Nótaí galaxyrocker - Ancient Celtic Languages, (Old) French, Latin, Old English

[galaxyrocker]

I have trouble finding resources for classroom Spanish. It's a very practical type, and there should be more of it, but there isn't. Maybe a kind forum member would like to help us out.

Secondary maths, actually. I'll be working with our ELL teacher in a collaborative class, but she doesn't speak Spanish either (they don't want the kids speaking it). I will, of course, be doing most stuff in English, but I'd love to have recourse to Spanish to just be able to get to know the students better, and to explain things they're struggling with in English. That is, if they understand Spanish; most of our students are from Guatemala, and actually speak Chuj or some other Mayan variant as a first language.

[galaxyrocker]

It's been a hectic few months, getting back into the swing of things in a new school year. Really hectic, in fact.

Unfortunately, I'm absolutely horrible at establishing routines and discipline, so my language practice and use has been wavering and highly variable. The good news is that my class of 14 Hispanic students has been an absolute wonder to work with. So while I'm not really actively studying Spanish, and indeed am forgetting some of the conjugations I once knew, I'm being exposed to it pretty much unceasingly for an hour a day, five days a week, in a really natural context. I've definitely noticed that I'm able to pick out words more, even if I don't know what they mean. And there are times where I understand what the students are saying, and am even able to translate some mathematical stuff into Spanish for them. The highlight of that was probably when I worked through the steps to solving 2-step equations in Spanish, and the things they needed to look for. It was nice to see it finally click once they knew how to tackle the problems (and they all actually even volunteered to come do them on the board for each other; it was great). I really need to get into more focused Spanish studies to really be able to help them more; they're definitely more than willing to put up with my bad Spanish and help me practice -- I think they find it fun to be the teacher for once!

I also bought a book on Chuj for those students from Guatemala, to try to help them where their Spanish fails, but it's not the best design. It's not laid out in straight forward lessons and, since it's in Spanish, it's a bit difficult for me to parse currently. I haven't had time to sit down and do much with it, sadly.

As for Irish, it's just been my general practicing stuff. Lots of chats in and about it on Discord and with my native speaking friend. I've done some reading in it, including finishing another set of short stories last weekend. But, the big thing is that I'm now enrolled in an online Higher Diploma (H.Dip sa Chultúr Dúchais) that is solely through Irish. Almost all the readings we've had have been through Irish, and all the interaction is. While I can't get detailed feedback about the mistakes I make from the instructors, I send my discussion questions to my friend who edits it for me, and I'm hopefully going to send my essays to some other contacts for proofreading.

I've also been given an amazing list of pre-Caighdeán materials on Connemara Irish, specifically the South Connemara area. Since they were published before the Caighdeán, a lot of them have dialectal features which grants me even more exposure to the language of the area. I've also found several linguistics books related to the area. I've been able to get a lot of these and get them scanned thanks to inter-library loan. I'd totally buy them, if they were affordable and easy to find. I've found some of them, and am hoping to be able to negotiate with the bookseller that has them for a deal for all three, since they're even more niche than normal Irish language boos. There's one more that I'm looking for, but it was published in 1938 so I haven't had much luck, except with the reprint, which has been highly standardized. I did email the Irish Studies Librarian and the University of Notre Dame (thanks to whoever mentioned all those American universities with Irish programs), however and she had a contact for me who might be able to help me (a book dealer in Galway). If that doesn't pan out, I might contact the others and see what information they have. But, I really do love owning these old Irish books, especially because they just seem much more authentic since they're in the Irish that's actually spoken in the Gaeltacht areas. And old books are cool.


But overall, I need a routine. In everything. My life in general is pretty much just waking up, going to work, coming home and sitting on Reddit or Discord or some other time-wasting site. I need to put that to good use and pick up some more hobbies and get back focused on studying Spanish. But that's neither here nor there currently, and hopefully with my week off this coming week (yay fall breaks), I'll be able to get things sorted out and ready to go.

[galaxyrocker]

So, another month has passed since I've updated here, though I do continue to lurk.

As I mentioned last time with Irish, I'm currently enrolled in a course and I've noticed how far my ability has come. I'm easily able to read most of the stuff given by the lecturers, and rarely have to look up words. I've gotten to the point where I can go by context clues alone, and am even reading at a decent pace in Irish. It's super encouraging, and I think that I might call myself C1 at the end of this year of the course, at least in reading. Which is really pushing me to take the actual C1 exam. I've looked at it, and think I can do it all except for the fact that most of my Irish use is currently very non-standard (I've been focused on a dialect), and there's one part where you have to fill in the blank, which I'm completely clueless at. And, unfortunately, I don't really know a good way to practice that.

As for Spanish, my ability in that is growing by leaps and bounds, even without me doing much formal studying (though I should, just to solidify and understand things a bit better). This has been solely because of my hispanic class. They're great kids, although there are some issues between some of the students of different ethnicity. Which is a shame, as the rural area the school is in means they all get looked down on as "Mexican", even though the vast majority aren't from Mexico. I've also learned that there's another Mayan language spoken by some of the newer ones, that isn't Chuj. I don't remember which one currently, but that's piquing my interest.

However, as to how it's improving my language ability: I'm translating stuff for them. I teach the material in English, but they often struggle understanding the vocabulary. So I had been switching to copying from an online Spanish textbook I had found (I copied it using LaTeX to allow me to learn that at the same time), but I noticed some of them would look at it confused or would just read the same page over and over. Then it dawned on me: they can't read Spanish. Which, given that their first language is Mayan, means they're illiterate in both of their two main languages, something I can't even imagine. It's gotta be discouraging for them, especially given how much they're told to read in their classes. No wonder they're always frustrated at schoolwork, even the ones who are great (and many don't have formal education at all, or hardly any past basic elementary level).

So I've switched to showing videos. One or two days a week, we'll find videos on Youtube in Spanish covering the topics we've discussed, and we'll watch those. It helps them a lot more than reading ever does, though I think I'm still going to keep doing the notes for those who can read them, and to help my own practice with TeX and Spanish. Listening to the videos is great for me, too, because I understand the math terms in English, and can often understand what's going on based on what they're doing in the video, giving me some important context clues. I'm half-tempted to register for a B1 or B2 exam next summer, and then go do classes right before it to really force myself to get to that level. Unfortunately, Malaga Institute doesn't offer one that starts when I can...though maybe they can arrange something if I email them. But then I'd also have to give up my C1 on Irish next year, as I don't think I could focus on both like that.




I have started reading more, and, from being 7 books behind schedule of my 52 when I returned from Ireland/Spain in July, I'm now two ahead of schedule. Mostly a mixture of fiction and non-fiction in English, though several collections of Irish short stories thrown in there. I've currently started one that's written in nice Donegal Irish, Seal in Nepal, which is basically a travelogue of Cathal Ó Searcaigh's time in Nepal. I want to visit Nepal someday, so it's interesting to read his views and experiences. Plus, it's in great Irish. This, coupled with the course and other things I do (like chat to friends on Discord and Telegram) really helps keep that up. I'm still on the lookout for more books on or in South Connemara Irish, and need to email some booksellers about possibly making a deal, and helping me find another one. Other than that, I'm just collecting data about all dialects of Irish, and storing what I can of it. Digital repositories are great when there's so few books about, and they're difficult to get!

Anyway, that's it for that. In other news, I've been getting back into the gym, which is great. Need a good routine to be consistent in what I do instead of just focusing on inclined treadmill/biking (I can read while doing that, what can I say?!) and dips/chin-ups. Thankfully a colleague (leathbhádóir in Irish, for those interested) has a good routine he's going to send me tomorrow. Then it's just managing things and figuring out what I want to do next year with regards to the tests and schooling and career and such...But that's neither here nor there right now!

[galaxyrocker]

I've been on a book-buying spree, and man is it fun (though sadly not on my wallet!) I was at a Half Priced Books outlet in my town the other day, and stumbled across Introducción a la lingüistica española and couldn't not buy it. It's been interesting so far, discussing all the languages of the Iberian peninsula, focusing mostly on those Romance ones in Spain, as well as the issue of the name of the language. In Chapter 2 now, and I've found it fairly easy to read, thanks to a lot of cognates. I've also found a "History of Christianity" book...In Spainsh! I ended up picking up some other books I found at used bookstores on Friday, including: Better Reading Spainsh, which has readings then asks you comprehension questions, with them progressively getting harder in a variety of subjects. It'll be very useful. Dialectología Española, which is a 1990s reprint of a 1960s survey book on Spanish dialects/languages, all in Spanish. And a historical linguistics book, once again in Spanish: Fundamentos teóricos y prácticos de historia de la lengua española. Can't help but say I'm super excited.

As to Irish, still doing my course, but I tried to get a good discount on three of the Connemara Irish books I want...Unfortunately couldn't talk the seller down to $200 with shipping. Maybe I'll pick them up next time when I'm in Dublin. Hopefully. Otherwise, I've been reading Seal in Nepal through Scribd. It's beautiful prose, and fairly dialectal (though I different one from the one I'm focusing on). I'd love to buy a copy, and might eventually; shipping from Ireland is a killer, though...

I also found an interesting blog through /r/languagelearning the other day that some here might be interested in. It's called The Untranslated and it's about a guy who learned languages to read untranslated literature. It's really neat, and fun to read his stuff. I hope others find it interesting! Also learned my library has Mango available. Might use that for listening for Spanish help too. So many things/ideas and never enough time.

[galaxyrocker]

So it's been a long while since I've posted anything here, though I've been lurking the entire time. Basically, nothing has happened in any of my languages since the last update. I continue to use Irish regularly, at least typing, even though I can feel my Irish ability getting weaker; I really need to move to Ireland (which is something in the works for 2020). I try to read, but it's not going well; I've been on the same book for almost a year now! My Spanish is back to basically non-existent. I remember some of the various verb tenses I learned last summer, but can't really read anything.

However, I am going to Mexico Saturday for a month. All immersion course, with a homestay with a family that doesn't speak much English. So I'm hoping that I'll really be able to pick up a lot and force myself to use Spanish much more. Maybe I'll even get my pronunciation down, which is the main thing I want to work on, along with just becoming comfortable in the language. Hopefully I'll be able to read by the end of the course, which will do me wonders in being able to keep it up. Though, to be honest, I probably could read now if I wanted to; it brings up a really philosophical point on how lazy I am currently. I also wonder if I don't have ADHD. Oh well, that's neither here nor there.

[MorkTheFiddle]

However, I am going to Mexico Saturday for a month.

Wow! Have a great time and a great learning experience
!

[galaxyrocker]

Thanks Mork! Really going to try to make the most out of it.

I've eaten one meal with my host family so far. They're really great, and I can already feel how much I'm going to improve. My biggest thing is going to be really putting myself out there and making myself use Spanish. Thankfully, not many in the town seem to have great English, so I'll hopefully have no other choice. I smartly decided to bring along every Spanish textbook I've ever bought (so mine from Málaga last year, as well as Schaum's Outline and the one from the course I took pass/fail at uni) and will be working as much as I can out of those. I also brought along a graded reader with questions and Borges, just for motivation. I'll make sure to do at least a lesson in the reader a night, hoping that it'll really help boost me.

Right now, vocabulary and speaking are my worst two issues. I'm decent enough at reading stuff, at least that geared towards learners/kids (my books from Málaga are all in Spanish, for instance). I can generally get the gist of things that are spoken too, though mostly only when they talk slow. It's rough at times, but I feel I've got great room for improvement if I do muck it up by relying too much on English.


I also need to not get ahead of myself, but I've found a Buddhist Discord sever that does some discussions about Pāli, so I might be getting back into that later on too.

[galaxyrocker]

Well, given that I've been back in the States for almost a week (wow, that month went by quickly!) I figured I should do a write-up on my time in Mexico.


Overall, it was great and extremely useful. The program, Na'atik, was in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, a town in Quintana Roo. Very few people there spoke English; in fact, my teacher only spoke broken English, and my host family only knew a few words (at least, that's all they let on that they knew). So I was forced to use the Spanish I did know, which was great. The teacher of my course was a certified school teacher (he's actually going to get his masters this coming year), and it was great practice as he had several methods to encourage you to speak and practice. The focus of the program was much more on using what Spanish you did have rather than going through a set curriculum and expanding it. Being a teacher that needs to use Spanish, it was what I needed. Doubly so with the host family. However, I do wish my Spanish was just a bit higher before going. I was short on vocabulary, and, while I knew the main perfect, both past, present and future tenses, I was limited as I didn't know much about the conditional or subjunctive. And we didn't really end up covering them either, as I had others in my class the last two weeks, which ended up being an amazing review.

I started using Anki while I was there, to help me remember words. I'm not a fan, but I figured it'd be the best bet in that situation. Right now, I really only have two decks: verbs and body parts. My setup is to have the English on the front, so I'm forced to recall the Spanish for it. I've found this works a lot better at recall, as opposed to solely being recognition of the word. However, I haven't done much with it since I've gotten back, but plan to go through my old Spanish textbooks and add more verbs and create other thematic decks to expand my vocabulary. I did read several kids books while I was there, which was great as I know now I can read stuff in Spanish. I also watched several movies, though with the help of subtitles (in Spanish, mostly, though sometimes in English with rewind), and tried to watch a TV show here, but I really don't have the patience for them. Maybe if I found one slow and interesting enough, I could do it; I tend to lean towards documentaries, because at least I can learn during them. I just need to find more at my level (and would appreciate any recommendations books and tv shows). Then, it's just a matter of finding people here and buckling down and learning the conditional and subjunctive and such. I really kinda wanna set a goal of passing the DELE B2 next year, going back to Málaga for their preparation program. Though my current goal is to move to Ireland for grad school (not in Irish, but in a field that'll lead towards a job), so that might not be financially feasible currently, unfortunately. Maybe I'll win the lottery!


In other news, I haven't done much with Irish. I need to finish the Irish book I've been working on for, well, years, and expand my vocabulary. I feel I should probably start using Anki for that, but man I dislike flashcards (might set myself a little programming challenge of finding a way to make them fun; any ideas?) I'd love to take the C1 next year, and might have an actual good chance of passing as a friend of mine from the Gaeltacht mentioned the idea of staying with his parents and working for them over the summer, in exchange for room and board. All through Irish, since my level is high enough; it'd also hopefully give me the chance to really meet locals there and immerse myself a lot more than I was able to do in the various courses I attended.

I've also started a book called A History of Opera and it's exactly what I didn't need right now, as it makes me want to learn Italian, German and French! On top of Pāli still, too. Wanderlust is a hell of a drug, coupled with (possible) ADD and just plain not needing things (and procrastination!), and it makes it hard to get anything done besides sitting around playing games and reading.

[iguanamon]

...The program, Na'atik, was in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, a town in Quintana Roo. Very few people there spoke English...

Many years ago, I was stuck in Felipe Carillo Puerto in the middle of the night, while on my way to Chetumal. it was pre-internet (or rather pre- "useful" internet). I was on a bus headed out of Cancún and the bus broke down in the middle of nowhere, sometime after midnight. We were picked up by a passing cattle truck and dropped off at Felipe Carillo Puerto at 3 in the morning. I had the Lonely Planet guidebook with me and I consulted it for any information about the town. In pure "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" fashion it said "of no interest to travelers".

At the time, my Spanish would have been around B1. I needed it because there was nobody who spoke any English... especially at a bus station in Felipe Carillo Puerto at 3 am. Believe it or not, I was able to get tortillas, rice and beans at an open restaurant at that time while waiting on the bus to Chetumal. It really puts your language level in focus when you need vocabulary and don't have it. You either become good at using what you do have, quickly (circumlocution may be awkward but it is useful), or you're in trouble!

So, we eventually got onto a bus for Chetumal, at the Belize border, which passed through the jungle darkness of Quintana Roo, stopping everywhere with people getting on and off the bus at random stops in the pitch black darkness of the middle of the wilderness, sometimes with a chicken in tow. Your post brings back a lot of memories!

It's hard to recommend a show as I don't know what you mean by "slow and interesting". As far as documentaries go, I quite like the documentaries on RTVE from Spain, but I find the documentaries on Deutsche Welle to be more attention grabbing and varied. Deutsche Welle Español Documentales. DW's documentaries have more of a global focus and the narration is pan-hispanic. You might like them.

If you want to do a native TV series, at this level (I don't really know what your level is. Maybe A2?), I would recommend something with which you are familiar in English with a Spanish dub and srt files. Still, if you don't want to go through all that, I started with Catalan by watching "Els germans Kratt" (without subtitles) - the Catalan dub of "The Wild Kratts", which is an animated show about animals on PBS. In Spanish, it's "Aventuras con los Kratt" in Latin America and "Los Hermanos Kratt" in Spain. Even without subs, it is fairly transparent. Of course, my language background helped me a lot. "The Wild Kratts" has the advantage of being aimed at pre-teens, so vocabulary won't be too simple and yet, at the same time, not too advanced. The shows are about 25 minutes long, so there's not a huge time investment involved. I'm sure you can find them on youtube.

[MorkTheFiddle]

Sounds like a marvelous trip.
I was going to recommend Deutsche Welle, but iguanamon beat me to it. If you subscribe to Netflix, you may find a series there that interests you. (The only reason I subscribe to Netflix is for language-learning purposes. Normally I avoid subscription servies, but I like the fact that some of the TV shows and movies have subtitles or closed captioning in the TL. I find that very useful.)