James29's Spanish and French Log

[Bebetter]

Hey James, I have been a huge fan of the log for a while now and I have a quick question. What websites have been most successful for you in finding language partners? I have been having terrible luck finding someone to speak with on a weekly base. Thank you!!

[James29]

I've been doing one Assimil Portuguese lesson per day for 29 days and I notice my understanding progressing really fast. Romance language transfer is awesome.

Don't tempt me with Portuguese! I've thought about it. It would likely be very easy to pick up do to my Spanish (and limited French). You are right, language transfer between romance languages is great!

[James29]

Hey James, I have been a huge fan of the log for a while now and I have a quick question. What websites have been most successful for you in finding language partners? I have been having terrible luck finding someone to speak with on a weekly base. Thank you!!

Hi, Bebetter, thanks for following the log. I am glad you like it and I hope it helps in some little way. Regarding your question, I've been thoroughly disappointed by the current websites available for finding language partners. In the past I used Sharedtalk which was a website owned by Rosetta Stone. For some reason they closed down the website. I found that was, by far, the best site to find serious people. Nowadays it seems pretty difficult as most of the websites seem more like dating apps. Conversationexchange.com seems to be the best one now, but that is certainly not a ringing endorsement. I've found that the sites that do NOT have photos of members in their profiles seem to work best. If there are photos in the profiles people just seem to be looking for something other than language learning. A while back I used italki and found it ok. I mostly just keep in touch with my old language partners I made years ago. They are "friends" now so it is kind of cool. I hope that helps.

[James29]

Tomorrow I'll be tied up so I figured I'd update my log now when I have some time.

I was traveling a bit this week so did not do as much language learning as I usually do. When I am at home I watch telenovelas while on the treadmill. On the road I run outside and watching telenovelas when I run would be dangerous.

I'm trudging through Sobreviviendo a Escobar and Juana Inez. I'm not crazy about either. I might quit Escobar. I am on episode 18 now. It is bearable, but I'm just not getting into the story whatsoever. I just despise that whole way of life and find nothing interesting about it in any way. Juana Inez is really not my cup of tea either but I only have two episodes left so I'll finish it out. It seems like there are too many subtle (and not so subtle) political subplots put into the show. I could do without that.

I watched a few random movies with dubbed Spanish on Netflix this week. Dubbed Spanish is pretty easy. In many ways I like it as it does not really require any thinking. I just watch and enjoy.

I had a couple talks with language partners. That's always fun. I also went to my regular meetup. Nothing new there.

I've quit listening to VOA news on the way to work. I should try to get back into that habit. That was a really great way to get news and I think it was a great way to get in some easy Spanish with varying vocabulary. Maybe I'll try to pick that back up this week. My morning commute is pretty short (about 10 minutes) but my evening commute (because of traffic) is pretty long so maybe I'll try to do it in the evening.

My Spanish is pretty darn solid. I think my accent is quite acceptable. I'm starting to get more comments/questions about my Spanish accent than my gringo accent. People still tell me I have a Spain accent. That's likely still due to all that time I did at the outset with Assimil.

I've been thinking about what I'll do with my languages over the next year or so. I'm going to be doing the same thing until the end of October and then I'll change things up a bit. My French is not good enough to enjoyably read or watch TV. So, I'll still watch Spanish on the treadmill (unless someone can recommend a really easy French series that has accurate subtitles and is not a show for kids). My treadmill time is going to go down significantly so I'll have time for other things.

I've been doing bits of French and it really does interest me as I am improving. It is a very slow process because I am only reading through 3 or 4 Assimil lessons a week. I'm on Assimil lesson 95 right now. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it by the end of October and I'll start something new with French.

My French reading is not too bad. If I think I can generally understand most of each new Assimil lesson. All I need to do is read the lesson through carefully and I can then read it through again without a problem. I can read basic books for kids, but they don't interest me too much and they are still pretty hard for me. I read the first Alex Rider book and enjoyed it, but it was tough work. I'd like to get better before getting back into something that difficult.

With Spanish at a high level I don't see much improvement despite the hours and hours of time I am using the language. With French, however, I see improvement with just an hour or so a week. This makes it tempting to just take six months and do all French all the time and see where it takes me. Maybe I'll do that. November would be a good time to start.

[James29]

I'm still chugging along with my Spanish and French.

With Spanish I am still watching telenovelas every morning when I run. I've made some progress through Sobreviviendo a Escobar. I think I am at about episode 24 or 25 now. It is not really getting any better. It annoys me when telenvelas have actors simply disappear and they don't address the reason why the character is in the show anymore. It just seems like poor writing. In this show there is just too little real story and way too much killing, drug running, back stabbing and money chasing. For now I'm going to continue it, but I would not be surprised if I quit it sometime.

I finished Juana Inez. This is not bad if you like this kind of thing. Historical/biographical type show. For Spanish learning I'd say it is a pretty good show. I did not care for it because I'm just not really into this kind of thing.

I watched the first episode of Cuatro estaciones in Havana. Wow, I loved it. This is my kind of show. It is about a gritty middle aged single detective. I thought it was really well done. It was a good balance of excitement, intrigue, suspense and romance. I'll keep watching it. Too bad there are only four episodes. Hopefully the remaining three are as good as the first.

I had a nice long talk with one of my Spanish speaking customers. I do great in one on one conversations with people I have spoken with before. I felt like a Spanish speaking super hero.

I did my weekly meetup like always.

In French I'm still just doing Assimil lessons whenever I have a few minutes here and there. I usually do one on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I did lesson 98 this morning so I am almost done with my first wave through. I'm simply reading the lessons twice. I've done lessons 1-49 pretty thoroughly. I'll do lessons 50-113 another time. It definitely helps. I'm learning in much more of an Assimil-ish way with French. I am just acquiring the language. I don't think about it too much. I just let my mind soak it up. I cannot really explain the language or use it actively, but I am definitely soaking it up for passive/reading use.

I have watched four or five episodes of Marseille on Netflix over the past month or so. I've watched it in English so I know the story. I watch it with audio description in French and with subtitles. I'd be lost if I did not already know the story. I'm not good enough to get too much out of TV yet in French.

So, it looks like I might have to take a work trip to Costa Rica. I'm not quite sure of the plan, but I think it will happen. This is pretty cool and it was not on my radar. Over the past several days I've been trying to research Costa Rica as it is not a place I know too much about. Hopefully this will all work out and I'll get to take a few extra days when I am down there. We will see.

My basic plan for the near future is to continue watching TV in Spanish and Assimil in French until the end of October. I'll then reassess the situation. Some of it will depend on whether or not I'll be going to Costa Rica. I'd like to read a book in Spanish. I'd also like to transition my Netflix/treadmill time into French. We'll see.

[James29]

I'm going to update my log today because I am just hanging out laying low today. I way overdid my long run and bonked in a pretty scary way. This happens to me a couple times a year. I should be ok by tomorrow. I just need rest and to eat/drink a ton.

I'm continuing with my TV watching in Spanish. I've watched a couple more episodes of Cuatro Estaciones en la Habana. I love it. The lead character is great. He is a gritty divorced murder investigator. He has a pretty pathetic life which includes sitting around and getting drunk with his friends. Then, during the day he goes off and kicks some butt, catches bad guys and solve a murder. He'll hook up with a hot woman along the way and think his life is going to get better. Then, at the end of the show she dumps him and was just using him for something so he goes back and drinks with his buddies. That's the basic story line of the episodes. It is really well done. I actually might watch the episodes again. I have been having a bit of a hard time following the plots of the episodes. I think that is more due to the fact that the details are pretty important.

I'm beginning to notice that I've seen quite a few telenovelas. I am seeing numerous actors that I have seen in previous telenovelas. It is pretty funny. Barbara from La Nina is the ex-wife of the cop in Cuatro Estaciones. The student from the farm in La Nina (forget his name) is the brother of the female guard in Sobreviviendo a Escobar and she was the sexy head bad guy in La Nina. One of the leaders in the prison in Sobreviviendo a Escobar (Abel) was the brother of El Capo en that telenovela. One of the cartel leaders in El Chapo was the evil colonel in La Nina. The murdered president in Ingobernable was also the star of Los Miserables. The list goes on. The actors seem to get recycled into everything.

I'm still chugging along with Sobreviviendo a Escobar. I just don't understand how a show like this could have a big audience. I'm just too stubborn to quit anything and the audio narration is pretty good for Spanish.

I had a long and intense meeting with two Spanish customers. The meeting was about an hour and it felt amazing. It has been a while since I have had a meeting like this. I can definitely see that I have continued to improve. My comprehension is MUCH better than it was a year or so ago. I just listen and automatically understand. It is just natural. It makes me realize that I can really do my job well in Spanish.

I believe I am finally going to hire a native Spanish speaking employee. I've had feelers out for a while but nobody appropriate has ever come along. I'm in talks right now and hope it works out. This could turn into a really good thing for my business if it works out well. Plus, I'd be able to practice Spanish with someone at work!

I usually hit my local meetup, but nothing new there.

In terms of French, I read a couple more Assimil lessons. I also watched another episode of Marseille. My interest in French seems to decline when I have a good week in Spanish.

Anyway, that's it for a while.

[jeff_lindqvist]

I'm beginning to notice that I've seen quite a few telenovelas. I am seeing numerous actors that I have seen in previous telenovelas. It is pretty funny. Barbara from La Nina is the ex-wife of the cop in Cuatro Estaciones. The student from the farm in La Nina (forget his name) is the brother of the female guard in Sobreviviendo a Escobar and she was the sexy head bad guy in La Nina. One of the leaders in the prison in Sobreviviendo a Escobar (Abel) was the brother of El Capo en that telenovela. One of the cartel leaders in El Chapo was the evil colonel in La Nina. The murdered president in Ingobernable was also the star of Los Miserables. The list goes on. The actors seem to get recycled into everything.

I can relate to this! At a time when I watched a lot of (kung fu) movies from Hong Kong, I saw the same actors again and again. And in the case of dubbed movies, they used an even lower number of voice actors.

[the1whoknocks]

Cuatro estaciones looks good but is challenging my comprehension skills a bit. Some people I understand perfectly, and others leave me saying, “say what now?” I think I’ll watch this one slowly. Thanks for the mention.

They definitely got me with the trailer and the online articles. As you've mentioned, it’s been a trudge getting past the 12th episode of Sobreviviendo a Escobar. Episode 25 looked encouraging because of a familiar face, but things didn’t go as hoped. You might like start liking things a bit more somewhere around episode 40; that's when the plot seemed to start developing, for me. Without saying too much, the series probably should have gotten to this point much sooner. One thing I did get from the series is a slightly better understanding of the contoversy surrounding JJ's release. However, the series itself could have been better ... or, maybe I'm just tired of narconovelas.

Apparently there is a documentary about him (not the Netflix one) and he used to work in the US after the end of the cartel. It was a conversation in passing, so I may have mis-understood.

Oh, and you're probably thinking of Victor from La niña (prison guard's brother). Don Miguel (Belky's father) plays a Colombian government official in season 3 of Netflix's Narcos. It's always cool being able to recognize an actor/actress.

Any thought on your next novela? Or, are you thinking French?

[James29]

Cuatro estaciones looks good but is challenging my comprehension skills a bit. Some people I understand perfectly, and others leave me saying, “say what now?” I think I’ll watch this one slowly. Thanks for the mention.

They definitely got me with the trailer and the online articles. As you've mentioned, it’s been a trudge getting past the 12th episode of Sobreviviendo a Escobar. Episode 25 looked encouraging because of a familiar face, but things didn’t go as hoped. You might like start liking things a bit more somewhere around episode 40; that's when the plot seemed to start developing, for me. Without saying too much, the series probably should have gotten to this point much sooner. One thing I did get from the series is a slightly better understanding of the contoversy surrounding JJ's release. However, the series itself could have been better ... or, maybe I'm just tired of narconovelas.

Apparently there is a documentary about him (not the Netflix one) and he used to work in the US after the end of the cartel. It was a conversation in passing, so I may have mis-understood.

Oh, and you're probably thinking of Victor from La niña (prison guard's brother). Don Miguel (Belky's father) plays a Colombian government official in season 3 of Netflix's Narcos. It's always cool being able to recognize an actor/actress.

Any thought on your next novela? Or, are you thinking French?

Was the model that got busted taking cocaine to New York in some other novelas? I'd be curious which ones.

I just got past the point where the fast forwarded 5 years (somewhere around episode 30 or 32). Hopefully it will have some more plot now.

Cuatro Estaciones is definitely a good show. Don't feel bad about comprehension. I found it pretty tricky. I did not find the Spanish too hard, but it was just hard to follow everything that was going on.

I think I'll start Club de Cuervos next. The third season is coming out soon so there should be about 40 episodes to work through. It has audio description too. It also looks a bit different which will be nice. I always like watching "different" things in Spanish.

[James29]

I've had some major developments in my Spanish journey. Before I get to the good stuff, however, I'll update the log with my weekly efforts.

I'm still doing Sobreviviendo a Escobar on the treadmill. I was a bit sick this week so I scaled it way back on treadmill time. With the extra time I decided to just rest and relax with a good book. I started Atlas Shrugged. The last time I read it was just about five years ago. It is amazing how time flies. I used it as one of my first real LR books. It is a GREAT book for learning Spanish. It is the longest professionally made Spanish audio book at over 60 hours. The narrator uses a pretty good balance of speed and emotion. He is easy to listen to for long stretches. The story, of course, is legendary and is one of the few books that can be read over and over again. This will be my fourth time through the book. This week I read 108 pages. These pages would be like two in any other book because the font is so small. Only 1144 pages to go

I also do the regular meetup and some odds and ends every now and then. I went to a Venezuelan restaurant and had a nice chat with the owner and his mom. I have no shame anymore with my Spanish. I'm like a bull in a china shop. I just blast out the Spanish confidently and don't care if I come across as a total goof. The Venezuelan guy spoke quite fast and unusual, but I had no problem understanding him.

Now for the fun stuff. I hired a Mexican woman to start working for my business. I am really excited. This marks the beginning of a new era in my Spanish journey. I am now going to actually start making the last seven years pay off! Spanish is no longer just a hobby... it is business! I'm also starting my Spanish speaking advertising campaign on Monday. I'm starting small but I think I'll get a great response. We'll see what happens. I'm going to reassess the situation after two months and then again after four months. I've designed this in a way where it is not really going to cost me any additional money. My business is growing and I needed to hire a new employee anyway. I just kept insisting that we hire a bilingual employee. Finally we found someone with the right skills. I'm also going to be piggy backing the Spanish advertising on the regular English campaign so it won't cost much additional money. I've wanted to do the advertising for a long time but just never felt it was a good idea to do it without a native speaker in the business.

I always kind of kept this a "secret", but ever since I started my Spanish journey I knew my real goal and motivation was to make money using Spanish. The opportunity is so obvious - especially in my industry. My hope is to get a team up and running and become dominant in my area among the relatively small Spanish speaking population. Then, hopefully, I'll be able to expand into a city a couple hours away where there is a very large under served Spanish speaking population. I really think it will all start coming together. It will take time, but I am motivated!

In terms of my Spanish journey, I'll just keep chugging along with Netflix and Atlas Shrugged for a while. I'd like to spend some time studying advanced grammar. I've had the C1/C2 grammar book staring me in the face for about two years.

The "bad" side of all the exciting developments in my Spanish world is that I've neglected French entirely. I don't think I spent any time doing anything in French this week. French was always a diversion from Spanish and I don't mind that I have been neglecting it.

Well, I'll just keep chugging along with Spanish. If I begin using Spanish on a daily basis at work then I won't feel bad slacking off a bit and spending some time with French.