Okay, I attended my third Spanish workshop this weekend. It is the third one in two months. Nothing says dedication like attending a workshop. Two hours of working on a foreign language is hardcore!
The regulars were in attendance (15 in total) and they seem to be a serious group of characters all motivated to learn, maintain or share their knowledge. People seem to come from all backgrounds and I have seen people from 10 to 70 years old.
We started off by introducing ourselves and sharing why we were learning Spanish (en espanol). Then we had readings followed by questions (all in Spanish). Following that, we all had to answer a question about how we celebrated holidays and what countries we have traveled to.
Highlights: I engaged the instructor in a conversation and didn't bail when I felt a little nervous. I asked him about his job and he asked me about mine. He was drawn away, first, by someone who came up to him.
That's what I'm talking about!
When I read out loud, today, it was was much smoother than last time. (I have a new issue though. I have to reconstruct my voice to sound natural. Since I mimic the instructors on audio, my voice sounds like a radio announcer when I read.)
Also, a guy who I saw a month ago told me three times how much I had improved.
Three times!
I shared with him that I had been reading children's books and studying an audio course since I last saw him. I didn't share that I had probably completed two semesters of college level work in the past 30 days. It is a wonderful thing to be able to study as much as I have and have the passion to continue (even when frustrated).
Low points: When we introduced ourselves and on one of the questions, instead of just talking and using the language as I know how, I focused too much on not making any mistakes. I felt like a newbie both times.
Overall, it was a very solid day.
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Hoy, fue un dia de buen desarollo. Estoy agradecido!
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Bakari Akil is a Professor of Communication, blogs for Psychology Today and has authored many books on Communication and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This is his experience learning Spanish.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Dealing with Insults (Que hacer con los insultos)
The title of this post is also the name of one of the books I just finished. It is one of a series of books for kids aged 8-12 that deals with issues many kids face, but may have never received advice on how to deal with them.
I must admit that I didn't agree with all of the advice. I learned early that to respond to an insult with a clever comeback usually kept people at bay and some rivalries developed into friendships. Of course, that approach is not suitable for all occasions, but it saved me a lot of grief when I finally learned how to deliver a proper comeback.
However, placing my personal feelings aside, I loved the structure of the book and the writing. The book was 22 pages long and it had English on the top and Spanish at the bottom. The paragraphs averaged 7 lines of text per page. I read most of the book without having to refer to the English portion, however, there were a good number of words that were new, such as:
herir - to hurt
autoestima - self-esteem
lidiar - deal (Una buena forma de lidiar...)
lastimar - to hurt
fastidiarse - annoy
bravucon - bully
One thing is bothering me though. Increasingly, reading is becoming easier. The messages are becoming clearer. Yet, I know that a lot of it is due to context (pictures - clues from the entire sentence, etc.) and not necessarily my knowledge of words, grammar or syntax. It is eating me up, a little, that my ability to understand may encourage me to think I know more than I think I know.
I am reading increasingly difficult texts, however, I often wonder if someone who has never studied Spanish (and is native to English) could read the same material with no problems. I know better, but sometimes it is amazing how fast I am picking up the ability to decipher, read and understand text.
Agradezco que hacer tiempo a leer este. Hasta proximo tiempo!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bakari Akil is a Professor of Communication, blogs for Psychology Today and has authored many books on Communication and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This is his experience learning Spanish.
I must admit that I didn't agree with all of the advice. I learned early that to respond to an insult with a clever comeback usually kept people at bay and some rivalries developed into friendships. Of course, that approach is not suitable for all occasions, but it saved me a lot of grief when I finally learned how to deliver a proper comeback.
However, placing my personal feelings aside, I loved the structure of the book and the writing. The book was 22 pages long and it had English on the top and Spanish at the bottom. The paragraphs averaged 7 lines of text per page. I read most of the book without having to refer to the English portion, however, there were a good number of words that were new, such as:
herir - to hurt
autoestima - self-esteem
lidiar - deal (Una buena forma de lidiar...)
lastimar - to hurt
fastidiarse - annoy
bravucon - bully
One thing is bothering me though. Increasingly, reading is becoming easier. The messages are becoming clearer. Yet, I know that a lot of it is due to context (pictures - clues from the entire sentence, etc.) and not necessarily my knowledge of words, grammar or syntax. It is eating me up, a little, that my ability to understand may encourage me to think I know more than I think I know.
I am reading increasingly difficult texts, however, I often wonder if someone who has never studied Spanish (and is native to English) could read the same material with no problems. I know better, but sometimes it is amazing how fast I am picking up the ability to decipher, read and understand text.
Agradezco que hacer tiempo a leer este. Hasta proximo tiempo!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bakari Akil is a Professor of Communication, blogs for Psychology Today and has authored many books on Communication and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. This is his experience learning Spanish.
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