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!