Jump to content
Linguaholic

LivetoErr

Members
  • Posts

    119
  • Joined

  • Last visited

    Never

Everything posted by LivetoErr

  1. I just gave you a like because I really enjoy coming to this site and posting. Thanks a lot for your hard work and for giving us this forum. It is one of my favorites.
  2. Phew, I was a bit worried yesterday when I noticed mine said "Slang Poet." I wasn't sure if I was caught using a lot of slang or what. Now that I know it's just a level based on the number of posts I've made I'm cool with it.
  3. hueso - bone I chose that word because I always get it confused with egg - huevo. I often have to ask the butcher if they have any "huesos de res" (beef soup bones) as we feed them to our dogs, on a daily basis. I've asked the butcher, many times, "Tiene huevos de res" and they look at me a bit confused before pointing to the corner where the eggs normally are. I, then, realize my mistake and ask for huesos; the butcher will laugh and tell me whether or not they have any for sale.
  4. The longest I've spent is about 6 hours. If I'm flying I dedicate the whole flight to my language studies. It's amazing how well I can concentrate 30,000 feet above ground. The unfortunate thing is, whenever I get to my destination the book gets put away and I don't study until I'm back on the plane again. Then, depending on what my duties are I won't study again until I feel like it. That's usually a couple weeks later. However, the stop and go of my learning does nothing to help me. I find myself reviewing the same things over and over again. I really need to get one with it, especially if I actually hope to learn something this year.
  5. I have my TOESL certificate but have never put it to use. I never finished college so I don't have a degree, which is something that is required here. I also don't have a proper internet connection so I am unable to teach over things like Skype. I have designed a course that is fully functional via email but I have yet to work out the logistics of speaking. Since it's an important part of learning, I feel it's not beneficial to any students I may acquire if we cannot speak.
  6. Grammar is important to me but I have no business saying so, as mine is terrible. I have trouble knowing where to place commas. I understand the basics of comma placement but, seeing as, there is a difference, in comma placement, between American and British English, I tend to confuse the two. I speak/write both so I am forever putting in and/or omitting commas. My biggest fault, however, is I change tense when I'm writing. One sentence I am writing in present tense, the next, in past. It's a terrible habit to have, especially since I have a TOESL certificate.
  7. Well, if there is a disclaimer stating that you can learn enough of the language to get by, while on a short vacation, in 10 days, their promotion is truthful. However, to truly learn a language, there is no way it can be done in ten days. If that was the case, all of us would be linguists, knowing multiple languages. Having said that, I've tried Pimsleur and wasn't all that impressed with the program. Perhaps though, they've improved it.
  8. I'd love to have a pen-pal to chat with in Spanish. I am looking to improve my (and learn more) conversational Spanish. Bear in mind, I am a beginner. I would love to Skype but my bandwidth won't allow for it.
  9. Well I didn't even notice my iPad auto-corrected spending and changed it to splendid. I wonder what I typed for it to change to that. I know one of the translations for the word "pavo" is "turkey" because a lot of "meats" here are made out of turkey. You have to look at what you're buying if you want ham or hotdogs to actually be ham or made from beef. More products are made from the turkey counterpart than the actual meat you are looking for. That was hard to get used to at first. However, looking at SpanishDict, it means a whole lot more! Like a five-peseta coin. *shrug*
  10. Writing in a journal is an exceptionally good idea, especially if you know someone who speaks the language you are learning. If you are willing to let them read your journal, they can, at least, help you learn from your mistakes. That way, you do not get into the habit of writing incorrectly. I don't write in a journal but I do write. I write mostly lines. When I study using DuoLingo, I write out the sentences and only write a translation if there is a word (or two) I don't understand. I find doing it that way really helps my retention. One of the first books I ever read in Spanish was called: Easy Spanish Reader: A Three-Part Text for Beginning Students by William Tardy. It was a really great learning tool. Anyways, I wrote out that entire book, double spaced, in two notebooks. If there was any word I didn't understand I would write the translation underneath. Then, at the end of every chapter, there were questions for you to answer. The answers are in the back of the book so, you could see whether your sentence structure was right, or not. It was invaluable learning tool; teaching me to comprehend written Spanish, as well as, how to write out proper sentences.
  11. In general, I do not use subtitles to assist me in learning Spanish; however, because we go see digitally subtitled movies in the theaters, almost every week, they are a part of my learning experience. When my family and I are watching the movies we find ourselves reading the subtitles. Often, we have an "ah hah," moment, thinking to ourselves, so that's how they say that. My mom often comments how, the words written on the screen seem like a lot less than what the Mexican's say. I have to remind her that subtitles are there to get the point across. If every word was translated directly, there is no way people could follow along with the movie. So, while I think they are a helpful tool, they should only be used as that: a tool.
  12. Well, being Canadian, we had to learn French from Kindergarden to Grade 6. After Grade 6 we could choose whether or not we wanted to continue learning the language. Since, at that time, I lived in Alberta there was no need for me to continue learning French so I elected to stop taking classes. Then in High School I took one semester of German. I had planned on doing more semesters of it but we moved to a different city and my new school didn't offer German as a language. I elected to take other elective courses and didn't try to learn another language until college. My boyfriend during college was Russian. Even though, he spoke excellent English I chose to take Russian, for my language requirements, so I could communicate with his grandparents and other extended family. They visited often, so it was beneficial for me to learn the language. At some point, my health took a turn for the worse and I decided to go to a school closer to home. My new college didn't offer Russian so I enrolled in Spanish classes. During my first semester of Spanish, I got really sick and decided to drop out of school. Around that time, my parents were hitting hitting the age of retirement and decided they were going to retire somewhere warmer. Mexico was their choice. Initially, they were only going to spend the winter months down in Mexico but my father was in a serious car accident. He nearly died and, as a result, decided they were going to move down to Mexico full time. Seeing as warmer weather was better for my health, I came down with them. Therefore, I am now trying to learn conversational Spanish so I can better communicate with the people here.
  13. I find it all terribly hard to understand. It's such a learning curve, having to learn that there isn't much of a pause between each word and all the letters are pronounced. Even though we speak fast in English I feel we make clear pauses between each word so we can tell a new word is being said. For me, listening to Spanish is so hard because it all sounds like the same word and I can't pick out each word to know what the person is saying. If the person slows down I can, for the most part, understand it.
  14. Well I don't understand how dollars turns into turkeys ... Unless it's saying we are fools to be splendid 5 dollars on a drink??
  15. If I'm not speaking or writing something formal I use slang all the time. When you are talking amongst a bunch of friends I think slang comes about naturally. Think about all the terms you use for items that might not be the proper word. I really don't believe slang is avoidable; it can be said and you're not fully aware that you've done so.
  16. I do just about everything with the television on. When I'm watching TV I have to be doing something else. I can't do just one thing. I need noise to concentrate. If I need to, I can tune it out. If I'm not doing anything all that important, like surfing the net, I can fully comprehend and recall what happened on the TV program. I'd go insane if I had to focus on one thing only. I'd get bored and wouldn't complete the task at hand.
  17. It depends on how well prepared I was for the exam. If I managed to get a cram session in before the exam I would have no problems and be calm. If life got in the way and I didn't get a chance to study then I would get nervous. Normally, I'd manage to pull off a decent grade so the worry was unnecessary
  18. Very useful for me. My parents decided to retire in Mexico and due to health issues I spend a lot of time there with them; especially the winter months. I go back and forth so much though; I need to stop putting Spanish on the back burner when I am not in Mexico so, I can actually learn the language.
  19. Yes. I can't quite remember an exact example but I recall being told the word the textbook used for showering isn't what they use here. Also, I guess because, I live in a very poor village just outside of Mazatlan, many of the people here aren't educated. The difference between the languages 15 km apart is unreal. It's far less formal. I get on better talking with those from Mazatlan than I do in my village.
  20. I keep reading these and all they do is remind me how bad I am doing in regard to learning Spanish.
  21. Rosetta Stone is useless for the people, like me, who need to understand the why (or the rules) of things. It doesn't teach rules or give any explanation on why things are as they are. Look at a picture and click. I don't know, maybe I didn't get far enough into it to learn how to communicate with someone. However, that's what I'm looking to learn: conversational Spanish. I got bored with Rosetta Stone too.
  22. I'd also be interested in hearing other peoples thoughts, especially since they have a Latin American course. I guess $16 for a month isn't too unreasonable to check it out...
  23. Thanks for this!! I will take the test tomorrow. I can't wait to find out where I place. I'm terrible. I never seem to move forward. I always find myself reviewing what I already know. I get a little but ahead and then end up leaving Mexico, for whatever reason, and stop studying. Then I'll return and start reviewing again, thus going in a circle.
  24. Anyone have any success with these? Are there any that you word recommend?
  25. Has anyone stifle using this video series? I saw a link to it on another website. I checked out the first episode last night and it wasn't too bad. If you haven't heard of it, here is the link: http://learner.org/series/destinos/index.html It's a story about a lawyer who is hired to find someone before the old man dies. I just hope I stick with it.
×
×
  • Create New...