viernes, 15 de julio de 2011

No longer discouraged, and a couple videos

I am no longer depressed, yay! I recently talked with Steve Kaufmann about feeling that I'm not progressing with my Spanish, and he had an interesting perspective. I am very results driven, so at times it is very difficult to just enjoy where you are right now. I want to be fluent, for goodness' sake. Why would I enjoy my current state of nonfluentness? But it's really true, especially for goals that take quite awhile to achieve, that enjoying the process is crucial to staying on the path to your goal. So here's what I currently enjoy about studying Spanish:
  • I am getting exposed to and learning lots about different cultures
  • Through Skype, I have met many wonderful, friendly, encouraging, funny, crazy, smart people who are either studying Spanish as well, or are native speakers. If I were to meet any of these people in person, I would want to give them a big hug.
  • I can talk in Spanish! I always want to qualify that statement by saying "although I'm not at the level I want to be", but I need to recognize that 2 years ago, I was no where near where I am now. My first conversation with a LingQ tutor was in November of 2009. January 29, 2010 I had the failure of a conversation where I tried to tell Berta about "The Telltale Heart" in Spanish, then had the nerve to put the conversation on Youtube (although I did eventually have the good sense to remove the video). Now, although I feel shy at times, and don't say a lot, I can express my thoughts with more fluency.
  • I can write in Spanish easily.
  • I can talk with my husband in Spanish (no, he does not understand me, but he thinks it's sexy, and that's all I will say about that).
  • I am believing in myself. I've always been one to jump from interest to interest, trying new things, but never finishing anything. To know that I can keep with something makes me proud of myself.

Also, it's been a few months, so I decided (with a little bit of prompting) to make another video speaking in Spanish. In the first one I talk about my progress in Spanish, and how I feel about my speaking. In the second video I talk about my health and losing weight. I am a little less fluent in the second video because it's a subject that I don't talk about in Spanish, but I still am satisfied with my progress.



4 comentarios:

  1. Hi Angela!

    What a marvelous job you are doing with your Spanish! I am so impressed! You are truly an inspiration to me! I look forward to the day (a few years from now) when I can speak Spanish as well as you do. I know it will come, if I keep working every day.

    I am happy to say that I understood almost everything you said. I just can't think quickly enough to put the sentences together and speak them myself. But I realize that I have improved so much over the last year or two.

    I enjoyed reading your blog; what you say is true. The most important thing is to enjoy the process of learning Spanish. Everything else will follow. Thank you for reminding me of this.

    Thanks for posting your videos! You have really encouraged me!

    Regards,
    Alicia

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  2. Thanks Alicia! Glad to hear you are keeping up with the Spanish.

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  3. hola, que bueno. yo también aprendo el español a través de lingQ, y creo que tu blog es una buena idea. me gustan mucho tus vídeos. es posible que yo también empiece porque me parece muy bueno para mejorarse o al menos para ver si se mejora mi nivel de español. que te vaya bien

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  4. ¡Hola Anónimo! Me alegro que te gusten mis videos. Creo que grabarte es una buena idea para ver como mejoras conforme pasa el tiempo. Que tengas éxito con el español.

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