Stirring up 2017 with Spoon [ Español | Italiano | Esperanto | Deutsch? ]

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Spoonary
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Español (Adv), Italiano (Int), Esperanto (I try)
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Stirring up 2017 with Spoon [ Español | Italiano | Esperanto | Deutsch? ]

Postby Spoonary » Sun Jan 01, 2017 9:19 pm

The title is terrible, I know. :lol: If I think of anything better, I'll change it.

Hello everyone, and welcome to my 2017 log!

Just like last year, I wanted to create a new log to document the next 365 days of my life, as I aim to make some big changes to my language learning and I need a minty-fresh place to write about them. :mrgreen:

Previous log: [2016] A Spoonful of Spanish [TAC] (feat. Italian, Esperanto & more)

There are true introductions about who I am and how/why I got started with each of my languages on my two previous logs, so here I'll just give an overview of where I am now.

My Life:
Early in 2016, I found myself a job in a call centre, and I'm still working there now. It's not the kind of job I wanted. Nor does it have anything to do with languages (which, considering I did a Spanish degree, is a bit of a big deal), but it has allowed me to start living more comfortably and even do some travelling, which I have enjoyed immensely.

Given that I am financially stable, my next big step is to move out of my mum's place. Technically, I have flown the nest before, living in university accommodation and in Spain for a year, but I have always returned, for financial reasons. This move will be great for me, as, without going into personal details, my current living situation is definitely not ideal. I have next to no privacy and very little time to myself, which is incredibly important to me. These limitations are affecting my productivity in all aspects of my life, as well as my overall happiness. I am hoping that, when I have found a place of my own, I will be able to organise my time more efficiently and get a lot more out of life in general.

Now for the languages!

Español:
My Spanish is currently in poor shape (I presume. As I never use it, I don't really know). In the last few months, I have left Spanish firmly on the back-burner. I read some, listen to some music, mutter random phrases to myself, but that's about it. This year, it's time to bring my first language love forward again, into the limelight. I'm going to get out my old uni grammar book and refresh my tired knowledge of the ins and outs of Spanish grammar, finally read the stack of books I picked up from Spain in 2013/14, watch some of the TV series everyone on this forum is watching, and make speaking Spanish a regular part of my life once and for all.

Italiano:
I have made progress in Italian this last year, as evidenced by the amount I'm reading in that language (which isn't a huge amount, but which hasn't been too bad) and my ability to make myself understood while in Italy in December. This year, it's time to get serious, so I'll be treating Italian as I will Spanish. I will be buying a grammar book to read from cover to cover, to finally get to grips with the more complex aspects of Italian grammar, and to understand why everything is said the way I hear/read it. Of course, I will also continue to read, find something I enjoy watching, and organise some regular speaking practice in this language too. I am considering working towards doing a B2 exam at some point.

Esperanto:
I still haven't finished the Duolingo Esperanto course and I haven't watched all of Pasporto al la tuta mondo yet either, both of which I started years ago. I struggle to speak Esperanto and I never practice writing it. This year, this will all change. Duolingo is going down. PALTM will be watched. Hell, I might even go on the new, swanky Lernu! and do some of the courses on there! I am planning on going to at least one Esperanto event in 2017 and I want to be able to hold my own in conversation, so I better start practising that too.

Deutsch:
I started learning German on an extremely casual basis in late 2016. I have only watched some youtube videos and bumbled through a couple of easy readers so far, but that's ok. I can understand a few simple sentences, and have a rough idea what some parts of a sentence are and how they work, but it's still very early days with German. I don't have any specific plans for this language in 2017, but I would like to at least make some progress.

Challenges:
I failed/gave up on almost every challenge I set myself last year, apart from the Super Challenge which is still going on. Therefore, I am going to give the challenges a rest this year (for the most part). I will finish the Super Challenge and then just give myself shorter-term goals to aim for, methinks, :)

My overall plans for 2017 are to sort my life out, and to focus on quality instead of quantity. Let's see how that goes! :P
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Spoonary
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Posts: 876
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Languages: English (N)
Español (Adv), Italiano (Int), Esperanto (I try)
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Re: Stirring up 2017 with Spoon [ Español | Italiano | Esperanto | Deutsch? ]

Postby Spoonary » Thu Jan 05, 2017 9:35 am

Greetings, everyone! (Or should I say saluton?)

Yes, that's right. I have started the year out on an Esperanto kick.

I am doing 40xp of Duolingo each day, mixing review with new lessons and slowly making my way to the end of the tree, finally. (I'm on a 4 day streak, yo! :P)

I am also currently reading both The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto Grammar and Commentary by George Cox, which is quite dry and very slow going but also really thorough and full of example sentences, and Hari Poter kaj la Ŝtono de la Saĝuloj, which is Harry Potter 1 in Esperanto - what's not to like? :)

Finally, I have gone back to the top of my 'watch later' playlist on youtube and I'm watching over a year worth of Evildea videos, with a bit of Vanege (another Esperanto youtuber) thrown in for good measure.

So yeah, my productive year is off to a good start :mrgreen:
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Spoonary
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Re: Stirring up 2017 with Spoon [ Español | Italiano | Esperanto | Deutsch? ]

Postby Spoonary » Sun Jan 08, 2017 9:46 pm

I spoke Spanish last night and wasn't absolutely terrible at it. :D

First, a bit of background:

The city I was born in and have lived in my whole life, Kingston Upon Hull, is 2017's UK City of Culture. This has meant that all last year, the city centre was a building site (and still is, in parts), but that now, it's starting to look better than ever. Also, (and perhaps more interestingly/importantly, now that I think about it) there will be all sorts of 'cultural' events going on throughout the year.

It all started on New Year's Day with a fireworks display, followed by a series of multimedia displays spread throughout the city centre, forming a kind of trail. These displays were repeated every night this week, but of course, I was working late until Friday so I couldn't go see them until Saturday night.

Instead of going on my own, as I had initially planned, I remembered that a friend of a friend was actually working on a research project about the whole city of culture shebang and wondered if she would mind leading me around my own hometown (she's from Austria) and telling me what exactly is going on. :lol:

I ended up having a wonderful evening, shuffling around the city with crowds of other people who had had to work all week too, it seems, watching the light shows and feeling all proud of Hull for once. I won't go into details but we as a city haven't really had much to be proud of in my lifetime, so it was heartwarming to see so many people out, taking an interest in what people from our forgotten little city have done.

Image

After walking around for a few hours, we ended up in a pub, in true British fashion. ;) We got talking about all the various places my friend had visited/lived in, and somehow ended up chatting for about an hour in Spanish. I struggled with some vocabulary and more complex constructions, and several Italian words/phrases slipped out, but the majority of what I said just felt so automatic, as if there was no way I could say it wrong because that's just the way it's said, if you see what I mean. It seems that those 4 years of repetitive Spanish study have tattooed the fundamentals of Spanish into my brain and there's no way anything will shift them. :mrgreen:
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Spoonary
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Re: Stirring up 2017 with Spoon [ Español | Italiano | Esperanto | Deutsch? ]

Postby Spoonary » Thu Jan 12, 2017 12:12 am

Duolingo had a senior moment last night and almost ruined my Esperanto streak. :o

After updating the app on both my mobile and tablet, I settled down to do my daily 40xp, which usually takes me about 10-15 minutes. I noticed that the app was taking much longer than usual to decide whether I had answered correctly or not, but I powered on, determined to fill up that white circle, no matter how long it took. 25 minutes later, I was on about 30xp and the whole thing crashed. When I launched it again, I had lost some of my xp and one of the skills I had turned gold had returned to normal, so I gave up. I bought a cheaty freeze crystal thing to freeze my streak for a day. :oops:

Judging by the most recent reviews on the google play store, I wasn't the only one affected by this botched update. It seems to be mostly fixed now, though, so I managed to bump my streak up to 10 today :mrgreen:
______________________________________________________________

Just in case you're not interested in Duolingo and actually wanted to know how my language study is going in general at the moment, here's a handy summary:

Reading/Studying:
Esperanto - That grammar book and 'Hari Poter' (I have set myself a goal of finishing both by the 22nd January) / 40xp of Duolingo per day

Listening:
Esperanto/Italian/Spanish - Youtube (in order of most-least watched)

Speaking/Writing:
Almost nothing/nada/nulla/nenio

So yeah, not so great. :lol:
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Jar-Ptitsa
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I can speak: Dutch, German, English, Spanish and understand Italian, Portuguese, Wallonian, Afrikaans, but not always correctly.
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Re: Stirring up 2017 with Spoon [ Español | Italiano | Esperanto | Deutsch? ]

Postby Jar-Ptitsa » Thu Jan 12, 2017 7:54 pm

Hola pez :)

Qué bien que tu ciudad tiene algo tal interesante. Buena suerte con tu nuevo piso / nueva casa.
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-w- I am Jar-ptitsa and my Hawaiian name is ʻā ʻaia. Please correct my mistakes in all the languages. Thank you very much.
: 1 / 50 Spanish grammar
: 5 / 50 Spanish vocabulary

Spoonary
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Re: Stirring up 2017 with Spoon [ Español | Italiano | Esperanto | Deutsch? ]

Postby Spoonary » Fri Jan 13, 2017 12:09 pm

vogeltje wrote:Hola pez :)

Qué bien que tu ciudad tiene algo tal interesante. Buena suerte con tu nuevo piso / nueva casa.

Buenos días pájaro :P ¿Qué tal?

Sí, la verdad es que estamos muy orgullosos de nuestra pequeña ciudad. Muchas gracias por la suerte. Creo que la voy a necesitar. :lol:
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Spoonary
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Re: Stirring up 2017 with Spoon [ Español | Italiano | Esperanto | Deutsch? ]

Postby Spoonary » Sun Jan 15, 2017 10:50 pm

My boss doesn't let me speak Spanish! And other stories.

Now, it goes without saying (I hope) that I have absolutely no problem with people from other countries living in the UK, even when they can't really speak English. However, I don't understand why* some people sign up for contracts when they can't speak enough English to cancel them. :roll:

*nor how they manage to

Anyway, the point of this rant is that yesterday, I had to talk to a shop assistant, and then through a customer's 12 year old daughter who was translating to her mother who apparently didn't speak a word of English, in order to cancel her contract. The thing is, the mother was Spanish (or at least spoke Spanish and had a Spanish name - she could have been from Latin America of course)! Just as this whole charade began, I asked my team leader if I could just talk to the woman in Spanish, but she wouldn't let me. :x I know why, of course - for security and compliance etc.; they can't monitor what I'm saying if they can't understand me - but it would have been so much easier for everyone involved if they had let me do what I studied 4 years for. :|

In Esperanto news, I have finished reading The International Auxiliary Language Esperanto Grammar and Commentary by George Cox, which only took me a year to get through :lol: (click the title to see my review on Goodreads). Now, I just need to finish Hari Potter kaj la ŝtono de la saĝuloj (which I am 35% through so far) before the 22nd January to complete the little challenge I have set myself.

Reading that grammar book really helped me get a good overall look at all of the little bits that Esperanto is made of, and how versatile and complete a language it actually is. I am noticing many more interesting turns of phrase in Hari Potter than I would have, had I not read the grammar book, I think, so although it was dry, it was definitely worth reading.

I have done loads of Esperanto input this month. I guess I should start doing some output at some point...
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Jar-Ptitsa
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Re: Stirring up 2017 with Spoon [ Español | Italiano | Esperanto | Deutsch? ]

Postby Jar-Ptitsa » Tue Jan 17, 2017 10:12 pm

Spoonary wrote:
vogeltje wrote:Hola pez :)

Qué bien que tu ciudad tiene algo tal interesante. Buena suerte con tu nuevo piso / nueva casa.

Buenos días pájaro :P ¿Qué tal?


No he muerto.

Spoonary wrote: Sí, la verdad es que estamos muy orgullosos de nuestra pequeña ciudad. Muchas gracias por la suerte. Creo que la voy a necesitar. :lol:


No conozco tu ciudad y no está cerca de Londres. Qué bien, vivir en la costa - está cerca de la mar, ¿no?
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-w- I am Jar-ptitsa and my Hawaiian name is ʻā ʻaia. Please correct my mistakes in all the languages. Thank you very much.
: 1 / 50 Spanish grammar
: 5 / 50 Spanish vocabulary

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)
x 1656

Re: Stirring up 2017 with Spoon [ Español | Italiano | Esperanto | Deutsch? ]

Postby Spoonary » Tue Jan 17, 2017 11:20 pm

vogeltje wrote:
Spoonary wrote: Sí, la verdad es que estamos muy orgullosos de nuestra pequeña ciudad. Muchas gracias por la suerte. Creo que la voy a necesitar. :lol:

No conozco tu ciudad y no está cerca de Londres. Qué bien, vivir en la costa - está cerca de la mar, ¿no?

No está muy lejos del mar del norte, no, pero este tampoco es que sea un mar que es bonito de ver. :? Y tampoco estamos en la costa, que digamos. Al lado tenemos el estuario Humber, una masa de agua sucia y marrón :lol:
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Jar-Ptitsa
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x 652

Re: Stirring up 2017 with Spoon [ Español | Italiano | Esperanto | Deutsch? ]

Postby Jar-Ptitsa » Sun Jan 22, 2017 6:20 pm

Spoonary wrote:
vogeltje wrote:
Spoonary wrote: Sí, la verdad es que estamos muy orgullosos de nuestra pequeña ciudad. Muchas gracias por la suerte. Creo que la voy a necesitar. :lol:

No conozco tu ciudad y no está cerca de Londres. Qué bien, vivir en la costa - está cerca de la mar, ¿no?

No está muy lejos del mar del norte, no, pero este tampoco es que sea un mar que es bonito de ver. :? Y tampoco estamos en la costa, que digamos. Al lado tenemos el estuario Humber, una masa de agua sucia y marrón :lol:


Jaja no me parece tal bonito entonces.

¿Has estudiado allí también o en otro lugar sin estar cerca de una masa de agua sucia y marrón? :lol:
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-w- I am Jar-ptitsa and my Hawaiian name is ʻā ʻaia. Please correct my mistakes in all the languages. Thank you very much.
: 1 / 50 Spanish grammar
: 5 / 50 Spanish vocabulary


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