Stelle's log - Spanish, Tagalog and Esperanto

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Stelle
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Re: Stelle's log - Spanish, Tagalog and Esperanto

Postby Stelle » Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:35 am

¡Hola amig@s!

As of today, I have officially completed the Super Challenge! *cue wild applause*

The goal: read 5000 pages (100 50-page “books”) and watch 9000 minutes (100 90-minute “movies”) between May 2014 and the end of December 2015.

The results:

READING

Reading has gotten really pleasant and easy for me.

When I first started the Super Challenge, I was able to read and enjoy novels. However, I couldn't read right before bed, since I had a hard time focusing when I was tired, and I often used a 20-minute timer so that I didn't put the book down after 10 or 15 minutes.

I can simply read for pleasure now, without having to put a timer on. I don't have the same stamina in Spanish that I have in English, but I can get lost in a book for 30 or 45 minutes before looking up to see how much time has passed. I can read Spanish novels in bed or in a hot bath, both of which would have put me to sleep at the beginning of the challenge. That's a huge win in my book! (See what I did there?)

I feel that my vocabulary has improved through extensive reading, as has my instinct for grammar and sentence structure.

LISTENING

Listening has gotten *much* easier for me. I can follow most of what I hear, assuming that it's Castilian Spanish. Sometimes I get a bit lost during arguments or when everyone's speaking at the same time, but I'm usually able to pick up the thread again without much trouble. I can generally understand Latin American Spanish very well, but it takes me a bit longer to get into the groove.

My husband watched two full series with me (3 seasons each of Isabel and Gran Hotel), so I had access to subtitles far too often. While I tried to ignore the subtitles, I can be quite compulsive about reading every word (even if I'm watching closed-captioning in English), so it was hard not to look at them. I do think that my listening comprehension would have shown even more dramatic growth were it not for the subtitles. But then my husband wouldn't have added “no lo sé” to his daily vocabulary, and that would be a sad thing indeed.

OVERALL EFFECT ON MY SPANISH

As I've already mentioned, I feel that the Super Challenge has led to dramatic improvements in my receptive abilities. It's had less of an effect on my productive language.

Over the past year and a half, I've put a much higher emphasis on input than on output. I probably spent about 3 hours per month speaking Spanish, and a tiny fraction of that writing. As a result, I don't feel that my speaking or writing have improved. If anything, they may have gotten worse.

But I do feel that I have a very strong Spanish foundation now and that I'm at the perfect place to start improving my output – all thanks to extensive reading and listening.

And now for the reviews...
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Stelle
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Re: Stelle's log - Spanish, Tagalog and Esperanto

Postby Stelle » Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:38 am

SUPER CHALLENGE – THE BOOKS

May 2014: El Mar de los monstruos (251 pages)
June 2014: La Maledicción del titan (280 pages)
July 2014: La Batalla del labirinto (313 pages)
August 2014: El ultimo heroe del olimpo (346 pages)


Oh, Percy Jackson, you annoying whiny bore.

I learned a very important lesson during my first three months of the Super Challenge: don't read things that you don't actually like! I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books of the series, but the last three books were absolutely painful. I clawed my way through them, mainly because I'd spent so much money buying the whole series, and I had already invested time in reading the first two books. Big mistake! Life is too short to read books that you don't really like.

Two important questions to ask when a book doesn't grab you:
Is it boring because it's hard? Then put it away until later.
Is it boring because it's boring? Then put it away forever.

I do recommend these books for Harry Potters fans and people who enjoy other fantasy books for tweens. The main characters are interesting, the writing voice is strong, and the reimagining of Greek mythology is fun and clever. But be open to stopping if the series loses its shininess!

September 2014: Los juegos del hambre (396 pages)
October 2014: En Llamas (280 pages)
January 2015: Sinsajo (282 pages)


I love the Hunger Games trilogy! I read the first book in English when it first came out in 2008, and read the other two books as soon as they were released. My feelings reading them in Spanish were very similar to when I read them in English: the first two books are absolute page-turners and impossible to put down. The third one plods along, and I wasn't disappointed when it was finished, both times that I read it. The first-person present tense narrative and event-based storytelling make this series a pretty easy read. I would definitely recommend this series, even to readers who aren't generally interested in young adult novels.

December 2014: Harry Potter y el prisionero de Azkaban (359 pages)
August 2015: Harry Potter y el caliz de fuego (635 pages)


There's really not much that I can say about the Harry Potter series that hasn't already been said! I never read beyond the first book in English, so I'm not a true HP fanatic like so many others. But I've enjoyed the series in Spanish so far! I prefer to split them up with other books; I'm not sure I'd be willing to spend the better part of a year reading only one series. But I will almost certainly read the last three books in the series at some point in the future.

February 2015: Días pasados (25 pages)

This is the first volume of The Walking Dead (comic book) in Spanish. I love the series in English. (I mean, I really *love* it!)

But in Spanish? Meh. It didn't do much for me. I found the constant repetition of “¡Maldita sea!” in big bold letters a little bit distracting. I did learn something new: the word “síp” (as in “yep”). I laughed when I read it in the comic, but when I checked on htlal, I found out from James29 that it's pretty common in informal Latin American Spanish. I'd never heard it before, and I have yet to come across it again, but that's probably because the vast majority of the Spanish-language media that I consume comes from Spain.

February 2015: Guía para un perro feliz (227 pages)

This is the one and only non-fiction book that I've ever read in Spanish. It was...ok. Nothing earth-shattering. An easy read, and useful to me as the new semi-owner of an adopted dog with some emotional issues. (I say semi-owner, because the dog is my in-laws', but we do a lot of the walking/training.) César Millán isn't really my cup of tea, but if you're a dog person, then this book is worth a look!

March 2015: El Sótano (271 pages)

This was the very first book that I read that was originally written in Spanish. It was a thriller set in an abandoned university building, and the jacket description intrigued me. Honestly though? It was a pretty terrible book. Not at all recommended. Still, the fact that it was my very first non-translated book means that it has a special place in my heart!

April 2015: El asesino de la vía lactea (185 pages)

This crime drama was at best a mediocre book. But the fact that it was set on the Camino de Santiago more than made up for the fact that it was predictable and a bit clunky. I loved reliving my walk – even if it was through the eyes of a cop in a car. Recommended? Hmmmm. I can't really commit. But I would definitely suggest it to anyone who's spent any time on the Camino!

August 2015: La ladrona de libros (435 pages)

This book was really a turning point for me. It was the very first time that I was able to sit and read for hours on end. I brought it with me on a summer holiday, and read the book in a week – very, very quickly for me! I loved this book, set in WWII Germany and narrated by a very sympathetic Death. It was beautifully written (and, obviously, beautifully translated). Highly recommended.

November 2015: El tiempo entre costuras (124 of 624 pages – UNFINISHED)

So I started a Spanish book club. And then quietly let it die. Oops!

I actually enjoyed this book, for the most part. It's well-written and set in a very interesting place and time (Morocco in the 1930s). But it was also slow, and not at all a page-turner. It's a romantic period drama – not a genre that I'm generally drawn to in any language. With things crazy at work, I found myself letting more and more days go in between reading, and I decided that it just wasn't the right time for me to read this book. But I will definitely finish the book in 2016!

December 2015: Apocalipsis Z (431 pages)

I read this book after quietly setting aside El Tiempo entre costuras, and it was exactly the kind of undead brain candy that I needed during such a busy time. Thanks to arthaey for suggesting it, and thanks to both arthaey and spoonary for reading it at the same time as me!

The book apparently started out as a blog that later got popular and published – and it kind of shows. In no world is this great literature. The first-person diary format didn't do much for me, and the author had certain words that he used again and again (and again): dantesca, inmisericorde and espeluznante, among other gems. A few times the main character made me roll my eyes.

edited to add: no spoilers, but there was also something in the very last section of the book that got on my nerves, enough to make me wonder if I want to keep reading the series. PMs sent to Arthaey and to Spoonary to see if they felt the same as me. I'll still give book 2 a chance.

But it was a good read overall, other than the last bit. I'll give book 2 a chance, since I've already ordered it on Amazon.

Should you read it? Well, that depends on your anwer to the following question:

How do you feel about zombie stories?

a) Zombies are awesome! The undeader, the better.
You might enjoy this book!

b) Zombies are dumb. And reading a book about zombies in public would be vaguely embarrassing.
You might want to give this book a pass.

WHAT NEXT?

I have a list of books that I'd like to read in 2016, among them:
- Como agua para chocolate (the January Spanish book club selection, hosted by Spoonary)
- the next book in the Apocalipsis Z trilogy (and possibly book three, if I enjoy book two)
- El Tiempo entre costuras (I *will* finish this book!)
- La sombra del viento
- the next Harry Potter book (maybe even two or three of the final three books – we'll see!)
- Cien años de soledad

edited to add some thoughts about Apocalipsis Z, and also because typos hurt my eyes
Last edited by Stelle on Thu Dec 24, 2015 6:48 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Stelle
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Re: Stelle's log - Spanish, Tagalog and Esperanto

Postby Stelle » Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:45 am

SUPER CHALLENGE – THE “FILMS”

I put “films” in quotation marks because the vast majority of what I watched were TV shows. I generally prefer TV shows to movies in any language. Here's what I watched, as well as where I watched it:

Frágiles (5 episodes), DramaFever
Great dramedy about a physiotherapist with unconventional methods and emotional problems of his own. Fun show, recommended. Only the first season is available on DramaFever, so I haven't yet watched the second and final season.

Los Simpsons (6 episodes), YouTube
Dubbed 1/2 hour animated comedy. I watched up to season 3 before I got a bit tired of watching. I don't know if I'll ever go back to it. But the dubbing was very good!

El tiempo entre costuras (3 episodes), DramaFever
I watched the first 3 episodes before deciding that I wanted to read the book before finishing the series. It's a period drama set in Morocco in the 30s, about a young Spanish woman who has to figure out how to survive after making some very bad personal decisions. It's a bit slow, but interesting. The costumes are absolutely beautiful!

Buffy (4 episodes), DVD
I finished up season 3 of Buffy dubbed into Spanish. I've loved Buffy since I was a teen, so it was fun to watch it for the nth time in Spanish. The voice actors were excellent on the dubbing. I especially enjoyed the actress who voiced Willow. While I had fun watching season 3, I don't think I'll ever watch the other seasons in Spanish. There's just too much original Spanish media that I could be watching instead!

Aquí no hay quien viva (17 episodes), YouTube
This situational comedy about a bunch of (generally unlikable) neighbours is a lot of fun. It's ridiculous, but funny. I don't binge-watch ANHQV; it's something that I'll just watch now and again when I find myself with some time. I did pick up an expression (“Un poco de por favor”) which doesn't actually exist in the world outside of this show. My tutor laughed out loud when I used it during one of our conversations. If you're looking for something fun and silly, then I think this show is worth checking out!

Isabel season 3 (13 episodes), DramaFever
We binge-watched the first two seasons of Isabel a long time ago, so we were really excited when DramaFever acquired season 3. This is an addictive period drama about Queen Isabel and King Fernando. The sets and costumes are stunning, and the insane drama of the royals' lives is fascinating. Highly, highly recommended! The language is very “old” though (for instance, the use of “vos”), so there are definitely better choices for learning colloquial Spanish.

Gran Hotel (66 episodes), Netflix
Addictive, addictive, addictive! This is a murder-mystery-melodrama-soap-opera-period-drama set in a big hotel in early 20th century Spain. So good! Well, at least the first season and a half were excellent. It got a little bit over-the-top in season three. But still, highly recommended! My husband and I watched this show in one giant binge over the course of a month.

El internado (35 episodes), YouTube
This show is a bit hard to describe. It's a mystery set in a boarding school in Spain. At first, I thought it was supernatural in nature, but now that I'm at season 5, it seems less supernatural and more just...weird mystery. This show is pretty addictive, and I haven't lost interest yet! A lot of the actors were also in Gran Hotel, so it's fun to see them in different roles. Definitely worth watching – if you can handle teenage drama mixed in with strange happenings.

Caso cerrado (10 episodes), YouTube
Oh dear. This “reality” show is like a cross between Judge Judy and Jerry Springer. It's...pretty bad. It's fake and loud and utterly outrageous. It's a good way to familiarize yourself with different accents and it's also good for training yourself to understand Spanish when people are yelling over each other. I can't recommend it, because that would just be embarrassing. But I did watch a good 400 minutes of Caso cerrado, and I'm not willing to say that I'll never watch it again, so take that as you will!

movies:

Tambien la lluvia (Netflix) – a very good film-within-a-film about both Christopher Columbus and the Bolivian water privatization crisis. Highly recommended.

Un cuento polar (DVD) – the dubbed version of the children's documentary. It was a fun, short movie.

Abandonar al planeta Tierra (YouTube) – dubbed documentary with interviews about what humans might do if an unavoidable disaster were set to render the Earth uninhabitable. Interesting!

Rec3 (Netflix) – rapid zombie-things at a wedding. This movie was bad. No, I mean, it was really bad. Do not under any circumstances watch this movie.

OTHER LISTENING

In addition to watching a lot of TV, I also listened to lots of podcasts that I didn't log for the Super Challenge. My favourites are all available from Spanish public radio:

Fallo de sistema (RTVE) - geek culture: video games, pop science, fantasy, science fiction
Futuro abierto (RTVE) - conversations about social issues
Nómadas (RTVE) - travel documentaries

I also listened to Radio Ambulante whenever they posted something new. At the beginning of the Super Challenge, I listened to Buenos Días América (daily half-hour news show), but I started finding it too repetitive.

WHAT NEXT?

More TV shows, of course! I'd like to watch 100 episodes in 2016. I'll start by finishing up the last three seasons of Internado, and then I'll watch El Tiempo entre costuras. After that...I'm not sure what series will be next!

edited: yet more typos! Also added podcasts.
Last edited by Stelle on Thu Dec 24, 2015 1:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Stelle's log - Spanish, Tagalog and Esperanto

Postby tomgosse » Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:57 am

Stelle wrote:¡Hola amig@s!

As of today, I have officially completed the Super Challenge! *cue wild applause*

The goal: read 5000 pages (100 50-page “books”) and watch 9000 minutes (100 90-minute “movies”) between May 2014 and the end of December 2015.

!Felicidades! Usted es maravilloso. :D
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Re: Stelle's log - Spanish, Tagalog and Esperanto

Postby Spoonary » Thu Dec 24, 2015 11:09 am

¡Enhorabuena Stelle! Mientras leía tus listas de libros y series, iba apuntado algunas cosillas para leer/ver yo en el futuro, así que gracias :D

¿Harás otro Super Challenge el año que viene?
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Stelle
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Re: Stelle's log - Spanish, Tagalog and Esperanto

Postby Stelle » Thu Dec 24, 2015 4:53 pm

¡Gracias Tomgosse y Spoonary! Creo que sí, habrá otro Super Challenge en mayo 2016.
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Re: Stelle's log - Spanish, Tagalog and Esperanto

Postby Allison » Sun Dec 27, 2015 3:41 am

Congratulations on completing the SuperChallenge! What an accomplishment!

Thanks, also, for your book and TV reviews and your great list of resources at the beginning of your log. They're a great help to someone like myself who is starting to self-study Spanish and trying to figure out what's available and what's useful. I believe I found out about CVC and GLOSS from your list, among other things.

As far as Caso Cerrado, I tried out an episode a while ago, and you're right that it's fake and loud and outrageous—and all the more fun for being so! If it were remotely real, I would worry about everyone involved, but because it's so outrageous, I was able to let go and laugh at it.
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Stelle
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Re: Stelle's log - Spanish, Tagalog and Esperanto

Postby Stelle » Sun Dec 27, 2015 4:02 pm

Allison wrote:Congratulations on completing the SuperChallenge! What an accomplishment!

Thanks, also, for your book and TV reviews and your great list of resources at the beginning of your log. They're a great help to someone like myself who is starting to self-study Spanish and trying to figure out what's available and what's useful. I believe I found out about CVC and GLOSS from your list, among other things.


Thanks for the congratulations! And I'm glad that you were able to find some useful resources. I think that Spanish must be one of the most fun languages to self-study, what with all of the great resources available. ¡Buena suerte!
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Stelle
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Re: Stelle's log - Spanish, Tagalog and Esperanto

Postby Stelle » Mon Dec 28, 2015 10:17 pm

Well, we're coming to the end of 2015. I guess it's time to see how far I've come, and think about where I want to go next!

Spanish

This year was mostly about the Super Challenge! Receptive language (reading, watching) took precedence over productive language (speaking, writing). I saw significant growth in my reading and listening comprehension. I would have liked to be at the C1 level at the end of the year, but I'm not sure if I made it. In oral language, sure. But I'm almost positive that I'd fail the writing section of an exam. Overall, I'm pleased with my progress in Spanish - but I wouldn't call my growth dramatic. Slow and steady, slow and steady. I'm ok with that. Spanish will be a lifelong love affair for me. There's no need to rush.

What next? I'd like to improve my productive skills. I'll keep up with my weekly Skype sessions. I'd also like to increase my written output (which should be pretty easy, since my written output has basically been zero up until now!). I've ordered Gramatica de uso del español C1, so I'd like to work my way through that. I haven't done any formal grammar study in over a year, but I think that I'm at the right place for it now. I will also be signing up for another full Super Challenge when it starts again in May 2016.

Tagalog

I'm just not as committed as I need to be to advance in Tagalog. I'm not at all interested in Tagalog-language media, so I'm slowly meandering my way through resources for learners without supplementing with native materials. I've definitely improved over the past year. I can understand conversations better, and I can also read better. But my productive language is still very, very weak. I can't say that I'm satisfied with my progress in 2015, but that's a direct result of me letting months go by without focusing on the language.

What next? I know what my long-term goal is in Tagalog: to be able to engage in informal conversation. Nothing more, nothing less. To do this, I think that the most important thing that I can do is build fluency islands and practise conversation. My plan for 2016 is to commit to weekly Skype tutoring sessions. I would also like to *finally* finish my beginner textbook (Elementary Tagalog). Once I finish Elementary Tagalog, I think that I'll focus on GLOSS lessons. I would also like to try L-R, but that will depend on getting my hands on some audio.

Esperanto

Esperanto was kind of a surprise! I never really had much of an interest in Esperanto. I tried a few lessons on Duolingo just for fun - and suddenly found myself wanting to learn. I started learning (very casually) in August, working on it two or three times a week. I'm about halfway through the Duolingo tree. I also completed two Lernu courses for beginners (Bildoj kaj Demandoj and Ana Pana), and watched all of Mazi en Gondolando on YouTube.

What next? I'm going to keep my Esperanto study pretty low-key. I'd like to finish the Duolingo tree, as well as Ana Renkontas, an intermediate course on Lernu. I'd also like to keep up with Memrise. At that point, I'll reevaluate my feelings about Esperanto. If I'm still enjoying the language (and I expect that I will), I'll move on to Gerda malaperis. I don't know if I'll focus at all on productive skills in Esperanto, although I would be open to some conversation if the opportunity arises.

A few other thoughts

    - I've decided that I want to keep this log, rather than start a new one. I would like to update this log at least once a week in the coming year (with the full understanding that this probably won't happen during really busy months).
    - I will not be starting any new languages in 2016. My overall goal is to improve the three languages that I'm already studying, as well as give some TLC to the languages that I grew up in.
    - I would like to read 12 books in each of my three strong languages. The hardest one for me will definitely be French, since I've historically had a hard time finding French novels that engage me. I plan on combing through the logs of some forum peeps who participated in a French Super Challenge for recommendations.
    - We will be doing some traveling in 2016, although we haven't yet ironed out the details. I'm hoping for the opportunity to do some Spanish or Tagalog immersion, either in Spain or in the Philippines. We'll see what happens!

Thanks for the motivation, support and inspiration both here and on htlal! Thanks also to the team that worked so hard (and continues to work so hard) to create and maintain this space for all of us. Happy language learning, everyone!
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James29
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Re: Stelle's log - Spanish, Tagalog and Esperanto

Postby James29 » Tue Dec 29, 2015 12:31 pm

You may already be aware, but the McGraw Hill Advanced Spanish Grammar is identical to the original Grammar de Uso series. It is just noticeably cheaper and of lower quality paper, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/McGraw-Hill-Educa ... sh+grammar
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