¿Se ha acabado?/It's Over?

Officially, the contest is over. Which, I suppose, means the summer project is over.
I don't want it to be over so I am going to keep going! When it comes down to it, I won the contest... by a landslide! Now, I wish I would have studied more some weeks but we did "ok". Over the 10 weeks I studied for a total of 91.61 hours.

Overall, I know that I understand and can speak Spanish better than I ever have before. I still have so much work to do but I'm happy I've had such a nice springboard into the language. It's depressing when I turn on the radio or the television and still have such a hard time catching what is being said. BUT, I know I'll get nowhere if I give up... so I won't give up!

I took a test from the local community college continuing education department. According to the test I can sign up to take intermediate Spanish II or Conversational Spanish II. That's cool, huh? I'm going to try to take one of those classes this semester and try to take a "for credit" class next semester. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I think I'll try to keep up the blog... better than I have been :) It helps me remember to study/practice when I feel like "someone" is watching.

En la fase dos/On to Phase Two

Alrighty, so when The Husband and I started this little project, I kind of divided it into phases (in my mind). During Phase One, my main priority was to get through Rosetta Stone. I knew I would do other things like listen to podcasts in the car. I figured that if I worked through Rosetta Stone I would at least have organized lessons to do everyday that followed a prescribed order. I needed that since I really felt like I was starting from scratch.

Well I have finished Phase One and am excited to begin Phase TWO!!! Here's how it is going to work. I bought several books (for example, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Charlotte's Web, and Twilight) in SPANISH! Now I'm going to translate them! After looking at all of the books I have, I've decided to start with Charlotte's Web. It seems to be the easiest based on my experimenting a bit with a few different ones. I was actually able to translate it quite easily (without having to look up so many words). I'm also going to work on getting painfully familiar with verbs. I have a Spanish Verb Drills workbook that I've already started (yay!). Also, to help with the verbs and to continue building my vocabulary I'm going to put more time into using my flashcard program (that is on my phone).

I know these steps will help me but what will help me the most is actually USING Spanish at home! Early on we decided to spend XX minutes each day only speaking Spanish and we didn't really follow through. NOW IS THE TIME (AHORA ES EL TIEMPO!) I know we won't get any further in our Spanish studies if we neglect this.

So whatdaya think?

Oh, I've posted our weekly scores (almost up to date) on the Keeping Score page. It's kind of difficult to read. It sufficeth to say I've got the contest in the bag! Just put it this way, at the end of week 8, I was beating The Husband my 70 hours to his 52.

Con mezcló emociónes.../With Mixed Emotions

The day finally arrived. Today I finished Rosetta Stone's Level Three of Latin American Spanish. I was so ready to be done! It's a fine program but I used it so much in the last nine weeks that I just couldn't take it anymore! (¡No puedo más!) I was very happy to finish. However, those moments of happiness were soon followed by a little bit of frustration, followed by a little bit of sadness.

A little review of Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish, Levels 1-3:
I think it was very helpful; introduced new vocabulary; got me comfortable speaking the language. It did start out really slow, only to introduce too much too fast at the end. There is a lot that I did in the lessons in the last sections of Level 3that I still don't feel comfortable with using in "real life". I think that it probably got me into maybe a college-level Spanish 3 class (but then, I never took Spanish 2 so what do I know?... and I did take Spanish 1 like, 15 years ago).
Let's face it there is not one program on the planet that will get you from basically knowing nothing to speaking conversationally all on its own. I think Rosetta Stone did what it was supposed to do: gave me a good introduction. I could go to Mexico now and get by alright. I could travel, ask for directions, shop, etc. But I couldn't hold a conversation.

That's where the sadness comes in. I've studied A LOT over the last nine weeks and I still feel pretty stupid. Don't get me wrong. I'm willing to feel that way because I want to improve (wink, wink). I had just hoped that the difference between then and now would have been greater.

And here's where the additional bit of sadness came in:
We went to a Mexican Restaurant to celebrate. Of course, the waiter was a native Spanish-speaker (or whatever the PC term is now). The Husband spoke up (in Spanish) first. I then added a little bit in Spanish. The waiter took a step back, sized me up said something like, "¿Tú hablas en español?" I replied, "Un poco" and smiled. He then said, "But you look more latin than him!" Ugh. He had no reason to believe that I didn't speak Spanish until I opened my mouth.

Clearly, I have much more work to do.

Finally! I Learned to Type in Spanish!/¡Por Fin! ¡Aprendí a escribir en español!

I found a very helpful website that explains how to easily type in Spanish. Here it is.
Basically, now I have a little icon on the right-hand side of my task bar that looks like a keyboard. When I click on it, I can change my keyboard to an "United States-International Keyboard". This allows me to type pretty quickly, using just a few modifications in my keystrokes. Accent marks are now welcome! Yay!

Spanish Weekend with My Dad/Fin de Semana de Espanol con Mi Padre

We are still and studying away! We just completed week 7 (I think) of our Summer Spanish Project Contest and I think we doing well! Check out the "Keeping Score" page. As you can see, I'm still winning! (This is very exciting... mostly because the cost of Amazon's Kindle 2 came down in price just last week!)

This weekend (Friday-Sunday) The Husband, kids, and I went to spend time with my dad, a native spanish speaker. We told him ahead of time that we wanted to practice our spanish and he was READY! Boy, by Saturday night my brain was exhausted. The husband said he was all "spanished-out" and I agreed (but only in my head... didn't want to admit it to my dad!). I do believe trying to speak in a foreign language throughout the day feels like thinking calculus all day! I don't think I'll ever hear then end of the funny face I (apparently) make when I'm about to say something in Spanish. It's my thinking face, I guess! I think it looks like a combination of me spacing off and me being confused. Right now I have to think so hard before I say anything; there's just no way around it. Maybe with time it will fade away. :)

The conversations over the weekend were slow and effortful but felt good... the way feeling sore after a workout feels good. We did get quite a bit of spanish practice in, though we both feel that we should have done even more. Hopefully we'll get to go back in about a month to try it again. It will be neat (yeah, I said, "neat") to see how much progress we make between now and then. I visited my dad about a month ago and I know that I've made much progress towards being conversational since then. Don't get me wrong... neither The Husband nor I can actually have a conversation in Spanish, yet. Seeing our progress though, was motivating and I know we'll reach that goal eventually!

Direct Object Pronouns and Indirect Pronouns, You Are My Nemesis./Pronombres de Objeto Directo y los Pronombres Indirectos, Tú Eres Mi Enemigo.

We are still studying away, some days more than others. I know I need to add many, many words to my vocabulary. Right now however, the BIG thorn in my side is using direct and indirect object pronouns. Between Rosetta Stone, Learn in Your Car, and SpanishDict.com, I've reviewed and reviewed the rules for how to use them but it is still not coming very naturally to me. This not only hinders my ability to speak the language, it also hinders my ability to understand what in the world is being spoken about! Honestly, in the time it takes me to figure out what a speaker is saying, they've moved on and I've missed something!

Part of the struggle is that in the midst of trying to speak/understand, they all sound the same: me, te, lo, la, nos, las, los and me, te, le, nos, les, se. Using them in the same sentence makes it more tricky!
Here's a sentence that could use a Direct Object Pronoun: She eats a cookie./Ella come la galleta. Here, the direct object is "cookie/galleta". I could say "She eats it". Ella la come. Literally translated, this would be "She it eats".

Here's a sentence that could use both a Direct Object Pronoun and an Indirect Object Pronoun: Instead of saying, "I gave the cookies to Elisa", I could say, "I gave them to her". I believe the correct translation is: "Yo se las dio a ella". Literally translated, this would be something wacky like: "I to her them I gave to her". In other words, you can't translate English to Spanish or Spanish to English literally... which also means you have to know what you are talking about to talk about stuff!! :) Trying to figure out what word replaces what word and what order it's all supposed to go in is perplexing!

What's funny is that what I am explaining now I could totally have all wrong. I'm so confused! Anyone out there that can help? I'm all ears!

He Thinks I'm Cheating./El Piensa Yo Estoy Haciendo Trampa.

Enough said. I am beating the socks off him! The Husband has seriously underestimated how much I want to win. Honestly, I'm kinda sick of studying Spanish. But as long as I have that carrot dangling in front of me, I'm gonna work and work to win the carrot!

You may think that this must mean that when I win the prize I won't want to study anymore. I don't believe that's the case. My theory is that by then I will have obtained a base knowledge of Spanish; Hopefully enough that through daily conversation, reading my favorite books in Spanish, and learning new vocab (through studying), I'll be able to continue to make progress in the language.

Right now I'm really working to get through Rosetta Stone. I'm in the last unit of Level 2. Soon I'll be in Level 3, which is the last level we own. Apparently, they've come out with a Level 4 and 5 but I'm not sure we're sold on purchasing it. I'm looking forward to focusing on some other studying options. Don't get me wrong. Rosetta Stone has really helped build our vocabularies, increase our ability to understand the spoken language and most of all, helped us gain confidence in SPEAKING Spanish. Lately we've just been concentrating on it so much that I'm pretty anxious to see what we can do once we're done with Level 3.

I'm not sure if me winning (so far) is going to get The Husband to pick up his studying time, so I'm going to have to continue going full steam ahead. We'll see what happens... :)

Escupelo Para Afuera/Spit It Out

We are currently in the middle of our "Spanish 20 Minutes"... yeah, we're behind schedule. We haven't done it in a long time! It's pretty painful. But we did end up laughing a lot! It was nice for Chad to sing "Alto! en el nombre de amor antes de romper mi corazon..." to fill up some of the time! WE now know the translation is not correct but it was pretty funny!
I'm starting to get worried. It's already the second week in June and we're not progressing fast enough. I keep thinking that we're almost a month away and we're not speaking the language enough. I know it's just a matter of practice and we've been all out of whack with that. This week our "regular" summer schedules start so I'm hoping we get back into the groove of things.
On a happier note, I posted the results of THE CONTEST for the last 2 weeks on the "Keeping Score" page. I'm winning!

Donde a Estado Yo?/Where Have I Been?

Where have I been? Out of town. Last week my studying was pretty pathetic. I worked a lot then went out of town for a conference. I guess sometimes those weeks just happen. My studying this week has only been slightly better but I have a few days left so maybe I can pull out a win. We'll see. As far as The Contest totals for last week, I'll try to post them soon.
While a couple of weeks ago my confidence in speaking Spanish was boosted, last week I was cut back down to size. I spent the long weekend attending a conference in a city that had a plethora of Spanish speakers at my disposal... just waiting, I am sure, for me to speak some Spanish. I couldn't do it. Ugh, I would try to think up something to say that wouldn't result in them replying back something I wouldn't understand and I COULDN'T THINK OF ANYTHING! Back to the drawing board, hey? Actually, I think the confidence I gained a couple of weeks ago came because that week I studied so much. Last week, before my trip I studied very little. I think I need to go back to immersing myself in the language as much as possible. Funny how different a week or two can be, huh?

2 Weeks in the Bag/Dos Semanas en la Bolsa

We started intensive study and "The Contest" 2 weeks ago. I studied 14.58 hours in the first 2 weeks of the contest. The husband has studied 11.18 hours. I am winning.
It may be temporary but it feels nice for now!

Honestly, I think the total time I heard and practiced speaking Spanish in the last week (over 11 hours) made a difference in the amount that I "thought" in Spanish. For the longest time I felt that I had some kind of "recall" issue. :) Pathetic, I know. If I saw or heard a word in Spanish, I could come up with the English translation but I often had a very difficult time coming up with a Spanish word when I wanted to use it. What do you know? It was a matter of learning the words BETTER. I simply didn't know the information well enough. Now my vocabulary is very small but I really KNOW what I know. I can use it.

I've added a few tools to my arsenal. I'm listening (occasionally) to Pimsleur Spanish CD's in the car. I found a website, 123teachme.com that has been kind of fun. AND, I've added a ton of new decks to my kaka flashcard program (on my phone). It's never been easier to squeeze a few Spanish minutes into my day!

Lo Siento./I'm Sorry.

Lo siento. I know it's been a while since I last wrote. I was sick (Yo Estaba enferma?). Then I was very busy (muy ocupado). But something exciting did happen! I went home to visit family. Do you know what that means? I got to practice Spanish with people who actually know it... and know me! AND, they only made fun of me a little bit!
It was pretty interesting. I had asked my dad to teach me some Spanish and he referred me to my cousin, whom he said knows more than he does (He calls his Spanish more "Spanglish" than hers). I sat for a bit with her and her mom and my aunt's boyfriend (who is also working to learn Spanish). Fun! I made mistakes. They corrected me. He made mistakes. They corrected him. We laughed a lot. Since they actually appreciated that I was making an effort to learn I didn't feel so embarrassed. I think this was the first time I've ever spoken the language and not felt stupid... and it's not because I know it now. It's because I'm really trying and I'm okay with being corrected! This is a milestone, right?

They May Learn it Faster Than Us/Puede Aprender Mas Rapido Que Nos

We just did our "Spanish 10 Minutes" for the day. It was kinda fun. Starting tomorrow we're going to use counters so we can measure the number of words we are using (per minute). It may seem silly, but when I look at graphs and see that one of my desired behaviors is increasing, it encourages me to see how much better I can do!

One very cool thing that happened tonight was that our 2 children were present for our Spanish session. Since we could only talk in Spanish, we had to talk to THEM in Spanish. We realized very quickly that M. and E. will pick up the language (even still) very quickly if we use it around them more consistently.

I was in the middle of baking some cookies. By the end of our 10 minutes, both kids were responding to the question, "Quisiera una galleta?/Would you like a cookie?" with "Si, por favor" AND they were requesting cookies with, "Mas galletas, por favor/More cookies, please".

Of course we fit in other phrases/words (Necessita ayudar?/Do you need help?; Que es un dificil __/That one is hard, and some others). We still got stuck quite a bit but we did make a greater effort than ever to use what we know.

Eso es lo Que Dije/That's What I Said

Today we started our "Spanish 10 Minutes"... 10 minutes in which the husband and I can only speak in Spanish. (We'll add 10 minutes to the situation each week.) It was pretty funny. We had several silent MINUTES. We also had some "debate" over the appropriate way to say some things. Clearly we don't know very much. The ten minutes ended with me attempting to say, "That's what I said!" I ended up saying something like this: "Que lo dice" (which I now think means something like "How do you say it" . I texted my dad to find out how it's really supposed to be said. His reply was, "Eso es lo que dije".

Right... that's what I said... :)

The Contest... Rules/El Concurso...Reglas

Alrighty,we totaled up our hours for the week. Chad did beat me. I studied 3.3 hours. The Husband studied a whopping 4.9 hours. We also set some goals and defined the rules a bit.
1. The person who studies the most (from the week ending May 15 until the week ending July 17th; 10 weeks) wins the head to head challenge.
2. In order to win any prize, each player must study a minimum of 50 hours.
3. The WINNER gets... well, I'd like to get a Kindle. The husband has not yet chosen an item.
4. If the LOSER studies over 50 hours in the alotted time, he or she will earn a buck for every hour studied.

So, the winnings could be FANTASTIC! A Kindle? Ooh, I've wanted one for quite some time! Cash? Not as cool but would be nice if spent on some iTunes music for my long Saturday morning training runs.

It's true, I am a wee bit concerned about competing against each other. As a rule, we tend not to do that! Since we set up a consolation prize, I think we'll be okay. Now, if I could only figure out a way to stifle his trash-talking... new rule? Only Spanish trash-talking allowed.

Typing in Spanish/Escribiendo en Espanol

I'm still trying to figure out how to type in Spanish. You know, the Spanish language uses a different alphabet. Yep, a lot of the letters are the same as in the English langage, a couple are similar. The problem is, my keyboard does not have Spanish characters. I've looked up how to type them but for some reason it isn't working in "blogger"... I'll figure something out.

We're Having a Contest!

The husband and I are trying to learn Spanish together. His motivation is a Spring Break trip he is taking with students next year. They'll be going to Mexico, providing medical treatment in a "compound". My motivation is not so precise. I just want to learn it.

Anyway, healthy competition is good sometimes, right? We are going to log the number of hours we spend studying. The person who logs the most hours wins. Unfortunately, it isn't going to be a good measurement of how well we are learning. We couldn't agree on a system for that! But it is something. Honestly, right now he is totally creaming me. He studies all the time! Just yesterday he starting trash-talking (in English... what does THAT tell you? :) ), talking about how he is going to win and it's going to be something BIG... No, we hadn't yet decided on what the winnings would be. Now that there is the possibility of me winning something "BIG"... I might just kick it up a notch!

Gotta go study!/Tengo que ir a estudiar!

Becoming Conversational... Well, Maybe Not Yet

I called my dad yesterday to see what he was up to. I thought I'd jump right in with the Spanish... Here's how the conversation went:

me: dialed his number and waited

dad: hello

me: Que estas haciendo? (What are you doing?")

dad: [I have no idea what he said... it was in Spanish.]

The rest of the conversation was in English. How am I going to get conversational?

Tools/Instrumentos

My tools (so far) for learning Spanish are:

Rosetta Stone Latin America Edition (I'm currently on Level 2)

SpanishPod Podcasts (Via iTunes) Listening/Repeating

Babelfish Translator on my Android Phone

Book: Treasury of Children's Classics (English/Spanish)

Learning 1000 most frequently used Spanish words via KAKA Flashcard Program from the Android Market, as well.

White board on my refrigerator to write notes (in Spanish) to the husband (who is also learning Spanish)

Do you have any thing else to add?

Buenas Tardes!

Here's the deal. I have tried off and on to learn to speak the Spanish language my entire life. My parents spoke it. My grandparents spoke it. Aunts, uncles, and cousins spoke it. In our home, my parents, siblings, and I spoke English... unless there was something my parents didn't want us to know... then they spoke Spanish. Needless to say, my siblings and I did pick up a little :)

When my mom was growing up, it was impossible for her NOT to notice the disparity in levels of success of the people around her. Those who spoke English appeared much more successful, more often educated than those she knew who spoke only Spanish. She decided that her children would be fluent English speakers and that learning Spanish wasn't really necessary.

For us, it was normal to grow up understanding everything in school and about half of what was spoken at family functions. Occassionally we would ask my dad to teach us Spanish (something he always seemed pleased with). However, he's a pretty big joker. He would teach us very useful words like, "rocket (cohete)" and "hotdog (hotdog)". Or, even better, he would speak to us in Spanish but not match his intonation and facial expressions to what he was saying, so as to trick us. For example: He might quickly say,"Quieres nalgadas?" with an eager, happy look on his face. We thought he was asking us if we wanted some money. So we would nod our heads and say, "Yes". Then he'd say, "Oh you want a spanking!" We would then feel sheepish and have to convince him that what we wanted was a dollar. At this point, he would be laughing at us! Sometimes, he'd turn it around. He'd quickly switch and ask, "Quieres dinero?" We'd answer with "No, we don't want a spanking." and he'd say, "OH, you don't want a dollar?"... He liked to keep us confused!

So you see. It just didn't happen. My 3 siblings and I are English-speakers. I would feel like a foreigner in a Spanish-speaking country. Worse, I feel like a foreigner downtown, around other Hispanics that speak Spanish. My goal this summer is to learn to speak, converse in Spanish. It outta be a fun ride!