vyxr extremely consistent language log - Spanish and others

[vyxr]

Things I did this week:
Read 13 chapters of Historia del Mundo Contada para Escépticos (out 125, yikes)
Had 1 iTalki lesson
Added a lot of Anki cards
Watched several YouTube videos, many from Loisita Comunica

Things I wanted to do but didn't:
Review Assimil lessons
Attend Spanish meetup

I'm really glad I started putting cards into Anki again. Whether or not it is actually improving the amount of words I remember, as opposed to learning purely from reading and listening, it makes me feel like I am making progress. Doing reviews and confirming that I remember a word feels great, and that feeling is motivating. In the past, I could never figure out how to make cards that work for me, I would spend too much time on them, trying to make them all consistent, and it ate into way too much study time. Now, I create them as quick as I can without worrying about the perfect way to arrange it. If I find a word I don't know that has a pretty clear, single definition in English, I make an ENG -> SPA card and put Spanish audio on the back if I can find it easily. If I find a word that has several possible meanings in English, or if I want to include a whole sentence from whatever material I'm using, I do SPA -> ENG, and use audio when available and convenient. I do it quickly and move on, and only worry about words that I feel like I should have learned by now. I hope to keep it up.

I also really need to get back into Assimil before I start forgetting everything I've learned. I stopped to review because I felt like I wasn't reviewing and remembering sufficiently as I went through them, but now that I'm not doing anything at all with it I'm in a worse position.

Voy a hablar un poco en español para darles una idea de mi nivel. Creo que escribir es mi mayor debilidad. Más o menos puedo entender español hablado y escrito, y ahora estoy mejorando mi habilidad de hablar mucho por hacer lecciones en iTalki, pero nunca practico escribir el idioma. Tengo problemas con escribir suficientemente rápido. Paso tanto tiempo tratando de perfeccionar lo que escribo, y tengo tantas dudas también. Necesito conseguir la misma actitud que he conseguido en hablar, la de no preocuparme con mis errores. Entiendo que generalmente lo que digo o hablo es inteligible y no necesita ser perfecto. Creo que, incluso si nadie me corrige, si escribo más, voy a ponerme más cómodo en escribir sin comprobar todo. Y este es un buen lugar para hacerlo.

Next week I want to:
Do, for God's sake at the very least, one or two Assimil lesson reviews
iTalki lesson and Spanish meetup
Keep reading my book, try to read at least 3 chapters a day
Watch a few episodes of Gran Hotel and YouTube videos
Keep adding Anki cards

[vyxr]

I've been thinking about where I want to go with language study.

As of now, the only language that I'm interested in achieving a high level in is Spanish. It's a great language, I enjoy studying it, and I would really like to speak it fluently. I'm starting my major in linguistics, and I really have no idea where I want to take it, but I know that it is what I'm going to study now. Speaking at least one other language fluently will help with whatever I do with my major, and Spanish will be great if I stay primarily in the US. While fluent Spanish will help me professionally, it was never my intention in the beginning to study it for professional benefit. Language learning for me has always been just a hobby. And I like having this mindset about it -- I couldn't care less to become a polyglot, or master any x number of languages. Apart from Spanish, I don't feel like I have any commitments to any specific languages. So I would really like to start studying another language on the side; Spanish will always have priority until I reach a level I'm content with, but I want to have fun with language learning, and to make it more fun I feel the need to study something that excites me, like languages did in the beginning.

I have been seeing people discuss Irish, people studying Tibetan, and other really interesting languages. Even though smaller languages have always been extremely fun for me to learn about, I can't actually picture myself committing to one; I need to be able to use it somehow, other than studying it or speaking in it. I need some sort of media, no matter what it is.

Anyway, what I have been thinking about doing is learning French to a comfortable passive level. I feel no urge to speak French fluently, but I would love to be able to read French without too much trouble. I love the Assimil series, and they have many books that I have wanted to buy that are only available in French (such as the advanced Spanish book I am using). I know I have found other resources that were in French too. I enjoy the language itself as well, and have studied a little bit before.

So, for now I'm not going to change anything, but the first thing I do outside of Spanish will be to start up French with a heavy focus on reading, and during that time I'll think about what language I want use that French for.

[eido]

I've thought about learning French for that reason, too. Or even German or Russian, because through German you can learn the Nordic languages and through Russian Polish or other Slavic types. It's a practical consideration you've come up with, and should definitely be taken into account. The only problem with me is I like speaking the language too much, even if I barely open my mouth. I too like to have media I can watch. I'm not worried about this with Icelandic because they are erm, "a country of artists", you could say. They're always making movies, writing books, and producing songs. There's no shortage of news coverage either. It may be small, that country, but it is mighty. I don't know much about the Faroes, the home of the other language I was considering, but I think you could learn a lot from public broadcast radio, especially if you went for a language as small as this one.

Were there any minority languages that caught your eye? Maybe one of our more knowledgeable members can pinpoint you to good media in them to raise your spirits about them.

[vyxr]

I've thought about learning French for that reason, too. Or even German or Russian, because through German you can learn the Nordic languages and through Russian Polish or other Slavic types. It's a practical consideration you've come up with, and should definitely be taken into account. The only problem with me is I like speaking the language too much, even if I barely open my mouth. I too like to have media I can watch. I'm not worried about this with Icelandic because they are erm, "a country of artists", you could say. They're always making movies, writing books, and producing songs. There's no shortage of news coverage either. It may be small, that country, but it is mighty. I don't know much about the Faroes, the home of the other language I was considering, but I think you could learn a lot from public broadcast radio, especially if you went for a language as small as this one.

Were there any minority languages that caught your eye? Maybe one of our more knowledgeable members can pinpoint you to good media in them to raise your spirits about them.

Well, I'm not averse to speaking French, I just feel like, if I were to study it, I shouldn't focus on output as much as input. French attracts me because there is so much literature, so many fun things to use the language for. I should probably have emphasized that, while a big reason I want to learn it is for its usefulness as a gateway to other languages, I am really interested in it, I just wouldn't feel any drive to be a proficient speaker.

And that's true, I think it's likely that any small language I would be interested in will have some sort of "media" to consume such as radio, likely some television and news, however I feel like I need something entertaining. If not that, I would like a language to at least have a lot of interesting historical content.

Icelandic has caught my attention before, and it's good to know they have some good movies and books to keep you interested. For example I was thinking about Irish -- I know there are some television shows in Irish, some movies and some books, but it feels like if I were to learn it, it would be so limiting, and I think, even though it's an interesting language, why dedicate so much time to it when studying it is almost all I will do with it?

[vyxr]

Right now I'm on vacation in Orlando, FL, going to Sea World, Universal Studios and Disney World. I was invited by my girlfriend's family, and they're paying for everything which is very generous. I felt bad about supporting Sea World, especially since it was a horrible experience anyway. But Universal was great, and I'm excited for Disney. I'm not normally one for very touristy things, but once I just accepted the touristic mass and environment, I started to have a lot of fun. The amount of linguistic diversity here is very interesting too. Everywhere I went I heard Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and other languages.

Anyway, all that is to say that I'm not getting much language work in this week, but that's okay - I'm not going to stress about it since it is a vacation. Since my last update I haven't changed much. I'm not really on any sort of schedule because it has been really hard for me to do anything consistently lately. My job and my relationship make my whole schedule inconsistent, and it's only going to get worse when school starts back.

I can't get myself to start back Assimil. I'm not really sure how useful it is at a more advanced level. Each new lesson has new some new vocab and expressions, but I feel like I have to spend way too much time on it to get anything out of it. So I'll keep thinking about what I want to do with it.

Besides my normal iTalki lesson and random Youtube videos, pretty much all I do now is read. I'm still reading Historia del mundo contada para escépticos, or whatever it's called, though my progress through it has slowed. I also downloaded Game of Thrones in Spanish. I've been trying to avoid translations, but I've realized it's pointless to read books I'm not interested in just because it's original Spanish writing. I think it's beneficial to "read widely", but a book length commitment is just too much for me when I'm not extremely motivated to read it. Even if a translation isn't ideal, it's still Spanish, and better than not reading, or reading 20 pages and giving up.

I've also been reading Le français par la méthode nature, which I really enjoy. Back in my French learning period I used that book and the French in Action video series: https://www.learner.org/resources/series83.html#. This was a fun combination for me. It seems to me the French love teaching French in French -- these sources, and the Assimil series all lead me to think that, as I don't see these kind of sources for other languages as often.

[vyxr]

Hola, hace mucho tiempo que escribí aqui por última vez. Como siempre, mi motivación ha sido irregular, y no he practicado tanto como querría. El título de la bítacora es irónico, como no soy una persona coherente, pero me pone un poco triste que no puedo hacer cosas con más regularidad.

De todos modos, no he parado completamente con español. Tengo una clase de español en la universidad. Nunca me ha gustado las clases de lenguas, porque moven muy lentamente y suelen complacer (accommodate?) a los peores de la clases. Y por eso no puedo aprender mucho. Sin embargo, no es tan malo, porque las clases me ayudan a continuar con la lengua, aun cuando no tengo ganas de hacerlo. Además de eso, no he hecho mucho por mi cuenta. Solo leo cada par de días, y no leo mucho. Quiero leer de nuevo con más frecuencia y empezar a escribir más. Los buenos escritores en español de esta bitácora escriben mucho, y solo puedo mejorar y alcanzar a su nivel por escribir mucho. Tampoco no he hecho lecciones en iTalki, y necesito programar una. Tengo muchos créditos en el sitio y debería usarlos.

Spanish is a language I want to be proficient in for its own sake. I still enjoy it, and I still go through periods of infatuation, I suppose I can call it, but it's definitely not like it was in the beginning, which is okay. For the most part it just feels like another way of communicating, no different than English, the only difference being I suck even more trying to communicate in Spanish.

I haven't even glanced at the posts I made previously since I stopped updating, but I remember talking about being conflicted about studying languages with fewer resources / media. Which is funny, because immediately after I became infatuated with Icelandic and bought Teach Yourself Icelandic. I've done six or seven lessons, so I will (hopefully) update on how that goes. Anyway, thanks for reading.

[vyxr]

Yes If you have any suggestions for Icelandic reading let me know. I can’t do much with it now, but I’d like to know what’s out there.
So far it’s been okay. There are more pure Icelandic dialogues than I expected, but it’s no Assimil. This may be ridiculous, but my only complaint so far is that I can hear some of the voice actors’ mouths clicking when they speak and it drives me nuts, lol.

[vyxr]

I'm getting back into the swing of things. I had an iTalki session this week and have another scheduled for next week. Even though I'm not at all content with my speaking ability, and I still butcher a lot of what I say, I always feel good after a lesson. Just being able to speak my thoughts in another language with some ease, even if I make mistakes or don't always have the right words, feels incredibly rewarding. So I need to keep up lessons if anything else.

I started watching Juana Inés on Netflix and so far I've been pleasantly surprised. All the Spanish Netflix shows I've seen have been pretty consistently okay. I always compare them in my mind to most of the Spanish-language entertainment I've seen and it feels much higher quality than that, but when I think about it simply as it is, I just conclude that it's okay, if kind of underwhelming. Right now I'm in the comparative phase. At any rate, I'm happy to be watching another series.

I haven't gotten back into reading though. I can't make myself start anything. I have a couple Gabriel García books on my Kindle, but they end up being too difficult for me to keep up with and then I get frustrated and stop. I could read them if I put in the effort I'm sure, but I haven't really had the patience lately. I have Game of Thrones in Spanish, but I always feel like I'm kind of cheating myself when I read translations (even though I don't really have anything against reading most translations of things). I've been thinking about trying to read Capitán Alatriste again, so I may do that. If anyone has any recommendations for somewhat light reading, let me know.

This morning I tried translating a Radio Ambulante transcript from English to Spanish, since they have them in both languages. I wrote out what I thought the translation could be, even if I was unsure. After each paragraph I looked at the Spanish transcript and wrote in a different color what I should have written. I'm not sure how productive this is, but I was thinking it might be a good way to help bring things out of my passive memory and into my active knowledge. I may do this a few more times and see if I can learn this way. I can already tell there are problems with this, like the fact that translations are obviously interpretive, and I may write a valid translation but have no way of confirming whether it is.

[I had a picture of what I wrote but I don't know how to make it show up]

Icelandic still intrigues me but I've been messing with modern Greek again and having fun with it. It has the same problem of not as much content as I'd like to have available, but it's definitely better than Icelandic. Not going to make any commitments with either language.