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Fighting Windmills: Spanish experiment 1 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5350 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 9 of 71 19 May 2010 at 9:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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"FIGHTING WINDMILLS", DAY 3/14
(un pequeño experimento en LR española) SUMMARY LR in Spanish today: 11 hours ("El Principito" by Antoine De Saint-Exupery) Background listening: 0.5 hours (salsa music again (lol), I really need to find some more Spanish tunes!) ———————————————————— Total LR in Spanish so far: 26 hours Sum total of Spanish immersion: 30 hours Today's reading test: 85% [+6%] (first 100 words of chapter 3 in "La Sombra Del Viento" by Carlos Ruiz Zafón) NOTES I woke up extra early today with a view to putting in more hours and trying out a few LR experiments along the way. And although life was bright and sunny in my little Spanish microcosm of a flat; outside remained rainy, dark and dismal all day, a far cry from fiestas and no picnic at all for piñatas. This however made me feel much better for being indoors and I quickly got to work. Amongst the many fascinating things I learned today, I discovered that my friend Galina is almost a chicken (gallina), and that the intrepid masked hero "Zorro" was indeed a crafty old "fox" after all. One thing that's perplexing me however (or maybe it's just because I'm a little fried right now) is where to put my Spanish adjectives. Sometimes they seem to go before a noun, sometimes after, and sometimes I just lose them down the back of the sofa. Here's a sofaless example of what I mean: "No son nada tristes las viejas cortezas..." [BEFORE cortezas] (translation in book: There is nothing sad about old shells...) "Será como una corteza vieja que se abandona." [AFTER corteza] (translation in book: But it will be like an old abandoned shell.) I've also accumulated some interesting preliminary results regarding different adaptations of LR, but it's a bit too late after all the studying today to write about it now, for I'm way too dizzy upstairs to make much sense anyway. Maybe I'll talk more on this at the weekend... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 5936 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 10 of 71 20 May 2010 at 6:47am | IP Logged | ||
Ah, you are finding all the difficulties of learners right away! I'll try to make this explanation shorter and simpler than the previous one. So, the general rule for adjectives is that they go after the noun they modify and agree with it in gender and number. However, there are some adjectives that can go either before or after the noun: Un buen perro = A good dog Un perro bueno = A good dog A few of these will change their meanings slightly depending on the position. You can think of it like this: if it comes after the noun, it has it's literal meaning; if it comes before, it takes on a more figurative or interpretive meaning. These are quite few in number luckily: Un amigo viejo = An old (in age) friend Un viejo amigo = An old (as in you've known him for a long time) friend La casa vieja = The old (in age, possibly dilapidated) house La vieja casa = The old (the previous one that you used to live in) house Similarly... La casa nueva = The new (brand-new) house La nueva casa = The new (as in new to you, it might actually be old; a replacement for something else, the "old" house from before) house Or... Un hombre grande = A big man Un gran hombre = A great man La mujer pobre = The poor (impoverished) woman La pobre mujer = The poor (pitiable) woman While looking for some more examples that I couldn't remember off the top of my head, I came across this site, which seems to explain it pretty well in much more detail than what I've done here. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5350 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 12 of 71 20 May 2010 at 8:56pm | IP Logged | ||
I'm so thrilled you said that, because this is exactly what I'll be studying next (the Spanish translation finally arrived this evening)...wahoo! :) Edited by Teango on 20 May 2010 at 9:00pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5350 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 13 of 71 20 May 2010 at 10:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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"FIGHTING WINDMILLS", DAY 4/14
(un pequeño experimento en LR española) SUMMARY LR in Spanish today: 1 hour ("El Principito" by Antoine De Saint-Exupery) Background listening: 3.5 hours (salsa music and "El Principito") [edit] ———————————————————— Total LR in Spanish so far: 27 hours Sum total of Spanish immersion: 34.5 hours Today's reading test: 90% [+5%] (first 100 words of chapter 4 in "La Sombra Del Viento" by Carlos Ruiz Zafón) NOTES I started very late today, but gladly, with a lighter head now resting on my rhumbaing shoulders. Sadly I did very little LR during this time, as I was theorising over the results of several experiments today and the day before, rather than getting down to business instead. Fine tuning my method to get it just right is turning out to be a hard nut to crack indeed...but I'm hopeful to sort it all out soon. Despite the lack of LR hours, I do I have 3 positive bits of news to add today... ;) Firstly, I've completed a full cycle of "El Principito", and even spent some time today listening to the audio in the background as well. I can understand the gist so much better now; at the beginning, it was largely just some pleasant noise with lots of romantic rollicking 'rr's and a few Fistful of Dollar highlights every now and again. Now it makes so much more sense, I'm pleased to say. Secondly, my Spanish translation of Harry Potter finally arrived in the post this evening. I'm really looking forward to start studying this tomorrow. Thirdly, and this is the big scoop of the day, I've managed to find a private Spanish tutor for my fourth week of study, and after chatting and corresponding with him today, he's kindly agreed to work together with me to build up my discussion and writing skills (2 hours every day, Monday to Saturday, from 7-12th June). It was so hard not to laugh initially though, for he asked me how long I'd been studying Spanish, and what else could I say...I responded (a little embarrassed), "3 and a half days"...poor guy - I hope this doesn't scare him off now (lol). And after this there's also a possibility of some free language exchange too, as he's keen to improve his spoken English. Fantástico! I was really shocked today to reach 90% in the reading test, especially considering the general lack of studies. Maybe it's like a rest day from flexing at the gym, giving my meagre mental muscles some more time to recover, or perhaps it was just a fluke and tomorrow I'll dive back down in my percentages! I was also smiling whilst reading some of the posts in the Spanish section of the forum, not because they were side-splittingly funny or anything, but simply because I was able to do this in some cases with relative ease. How can this be? I really don't know. But I'm thrilled none-the-less to be able to read something I couldn't at all before. :D @ellasevia Adjectives make so much more sense now. Many thanks again. I tend to think of an ADJ+NOUN as a kind of "special" noun in Spanish, and I've printed off that link you gave me which gives some more good examples too. As I didn't catch that telenovela last night, I'm going to reward myself with a little look now instead! ;) Edited by Teango on 16 November 2011 at 12:56am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5350 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 15 of 71 21 May 2010 at 9:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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"FIGHTING WINDMILLS", DAY 5/14
(un pequeño experimento en LR española) SUMMARY LR in Spanish today: 11 hours ("Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal" by J. K. Rowling) TV: 1 hour (telenovela "El Internado", S01E01 - eek, where's episode 2 gone?) Background listening: 1 hour (salsa music) ———————————————————— Total LR in Spanish so far: 38 hours Sum total of Spanish immersion: 47.5 hours Today's reading test: 85% [-5%] (first 100 words of chapter 5 in "La Sombra Del Viento" by Carlos Ruiz Zafón) NOTES I've started studying Harry Potter (haha, I'm an official "Potterologist" now ;) ), and the quality of the translation and the audiobook make this a real pleasure. It's also great to have a change in scenery as well as being able to jump on the coattails of a fun familiar story again. It's probably that much more engaging for me personally given the fact that I've never actually read any of the Harry Potter books before, although I've seen all the films like so many others. I've been experimenting with all sorts of amendments since my original version of the LR method, and this has taught me a lot about what works especially well for me. I've found the most efficient and effective technique so far is to compare the texts in parallel using pauses initially, and add this to the process. Of course parallel texts are ideally suited for this, but I've also been able to successfully align separate books and play the "paperback juggler". My reading test dropped a few per cent this evening, which was initially disappointing (especially as I worked really hard today); but glancing over the English translation afterwards, I feel much happier in the knowledge that I tackled a particularly difficult chapter this time round. Well, I'm a very hungry caterpillar right now, and as it's Friday, I've decided to reward myself with a great big treat for slogging it out with Spanish over the last week...yes, that's right, tonight's the night...tonight is TACO night! And I'll be investing in a fine and well-deserved bottle of Rioja to wash it all down with too of course... :P Edited by Teango on 22 May 2010 at 7:53pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| M. Medialis Diglot TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member Sweden Joined 6151 days ago 397 posts - 508 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Russian, Japanese, French | Message 16 of 71 21 May 2010 at 11:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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You're a hero, and you're living the dream. I can't think of any living man who deserves a taco dinner more than you!
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