1000 Day Streak

I have to say I'm pretty proud of this. Admittedly, I had to "redeem" it when my computer died and I was out of commission for a week, a process which involved doing the whole week's lessons in one go, but at least I was allowed to do so. Can I speak Spanish now? Well, I've never uttered a single word to another human being, so that's not been tested, but I have read several novels (full-length ones) aimed at "young adults" with reasonably good comprehension. I struggle with verb tenses, and for that, I blame Duolingo. They don't focus on any one tense long enough for it to sink in. That said, I am pleased with my progress.

Better Late Than Never

Day 325: I'm certain that anyone entering their autumn years will admit to having at least one thing they wish they'd done, or wished they'd done sooner. I have many things in the first category, but high on the list in the second would be learning to speak Spanish. I made one attempt with Duolingo a few years back, and was put off by what appeared to be a strong emphasis on dating and boozing. I'm sure there were some grammar concepts in there as well, although they were buried too deeply for me to perceive. Either Duo has improved their content or because I specified my age more accurately, when I resumed under a different profile a little over a year ago, I found them to be greatly improved. Going at my own plodding pace, I was satisfied with my progress in Section 1 at the end of a year and moved on to Section 2. Admittedly, much of the vocabulary is useless for my life style (I don't travel, I don't ride horses or go to the beach, and I've never-ever-ever owned a skateboard), but my grasp of the grammatical structure has improved to a point that I can at least comprehend most of the content in the types of books I do enjoy reading. A good example would be yesterday's foray into "En la Selva Lluviosa," i.e, "In the Rain Forest." I went to bed secure in the knowledge that the Atlas Moth has a wingspan up to 30 cm, and that the cuscus has a partially prehensile tail and African monkeys differ from South American monkeys in that their tails are not prehensile. For that, I can live with having to translate sentences about playing baseball and dancing for half an hour every day.

Mis Libros Favoritos

Day 9: Estos son mis libros favoritos. ¿Por qué? ¡Porque los puedo leer en español! Yes, I'm working on Spanish again, and I'm progressing far better than with any previous attempt. Why? First of all, I have been using several different methods of learning, including DuoLingo's quirky, semi-functional website, as well as following several "comprehensible input" teachers on YouTube. I refer to Google Translate for pronunciations and definitions of unfamiliar words, and sometimes type in paragraphs so that I can read them aloud along with the robotic voice, improving on its inflection. However, the thing which is making the most difference in my learning curve is that I am reading books on subjects dear to me, specifically birds, plants and the sciences. Relevance matters! I am not the least bit interested in hotels, taxis and airports, but I find that I retain more if I can infer meaning from context when reading that a bird's wing ("ala") is flat ("plana") on the underside ('por debajo") and curved ("curva") on the upper surface ("por arriba") so that the pressure of the air which passes over the top is less than that which passes underneath, thereby giving the bird lift. This is what is meant by the phrase "acquiring a language," as opposed to learning its grammar and vocabulary by rote. I'm sure I will have many more opportunities to discuss the fact that a fifth of a bird's body cavity is occupied by air sacs than I will have chances to repeat DuoLingo's phrase, "My dog doesn't shower every day."

Unexpected Lesson

Day 164: Yesterday as I was reading "Las Flores" (a juvenile book in Heinemann's "Lee y aprende" series), I was surprised by a photo of Skunk Cabbage in the section on scents. "But are there flowers that stink like skunks? In the United States, they call these 'Skunk Cabbage.'" Of course this has to be a literal translation of the plant's common name since they undoubtedly don't grow in the hotter climates where Spanish is spoken, and it certainly wasn't a term covered by any of my dictionaries, so I was delighted to find a way to refer to it. It was one of the things which ran through my mind while I was exploring my favourite bog.

DuoLingo (an on-line language tutor) focuses primarily on grammar, but unfortunately centers around a vocabulary rather alien to my way of life: relationships and social activities. My personal Spanish vocabulary is much larger because I have read books like "Las Flores." I can talk about stamens and pollen and seeds, none of which are within DuoLingo's database. Likewise from my Mega Enciclopedias, I know the names of animals and birds and could discuss their habitats and the threats they face with the same ease that I can translate Duo's social scenarios. Unfortunately, the "science" section in Duo is very near the end of the Spanish lessons, and to get to it, I have to pass through "feelings," "sport," "business," "spiritual,"  and "politics," none of which hold the least bit of interest for me. I am currently at 49% proficiency (the highest score Duo awards is 50-60%), so I am not sure where I will go from here.

La Cebolla

Day 136: Me gusta la cebolla. Ellas comen las cebollas. La cebolla no es un animale, es un vegetale. Yes, I am back practicing Spanish again. I have a decent vocabulary, but my grammar is appalling. The simplest things like "who," "which" and "how" trip me up. I can make my verbs agree with their subjects and my sentence structure is reasonably good, but those little words need a lot more practice, and to that end, I have signed on with DuoLingo. The site was recommended to me by a native speaker who teaches intermediate and advanced classes in the same building as Morris dance practice. When I arrived early a few weeks ago, I sat outside the door listening in. When I spoke with her afterwards, she suggested DuoLingo as a prerequisite for her intermediate class. Oh, how I would love to become fluent!

DuoLingo lets you go at your own pace, and allows you to return to earlier lessons for practice. The student is asked to type in responses. Sometimes, an unmistakable visual clue is given; other times, you are given a sentence and asked to translate it to or from Spanish. By typing in the words over and over, the spellings and tenses are drilled into your head without the need for painful memorization. I'm finding it quite an enjoyable way to learn a second language (or in my case, refine one I'd already begun to study). They offer courses in many other languages as well...and KLINGON is in the works! That will be my next project.