The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

[StringerBell]

How do you make your parallel texts? I have done this for an entire book, but it was really laborious and extremely time consuming. I hope you have a better strategy than I do!

[iguanamon]

Thanks for dropping by, Mork and Stringer Bell.

How do you make your parallel texts? I have done this for an entire book, but it was really laborious and extremely time consuming. I hope you have a better strategy than I do!

I don't use software. I do it manually and I rarely do a whole book. I wrote a post about it Using GlobalVoices.org to make simple parallel texts here on the forum a couple of years ago. Sadly, the photos I used to illustrate the post vanished.

As I said in my last post on the previous page of my log, I did this book a chapter at a time. Each chapter was 20-35 pages of parallel text on letter sized (A1) paper. I use my word processor- OpenOffice writer. I create a two column one line table. I page through on each column about seven or eight pages so to make it render when I copy and paste. I paste L2 on the left and then format the text to Times New Roman font size 12. I then copy L1 and paste it on the right and format it to match- if necessary.

First of all, there has to be good source material to begin with. Some books are translated very faithfully by their translators. There are also some that aren't. It helps to have an idea about the language first of all so the breaks can be followed- but it can be done with little knowledge of L2 as well... provided there are enough clues available. Clues can be proper names, sentence count, dialog markers, etc.

With "The Glass Key", I was lucky to have a fairly faithful modern translation in epub format and the original in epub as well. I opened them up in Calibre (free open source ebook management software) and copied from there. I eliminated the chapter titles and sub-chapter numbering to avoid formatting issues. The book was divided into 10 chapters, so I did one chapter at a time, which took me about 20-25 minutes at a time. I can deal with that. Reading a parallel text like this will take me four or five days (at a half an hour a day; one chapter at a time)... which isn't a bad payoff considering the time invested in creating it. The other advantage in doing it this way is that if I don't like what I'm reading, I can drop it without too much time and effort invested.

Of course, not all books are formatted into neat chapters and sub-chapters. For those, it's harder but still doable by limiting myself to a set number of pages, say, 20 or so. I basically create my own chapters in this way. Electronic bookmarks must be created wherever one leaves off and wishes to pick up again when using this strategy.

My guess is a lot of people get turned off by the time and effort involved because they think they'd have to do a whole 325 page book at one go. Breaking it down into manageable bits is a great way to still get the benefit without that much time and effort involved. You don't have to do the whole thing in a massive session. Do the first 20 or 25 pages. Read it. If you like it, do another 20 or 25 pages of parallel text, etc.

Magazine articles, like GlobalVoices, are great for creating parallel texts because they are all human translated and faithful to the original source material. Plus, they're short- three to four or five pages max.

It can be hard to find, to impossible to find, ready-made parallel texts for sale. The market for them is just way too small to interest many publishers. So, make your own. Using translated novels from English, especially novels or books with literary value and universal appeal, means that a learner can take advantage of analyses, study guides, quizzes, spark notes and reviews in L1 and maybe even find them online in L2 as well- especially if the language you study has a literary tradition and a good educational system.

Of course, like anything else, practice makes perfect. The more of these you make, the better and quicker you will be at creating them. You'll also know when a translation is not going to work out so well.

People are all the time griping about how hard and frustrating it can be to read in L2. Some of this difficulty and frustration comes from "not being ready" to read because they don't have enough vocabulary or a high enough level in the language yet. Some comes from having to look up too many words. A good parallel text can help to solve that problem. (Repetition is present within books. The book of Genesis in the Bible is chock full of it, for example.) They won't be exact, word for word, literal translations. Still, enough will transfer over to help solve the problem of how to gain vocabulary without hours and hours of srs (for those who don't like srs- it's an alternative). Parallel texts are a bridge to reading solely in L2. Eventually, learners must wean themselves off of reliance upon them- just like being too reliant upon subtitles in watching video or a transcript in listening to audio. I like to use the parallel texts for a quick check on a guess/guesses and as a source of a possible definition (I always mark my notes on them with a question mark) when whatever dictionary I am using doesn't have the word I need. I use the L1 sparingly, but when I need it, I'm glad to have it.

Ar some point, I should to go back and update my post on how to make parallel texts with new photos to illustrate the post; more thorough advice on what is good source material; and how to look for clues when manually aligning text. Next rainy day, maybe.

Italiano

Era una fresca limpida giornata d'aprile e gli orologi segnavano l'una. Winston Smith, col mento sprofondato nel bavero del cappotto per non esporlo al rigore del vento, scivolò lento fra i battenti di vetro dell'ingresso agli Appartamenti della Vittoria, ma non tanto lesto da impedire che na folata di polvere e sabbia entrasse con lui. L'ingresso rimandava odore di cavoli bolliti e di vecchi tappeti sfilacciati. Nel fondo, un cartellone a colori, troppo grande per essere affisso all'interno, era stato inchiodato al muro. Rappresentava una faccia enorme, più larga d'un metro: la faccia d'un uomo di circa quarantacinque anni, con grossi baffi neri e lineamenti rudi ma non sgradevoli. Winston s'avviò per le scale. Era inutile tentare l'ascensore. Anche nei giorni buoni funzionava di rado, e nelle ore diurne la corrente elettrica era interrotta.

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him. The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a coloured poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a metre wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features. Winston made for the stairs. It was no use trying the lift. Even at the best of times it was seldom working, and at present the electric current was cut off during daylight hours.

I don't speak Italian, but with my background in the languages I know, I can read it to some extent. I know this isn't exact, but it should be good enough for an intermediate learner to use it to good effect.

[StringerBell]

Thank you for explaining that! When I have an epub form of an ebook, I use GT to get my English version and essentially copy+paste into a word doc. I was doing 1-2 chapters at a time, but now I just use a separate English version of the same book.

[iguanamon]

When I take a break from the log I don't fool around- two months! Eight weeks is the length of US Army Basic Training... two weeks longer than the 6wc. So what have I been up to? Well, work, family, a visit to the mainland US and trying to reason with hurricane season, which there is no reasoning with it but it makes a good rhyme (shout out to Jimmy Buffet).

I've been reading, listening, speaking and writing as usual. When I was up in Miami with my son, he's 15 and lives with his English mum up North in England, he got a veritable smorgasbord exposure to cultural diversity. I helped a couple of Haitians buy tickets for TriRail, spoke a lot of Spanish and some Portuguese too.

Haitian Creole
I am now up to 2 Wa Chapit 9 of Labib la- 2 Kings Chapter 9. It's a good read- Game of Thrones in the ancient Middle East almost. There's lots of ambition, apostasy, righteousness, miracles, politics, war, philosophy and prophets mixed in there too. I still come up on unknown words from time to time, enough to keep it interesting. I'm also reading and listening to the companion chapter study of Atravè Labib most days. I'm also re-reading "Fòs Lawouze"- yon Adaptasyon Kreyòl pou Jak Woumen / Jaques Roumain (Maude Heurtelou). It was originally written in French as "Gouverneurs de la Rosée" / "Masters of the Dew" in English. I have about a quarter of the way to go to finish it again.

My favorite Haitian band, Lakou Mizik, just early released their new album recorded in New Orleans called "HaitiaNola". It's a play on words with "Hispaniola" that reflects the historic interchange between Haiti and New Orleans that's been going on for centuries and is still going on today. Here's their take on the classic New Orleans song "Iko Iko" with Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the 79rs Gang- Iko Kreyòl:

Kilti'm se identite'm Ayiti ak NOLA / Yaya ti kongo yaya kongwe se frè ak sè nou ye / Pou sak an fas nou nap pare, kenbe djanm di nou la / Tanbou frape rasin mare se Kreyòl nou ye CHORUS Hey now, hey now / Iko iko an day / Jockomo feenah ah na nay / Jockomo feena nay (2x) / Nan mizik yon sel nou ye, drapo’n reprezante / Pase anwo pase anba kanmem nap renkontre / Le’n jwe kòne w’a armonize twompet ak twonbonye / Pwouve se fanmi nou ye se kreyòl nou ye CHORUS Said I’m Louisiana Creole and they Haitian Kreyòl / From New Orleans to Jacmel, said the band be raisin’ hell / Hey, hey, Mama, say nobody don’t worry / Big Chief tell the story of the morning glory / Lè'n desan nan zon Treme pase sou Sanbèna / M'ap gade jan nou sanble jan istwa'm konen / Marenn mwen ak parenn mwen chita nan lakou a / Paren mwen di maren mwen, li damou mizik sa...lavwa! CHORUS My face painted red, on a Mardi Gras Day / Spy on the corner, do whatcha wanna / Say Lord, have mercy, gonna kill em’ in the worst way / Way downtown, no turnaround.
My culture is my identity, from Haiti to NOLA / Spirits of congo we are brothers and sisters / We’re ready for all that is against us, stand firm and tell them we’re here / The drum beats and the roots entwine, we are Creole We are united in music, represented by our flags / Whichever road we take we are going to eventually meet / When we play the rara cornet we harmonize with trumpets and trombones / Proving that we’re family, we are Creole / When I go to Treme or walk down St. Bernard / I see how we look the same, and I think about our history / My godmother and my godfather sitting in the backyard / My godfather says to my godmother, that he loves this song… singing!

Portuguese
Yeah, I still get in plenty of Portuguese, everyday. I saw this video a few weeks ago and just absolutely adore the host's accent. She's talking about the influence of Greek words on the Portuguese language. Nothing new for us here, but in the comments below the video, the Brazilians love it.


Catalan
Reading is much easier now. I have a Catalan speaking friend on Twitter and have been writing more with him in DM's. Right now I'm reading the Catalan translation of Dashiel Hammet's "Red Harvest" / "Collita Roja". I love classic "noir" genre fiction.

Spanish
Spanish is always with me, every single day. It's still baseball season and I'm enjoying watching the Sunday night game of the week on ESPN Deportes en español.

Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol
Reading Melahim Bet Kapitulo 9 / 2 Kings Chapter 9 in Rashi script. I am getting much better at reading Hebrew proper names and place names. I love it.

Occitan Aranés
Emulating Expug by doing clozemaster Occitan - Spanish. I probably shouldn't because it is so very similar to Catalan. I think I will eventually learn it mainly because I am fascinated by all things Iberian, minority languages and the Vall d'Aran looks like an amazingly beautiful corner of Spain. For a language of 5,000 (It's a dialect of the larger Gascon variety of Occitan. It has official status in Catalunya) or so speakers in northern Catalunya, it is quite well supported and seems to have more than enough resources available for me to learn it. I could see it becoming my version of Ogrim's Romansch Sursilvan.

There's a page with downloads of translated classic novels like "Anna Karenina" and "Es Miserables" in pdf. So that means an easy way to make parallel texts. I have a bilingual Catalan / Aranés dictionary; a grammar; verb conjugation tables; online TV.
Any language that has someone like Alidé Sans singing in it is definitely worth learning.

L'empoderament vigorós arriba de la Vall d'Aran amb Alidé Sans. Una cançó impressionant, teatralitzada, que parla de la dona que, farta de rentar els calçotets al marit, s'embarca en altres causes... In, inde, independència... la paraula prohibida, o no! Catalan
Vigorous (female) empowerment arrives from the Vall d'Aran with Alidé Sans. An impressive, theatrical song that speaks of a woman who is fed up with washing her husband's underwear. She starts to get into other causes... Independence... the forbidden word, or not!

But... if I start learning it seriously now... my fear is it will be bye bye Catalan. The languages are similar and I don't want to mess up my Catalan!

Mezanmi ! Mèsi anpil pou li tou sa m te ekri isit la jodi a. Orevwa pou kounye a.
Até logo.

[MorkTheFiddle]

Ah, the first song had me tapping my feet, and the second left me out of breath! Most if not all of the Greek words Portuguese borrowed English also borrowed.
Welcome back to the Forum!

[iguanamon]

Haitian Creole
I have finished my reading of Liv 2 Wa (Book of 2 Kings) in the Old Testament Bible, along with the accompanying chapter studies of the book. I only occasionally come upon a word I don't know or can't figure out from context. As I've said before, the Bible is a dense read. Add in seven pages of a chapter study of Atravè Labib (Thru The Bible) and a half an hour podcast of the same and it's quite thorough.

Next up is Liv 1 Kwonik. In some ways it feels like taking a step back as it starts off with the genealogy of David and then the story of King David, again, which I went through in the Books of Samuel already but it is more than that.

Liv Kwonik yo pa yon senp kopi de liv Wa yo. An reyalite Kwonik pa Kouvri menm bagay avèk Wa yo, yo pa egal. Tradiktè Grèk yo te rele de liv Kwonik yo «bagay yo te pase sou yo yo.» Sa se yon bon tit men li pa totalman enklizif donk li limite e non sifizan. Liv Kwonik yo bannou plis enfòmasyon toujou pase sèl sa yo te omèt ou inyore nan lòt liv istorik yo. Nou kwè liv Kwonik yo antre nan kontèks sa nou ta ka rele Lwa Repetisyon ou Lwa rekapitilasyon an ke Setespri a itilize pou ranfòse enpòtans kèk enfòmasyon pou nou nan Bib la.

My translation: "The Book of Chronicles isn't a simple copy of the Book of Kings. In reality Chronicles does not cover the same things as Kings, they are not the same. Greek translators called the Book of Chronicles "things left out". That's a good title but it isn't totally inclusive because it limits it and isn't sufficient. The Book of Chronicles gives us still more information beyond what was omitted or ignored in the other historical books. We believe the Books of Chronicles enter in the context that we would call the Law of Repetition or Law of recapitulation in which the Holy Spirit uses it in order to reinforce the importance of some information for us in the Bible."

So, I'll have to accept that. I'm sure it will give me a better perspective on what was going on in Kings. Chronicles is limited to the Kings of the southern kingdom of Judah and mostly ignores the story of the Kingdom of Israel to the north. Of course, my interaction with HC isn't limited to Bible study. I have also continued reading "Fòs Lawouze" (Masters of the Dew) again and keep up with the news in Haiti... which continues to be not so good.

Lakou Mizik has come out with a new "Windows 98 Mix" of Iko Kreyòl and an actual video to go along with the song. It follows the "Krewe du Kanaval" a New Orleans Mardi Gras "Krewe" (parade troop), featuring the rappers from the 79ers Gang, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Régine Chassagne- lead singer (a Haitian-American herself) of the group Arcade Fire.


Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol
Regular readers will know that I also read each chapter of the Old Testament in Ladino (in Hebrew Rashi script) as well. So I finished Melahim Bet 2 (2 Kings) and now I can't find a copy of Kronikas I; II- Divrei HaYamim Alef, Bet in Rashi . So I asked a Ladino linguist via twitter for help and... no, he didn't know where I could find a copy. (I wrote in Ladino and he responded in Ladino.) I'm not really surprised. The Tanah was actually translated into Ladino by Christian missionaries in the late 19th Century. The scriptures in Ladino services would have been read in Hebrew- with glosses in Ladino and Ladino Komplas (hymns).

So, being sad that I can't continue my journey through the OT in Rash, I went searching in one of my favorite repositories of free Ladino downloads (in Rashi) the Biblioteca Virtual del Patrimonio Bibliográfico from Spain. Instead, I found more secular Rashi books to download and read, which I did. The website is a bit awkward and difficult to figure out how to download a book, but a whole book in pdf format can be downloaded. If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll write a post with instructions.

I substituted reading "La ermoza istorya de Robinson o la mizerya" (Robinson Crusoe) which was published in Istanbul in Rashi at the turn of the 20th Century. I'd picked it up before and read some of it but dropped it when I made reading the OT my main reading in Ladino. The word "translation" isn't quite accurate as they are more like "adaptations". A lot of liberties have been taken with the originals. I may, at some point, transliterate some of these creative commons licensed books and make a parallel pdf text out of them to help those who may wish to learn how to read in Rashi script- Rashi on one side and Latin transcription on the other. It would be nice if I could eventually figure out how to retype in Rashi rather than use the original scans. On second thought, well with all their imperfections, that's what learners would be training to read. Sometimes letters are missing and there are even serious typos. These parallel texts would be in full letter sized pdf's which would make for easier reading on tablets. I could do a novel and maybe Genesis. Then post them online for free download. Here's an unpolished crude example of what I'm thinking about:



Catalan
Politics in Catalunya is getting interesting as well at the moment after the recent sentences handed down by the Spanish court over the independence vote a couple of years ago- which I won't get into. Let's just say we live in turbulent times. I'm still watching "Plats Bruts" the 20 year old Catalan comedy and have picked up a new series I like called "Katalonski".

Halldór Már, el presentador del programa "Katalonski", un músic islandès resident a Barcelona, viatja a diferents llocs del món per trobar-se amb gent que no és catalana però que ha après el català i als quals aquesta decisió els ha canviat la vida.
Vol conèixer qui són aquests "estrangers" o "gent estranya" com ell, que, sense viure a Catalunya, parlen i pensen cada dia en català i, des del seu país, estan pendents del que passa a casa nostra.
Com diu la cançó que el Halldor ha fet per a la sintonia del programa: "No hi ha estranys en aquest món, només amics que encara no has conegut".

My (loose) translation: Halldór Már, the presenter of the program "Katalonski", an Icelandic musician living in Barcelona, travels to different parts of the world to meet up with people who are not Catalan but who have learned Catalan and to whom that decision has changed their lives. You'll want to know who these "foreigners" (perhaps a play on words with "strangers") or "strange people" like him are, who, without having lived in Catalunya, speak and think everyday in Catalan and, from their country, are up to date on what's going on at our own home. As the theme song that Halldór composed for the program says: "There are no strangers in this world, just friends we haven't met yet". Hmmm, where I have heard that before?!

So, this program is tailor-made for a Catalan learner just like me. It's a fun, and well, just a nice hour long program. Last week's show was in São Paulo, Brasil. Who knows, maybe I can get him to the Caribbean some day

M te fini pou kounye a. Orevwa. M a wè nou pita

[Ezra]

Haitian Creole
So, being sad that I can't continue my journey through the OT in Rash, I went searching in one of my favorite repositories of free Ladino downloads (in Rashi) the Biblioteca Virtual del Patrimonio Bibliográfico from Spain. Instead, I found more secular Rashi books to download and read, which I did. The website is a bit awkward and difficult to figure out how to download a book, but a whole book in pdf format can be downloaded. If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll write a post with instructions.

Indeed it is not easy to figure it out! I've tried to download a random book, but it seems it only offers to download one page at a time...

[iguanamon]

... it is not easy to figure it out! I've tried to download a random book, but it seems it only offers to download one page at a time...

Yes, I said the website is not designed to be user friendly. It certainly doesn't make it obvious how to download an entire book. So, here's how to download a whole book from the library.

How to download whole books from the BVPB library website:
1) Go to the home page of the library Biblioteca Virtual del Patrimonio Bibliográfico
2) Search for a book or category- I used Ladino; Judaica; Hebreo; etc.
3) Click on a book link or the image.
4) Wait for the page images to load.
5) Click on an image with writing on it.
6) Click on "Descargar" (Download). Avoid "formato Mets".
7) The next dialog will give a choice between "imagen JPG" or "PDF versión imprimible"; click on pdf; once the dot is selected for pdf a new dialog will open which will give more options.
8) The new options under pdf will be: "El documento entero" ( this is the whole book containing all downloadable pages [gives the number of pages for the whole document- páginas] ), look for the blue 'Descargar' link; "Una selección (select the pages you wish to download"); "Página actual (current page)"; "Rango (range of pages)".
9) Click "El documento entero" to download the whole book. Around page 5 or 6 or even page 10-12 (depending on the size of the document) there is a page which has a measuring scale and color palette to the left. I have to crop that page after downloading to the same size as the others in order to make tablet reading easier.

This is a hassle, but it's the only way at present I can download books in Ladino Rashi script. These are out of copyright and shared under a Creative Commons license by the library. I am sure the library has other collections in other languages as well, but I have not explored them. It would be nice if the library made it easier to download, but they haven't. Still, it is possible to do so following the instructions. I hope this explanation helps.

[iguanamon]

Do you have any go-to method of practicing writing? I ask because some of your languages are off the beaten path. For example, I've never seen a Youtube video titled "How to learn Ladino in 3 days" , and there probably aren't any workbooks. Though I'm curious about your other languages, too. I myself often want to practice writing French and Spanish, starting with baby steps, but I don't know what format to try: diary, mock letters to Clemenceau or Isabel Allende, translating something simple. I am not interested so much in corrections, that can come later. Any hints will be much appreciated.

How I practice writing is different yet similar in each language... I'll explain that:

In Spanish, I've been writing for a long time, mostly with people. I started off writing letters to shortwave radio stations, tourism departments and some Army friends, pre-internet. Years ago, there was a website specifically for Spanish-speakers learning English and Enlish-speakers learning Spanish where they could practice their writing and be corrected by each other and I did that for six or seven months. Then I went to email, twitter, whatsapp, and instagram. Facebook would be useful too, but I have issues with facebook and don't/won't use it (I know whatsapp and instagram are owned by FB, sadly). Something I did last year, and am considering doing again next year, was to write for a creative writing course from the Escuela de Escritores in Spain. There, I got lots of feedback from my fellow students and professor. It was a lot of fun.

With Portuguese, I started writing with my tutor as I was learning. Now, I mostly write in whatsapp, email, twitter and instagram. I should look into an online creative writing course in Brazil.

Writing in Haitian Creole is pretty much just email with a friend who left island a few years ago and twitter. I used to write the exercises in the DLI Haitian Creole Basic Course when I was learning. It really forced me to think in the language and this activity reinforced my other skills by making the effort.

Lesser Antilles French Creole- I only write on twitter rarely. I speak maybe one or two times a month.

Catalan- Again, twitter and whatsapp.

My Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol writing, since I can't type in Rashi script with a keyboard, is in Latin script on a Ladino forum and twitter/email occasionally. I got a nice email from an elderly Ladino-speaker in Turkey a couple of weeks ago who gave me access to the writings of the minor Prophets in Rashi for download, I was looking for Chronicles but was happy to get these as a bonus. Without writing to the gentleman, I wouldn't have found these anywhere else. I practiced writing the letters in Rashi before I started learning to read in it. I have a pdf booklet that teaches reading Solitreo script (Ladino Rashi cursive script) with about 15 - 20 sentences per page on a 150 page 8.5" x 11" pdf. I copied these out as best I could in a notebook. There are also youtube videos with solitreo/soletreo instruction. There is indeed an online youtube Ladino course- albeit with a Hebrew base.

There is a website called Ladinotype but it saves the results to jpeg and uses the Latin keyboard to convert. It is not 100% accurate. I could write in standard Hebrew script (Meruba), but it feels like a lie to me, for lack of a better word, to use modern Hebrew script. I don't write very much on the Ladino forum because I am not even Jewish, let alone Sephardic. They have a lovely community interaction over there and I don't want to be seen as a cultural usurper/interloper. I do have a connection with a few Ladino-speakers outside of the Ladino forum that is useful enough to me.

One of my favorite authors in Spanish wrote in her twitter account that to be a good writer a writer must be a good reader and a good listener. I couldn't agree more. That's where the patterns are seen, noticed and learned. The writing hones those skills too. All the skills reinforce each other to some degree.

Over the years, I've seen several learners here on the forum who write their logs in their TL's, or at least a portion of them. Brun Ugle, Eido, Iversen, Ogrim and now- Purangi, come to mind as some of my favorite examples. Even if not receiving corrections, most big languages will allow a learner to self-correct by google/corpus searching and using Linguee/DeepL, grammar books/dictionaries, etc to a surprising extent. So the lack of correction isn't all that necessary for the most part. I think the benefits of writing a log (or portion) in TL for an intermediate learner are very beneficial. It forces learners to think in TL and output in TL in a low pressure situation. Mistakes can be self-corrected to an extent and learned from even without a native-speaker correcting it... provided that said learner takes care to self-correct.

Of course, there are some members who don't go above and beyond the call of duty in self-correction and I tend to stay away from their writing in TL. I get plenty of reading in in a day in all my languages and don't need to read non-native writing for maintenance. I enjoy reading members' logs who take care with their writing in TL. I've written in TL here on occasion, but if I write in most of my languages, most people aren't going to understand or even be able to plug it into an online translator. So, it just seems like it would be a solipsistic exercise for me to write in Ladino, LAFC or even HC.

So to answer your question, anything that gets you writing is good. A review or synopsis of a book, short story, review of your day, your opinion about a topic, using random writing prompts. Engaging on twitter with native-speakers, writing TL comments on youtube, taking an open courseware course or a MOOC, a facebook or whatsapp group, your log, email, anything really-

diary, mock letters to Clemenceau or Isabel Allende, translating something simple.

These are really brilliant ideas. What would I say to Clemenceau, to Mark Twain, to Fernando Pessoa? I have had the pleasure of writing to Ms. Allende on twitter and receiving an actual response from the author herself!!! I love being able to tell an author how much I appreciate their work.

Many of my favorite authors, poets and artists have twitter accounts. Such accounts not only give me a chance to interact with these folks but also to read about what they're finding interesting and their take on the world and current events. Imagine if you had a bunch of TL friends who told you everyday what they were doing, reading or found interesting enough to share- that's what twitter can do for you. I can consult my twitter feed while I'm waiting for things or during down time. It can lead you to people, places and things you didn't know existed before. I find the site more useful for my language-learning than the forum at this stage.

So, Mork, you are on the right track to get on the write track!

Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol Rashi mini Challenge
As an aside, I am thinking of starting a mini-challenge in the new year, inspired by Iron Mike's TY Old English Holiday Mini-challenge (might do this one, you never know!), for Spanish-speakers (native and L2) to learn how to read Ladino in Rashi. I would provide (or make) parallel texts using original Rashi and my own or transliterated Latin script. I'd provide some vocabulary notes and/or an open source dictionary... if it isn't too much work. Someone with B2/C1 Spanish should be able to get almost 85-90% of Ladino immediately. Don't even think about trying to learn Ladino without a high level of Spanish... having another romance language would be a huge plus! If there's interest, I'll consider it. There are several short (free and legal) pdf's available... or I could do a longer work like some chapters from Genesis; Gulliver's Travels; Robinson Crusoe; El shastre etc. I'd put the works up online with free download.

[reineke]

Something I did last year, and am considering doing again next year, was to write for a creative writing course...It was a lot of fun... I started writing with my tutor as I was learning. Now, I mostly write in whatsapp, email, twitter and instagram. I should look into an online creative writing course in Brazil...

One of my favorite authors in Spanish wrote in her twitter account that to be a good writer a writer must be a good reader and a good listener. I couldn't agree more. That's where the patterns are seen, noticed and learned. The writing hones those skills too. All the skills reinforce each other to some degree...

I think the benefits of writing a log (or portion) in TL for an intermediate learner are very beneficial. It forces learners to think in TL and output in TL in a low pressure situation. Mistakes can be self-corrected to an extent and learned from even without a native-speaker correcting it... provided that said learner takes care to self-correct.

Of course, there are some members who don't go above and beyond the call of duty in self-correction and I tend to stay away from their writing in TL. I get plenty of reading in in a day in all my languages and don't need to read non-native writing for maintenance. I enjoy reading members' logs who take care with their writing in TL. I've written in TL here on occasion, but if I write in most of my languages, most people aren't going to understand or even be able to plug it into an online translator. So, it just seems like it would be a solipsistic exercise for me to write in Ladino, LAFC or even HC.

So to answer your question, anything that gets you writing is good. A review or synopsis of a book, short story, review of your day, your opinion about a topic, using random writing prompts. Engaging on twitter with native-speakers, writing TL comments on youtube, taking an open courseware course or a MOOC, a facebook or whatsapp group, your log, email, anything really-

diary, mock letters to Clemenceau or Isabel Allende, translating something simple.

These are really brilliant ideas. What would I say to Clemenceau, to Mark Twain, to Fernando Pessoa? I have had the pleasure of writing to Ms. Allende on twitter and receiving an actual response from the author herself!!! I love being able to tell an author how much I appreciate their work.

Many of my favorite authors, poets and artists have twitter accounts. Such accounts not only give me a chance to interact with these folks but also to read about what they're finding interesting and their take on the world and current events. Imagine if you had a bunch of TL friends who told you everyday what they were doing, reading or found interesting enough to share- that's what twitter can do for you. I can consult my twitter feed while I'm waiting for things or during down time. It can lead you to people, places and things you didn't know existed before. I find the site more useful for my language-learning than the forum at this stage.

"Si quieres dejar de hacer lo que haces, deja de tratar de ser lo que no eres.
Si eres águila, no tomes lecciones de vuelo con una tortuga."