Hola!
This Spanish Inquiry was super fun! Blogs were always fun to update to let you know where I was at. The whole idea behind this inquiry was really awesome. However, I wasn’t as invested as I wish I was. As it was one part of three separate things going on in Tech I found it often fell into the back. I think this was also because it required so much outside time to which I found myself simply forgetting or pushing it off. I also found it challenging to find new things to write about each week. I will now go through the parts and things I did and talk about how well or not they went.
I started out with finding the best online resources for helping me learn. I got reconnected with Duolingo which I concluded was the best resource. Many of the other ones free version did not allow you the same features as Duolingo’s. This is a really awesome app and I really recommend it to people trying to start picking up some new things in a language. I think with my background in Spanish and the actually conjunction and full understanding of how to build sentences helped me pick it up again faster. For people just beginning they would mainly be learning words not full sentences. I did however reach a point where it was hard for me to stay consistent with it. I got bored with it because all I was doing was ripping through lessons because I already knew all the words. I ended up concluding that it isn’t quite the right thing to use to learn conversational Spanish. I think it is a great supplementary resource that you can use to simply assist other things.
Next I tried some Spanish subtitles. I have watched the show Narcos which obviously includes quite a bit of Spanish dialect. Native Spanish speakers talk so fast that sometimes all I could pick up on was certain words I knew and then I tried to string that together. I also turned on subtitles for Friends in Spanish which was super neat to see the familiar language I know from the show put into Spanish sentences.
Next, I found some great online resources that had basic Spanish sentences on them for certain occasions. Check back to Free Inquiry #5 for these great resources. I simply moved to just memorizing them and trying to practice them when I could. My roommate in Victoria was in my Spanish class in high school and still calls me Paco! She also always says “Hola Paco! Como estas?” when I walk in the door so we tried to speak more at home.
Next, I rediscovered my Spanish playlist from high school. I started listening to this when I ran or worked out. Music is something that just seems to be so much easier to memorize. I found myself singing along a lot of the time to songs I hadn’t listened to in years. I also found many of the words jumping out at me from what lessons I was learning on Duolingo (see a great supplementary resource!!).
Finally, I thought of this right as I was going to bed one night; I thought it would super neat to show you the places I hope to go someday. With everything going on in our world I think it is important to think of these places and know that I will get there someday when the world is healthy agin. My top 3 Spanish places I hope to visit in my lifetime is Costa Rica, Brazil, and Peru. These places are so beautiful but they also would allow me to throw myself fully into Spanish culture. Who would want to learn Spanish any other way??
Overall, I think I could have been a bit more successful in this project but I also just found myself stuck and alone. I think I should have utilized both my roommate and Laurence more to actually talk to. After all my inquiry was on conversational Spanish. However, I do think I reestablished my love of Spanish and was able to reconnect with the fact I do want to fully learn Spanish. It allowed me to remember how much I loved it and therefore I think I will definitely continue to work on this. Moving outside of this semester with more time and no other school work I think I can really get further.
To those who are doing this inquiry I would say my advice is to not bite of more than you can chew. Simplicity is sometimes better. I often found myself disappointed because I wanted to see such drastic change but as I reflect I did a lot. I learned a lot and reconnected with Spanish which is my largest take away. I also suggest being creative. It wasn’t until my last 2 blogs that I got more creative with remembering the music aspect of Spanish culture as well as places I want to go. Not everything has to be a huge learning moment but when you out it all together it should tell as story of progress and fun.
I hope you enjoyed taking this journey with me. Gracias mi amigo y te deseo buena salud y felicidad.
Oh before I leave I wanted to show you a book I found in my room. I wrote this in high school Spanish about a girl who loses her dog. It was probably one of my largest accomplishments. It was a whole chapter book with 10 chapters and an about the author section!!
Adios amigo!!!
-Paco
