Spanish Group

An area with study groups for various languages. Group members help each other, share resources and experience. Study groups are permanent but the members rotate and change.
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AK47
White Belt
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 11:32 pm
Location: NY
Languages: English (N) , Russian (N), Spanish (B2), Italian (Beginner)
Language Log: http://www.forum.language-learners.org/ ... =15&t=5242
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby AK47 » Mon Jan 23, 2017 5:05 am

Anyone have suggestions for audiolibros, that can be used on the iPhone, with high quality recordings and good narrators?

I don't mind paying if the quality is there. I know about librivox and have listened to a few free classics in Spanish but am just looking for more options. The app I use for the free librivox classics has other audiobooks in Spanish...that average $15-$25 each, which seems really excessive to me. I used to pay $2-$6 for many Russian audiobooks in very high quality with fantastic, professional narrators.

Thanks in advance.
-AK
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SC: ES : 48 / 100 Books SC: IT : 7 / 100 Books
SC: ES : 38 / 100 Films SC: IT : 16 / 100 Films

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kunsttyv
Orange Belt
Posts: 103
Joined: Mon Aug 03, 2015 11:24 am
Location: Trondheim
Languages: Norwegian (native)
Spanish (learning)
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby kunsttyv » Mon Jan 23, 2017 9:49 am

This is the best Spanish narrator I've ever heard, and the audiobook is free of charge: http://librivox.bookdesign.biz/book/107483

Does anyone know the name of the narrator? I would love to find more of his work.

Edit: I did some detective work myself and found his name: Jesús Brotons Floría. See this article.
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Systematiker
Blue Belt
Posts: 823
Joined: Tue May 10, 2016 6:09 pm
Languages: ENG (N); DEU (C2+) // SWG (~C1); BAR (~C1); SPA (4/3); FRA (~C1); SCO (~C1); NLD (~B2*); LAT (Latinum Bavaricum); GRC (Graecum Bavaricum); CAT (~B2*); POR (~B2*); SWE (~B2*); HBO (Hebraicum); DAN (~B1*); RUS (~A2); KOR (~A1); FAS (still a raw beginner)
*Averaged for high receptive skill
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7332
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby Systematiker » Mon Jan 23, 2017 12:42 pm

The scribd platform has audiobooks in Spanish, and the subscription includes a certain amount monthly. I'm listening to one from Allende at the moment. It's hard to search, though, and I don't think you can sort by language, you pretty much have to know titles already and then see if they've got it in their selection. Their iPhone app works pretty well.
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Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
Posts: 4960
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
Languages: Czech (N), French (C2) English (C1), Italian (C1), Spanish, German (C1)
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby Cavesa » Mon Jan 23, 2017 3:58 pm

CarlyD wrote:
Cavesa wrote:I've just created a Memrise group and I'm alone there for now :-D
It is a conjugation focused one, with the three great courses by edthird. I'll be excited, if you join and we'll improve together :-)

http://www.memrise.com/group/136718/


Cavesa, I've joined and I'll work on those three--but "I speak" clicks in my brain to "hablo" waaaay faster than "yo HABLAR presente" does. Maybe I'll get used to them, so I'll keep plugging away.

If anyone is a beginner and leaning towards Latin American Spanish, there's a verb course that's only present/preterit but drills on every word and really is helpful.

http://www.memrise.com/course/27022/lat ... preterite/


I am quite the opposite. Translation slows me down, and carries a few other problems:

1. it is not true that one English tense = one Spanish tense. Without context, it becomes tricky. And annoying for me :-D
2. we all know, how annoying it is when memrise tells you that your answer is wrong, while it is just an alternative translation. I don't want to deal with that while focusing on conjugation. Either I translate, or I conjugate.
3.I want to conjugate automatically, while speaking. I don't want to translate sentences, vocabulary, and least of all conjugations.

That's why these courses are the only ones I find useful for conjugations, and I made my own with the same format with French verbs.
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CarlyD
Blue Belt
Posts: 608
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 5:44 pm
Location: California, USA
Languages: English (N), Spanish--A2, German--now studying, A2
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby CarlyD » Mon Jan 23, 2017 9:30 pm

Is anyone from this group signing up for the 6WC? Probably most of you are well above intermediate, but I'm still not there yet so I'll be doing Spanish again. Hoping to finish the textbook I'm working on and make some progress with verbs.
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2024 15,000 pages Reading Challenge--pages: 1180 / 15000

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Brun Ugle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2273
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:48 pm
Location: Steinkjer, Norway
Languages: English (N), Norwegian (~C1/C2), Spanish (B1/B2), German (A2/B1?), Japanese (very rusty)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=11484
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby Brun Ugle » Tue Jan 24, 2017 6:50 am

CarlyD wrote:Is anyone from this group signing up for the 6WC? Probably most of you are well above intermediate, but I'm still not there yet so I'll be doing Spanish again. Hoping to finish the textbook I'm working on and make some progress with verbs.


I am, but for Finnish. My Spanish has been at too high a level for a while now. I'll probably end up doing more Spanish than Finnish though. It takes a lot of effort to make any noticeable progress at my level.
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Hank
Green Belt
Posts: 325
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2015 12:35 pm
Location: Missouri, USA
Languages: English (N), Spanish (intermediate), Welsh (studying)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1833
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby Hank » Fri Jan 27, 2017 2:47 am

Are you supposed to be formal when meeting a child for the first time? If not, is there some kind of rule about what age you're supposed to start being formal?

I like to hand out fire department stickers to kids when I'm on duty. If I were to ever run into a Spanish speaking child I would at least like to be somewhat correct.
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Future travel plans:
2020: Cruise to Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos, Bahamas

Spoonary
Blue Belt
Posts: 876
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:45 pm
Location: England
Languages: English (N)
Español (Adv), Italiano (Int), Esperanto (I try)
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby Spoonary » Fri Jan 27, 2017 9:23 pm

Hank wrote:Are you supposed to be formal when meeting a child for the first time? If not, is there some kind of rule about what age you're supposed to start being formal?

Now, I'm a native English speaker and as such do not have an innate knowledge of how to use polite forms, so don't quote me on this.

However, based on what I know of Spanish, as a rule of thumb I would never use usted with anyone younger than me (unless they were a princess or something), except when they're in a group with their parents etc. (when I would use ustedes).
Last edited by Spoonary on Fri Jan 27, 2017 10:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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iguanamon
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2352
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 11:14 am
Location: Virgin Islands
Languages: Speaks: English (Native); Spanish (C2); Portuguese (C2); Haitian Creole (C1); Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol (C1); Lesser Antilles French Creole (B2)
Studies: Catalan
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=797
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby iguanamon » Fri Jan 27, 2017 9:37 pm

You should always address children as tú. "Usted" is a contraction of the Spanish term "su o vuestra merced"/"your Grace". With animals you should also be "tuteando"/"using tú". They won't notice but other people will.

One of the reasons I started the Spanish Group was because not everyone reads everyone else's logs. In a recent log entry I provided some links that some of you more advanced learners may find useful. If you post something useful in your log, please post it here as well so that all Spanish-learners can see it.

...I get a lot of my US news in the language from the Associated Press en Español, both online and on my phone with their app. I have CNN en Español playing on the TV right now in the background- an interview with Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. I also read El Nuevo Herald from Miami and El Nuveo Día from nearby Puerto Rico online and their app. I generally let twitter be my curator for everything except the AP. On Saturdays, the AP publishes a list of the 10 bestselling books in Spanish in the US, some countries in LA and Spain.

I had a bit of time-wasting fun with this quiz from BBC Mundo ¿cuánto sabes de los idiomas que se hablan en el mundo?. My score was 9 out of 10. ... {Granma, the Cuban Communist Party Newspaper has} an interesting blog about the Spanish language called El español nuestro.

The Cervantes Institute has a lending library Biblioteca Electrónica. It costs 10 Euros to join for a year and gives access to thousands of books, audiobooks and video in Spanish. For Spanish-speakers/learners this is a great resource worth looking into for cheap/legal access to a lot of Spanish language media. They also have a Club virtual de lectura where you can read and interact with others. The link will explain it in more detail. It definitely looks interesting.
Instituto Cervantes wrote:La biblioteca electrónica es un conjunto de recursos y servicios en línea del Instituto Cervantes.
A través de la biblioteca electrónica se pueden prestar y leer libros digitales, permite escuchar música y audiolibros, ofrece acceso a recursos electrónicos (bases de datos, diccionarios, enciclopedias, directorios…) e invita a la participación en clubes virtuales de lectura.
Para hacer uso de los recursos y servicios de la biblioteca electrónica, hay que hacerse socio a través de la plataforma de comercio electrónico del Instituto Cervantes, la tarifa es de 10 € al año.
Desde cualquier lugar, a cualquier hora, con cualquier dispositivo...
Last edited by iguanamon on Sat Dec 02, 2017 5:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Spoonary
Blue Belt
Posts: 876
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:45 pm
Location: England
Languages: English (N)
Español (Adv), Italiano (Int), Esperanto (I try)
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby Spoonary » Fri Jan 27, 2017 10:23 pm

Well that online library looks like a treasure trove of material I would be crazy not to take advantage of for a tenner. :) Thank you so much for sharing!
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