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I'm from Texas. I love Mexico. I'm looking for more opportunities to practice Spanish. I have degrees in engineering and art history, so there is lots to talk about. On the weekends, I can be found working in my small vineyard. I've been taking 1 hour lessons via Skype 3 times a week since May 2014. I spend about 2 hours a day commuting, so I try to practice for at least 1 hour via cassette tapes or MP3's.
Learning
Spanish
Language Skills
EnglishNative
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Marta lang.clas
Spanish
Feb 2, 2015
Perfect! So we'll continue to use graphic representations of people doing things to drill the verb conjugations as well as all those 'wicked' :) Spanish personal pronouns.
Marta lang.clas
Spanish
Jan 26, 2015
Great teaching experience! Very specific and well defined learning needs of a self-aware student are a great opportunity for creative work... with the added bonus of some training for the 'graphic designer' inside me :) Thanks for all the inspiration, Mark!
Activities
  • Commented

    Hi, tgif. This is an excellent article! Thank you! I am just getting in to the audio file technology, and your recommendation of Audacity and the Skype recorder were very helpful.

     

    Of course, I have questions. I apologize if you have answered these elsewhere.

     

    First, you mention 350 italki classes and a number of teachers. How many teachers have you worked with?

     

    >NJStar is my learning program of choice.

     

    What is a 'learning program'? Is this something specific to learning written Chinese?

     

    >During the last portion of the class, I will have a freestyle, subject-specific discussion,
    >asking the teacher to use the vocabulary words with me in a meaningful conversation.

     

    Can you describe the other portions? I am very interested in your class design. It sounds like you have been very specific about how your classes are organized.

     

    What MP3 player (hardware/software) do you use while in your car?

     

    Finally, do you find yourself using the lesson audio files at a latter date? If so, how do you organize your MP3 collection?

     

    Again, thanks for a great article!

     

    Mark

    0 voted
    February 15, 2015
    0
  • Posted
    uso la palabra 'que' I'm interested in various means/uses of 'que' when placed after a verb. Below is what google says it might mean. My guess is the word is colored by the verb and context. Fair guess? que means 'it' comprar que buy it crear que create it cortar que cut it oir que hear it cantar que sing it vigilar que watch it ganar que win it que = that arrestar que arrest that estar que be that cambiar que change that limpiar que clean than construir que construct that cocinar que cooking that recibir que like that bajar que lower than ordenar que order that salir que out that poner que put that que = to volver que back to llevar que bring to traer que bring to llamar que call to cerrar que close to venir que come to seguir que continue to bailar que dance to llegar que Directions to beber que drink to abrir que open to pagar que payable to correr que run to hablar que speak to girar que turn to pasear que walking to escribir que write to que = you saludar que greet you
    February 12, 2015
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  • Posted
    silent que? This is my puzzle, tonight. Why the 'que' in 'tenemos que hablar'? tenemos : we have que: what hablar: to talk Why not be literal? Tenemos hablar...we have to talk..noooo! Put that in Google translate, and you get 'we talk', not 'we have to talk'. I tried this is with 'bebemos que vivir' and got 'drink to live' (probably 'we drink to live'). Remove the 'que' and you get 'drink live'.
    February 11, 2015
    1
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  • Posted
    no se permite mercancía en el baño I noticed this sentence on a sign at Walmart, yesterday. I've been working on indirect object pronouns, so I stopped and pondered the literal meaning of 'no se permite'. Obviously, it means 'not allowed', but thought to myself, 'se' = him/she/usted, 'permite' = he/she/it/usted allow(s)'. Also, the 'se' suggests a reflexive aspect to this. All this puzzled me. My first thought was: 'He doesn't allow himself merchandise in the restroom'. This didn't make a lot of sense. My second idea was: 'It (the merchandise) doesn't allow itself to be in the restroom.' This seem overly polite. The third option is 'permite' is imperative, but the imperative is 'no permita'. I should have taken a photo.
    January 19, 2015
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  • Posted
    Some Engnish translations Engnish speakers like the 's' sound I give you the ball...you gives I the ball you give him the ball....him gives you the ball he gives me the ball....me gives he the ball we give you the ball....you gives we the ball they give us the ball....us gives they the ball I give you the ball....you gaves I the ball you give him the ball....him gaves you the ball he gives me the ball....me gaves he the ball we give you the ball....you gaves we the ball they give us the ball....us gaves they the ball I carry you....you carries I you carry him....him carries you he carries me....me carries he we carry you....you carries we they carry us....us carries they I carried you....you carried I you carried him....him carried you he carried me....me carried he we carried you....you carried we they carried us....us carried they
    January 16, 2015
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  • Posted
    More fun with indirect object pronouns I carry you.....te llevo you carry him...le llevas he carries me...me lleva we carry you...te llevamos they carry us...nos levan
    January 16, 2015
    1
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  • Posted
    English words, spanish word order For about a week, I've been giving a lot of thought to Spanish word order. For example: In English: She calls me at the office (subject - verb(tense) - indirect object - direct object) In Spanish, Me llama a la oficina ( indirect object - verb( tense = subject )-direct object) I wasn't making much progress with these reversed word orders. I decided my problem wasn't vocabulary, it was 'word order implied meanings'. For example, "I am ..." is a fact, "Am I ..." is a question. Verb - subject is a question deeply etched in my mind. So, I chose to forget about Spanish vocabulary and simply see if I could understand sentences with English words arranged in Spanish word order. (Engnish?) Tonight, I started by practicing 'me gusta ....' In Engnish, this is 'me pleases it ...' As I was driving down the highway, I started saying 'me pleases it xxx' to everything that caught my eye. 'me pleases it the sign', 'me pleases it the car', 'me pleases it the gas station', 'me pleases it the stars',, etc. I would play with different intonations to try and get the feeling that I was saying something about how I liked things. Its a couple of hours later, now. 'me pleases it italki' only vaguely feels like 'I like italki', but it doesn't hurt my head. In fact, it is a little fun.
    January 14, 2015
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  • Corrected

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    Alternatively, you might want to say:

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    0 voted
    December 24, 2014
    1
  • Corrected
    0 voted
    December 24, 2014
    0
  • Posted
    porque se me espera algo mejor I have been listening to a song. It sounds like the song says: Porque soy que me espera algo mejor" but the online lyrics say the line goes: "porque se me espera algo mejor" The later doesn't make sense to me. Am I missing something?
    December 23, 2014
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