Luke's very confused Spanish Learning Log

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luke
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Re: Luke's very confused Spanish Learning Log

Postby luke » Thu Jan 27, 2022 5:41 pm

Coffee, a morning walk, no breakfast and a cold shower have done their magic once again...

FSI Basic Spanish 4/5s complete
I wrapped up unit 44 of 55, which simplifies to the beautiful fraction above.

Spinning my old FSI CDs in the bathroom has been helping. I can do a drill here and there throughout the day, and when the cold shower comes, whoo, it brings a focus.

Also, the previews to "learn all the dialogues" and more recently "learn all the presentations of pattern (grammar)" is helpful.

Oh, and the various random replacements adventures have made those drills fairly easy when they later arrive with the unit.

All that to say, when I start a unit, I've previewed a pretty good chunk of it already.

The cuento for my walk this morning was Un señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes. Liked it.

There's a Gabriel García Márquez web page with several of his short stories, entrevistas y estudios.

Time for breakfast (lunch). :)
7 x
: 124 / 124 Cien años de soledad 20x
: 5479 / 5500 5500 pages - Reading
: 51 / 55 FSI Basic Spanish 3x
: 309 / 506 Camino a Macondo

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luke
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Re: Luke's very confused Spanish Learning Log

Postby luke » Fri Jan 28, 2022 2:48 pm

El último viaje del buque fantasma
This was fun. It's from Todos los cuentos. I thought I'd write a bit about what I did, while it's pretty fresh. Not as a suggestion, but more of an account.

Last night I listened to El último viaje del buque fantasma on my walk. It's a little over 12 minutes long. I began suspecting it might be a single sentence. I started the audio about 80% speed, to kind of fit with the duration of my walk and make it easier to shadow. Since my walk wasn't over, I did a quick mental calculation about how long it would take to listen to it again in the remaining time. That second listen was somewhere between 100% and 140%.

It is one sentence. Stream of conscience. Magical realism.

This morning, I searched YouTube for some help. Did not find an auto-translate, at least on the devices at hand. I settled on this video. It has a good narrator. I set the Spanish subtitle font size to 400%.



Then I looked for something on the story in English and came across a youtuber who teaches English, and perhaps this was one of the studied works. His English was not bad, but I did get a better feel for people who grow up learning English in school and got some insight into part of the challenge.

The video was mostly a summary and analysis. The youtuber's foreign sounding English and word selection made it more interesting. It fit well with the Magical Realism, Steam of Consciousness nature of the story.

It also had some questions and written answers. They were open ended essay type questions.

Then I took this morning's walk. Again, I listened to El último viaje del buque fantasma at 80%. When the story ended, I listened again, this time maybe at 130-140% speed, estimating how much time was left in the walk.

Towards the end of walk, I do some footwork stepping on various rocks that are out of place and uneven. (I also do some push and pull exercises during the walk). Since the end of the walk was in sight, I set the audio player's speed to 350%. That made the story fly by in under 4 minutes. It was also interesting. Certain things popped out. Transition words. I also got curious about the name of the boat, which is mentioned towards the end of the story.

Drove home doing FSI drills for unit 45. That's just about 10 minutes with my very unhurried driving.

At home, I set the audio speed to 130% and listened to El último viaje del buque fantasma as I did stuff around the house. My comprehension was a lot higher than last night.

I looked up the ship's name in my book and then googled it:
Tres cuentos de García Márquez que te ayudarán a leer El otoño del patriarca

I haven't read the article yet. It looks good. I found the boat's name: halalcsillag
Una curiosidad: en una entrevista de marzo de 1981 concedida a la Gaceta de Colcultura, García Márquez afirmó que el nombre del buque fantasma, “halalcsillag”, es una palabra húngara que significa “estrella de la muerte”. El escritor agregó que había escogido ese idioma porque provenía de una región sin mar.

So that was fun too.
7 x
: 124 / 124 Cien años de soledad 20x
: 5479 / 5500 5500 pages - Reading
: 51 / 55 FSI Basic Spanish 3x
: 309 / 506 Camino a Macondo

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Re: Luke's very confused Spanish Learning Log

Postby stell » Fri Jan 28, 2022 6:51 pm

I did FSI Spanish as an audio-only program when I was first learning Spanish. Like you, I did it out loud while walking outside. It had a huge positive impact on my automaticity! I love to practice languages while walking outside, and now that everyone is talking on their earbuds (unlike when I first did it years ago), no one even bats an eye at me talking out loud to myself as I walk. Haha!
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Re: Luke's very confused Spanish Learning Log

Postby sfuqua » Fri Jan 28, 2022 7:55 pm

i wonder what people think when I switch from Spanish to French to Portuguese when I'm shadowing assimil while walking.
Sometimes the crows Caw, Caw at me, but then crows are known to be very critical...
5 x
荒海や佐渡によこたふ天の川

the rough sea / stretching out towards Sado / the Milky Way
Basho[1689]

Sometimes Japanese is just too much...

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Re: Luke's very confused Spanish Learning Log

Postby luke » Sun Jan 30, 2022 3:21 am

El próximo cuento
Following that list 6 cuentos (para niños), I found the youtuber who has a pleasant voice and shows the text on the screen with a cursor that follows her narration:



I listened/watched it tonight with Google's helpful auto-translate subtitles.

Earlier today, on my walks, I listened to chapters 6 and 7 of Cien años de soledad. Chapter 6 is what I finished intensively listen-reading over the previous 5 days, so I have 2 days to review, preview, and not add too much to the Anki load. Tomorrow is still a big day for cards. If I didn't add any for a week, the daily cards would drop by about 75%. That just means I haven't been adding cards for months on end to the Gabo deck.

I may go another week or two before giving the intensive reading track a break. In February, I think I will visit my sister. I'm planning to fly. That will be a good use of some frequent flyer points. That trip will drop in the middle of this intensive read through Cien años de soledad. I don't want to extra pressure or an Anki trap that will spring when I get back. I'm trying to be judicious in this vocabulary acquisition and cognizant that work work will be more demanding this year than last.

So, consolidation, small goals, synergy, and not getting too far out in the open water, knowing I have to swim back.

I have an idea for a new poll, more out of curiosity than looking for answer.

I hope you all participate. :)
5 x
: 124 / 124 Cien años de soledad 20x
: 5479 / 5500 5500 pages - Reading
: 51 / 55 FSI Basic Spanish 3x
: 309 / 506 Camino a Macondo

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Re: Luke's very confused Spanish Learning Log

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Sun Jan 30, 2022 6:24 pm

luke wrote:El próximo cuento
Following that list 6 cuentos (para niños), I found the youtuber who has a pleasant voice and shows the text on the screen with a cursor that follows her narration

The narrator's voice is indeed pleasant and the narration on the screen is, as our British friends say, brilliant. Thanks for the recommendation.
I subscribed to her channel, and see she has several more stories: Cien Años, that Quijote fellow, and more. As our Spanish speaking friends say, ¡Que gusto!
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Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson

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luke
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Re: Luke's very confused Spanish Learning Log

Postby luke » Mon Jan 31, 2022 8:07 pm

I'm taking this guy off the to-do list just as I'm getting to the title chapter:

: 75 / 352 El escándalo del siglo

narrowing the compass
We all know words often have many multiple meanings. I'm suspecting the way I'm using compass here is not brúljua in Spanish. We could say, "narrowing the focus".

I am giving Anki a few days to lighten up on the Cien años de soledad deck. That is, I'm re-reading chapter 6 (of 20) in the smaller segments of Kepa Amuchastegui over several days, instead of one. Anki has a way of making it look like in 4 days, the load will drop considerably. A couple days later, still looks like 4 days for the big drop. I can see my daily time has dropped a bit, but there's still the 4 days before the big drop. I need to charge up Anki energy and the best way to do that is to lighten the load.

I get less overwhelmed (abrumado) when I have a good handle on what I'm doing. To further that goal, I think I'll continue to dive into the cuentos in small "suggested" chunks. I've seen lists from 3 to 20 short stories. By doing these small lists, I can feel good even if it takes a couple three weeks to get through one of these smaller goals.

By the way, these are the remaining progress bars:

: 31 / 124 Cien años de soledad (9x)
: 5 / 6 Cuentos (para niños)
: 44 / 55 FSI Basic Spanish
: 50 / 55 FSI Illustrations

Although I've listened to or sort of read most of the Cuentos (para niños) more than once, I'll feel better when I've got a better grasp on them.

One of the purposes behind this is to be able to complete something on a regular basis, since FSI and Cien años will be going on for a few months.

while it's in my head
Even though I haven't finished FSI yet, I just thought of a good way to review, when that time comes. Use the CDs en el cuarto de baño starting from unit 31 (of 55). On the memory stick, go back to 46. That's where the 4th manual starts. There will be less pressure then. The drills can be done in short little bursts throughout the day, running errands and that other thing we do now and then.
5 x
: 124 / 124 Cien años de soledad 20x
: 5479 / 5500 5500 pages - Reading
: 51 / 55 FSI Basic Spanish 3x
: 309 / 506 Camino a Macondo

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luke
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Re: Luke's very confused Spanish Learning Log

Postby luke » Tue Feb 01, 2022 9:00 pm

4 cuentos de García Márquez para leer con el corazón en la mano
Following up on the notion of setting smaller goals to mix in with the larger ones, 4 cuentos de García Márquez para leer con el corazón en la mano has two short stories from Ojos de perro azul, the earliest collection of Gabo's short stories. It includes:

1. Ojos de perro azul
2. La mujer que llegaba a las seis
3. Muerte constante más allá del amor
4. El rastro de tu sangre en la nieve

They're all basically new to me. The first three are 18-27 minutes long. The fourth is 50 minutes.

So, while we're at it, let's put this guy back on the shelf for a bit:

: 6 / 6 Cuentos (para niños)

by the way on Anki
Just under 35 minutes total on Anki decks today. I'm going to hold out another day or two before I move on to the next section of Cien años de soledad so the daily time investment comes down some more. I did wake up with energy to do the deck in the wee hours, so only adding a few cards per day for the last 4-5 days has helped.

2022-02-01-Gabo.png


The "time" (tiempo) box is selected. The scale on the left is minutes per day. This shows that 4 and 5 days ago, I spent 48 minutes on the deck those days. Today was under 24 minutes. So, the time per day has dropped by 50%.

Below, the "prognostication" screen shows that from here, 2-5 more days would give another big drop in the daily time investment, if I don't add much. It also shows that the deck is young. You can tell that because the predicted cards per day drops very quickly.

That's enough Anki fun for now. Hope you are all well today.
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5 x
: 124 / 124 Cien años de soledad 20x
: 5479 / 5500 5500 pages - Reading
: 51 / 55 FSI Basic Spanish 3x
: 309 / 506 Camino a Macondo

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iguanamon
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Re: Luke's very confused Spanish Learning Log

Postby iguanamon » Tue Feb 01, 2022 11:05 pm

Rubén Blades' album "Agua de luna" was the first salsa album I ever owned. It was inspired by Gabriel García Márquez.
Redacción Centro Gabo wrote:Cuenta Roberto Pombo, hoy director del periódico El Tiempo, que alguna vez Gabriel García Márquez lo cuestionó por llevar un libro de periodismo en el regazo. “¿Y eso para qué es?”, le preguntó el escritor colombiano. “Para aprender”, respondió Pombo. Entonces Gabo le dijo: “Bota eso, si quieres aprender periodismo mejor escucha las canciones de Rubén Blades”.
La anécdota, que jamás fue confirmada o desmentida por García Márquez, señala la admiración que el autor de Cien años de soledad sentía por el talento narrativo del cantautor panameño. Una admiración que se hizo pública el 1 de diciembre de 1982, en una columna escrita para El País de España, cuando Gabo confesó que nada le hubiera gustado más en este mundo que “haber podido escribir la historia hermosa y terrible de Pedro Navajas”
.

Rubén Blades is a Harvard trained lawyer, actor (Fear The Walking Dead, currently) and former Panamanian government Minister of Culture. The album "Agua de luna" is definitely one you should give a listen to, given your fondness for Gabo.
2 x

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luke
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Re: Luke's very confused Spanish Learning Log

Postby luke » Wed Feb 02, 2022 10:50 pm

iguanamon wrote:Rubén Blades' album "Agua de luna" was the first salsa album I ever owned. It was inspired by Gabriel García Márquez.

Thank you! His Ojos de perro azul is very catchy. It definitely helped me dive deeper into the story.

It's neat that Gabo's literature has inspired so many music artists. Almost gives me another track to wander down. :)

veladoras.png


Since I've been talking about Anki cards lately, thought I'd post one. Some things I like about this are that the "learn word" (or words) are in bold yellow. When I pop up a new card, if I know the translation immediately and don't need to read the sentence for context, then it's "good". If I get the translation as the result of reading the sentence and remembering, it's "okay".

Also, this card has some images of the type of candle that I think Negromanta had in her dormitorio. They're not just any candles. They're these type of candles, which one can buy in Latino markets. And I happened to put three images into the card for variety as well as that the contextual usage was "plural".

Another one with a very apropos image. Everyone knows what a peacock is and what candles are, but the images bring the story to life.

Total Anki time today was 39 minutes, 26 of which were the Gabo deck. You can see how one can get carried away creating these beauties.
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5 x
: 124 / 124 Cien años de soledad 20x
: 5479 / 5500 5500 pages - Reading
: 51 / 55 FSI Basic Spanish 3x
: 309 / 506 Camino a Macondo


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