Walt's Spanish log

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greatSchism
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Re: Walt's Spanish log

Postby greatSchism » Thu Sep 30, 2021 3:27 am

Today I wrapped up units 20 and 21. I did unit 21 tape 3 while I was running through town, and I am sure passerby saw me mumbling to myself as I was running. I am a plodding runner at this point in my life, and the only positive thing about being so slow is that I have extra time to listen to FSI. I did 1 round of Duolingo, Spanishdict, and Lengalia as soon as I woke up, which took about 25 minutes. I read more of El Inocente on LingQ this evening and did Anki Spanish FSI. I transferred my vocab list from LingQ to Spanishdict; afterward, I deleted the list in LingQ. I do not have an iTalki session scheduled this week because I am traveling and have not had many in the past few months.


FSI Spanish Basic: 21 / 70
Spanishdict Advanced words and select Anki top 5000: 828 / 3313
Duolingo: 5 / 10
Anki Spanish FSI: 675 / 6128

*** These books may be a bit of an overreach in terms of comprehensible input.
El Inocente by Michael Connelly: 5 / 63
El Visitante by Stephen King: 4 / 87
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greatSchism
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Posts: 78
Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:13 pm
Languages: English (N), Spanish (B1)
Studied but inactive: German (A2), Hungarian (A2), and French (A1)
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Re: Walt's Spanish log

Postby greatSchism » Sat Oct 02, 2021 11:00 pm

While traveling yesterday, I finished unit 22 and watched "Pan's Labyrinth". Today I moved on to unit 23, which I will repeat again tomorrow on my morning drive. When I woke up this morning I stayed in bed Playing Duolingo. Even though I only planned to play one level, I ended up playing for about an hour because I enjoyed the game's version speed rounds. I am home alone this weekend so I did not have to worry about waking my wife.

This afternoon I had a conversation with a man from the Dominican Republic, and it was a major confidence killer. The guy did not speak clearly, and his accent threw me off so much that I must have said "Perdona. Repite, por favor" 10 times. He didn't have much of a problem understanding my questions, but we were having a simple conversation. He spoke in a manner that a native speaker would have noticed was not eloquent, but they would have understood him without a problem. While we were chatting, one of the cleaning staff, started speaking to him in Spanish and I could understand her fairly well. I guess she was not too impressed with my Spanish skills because she started talking to me in English. I chatted a bit longer with the guy before leaving.


FSI Spanish Basic: 21 / 70
Spanishdict Advanced words and select Anki top 5000: 828 / 3313
Duolingo: 5 / 10
Anki Spanish FSI: 675 / 6128

*** These books may be a bit of an overreach in terms of comprehensible input.
El Inocente by Michael Connelly: 5 / 63
El Visitante by Stephen King: 4 / 87
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AllSubNoDub
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Languages: English (N)
Speaks: Spanish (B1+), German (B2 dormant)
Learns: Japanese (Kanji only)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17191
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Re: Walt's Spanish log

Postby AllSubNoDub » Sun Oct 03, 2021 4:13 am

greatSchism wrote:This afternoon I had a conversation with a man from the Dominican Republic, and it was a major confidence killer. The guy did not speak clearly, and his accent threw me off so much that I must have said "Perdona. Repite, por favor" 10 times. He didn't have much of a problem understanding my questions, but we were having a simple conversation. He spoke in a manner that a native speaker would have noticed was not eloquent, but they would have understood him without a problem. While we were chatting, one of the cleaning staff, started speaking to him in Spanish and I could understand her fairly well. I guess she was not too impressed with my Spanish skills because she started talking to me in English. I chatted a bit longer with the guy before leaving.


Caribbean Spanish is really hard, mainly because it's so far from what's been deemed "standard" Spanish. The speed, aspiration, and slang can really throw you off. Stuff like, "Sí, todo está bien," becomes "Sí, to-ta-byeng." I remember listening to the FSI Puerto Rican Headstart, but I seem to remember even that being a little too formal and well enunciated (maybe more like something you'd hear in PR news). If you're still interested in Caribbean Spanish, I recommend this guy's videos. He grew up understanding Spanish but not being able to speak it, which he later taught himself to do. He teaches PR and Dominican Spanish (as well as standard Spanish).
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greatSchism
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Posts: 78
Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:13 pm
Languages: English (N), Spanish (B1)
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Re: Walt's Spanish log

Postby greatSchism » Sun Oct 03, 2021 10:57 pm

AllSubNoDub wrote:Caribbean Spanish is really hard, mainly because it's so far from what's been deemed "standard" Spanish. The speed, aspiration, and slang can really throw you off. Stuff like, "Sí, todo está bien," becomes "Sí, to-ta-byeng." I remember listening to the FSI Puerto Rican Headstart, but I seem to remember even that being a little too formal and well enunciated (maybe more like something you'd hear in PR news). If you're still interested in Caribbean Spanish, I recommend this guy's videos. He grew up understanding Spanish but not being able to speak it, which he later taught himself to do. He teaches PR and Dominican Spanish (as well as standard Spanish).


I have seen his advertisements popup up during videos on YouTube, but I never bothered to check his channel out because it seemed kinda spammy. After looking at his channel, he has some useful information on there, and it seems kind of fun. In the area where I live (NY, NJ, and PA), there are a lot of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. Whenever I run into people who only speak Spanish, I try take advantage of the opportunity to practice.
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AllSubNoDub
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17191
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Re: Walt's Spanish log

Postby AllSubNoDub » Sun Oct 03, 2021 11:34 pm

greatSchism wrote:
AllSubNoDub wrote:Caribbean Spanish is really hard, mainly because it's so far from what's been deemed "standard" Spanish. The speed, aspiration, and slang can really throw you off. Stuff like, "Sí, todo está bien," becomes "Sí, to-ta-byeng." I remember listening to the FSI Puerto Rican Headstart, but I seem to remember even that being a little too formal and well enunciated (maybe more like something you'd hear in PR news). If you're still interested in Caribbean Spanish, I recommend this guy's videos. He grew up understanding Spanish but not being able to speak it, which he later taught himself to do. He teaches PR and Dominican Spanish (as well as standard Spanish).


I have seen his advertisements popup up during videos on YouTube, but I never bothered to check his channel out because it seemed kinda spammy. After looking at his channel, he has some useful information on there, and it seems kind of fun. In the area where I live (NY, NJ, and PA), there are a lot of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. Whenever I run into people who only speak Spanish, I try take advantage of the opportunity to practice.


Yeah, unfortunately for most Youtubers, they have to do some minimal amount of clickbaity, "top 10" kinds of videos to stir up traffic and remain relevant. So he definitely has some stuff like that that is purely for "day 1" beginners. A lot of his videos are perfect for upper intermediate learners though. I have not tried his Hyper Speed Method, but it's really interesting and it's actually something I've thought of on my own (basically listening to a dialogue at normal speed until you can understand it perfectly, then listen to it at beyond natural speed, then shadow it at natural speed). The only reason I haven't tried it is I'm trying to lock down a consistent accent and it's still all over the place. But his material is a perfect bridge to more complicated materials.

There are also tons of Caribeños where I live, so I plan on doing a dedicated dialectical study for it. There are lots of good podcasts and YT channels nowadays made by and for Caribeños. Here's an interesting podcast for instance available in Spanish, English, and with full Spanish/English transcripts (narrator speaks "neutral" Caribbean Spanish and all the dialogues are just regular PR Spanish). I also personally really like En Japonés Con Rafy (talks about Japanese learning, in "neutral" Caribbean Spanish).

Anyway, sorry to go off on a tangent. Caribbean Spanish is really quite beautiful once you get a feel for it, and it's actually quite consistent just in its own way. It's sort of like French - at first one might be tempted to think they're just not pronouncing all the letters; they are, just by their own distinct rules.

Edit: Typos
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greatSchism
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Posts: 78
Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:13 pm
Languages: English (N), Spanish (B1)
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Re: Walt's Spanish log

Postby greatSchism » Mon Oct 04, 2021 2:02 am

AllSubNoDub wrote:
Yeah, unfortunately for most Youtubers, they have to do some minimal amount of clickbaity, "top 10" kinds of videos to stir up traffic and remain relevant. So he definitely has some stuff like that that is purely for "day 1" beginners. A lot of his videos are perfect for upper intermediate learners though. I have not tried his Hyper Speed Method, but it's really interesting and it's actually something I've thought of on my own (basically listening to a dialogue at normal speed until you can understand it perfectly, then listen to it and beyond natural speed, then shadow it at natural speed). The only reason I haven't tried it is I'm trying to lock down a consistent accent and it's still all over the place. But some watching his material is a perfect bridge to more complicated materials.

There are also tons of Caribeños where I live, so I plan on doing a dedicated dialectical study for it. There are lots of good podcasts and YT channels nowadays made by and for Caribeños. Here's an interesting podcast for instance available in Spanish, English, and with full Spanish/English transcripts (narrator speaks "neutral" Caribbean Spanish and all the dialogues are just regular PR Spanish). I also personally really like En Japonés Con Rafy (talks about Japanese learning, in "neutral" Caribbean Spanish).

Anyway, sorry to go off on a tangent. Caribbean Spanish is really quite beautiful once you get a feel for it, and it's actually quite consistent just in its own way. It's sort of like French - at first one might be tempted to think they're just not pronouncing all the letters; they are, just by their own distinct rules.


Having listened to the first few minutes of the podcast, the host's voice is nice and she speaks clearly. In the episode that I listened to they were talking about a Seinfeld episode where Goerge lies about having a house in the Hamptons. It was a funny episode, and funny to hear them talk about it in Spanish. I have to listen to the full episodes when I get a chance. The only podcast that I listen to in Spanish with any frequency is Radio Ambulante. There are a lot of episodes that people have imported into LingQ. I used to subscribe to slow news in Spanish but I didn't renew because I didn't want to pay for another subscription. I can also understand the guy in the YouTube video fairly easily. It is easy to hear their accents and how the letters are dropped at the end of certain words.


As far as accents go, I decided to go with the Mexican accent since most of my subscriptions for courses have been Mexican Spanish. Although, the first iTalki tutor that I had was from Spain, and I was with her for 6 months. The second iTalki tutor that I had was from Paraguay, but she had quit giving lessons after a few months. My current iTalki tutor is Mexican. They all spoke/speak slow and on a level that I could understand, so their accent was not an issue.
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greatSchism
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Posts: 78
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Re: Walt's Spanish log

Postby greatSchism » Tue Oct 05, 2021 12:30 am

I am still working on chapter 23. I read through it before I went to the gym this morning. I ended up listening to the audio on my drive to the gym, which took about 15 minutes. I lifted weights for 45 minutes while listening to the second and third tapes at the gym. Afterward, I ran 3 miles of intervals on the treadmill and there is no way that I could have listened to FSI and kept my focus. Usually, towards the end of these runs, I am fighting the urge to hit the stop button on the treadmill and quit.

I watched the first two episodes of Hache on Netflix tonight, and they were brutal and sad. It is about a hooker who is desperate for money to get her baby daddy out of jail., and take care of her family. I will give it another few episodes, and see if it gets better.


FSI Spanish Basic: 23 / 70
Spanishdict Advanced words and select Anki top 5000: 828 / 3313
Duolingo: 5 / 10
Anki Spanish FSI: 675 / 6128

*** These books may be a bit of an overreach in terms of comprehensible input.
El Inocente by Michael Connelly: 5 / 63
El Visitante by Stephen King: 4 / 87
6 x

greatSchism
Yellow Belt
Posts: 78
Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:13 pm
Languages: English (N), Spanish (B1)
Studied but inactive: German (A2), Hungarian (A2), and French (A1)
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Re: Walt's Spanish log

Postby greatSchism » Thu Oct 07, 2021 12:35 am

I finished chapter 23 today and listened to the audio on my drive to the gym and while at the gym.

The chapter focused on :
“Present tense irregular verbs:
Velar stem extensions: conocer, salir
Mixed stem-vowel changing and velar stem extensions: venir, tener
Mixed miscellaneous: caer, traer, oír, hacer, decir, saber”

I find it weird that "Present tense irregular verbs" are presented after the Preterite and Imperfect tenses. Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish presented Preterite tense first, which is completely different than nearly all the material I have used. I have conjugated the verbs from the lesson many times, but it is still good to go through them from time to time.

I met with my iTalki partner today for one hour. Normally I look forward to chatting and catching up with her, but today I was looking at the clock counting down the minutes. I just wasn't in the groove, my recall was terrible, and I couldn't focus. I think it has something to do with the fact that I did not sleep very well last night.

I watched a few episodes of "Historia de un crimen: La búsqueda," which is based on a true story about the disappearance and death of a 4-year-old Mexican girl. In a way, it's like the Mexican version of the JonBenet Ramsey disappearance, except that the police conceal a murder. I am running out of movies and TV shows in Spanish that interest me, and I think I will take a break and focus more on reading books. Languagereactor.com has a beta version of parallel text, which so far I like. In fact, I like the UI, especially the dark mode, much better than LingQ. Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish and Assimil Spanish with Ease are the only non-digital Spanish books I own. I will see if I can find some Spanish Language paperbacks, so I can digitally detox for a while.

FSI Spanish Basic: 23 / 70
Spanishdict Advanced words and select Anki top 5000: 981 / 4202
Duolingo: 5 / 10
Anki Spanish FSI: 675 / 6128

*** These books may be a bit of an overreach in terms of comprehensible input.
El Inocente by Michael Connelly: 5 / 63
El Visitante by Stephen King: 4 / 87
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greatSchism
Yellow Belt
Posts: 78
Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:13 pm
Languages: English (N), Spanish (B1)
Studied but inactive: German (A2), Hungarian (A2), and French (A1)
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Re: Walt's Spanish log

Postby greatSchism » Mon Oct 11, 2021 1:02 pm

I finished unit 24 and started unit 25. Unit 25 is not very difficult, and I feel relatively comfortable with the material. But I am going to spend the next two days drilling the material. I also decided to drop two of the books that I had started because I was spending more time looking up words than I was reading. When I try to understand the gist sentences that are not straightforward, sometimes I create my own story and miss the meaning entirely. I like to look up words that I don't know and add them to my vocabulary list. I started adding Spanish Idioms to my vocab list. I am adding 10 new ones a day to my vocab list from:
Guide to Spanish Idioms
a practical guide to 2500 Spanish idioms


FSI Spanish Basic: 24 / 70
Spanishdict Advanced words and select Anki top 5000: 1041 / 4209
Duolingo: 5 / 10
Anki Spanish FSI: 801 / 6128

*** I have the audiobook and Kindle book.
La cárcel by Alicia G. García: 5 / 35
Last edited by greatSchism on Mon Oct 11, 2021 6:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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AllSubNoDub
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Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=17191
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Re: Walt's Spanish log

Postby AllSubNoDub » Mon Oct 11, 2021 2:15 pm

greatSchism wrote:I finished unit 24 and started unit 25. Unit 25 is not very difficult, and I feel relatively comfortable with the material. But I am going to spend the next two days drilling the material. I also decided to drop two of the books that I had started because I was spending more time looking up words than I was reading. When I try to understand the gist sentences that are not straightforward, sometimes I create my own story and miss the meaning entirely. I like to look up words that I don't know and add them to my vocabulary list. I started adding Spanish Idioms to my vocab list. I am adding 10 new ones a day to my vocab list from:
Guide to Spanish Idioms
a practical guide to 2500 Spanish idioms


FSI Spanish Basic: 24 / 70
[progress= Spanishdict Advanced words and select Anki top 5000] 1041/4209[/progress]
Duolingo: 5 / 10
Anki Spanish FSI: 801 / 6128

*** I have the audiobook and Kindle book.
La cárcel by Alicia G. García: 5 / 35


I haven't seen that one. I have the Big Red Book of Spanish Idioms and the Spanish Phrase Finder. The Spanish Phrase Finder is indispensable, especially when writing; it doesn't contain just full fledged phrases, but little idiomatic expressions which can be hard to search for in spanishdict. Only bad part is not enough example sentences (quite a few though).

Those are references really though, too big to SRS through. I really like the idea of SRSing through a book of idioms. I worked through this book a couple of years back, but that was before I knew the power of SRS.
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