Snow I'm trying to get through this week as quickly as possible. We've had some... ...OK snowfall in the mountains in the last week and looks like there might be more on the way. A group of us have rented a ridiculously large house 30 mins from the mountain - the same one we rent around this time every year. I spent an obscene amount of money on a new snowboard and bindings (although it was on sale, so not as much as I could have spent) and I'm looking forward to breaking it in. Climbing I haven't been and I'm missing it. I've been incredibly lazy the past few weeks. No physical activity except the short two-block walk to work from my tram stop. I think I'm rationalising it to myself by saying 'well I'm going to be very active in the snow'. Planning to get back into it when I return. Spanish I've been enjoying the classes a lot. There has been a lot of absenteeism. Last week I was the only student there and I felt like I got a lot out of the class. This week though, a student who hasn't been there for a few weeks was back - and was struggling. It's selfish, but I was pretty annoyed. Most of the class was taken up with everything I'd already gone through last week. There are two classes left now. I'm planning on continuing to one of the next levels. Looking at the descriptions of the classes though, we seem to have gone over a lot of the material already. I'm going to ask my teacher (hopefully in Spanish...) whether he thinks I'm ready for level 2 yet... (¿Crees que debería intentar los clases nivel dos?). I have no idea if that's right - or if I'll be way too far out of my comfort zone. Anyone here able to tell me if I'm on the right track with that sentence?
I think it definitely helps having a set topic for each week. On Tuesday, we were discussing: Lots of interesting vocabulary and history! The Mexican government has primary school books available here if you're interested!¿Qué tanto conoces Latínoamérica?
Indeed! Some of the vocab videos on Youtube, while useful in other ways, can be frustratingly random. A sentence like "I bought a new purse" will be followed up by "Did you remember to brush your teeth?" On the one hand it's great because I'm getting a lot of nouns and verbs splashed in front of me. On the other hand though, it's annoying because the sentences aren't really related to each other. That said, Dala let's me play around with her DuoLingo app from time to time and it seems to have a problem in the other direction, where a ten question exercise might ask me about "pantalones" in three or four out of the ten questions. I'm really enjoying reading Voice of America and DW in Spanish. Some articles I can get through relatively well on my own where other ones will have me busting out the dictionary for every other word. Either way, it's great immersion wise. Random aside, do you have Rosetta Stone where you live? I remember ten years ago, that software was expensive as heck, like $2-300 a level, and some languages went up to five or six levels. It seems like all the new resources out there have really put pressure on them to offer better deals, because I recently saw a lifetime account for Spanish for only $200.I think it definitely helps having a set topic for each week.
I've been meaning to check out Voice of America and DW. Thanks again for recommending them! I'm not sure about Rosetta Stone. I've never looked into any of the language learning software packages. While classes are expensive, I think they're the only way that I'll actually learn much. I'm a terrible student when I have to hold myself accountable. I did try the "Language in 10 minutes a day" books. I have Russian and Spanish sitting around somewhere. Can't remember where on earth I put them though.