Trying to take it easy

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BeaP
Green Belt
Posts: 405
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:18 am
Languages: Hungarian (N), English, German, Spanish, French, Italian
x 1990

Re: Trying to take it easy

Postby BeaP » Fri Feb 04, 2022 2:50 pm

Book 4: Ignacio Martínez de Pisón: El día de mañana (384 pp.)

This book was quite disappointing. First I started to watch the TV series by Movistar, and because I liked the first episode a lot, I decided to read the book. It takes place at the end of the Franco era and in the years after Franco's death in Barcelona. The main character, Justo Gil is a strange Bel Ami figure with idealistic thinking and an extremely strong will. He's a liar and a cheater who becomes an informer to the police and switches sides when he needs to. The moral of the story is pretty interesting: Does he really have a choice or is he forced to do the things he does? Are the others better than him or are his deeds only a consequence of the time? The book is narrated by 12 different characters, who all played an important part in Justo's life, and recount their own story presenting the Barcelona of the era. Where the book falls short is the characterisation. While Aura Garrido shines in the series and Oriol Pla also gives life to the character of Justo, in the book even the main characters are two-dimensional and bland. I didn't care about them at all, I wasn't interested in what happened to them. The book is not difficult to read, B2 knowledge is enough. It's not bad, but it's one of the rare cases when I'd recommend watching the series instead.

6 x

BeaP
Green Belt
Posts: 405
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:18 am
Languages: Hungarian (N), English, German, Spanish, French, Italian
x 1990

Re: Trying to take it easy

Postby BeaP » Thu Feb 10, 2022 2:16 pm

Book 5: Jorge Ibargüengoitia: Dos crímenes (211 pp.)

This novel is a mystery and a satire of Mexico at the same time. The mystery part didn't really work for me, the first half of the book was a bit dull, but then it got more interesting. Until the last pages I found the satire part a cliché: corruption, lies, large family living together, everybody wants the inheritance. But the last twist made the whole thing click: it's less about the avarice, it's more about that the circumstances corrupt everything, or nearly everything, and the feeling of being 'jodidos', the perspective of no way out. That no matter what you do, you can't live a normal life in this land. It was strange, I couldn't really connect to it, and at the end it left a bad taste in my mouth. Corruption is everywhere, but this fatefulness was shocking, tragic and luckily for me foreign. Some reviewers found it funny or farce-like, but I never laughed while reading the book. The language was again quite easy, B2-ish, with some more difficult words characteristic of Mexican Spanish.

I've bought the DELE C2 preparation course on the 'aporeldele' website. I can't recommend this programme highly enough. It contains 8 hours of video lessons, extra materials in pdf, including guidelines for essay-writing. There's a chat I can use to ask questions and a community that meets via a conference call before exams. I'm planning to write a more detailed review when I've finished it. It won't be soon, because it's very dense, contains a lot of useful information and gives a lot to think about. Mar (the teacher) also proposes exercise-types, and I like to try them as I go through the course. Here's the link for those who are interested: https://aporeldele.com/cursos#cursos She also has a youtube channel with a lot of free materials for all levels.
7 x

BeaP
Green Belt
Posts: 405
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:18 am
Languages: Hungarian (N), English, German, Spanish, French, Italian
x 1990

Re: Trying to take it easy

Postby BeaP » Tue Mar 08, 2022 1:51 pm

Book 6: Sara Mesa: Cuatro por cuatro (272 pp.)

I’ve wanted to read something from Sara Mesa for a long time, as she seems to be very popular in Spain at the moment. Cara de pan and Un amor didn’t really catch my attention, but when I came across Cuatro por cuatro, I decided to give it a try. I’ve watched the Spanish series El Internado twice, and I have very fond memories of it. So when I saw that this novel was about strange happenings in a boarding school I became optimistic and expected a similar experience.

Cuatro por cuatro starts as a mystery or a gothic novel: There’s a boarding school with privileged children where some disappear, some commit suicide, some behead pet animals, and some have strange relationships with teachers. The first part of the novel is from the point of various students, and the second is from the point of view of a teacher. And then comes the third part, the notes of a former teacher, when the mystery should be solved. But it isn’t solved, what we get instead is an allegory, a metaphysical musing, that kind of sheds a new light on the first two parts, and says that you haven’t read a mystery, but a philosophical novel about closed societies, hierarchies, and people’s behaviour in dictatorships. Something in the vein of 1984.

The problem is, that it doesn’t work. Genre-bending, as a huge twist at the end of a novel has never been appealing to me. I didn’t like The seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle for the same reason. That book as well tries to turn from a simple mystery to something deep and philosophical on the last pages. On the other hand, Cuatro por cuatro is an easy read (B2) and a real page-turner with a lot of frequent words and expressions.

I’ve found a very good website with witty articles about books in Spanish:
http://unlibroaldia.blogspot.com
5 x

BeaP
Green Belt
Posts: 405
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:18 am
Languages: Hungarian (N), English, German, Spanish, French, Italian
x 1990

Re: Trying to take it easy

Postby BeaP » Sat Mar 12, 2022 2:29 pm

Book 7: Antonio Orejudo: Ventajas de viajar en tren (152 pp.)

This was a very strange little book. Orejudo uses the basic motifs of Don Quijote (reality vs novels or imagination, insane vs normal) and creates something very different and original. A woman meets a psychiatrist on a train journey, listens to a story told by him, tells her own story, and reads the stories in the folder the psychiatrist leaves on his seat when he gets down from the train. The stories are surrealistic and true at the same time, because they illustrate the possible madness in our everyday lives. Because of this duality they're extremely funny while also being horrifying. There's paranoia, conspiracy theories, abusive relationships and refugees. Coupled with a lot of excrement, urine and sexual aberrations. The language level is around B2. The trailer of the film version shows you well what to expect if you choose to read it:

4 x

BeaP
Green Belt
Posts: 405
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:18 am
Languages: Hungarian (N), English, German, Spanish, French, Italian
x 1990

Re: Trying to take it easy

Postby BeaP » Tue Mar 22, 2022 7:44 am

About being a C2 and passing the C2 exam

I've finished my two video courses (more about them later) and watched the mock exam and experience videos I could find. Based on these I've formed an impression I'd like to share with you.

The C2 exam has 3 parts. The maximum score for each after some crazy mathematics is 33,33 points, and you pass each with a score higher than 20. So you don't have to know everything, you can make mistakes and still pass the exam. I've seen two types of candidates. There are those who've lived or are living in a Spanish-speaking country: I'll call them the immersion group. And there are those who've studied Spanish outside a native environment: I'll call them the learner group.

Immersion group: Very confident, especially in the speaking part. Has problems with reading and listening comprehension. Doesn't know the formats of the writing tasks, and can't produce the writing tasks inside the time frame.

Learner group: Usually coming from a language school or university background is well-prepared for exam-type exercises, knows their weaknesses, but lacks confidence in all skills. A large part of them have studied languages at universities or are Spanish teachers.

The comprehension part is obvious, you choose the right answer and get a score. In the writing and oral part you get a point for the following: accuracy (grammar), vocabulary (is it appropriate for the level), cohesion, format (is your style appropriate, is the letter for example really a letter with the necessary parts), fluency. All aspects are rated from 0 to 3. So theoretically, if you get a very low point on a scale, you still have a chance to pass, if the points for the other aspects even it out on average. It means that both groups have good chances, they'll just lose points because of different things.

And now the million dollar question: Are you a C2 if you pass the exam? Officially you are. That's the point of the whole CEFR system. But passing the exam doesn't mean that you feel comfortable in basically all situations when you have to use Spanish. A lot of things can be trained, some expressions can be learned by heart and then inserted. There are ways to collect the points and pass the exam with a lower level of knowledge. Not those pass the exam who are C2, but those who can make a C2 impression or can convince the examiners that they're C2. C2 candidates can fail, if they don't know the exam format, don't know what to do or even misinterpret the task. C1 students can pass if they're well-trained by an experienced teacher.

I've been thinking about my own goals lately, and I've concluded that I'd like to feel comfortable when using Spanish. I'm already comfortable in reading and listening, so I'm concentrating on the other two skills. No matter when and with what results I do the exam, I don't want to stop learning Spanish until I reach that feeling.
6 x

BeaP
Green Belt
Posts: 405
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:18 am
Languages: Hungarian (N), English, German, Spanish, French, Italian
x 1990

Re: Trying to take it easy

Postby BeaP » Tue Mar 22, 2022 8:17 am

Focus points for the writing and oral parts

This is totally for the exam. Help for those who want to score points and also a reminder for myself.

- writing formats: manifesto, artículo, folleto, informe, carta (both normal and e-mail), acta
- connectors: de igual manera, antes que nada, a fin de cuentas, a este respecto etc.
- synonyms of the most commonly used verbs (ser, estar, tener etc.)
El oro constituye más del 20 % de la exportación de Perú vs El 20 % de la exportación de Perú es oro,...
- nominalisation: para elaborarlo vs para su elaboración
- adverbios -mente: fundamentalmente, indudablemente
- phrases for argumentation and debate / discussion
- perífrasis verbales: dar por+participio, estar a punto de+infinitivo etc.
- colocaciones, modismos: Estar de brazos cruzados
- how to talk about graphics, phrases for analysing data

The best strategy is to make a word and expression bank that I must know by heart. 10-15 pages, not more than that. These will bring points and give me time to think about what to say next. Like a swimmer I can hold on to them until I regain strength.
5 x

BeaP
Green Belt
Posts: 405
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:18 am
Languages: Hungarian (N), English, German, Spanish, French, Italian
x 1990

Re: Trying to take it easy

Postby BeaP » Wed Mar 23, 2022 2:23 pm

Video courses for the DELE

I think the first step of exam preparation is getting to know the exam. This shows you what you need to study.
Advantages of video courses in general:
- they're quicker, take hours to complete (if you don't do the exercises before watching the answers), books take months
- there's a chat if you want to ask questions
- more up-to-date, more practical, less academic
- ample information about the writing and oral part (no "respuesta abierta" - meaning do what you want, we don't care, we're lazy)
- you get to know the teacher, and you can book specific lessons or writing correction sometimes with a discount

I know of 2 video courses, I've bought and completed the C2 level of both. Other levels are also available.

1.aporeldele

Website: https://aporeldele.com
Price: 120 EUR (now 89 with a discount)
Materials: around 8 hours of video and sample answers to writing tasks (NOT for download)
Extras: community

Opinion: This is the rare case when experience, intelligence and talent meet in a teacher. If you only want to buy one product or are very short of time, I recommend this course without hesitation. There's nothing useless in it and it contains all the important information. I don't think that anyone who's done this course would be surprised at the exam. It uses the sample exam on the DELE site, analyses every task and gives tips how to score higher. Tells you about the most frequent mistakes and misunderstandings. Gives all the practical information, even tells you how many sheets you will get, and which can you write on. (Knowing all this can reduce tension and worry.) The writing part is excellent, there are great sample compositions and also collections of phrases you can use. In the speaking part she gives an example of all the three tasks. When there's an examiner, she plays both roles, and there's a caption telling you who's speaking at the moment. She also gives a list of phrases to use if you don't understand something or suddenly don't know how to continue.

2.spanishclasseslive

Website: https://spanishclasseslive.com
Price: 40 EUR without the book, 50 EUR with the book (the book contains 4 mock exams) - frequent discounts
Materials: around 3-4 hours of video and sample answers to writing tasks (pdfs are for download)
Extras: chat, correction of one writing task, discount for oral exam simulation

Opinion: This is not as thorough as the other one, but tells the most basic things. It shows some parts of tasks from the Edelsa book, and analyses those. It's less dense, contains some superfluous chit-chat and self-promotion. I haven't found anything in it that is not included in the first course, but the extra writing samples are great. They show the oral part with one of their students who has passed the exam. The book (not the Edelsa, the one they're selling) is fantastic, much better, truer to the exam than the books from the big publishers and also up-to-date. I'd say that buying the course with the book can be the best bang for the buck. The book is available separately, if you're interested only in that. You can see one teacher in the course, but there's a team behind him, and they seem to be nice and competent teachers. I also recommend buying this course to those who want to take online lessons, because they must be more flexible regarding schedules than the one teacher who's doing the first site.
3 x

BeaP
Green Belt
Posts: 405
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:18 am
Languages: Hungarian (N), English, German, Spanish, French, Italian
x 1990

Re: Trying to take it easy

Postby BeaP » Thu Mar 31, 2022 2:48 pm

I don't want a burnout to spoil my Spanish learning, so I decided to have a break. During a month I'm planning to read books and watch series in my other languages as well. I have a long waiting list.

Book 8: Georges Simenon: La chambre bleue (185 pp.)

I've read this book in the original French, and I'd recommend it to intermediate (B1-ish) learners. Beside being a real page-turner it's quite an easy read. It's not a Maigret novel, but one of Simenon's 'romans durs'. From the artandpopularculture.com website:
Many of Simenon "romans durs" follow a similar storyline: a man breaks with the routine of his life, gives up his job and relationship, leaves his familiar habitat and surrenders to some obsession. In these books, Simenon drives his protagonists to the limit: they cross borders, even up to the point where they commit crimes. As always Simenon abstains from any comment and remains true to his motto "Comprendre et ne pas juger" (To understand and not judge).
Frequently, at the center is war of the sexes, the relationship of a man and a woman.

La chambre bleue has a perfect structure, and thanks to this it creates tension and suspense so well that it's impossible to put it down. I was reading quicker and quicker to know what really happened as soon as possible. The events are not presented in a linear way, so until the middle of the novel we don't even know what crime was committed and who was the victim. All we know is that a man cheated on his wife with another woman, and now he's in prison waiting for a trial. There's no huge twist in the book, no big revelation or surprise, but it's a very intelligent novel that's more than a simple detective story or mystery. It also tells a lot about people's behaviour, their attitude towards foreigners and the animal-like stupidity, acting on instincts and brutality we sometimes show to others. After reading the last sentence I felt as if I had watched or read a piece from Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected. The atmosphere of the whole novel is very similar, and the ending is equally sinister.

There are also two film versions based on the novel, one is Spanish, the other is French.
5 x

BeaP
Green Belt
Posts: 405
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:18 am
Languages: Hungarian (N), English, German, Spanish, French, Italian
x 1990

Re: Trying to take it easy

Postby BeaP » Fri Apr 01, 2022 1:52 pm

Book 9: Mario Benedetti: La tregua (200 pp.)

I don't read so quickly, I've been struggling with this book for a month. It's a classic from Uruguay, usually present on 'the most important novels in Spanish' lists. It's the diary of a 49-year-old widowed office worker who is about to retire. He lives with this three children (all in their 20s), he doesn't have any hobbies and has 2-3 friends. One day a new woman (much younger than him) arrives at the workplace, and they fall in love with each other. First it was just extremely boring, but later it became also one of the most depressing novels I've ever read.

I don't know why but Latin-American novels for me often convey the notion that that place is the Purgatory, filled with condemned people who accept their fate with resignation. The title (The truce in English) means that for a very short period of time the hero is allowed to feel some kind of happiness or live a life with some little value and personal improvement, but it can only last for a short time, and he has to go back to the Purgatory to suffer. Horrible. I couldn't connect to this man at all, he remained a complete stranger until the end of the novel. It's like a stranger came up to you in the street and told you some terrible things that had happened to him, and you wouldn't really care because it's a stranger, but it would spoil your mood anyway.

It was an easy read, certainly not above B2, but I lost focus very often, so it was harder than it should have been.
6 x

DaveAgain
Black Belt - 1st Dan
Posts: 1968
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:26 am
Languages: English (native), French & German (learning).
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Re: Trying to take it easy

Postby DaveAgain » Fri Apr 01, 2022 2:32 pm

BeaP wrote:I don't read so quickly, I've been struggling with this book for a month.
After reading your description, I'm surprised you didn't abandon it, I hope your next book is more upbeat!
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