How's Your Catalan?

To me Catalan, which I understand is spoken in the Barcelona area of Spain, sounds like Spanish and looks like a combination of French and Italian.  The word for thank you, for chrissakes, is 'Merci.'  And it uses very Italianate words like 'parla' and 'molto.' 

I've heard that even though practically everyone speaks Spanish in Barcelona, if you really want to feel welcome, it's not a bad idea to bone up on your Catalan.  Other examples:  'Si us plau' is a dead ringer for the French 's'il vous plaît,' now isn't it?  and 'Adéu' is not that far off from 'Adieu.'  Man, those French dudes were all over the place. 

Here's a little Catalon for your listening pleasure:

¿Tú eres romantico?

For your listening pleasure, another incurable romantic sings about how sometimes it seems that everybody is in love and we're the only people in the world who doesn't have a date tonight.  It's a very short vid that's used by one of the sites I'm using to learn Spanish to  teach words like 'conmigo' and exclamatory expressions like '¡Qué linda!'  I have a feeling, though, that this chico lindo tiene muichas novias. 

Speak! Write! Read! It's all good stuff.

I really like this video called "Learning Languages on Your Own."  The speaker, a professor of languages in Sweden, has mastered several languages and shares his methods and recommendations for learning languages independently.  Though the information he provides is very useful, I was most impressed by how well he spoke English.  I believe he said that he grew up in Russia and Russian was his native language.  He speaks English better than most of the Americans I know.  With the hint of a British accent, he uses colloquialisms and slang perfectly naturally, and I did not even detect the slight errors in word order or word choices that I so often hear from non-native English speakers.  It is nothing short of miraculous that someone can learn to speak English so well.  I also like the fact that his ''revelation'' is simply that we should discard our fear of making a fool of ourselves when we attempt to use a new language.  We should be proud of our progress and anyone who is making fun  of our sincere attempt to speak their language should be ashamed of themselves.  There are few things more satisfying than to speak to someone in their own tongue and be understood. 

A la proxima...

Write it Right?

I've been trying to write regularly in a journal that I keep on the language practice site Lang-8.  It works this way:  the user writes a brief post in the language he's learning and other members of the site who speak that language edit the text.  I sometimes correct the English of other contributors. 

By and large, this is a good venue for practicing Spanish.  I think it's best for bolstering grammar skills and vocabulary.  It's important, though, not to let the (often very intensive) editing of one's text intimidate too much.  As we've discussed many times, writing is not speaking and written Spanish usually needs to adhere to syntax and word order rules much more tightly than conversational Spanish requires.  This is why that when I correct others' English texts, I don't overdo it.  Getting a text back that has every sentence completely ripped apart can be demoralizing for a language learner, who is probably already frustrated by his seeming lack of progress. 

I'm not a scaredy-cat, so I don't mind it when a reader edits my work thoroughly.  But it's really not my goal right now to write grammatically perfect Spanish sentences.  I'm working toward fluency in speaking and oral comprehension.  Still, it's a good exercise to attempt to form concepts and express oneself in Spanish and to present my attempts to people who use the language every day.  There's always a better way to write a sentence, but at this point in my Spanish studies, I just need to be able to produce decent, quite simple sentences that get my point across and allow me to be understood. 

A la proxima....

The Versatility of Spanish

For quite some time now, I've been trying to determine which of the big three (Italian, French, and Spanish) is the easiest for English speakers to gain at least a minimum fluency.  I think I'm definitely leaning toward Spanish.  ¿Por qué? Because it seems to be more flexible.  When I get French and Italian texts returned and corrected it looks as if there's been a car wreck:  red all over the place.  Words switched around.  Long explanations of why a phrase or sentence is incorrect.  All very discouraging for a novice language learner.  But when I get my Spanish reviewed and corrected, the damage is not nearly as critical.  I may get a few suggestions for improving the grammatical structure of a sentence or an occasional recommendation for a better vocabulary word, but all in all, Spanish seems more forgiving.  It allows for several constructions, whereas Italian and French seem to require a certain amount of precision.  Either the sentence is correct or it's a total failure. 

Having cast my vote for Spanish, though, I will say that Italian is the easiest as far as listening to it is concerned.  In Spanish, especially in peninsular Spanish, the sounds are often vague and run-together.  Italian isolates and clearly enunciates every word, every syllable.  In Spanish even a seemingly easy sound like 'g' presents difficulties.  Often in a word such as 'agua,' the 'g' is so softly uttered that it's barely there.  I hear 'awa' more than 'agwah.'  This takes some getting used to.  And then there are endings that are clipped off such as 'Usted' often sounds more like Usteh. 

My goal has always been to attempt to speak, read, write, and listen to a foreign language with average fluency.  Perhaps Spanish is a good place to start.  Then I can tackle Italian. 

What's So Funny?

I've been making a concerted effort to use the site Lang-8 to get some written feedback about my Spanish and my French.  Even though I'm much more comfy with French than with Spanish, I get way more 'This sentence is perfect' markings for my Spanish entries than I do for my French attempts.  I'm not sure why that is; perhaps Spanish is a little more flexible?  A little more forgiving of grammar mistakes? 

Though I don't want to generalize, it also seems that it's easier to use irony when writing in French than it is to use it in Spanish.  When I try to use a bit of humor in my Spanish on Lang-8, it falls flat.  Usually I have to spend several sentences trying to explain what I meant.  When I'm writing in French, on the other hand, the irony and humor just seem to flow.  I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm just more advanced with my French studies.  I am able to develop more complex ideas and thoughts because I have the requisite vocabulary and knowledge of structure. 

At any rate, the site has been helpful to me and I feel I've made a bit of progress in both languages.  It's also very satisfying to be able to return the favor of someone correcting my entries by in turn correcting theirs.  The most helpful editors are those who don't just mark the mistakes and add the correct version, but those who take the time to explain their corrections.  I try to do this also when I edit others' work. 

Hula-dancing with Hulu

If you're looking for films and TV shows in Spanish to watch for free online, then look no further.  The streaming video site Hulu has an entire Spanish (Latino) language category that offers such quality TV shows as Gran Hotel and Los Hombres de Paco.  It doesn't offer every season of these shows, but there is a good sampling.  And, the best part, it's totally free.  This is not the Hulu Premium version, just regular Hulu.  Many offer close-captioning in Spanish (and I think a few also have English subtitles).  There is also a good sampling of movies, including Pedro Almodovar's Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down, which I believe was his first huge international hit. I think there may be some ads, but still for free it's not bad. 

I just finished watching the entire series Gran Hotel (not on Hulu, but on NetFlix, which has the entire run).  I have to admit that the plot line ranged from the unlikely to the ridiculous, but for the 40+ episodes, it did keep me entertained for several weeks and I sort of hated to see it end.  It was in Castillian Spanish with English subtitles.  The acting was very good.  Poor Andres--at least he finally got his well-deserved reward at the end.