, but I guess others can see it if they don't talk with me too often. So, the good news is that I am still progressing.

I went to the local meetup and had some nice conversations with some new native speaking members. That was really nice. We are also meeting at a Mexican restaurant and I always get to have nice chats with the staff who know me.

I have much less free time now than I did over the past several years so my Spanish time will probably not be as much as I'd like. For the next few months I'll probably just be watching Netflix in Spanish and listening to the news. For some reason (I'm not really sure why or how) I always seem to have more free time in the summer. Hopefully I'll get a chance to read a few books on the beach this summer. I could really benefit from whizzing through some nice suspense/mysteries.

French is off my plate for the foreseeable future. I just don't have the time for it. Any free "study" time I have I'd like to dedicate to bumping up my Spanish to the next level. I think eventually I'll have a work trip to a French speaking country. Whenever that happens I think I'll pick it back up again and try to make the most out of the trip.
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Re: James29's Spanish (and sometimes French) Log

Postby the1whoknocks » Sun Apr 16, 2017 4:19 pm

James29 wrote:I'm still slightly perplexed by the usted/tu selection. In La Nina they seem to use these words in ways that I just don't really understand. For example, there is a young couple that are both the same age and they use usted with each other even when they are kissing. It just seems odd. Then they seem to use tu (or vos) in other circumstances. I'm starting to feel the usted/tu thing is not really as simple as the whole "formal/informal" thing we always hear about. It really "depends" and often times it is really just particular to the particular people, their country of origin, the circumstances of the moment, etc. I feel pretty good with it and I think noticing the various times/places/situations in which the choice is made is really helpful.


I can't say anything definite regarding why they use usted and vos they way they do in the show, but I can share a bit of my history of trying to understand their use.

This is something that I’ve been struggling to understand too. I’m sure it differs by country but it really becomes noticeable, to me, when watching something made in Colombia. Sometimes, there just seemed to be no rhythm or rhyme as to the register they spoke with. A while back, I started watching a Colombian telenovela, Betty la fea, and remember wondering why one of the main characters spoke with everyone, even her best friend and parents, using the 'formal' usted.

I asked one of my tutors about it, who happens to be Colombian, and I remember him saying that it depends on the family, the region they’re from, and the dynamics within that family. Many times, usted has to do with showing respect, but often, it’s just a function of custom and where they grew up. Where he is from, 'usted' is more likely to be used at work or in a professional setting, and 'tu' is likely to be used absent those circumstances unless you're speaking with someone who is clearly older.

Vos, in particular, is probably just a regional thing. My exchange partner says if someone uses it, it’s safe to bet they’re either from Cali or Medellin - according to him, vos has little, if anything, to do with formality or 'confianza'. He’d guess that, “97%” of the people from there speak using vos. Still doesn't explain why the same people would switch between vos and usted.

It’s always interesting interacting with people from different Spanish speaking countries at work, and listening to how they interact with each other. I made the mistake of using ‘usted’ with a coworker from Spain and she corrected me almost before I could finish uttering the word. According to her, usted is hardly used in Spain and when I speak to her in that register, I make her feel old. Among those I know from Mexico, it seems to be largely based on age, level of ‘confianza’ and is much more a show of respect and a recognition of status. If we’re the same age, it’s always ‘tu’ with my Mexican coworkers. My Colombian coworker spoke with me using, usted when we first met. Even after I assured him that “tu” would be fine. Now, we speaking using tu, but he occasionally slips and uses usted, particularly if we are in a more formal setting ….. I get the feeling that there is definitely a dynamic to the use of usted, in Colombia, that I’m yet to grasp. We've never spoken using 'vos'.

My impression is that Colombian's tends to speak a bit more formally, regardless of who they're speaking with. This comes, not only from watching TV, but from getting a change to interact with a few of them. Maybe someone else can shed more light on this - I'd be interested to know.
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Re: James29's Spanish (and sometimes French) Log

Postby NoManches » Sun Apr 16, 2017 5:36 pm

klvik wrote:
James29 wrote:Things continue to move along nicely with Spanish.

I moved on to the series Estocolmo on Netflix. WOW! This show is outstanding in all respects. It is a high quality Argentinian production. Apparently the actors are quite famous in Argentina. The lead girl (Rosiario) is completely adorable. I understand that the actress herself (Juana Viale) is a basket case in real life, but she makes watching the show quite a pleasure.

The show is a thriller/suspense/mystery which is exactly what I like. The plot is a bit "dark" as it is about investigating a human trafficking ring. The Spanish is quite easy for me to understand and it is nice to get exposed to Argentinian Spanish and culture as I have not watched anything from Argentina. I am liking it very much (especially Rosario's character :)).

I have become a HUGE fan of the "audio description" feature on Netflix. This makes watching TV about 3x better for learning the language. Estocolmo has this feature. Whenever there is no character conversation/speaking the narrator simply explains in Spanish what is happening on the screen. For example, "Rosario exits the elevator with a concerned look on her face. As she is walking down the hall in the darkness she hears her cell phone ring. She looks at the screen and sees it is a call from agent H. She looks concerned and ponders if she should answer it. She answers it" Then the conversation happens. Then the narrator continues... "Rosario hangs up the phone and rushes down the hall. She trips as she goes around the corner and Franco is there to help her up..."

The amount of Spanish audio with this feature is about 3x what it is with just the conversations. The Spanish used is great because it is clearly spoken and easy to understand. It is extremely helpful because you have all the clues on the screen about what is being discussed so you learn a ton of vocabulary and ways of speaking in idiomatic ways. I love this feature and now I cannot imagine watching TV in Spanish without it. I am packing my Netflix list with shows that have this feature... most notably the telenovela La Nina which has 80+ episodes.



I tried the "audio description" feature on Netflix and agree that it is a fantastic tool. Thanks for the tip!



I never knew this feature existed. I will have to try it out. I was a bit hesitant to start La Nina because I want to work on my Mexican Spanish, but if it is a good show and has this feature I think I should give it a try. Thanks!


UPDATE: just realized that this feature is available for Ingobernable! What an amazing option! I just started the show while using this option and it is incredible. I would say that every bit of the "audio description" is 100% comprehensible input because you can see exactly what they are describing on the scene. Looks like I just found a new show to watch. This feature will help out tremendously...thanks again for sharing!
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Re: James29's Spanish (and sometimes French) Log

Postby James29 » Sat Apr 22, 2017 11:05 am

Great input. Thanks guys.

I'm still doing more of the same. I'm moving through La Nina at a decent pace. I've been getting squeezed on time lately in my regular life so my Spanish is suffering. I think I watched about 6 episodes this week. I always listen to the news in the car and I usually go to the meetup. I look for opportunities to speak Spanish at work and in regular life situations. That's about it.

This week I did have a nice long talk with a native speaker friend of mine who I had not seen for a while.

Today while watching La Nina I missed something and had to back up the show and re-watch the scene with the subtitles. This happens sometimes when there is something "surprising" in the show. One of those scenes where someone says something unexpected and then there is a surprised look on the other person's face and the background music goes "bong" in dramatic fashion. The "problem" is that there are no contextual clues at all and whatever is said is designed to be out of context as to "shock" the viewer. If it is said fast or with slang it is even more difficult. I'd like to get better at this type of situation as I think it is one of the most important things to master for getting to the level of Spanish I need.

I've been having urges to get back into French. If I could think of a painless and fun way to do it I think I'd have more success. The thought of diving into a book just seems like it would be too painful at first. I'm not interested in doing Pimsleur or something like that. Watching a series on Netflix seems easy but I don't think I'm advanced enough to get much out of it.

If there were a good easy book series on Kindle that might work. The problem is there aren't many books (especially for kids) that interest me. I might try out the first Alex Rider book as I had good luck with that in Spanish and I know the story fairly well.

Well, that's it for this week. I'll be traveling again next week and hopefully will be able to get some Spanish reading in.
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