James29's Spanish and French Log

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

Postby tastyonions » Sat Apr 22, 2017 12:48 pm

The usage of "tú" and "usted" in Colombia doesn't correspond very well to how it works in most of the hispanophone world. Here's a Wordreference thread about it: https://forum.wordreference.com/threads ... bia.64936/

Spain definitely seems like the most "informal" in terms of how easily they tend to "tutear" each other.
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Re: James29's Spanish (and sometimes French) Log

Postby NoManches » Sun Apr 23, 2017 10:39 pm

James, it has been a pleasure reading your log! I've skimmed it over in the past but today I decided to really look things over. I feel like in many aspects I am following in your steps with a lot of things, especially in terms of making habits and treating Spanish as a part of my life rather than a chore (I feel like I hit that stage quite a while ago but I feel even stronger about it after reading your log entries).

I can relate with you on so many different things: having trouble understanding somebody new but eventually getting used to their accent, the frustration of having to listen to yesterdays VOA episode in the morning, etc.

It seems to me that you do a tremendous amount of reading, or at least you used to have the time to. Also, you are fortunate enough to have frequent interactions with Spanish speaking customers and members of your community.

After stalking the last few years of your life on this blog, I've decided to make VOA a daily part of my life again. I used to listen to it but got bored quickly, which I think was due to comprehension issues. I wish I had your ability to hear the news in Spanish as if it were in English. I also with I had your ability to hear sarcasm and dry jokes when listening to VOA...I'm able to comprehend everything but it doesn't feel as easy as English for me and I certainly can't hear sarcasm (this is where Iguanamon chimes in that he has told me 100 times now to make listening a habit :D :D ).

Thanks for introducing me to the "audio description" feature on YouTube. I just finished watching Ingobernable with this feature and will look for more shows with this feature.

I'm sure I've said it before but you are one of my Spanish speaking inspirations on this site (I have a few of them). I feel like you are a level above me and it's really cool to read your advice knowing that I'm not that far behind you.

Keep up the good work and I hope your Spanish keeps improving (along with your French, if you decide to commit to it)

*As a follow-up question I am curious to know how you worked with VOA. Did you simply listen everyday at first or did you do any intensive work with transcripts. I find myself able to listen to it but I zone out from time to time. Typically when this happens I go to a type of audio that I am more interested in, but this is clearly one of my weaknesses and I need to attack it head on. Thanks!
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Re: James29's Spanish (and sometimes French) Log

Postby James29 » Thu May 04, 2017 9:33 pm

Thanks for the comments, NoManches. I do the log for myself, but the fact that it might motivate other or give others ideas is great.

Regarding VOA, I just press play and listen. I don't do anything else. I did not even know there were transcripts. The only thing that is annoying about it is that it is always the previous day's news. I wish there was a 4am edition or something so I could get fresh news. I guess the fact that it is old is helpful to the extent that I have often heard about the stories they talk about.

In terms of my language studies, I have not updated for a while because I was traveling last week and I've just been very busy. For Spanish I watched a number of episodes of La Nina. I must be somewhere close to episode 40 by now. I like the show. It is "comfortable."

While traveling I started reading another Michael Connelly book about Harry Bosch. I was surprised how fast I could read through it. I have not read for quite a while so I was expecting to need a bit of time to get back up to speed. I definitely like reading as it really helps with vocab and just comfort in the language.

While traveling I also had a number of conversations with Spanish speakers. I get several compliments whenever I speak with native speakers. In the airport I sat next to a Mexican couple and chatted with them for long time.

I'd also watch Univision whenever I was just chilling out in the hotel room (which was not too often as I was quite busy). I don't have any Spanish TV channels at home so there was something pretty cool about just flipping on the TV and ironing or packing with Univision on in the background.

Back just before my trip I bought the first Alex Rider book in French. I read the first two chapters. I was absolutely AMAZED at how I was able to read. I was incredibly psyched up to continue. I had to look up numerous words with the pop up dictionary, but I enjoyed reading and it was not too cumbersome to simply look up any unknown words. It REALLY helped that I have read the book twice before. I was able to easily guess at a number of unknown words and partial cognates.

I was really motivated to take the book with me and read it while I was traveling. Unfortunately I just did not do it. I just got back into Spanish and felt like my time would be better spent with Spanish. I quit French again and this time it was actually pretty darn exciting when I quit. Oh well.

Not much else going on. I'm back on track and expect to be spending quite a bit of time on the treadmill over the next several months so I'll get in some good quality time with Netflix. Plus, beach season is approaching! I need to find some nice beach books!
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Re: James29's Spanish (and sometimes French) Log

Postby James29 » Sun May 07, 2017 11:20 am

Ok, I am back in my regular daily/weekly routine and I'm going to get back on track with updating my log on Sunday.

Spanish - more of the same. I'm watching La Nina on Netflix while I run on the treadmill. I'm not running as much right now as I usually do so it is a bit slower going with Spanish. As always, I listen to the VOA Noticias news every morning. I also go to my regular meetup. From my trip last week I've gotten a ways into a Harry Bosch book, but I don't seem to have any time to read during my "regular" weeks. I'll work on it as I can find the time. I'm not going to worry about it. Harry books are very "comfortable" and it is nice to just sit down and read the story whenever I can.

My Spanish is really just on auto-pilot. It is relaxing and gives me a mini-vacation whenever I want. Someone wrote somewhere else on the forum that it is nice to be able to be at a level where one can just pick up a book or watch a show in your target language as a way of relaxing. That is so true. It is great to be past that point in learning where there really is not any effort in using the language.

In addition to watching La Nina I have been watching a few random shows on Netflix. I seem to do this when I have some extra time at an odd time of day/night. I watch things that are very different than I am used to in part because I think it will help to hear totally new vocabulary. One of the things I am going to try to do is finish up the various series that I have half finished. Jessica Jones from the Marvel series is one of them. She is great. She is such a great "hero." Plus, she is really cute and has such a bad ass personality it is hard not to like her. I've got five or so episodes left in her show and I'll try to finish it off. I have another season of Daredevil also and, hopefully, I'll finish that off sooner or later. One quirky thing about my "studies" is that I hate leaving things half finished.

French - well, I'm back into French. I read another chapter of the first Alex Rider book. I am completely shocked at how I am really able to read the book. I look up at least ten words on every page but I am understanding and following the story quite well and it is really enjoyable. In so many ways French is like Spanish that it is just easy to understand. It will take a TON of reading to get comfortable with the language, but I am definitely at the point where I can simply sit down with a book like this and just read.

To caveat my French reading abilities, I must say that I have read this book a couple times before, it is a book for young teenagers (so it is relatively easy) and I am reading it on my Kindle. I don't think I'd be able to read yet if all of these things were not true. I liked the series in Spanish and I will be perfectly happy just slowly working my way through the series in French when I can find the time. Hopefully by the time I get to the sixth book (where I left off in Spanish) I'll be able to read pretty well.

I've been dabbling in French for several years now. Previously it used to annoy me that I'd constantly start and then promptly quit French. This does not bother me anymore. I'm just going to accept it. I can see that I don't really lose too much when I stop using French for a few months. I'm just going to see what happens and start trying to just have fun with French.

I am hoping that I will have a trip to some French speaking place within the next couple years as I that would really give me the push to dive into it full-time. I am no longer worried about French having a negative impact on my Spanish development. My Spanish is never going to go away and it will always be there. It is part of me now. I have passed the point where I feel worried that I would forget it to any meaningful degree.

Well, that's it for now. Beach season is coming and I need to start thinking about acquiring some beach books. Every year I like to get books that have certain "beach book" characteristics: 1) they can be picked up and easily read for anywhere between 5 minutes and 2 hours 2) paperback/cheap so I won't care if someone steaks it 3) easy and relaxing 4) small enough to fit into a pocket 5) content that does not need to be read on a regular basis - weekly or every other week is fine.

The best "beach book" I had in Spanish was Cassell's Colloquial Spanish. That was great. Breaking out of Beginner's Spanish was pretty good too (but did not fit into my pocket too well). These types of books about the language and studying the language are great. I'd also be ok with some very easy to read and short novels.
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Re: James29's Spanish (and sometimes French) Log

Postby DaveBee » Sun May 07, 2017 12:07 pm

James29 wrote: Beach season is coming and I need to start thinking about acquiring some beach books. Every year I like to get books that have certain "beach book" characteristics: 1) they can be picked up and easily read for anywhere between 5 minutes and 2 hours 2) paperback/cheap so I won't care if someone steaks it 3) easy and relaxing 4) small enough to fit into a pocket 5) content that does not need to be read on a regular basis - weekly or every other week is fine.

The best "beach book" I had in Spanish was Cassell's Colloquial Spanish. That was great. Breaking out of Beginner's Spanish was pretty good too (but did not fit into my pocket too well). These types of books about the language and studying the language are great. I'd also be ok with some very easy to read and short novels.
There's a languages book that lives on my 'buy one of these days' list:"Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe", it's 300 pages, and the english language edition is available in paperback. (The spanish edition looks like it would fail your cheap-enough-to-lose rule!)
Last edited by DaveBee on Mon May 08, 2017 9:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: James29's Spanish (and sometimes French) Log

Postby James29 » Mon May 08, 2017 9:22 am

DaveBee wrote:
James29 wrote: Beach season is coming and I need to start thinking about acquiring some beach books. Every year I like to get books that have certain "beach book" characteristics: 1) they can be picked up and easily read for anywhere between 5 minutes and 2 hours 2) paperback/cheap so I won't care if someone steaks it 3) easy and relaxing 4) small enough to fit into a pocket 5) content that does not need to be read on a regular basis - weekly or every other week is fine.

The best "beach book" I had in Spanish was Cassell's Colloquial Spanish. That was great. Breaking out of Beginner's Spanish was pretty good too (but did not fit into my pocket too well). These types of books about the language and studying the language are great. I'd also be ok with some very easy to read and short novels.
There's a languages book that lives on my 'buy one of these days' list:"Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe", it's 300 pages, and the english language edition is available in paperback. (The spanish edition looks like it would fail your cheap-enough-to-lose rule!)


Great suggestion, Dave. Thanks. Those are the types of things I'm looking for. After I finished my previous post it hit me... "duh, why don't I look at Cassell's' Colloquial French?" The Spanish book was perfect and they have a French book that seems to have good reviews.
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Re: James29's Spanish and French Log

Postby James29 » Sun May 14, 2017 10:55 am

Well, I've changed the name of my log to indicate that my French work is now a more serious endeavor. More on that later.

Spanish is still my first love. I'm pretty much just doing the same thing every week. I watch episodes of telenovelas (right now La Nina) while I run on the treadmill in the morning. I listen to VOA news on the way to work. I go to a weekly meetup. I occasionally speak in Spanish at work with customers and I occasionally speak with random Spanish speaking friends or strangers. I also have a Michael Connelly book going but am not reading it much right now as I am using my limited reading time to work on French.

I've been scoping out telenovelas on Netflix for the future. I'd REALLY like to find a good one with lead actors from one of the Caribbean Islands. There is a telenovela called Tropico that looks perfect as it has a majority of actors from Puerto Rico and the Dominican. Plus, it is screened in the Dominican. Unfortunately, it is not available on Netflix. I have already watched Celia so that is not an option. It seems like there is no such thing as a Puerto Rican or Dominican telenovela.

French is now moving along. I am reading the first Alex Rider book. I've been reading a bit every morning. I probably read about 30-40 minutes each morning. That is usually enough for a half of a chapter or a bit more. My kindle tells me that I am now half done with the book and I have a bit less than 6 hours of reading until I finish it.

I can definitely read the book and enjoy it. I look up a TON of unknown words on the pop-up dictionary. However, there are occasionally stretches of about a page where I can simply read and understand everything. I can understand the dialogues fairly easy. It is when they are describing things and developing the story where I need to look up words. Being my second foreign language makes French MUCH easier. My mind is open to accepting that things work differently. Much of the time I can kind of intuitively grasp the rough meaning of the word. That is enough to keep reading, but it is not an exact understanding.

I really thing reading this Alex Rider series is going to be my breakthrough for French. I am actually enjoying it. I can understand it and I am somewhat excited about reading the whole series. There are ten books and I read the first five in Spanish (that is all they translated into Spanish). They keep getting better and better (with the exception of the second which I thought was a bit of a dud). All of the books have been translated into French and are on Kindle. This may take a while and I won't go straight through them, but I am quite excited to see that I can actually read these books and really enjoy them.

I checked the length of the audio book on Audible and in English the book is 4 hours and 36 minutes. If my Kindle is right that means I'm reading a bit slower than half the speed of the English audio. I think that is ok.
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Re: James29's Spanish and French Log

Postby James29 » Sun May 21, 2017 10:38 am

Well, I'm still chugging along with both Spanish and French.

Spanish - this was a bit slower week for Spanish due to some pressing matters in other parts of my life and my increased focus on French. I've been watching the telenovela La Nina on Netflix and I like it. I am on episode 46 now. They do a good job making it less "telenovela-ish" than most telenovelas. The characters are well developed and multi-dimensional. This has taken a while, but that added to the realness of the characters. Also, there have not been any stupid or ridiculous subplots yet. Nobody has gotten thrown down a flight of stairs or anything like that either.

I'm going to ramp up my time on the treadmill starting tomorrow so I'll get some more Spanish time in as I won't be ready for TV in French for a long time. I think I'm going to start Los Ingobernables tomorrow and alternate between that and La Nina for a while.

I do my regular meetup in Spanish and also usually listen to the news on my way to work. That is about it.

French - I am VERY pleased with my progress in French. I am reading the first Alex Rider book on my Kindle. My Kindle tells me I am 75% done with it now. This is my first ever book in French. My comprehension is improving rapidly and my speed is increasing too. I'm reading roughly 30 minutes a day. That seems like enough. Sometimes I read 20 minutes which is fine and other days I read 40 or so which seems like a little much. I still look up a TON of words but there are some fairly long stretches where I can just read and understand.

Spanish obviously helps. There are often words I can fairly easily guess due to their similarities with Spanish. This is not foolproof, however, and I am occasionally surprised. Sol for example caught me by surprise.

I'm not really sure what my plan is with French. I'm just happy I have not quit it again. I think I'll probably finish this book and then take a bit of a break. I do like the idea of continuing to read through this series. I don't want anything more difficult than this right now. It is "easy" enough that it does not make my head hurt like it did when I was starting to read Spanish.

Hopefully by next Sunday I will have finished my first book in French! Well, that's it for now.
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Re: James29's Spanish and French Log

Postby James29 » Sun May 28, 2017 2:50 pm

Well, I had a major accomplishment this morning. I finished my first book in French. I finished the first Alex Rider book. It definitely helps to know the story from prior readings. I picked up the "feel" for reading French pretty easily. Things seem to just fall into place. I might not have known exactly what certain words or phrases meant literally but I was able to follow the general flow and story pretty easily. There are nine more of these books in the series. If I continue with French I'll probably just keep on reading them. They are plenty "good enough" so I'm happy. I am going to take a break from French for a bit, however.

In terms of Spanish, I have been just chugging along with watching telenovelas on Netflix. This week I watched the first six episodes of Ingobernable. I like it. The acting and quality of the film is good. There are some nice female actresses which also makes a telenovela more enjoyable to watch. I don't like the fact that the episodes are about 35 or 37 minutes. It messes up my timing for running. I'm watching it on my longer days which I do as three episodes. So, I end up getting shorted about 30 minutes of running.

I'm watching La Nina on the shorter days. I'm on episode 49. It is still good. Someone told me it starts to fall apart pretty soon into boring and irrelevant side stories. We'll see. I have not really bonded to any of the characters yet. The main stars are all too young to connect with. I like the whole love triangle with Connie, Alphonso and Rodrigo.

I'm not listening to the news in the morning anymore. Bad James! I need to get back into that. I'm not sure why I really stopped. My commute is a bit shorter and I always seem to be in a rush nowadays so I just don't stop to download the broadcast and hookup my phone.

Not much else is new. I'll be watching more Spanish this week and I think I'll pick up the Michael Connelly book I started about a month ago.
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Re: James29's Spanish and French Log

Postby James29 » Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:34 am

Spanish:

Spanish is still chugging along nicely. I am up to episode 52 in La Nina and episode 10 in Ingobernable. I'll keep going with these two and then just work my way through all the shows on Netflix that have audio description in Spanish. That should get me through into the fall and hopefully within that time Netflix will release some more shows in Spanish with the audio description. Most of the shows only have 4-10 episodes so they are going to go by pretty fast. Something like La Nina would be nice as it has something like 86 episodes.

I'm back to reading my Michael Connelly book in Spanish. I started it over a month ago and then set it down while I read in French. The comparison of going from a teen book in French to an adult book in Spanish was somewhat eye opening for me. The Spanish just seemed so easy and relaxing to read. I have not read too much Spanish this year so this is good. My reading does not seem to have been impacted hardly at all. I'll finish this book off (still quite a long way to go) and then who knows.

I have not been listening to VOA noticias in the morning. Bad James. My drive is much shorter now and it just does not seem helpful to listen for just 5 or 7 minutes. This is a temporary thing that will probably change. I like listening to the news in the morning.

I go to my regular local meetup and enjoy it. I often comment in this log that I wonder if it is really helpful as it is always the same type of small talk. I don't think it really helps me learn Spanish, but it definitely helps me feel more comfortable in the language. It gives me confidence and a feeling like I can just start chatting small talk with anyone I meet if they speak Spanish.

I got a phone call from a Spanish speaker at work this week. Or, at least, I assume he is a Spanish speaker. He had an obviously hispanic name and spoke with a strong accent. After speaking with him for a while in English I had no doubt that this guy was a Spanish speaker. His English was pretty good but his accent was so strong it was somewhat hard to understand him. I decided to launch into Spanish. It was strange because he simply responded in English and did not say a thing. It was almost like he completely ignored my Spanish or did not understand it. I worry sometimes about how to handle this situation. Usually I start in by asking (in Spanish) if they prefer English or Spanish and that works pretty well. I guess it does not matter. Anyway, we continued in English and set up a meeting so I'll be getting together with him and getting more info about his situation.

My list of Spanish speaking customers has slowly been snowballing. I have not ever counted, but I went my list of customers and was surprised how many there were. I'm not really doing anything special to seek out the work. The only thing I've noticed that I do different is that if I get a Spanish speaking customer who is seeking my services for a situation where I won't really make money I'll still help them out instead of say no like I would to an English speaking customer. A big part of my business success is word of mouth referrals so I figure that is the only real way I am marketing in Spanish now. I'm not so sure that is what is working because I cannot really think of anyone who has come in as a referral from one of my Spanish speaking customers, but something is working. I really need to get an employee who speaks Spanish natively and then I think I'll make the transition into having the Spanish speaking niche an actual profit center.

French:

Well, I have not done much in French. But, this is ok. I am still glowing in the satisfaction of actually reading a real book in French. That was really rewarding to me. I watched the first four episodes of Marseille on Netflix this week (in English). I'd like to eventually watch it in French. I'm going to watch it in English first and maybe even Spanish before trying it in French. I want to know the story before using it for advancing my French.

Marseille is about a fictional (I hope he is fictitious) mayor of Marseille and all the politics that goes along with a major development project in their marina area and the mayor's re-election. It is a bit over the top in terms of the characters, but I like it. The story is pretty detailed and there are a few sub-plots I'm having a hard time with in English so I'm sure I'd have a hard time in French.

I have no real French plans for the near future. I think I'll have French be my beach language this summer. I have the Cassell's Colloquial French book (perfect beach book) and Assimil for the beach this summer. I think that will get me through most of the season.

One really amazing thing about my French study is that it gives me an appreciation for what I accomplished in Spanish. I am getting a HUGE discount learning French because I already have native English and a high level of Spanish. Nevertheless, learning French is tough! It is going to take a LONG time to get to my French objectives. With French, I'd basically like to be able to read translated popular novels fairly easily on my Kindle. Things like John Grisham and Michael Connelly. I don't think that will take too long if I just stick with reading. I'd also really like to be able to watch and enjoy/understand French series on Netflix (probably with the need for subtitles). I'd like to be able to watch and mostly understand a show like Marseille. Finally, I'd like to be able to participate in the local French meetup in a meaningful way. That means get to a fairly solid B1 or low B2 in speaking/understanding. That is going to be hard!
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