Vagrant - Spanish Log and and Introduction

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thevagrant88
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Re: Vagrant - Spanish Log and and Introduction

Postby thevagrant88 » Tue Feb 08, 2022 10:47 pm

So I haven't been able to log in from my phone for a while now, or else I'd have been posting a lot more. Anyway, on to the progress!

Spanish - I've been making a serious effort to boost my Spanish and it shows. We all know how difficult it can be to see our own improvement during the language learning process, so when your improvement is super obvious it's just that much more motivating! That mental block I've written of in the past is far less of an issue now. I'm obviously not a native speaker so sometimes it can be jarring to switch into Spanish at the drop of a dime, but generally it isn't much of a problem. The two biggest changes I've made have been reading out loud and shadowing along to literally everything. I'm basically always repeating along while I'm listening to anything in Spanish. God bless having to wear these damn masks all the time or else I'd probably look like a crazy person! But yeah, in the few situations I've found myself in lately where I've had to speak Spanish it has been leaps and bound better than before. I'm in an EMT program right now and I have a Puerto Rican classmate who asked for help with his English so we are going to try to have something of a language exchange going on. For the first time in a while I'm feeling super positive about my language learning abilities :)

Japanese - F%&# this dirty sonofabitch of a language. Its difficulty offends me. It's great!
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Re: Vagrant - Spanish Log and and Introduction

Postby thevagrant88 » Tue May 17, 2022 2:45 pm

Long time no post, but next week I’ll be all done school and finished moving so hopefully I can participate here more.

I’ve been tossing the idea around of setting up an immersion trip for a week or so at the end of the year. This is something that only recently occurred to me so I don’t have any actual plans yet, apart from the fact that I’d probably go to Mexico, but I think it would be fun. I’d need to make sure I’m actually interacting with locals and making friends and all that so I have a ton of details I’d need to hammer out.

I want to find some Spanish language hospital shows to watch to brush up on my medical terminology. So if anybody has any recommendations for Spanish-language ER knock-offs feel free to throw them my way. Thanks guys!
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Re: Vagrant - Spanish Log and and Introduction

Postby thevagrant88 » Mon May 23, 2022 8:21 pm

A surprisingly fun activity I’ve been exploring lately is taking some kind of class in Spanish about a completely separate topic. Programming or computer science maybe, something related to developing another kind of skill (did somebody say crocheting?).

But anyway, I like this because there’s more of an incentive to be engaged with the material compared to other kinds of media consumption. Engagement is way more important than exposure and if nothing else, it’s seems fun.
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Re: Vagrant - Spanish Log and and Introduction

Postby thevagrant88 » Tue Jun 21, 2022 9:27 pm

Working my way through this web development course in Spanish has been pretty fun. I haven't struggled to follow along, barring the few time my attention drifts. Maybe it's because the language barrier requires that I focus more, but I find myself more interested and more able to concentrate than when I tried to do something like this in the past in English. I had a similar experience when I began to read in Spanish as well. Generally, my mind wanders less when I'm reading in Spanish.

Speaking of reading, I'm still crawling my way through Juego de Tronos. I've been reading this thing off and on for something like three years and I'm only now approaching 80% completion according to my kindle. I like the book just fine, it's just so damn long. I'm probably going to have my next few reads be much shorter. Maybe it's time to struggle with some of those Borges short stories I've been sitting on.

When it comes to Japanese, I've gained some peace in accepting that it's just going to take a lot more time and be harder than just about any other language. I've become ok with walking away and coming back to it periodically. I've never had goals of achieving super high levels of proficiency and have no urgency to do so; I'm not in any hurry. I've been studying again lately with somewhat more intensity than normal and it's very easy to burn out quickly. For kicks, I checked out the Easy Italian youtube channel. I'm not going to say that it shocked me to be able to learn and understand the material of this one video easily, but it did certainly reaffirm the feelings I've been having about Japanese. I'll continue doing kanji and reviewing what I've already studied, maybe cover new material, but generally, if I put 15 minutes a day in Japanese I'll be happy.

So yeah, I'm keeping the overwhelming majority of my efforts on Spanish. If I really feel a hankering to dive into another language seriously, it'll probably be one of the FIGs or something else less stressful than Japanese, or Arabic for that matter.
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Re: Vagrant - Spanish Log and and Introduction

Postby thevagrant88 » Fri Jun 24, 2022 9:50 pm

Hey so looks like I’m learning French to boost my chances to immigrate to Canada. Nothing at all happened today that prompted this decision.

Nope.

Nothing at all.
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Re: Vagrant - Spanish Log and and Introduction

Postby thevagrant88 » Thu Jun 30, 2022 12:36 pm

A little bit of brain vomiting here, but it helps me get my thoughts together.

Recently, I've been putting a ton more effort into my Spanish. As in, several hours a day sometimes. I always basically have the idea hanging over my head of wanting to add another language, but I've been really thinking a lot lately as to "why" I do this at all. Do I just want to learn Spanish just to sit on it? Do I like language learning in general only for its own sake? For a while, I would have said "yes" to both of those questions. Idk why; we can't decide where our interests bring us. But lately, I've had something of a change of heart. I think for years I've been drawn to this idea of becoming a polyglot or multilingual person or just language-learning-person without clear-cut goals in mind. Because of that, I've had my lop-sided skill set in Spanish. This is also probably the source of my largest language-learning headache which has been studying Japanese, a language I truly lost the passion to study well over two years, yet still find myself coming back to despite not enjoying the process, having any Japanese friends, having plans to visit Japan, consuming any form of Japanese media, or the biggest issue by far is really being interested in the culture. Something about Japanese culture comes off as very...prudish? Cold? I'm not sure, but I do know it's not something I really want to become a part of me, something that happens when you learn a language whether you want to or not. But that could just be the ignorant westerner in me talking.

So where does that bring me? First is naturally my Spanish, or specifically my goals with Spanish. I want to take the rest of this year to do my best to maintain the pace I've been on. I don't just want to add another language now when there is still so much I haven't done with Spanish. As far as skill and interests are concerned, they overlap each other nicely so there's no real point in making a distinction for my purposes. Last week I had a half-hour italki session and have another one set up this week, something I want to have be a regular part of my schedule for the foreseeable future. I have a Goodreads account and have for some time now been any Spanish book that looks remotely interesting. These are mostly some of the bigger names of Spanish-language fiction like Borges, Vargas Llosa, Bolaño, Cortazar, etc. I've been watching shows without subtitles, shorter ones around the 20-30 minute mark so I don't get burnt out. Assuming there isn't anything pressing, I basically always have my airpods in my ears and am intensively listening/shadowing along whenever I can. Occasionally I do Anki reviews, but I'm not a slave to it and see no reason to be. I want to continue taking online courses in Spanish, especially in the tech realm. Most importantly, if resources permit, I'd like to spend a week in a Spanish-speaking country by the end of the year. I don't know if I actually want to take the C1 or C2 dele exam, but I want to treat my life as if I was. I want to keep this up until the very last day of December, at which point I'll revisit the idea of learning a third language or not.

So what would I want to learn next? There are a few different paths forward. If I really wanted to just learn something to add it to the pile, French would probably be the clearest winner. Being a romance language, I would feel comfortable shelving Spanish for a time (at least in my downtime, I'd still be doing my podcast and youtube listening thing). I live a 7ish hour drive from Quebec and there are many African immigrants my area, including coworkers, speak French. Combine this with French media, then it would be super easy to incorporate French into my life. The real question would be if I'd really want. Like all those points are great and all, but if I don't want to learn it anyway then who cares? For European languages, I'm honestly more interested in German, it's just not as "obvious" as French and doesn't offer the same advantages (unless there's any Berlin tech giants who want to help me with a work visa nudge nudge).

The next two, two which have pretty comfortably been my biggest interests lately, are Arabic or Persian. I'm just drawn to them and they take up a lot of my headspace. I'd have to check the demographics again but I'm pretty sure Arabic is the fourth most spoken language in my area after English, Spanish, and Chinese*. There isn't a massive Persian speaking populace exactly, but there are opportunities. Last year, before I became an EMT, there has a massive need for EMS personnel to help with the massive influx of Afghan refugees. Things like this aren't uncommon and frankly, I'd love to work with refugees/immigrant communities, doubly so for marginallized groups. With Arabic, I own a copy of El Arabe sin Esfuerzo so being able to study in Spanish would be awesome. Eventually I'd need to take up Levantine Arabic for speaking with people, but I'd be happy to start with MSA in the early stages. I haven't been able to find a single resource to study Persian in Spanish. I'm not against learning in English, but it wouldn't be prefered. I did take a look at the DLI Dari course and while the quality of the pdf is way better than the FSI Spanish course I used years ago, I couldn't really make heads or tails as to how to use the course.

Chinese is a big one too. The idea of crusing around my local China Town and gabbing it up does have it's appeal. I had emailed Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation a while ago and they were nice enough to get back to me. I asked them what was the most commonly spoken form of Chinese in the area. They informed me that while they did not take any specific statistics, Cantontese has historically been the most spoken form in the area. As of this writing, Mandarin and Canto are not what I really feel drawn to learning, but I've got time. I was terribly interested in learning Chinese in the past so it's totally possible that interest is simply dormant. Time will tell.

Naturally, there is always the possibility I won't take up another language at all. Life has many things to offer, but framing things this way I feel helps keep me focused on the now, something which I've always struggled with.
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Re: Vagrant - Spanish Log and and Introduction

Postby thevagrant88 » Sat Sep 17, 2022 7:05 pm

I’ve been thinking of getting back on the language train. Lately I’ve been regularly walking through my local China town and I’ve actually been feeling excited and enthusiastic to learn again.

It’s hard to say what I’m going to learn, but the three biggest choices are Mandarin, Cantonese, or Vietnamese. I reached out to some people at the Chinese cultural center a while ago and they said that while they do not take statistics, Cantonese has historically dominated the area. And I’m totally about that life, but the lack of proper written language worries me: It’s my understanding that Standard Chinese as it’s written is quite a bit different so I’m assuming building reading proficiency wouldn’t build vocab and comfort with the speaking and listening part the same way reading in Spanish absolutely contributes to my overall comfort in the language generally.

Mandarin is obviously an enormous language and more closely mirrors the written language, but it would feel like a shame to learn just to talk to others in a language that’s also their second language. Then again I known of learners of Malay who said people where always happy to converse whether they were from Java, Bali, Kuala Lampur, etc. It’s entirely possible, if not probable, that I’m over thinking this.

According to statistics, the Chinese languages grouped together make up the second largest foreign language spoken in the area. However, if broken up into their dialects, it’s very likely that Vietnamese has as many—if not more—native speakers than any one Chinese dialect in my city specifically. They’re may be more Mandarin speakers total because they know it as a second language, but like I said it’s hard to say.

All I know for certain is that chatting with people in Spanish at work and in the streets, often with folks who don’t speak English at all, has easily been the most fun and rewarding part of my language learning experience and I’d love to have that part of me grow further.
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Re: Vagrant - Spanish Log and and Introduction

Postby thevagrant88 » Tue Oct 04, 2022 2:52 pm

I’ve been learning a bit of Mandarin and I’m honestly not sure if I actually like this language, which has never happened before. When I began Japanese I was in love and the little bits I’ve messed around with other languages—German, Arabic, etc—I also really got an interest in it even though I would eventually shelve it for any number of different reasons. I’m on lesson 16 or 17 of Assimil and…I don’t know, something about it doesn’t agree with me. There some sounds that are downright ugly to my native English ears for starters (the word for “hungry” comes to mind). I’ll probably truck on a little more; the Assimil lesson are short and digestible enough. If it doesn’t end up clicking I won’t force it, just gotta accept it might not be for me and carry on to my next venture.
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Re: Vagrant - Spanish Log and and Introduction

Postby thevagrant88 » Wed Oct 05, 2022 12:26 am

As I kind of suspected, it was definitely the recordings. Listening to natural mandarin or Chinese language media gives a totally different impression. I guess the actors at Assimil felt the need to really exaggerate the pronunciation.
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Re: Vagrant - Spanish Log and and Introduction

Postby thevagrant88 » Sun Oct 09, 2022 6:38 pm

So Chinese is fun.

I’ve always been curious how a language with no inflectional morphology could be challenging and “different”. I can’t help but want to compare my experience so far with my time with Japanese and so far it hasn’t been too bad. In all fairness, this Assimil course is much slower paced than “Japanese for Everyone”. By the fourth dialogue or so of that one I was already getting overwhelmed with multi-clausal sentences and conversations reaching over a minute long. I’m on lesson 22 of this Chinese Assimil and it’s been more than manageable. After skipping the pauses and speeding up the playback speed to a more reasonable rhythm they *might* be fifteen seconds long. Far more digestible. It goes to show that if I wanted to use the Assimil method with Japanese, I should have just worked through the Assimil manual instead of trying to force a square peg into a round hole.

Having said all that, I recognize Mandarin Chinese is considered one of the hardest languages to learn for a westerner, with some like Vladimir Skultety saying that he feels Chinese is much, much more challenging than even Japanese. So I guess I’m just waiting for the other shoe to fall and not get cocky. I did that with Japanese and that shit was straight up traumatic.
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