Spanish 102: Where to Begin?
Now that we know which dialect I chose and the differences between Castilian and Latin American Spanish, its time to document what I already know, and plan my next steps.
As explained in the previous post, my method of learning will be through a podcast hosted by Paul Nobel, and some external help from other people who can provide support.
The Podcast ->
Since I have started this podcast a long while ago and have been on a continuous break from it, I will need to go back a couple tracks to relisten and re-place myself in this “most recent” information. There are 37 tracks in total (typically ranging from 20-28 minutes), and because the track I was last listening to was number 24, I am going to start again at track 21. And if I feel I need more reminders of things introduced earlier on, I will go back as necessary. However, this podcast does a great job of bringing up concepts already introduced throughout!
<- Documentation
Documenting may be a little tricky, as learning something new (let alone a whole language) is not going to be a linear process, and because of the nature of the podcast, we’re not being given worksheets or grammar practice to automatically document what we’re learning. So in this case, I will write “reflection” style! Retelling how many tracks I listen to between posts, what each track focused on, then a self reflection of how I think I’m improving and other extra things I decide to add. The format of this may vary, including video, voice memo or text to change it up, and present my understandings in a variety of ways as discussed in the previous post.
What I Already Know ->
Learnings from the podcast:
- Rules relating to English word patterns that translate to Spanish
- English word ending – Spanish word ending
- tion = cion — (information = informacion)
- ic – ico / ica — (romantic = romantico)
- ant / ent = ante / ente — (intelligent = intelligente)
- ous = oso — (famous = famoso)
- ity = idad — (university = universidad)
- some grammar
- certain words being different based on tense / other requirements
- I have (possession of something) = tengo
- I have (have done an action of sorts) = he
- So much more!
Learnings outside / before the podcast:
- Z and C before i & e = Th sound
- double L rule – ll = y sound
- Pronouns – yo, usted, ella, el, vosotros…
- tone (when asking a question tone / pitch in voice goes up at the end of that question
- basics
- days of the week
- months of the year
- numbers to 50
- introducing myself & basic information
- other words or phrases picked up elsewhere
<- Reflection
Currently, I’m not ready to have full conversations yet as I feel I have much to improve on and understand. I am working on this by getting used to actually speaking out loud to practice my pronunciation and build confidence along with my “knowledge bank”. Otherwise we’ll see where this project takes us, and we’ll see how it goes jumping back in!
Stay Tuned!
– Ev