podría might be hard to understand

podría

First-person singular (yo) conditional form of poder.
Formal second-person singular (usted) conditional form of poder.
Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) conditional form of poder.

yo podría
el podría

More lost words, now found

¿cuánto tomará?

How long (will it take)

Español Otra Vez

I am trying out another Spanish language path.This time the free version of the online service Memrise.

 I started at the very beginning so I am moving along the real beginner stuff pretty quickly. I like the format, but I am not sure how effective it is but as I get further along maybe I will be pleased. I hope so.

Here are some simple words I didn't know or had forgotten.

duele hurts
enojado angry
gracioso funny

iTunes es Muy Mal

Up to Lección Doce with Assimil...

Things I either never knew or forgot...

esos coches – how did I forget “esos” for those? I remembered it as aquellos.

Tanto mejor for so much the better

al contrario for on the contray (obvious, that one)

Vosotros habéis  conocido a su hermana

has ido – gone
has venido – come

Not that anybody cares, but I now officially hate Apple products. Today I wanted to listen to the lesson I was listing to earlier on my iPhone, suddenly it whipped through each “song” of that CD on the iPhone, put a red square next to it and then I could not play it.

So I tried a music album and the same thing happened. Most others worked but, well I was ticked off. It took me the better part of an hour to get all the stuff back on. So I can conclusively state Apple = BAD

New Day, Nuevas Palabras

Yesterday I flew through 2 more audio units in the Pimsleur CDs which makes 2 CDs done. I know all the words but I still occasionally stumble in coming out with the right response (even when I already "know" what to say).

But it does make me think that these first 8 CDs will not cover that much material and then I will have to find the rest of the set at another library or find used copiers somewhere.

And I got through lesson 5 aka as leccion Quinta, of the Assimil book and audio. Assimil is a French company and I gather they are a popular in Europe, so the the audio uses a Castilian accent with the lisping C. VERY strange to hear since every other experience I had in learning Spanish has been with the New World correct accent.

I hear the lisp but respond as if I was from Mexico, plus the dialog already has some vosotros thrown in. Which I knew about but I have never actually seen it in a beginning lesson.

Other new things in Assimil...

Qué Tal estás? - Of course I learned Qué Tal,but I don't remember tacking estás on afterwards

Tenía ganas de verte - I may have learned about Tenía ganas in the past but totally forgot about it meaning to desire something. I only remembered Quiero.

Deberías trabajar menos - It must be a common phrase, but I had to google it to figure out what tense Deberías was (conditional). And that is only on page 13.

Yo conozco a un médica - If I knew about using "a" after conozco, I had forgotten.

One other thing, it is odd that the Pimsleur at this beginning stage never uses the Tú form of YOU, while the Assimil never uses the Usted form.

Video Blog #1

My intro to this new attempt at learning Spanish. Here I try to continue blogging, but is blogging still a thing?

¡Vamos a ver!

This week I think I will have another crack at self taught Spanish. This time my main tool will be Assimil Spanish with Ease and as a backup I checked out Pimsleur Conversational Spanish 8 CD set from the public library.

This weekend I had to work on Saturday and during a slow spot I somehow landed on the Pimsluer website. To hear them talk about their product, the Pimsluer method was almost magical. 8 or 9 years ago I was on an Italian jag and used their Italian cassettes for a while. I later took a few semesters at the local community college and liked that quite a bit. Anyway, I knew the Pimsluer method was not a sure fire ticket to success. BUT I remember it being at least OK and it probably helped me when I took my classes.

Sooo, then I remembered hearing good things about Assimil when I was thinking recently about trying Italian again.

That said, and without really thinking about it, I decided to take another stab at Spanish. I've already started listing to Pimsluer, 2 lessons so far, while I wait for the Assimil to arrive.

Just to establish the starting point, I've periodically attempted Spanish over a few decades so this is nothing new. Back in 1990 I spent 2 months at a language school in Mexico and that helped, and I sort of think the only real way to learn a language is to live there and be forced to learn it to survive. BUT I won't ever have that chance, so one does what one can.

Will I stick too it or will I fall off the learning wagon? Will it last a week? Month? Six Months? Longer?

¡Vamos a ver!

What Would Napoleon Do For A Newer “Rosetta Stone”?

While investigating installing Rosetta Stone on Ubuntu I discovered there was new version (#3) and from what I can tell it looks pretty different. But apparently they expect you to already have learned a language once you purchase your CDs, since there is no upgrade. It seems you have to spend $500 to get the new version even though you already gave then a few hundred dollars already.

You could argue they should give the new “better” version for free since you didn't learn from the old version. But probably not.

However it turns out a little investigation shows a slightly unscrupulous person can easily find a complete edition of a “cracked” new version online and...well for free.

I can't help but feel that some people with weak moral fiber might be mightily tempted to go the free route after discovering their previous purchase means nothing to the manufacturer.

In any any case the above shows a screenshot I found of the new version.

I Get a Crazy Idea

I mean to return to my study of Spanish after almost a year of neglect, BUT...IF one happened upon a fully function used copy of a very expensive copy of a foreign language software package for Italian, would be tempted to go that route rather than spanish?


Well I plan fire up my fully paid for Rosetta Stone Spanish disk, but I think I might also use the used copy of a similar software package for Italian. PLUS I discovered that a local library has many languages on line for self study (both spanish AND italian).

Since one of my more charming traits (in my mind) is to do things that make no sense. I now THINK I may try and study Spanish AND Italian at the same time.

It is a crazy idea for me to study any foreign language since I'm sure I'll never really learn, so studying two is even more wacky. The chances of me using either in the near future is slim so if I am going to waste may time, why not waste it in a more complete way.

Regarding the online software from the library, the above is a screenshot of the Auralog program which looks to be a decent software package. But so far the online version can be confusing. But it has some nice features like if you see any word you can click on it to get an definition.

I took the spanish test and at least ended in the intermediate zone. So I'll start there and try to use it AND my Rosetta Stone software AND the italian software.

Symbol of Madrid in Puerta Del Sol

It is now past midnight so officially I leave for Madrid tomorrow (the 14th). I skipped Aikido tonight to buy a few things for the trip and I've already packed most of what I'm planning to take.

I never heard back from my email to one of the Madrid Aikido dojos, but it is probably for the best. I only have a week and as I've never been to Europe, so I hope to be very busy being a clumsy but pleasant American. I will be staying near the Puerta Del Sol and although it is sure to be fill with fellow tourists I'm still hoping it will will be appropriately foreign.

Check out the piernas on that mujer!

Note to self: You just finished Unit 5 Lesson 2

In Italian legs are sometimes called "gambas". Somehow in English it just sounds better to say “check out the gams” rather than “check out those piernas”. In this case Italian wins the English slang contest.

But then again I may be one of the few people in Dallas that has an interest in 1930's slang. In which case my judgment is worth even less than the virtual paper it is written on.

Again it was so easy I should really be plowing through these things.

---

Feeling nostalgic for an age you see only in movies? Check out
http://home.earthlink.net/~dlarkins/slang-pg.htm

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA04/hess/Slang/slangsplash.html
or
http://www.paper-dragon.com/1939/slang.html
It could come in handy if you are ever in a clip joint lookin for some hooch but there's a shamus on your heels and your gat is out in your flivver.

Finally A New Unit!

Note to self: You just finished Unit 5 Lesson 1

Boy was that easy! I should have done this weeks ago. I'm just too darn lazy.

It's about a month to the trip to Spain. I'm sure it will be fun, but there is the temptation to just take off on my own and see where the bus or train can take me. Forget quality time with relatives.

But, I'm just too timid for such actions. Still it is a whole different country and who knows what might happen.

El hombre sin gorra está escribiendo

Note to self you just finished Unit 4 lesson 11

That's it for Unit 4 and WOW it is well over a month since the last time I worked with the Stone. I've be playing with the Spanish language paper some, but I must admit I've not done well with my español studies. Buy at least it is more than animations attempts. So if you set a bunch of goals be the average to poor results look good when compared to the abysmal products of the those in worse shape.

The holidays were tough so I'm giving my self a break. Plus I still want to pursue the Spanish think so rather than drop it because I haven't done enough, I'll keep trying when I can make myself and maybe before I'm 75 I will be able to talk a little Spanish.

We also passed an anniversary of sorts, over 6 months of blog posting. That means I still have 24 and ½ years to finish the blog and achieve my “goals”.

Tengo una idea con al día

Since I've fallen down on my Rosetta Stone practice I'm trying to supplement my studies by attempting to read the free Spanish language paper al día. The Spanish looks to be simple enough, perhaps the stories are clear enough that few idiomatic expressions are needed.

Anyway here are some words I learned today.

cifras – numbers
sede – seat
escolta – convoy
presuntos – presumed
pulgadas – inches
la madrugada – early morning

FYI
la tos – cough
hipo – hiccough

Let That Be a Lesson To Me!

Note to self: You just finished Unit 4 Lesson 10

What did I learn tonight? Soga is Rope , paracaídas is parachute and arena is sand.

I really flew through this lesson. I should apply myself and keep going until it gets hard. At this point I can usually figure out any new words from the context. So am I learning anything besides a few words?

I just don't know, but I'll keep coming back to it and hope for the best.

I Aint Never Been to Spain, But I've Been To Oklahoma (WAY too many times!)

My trip to Spain may never happen, but I bought the non refundable ticket anyway. If I can't go I can use the purchase a credit on other flights, and that is the reason I didn't choose Iberia since their destinations would limit where any credit could be used.

I was going to wait a little longer to see if any outside circumstances torpedoed the trip, but then in routine fantasy ticket purchasing I found the price dropped on US Airways by $80. Fearing the fair wouldn't last I snapped it up. Why the price should drop when fuel prices are rising and the value of the US dollar is dropping, is beyond me.

$803 for a round trip ticket to Spain seems like a really good price to me.

---

Just Because I Read This...


Debido a, debido a que: Debido a can be translated as "due to"; the que is added when what follows could stand as a sentence. Necesitan cadenas debido a la nieve, chains are needed because of the snow. La población está abrumada debido a que la tierra sigue temblando, the people are weary because the ground keeps shaking.

Este carro rojo tuvo un accidente

Note to self: You just finished Level 1: Unit 4: Lesson 9

Well at least it has been less than a month since my last spanish workout.

They worked in some past tense, but just a bit. A bit of “tuvo” and “tuvieron” regarding who did or did not have an accident.

I check-ed out some tapes and CD from the Public Library after my last Spanish post, and for a week or so I tried to listen to them regularly in the car. But during my trip last week I overdosed on the 5 hour drive and have had a hard time getting back into it.

Fun words from this week...jalando, un puente and chocado!!

---

Way off topic, for some reason I thought of this poem tonight and didn't want to forget about it.

I love at eventide to walk alone
Down narrow lanes oerhung with dewy thorn
Where from the long grass underneath the snail
Jet black creeps out and sprouts his timid horn
I love to muse oer meadows newly mown
Where withering grass perfumes the sultry air
Where bees search round with sad and weary drone
In vain for flowers that bloomed but newly there
While in the juicey corn the hidden quail
Cries ‘wet my foot’ and hid as thoughts unborn
The fairy like and seldom-seen land rail
Utters ‘craik craik’ like voices underground
Right glad to meet the evenings dewy veil
And see the light fade into glooms around

Summer Moods by John Clare (1793-1864)

Fear and Scheming towards España

Alguien está vestido de amarillo

Note to self: You just finished Level 1: Unit 4: Lesson 8

A month behind schedule but I finally made it back to Español-land. No trouble getting back in the swing of things with Rossetta Stone, but I bet it was designed so the easy steps of each lesson work together so you end up remembering it as if by magic. In fact I'm positive only studying once a month is not good, for any learning (magical or not).

But one does what one can. At this time I'm promising myself to get back at it. In fact I dug out some old Spanish tape and today I started listing to them in the car as I drive.

Side note- I sure have a problem saying Alguien. I don't know if it is me or Rossetta Stone, but I had to repeat it a ga-zillion times and I still rarely satisfied the computer.

I have a little more motivation now since my sister invited me on a week long family vacation they are taking to Spain next spring. Given that something always seems to come up, at best I think there is a 50-50 chance it will actually happen for me. I have to balance the anticipation of something arising the requires me to stay here against the requirement to buy a ticket early enough, since otherwise I couldn't afford it. But in any event this week I'll get the passport thing going, first with a high quality $8 passport photo from Walgreen's Drug Store.

I really want to go, but I can be a bit of a “gloom and doom-er” and I fear my yet laid scheme to get to Spain will likely “Gang aft a-gley”

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft a-gley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promised joy.

Still thou art blest, compared wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But, oh! I backward cast my e'e
On prospects drear!
An' forward , tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!

Robert Burns (1759-1796)

But why is “La esposa del hombre está sentada sobre él” ?

Note to self: You just finished Level 1: Unit 4: Lesson 7

Well......I watched TV last night but tonight I finished another lesson in Spanish.

Imagine missing a few classes and when you finally make it to class there is quiz, but wonderfully it is stuff you pretty much know. That is something like the lesson seven tonight. I was ready to take my medicine and even retrace my study steps, but I caught a break and whizzed through it all.

I see the last lesson was “Verbos Multiples y Mientras” but I can't really remember what that was.

So in preparation for my next memory lapse, in lesson 7, Unit 4 we worked on possessions and family relations. So you say El niño y sus padres rather than su padres, and dos hermanos e su madre, meaning the possessive indicator matches the object rather than the subject. Is that correct way to explain it?

Also you would say “Estas cuatro personas..” and NOT ...cuatros or cuatras personas. For some unknown reason during the speaking part I was always trying to add an “s” to cuatro when there were personas involved.

BUT you say “La mujer está parada con SU esposo e hijos”, even though the woman is standing with more than one person. Would one say “...”su esposo e sus hijos.”? That one didn't come up.

AND, I didn't remember “e” meant “and”, obviously “y” = and, but “e”? If I once knew it I lost that somewhere along the way.

If I think about it, this is a pretty haphazard way to study Spanish. I remember reading an article by George Leonard about Aikido where he indicated one of the worst type of students were the dabblers, who flitted from one interest to another and never focused on one thing and followed through. I see his point, if you are going to study something why make a half-ass attempt?

Even with just a cursory self examination I see that dabbler pretty much describes me, so if I accept Leonard's point should I simply quit all these things since if you do something you should only do it if you intend to “win”? There is a good chance I'll never win in the race to speak Spanish, or be a good aikdoka or be an interesting animator.

To bring up my blog premise, what should I do with the next 25 years? Am I here to do a half ass job or to win the prize?

Conclusion: I may remain a perpetual novice but I don't want to do things half-ass-ed. I may never really speak Spanish, or make a good animation, or take a great Aikido breakfall, meaning I won't win the prize. So even if I must remain an amateur, from now on I plan to use my whole ass, every last bit of it! No more of the half stuff.

Take that George Leonard!

Verbos Multiples y Mientras

Note to self: You just finished Level 1: Unit 4: Lesson 6

As the title shows, this lesson had a few more verbs and threw in “mientras”. As usual I could more or less handle the vocabulary or at least get up to speed quickly but the speaking is really clumsy, as if I have gum in my mouth.

It had been so long since I last work on this I wasn't sure where I finished.

I see that my last Español entry was a month ago. My one time goal was to finish a Unit a week and so far I'm lucky to finish one lesson (of eight) in a week. But rather than whine about it I'll plunge ahead and simply try to do better, which in this case means faster.

The last month has been a bit hectic, what with work trips, family vacations and then I went and read a few novels. Of course a dedicated autodidact would find a way. I wonder if using an a computer program to learn still means you can call your self and autodidact?

At the start of this thing I proposed three things to fill my remaining years, but I never said I would ever get good at any of them. And so far I'm pretty weak on all three counts. I'm not going to worry about it for now.

There is a chance I will never be good at any of these interests and I don't know if that is pathetic, wise, silly or just neutral. Just because you are interested in something doesn't mean you are good at it.