Spanish Group

[kulaputra]

I feel like that's not a "natural" category. In the examples you gave, the gerund isn't always used the same way. For example the construction with llevar requires a time unit. The number of verbs that could theoretically be made to take a gerund is probably huge. For example:

Ando comiendo.

Como andando. (this and the previous one have different meanings)

Me ducho cantando.

Salgo corriendo.

Habla sonriendo.

Ronca durmiendo.

In general any two simultaneous action verbs can be combined this way. That's one "natural" category in which a verb and gerund are paired. On top of that there are idiomatic usages of the verb + gerund, like the one you gave with llevar. The are probably other categories too, just none I can think off of the top of my head.

[Querneus]

Hola. En el subforo de programas y recursos empecé una discusión en la que pido la opinión del foro en cuanto a unas ideas mediorraras mías, específicamente ideas para hacer ciertos recursos poco convencionales para aprender más español, de poca audiencia.

https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=8571

Agradecería su opinión o un aporte de ideas diferentes.

[Mohave]

Has anyone completed Pimsleur Spanish Level 5? If so, can you please give me your thoughts? I previously completed Pimsleur French Levels 1-5. I enjoyed it and found it helped with fluidity and automaticy in my speech. I own Pimsleur Spanish Levels 1-3 and my library owns Level 4, but not Level 5. I received an offer from Audible for some discounted credits, and I think I could purchase Pimsleur Spanish Level 5 for less than $50. I'm currently half-way thru Pimsleur Level 2 (and working through Assimil), and would prefer to make this decision down the road, but my offer for discounted credits will expire. My near-term motivation for learning Spanish is a a trip to Costa Rica in December 2018. Thanks in advance.

[Jaleel10]

Has anyone completed Pimsleur Spanish Level 5? If so, can you please give me your thoughts? I previously completed Pimsleur French Levels 1-5. I enjoyed it and found it helped with fluidity and automaticy in my speech. I own Pimsleur Spanish Levels 1-3 and my library owns Level 4, but not Level 5. I received an offer from Audible for some discounted credits, and I think I could purchase Pimsleur Spanish Level 5 for less than $50. I'm currently half-way thru Pimsleur Level 2 (and working through Assimil), and would prefer to make this decision down the road, but my offer for discounted credits will expire. My near-term motivation for learning Spanish is a a trip to Costa Rica in December 2018. Thanks in advance.

I personally did not learn anything new from the 5th level. I immediately jumped in at level 5 after completing Michel Thomas, Paul Noble and half of Assimil. I got bored real quick after 4 episodes. I am sure if I did it from the beginning I would like it/find it more valuable. Seeing as you are already working through it. I would say just stick with it until you don't enjoy it. After a while there isn't really much it can teach you. Especially if you are combining it with other courses.

[Jaleel10]

Can anybody recommend some blogs or online magazines. I am trying to expose myself to vocab that is a little less 'stuffy' because all I have been reading are national newspapers Anything unorthodox, or stuff you find interesting or humorous, stuff written by young people. Anything really.

I have found Vice Español which contains a lot of interesting articles about the strangest topics.

[Cavesa]

a little less 'stuffy'.

Like this: https://www.ascodevida.com ?

[iguanamon]

Reading widely is often not done in today's world of only doing what you like.

For magazine type articles with downloadable pdf's and accompanying mp3 audio go to VeinteMundos- revista and check out the library of archived articles. You might find this article interesting: Tips para tu español este 2018. Most of the articles are short, 10-12 minutes of audio, are rated at intermediate level and cover a wide and diverse range of topics across the Spanish-speaking world (including Spain). They also have mouse over definitions of text you may not have seen before. there are around 200 of these articles in the archive. Well worth your time.


For magazine articles aimed at native-speakers: Muy Interesante and for somewhat easier language Muy Interesante Junior. From Spain, I'm fond of PijamaSurf. Also for under the radar news and trends try GlobalVoices en español. Most of the articles have links to the English translation.

BBC Mundo has lots of fascinating articles about contemporary life, culture and history- scroll down and look at the right too.

This should get you started. I am all for doing things that interest me as a learner but reading widely, even about subjects in which you may not have a lot of interest, is a good way to expand your vocabulary. Five to ten minutes of your time isn't going to kill your soul if you don't like something. I like to follow a lot of these sites on twitter and my twitter feed is basically my curated language maintenance feed.

[Jaleel10]

Thanks Iguanamon and Cavesa. I really appreciate it.

[NoManches]

Yup, Iguanamon recommend the same to me and I find those resources very helpful. I subscribe to Muy Interesante and Muy Interesante Junior on my Kindle and they have helped my vocabulary tremendously. Muy Interesante Junior Is great for extensive reading, I save the regular edition for when my brain is ready to do some serious reading.

Like you, I also enjoy Vise Español. If you have Facebook, I recommend subscribing to all of their Facebook pages and then select the option to see those sources first (I even receive notifications when they post a new post or article). From there, I subscribe to almost every cool looking Facebook page I see, and I also make sure I see their notifications first. Another Facebook page that is absolutely, positively, NOT stuffy is called "¡Viva México, Cabrones!" Not academic or really appropriate, but it's material like this that has helped me with learning about things in popular culture, along with lots of slang. Don't be afraid to read material like this...it will make you well rounded. That reminds me, BuzzFeed Mexico is pretty cool too!

If you have a smart phone, try downloading the app "Despertar Sabiendo". It's just a bunch of cool articles in Spanish that are usually taken from Wikipedia or other sources. I read them at all times of the day...not just when “me despierto" ....like the title suggests.

Speaking of Wikipedia... Wikipedia is another good source of cool information (although not a blog or online magazine like you wanted).

A cool online magazine is www.chilango.com . They used to have a podcast that I really enjoyed. Maybe if you search on iTunes or somewhere else you can still download the old episodes even though they don't make any new ones. I follow their Facebook page because it just gives me links to what they post on their website. It's usually about food, music, culture, and anything else resulted to CDMX.

Good luck. I think one of my biggest struggles was trying to find material that I actually liked. Once you find stuff you actually like, the learning process become really fun!

[garyb]

Thanks for the recommendations. I've been looking for more popular-culture-oriented material too, some happy medium between stuffy newspapers and low-brow/pseudo-intellectual manipulative trash like Buzzfeed and HuffPost that I'd rather not give my page views to. Vice looks good fun even though I have mixed feelings about their English content, and "Asco de Vida" is exactly what I had been looking for for colloquial language since the Spanish version of "Vie de merde" has been dead for a while. Veinte Mundos is mentioned very frequently on this forum and with good reason.

On a related note, does anyone have any YouTube channels to recommend for humour and colloquial language? I'd prefer ones from Spain, but I'm sure other members would appreciate Latin American ones too. I've never found anything at the same level as Norman and Cyprien in French, for example. I was recommended a couple in the past on here, but they weren't my thing at all: HolaSoyGerman, which felt juvenile and all over the place, and elrubiusOMG which was far too "internet humour" for me.

I feel like in such a widely-spoken language, the media I'm looking for must be out there, but the problem is finding the wheat amongst the chaff since there's so much of it. Luxury problem compared to those of people learning less-spoken languages I know, but it is what it is.