James29's Spanish and French Log

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
User avatar
James29
Blue Belt
Posts: 758
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:51 am
Languages: English (Native)
Spanish (C1-ish)
French (Beginner)
Portuguese (Thinking about it)
x 1741

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

Postby James29 » Sun Feb 26, 2017 11:34 am

Well, I'm just chugging along doing the same thing as usual.

Spanish:

I'm watching Spanish shows while jogging each weekday morning on the treadmill. I'm working through the telenovela Celia fairly well. Unfortunately, it is starting to change quite a bit. They have new actors for a number of characters now (as they have gotten much older) and the plot is changing. I'll still keep pressing on as I like the practice with the accents from the Caribbean. I'm also slowly working through Jessica Jones and Daredevil. These are two of the Netflix originals based on the Marvel stories. They are both pretty good so far.

I also listen to the VOA news every morning. This is just for me to get my news update so I feel somewhat informed as to what is going on in the world.

I usually go to the weekly meetup, but not always as sometimes it can be a bit inconvenient depending on my daily duties.

I also sometimes (not too often anymore) have a language exchange on skype. I have not done that for quite a while.

Spanish is basically on auto-pilot. I need to read a book fairly soon as I have not been reading anything. By only watching TV in Spanish I think I am losing some vocabulary and "sharpness" in my Spanish.

French:

French is interesting. I think I know more than I realize. I am (very) slowly working through French for Reading by Sandberg. This is an amazing resource. I finished chapter 12 today. This is at least the second (perhaps the third) time I have gone through these chapters. I will do chapter 13 over the next week or so and then I'll figure out where to go from there. I have done chapters 1-13 a few times but never got past that point.

I noticed this time through the book that I really hit a wall at about chapter 12. Some of the things/grammar/idioms they teach just were not sticking in my head and my pace really slowed down. I think I need to work with some other resources (perhaps Assimil) or simply read a few easy books and then I'll get back to French for Reading when this sort of thing makes a bit more sense.

I am also watching episodes of Parlez-moi. It is incredibly cheesy and very 70s-ish. I can understand the videos quite easily so I am glad I am doing it now. If I were to wait any more time these would probably be too easy for me to get much out of them. In fact, I'm not really getting vocab or grammar out if it.... I am really just benefiting from hearing the language spoken and getting an ear tuned in to how the language works.

French is just fun for me now. It is a bit of a challenge. I like it, but don't really see any productive reason for learning it. My Spanish is definitely helping with my progress. So much of French is done in a similar way as Spanish I can just think of French as a version of Spanish of some sorts.

I'd really like to get reading in French. I'll be doing that soon. I'll probably just buy some really easy books on my Kindle and take it from there. I'm hoping I am at a point where there are some books I can read that are somewhat interesting.

Well, not much more going on with languages. I'll just keep on chugging.
1 x

DaveBee
Blue Belt
Posts: 952
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 8:49 pm
Location: UK
Languages: English (native). French (studying).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7466
x 1386

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

Postby DaveBee » Sun Feb 26, 2017 11:43 am

James29 wrote:I'd really like to get reading in French. I'll be doing that soon. I'll probably just buy some really easy books on my Kindle and take it from there. I'm hoping I am at a point where there are some books I can read that are somewhat interesting.
With Kindle's pop up dictionary support, could you try continuing the Lee Child's Reacher series in french? You already know the character.
0 x

User avatar
James29
Blue Belt
Posts: 758
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:51 am
Languages: English (Native)
Spanish (C1-ish)
French (Beginner)
Portuguese (Thinking about it)
x 1741

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

Postby James29 » Sun Feb 26, 2017 11:48 am

DaveBee wrote:
James29 wrote:I'd really like to get reading in French. I'll be doing that soon. I'll probably just buy some really easy books on my Kindle and take it from there. I'm hoping I am at a point where there are some books I can read that are somewhat interesting.
With Kindle's pop up dictionary support, could you try continuing the Lee Child's Reacher series in french? You already know the character.


Oof. That sounds WAY too difficult for me. I was looking at something more like the Magic Tree-house series. My French reading is ok for basic things, but I think if I did something like a book from the Reacher series I'd get pretty frustrated. I have the audio and text for the daVinci Code and also for my favorite Grisham book and I was thinking of just doing some LR type reading with those and see what happens.

I am a bit afraid to read easy books for kids as I just don't like them. Who knows.

I do appreciate the suggestion of Reacher in French because I definitely enjoyed him in Spanish and I did not even think about reading him in French.
0 x

User avatar
reineke
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3570
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2016 7:34 pm
Languages: Fox (C4)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6979
x 6554

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

Postby reineke » Sun Feb 26, 2017 3:05 pm

Magic Tree House series

Fantasy for children ages 5-8. From book 29 onward, the series shifted to a slightly older audience....

These books are great if you look at them as raw language material but I found them awfully boring. If the books have some nostalgic value for you, they could be perfect. Children's literature is huge. I think you can find something better. Since you can draw on a lot of cognates, you may even be able to read Dan Brown's novels.

"L’Étranger (usually translated as The Outsider) is probably the most widely read of all twentieth-century French novels. Marcel Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time/Remembrance of Things Past) may be more famous, but not as many people get to the end of its 3000 pages. L’Étranger is short, intriguing, and written in such simple French (not a passé simple verb in sight) that it’s often the first choice for non-native-speakers wanting to try a real work of French literature in the original language. It’s the most-mentioned text on UCAS forms from prospective candidates by some margin — a fact that put me rather in two minds about including it in the book club. It’s already read by almost as many candidates as all other French literature put together, so it hardly needs my recommendation to find any more readers."

http://bookshelf.mml.ox.ac.uk/2014/09/1 ... ert-camus/

Other book ideas:

http://www.fluentu.com/french/blog/easy ... -learners/

http://www.fluentu.com/french/blog/best ... rn-french/

Comics

Tintin by Herge
Asterix by Goscinny & Uderzo
Iznogoud by Tabary
Les Schtroumpfs by Peyo
(you can replace most words by "schtroumpf")
http://nowiknow.com/schtroumpf/
Gaston Lagaffe by Franquin

Comics are full of puns, colloquialisms, etc. but they are also full of simple sentences and visual cues.
Last edited by reineke on Tue Feb 28, 2017 11:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
3 x

DaveBee
Blue Belt
Posts: 952
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 8:49 pm
Location: UK
Languages: English (native). French (studying).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7466
x 1386

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

Postby DaveBee » Sun Feb 26, 2017 3:22 pm

reineke wrote:
"L’Étranger (usually translated as The Outsider) is probably the most widely read of all twentieth-century French novels. Marcel Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time/Remembrance of Things Past) may be more famous, but not as many people get to the end of its 3000 pages. L’Étranger is short, intriguing, and written in such simple French (not a passé simple verb in sight) that it’s often the first choice for non-native-speakers wanting to try a real work of French literature in the original language. It’s the most-mentioned text on UCAS forms from prospective candidates by some margin — a fact that put me rather in two minds about including it in the book club. It’s already read by almost as many candidates as all other French literature put together, so it hardly needs my recommendation to find any more readers."

http://bookshelf.mml.ox.ac.uk/2014/09/1 ... ert-camus/

Comics

Tintin by Herge
Asterix by Goscinny & Uderzo
Iznogoud by Tabary
Les Schtroumpfs by Peyo
(you can replace most words by "schtroumpf")
http://nowiknow.com/schtroumpf/
Gaston Lagaffe by Franquin

Comics are full of puns, colloquialisms, etc. but they are also full of simple sentences and visual cues.
That bookshelf blog is super. Thanks for posting the link. :-)
1 x

User avatar
James29
Blue Belt
Posts: 758
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:51 am
Languages: English (Native)
Spanish (C1-ish)
French (Beginner)
Portuguese (Thinking about it)
x 1741

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

Postby James29 » Sun Feb 26, 2017 6:20 pm

The first real books I read in Spanish were the first five of the Alex Rider series and the first five books in the Theodore Boone series. They are what transitioned me from studying to really using the language. I had used the first Harry Potter and Narnia books to study and do LR, but it was not until I decided to just read Alex Rider for fun in Spanish when I saw major advancement. In fact, I remember alternating between Alex Rider and Theodore Boone and by the time I had finished the first three or so of each I felt like I had already advanced past that level.

So, for "nostalgic" purposes I have my eye on finishing the Alex Rider series... but in French! They only translated the first five books into Spanish. All 10 are in French... and even better... they are on Kindle. I periodically read a few paragraphs on Amazon just to see where I am and I am often a bit disappointed. I need to either advance or read something like that with the English translation handy. This is why I've been trying to find something a bit easier... like the Magic Tree House. I think I could tackle a few books out of that series and get up to a level where I could read Alex Rider.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions and input.
3 x

Tomás
Blue Belt
Posts: 554
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2015 9:48 pm
Languages: English (N). Currently studying Spanish (intermediate), French (false beginner).
x 661

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

Postby Tomás » Mon Feb 27, 2017 7:18 pm

How do you feel about the new Most Interesting Man?
2 x

tuckamore
Orange Belt
Posts: 138
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2016 6:41 pm
Languages: English (N), Japanese (intermediate), French (intermediate), Thai (beginner), Swahili (beginner)
x 299

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

Postby tuckamore » Tue Feb 28, 2017 7:36 pm

Fluentu.com has several French blog entries with book recommendations. I usually can't find the blog I'm looking for from within fluentu's website. So instead, I google "fluentu french books" to access their blog posts with book suggestions. I just googled this now and blog headings include: "Top 5 Easy-to-read French Books for French Learners", "5 French Books for Beginners That Won't Bore You to Death", "10 Unbelievably Good Books for French Learners", etc.

You might find something here that interests you and suits your level? When I was looking to start reading something in French, I was clueless and these lists gave me something to work from.
2 x
: 10000 / 10000 10000 Japanese pages
: 1510 / 10000 the next 10000 Japanese pages

User avatar
James29
Blue Belt
Posts: 758
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:51 am
Languages: English (Native)
Spanish (C1-ish)
French (Beginner)
Portuguese (Thinking about it)
x 1741

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

Postby James29 » Sun Mar 05, 2017 10:51 am

Tomás wrote:How do you feel about the new Most Interesting Man?


Well, at least he is multi-lingual. Honestly, I have not followed it much. I believe he is just a younger version of the same guy. Nothing will be the same as the original.
0 x

User avatar
James29
Blue Belt
Posts: 758
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:51 am
Languages: English (Native)
Spanish (C1-ish)
French (Beginner)
Portuguese (Thinking about it)
x 1741

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

Postby James29 » Sun Mar 05, 2017 11:05 am

Well, it was a pretty good week. I'm still doing much of the same.

Spanish:

I had a lighter week for running this week so I did not watch as many TV episodes as I usually do. I watched six-ish episodes of Celia. I am now somewhere around episode 65 or 66. She had her big concert in Yankee Stadium a couple episodes ago. I have noticed that every single telenovela goes downhill pretty fast about 2/3 of the way through. This one is no different. Additionally, the change in actors really did not help much.

I'm thinking about what I'll do next after Celia. I have been fiddling around with Netflix and have found that there is an audio setting called "audio description" in which there is essentially a narrator that describes what is going on. I think I'm going to try to find shows with this setting in Spanish available as it will about double the amount of audio in the show. I see that the telenovela "La Nina" has that setting. The telenovela is also Colombian which will be nice for a long telenovela. Although, maybe I'll just watch random shows through the summer instead of a telenovela. I'll be running more often outside with the better weather so my Netflix time will go down dramatically.

I'm really not doing much else with Spanish other than VOA news in the morning. I am noticing more nuances in the news. I can even pick up sarcasm and inflection in some of the "experts" they interview.

I'll be traveling out of town today and think I'll stop by a meetup on my way as there is one near where I am going. I have not been going to my regular meetup.

I was looking at my C level grammar book and reading through some of the exercises. I'd say it is pretty easy for me especially if I think through the grammar points. It would definitely be worth my while to work through the book and get more automatic/comfortable with the C level grammar points. I understand it and it all makes sense, but I need to get it more part of my everyday Spanish.

French:

The good thing about running less this week was that I got to spend more time with French. I finished chapter 13 in Sandberg's French for Reading. I have been through these first 2/3 of the book now at least two full times, perhaps three times. I'm pretty good with the grammar and vocab up to this point. I felt like I was struggling with it while I was working through the last couple chapters but I still got nearly all of the review/test questions correct at the end of the chapter.

I do not want to continue with French for Reading. I am clearly hitting the wall with my level of French and if I continued with this book it would become too "hard" for me very quickly and I'd get discouraged and quit. I am not sure what I am going to do. Honestly, I might just quit French again anyway for a while. Working through Assimil some more would be a great thing to do, but I really cannot commit to doing an Assimil lesson every day so I think I'll wait until I will be able to put in 15+ minutes each day before I get back into Assimil.

Or, maybe I'll just try to read some easy books.

tuckamore wrote:Fluentu.com has several French blog entries with book recommendations. I usually can't find the blog I'm looking for from within fluentu's website. So instead, I google "fluentu french books" to access their blog posts with book suggestions. I just googled this now and blog headings include: "Top 5 Easy-to-read French Books for French Learners", "5 French Books for Beginners That Won't Bore You to Death", "10 Unbelievably Good Books for French Learners", etc.

You might find something here that interests you and suits your level? When I was looking to start reading something in French, I was clueless and these lists gave me something to work from.


I think these are great ideas. I checked out all of these books recommended. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but the advice to find something interesting as well as easy is a definite. We'll see.
3 x


Return to “Language logs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests