Christi's Spanish and Korean studies

[Christi]

I know this is from an old post but I just wanted to say that voorpret is my new favorite word and even though I don't speak Dutch at all I think I'm going to start using it when I speak English because I don't think we really have an English word that means the same thing.

Please feel free to quote as many old posts as you like! I'm happy to have my blog read and for people to find something useful or fun in it

Originally I wasn't planning on updating, but I found a short Christmas mini-series I wanted to share. It's a historical family drama, no Hallmark vibes here! It basically follows a family during Christmas set in 3 different time periods.

The language is suitable for lower levels, I think. The pronunciation is clear, pacing is slow and the vocab i the first episode was very basic. There are 3 in total and I plan on watching the other 2 this week (before Christmas Eve lol).



As for the goals I set last time: I met almost none of them! Buuuuut, I had some really good reasons.

Reason 1: I went to Spain! Spoke Spanish when I didn't feel like I was bothering people (had a conversation about comics and feminism in a bookstore, it went great), translated an exhibition on Japanese art that was completely in Spanish. Had fun, weather was nice, no lockdown, good food <3
Bought a bunch of books too. I suffer from language resource hoarding more about this in 2022 though!

My other reason: a lot of Netflix shows are being taken down so I decided to watch them while I still could. I'm currently watching a Korean show called Save Me; about a family that gets tangled up in a cult. It's chillingly good! I really recommend it. Last day to watch is the 31st of December and it has 16 episodes.

So basically my month has just been filled with a lot of Netflix. And Baselang. I have 3 hrs planned this week. Am actually thinking about taking the dele b1 in May. I know Baselang also offers dele classes and I looked at some mock exams and tbh, I think I might already be b1ish? The reading part seemed fine, and the topics I discuss during Baselang are way more complicated than the oral exams I saw on YouTube. I'd just need to knuckle down on some more grammar. I still don't know the subjunctive or pluscuam perfecto. And actually start writing. I haven't had any reason too. But there's a writing challenge on Reddit and I'm thinking of joining in 2022.

So yeah, a lot to ponder during hols.
I'm off, time for some more Netflix

[Cerebral_Arbitrage]

Originally I wasn't planning on updating, but I found a short Christmas mini-series I wanted to share. It's a historical family drama, no Hallmark vibes here! It basically follows a family during Christmas set in 3 different time periods.

The language is suitable for lower levels, I think. The pronunciation is clear, pacing is slow and the vocab i the first episode was very basic. There are 3 in total and I plan on watching the other 2 this week (before Christmas Eve lol).

Thanks for the recommendation. I just finished binge-watching it today. You are right. It's a good Christmas drama without the cheesy Hallmark formula. Very refreshing compared to the usual Christmas programming.

[Christi]

Hi everyone, it's been a while. I've missed this forum!

Last time I update my log was right before 2022 and I've since only visited the forum a couple of times. I went into 2022 all enthusiastic, but then life hit me as it sometimes does ( people dying, medical scares..). At first I kept up studying, made my way through Spanish Aula 3, read books and felt at a comfortable B1 level. Then decided to prioritise other things. I picked up language-learning occasionally, but then something new would come along and hit me. And well, when it comes to the really important things in life languages just don't make the cut

But now I'm back. If all goes well I might enter a new career soon-ish. Would need to probably spend about 50 hrs a week on it, maybe more. So I decided I should take advantage of the time I have now and become comfortable in Spanish again. Maybe go to Spain in September/October.

I'm slowly easing myself into the language again by reading an abridged version of Luis Sepúlveda's Mundo del fin del mundo. It's a narrative biography about Chilean writer Sepúlveda, communist militant, opponent of Pinochet's regime and also a fervent environmental activist. He worked with Greenpeace for many years, campaigning against whaling. This book is mostly about how he came to oppose whaling and join Greenpeace. It reads like a modern Moby Dick, very grabbing! Lots of interesting new vocabulary too and because I'm reading an abridged version it's not too heavy on the maritime terms and pesky details about campaigns as the original supposedly is.

So that's my goal for this week. Finish this book, look up verb conjugations again *cries* and read all the notifications I've missed after such a long absence. Sorry if I end up reviving old topics by replying .

[Christi]

No update, but I found something cool I want to share!

There's a short 7 day course on Moluccan Malay you can follow for about 7 euros!
Only valid until today. I just paid for the mini-course since resources for this language are hard to find and I think this organisation is planning on creating more courses so would like to support that.

For anyone who's curious here's the link (in Dutch, but Google Translate should work fine).

[Christi]

Hola qué tal?

Things ended up occurring sooner than planned, got the new job sooner than expected so I moved my vacation plans forward and have been in Spain for a couple of weeks, olé!
Went all in and decided to attend a language school too. It wasn't terribly expensive and I figured I might as well see what's it's like once.

So, I got placed in the b1 class which I'm very happy about as this confirmed my own idea about what level I'm on. The school is one taking a communicative approach so there are a lot of speaking exercises with classmates, some listening exercises, a bit of writing and occasional reading of short articles. My vocabulary is quite high, so the articles are usually quite easy. My listening skills need some work though. I guess that's typical for independent learners though.
I'm still learning a lot of new words though, in class but also by going around the city reading tourist explanations in Spanish and going through graded readers. Have filled my notebook with about ~500 new words so far. So super nice. I've also learned a bunch of saying like estar como una rosa, ser coser y cantar, estar enchufado etc. It's been real fun to learn those since their literal translations often don't make much sense (someone is like a train, qué??..)

I do most of my daily activities in Spanish. Sometimes people speak to me in English, but most people stick to Spanish and then we have a conversation about whatever (I'm suprised there aren't more tourists here, how come? Or ,I used to work in your country when I was young). Real confidence grower for sure!

As for class, I felt like my first week my Spanish was at its best. After that week I suddenly started mixing up verb conjugations and words, despite knowing them very well and never having done so before. I wonder if this is a consequence of being around learners most of the day or if it's just an effect of having a lot of information delivered to my brain? It's really weird and a bit of a let-down too since I actually feel as if my Spanish has gotten worse

One drawback of going to school all day (5 hrs, plus tours in Spanish for 2-3hrs) is that I feel like I haven't had enough time to really consolidate everything I've learned. I don't feel like I've really internalized any knowledge, though I surely must have done so since I've been using Spanish so often. But I think next time, I will take things a bit more easy instead of also filling my evenings to the brim.

My time here has almost come to an end so I'm trying to make the most of it as much as I can. I got a graded reader that I hope to finish(El camino de las estrellas), if I don't manage to read it all then I'll just snap some photos of the remaining pages lol. I also really, really want to master the present subjuntive before I leave. I was ill when it got covered in class so am kinda bummed about it..
Am instead going to look for some videos on it and see if I can find some reading materials that use it so I can internalize it a bit more..

Until next time!

Ps: if my new job allows for enough time off then next year I'd like to visit the Moluccan island of Indonesia. If anyone has any resources about Moluccan Malay, please, please share them with me. Or regular Bahasa Indonesia. I think it might be a good idea to learn some since I think English proficiency in that region might be a bit low.