español paso a paso

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Lysander
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español paso a paso

Postby Lysander » Sun Nov 20, 2022 7:36 pm

I am not so active on the site anymore, but thought to start logging some of my activities.

I don't do as much as I'd like in Spanish daily, but I do have daily contact with the language in some capacity.

I just downloaded El leon, la bruja y el ropero by C.S. Lewis as it is free to read on my Kindle through my local library. I am not so advanced in Spanish, but I wanted to test out my patience with working through a fairly accessible book with the pop-up dictionary along with continuing that course, among a few other things. Wish me luck!
Last edited by Lysander on Sat Dec 10, 2022 8:11 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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: 17 / 30 Fluenz: Latin American Spanish Vol 1
: 17 / 150 Fluenz: Latin American Spanish - Overall

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Kullman
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Re: My Spanish Log

Postby Kullman » Mon Nov 21, 2022 3:12 pm

You can try "Zalacain, el aventurero" if you want.

It's was mandatory reading when I was 14 years old, in the first year of high school, and it's one of the few books I enjoyed of those I had to read back then.

It's an adventure novel set in the Pays Basque, in the mid XIX century, and tells the story of a basque child in his way to adulthood.

You can download it for free in the Gutengerg Project site.
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Lysander
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Re: My Spanish Log

Postby Lysander » Sat Dec 03, 2022 6:25 pm

Capitalism got me again, haha. I received an email with a Black Friday discount for Fluenz, and decided to get the Latin American Spanish course. I did like it when I tried it out for Italian. It is a grind with a ton of drilling, but I am a week in and am enjoying it so far. It is the kind of thing that won't feel fun every moment of it, but you know you are getting somewhere. I love how thorough it is.

If you go to this review and scroll down a little less than halfway to where it says LESSONS in all caps, it has a description of what all is involved in each lesson, along with photos.

Here is a list of what Level 1 covers throughout its 30 Lessons:

Lesson 01
Greetings
How are you? Very well
How to ask questions with question words
Essential words: And, Thanks, See you later
To be (1): I am, You are, He/She is

Lesson 02
Ordering coffee at the café
How to ask yes/no questions
Coffee, water and the bill
Expressions: Please, You’re welcome, Anything else?
I/You want, He/She wants
Yes/No

Lesson 03
Ordering at the restaurant(1)
To eat & To drink
Plural of nouns ending in a vowel
This/That
Ma’am/Sir/Miss
Plural "you"
Expressions: Good night, Very good

Lesson 04
Ordering at the restaurant (2)
Drinks vocab
Essential linking words: Or, Of, With/Without, For
To want, complete conjugation
Feminine form of adjectives
Plural pronouns: We, They
Negation

Lesson 05
Ordering at the restaurant (3)
Feminine & plural form of adjectives
Plural article "the"
Contraction: Del
Feminine form of This/That

Lesson 06
Where are they?
Hi, how’s it going?
To be (2) = Estar: complete conjugation
En as In/On/At
Places + Here/There
Which?

Lesson 07
On the phone with a friend
Introduction of Informal You (Tú)
Nouns: masculine and feminine forms
At home/At work, Close/Far
Expressions: Excuse me, Sorry, I don’t understand

Lesson 08
Where are you from?
To be (3) = Ser (origin) VS Estar (location)
Complete conjugation of Ser (4)
De as From
Husband/Wife
Possessive: My
Countries: Chile/United States/Mexico

Lesson 09
Looking for a friend
To be (5): Ser (innate quality/identity) VS Estar (changeable condition)
Work vocab
Expressions: Right?, I don’t know, It’s nice

Lesson 10
Do you speak Spanish?
On vacation/For work
How much is it? It’s ... pesos
A = To: I’m going to
A little/A bit of

Lesson 11
A casual chat at the hotel
REVIEW SESSION

Lesson 12
Arriving at the airport
Possessives: your(i), your, his, her (singular and plural)
These/Those (masculine and feminine)
What’s your name?
Name, Last name, Suitcases
Expression: Here it is/Here you go

Lesson 13
Going to the hotel
Review: Ser VS Estar (6): uses + ambiguities
Adjectives: Fast, Tired, Easy/Difficult
Expression: You speak Spanish well

Lesson 14
Let’s go to the phone store
I/You(i) need, To buy
To go: complete conjugation
Plural of nouns ending in a consonant
New/Old, Before/After
Expression: There is/There are, Together/Let’s go

Lesson 15
Buying new cellphones
To need: complete conjugation
Comparisons: Más + adjective/adverb
Conjunction: But
Expressions: No problem, There isn’t any, There aren’t any

Lesson 16
Where can I buy a computer?
Verbs: I/You(i)/You/He/She can, You(i)/You know, He/She knows, To come
Irregular comparative: Better
With me, With you(i)
Vocab: Great, Today/Tomorrow, Cheap/Expensive

Lesson 17
Going to the market
Bank: To change money
Transports: Bus, Taxi, Subway, Ticket
To go by taxi, subway...
Much/Many/A lot of
When?

Lesson 18
Buying sweets at the kiosk
Numbers 1 to 10
The newspaper, The candy
How much/How many?
I would like

Lesson 19
Having drinks with friends at the restaurant
Numbers 11 to 20
Another, Another one
Person/People
Is/Are there?

Lesson 20
Buying essentials at the pharmacy
Numbers: Counting up to 100
Verb: To travel
Pharmacy vocab
Expression: Thanks a lot

Lesson 21
A dinner at the restaurant
How to count up to thousands
NUMBERS REVIEW SESSION

Lesson 22
Let’s go to the mall
REVIEW SESSION

Lesson 23
What time is it?
Ask for/Tell time + At what time (ser)
Early, Less, Before/After + noun
Places: Museum, Theater
Expression: This way/Like this

Lesson 24
Buying bus tickets at the station
To pay with a credit card/in cash
How much does it cost?
Verbs: To leave, To pay
Tickets to..., The bus/subway to...

Lesson 25
Making plane and hotel reservations
Verbs: To reserve, To arrive
Vocab: Rooms, Plane tickets, City, Beach, Trip

Lesson 26
Booking a hotel room
Hotel vocab: Hot/Cold water, Air conditioning, Bed, Blanket, Soap
Expression: Tonight
Review on plurals: S after vowels, ES after consonants

Lesson 27
Giving directions to a cab driver
Verbs: To repeat, To stop
Directions: To the right/left, Street/Avenue
Expression: I need a receipt

Lesson 28
Giving directions to a cab driver (2)
Places: On this side, At the entrance/exit, To this number
Times: How long? ... minutes, Until + time

Lesson 29
Looking for a pharmacy
AR verbs present conjugation: Necesitar
Expressions: On the corner (with), It’s safe
Places: Intersection, Map

Lesson 30
Where is the subway station?
GENERAL REVIEW SESSION

The lessons so far are all taught my Sonia Gil, and I like that she includes some cultural notes at every lesson summary. So far they have ranged from discussions of Cuban coffee to avoiding Montezuma's revenge by ordering drinks "sin hielo" and continual encouragement to engage with Spanish outside of courses. She has pushed telenovelas multiple times and just name dropped Corazón salvaje as a personal favorite. I unfortunately have failed to find it streaming anywhere so far, but will keep looking or welcome anyone else's suggestions for a more recent telenovela worth getting acquainted with.

That reminds me of another nice aspect of the program. I leave challenge mode on, so I need to get all accent marks correct. It really helps with getting them down and internalize spellings of things that get repeated often. I also love the listening exercises. You really need to listen closely to not miss the little words.
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: 17 / 30 Fluenz: Latin American Spanish Vol 1
: 17 / 150 Fluenz: Latin American Spanish - Overall

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Lysander
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Re: My Spanish Log

Postby Lysander » Mon Dec 05, 2022 3:27 am

Today drilled on the difference between ser and estar. I had a few errors but surprised how many I already instinctly got right. Here was the song and music video Sonia suggested to check out this time:



edit: El leon, la bruja y el ropero was way too advanced for me and I was going to have to look up a shockingly high number of words. Not worth it to me at this point, but was a nice reality check.
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: 17 / 30 Fluenz: Latin American Spanish Vol 1
: 17 / 150 Fluenz: Latin American Spanish - Overall

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Lysander
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Re: My Spanish Log

Postby Lysander » Wed Dec 07, 2022 1:39 am

Today we did a lot of practice talking with a taxi driver, and then today's cultural recommendation was this artist with this particular song name dropped:



I see tomorrow is a review lesson, and I am looking forward to it. 10 lessons in and we have covered quite a bit of ground. I am interested to see the Fluenz approach to consolidation.

I am also thinking ahead to the end of the month when I am off work the final week of the year. I have a lot of rest and relaxation planned, but should have a lot of time for an extra project or two towards my Spanish goals. If I keep up with one lesson a day, I will finish the first of five Fluenz units by the day after Christmas.

I am thinking it could be a good time to work through either the Michel Thomas Foundation course or Language Transfer as I hear it is quite good to do them in a relatively short timeframe. Time to poke through some old threads and see what wisdom I ca glean!
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: 17 / 30 Fluenz: Latin American Spanish Vol 1
: 17 / 150 Fluenz: Latin American Spanish - Overall

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Lysander
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español paso a paso

Postby Lysander » Sat Dec 10, 2022 8:11 pm

I had my first problem with a Fluenz lesson. The other night after work, I had a coffee catch up with an old friend, out to dinner, etc...and by the time I got home, my mind was a bit all over the place so I was not really paying as much attention as I should. About a third of the way through the lesson, I was missing so many things, I decided to just turn it off, go to bed, and re-do it from the start the next day. Worked out well and I am back on track.

It is important for me to remember my goals don't have a due date. Sure, I go to Latin America next month and knowing more Spanish is better, but it is best to go at the right speed on getting through a course, even if it means finishing it a bit later.

On ser versus estar, I am still making some mistakes, but all the drilling is definitely getting me more attuned to what feels right and wrong. I will be curious to see how my usage of it smooths out as the course progresses versus if I will need some outside supplementation.

We have below another favorite song of Sonia Gil:

And in Lesson #13 of Unit 1, she has given her first book recommendation: Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) by the Mexican author Laura Esquivel. Here is the description of it from goodreads:

A sumptuous feast of a novel, it relates the bizarre history of the all-female De La Garza family. Tita, the youngest daughter of the house, has been forbidden to marry, condemned by Mexican tradition to look after her mother until she dies. But Tita falls in love with Pedro, and he is seduced by the magical food she cooks. In desperation, Pedro marries her sister Rosaura so that he can stay close to her, so that Tita and Pedro are forced to circle each other in unconsummated passion. Only a freakish chain of tragedies, bad luck and fate finally reunite them against all the odds.


It also had a film version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Like_Wate ... late_(film)

I do not plan on trying to tackle a novel in the near term, but am including it as something I will come back to later on.
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: 17 / 30 Fluenz: Latin American Spanish Vol 1
: 17 / 150 Fluenz: Latin American Spanish - Overall

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MorkTheFiddle
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Re: español paso a paso

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Sun Dec 11, 2022 6:26 pm

Lysander wrote:And in Lesson #13 of Unit 1, she has given her first book recommendation: Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) by the Mexican author Laura Esquivel. Here is the description of it from goodreads:

A sumptuous feast of a novel, it relates the bizarre history of the all-female De La Garza family. Tita, the youngest daughter of the house, has been forbidden to marry, condemned by Mexican tradition to look after her mother until she dies. But Tita falls in love with Pedro, and he is seduced by the magical food she cooks. In desperation, Pedro marries her sister Rosaura so that he can stay close to her, so that Tita and Pedro are forced to circle each other in unconsummated passion. Only a freakish chain of tragedies, bad luck and fate finally reunite them against all the odds.


It also had a film version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Like_Wate ... late_(film)

I do not plan on trying to tackle a novel in the near term, but am including it as something I will come back to later on.

Both book and movie were fun for me, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
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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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Lysander
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Re: español paso a paso

Postby Lysander » Thu Dec 15, 2022 11:31 pm

At the end of Lesson 17, Sonia suggested reading great works of Spanish language literature even in translation if you are not ready to tackle them in Spanish. In addition to the aforementioned Like Water for Chocolate, she also suggested:

One Hundred Years of Solitude/Cien años de soledad by Gabriel García Márquez

and

The House of the Spirits/La casa de los espíritus, which was the debut novel of Isabel Allende.

I had not actually heard of the latter before.

I like how Sonia never seems to flag in her suggestion to engage with the Spanish-speaking world whether in small doses (song recommendations) or even in translation as I know 100 Years of Solitude, for example, is quite important in the literary tradition of the language.

I am a bit over halfway of the first Volume and over 10% of the entire course.

To drill is to live. Haha
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: 17 / 30 Fluenz: Latin American Spanish Vol 1
: 17 / 150 Fluenz: Latin American Spanish - Overall

piotr
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Re: español paso a paso

Postby piotr » Fri Dec 16, 2022 1:31 am

I must admit I've never read "La casa de los espíritus" and I'm not going to. :P

"Cien años de soledad" is a great book but I would never say it is suitable as the first book to read in Spanish, nor it seems anything by García Márquez. Instead, read something shorter and contemporary. ;)

My favourite contemporary Colombian authors are Evelio Rosero, Tomás González, William Ospina, and Pilar Quintana. "La perra" by Pilar Quintana (2017) is really brief and rather simple lexically, and I really loved this book.
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Lysander
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Re: español paso a paso

Postby Lysander » Fri Dec 16, 2022 2:34 am

piotr wrote:I must admit I've never read "La casa de los espíritus" and I'm not going to. :P

"Cien años de soledad" is a great book but I would never say it is suitable as the first book to read in Spanish, nor it seems anything by García Márquez. Instead, read something shorter and contemporary. ;)

My favourite contemporary Colombian authors are Evelio Rosero, Tomás González, William Ospina, and Pilar Quintana. "La perra" by Pilar Quintana (2017) is really brief and rather simple lexically, and I really loved this book.

Thanks for the suggestions, especially the brief and simple one :)

To be clear, the suggestion was not to attempt to read those books in Spanish, but to read them in English in translation as, especially García Márquez's book, is quite important. Just wanted to clear it up so people didn't think Fluenz was suggesting folks take on challenging tomes in a foreign language two and a half weeks into their learning journey.
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: 17 / 30 Fluenz: Latin American Spanish Vol 1
: 17 / 150 Fluenz: Latin American Spanish - Overall


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