Found this today, interesting, but not sure how useful it is.

I like the idea of exposure to different accents, but I don't know how useful it is only hearing one speakers voice from each country.  Also, from my travels to Panama I've noticed a great variety of accents even in that small country.  People speak differently or in contrasting manners such as urban vs. rural, formal vs. informal, educated vs. not-educated, etc..

I'm going to write a post on accents soon, but I think It's also useful to look at the phrases people use regionally.  

Re Introduction

So, I’ve been off of the blogging wagon for quite some time now, but I’d like to get back into it.  I want to write this blog for several reasons, which I want to spell out here, and I want to re-introduce myself.  

My name is Scott Meneely, I’m 34, married, father of 2 and living in Pittsburgh PA.  The target audience of my blog are adult learners of the Spanish language, and parents trying to help their kids speak a second language at home.  I began my Spanish journey at 24 years old and reached fluency within a couple years.  How do I define fluency?  To me I generally define it as being able to have conversations about a multitude of topics with native speakers without having to ask too many comprehension questions, while at the same time being able to express yourself clearly and be understood.  

So why do I care about Spanish so much?  My wife is from Panama, and we want to raise our kids to be bilingual and bi-cultural.  This has not been as easy as one would think it is.  I always hear that “kids learn languages easily” and “kids soak up languages like sponges”.  This has not been the case in our household.  Our kids understand Spanish but do not want to speak it.  Their peers don't speak it, so they have very little interest in it.  In this blog I plan on writing about some of the ways my wife and I are trying to encourage and trick our kids into speaking Spanish.  I’ve also been fortunate enough to meet many Spanish speaking friends from all over the Spanish speaking world.  It is truly a great experience to speak with someone in their language, and it immediately takes your friendship with them to another level.  Another thing that I’m incredibly grateful for is having been able to travel to Latin America regularly for the past several years.  Every time I go my language skills grow by leaps and bounds. This month we actually left the kids with mi suegra for 2 extra weeks in Panama, they're coming home tomorrow and I can't wait to see how their Spanish has improved! Immersion in a language certainly leads to rapid learning. That kind of growth is possible for people living anywhere where there is a Spanish speaking community.  You can learn without traveling, I know it is not realistic for everyone who wants to learn Spanish to get on a plane and go (although if you can, that is a great idea)!    

This blog will include my experience with language learning products, study methods and skills, strategies, observations, and I hope some generally fun stuff as well.  I’ve used many language learning products on my journey; university classes, podcasts, audio cds, books, and much more.  My journey is by no means complete and I continue to study Spanish daily, so intend to keep reviewing the books I read and the products I use.  I also want to talk about some of the attributes of success, like this post where I address the need for the language learner to come out of their shell.   I’d love to communicate more with readers, so if you have a comment, suggestion, or idea, I’d love to talk about it.  

The Balance: Learning vs. Doing

When I hear someone say they “aren’t good at languages”, I just don’t believe them.  I believe that they haven’t had the proper learning methods to help them succeed.  One of the ingredients missing from the repertoire of many language students is actually doing, rather than learning.   I am a firm believer that the earlier in the process a person tries to communicate with a native speaker of the language they’re learning, the better off they will be, even if at first they don’t understand a single thing that the native speaker says back to them!

When I started my first Spanish class, at 24 years old, I had a great encounter that I think exemplifies this concept.  I had just been in my Intro to Spanish class for a couple weeks and happened to be getting on a bus in the outskirts of Pittsburgh.  There was a Mexican couple who got on the bus in front of me, and the bus driver was trying to tell them that the fare would be an extra dollar, as the ride was beginning in zone 2, but the couple did not seem to be understanding what the driver said.   I paid for them, and proceeded to greet them.  All I had was a couple weeks in an intro Spanish class, and my textbook glossary, but we managed to talk for the full hour long bus ride.  It ended up being a great time, with both myself and the gentleman leafing through the glossary, sometimes our thoughts being cut off mid sentence due to how small of a vocabulary we both had, and the limited scope of the textbook glossary.  Did I learn anything from this experience?  linguistically?  I doubt it, but I believe it was still an important step in the development of my Spanish language abilities. It was time spent doing, not learning.  

Now, of course I still had tons of stuff to learn.  I still do!   Language has to be experienced.  Can you imagine someone learning to cook in a classroom, or behind a book.  Sure, you can expand your knowledge of food and technique, but until you get into the kitchen, you will not truly learn to cook.  Now some people will invariably argue “I want to understand what the person will say back to me before I start speaking to them in their language”.  A valid feeling, but understanding is a skill that comes with practice.  Practice actually doing it in conversation.  Understanding exercises in class or audio-programs certainly can be beneficial, but to really learn how to cook, one must enter the kitchen.  

Another concern people have is making mistakes, which can sometimes be embarrassing.  This will happen.  It is part of the process.  Embrace the mistakes, as they are learning opportunities.  When you make a mistake in conversation, if someone points it out to you or you realize it, you are more likely to remember it than if you made the mistake doing exercises from a book or in a classroom.  

My older daughter, who is 4, just started learning Mandarin (which I studied long before I started Spanish).  When we went to a Chinese restaurant recently, I encouraged her to speak Chinese with the waitress.  The waitress was very gracious and spoke back to my daughter and me in Chinese.  My daughter did not understand any of the replies to what she asked the waitress, and looked at me and said “huh”, but still had the courage to express herself in a language in which she only knew a couple basic phrases.  After our lunch, I rewarded and praised my daughter for having the courage to walk through her fear and try something new.  I told her that even though she didn’t understand, that someday she would and that she made an important first step.  I am genuinely proud of her for not allowing her self-consciousness get in her way.

The way children learn their first language is a great example for adults to follow as we venture into second language learning.  If they were afraid of talking because they might make a mistake, they would never end up speaking.  For the longest time my oldest daughter would say “you goed there”?  This follows the grammatical rules, but of course the past tense of “to go” is an exception to the rule.  Eventually she learned, through making the mistake.  As learners, this is what we must do.  We must embrace our mistakes to learn from them.  If we say “yo iré” or “yo voé” to mean “I went”, we will have made the mistake of assuming the verb “ir” followed the rule of adding an “é” to the end of the word in the first person singular to make it the preterite.  This would be a mistake, the correct form is “yo fui”, but having made the mistake this irregular will now stand out in our mind.  As James Joyce said “mistakes are the portals of discovery”.  

So if you are a beginner, or just shy about using the skills you’ve learned, just do it!  It will not make you fluent immediately, but get in the kitchen, it’s the only way you’ll really learn!  And remember, a mistake isn’t the end of the world!  It’s actually a valuable lesson that you’re now less likely to forget!

 

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing”

George Bernard Shaw

Follow up on the subjunctive

This is an excellent slide show I found on the subjunctive!

Book notes: The Spanish Subjunctive Up Close

Like many other Spanish learners, one of my greatest weaknesses is using, or failing to use, the subjunctive.  As part of an ongoing effort to improve upon this I have read and done all of the exercises in the book The Spanish Subjunctive Up Close by Eric Vogt.  These are some notes and observations from the book.    

One thing that Mr. Vogt makes clear at the beginning of the book is that the subjunctive is not a tense, but a mood that includes 4 tenses (present, imperfect, present perfect, and pluperfect).  What determines the use of the subjunctive is the relationship between dependent and independent clauses, not the time when an action happens.  The time when the action happens in relation to the verb in the main clause determines which tense of the subjunctive should be used.    

One type of clause in which the subjunctive may be called for are subordinated noun clauses.  The author provides an easy formula for determining when the subjunctive is needed for subordinated noun clauses (the second, or dependent clause).  

S1+V1 que S2+V2  where S1≠S2

Subject 1 & Verb 1 + Subject 2 & Verb 2 where subject 2 is not equal to subject 1, and verb 1 is a W.E.I.R.D.O. verb.  W.E.I.R.D.O. is a handy acronym for verbs of Wishing (or wanting, willing, desiring, etc.), Emotion (alegrarse, enojarse, etc.), Indirect statements/commands (que traiga, etc.), Doubt/Denial (dudar), and Ojalá.  The importance of the change in subject with W.E.I.R.D.O. cannot be overstated, if the subject does not change the subjunctive is not used.   

Subordinated noun clauses are not the only types of clause that require the subjunctive to follow; some adjective and adverbial clauses also require the subjunctive to follow.  The subjunctive is used in adjective phrases when the antecedent, or noun of the first clause, is vague, non-existent, or indefinite.  The example provided by the book is “necesitamos una computadora que funcione”.  The “computadora que funcione” describes a computer that is vague, may or may not exist, and indefinite (just a computer that works, not the computer that works).  For adverbial clauses, there is one group of these clauses that always requires the subjunctive and another group that sometimes requires the subjunctive, depending on the certainty of the speaker about an event.  The group of clauses that always requires the subjunctive includes:  

a menos que/a no ser que  (unless)

antes de que  (before)

como si  (as if)

con tal de que, siempre y cuando  (provided that/as long as)

el hecho de que (the fact that)

en caso de que (in case that)

para que, a fin de que  (in order that)

sin que (without)

(pg. 48)

The other group sometimes requires the subjunctive.  To determine whether or not the subjunctive is required we need to look at the speaker’s attitude about the dependent clause, the adverbial phrase is describing, such as uncertainty or doubt about the clause.   

a pesar de que  (despite, in spite of)

acaso, tal vez, quizá  (perhaps)

así que, así como (such that)

aunque  (although)

cuando (when)

de modo que, de manera que  (in such a way that)

después de que, luego que (after)

hasta que  (until)

mientras  (while)

por más que, por mucho que (no matter how much)

siempre que (as long as)

tan pronto como, en cuanto  (as soon as)

una vez que  (once you have)

(pg. 49)

The exercises in the book are plentiful and extensive.  Some are as simple as matching exercises.  Other more difficult exercises involve translating sentences that may or may not involve the subjunctive.  Each chapter has 5 or 6 sets of exercises, so one can feel comfortable with the content before moving on (or review the chapter more).   The entire last chapter is comprehensive exercises on material learned in all of the chapters.  I feel I personally gained the most from the exercises, though the explanations were good as well.

The Spanish Subjunctive Up Close has been a useful tool that has helped me become more confident with the subjunctive.  I would highly recommend it as a resource for anyone interested in improving their use of the subjunctive.

¡Que lo lean!  

              

Some excellent movies to enjoy while learning about Latin American culture!

 

También la Lluvia  -  Set in Bolivia, a Spanish film crew employs Native Americans to make a film about Christopher Columbus.  Maybe employs isn’t really accurate, exploits might be a better term.   Against the backdrop of the Bolivian government privatizing the water supply and the social unrest that follows; action, emotion, and inspiration follow.  This is a truly inspirational film, and is one of my favorites in any language.   

¡No!  -  A marketing campaign that brought down a dictator.  Awesome, true story.  You can see the real ad portrayed in the movie here. 

La Misma Luna  -  A heart-touching story of a young boy who crosses the US/Mexican border by himself to find his mother.  His journey shows the perils of this journey that many like him take every day.  He also finds an unlikely friend and hero.  

The Motorcycle Diaries  -  An adventure through the continent of South America.  Great cinematography of the varied landscapes of the continent.   Learn the beginnings of the infamous “Che”.    

Romero  -  This movie is in English, but is culturally and historically relevant.  In my opinion, when one mentions the great non-violent leaders of the 20th century Bishop Romero should be right up there with Martin Luther King and Gandhi.  The story of a hero who knew he would be killed for doing the right thing and went ahead and did it anyway.  Excellent movie!   

Any suggestions or favorites that I missed?  Feel free to comment!

My Spanish Goals

The previous post on this blog was about measuring progress and learning from mistakes. I mentioned that I noticed some mistakes I was making in speech while we were in Panama, and that I plan on making a study plan to address those mistakes.  This post is that plan and the specific subjects I will address to improve in those areas.  

One of the first problems I noticed was making mistakes with the subjunctive tenses.  I plan on addressing this through reading and doing the exercises in the book The Spanish Subjunctive Up Close  by Eric Vogt.  I’ve read through this book before, but could certainly use a review, and doing the exercises may help train my brain to pick the proper tenses.   I will also try to incorporate the subjunctive into my speech with my wife more, and she is definitely not shy about letting me know when I’m wrong.      

Another issue that I feel I could use some reinforcement on is choosing the proper pronoun.  Most of the time I feel confident with pronouns, but I get confused sometimes with when to use “la” or “le”.  I plan on addressing these issues by reading and doing the exercises in the book Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions by Dorothy Richmond.  I don't feel this problem was quite as extensive as my problem with the subjunctive, so I think a little review will be all it takes to clear it up.       

One final issue I’d like to address with my Spanish is to add more natural transitions in speech.  This one is harder to quantify, but I want to utilize phrases like “a proposito” and “por cierto” more.  Even transition words like “bueno”, “pues”, and “así que”  will make my speech pattern more natural and closer to sounding like a native speaker.   This is just something  I will have to be mindful of when speaking, as I don’t have  books or exercises to do.   I also plan on writing a blog post about colloquial expressions in the near future, so I will observe natural  speech  more so than usual.   Compiling that info should be a great help to me, and hopefully to you all.      

I’m sure after I improve on these areas, new problems will creep up.  Learning a second language as an adult is a lifelong venture.  I’m just glad that it is something I enjoy, and it is truly the journey and not the destination that is the best part.    My Spanish has helped me make new friends, and develop better relationships with my family.  That makes all of it so worthwhile.   I hope your Spanish journey is as enjoyable for you as mine is for me!