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rgaz83

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Posts posted by rgaz83

  1. It does help with speaking :P it also does with grammar, but you need to pay a lot attention to it in order to really get the most out of it. I wish the course came with a booklet of some sort! So we could at least see a transcription of the whole lesson ;p knowing how to write a language is really important too ;)

    I don't know about Dutch, but I know some of the other language courses do this for some of the later lessons. There's one for Spanish and, I think, Italian or German, at least.... Apparently, Dutch may have this as well? http://www.pimsleur.com/Learn-Dutch/Dutch-Phase-1-Units-1-30/9781442319134 The description mentions a reading booklet, at least.

    It's been a few months, how's your Dutch-learning going?

  2. Subtitles are helpful, but it's not going to be all that great either.

    If you're watching translated subs, then the translation accuracy is probably not going to be all that good, with a few exceptions. If you're watching regular subs (an English movie with English subtitles), I can tell you that they often leave out a LOT of the context for some scenes. Depending on how busy a scene is, they may have only transcribed what they felt was the "most important" dialogue, so a lot of meaning gets lost. I've seen a few scenes where only one line out of three was transcribed, and even those were missing words.

    I feel bad for people who can't hear and have to rely on these things, they end up missing out on quite a bit due to laziness or lack of room on the screen for more dialogue.

  3. I've never had a class like this, but I think it would be a great way to learn. I've heard of some classes where you spend the first week or two in English, learning basic Spanish vocabulary, then the teacher switches to full Spanish. It would probably be super confusing at first, but I think it would really help in the long run. The sooner you're using the language as a language and have a reason to use that language, the easier it is for your brain to make sense of all those new, "random" words it's being forced to remember.

  4. I hear this. The clincher for me though is all those darn verb tenses. I don't know them (as in, was never taught them!) in English, so I have a lot of trouble knowing them in Spanish. I have a GREAT book on it, but it's one of those things that always gets pushed aside in lieu of other things that need to be done.

    I totally agree with this. I was never taught the verb tenses for English either. We barely learned the difference between an adverb and an adjective. Actually, I think Schoolhouse Rock taught me more about grammar than school did.

    However, even if I have trouble with some of the verb conjugation, I think my main weakness is vocabulary. I need to buckle down and study more, but I get really frustrated when so many words just don't seem to stick, even after repeated study.

  5. Do I get to keep my phone?

    Because I have a plan for interacting with foreigners when we don't speak the same language. Back then, I took pictures of a lot of things relevant to tourists. I took pictures of restaurant, toilet, airport, bus, taxi......

    So if I got this phone of mine, I will be totally fine :)

    Need a taxi? Show them a picture of one!

    Need to ask for directions of food/public toilets/transportation? Show them the pictures!

    They will most likely get what you are saying, so it's great!

    This is a great idea! Of course, you'd still have to figure out how to charge your phone, but that could work. Very creative use of a phone.

    If I am going to get kidnapped by someone, why would they drop me in the street? It's kinda contradicting. Anyways, I am going to try to call my relatives and friends by using the remaining currency; Gonna buy some food and water; using gestures to try to communicate with them; and yeah, find a way out to back home.

    It's not supposed to be entirely realistic! It's a thought exercise/game. Do you know enough to survive or will you get lost just trying to find a restroom? And finding a way home is cheating.  :wink:

    As for me, I would probably last somewhere around a week. I know enough to find the basics, but landing a job would be difficult at the level I am now.

  6. Whatever language you're learning right now, imagine that tomorrow you found yourself kidnapped and dropped on the streets of a country that speaks that language. You can't find anyone that speaks English or any other language you might know. You have no dictionary, only what's in your head right now. For whatever reason, you've got about a week's worth of wages of currency from your new country and the clothes off your back.

    How long do you think you'd last before you either died or got arrested? Could you order in a restaurant? Go grocery shopping? Get a job? An apartment?

    No buying a bus ticket to another city, that'd be cheating.  :wink:

  7. I'm not particularly fond of most poetry myself, so I don't have any recommendations, exactly. However, I do know that things like poetry and song lyrics translate somewhat badly from one language to another. In order to make sure the poem scans properly in the new language, you often have to sacrifice some of the meaning from the original. The best example I can think of is 99 Luftbalons/99 Red Balloons. The songs sound very similar, but I'm told that the English version sacrificed quite a bit of meaning so that it'd work in English.

  8. I'd like to read some science fiction stories in Spanish, but I'm not even sure where to start. I know Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, etc. for English, but who would be a good Spanish scifi author to look for? Also, I know that some of the English scifi started getting a bit risque in the 70s or so, so I'd rather avoid anything like that in Spanish (if possible).

  9. Duolingo is great no matter if you have Android or iPhone.

    If you have an iPhone, I have a couple more recommendations. There's "Learn Spanish with Lingo Arcade" and that's pretty good. It's free to try, then you can buy more levels. Up to 27 levels are $0.99, and the rest of the 170+ levels are $4.99. Or you can buy all the levels at once for $4.99. The main issue with the app, however, is that some of the verbs are conjugated a bit oddly, at least at the beginning. For example, it might tell you that "correr" is "running" instead of "to run". But if you can get past that, then it's a fantastic way to build up speed with Spanish recognition.

    Then there's Mind Snacks presents Spanish. This is a set of cutesy games that are surprisingly difficult to master, and not (in my opinion) boring. You start off with only one game unlocked and have to build up to being "allowed" to play the others. This one is also free to try and comes with one free lesson. If you want all 50 lessons, it's $5. Or you can get ALL the lessons for Portuguese, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, & Mandarin for $20. I plan on buying the $20 option when I have some spare money to throw at it, I think the app is that useful.

  10. I can highly recommend https://www.duolingo.com/ for (re)learning a language. When I remember to do it, it's very helpful and I learn a lot. The trick is to remember to actually do it daily.

    With Duolingo, you can start at the very beginning or test out and move onto something more advanced. So you don't have to relearn colors and numbers, for example, and can instead move on to adjectives and pronouns. It's kind of "cutesy", but still very helpful and not at all childish.

  11. I cannot recall anything in particular that I've been recommended, but I DO remember that you should avoid anything too old. Pre-1850s or so (I think), Italian wasn't very standardized. Even today, many people in Italy speak both a dialect and standardized Italian.

    I can't remember how difficult it's supposed to be, but perhaps something like Pinocchio?

    I think I remember being told by an Italian friend that Pinocchio might be too difficult to start out with. I definitely agree with not reading anything too old. I've also been told to avoid several webcomics (at least at first) as they employ slang that isn't exactly valid and would get you some funny looks if you tried using it outside of a webcomic.

    But as for what to actually read, I'm not really sure, sadly.

  12. I have an old book with Hawaiian phrases in it around somewhere. ButI'm not sure where the book is and I can't really recommend any sites to learn Hawaiian with. Too bad, since I agree that it's an interesting language and worthy of more study.

  13. I'm an American, but I've read quite a few books written by British authors. As a result, though I don't spell it "centre" or "colour", I'll quite happily use "dreamt" when I think it looks better than dreamed.

    There's another one that I do as well, that I can't remember what it is, but it drives some people crazy since my writing isn't fully British or fully American.  :grin:

  14. Don Quixote I think is the first obvious classic choice to get a younger mind into Spanish. Although that's more for adolescents and teenagers, not children's literature first choice. If you could specify your nephew's age, I could give more relevant suggestions.

    From what I understand, Don Quixote is often difficult for adults to understand due to its slightly antiquated words and phrases. I wouldn't suggest it for a child, personally. Maybe when the newphew gets older. :smile:

  15. When putting in a request to have something for later, whether it's a table at a restaurant, a hotel room, or something else, the act is making a reservation. The present-tense version is 'reserve': "I will reserve that table for 4 for tomorrow."

    I hear a LOT of people who speak English natively saying "res-er-vate". This is wrong. Perhaps it makes more sense, in a way, but you do not "reservate" anything; you "reserve" it.

  16. I have read that if you listen to something while you fall asleep, your brain retains the info.

    It doesn't really help you retain any more than if you actively listen when you're awake. It is, however, a good idea for getting in "extra" listening time that you might otherwise not get. In that case, it may help you. But it's definitely not the "magical fix" that some people make it out to be.  :wink:

  17. I haven't used Pimsleur for Dutch, but I've listened to the Spanish and German ones. They're okay, and I'd definitely recommend them for pronunciation, but I'm not completely convinced that it helps with speaking and grammar.  :smile:

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