Day 12
July 17, 2008
17 de julio, 2008
I listened to the first four podcasts of the Inspired Beginners lessons from NotesInSpanish.com. Unfortunately, I have no blank CDs to burn more CDs, and I’ve been through these four podcasts over a dozen times a piece. I find myself muting out Ben as I’m scared to pick up on any bad habits he might have when speaking in Spanish. I focus on Marina more since she’s a native speaker and, therefore, has a native accent, however I also fear picking up a feminine accent that I’m unaware of. (I’m not sure about the masculinity/feminity differences in Spanish, but in Japanese there is a clear difference)
I also watched the fifth episode of Mi Vida Loca on the BBC’s Spanish site. Good stuff.
Day 11
July 16, 2008
16 de julio, 2008
I spent more time than I anticipated on Spanish today, as my Japanese-English dictionary ran out of batteries while I was studying at a cafe this morning. The only immediate material I had for Spanish was my Pocket Oxford Spanish Dictionary, so I went through all 14 of the grammar explanation points in the back of the book.
That there are exactly 14 entries sparked my interest, as it works out that I can study each point in-depth for a day and create a two-week course for myself.
Day 10
July 14, 2008
14 de julio, 2008
I like Mi Vida Loca. I watched a few episodes tonight over a cerveza negro. As I’m watching, besides listening to what they’re saying, I’m thinking to myself, “I’ve got to move to Spain.”
Unfortunately, moving to Spain is not an option on the table. Especially for us NAFTA folk. What an odd world we live in, where we’re born into countries instead of choosing where to live. How I long for EU citizenship, but alas. It is not to be.
I can still learn Castellano, though!
Day 9
July 13, 2008
13 de julio, 2008
I went through a couple of words on my “hot list” today, and wrote a lang-8.com entry. The thing with lang-8 is, everyone seems to be studying Japanese, and there are few active Spanish speakers. I’d love to correct their English or Japanese entries, if only they actually wrote any. I’ve had one user correct two of my entries, for which I’m grateful.
Tomorrow, as per every week, is my major study day, and I’m going to make the most of it.
Day 8
July 12, 2008
12 de julio, 2008
My Pocket Oxford Spanish Dictionary came today! The thing is, there’s nothing “Pocket” about it. It should have been named “Bag Oxford Spanish Dictionary”, but that may be a less pleasing title.
Some of the bonuses of the dictionary include a verb conjegation chart and a grammar summary.
I got through the ninth and final chapter of the Spanish Wikibook. The last thing I pulled from the site was a list of most commonly used words, which is what I’ll jump into in a day or two.
Day 7
July 11, 2008
11 de julio, 2008
I got through lesson 8 of the Spanish Wikibook, and got around to ordering an actual Spanish dictionary from Amazon Japan. It should arrive either tomorrow or by next Monday. I order the Pocket Oxford Spanish Dictionary because the regular edition was highly recommended, and I wanted it to be relatively portable as I mostly study at the library or local cafes. I think it looks like a good starter dictionary.
I’ve written a couple more lang-8.com entries in Spanish, and they’ve been getting corrections so I’m satisfied with that whole process. All in all I feel I’m off to a good start having only studied for one week!
Day 6
July 10, 2008
10 de julio, 2008
I reviewed the first episode of Mi Vida Loca, and went through the second episode for the first time. It’s much easier to process the listening now that I’ve had a steady stream of exposure to introductory phrases and conversations.
Listening to the first four episodes of the Inspired Beginner podcasts from notesinspanish.com also helped me out a lot aurally.
Epañol no es difícil, pero tengo que estudiar mucho.
Day 5
July 9, 2008
I studied into the 8th lesson of Spanish Wikibook, and then wrote a lang-8 entry to test out a little bit of what I’ve learned so far. I need to get a Spanish-English dictionary soon, as being tied to the internet is really inconvenient. Por ejemplo, I went to a café to study today, and when I wanted to know a word, I had no way of looking it up at that moment. Es muy incómodo.
In just these 5 days of study I’m well beyond what I got through in four months of intensive Korean study, although I, admittedly, didn’t take Korean as seriously as I should have. I just had no drive to learn the language, as I wanted to focus only on Japanese at the time.
9 de julio, 2008
Day 4
July 9, 2008
I listened to a couple of the “inspired beginner” lessons from notesinspanish.com on the way to work. Also, I went through a tiny bit of the 7th lesson from the Spanish Wikibook site, but was mostly swamped with work. I have a wide-open schedule tomorrow to divide between my Spanish and Japanese studies.
8 de julio, 2008
Day 3
July 9, 2008
The FSI Basic Spanish study didn’t pan out, as printing 600+ pages of pdf text was not something I could easily do. I found an alternative in the free Spanish Wikibook, which I studied through lesson six today.
I also ordered Fundamental Spanish from Amazon, as it looked decent. Simple. I’m just going to power through it and mine sentences when it arrives. (Which will be at the end of August…because shipping to Japan by boat takes a while…)
Along with the textbook, I also ordered the complete set of Harry Potter libros en español, porque me encanta leer los libros de Harry Potter. After studying Japanese, Spanish is a breeze.
7 de julio, 2008
