Monk's log (Spanish/Hebrew)

[Monk]

15 December 2022

SPANISH

I took a break from numbers today.

Duolingo

[1 hour]
I spent an hour working lessons in Unit 38, as well as doing practice/reviews of previous lessons.

HEBREW

Getting Started in Modern Hebrew by Shula Gilboa (2013). Published by Teach Yourself.

[20 minutes]
I read all of the front matter (pp. v - xxii), paying special attention to the sections on Pronunciation (pp. xiv - xv) and the Hebrew alphabet (pp. xvi - xxii).

Hebrew Script Hacking by Judith Meyer and Tom Yuval (2020). Published by Teach Yourself.

[20 minutes]
I read pages 7 through 13, which was a Note, an Introduction to the script and transliteration, and the Alphabet. I then listened to the first audio file (00.01) which contains the pronunciations of the names of the Hebrew letters. I listened to this multiple times, repeating the names aloud while also looking at the corresponding characters in the text.

Total Study Time:
Spanish: 1 hour
Hebrew: 40 minutes

[Monk]

16 December 2022

SPANISH

Complete Latin American Spanish (2017).

[0 minutes]
I spent most of my allotted study time prepping the audio files for Unit 2 so I can return to working through this beginner's course next week. While I do get some level of listening practice when I'm editing the files (because I'm playing them multiple times as I'm making the edits to remove the English), I'm not going to count this towards my logged hours. Perhaps I should, but honestly, I just feel it would be too difficult to calculate actual listening time for this (listen for a few seconds, pause, edit out the English, listen again to make sure that section is how I want it, repeat for the next section, and so on). My plan is to have the files for Unit 2 and Unit 3 completely edited over the weekend and then return to this text starting Monday. I'm on Unit 2, so that would give me one unit ahead of the one I'm on already edited. I'd like to keep that momentum up. At first I thought I would just edit all of the files for all of the units in one or two sessions, but that's too much. If I can have at least the unit ahead edited going forward, I should be good.

Viajes - Introducción al español (2011)

[15 minutes]
To get SOME type of actual practice in today, I recited the numbers from 1 to 1000. I did this from memory, without reference to the text, but then double checked after the first time to confirm I remembered them correctly. Also, I didn't count every single number. I counted 1 through 29, then 30, 31, 39, 40, 41, 49...like that through 100, then 101, 199, 200, 201, 299, 300...like that through 1000. I repeated this five times.

This is my immediate plan for Spanish for the weekend:

• Edit audio files for CLAS up through and including Unit 3.
• Review the cardinal numbers 1 through 1000 (including writing practice this time).
• Prepare for and then take my next italki session, which is on Sunday the 18th (30 minutes. Spanish conversation).
• On Monday, start Unit 2 of CLAS.

Total Study Time:
15 minutes

[Monk]

17 December 2022

SPANISH

Complete Latin American Spanish (2017)

[0 minutes]
I completed editing out the English for all of the audio files from units 2 and 3. I am not counting this as study time.

Viajes - Introducción al español (2011)

[15 minutes]
Los números. Throughout the day I reviewed the numbers 1 through 1000 by reciting them several times. I only referenced the textbook after reciting the numbers to confirm if I recalled them correctly. I didn't actually time these exercises, but I estimate I spent around a total of 15 minutes on this, broken up into several sessions.

Duolingo

[1 hour]
Continued lessons in Unit 38.

Total Study Time:
1 hour and 15 minutes

***

18 December 2022

SPANISH

italki

[2 hours]
I did prep work previous to my actual session (I count this as study time). The prep included trying to construct sentences in Spanish of what I wanted to talk about, checking these against a dictionary/grammar when needed, and writing them down in my notebook. There were two main topics. First, what my plans are for the upcoming Christmas holiday (which branched out into facts about my family, that I have some vacation time from work, how some of my family is here local to me, but how I will be visiting others who are out of town as well, etc). Secondly, I prepared to talk about how I have been learning the numbers, the methods I'm using, and what my progress has been so far.

My method for these italki sessions has been as follows:

Ahead of time, I type up in English various phrases and/or sentences related to what I want to talk about. I then attempt to translate my English sentences/phrases into Spanish. I try to do this as much as I can without reference to a dictionary, but I will definitely look things up when I don't know them, and I will always check at the end, regardless. After confirming translations against a dictionary and grammar, I then handwrite the sentences/phrases in my physical notebook. I then review the Spanish in my notebook to become familiar with it. During the actual italki session, I will reference my notebook if needed. I try to speak rather than just read, but sometimes I need a cue from the notebook. In some cases I completely draw a blank and will have to read what I wrote.

I've told my instructor this is what I am doing, and that my hope is I will eventually be able to do away with this specific type of prep and be able to have a completely spontaneous conversation. I'm not there yet. At this stage I am finding this method to be well worth doing for several reasons. The conversations are based on things I want to talk about at any given time, whereas beginner textbooks typically use similar scenarios, like going to a hotel, ordering food from a restaurant, and so on. Those are important things to know, I think. Because you learn some common vocabulary, sentence construction, greetings and salutations, numbers, how to tell time, some grammar, and a core of common verbs in the language. All things I want to know. Yet balancing out that type of material with - whatever I want to talk about - not only changes things up a bit, but also helps to expand my vocabulary into particular areas of personal interest. For example, in previous sessions we've talked about cinema, literature, music, and even ventured a bit into philosophy. All things I'm very much interested in. The other thing to note is that, even though I am doing some prep like this, these are not completely scripted conversations. I don't share what I've written with my instructor. I am not requesting him to stick to a script. He is free to ask any questions he wants, and even take the conversation in a different direction. I have to understand what he is saying and respond in kind. So it's not totally scripted, nor is it totally unscripted. The other benefit is that, if my instructor corrects me on something, like a point of grammar, shares a different way of saying something, or provides additional vocabulary, I capture that in my notebook for review.

[30 minutes]
30 minutes of conversation practice on italki. I'm keeping the sessions to 30 minutes for now. As a beginner, I find these short sessions work best for me. I don't have a large vocabulary yet. The time files by quickly. I don't feel overwhelmed. I am able to practice speaking and listening to a real human being who is a native speaker of my target language and who also knows English really well, so if I need to fall back on that on occasion (I try not to, but it happens) that's not a problem. I'm still only doing these twice a month. At some point I plan on changing that to once a week. Not sure when yet. I think I'll just know when I feel ready to do that.

Duolingo

[15 minutes]
I completed the remaining lessons in Unit 38.

HEBREW

Hebrew Script Hacking (2020)

[10 minutes]
I spent 10 minutes simply listening to and repeating the names of the letters from the first audio file while looking at them in the text. I basically know the names of the letters now. This was mostly review.

Total Study Time:
Spanish: 2 hours and 45 minutes
Hebrew: 10 minutes

[Monk]

19 December 2022

SPANISH

Duolingo

[40 minutes]
I started lessons in Unit 39 ("Use object pronouns").

Complete Latin American Spanish (2017)

[45 minutes]
I reviewed Unit 1 (pp. 2 - 15).

The unit objectives are:

• Use simple greetings.
• Introduce yourself.
• Ask and give personal information.

I wrote most of the vocabulary for this unit in my notebook.

I began Unit 2, reading pages 16 and 17.

The unit objectives are:

• Ask people how they are.
• Ask about the existence of something.
• Ask where things are.

I wrote the vocabulary in my notebook for the section "Asking people how they are", and I read all of the vocabulary I wrote down for both units out loud.

Total Study Time:
1 hour and 25 minutes

[Kullman]

i think numbers in spanish are pretty straightforward from the 20... veinte, venti.., treinta, treintay..., cuarenta, cuarentay, cincuenta, cincuenta y, ..., cientocuarenta, mil doscientos, cienmil doscientos, Un millón trescientosmil.

You should understand than a "billón" in spanish is different than the american "billion". For us a "billón" is 1.000.000.000.000, and a trillion 1.000.000.000.000.000.000.

[Monk]

i think numbers in spanish are pretty straightforward from the 20... veinte, venti.., treinta, treintay..., cuarenta, cuarentay, cincuenta, cincuenta y, ..., cientocuarenta, mil doscientos, cienmil doscientos, Un millón trescientosmil.

I'm finding that to be the case. They are not overly difficult. I was taught numbers before, back when I was in school (many years ago). So this is not my first time learning them. However, I didn't memorize them as well as I'd like to now, and there were many years after school where I didn't use Spanish at all. I realized how I didn't really know the numbers as much as I want to through an italki session, when I was trying to tell my tutor what year I moved from one city to another. The year was 1987. While "One Thousand Nine Hundred and Eighty Seven" is technically correct, we almost never say it like that in English. The common way is "Nineteen Eighty Seven". This made me want to say "diecinueve ochenta y siete", but I knew that wasn't right. It stalled out my conversation because I couldn't recall how to properly say the year. That's when I decided I needed to revisit the numbers and really commit them to memory. I want it to be automatic. Also, because of that, I don't think I will ever forget how to say "mil novecientos ochenta y siete". Jajaja.

You should understand than a "billón" in spanish is different than the american "billion". For us a "billón" is 1.000.000.000.000, and a trillion 1.000.000.000.000.000.000.

Thanks for the tip. That's good to know. I haven't looked at the numbers beyond un millón yet.

[Monk]

20 December 2022

SPANISH

Duolingo

[40 minutes]
Continued with lessons in Unit 39. Use object pronouns/express wants and needs.

Total Study Time:
40 minutes

***

21 December 20222

SPANISH

Complete Latin American Spanish (2017)

[1 hour]
Continuing with Unit 2. I read pages 16 through 20, and mentally did the exercises. I wrote the vocabulary for the sections "Asking about the existence of something" and "Asking where things are" into my notebook. I also wrote additional terms or phrases introduced in the dialogues (or elsewhere in the text) into my notebook. I repeated all of the vocabulary out loud and read the dialogues out loud.

A lot of this has been review so far, but there were a few expressions I was not familiar with. Once I get to a level in the book that is challenging for me, I will likely approach the exercises differently (i.e. write my answers down in my notebook as opposed to mentally answering the questions like I've been doing so far).

Duolingo

[20 minutes]
Continuing lessons in Unit 39.

Total Study Time:
1 hour and 20 minutes

***

22 December 2022

SPANISH

Mexican Short Stories/Cuentos Mexicanos, edited and translated by Stanley Appelbaum. Published by Dover. 2008.

I'm wanting to add more reading to my Spanish learning. I own several books. Some are dual language like this one, and others are completely in Spanish (though for most of those, I also own English language versions if I needed to compare). This is a dual language book by Dover, with side-by-side Spanish/English pages. It contains nine stories by famous Mexican authors written between 1843 and 1918. This is likely above my level, and I understand that some of the language might be archaic, yet because it has English translations for each story I am going to give it a try.

I read the Introduction (pp. v - xii). I'm not counting that towards my study time because it's in English without any corresponding Spanish.

I then read the first story, Amor secreto (Secret Love) by Manuel Payno (pp. 2 - 13). Six pages are in Spanish, and six are in English.

[50 minutes]
For the first pass I read the story in Spanish without reference to the English. A sort of brute force reading through the text and not stressing about what I didn't understand. I read it slowly, and out loud, to get some practice with pronunciation/reciting in my target language in addition to strengthening my reading skills.

[15 minutes]
For the second pass I read the English translation straight through. I did this to understand the story. I do count this as part of my study time even though it is in my native language because as I was reading, I was also recalling some of the Spanish text I read previously, and connecting the two together in my head (though without reference to the Spanish text directly).

[0 minutes]
I will do the third pass tomorrow. I want to give a day for the story to sink in before I really dig into the vocabulary and grammar. My plan for the third pass is to read the Spanish again, yet this time I will directly cross-reference the English when needed, taking my time, using a dictionary and grammar when something grabs my attention, and capturing any words, phrases, expressions, and/or grammar points I find interesting - or think will be useful - in my notebook.

Duolingo

[15 minutes]
Continuing lessons in Unit 39.

Total Study Time:
1 hour and 20 minutes

[Monk]

23 December through 31 December

SPANISH

I've been on holiday, which you'd think would allow for more time to study/practice, except for the fact that I've been traveling out of town visiting family. So I didn't have much spare time at all to work with my languages. As a bare minimum, I did 20 minutes of Duolingo per day for this time period. That was for nine days. I brought my copy of Cuentos Mexicanos with me intending to get some reading in as well, but unfortunately the circumstances around my family visit didn't allow for that.

Duolingo

[1 hour and 40 minutes]
20 minutes a day from 23 December through 31 December. Working on Unit 39, along with some practice/review of material from previous units.

I am back home now, and am ready to pick up the pace again.

Total Study Time:
1 hour and 40 minutes

[Monk]

1 January through 15 January

SPANISH

I've been readjusting to the post-holiday setting, starting a new year and back to my regular work hours after time off last month. To be honest, the daily grind has been wearing me down a bit and my language studies have taken a small hit. That said, I've been using Duolingo for Spanish every day as a bare minimum as well as intermittent passive listening with some Spanish language films and a TV series. My italki sessions were on hold, first because I was traveling and couldn't carve out to time for them, and secondly because the main tutor I work with was sick. However, today (January 15th) I had my first session (30 minute conversation practice) since before the holidays, and I have scheduled two more sessions, 30 minutes each for this coming Sunday and the following Sunday, one with the tutor I've been working with (and like) and another with a new tutor. If I like the second tutor as well I plan on having sessions once a week on Sundays, alternating between the tutors. I have been doing one session every other week, so this would double my conversation practice hours.

Duolingo

[5 hours]
For the time period logged (January 1st through 15th), I spent 20 minutes a day on Duolingo lessons. I've completed Unit 39 ("Use object pronouns"), and have begun Unit 40 ("Give directions, share travel experiences").

italki

[30 minutes]
I had a 30 minute conversation practice with my main tutor on January 15th, where I mostly talked about what I did over the Christmas and New Year holidays, including traveling and visiting family.

Passive listening (Spanish language films and television series)

[5 hours 37 minutes]

• BARDO, Falsa crónica de unas cuantas verdades (2022), directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (2 hours and 40 minutes).
• Acción mutante (1993), directed by Álex de la Iglesia (1 hour and 34 minutes).
• 30 monedas (2020), Season 1, Episode 1 (1 hour and 20 minutes) and Episode 2 (1 hour and 3 minutes).

Total Study Time:
11 hours and 7 minutes

[Monk]

16 January - 29 January 2023

SPANISH

italki

[1 hour]
For the past two weeks I have been continuing with my beginner Spanish studies. I added a second tutor on italki. I had my first session with him last week, on January 22nd. It went well for an introduction session. As with my other tutor, these are 30 minute sessions for conversation practice. This second tutor provided some helpful feedback. He mentioned that he noticed I did well when I am talking about myself, and in the present tense, but when I talk about others and either past or future tense, I need some work. He recommended that perhaps for a future session I can summarize something I have read or describe a movie I've seen (we talked about how I read a lot of books and watch a lot of movies, so he was using my own interests as a good place to practice). I think this is a great idea. Since then, I've been working on constructing sentences that include other people more, for example, characters in a movie I recently watched, as well as a mix of tenses (constructions such as they did this, and then this happened).

I had a session today (January 29th) with my original tutor as well. It was also 30 minutes of conversation practice. I talked about what I did over the weekend, including watching a movie and summarized the plot for him. I will use a different example with my second tutor next week.

Since I had a good experience with my second tutor, and I have continued to have good experiences with my original tutor, I have committed to having one session a week (30 minutes each), alternating between the tutors. Previously I was only doing one session every other week. I've mentioned here in my log that I was thinking about upping that to once a week, and I have now followed through with that by scheduling out sessions for the next few weeks. My study is not solely based on these italki sessions, but knowing each week that I have to have a 30 minute conversation every Sunday afternoon keeps me focused during the week in my personal studies. I don't want the conversations to become boring or stagnant, so I think of what I want to talk about, which in turn often reveals phrases or tenses or vocabulary that I don't know. This, in turn, drives what I study during the week in addition to whatever else I am doing (following a text book, using software apps, passive listening to podcasts/movies/television, reading, etc.).

Complete Latin American Spanish (2017)

[2 hours]
I completed Unit 2 (pp. 20 through 30). The grammar was mostly review, although there was some vocabulary that was new to me. I captured what vocabulary I thought was important into my notebook. I am ready to begin Unit 3.

Duolingo

[4 hours and 40 minutes]
20 minutes a day using Duolingo. For 14 days, that is 280 minutes, or 4 hours and 40 minutes if my math is correct.

Passive listening (Spanish language television series and podcast).

[3 hours]
30 monedas (2020), Season 1, Episode 3 (1 hour and 5 minutes) and Episode 4 (1 hour).
Radio Ambulante podcast. An episode called Las llaves (The Keys), which was 55 minutes.

Total Study Time:
10 hours and 40 minutes.