Hank's Adventure in Spanish (Now with 100% more Welsh!)

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Hank
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Re: Hank's Adventure in Spanish (Team Spanish TAC 2016)

Postby Hank » Thu Mar 10, 2016 4:24 pm

I finished Stormbreaker last night. I know I have complained about it, but I did enjoy it. I learned a lot from it.

This takes my completed Spanish language book reading list up to two.
La telaraña de Carlota
Stormbreaker

Up next is Cajas de cartón. I still need to decide what to read next so I can have it on hand when I'm done with Cajas de cartón.

I'm not very good at reading extensively. I want to know what all the words mean. I do it in spurts, though, and I intend to do it more often but always fall back into intensive reading. For me it's like watching Spanish language television. I often get a broad overview of what's going on, but I miss a lot of details. This annoys me greatly. Thankfully I don't mind intensive reading, but I know this slows me down. I'm not a fast reader to begin with. Having a Spanish version and an English version that follow each other closely helps, but the different versions of Stormbreaker didn't follow very closely, so I ended up not using the English version. In the end, I'm getting better at reading in Spanish and learning vocabulary and grammar. That's the point, so I'm not terribly worried about it.

Here's my new learning plan:

Memrise- Whenever I feel like it. I think Memrise has been helpful in learning grammar and it also adds some new vocabulary.
Reading- Books, news articles, and whatever I can get my hands on. Fun stuff!
Listening- Watching El hotel do los secretos with Spanish subtitles has been a big help. My listening comprehension has improved greatly since I started doing this. Plus, it's like forced extensive reading at breakneck speeds. :lol: I watch Despierta América every weekday morning that I'm home and I watch some Spanish language cartoons on Saturday morning when I can.
Output- Write something every day, even if it's just a sentence or two. I'm not sure what's the best way to go about this. I may make a post asking for advice.

Hulu has a section called Hulu Latino with a wide selection of shows and movies. They even have El hotel de los secretos already, so when Univision.com starts dropping episodes I'll have an option. Hulu isn't free, though, so I'm going to stick with Univision.com as long as I can.
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reineke
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Re: Hank's Adventure in Spanish (Team Spanish TAC 2016)

Postby reineke » Thu Mar 10, 2016 4:52 pm

http://www.hulu.com/free

Under Latino there's free stuff.
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James29
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Re: Hank's Adventure in Spanish (Team Spanish TAC 2016)

Postby James29 » Fri Mar 11, 2016 1:17 pm

Hi Hank. You seem to be moving through books pretty quickly. I read the first five Alex Rider books and found they were the only teen/kid books I could handle. You are right that they are a bit unrealistic and the characters are not really developed too well. That being said, I found they were more bearable than things like Harry Potter. If you continue with the Alex Rider series, I found the second one the worst of the five. I really liked books three and five. Four was pretty good and probably should be read before book five. Book five was pretty cool and actually made me a bit disappointed that there is no book six in Spanish.

I think Cajas de Carton was actually written in English first and then translated (perhaps by the author himself) into Spanish. It is a very different type of book. I read it several times as it was the first "book" I read and I went through it with the audio and with the English version too. If you like the story there are two more books in the series that follow the author's childhood/life.
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Hank
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Re: Hank's Adventure in Spanish (Team Spanish TAC 2016)

Postby Hank » Fri Mar 11, 2016 2:53 pm

reineke wrote:http://www.hulu.com/free

Under Latino there's free stuff.


Thanks! I didn't realize that Hulu had free stuff.

James29 wrote:Hi Hank. You seem to be moving through books pretty quickly. I read the first five Alex Rider books and found they were the only teen/kid books I could handle. You are right that they are a bit unrealistic and the characters are not really developed too well. That being said, I found they were more bearable than things like Harry Potter. If you continue with the Alex Rider series, I found the second one the worst of the five. I really liked books three and five. Four was pretty good and probably should be read before book five. Book five was pretty cool and actually made me a bit disappointed that there is no book six in Spanish.

I think Cajas de Carton was actually written in English first and then translated (perhaps by the author himself) into Spanish. It is a very different type of book. I read it several times as it was the first "book" I read and I went through it with the audio and with the English version too. If you like the story there are two more books in the series that follow the author's childhood/life.


I'm not moving along nearly as quickly as you are! :lol: Thanks for the info on Alex Rider. I did enjoy the first book, and I don't regret reading it. If nothing else, I enjoy action stories. I may return to the series. Cajas de cartón has been much easier for me so far. I'm enjoying it as well. You may be right about Cajas de cartón being originally written in English. I just assumed since there's no translator listed on the book.
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James29
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Re: Hank's Adventure in Spanish (Team Spanish TAC 2016)

Postby James29 » Fri Mar 11, 2016 9:14 pm

Hank wrote:
I'm not moving along nearly as quickly as you are! :lol:


Well, I don't think I was reading Alex Rider until I had been studying Spanish for about four years. Once I started reading books, however, my reading abilities skyrocketed pretty quickly.
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Hank
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Re: Hank's Adventure in Spanish (Team Spanish TAC 2016)

Postby Hank » Mon Mar 14, 2016 1:37 am

My wife and I went to the bookstore today. I wanted to have my next book available for when I finish Cajas de cartón. While I was there, I looked at some Spanish workbooks to see if anything seemed helpful. One of the workbooks was for "intermediate" Spanish. "Sweet!" I thought. Unfortunately, I found it to be very basic. There were a couple of sections that I would have liked to work through, but not enough to justify the cost.

The next stop was the pet store so I could buy the dog treats that my dachshund loves. I would be in big trouble if we ran out. I can't even imagine what would happen if they stopped making those treats! :lol: On the way I joked that, apparently, I'm very advanced in my Spanish studies because I found the "intermediate" workbook to be very basic. Somehow this set her off. I'm paraphrasing here because this went on for a while: "You know what?" she said. "You've been working hard at learning Spanish for a few months now. Of course you're advanced. I'll bet you know more than someone who has taken five years of Spanish in college." I think she's proud of me.
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Exasperated
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Re: Hank's Adventure in Spanish (Team Spanish TAC 2016)

Postby Exasperated » Mon Mar 14, 2016 6:12 am

Hey mate, I've enjoyed flicking through your log! The point you make in your first entry is a very good one I think - the idea that enjoyment is a crucial and often underrated factor in motivation. Just from my own observation, it seems that in the absence of a blinding necessity, those learners who actively enjoy the process of language learning over the long term are far more likely to build it into their routine and ultimately be successful. Those users who set themselves hugely ambitious study routines (at least those with inexperience) seem far more prone to burn-out.

Anyway I'm rambling, my point was that I think your positive attitude will serve you very well - keep up the good work! :D
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Tomás
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Re: Hank's Adventure in Spanish (Team Spanish TAC 2016)

Postby Tomás » Mon Mar 14, 2016 6:57 pm

Hank wrote: Somehow this set her off. I'm paraphrasing here because this went on for a while: "You know what?" she said. "You've been working hard at learning Spanish for a few months now. Of course you're advanced. I'll bet you know more than someone who has taken five years of Spanish in college." I think she's proud of me.


Well done Hank. My own spousal unit, OTOH, has been accusing me of being "obsessive" about learning Spanish, and predicts that I will eventually drop it and move on to a new hobby. She may well be correct on both counts, but in the meantime I too have achieved intermediate status.
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Hank
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Re: Hank's Adventure in Spanish (Team Spanish TAC 2016)

Postby Hank » Thu Mar 17, 2016 2:13 pm

Tomás wrote:Well done Hank. My own spousal unit, OTOH, has been accusing me of being "obsessive" about learning Spanish, and predicts that I will eventually drop it and move on to a new hobby. She may well be correct on both counts, but in the meantime I too have achieved intermediate status.


I think she's glad that I'm doing something other than playing video games all day! :lol: I switch hobbies a lot as well, but most of them don't last seven months. I'm sure I'm into Spanish for the long haul.

Memrise- I have been keeping up with this well. I don't think I missed a day this week. I usually do three new lessons and a little bit of review. I would like to go faster, but I want to make sure I'm learning the new lessons. I think when I'm finished with the A1 and A2 lessons it might be time to start on L3.

Reading- I'm almost done with Cajas de cartón. It's written at a good level for me. I have been enjoying it. It took a little while to get used to the first person perspective. I have had some difficulty understanding who is doing the action at points and getting confused since they don't use quotation marks. I had the same issue with Stormbreaker. It's nothing major, though. Overall I'm learning and advancing well. I bought Divergente for my next book. I saw a little of the movie and it sounds like an interesting story. I also read a few news stories.

Listening- I missed a day of Despierta América because I was tired. I have only watched one episode of El hotel de los secretos this week, but the NCAA basketball tournament is going on. (My university didn't make it, of course. :( ) They tend to mumble a lot on that show, but I'm sure they do that on U.S. tv as well and I just don't notice. I have noticed how I twist words around when I'm speaking. "Isn't it" becomes "innit" and things like that. I still feel like my listening comprehension is improving.

Output- I did surprisingly well with output this week. Usually while texting with my wife when we're at work. I'll respond in Spanish and then give the English translation so she doesn't have to look stuff up while she's working. It's nothing major I suppose, but at least I'm working on it. I still need to join a site like Conversation Exchange where I can text with a native Spanish speaker. I think my issue here is that I don't care for smalltalk.

Overall, I don't feel like I made any major advances but I'm slowly getting there. It's still fun and exciting. Especially reading.
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Hank
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Re: Hank's Adventure in Spanish (Team Spanish TAC 2016)

Postby Hank » Thu Mar 24, 2016 2:25 pm

Update time! Estoy de vacaciones esta semana. Fui a mi propiedad en el bosque. Busqué las setas, pero no encontrar ninguna. Es demasiado temprano y seca. Esperemos voy a buscar las setas próximo mes. Las setas son muy difícil para encontrar.

Memrise- I'm still working on it. I didn't miss a day this week.

Reading- I finished Cajas de cartón. My updated list of books that I have read in Spanish:

La telaraña de Carlota
Stormbreaker
Cajas de cartón

I also finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which was an excellent book until the last couple of chapters. This makes four books that I have completed this year, which is unheard of for me.

I started on Divergente and I'm enjoying it a lot. It was a little difficult for the first couple of chapters, but I have settled in now and I'm making good progress. I also read a few news articles. The most interesting one was about a guy who was lost at sea on a small boat for more than 400 days. It's on Radio Ambulante.

Listening- I watched a couple of episodes of El hotel de los secretos and I watched Despierta América every morning. My listening comprehension is getting better, but I still have long way to go.

Output- I really need to get off my lazy duff and get to seriously working on this. I had to look up way too much in my little writing at the start of this post, and I doubt it's grammatically correct. I can live with some grammatical errors if I'm understood, but I don't like having to work so hard just to come up with a few basic sentences. It's starting to bug me because I don't have any real reason for not working on it, but I always have plenty of excuses. I don't like to set strict goals, but I think I'm going to have to. Goal: I'm going to find something this week where I can work on output! There! I did it! :lol: I still did a little output every day.

Overall I'm still plodding along, still improving, and still having fun. Slow and steady wins the race.
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