Axon wrote:Congratulations on your exam performance! Do you know when you'll get the results? I'd love to read that detailed breakdown of the exam, and I'm sure many others would too!
Here's the practice video. The real exam was much longer, and the consecutive interpreting was much easier, (They spoke for 15 seconds max, so it was much easier to remember names, dates, times, and locations.)
In the practice exam, the Spanish speaker had a slight Carribean accent. On the actual exam, the speakers had very neutral accents. They may have been actors. Only one speaker had a very slight hint of a Colombian Accent.
I'm still waiting for the results, but it wasn't that hard of an exam, to be honest. If you can watch the news in Spanish and understand everything more or less, then you can pass this exam, (given that you can speak pretty fluently.)
The exam is geared for Native speakers of Spanish who are fluent in English since the Lawyers and Judges are the ones who speak eloquently. The Spanish speakers are generally witnesses and aren't giving flowery speeches about the nature of our civic duty to offer everyone a fair trial. The documents that are written in Spanish that must be sight-translated into English would be text messages, e-mails, etc. The documents that are written in English that must be translated into Spanish are legal documents usually.
It's a per diem job unless you decide to take it further. So it is great to have when you're in college or grad school. If you have any more questions feel free to send me a DM.
Back in Poland
So It's Tuesday afternoon. I've been in Poland since Friday morning. I've had a really good time, and I've been hanging out with people pretty much non-stop. I'm really surprised with my Polish. Here's a simple break down.
1. My listening comprehension has improved a lot.
2. My active vocabulary has shrunk considerably, but it is coming back extremely quickly.
3. My fluency is great. I can speak as quickly as I like, and I don't hesitate unless I don't know a word.
4. I'm pretty sure I'm better at explaining complex subjects now than I was before.
When I decide to take Polish seriously again, I'll just keep doing Anki. My level is a pretty solid B2, although I feel silly saying that since I've forgotten some simple words, (like the word for "spoon"). Funnily enough, I might forget the nominative form of a noun, but know how to say it in the other cases.
One big thing, which despite being purely subjective, is the fact that Polish has become a lot less weird for me. I don't feel much of a strain mentally when speaking, and I'm almost plateauing in the sense that I feel like everyday conversations don't challenge me much grammatically. To take it to a C level, I would have to fill in all the holes in my vocabulary and start exposing my self to more formal language and literature.
Refreshing Italian
I'm lazily refreshing Italian by watching the series "Romanzo Criminale" again. I finished the first season yesterday afternoon. "Er Romano" can be tricky. There are lots of expressions that I don't understand, and I often put on subtitles. I understand like 95% of the dialogue, but sometimes they say things that leave me scratching my head.
Next week I'll be in Italy, and my internet service will be limited for a while. This may be my last post for a few weeks However, I will keep you updated regarding my language projects and updates this year. I'm very happy I've been keeping this log. It's nice to look back and see how far I've progressed! It's crazy to think that two years ago I could hardly speak Polish!!!!