WEEK 12So, it’s the end of week twelve of my project to swap gloomy greyhound stadium for a sun-drenched plaza de toros. An exciting week outside of the world of Spanish learning, as we come out of lockdown in Ireland having skipped some steps, and we can look forward to soon being able to eat in a restaurant. Tapas beckons.
This week I downloaded and started using the Busuu language learning app. No, I don’t know how it’s pronounced either. The app started out by assessing my Spanish language level, which it said was just a few lessons away from reaching A2. Weirdly, it also said that I am 54% fluent in Spanish. Since it’s more or less impossible to define what fluency means, that’s like being told you’re 62% creative or 38% joyful (I’m sure I’m more than 50% joyful). Not only is the measurement essentially meaningless, there also appears to be no logic or consistency to how the app measures it. I did lessons 21 to 26 and raised my score to 59% fluent. I then did the first part of lesson 27, and my score shot up to 61%. I then the first couple of lessons on the B1 course, and my rating is now back down at 58% fluent. The free version of the app is infuriating to the point of being almost unusable, at it keeps trying to get you to review words you have learnt, but then interrupts you with an ad for the premium version. If you do anything other than purchase the premium version, it bounces you out of the review and you have to start over and the process starts again. As a result, finishing a review is actually impossible. But, since the premium version only cost €40 for the year, I decided to give it a whirl. The app teaches a mix of vocabulary and grammar using audio and written versions of conversations and then tests you on them. The language is conversational, and the themes are all ones from daily life, mostly of the pre-Covid era (inviting someone to a party, eating out, going on a date …). You are then tested on what you have learned in a variety of ways, though some of those tests are really basic and you could more or less guess the answer. You are also asked to do short written exercises which are corrected by other users, but you are also continually sent exercises by other users which you are apparently expected to correct. A bit like paying to access an online version of a newspaper and then finding that you are expected to write some of the articles. The app provides official McGraw-Hill Education certificates in Spanish at levels A1, A2, B1 and B2. I completed the lessons in the A2 section of the app, so I am planning on attempting the A2 exam next week. I have done a few more conversation exchanges recently, and while all the people I’ve spoken to have all been very kind and encouraging, I have increasingly found it the least enjoyable part of learning Spanish. Before each session I get a feeling of dread and a strong desire to cancel and do something else. Anything else. The first few times I spoke Spanish I was happy to just be able to say something and be understood, but as I’ve learnt more vocabulary and grammar I find myself trying to say more complex sentences, and keep getting tongue tied, especially when trying to use the different forms of the past tense. I’ve found it very frustrating not being able to articulate what I’m trying communicate. Apparently, this is why infants become essentially unbearable during the “terrible twos”, and so I have resolved to make a special effort not to have tantrums in supermarkets if I told I can’t have chocolate. I’ve been trying to improve my ability to understand spoken Spanish this week by trying out a few different podcasts. I’ve also been continuing with the materials from the Junior Cert and GCSE Spanish exams, but want to tested myself using something what wasn’t aimed specifically at A1 and A2 level language learners. I started with Unlimited Spanish, as it has transcripts to accompany each episode. The first couple of episodes have been good, though challenging. They are in the form of Spanish lessons – explanations of various points about the Spanish language – given in Spanish. I’m not as keen on the final part of each episode, where the host Oscar says a sentence and then asks multiple questions about it, though. I’ll probably listen to a few more episodes, but really what I’m looking for now is something that will improve my ability to understand Spanish as it is spoken by natives rather than a language learning course. I previously tried the Notes in Spanish inspired beginners podcast, which I liked. This week I tried out the intermediate version, which has forty-six episodes of Ben, who is English, and Marina, who is Spanish, discussing various aspects of their lives in Spain and Spanish culture. This is conversational Spanish at what I think is normal speaking speed, so I’m not getting everything they say though I can follow most of it. I’m not going to shell out the €55 for the membership just to get access to the transcripts, but I will probably listen to the rest of the episodes. Finally, I tried Vino para principiantes. This isn’t a language learning podcast, but is aimed at Spanish people who want to learn the basics about wine, so it Spanish spoken by a native for natives. It’s the hardest of the three I’ve tried this week, though I’m surprised that I can follow the gist of what is being said. Maybe I’ll manage to learn a bit of Spanish and get some wine appreciation into the bargain. I have already internalised what the host says at the end of each episode: “Always drink what you enjoy and keep trying new wines. Everything else is just commentary”. Cheers. I’ve decided that it is time for me to start learning Spanish grammar in a more organised way than I have so far using the various courses and apps I’ve tried, so I got Basic Spanish: A Grammar and Workbook by Carmen Arnaiz and Irene Wilkie and have been working through a block of exercises each day. My grammar isn’t terrible, but there are definitely gaps and things that I don’t understand, and so far doing the questions hasn’t felt too much like being back at school learning Irish. I’ve also taken on board what Michel Thomas said about the importance of learning verbs correctly and what some books I have read have said about how to do this, particularly about not learning to conjugate verbs (eg learning how to say I speak, you speak, he speaks, she speaks …) but instead to learn verbs one person at a time (eg learning how to say I speak, I am, I eat, I go … then you speak, you are, you eat, you go …). As a result, every day this week I’ve taken a different verb and tried to make up sentences using the first person of it in each tense (eg I speak to him every day, I will speak to her tomorrow, I would speak to him if I had his number, I spoke to her yesterday …). I’m hoping that if I stick at this the grammar will seep in and I’ll be less tongue-tied the next time I try a conversation exchange. Several books I’ve read have suggested learning a foreign language by listening to music, so this week I tried listening to various Spanish bands. I looked online for recommendations which had me listen to everything from Eurovision-ish pop nonsense which I hated to some indie rock stuff which I really liked. Did I learn any Spanish though? To be honest, no. Maybe if I’d listened to the songs while reading the lyrics, looked up any words I didn’t know and then listened to the songs over and over again until I knew them well enough to croon tunelessly along, I would have learnt the lyrics to those songs. But that isn’t a particularly efficient way to learn a handful of words. And will you ever actually use song lyrics in real life? When was the last time you needed to say “I'd rather be dry, but at least I'm alive, rain on me, rain, rain”? I suspect that listening to Spanish music is a great way to pretend to learn Spanish while you relax and think about something else, but it’s about as effective as trying to study for a law degree by watching Suits on TV. My film this week was El hombre de las mil caras (Smoke and Mirrors/The Man with a Thousand Faces) from 2016. This was written and directed by Alberto Rodríguez, who was the man behind La isla minima which I watched last week and loved. This one was based on a true story, and had a somewhat drawn out and convoluted plot, and I couldn’t help feeling at the end that the protagonist could have achieved more or less the same outcome by doing something much more straightforward. Leading to a much shorter film. Not the worst Spanish flick I’ve seen, but not great either. Well that’s about it. Week twelve of fifty-two done and I reckon that I now know 1930 words in Spanish. I learnt 210 new words this week, which comes to 30 per day. One small step towards joining the cuadrilla , and the adventure continues … |
Here are some of the resources I was using this week
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