ShawnP's Spanish Adventure

[ShawnP]

Forgot to update my language log yesterday, so I decided to do it on my lunch break.

Not much has changed in my plan. I've made it through Episode 14 of Fearless Heart (Corazón valiente). It's pretty cheesy and hard to find the motivation to continue sometimes, but I'm gonna keep at it for a while. Just when I think I want to quit and find something else, something funny or suspenseful happens and sucks me back in for another episode.

I didn't get any YouTube spanish videos in this week but I did manage about two hours of Learn Spanish & Go podcast which was at least something. I think the YouTube spanish videos from Easy Spanish, Spanish Around, or hundreds of other channels are the real bread & butter with regards to how people speak on the streets so I need to focus a little more time on it.

Lastly, I've decided to do a little more reading spanish books. I completed the first Harry Potter book a while back and already had the second one, so I just need to allocate some time to do it. I can easily finish the series in a couple months if I put some effort into it.

I've come to realize I'm not someone that can stick to a plan 100%. But as long as I do something 5-6 days a week, I'll keep progressing.

[ShawnP]

This week started off in pretty bad shape as I caught the flu Monday night and was down until Thursday. I try not to believe in conspiracies, but ever since I took that Covid vaccine I seem to get sickly more often.

I really didn't even feel like doing much in the way of spanish this week. I didn't want to listen to any podcasts or watch any YouTube videos. I read about two pages of Harry Potter II and put that down. However, I felt good enough Thursday to start watching some Corazon Valiente telenovela episodes. And since the weather hasn't been very good and I wasn't 100%, I just pretty much watched this telenovela all weekend, and somehow racked up 14 hours worth. Watching tv doesn't require much effort so that was good. Its kinda cheesy but its grown on me lately.

[ShawnP]

Another fairly productive week in the books. Only racked up a couple hours of podcasts and no YouTube videos. This week, again, was mostly spent on the telenovela Corazon Valiente.

I've realized its hard for me to sit still, do nothing, and focus on podcasts. I think I'll try and pick up some walking throughout the week and would be an excellent way to get my steps in and continue to reach my goals of 500 hours of podcasts this year. There is a recreational area about 1.5 miles away which would be a good place. I'm not too keen on walking down the road considering how crazy people drive these days.

[ShawnP]

Another week in the books. Definitely not my most productive but I managed to get a few podcasts in and seven episodes of Corazon Valiente.

My renters are moving out of a house I own about 4 hours away, so most likely I'll be headed out of town in the next few days, for a few days, to do some flooring, drywall, painting, and outside work. I'm looking to perhaps sell my house just to get out from under it and have no debt.

With that said, I'll most likely get very little in regarding telenovelas and will primarily be focusing on spanish podcasts, which has been taking a backseat to telenovelas.

[ShawnP]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm going to go ahead and update this language log on Friday. I'm heading out of town for the week to work on my house a couple hours away which I'm planning on selling. Unfortunately, I'll not have any internet access for the next week.

This week, I only got in maybe 2 hours of podcasts from Learn Spanish & Go and Charlas Hispanas. No time was spent watching YouTube spanish videos. Since I'm going out of town, I went ahead and downloaded a couple more podcasts on my ipod to give me something to listen to while I work.

On the telenovela side, I've come to the hard conclusion that I will stop watching Corazon Valiente. It's not a bad telenovela but it no longer keeps my attention. It has become a chore to sit through each 45 minute episode. I toughed it out and completed 60 episodes but I just can't see myself being able to complete the next 146 episodes til the end. I'll have to find something more interesting. For example, I watched all of Betty En NY, 123 episodes, in three weeks. Straight up binged-watched. I'll need to find something like that which will keep my attention.

That is all for now. Will follow up the weekend after this one.

[ShawnP]

Very short post today. I took all week off to go work on my house as I'm trying to sell it. I attempted to listen to podcasts as that was my only plan this whole week. Unfortunately, I couldn't concentrate on the podcasts and paint a house and fix minor things at the same time for some reason. I thought it would be the perfect way to get a ton of listening in. It was not. Back to it tomorrow.

[ShawnP]

I realize I haven't posted anything in over three weeks. In my defense, its because I've done absolutely nothing regarding spanish. I have been working at my job and traveling up to my house in GA a couple hours away and working there on the weekends to get it ready to sell. I took two days off this week to finish up. Finally, on Wednesday, three Mexican guys came and did the carpet install. House will be on the market by Monday.

However, I got seriously demoralized and, to be honest, I'm not sure if continuing with a foreign language is for me. On one hand, I've come very far with my listening. Podcasts seem to be easier. I'm understanding more and more of telenovelas (although I use subtitles.) Speaking wise, I cant hold any conversations about much of anything, just simple chit-chat type stuff and I can get by in a spanish speaking country if needed. Done it before.

Unfortunately, I tried to eavesdrop on the conversations the Mexican guys were having as I was working in the house also. I could only pick out bits and pieces of what was said. And when I mean bits, I mean a very small amount. It was like a totally foreign language. I'll be a little easier on myself as they were playing spanish music kinda loud, but the others had no problem hearing each other and speaking back and forth.

Does that ever happen to anyone and how do you get around that feeling of a big waste of time? I think I'll ask this in the Practial Questions and Advice to see how others deal with such a blow. In the meantime, I'll continue to ponder on this situation.

[ShawnP]

I've eased myself back into my spanish adventure this week after about two months off by listening to a couple of spanish podcasts and doing a bit of reading. I've noticed I've had little to no drop-off in my podcast listening but reading seems to have dropped off a bit. Of course, I've been reading Harry Potter which I'm guessing probably isn't the best books to start out with considering my low reading level.

I've been thinking a lot the last couple of days about the way I want to move forward and have decided to make some changes. Although reading, writing, listening, and speaking are all important, I've decided that I need to focus on my main goal which is speaking and listening. I'll continue to read as I enjoy the struggle but it's not top priority.

[ShawnP]

A decent week in the books considering I'm just getting back into my spanish adventure. I think my hourly numbers will improve once I get back into a rhythm.

TOTAL SPANISH TIME: 11.25 hours

Spanish TV & Podcasts:

Spanish YouTube videos: Easy Spanish and Mextalki
Spanish NetFlix movies: Animal House & La Ley de Herodes
Spanish TV Shows: Cobra Kai, episodes 1-8
Learn Spanish & Go podcast
Charlas Hispanas podcast

For some reason, I just came across Language Reactor for watching stuff on Netflix. I had Netflix many years ago but cancelled. Needless to say, I subscribed again just for this reason since I can watch many of my favorite shows and movies in spanish. I do my best not to use Language Reactor quite too often but I'll sometimes go back and watch a couple sentences over and over if I dont get the jist of what I hear at first. I think this could be a real gamechanger for someone just branching out into TV and movies.

[ShawnP]

This week was one of the best I've had during my spanish adventure and I doubled my time with the spanish language. As expected, Netflix (w/ Language Reactor) has quickly shaped up to be a gamechanger. I'll need to be mindful to try and balance out my podcast listening with TV and Youtube video viewing to ensure I reach my 2023 goals.

TOTAL SPANISH TIME: 22.85 hours

Spanish NetFlix movies: Kindergarten Cop, American Gangster, & Austin Powers/International Man of Mystery
Spanish TV Shows: Cobra Kai S1:9 - S2:5, The Chosen S1:1-6, The Witcher S1: 1-3
Spanish YouTube videos: Easy Spanish and Mextalki
Spanish Podcasts: Learn Spanish and Go & Charlas Hispanas

I will be headed out of town tomorrow for a few days to spend time with family so next week numbers won't be as good. The only thing I'll do between tomorrow and Wednesday will be listening to podcasts during my drive back home to Georgia as well as the drive back to my house in Florida.