Walt's Spanish log

[M23]

Regarding the Spanish accent, for me it really depends whether or not it is intermediate or native content. I can understand intermediate Iberian Spanish, but native content so much more difficult. This iberian Spanish podcast is fairly easy to understand.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6nKzjB ... ef14984b18

Ah, a podcast for learners. I used the listen to Light Speed Spanish, and I figured since the person who did the podcast was from Madrid I would be okay understanding people in Madrid. When I actually went there I had a different experience. I guess that accent that is in the podcast is more so the newsman accent, and is not very representative of the way most people talk on the street. Narcos actually shows this difference. Notice how you can sort of understand the higher ups, but with folks like El Chapo there you can get the beginning or the end but everything in the middle is just a blur? ¡Aye k wevo! Anyway, language is super interesting.

[greatSchism]

Regarding the Spanish accent, for me it really depends whether or not it is intermediate or native content. I can understand intermediate Iberian Spanish, but native content so much more difficult. This iberian Spanish podcast is fairly easy to understand.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6nKzjB ... ef14984b18

Ah, a podcast for learners. I used the listen to Light Speed Spanish, and I figured since the person who did the podcast was from Madrid I would be okay understanding people in Madrid. When I actually went there I had a different experience. I guess that accent that is in the podcast is more so the newsman accent, and is not very representative of the way most people talk on the street. Narcos actually shows this difference. Notice how you can sort of understand the higher ups, but with folks like El Chapo there you can get the beginning or the end but everything in the middle is just a blur? ¡Aye k wevo! Anyway, language is super interesting.

You are right, there is a huge difference between the way people speak based their status. Those who run the political and business machinery speak much more eloquently since their jobs depend on it. There is a huge difference with native material, particularly when watching action movies where the dialogue occurs with gunfire, or is between gangsters using slang and accents specific to the region.

[greatSchism]

I started unit 33 today, and listened to the whole unit on my morning ride. One of the narrators uses a lot of "zh" sounds in lesson 32, which makes the guy's accent sound more Argentine than Mexican. This week I have scheduled three Italki lessons, since the credits are about to expire. The lessons are only for 30 minutes, which at times is more than enough, and at other times it's not enough. During today's conversation, the time flew by very quickly and when we reached the 30-minute mark, I felt disappointed that the conversation had to end. On Saturday afternoon, I had a conversation with an elderly Puerto Rican women who spoke clearly and slowly, which made it easy to understand her. The only problem was that she was hard of hearing, so I mostly listened.

I binge-watched Nacos Mexico season 3. It was good, but I think the other seasons were better. The show is not going have a season 4, since they only wanted to cover everything up to the present situation. Also, probably because real life El Chapo, and the character the in series, aren't exactly the most likeable characters. In the past 2 seasons, Diego Luna did a good job, and was a likable character. There is a series of novels by Don Winslow called Power of the Dog, which is fiction, but it parallels El Chapo's life. His books provide insight into how cartels operate in Mexico. I would like to see his books made into a series.

I started watching Elite on Netflix, which is not bad so far but I do not love it.



FSI Spanish Basic: 33 / 70
Spanishdict Advanced words and select Anki top 5000: 1399 / 4283
Duolingo: 5 / 10
Lengalia B2: 8 / 14

*** I have the audiobook and Kindle book.
La cárcel by Alicia G. García: 16 / 35