laepelba
July 01, 2011, 08:41 AM
Hello, all!!
I am about 2 and a half years into my pursuit of learning to speak Spanish. I am mostly "self-taught", but that means that I:
- am using lots of workbooks
- am reading many articles online about the Spanish language and Spanish learning
- am VERY GRATEFUL for wonderful help given to me here on Tomisimo
- attended a month-long course in Buenos Aires last summer with 5-hour classes every M-F for four weeks
- have accepted advice and corrections from my Spanish-speaking students and their families and a few colleagues (the colleagues are not those with whom I work closely, so this is a very small piece of my learning)
- have been working with a tutor for about 8 months now for conversation practice ... she is from Durango, Mexico
All that to say that, in my opinion, it isn't really "self-teaching" when one relies on so many other people to help me with my learning! :rose:
I have had two opportunities to travel to South America. First, two summers ago, I vacationed in Uruguay for a week and then spent about 3-4 days in Lima, Perú with a friend and her family.
The second, as mentioned above, was for a month-long course in Spanish and then an added week-and-a-half visiting friends in Uruguay.
This summer, again, I have a unique opportunity to visit South America. A friend has business meetings in several capital cities and has agreed to allow me to tag along with her. We will start by visiting her family in Perú (the same friend & family I visited two years ago), and then a few days in Buenos Aires, about a week (or a little more) in Montevideo (Uruguay), where I will probably also break off on my own and spend a few days visiting my friends who live in a rural part of Uruguay, and then from Montevideo to Santiago for a few days before returning to Lima before flying back to New York.
My reason for bringing this up is that, with all of the work that I've done, I am still having GREAT difficulty understanding the Spanish spoken in the Southern Cone countries. When I was in Buenos Aires for a MONTH, I couldn't understand the BsAs accent any better the last day I was there than I did the first. I couldn't even understand the waitress at the restaurant I went to EVERY DAY for a month on the last day when she was saying good-bye to me. I have visited my friends in Uruguay twice, but still don't understand my one friend's husband who does not speak English. When she and he were in DC to visit me last February, we went to dinner at the home of some Uruguayan friends of theirs who live in DC and for several hours I tried VERY hard to understand the conversation and didn't get more than a random word here or there.
I have been working on listening to podcasts posted by Argentines (can't really find anything by Uruguayans), and have found a series of videos with transcripts (I have mentioned these videos before, they are put out by the University of Texas and are brief videos of people from different Spanish-speaking countries talking on random topics, given with transcripts so that you can follow what is being said) and some of the speakers are from Southern Cone countries.
The other day, one of the videos I was watching was a Chilean man. I didn't understand what he was saying, even when I was looking at the transcript. I couldn't make his sounds match what I was reading (IN SPANISH) in the same window. I can't seem to follow the Argentine podcasts. I can't understand my own Uruguayan friends. Bottom line is that I am frustrated with myself........
My Peruvian friend says, "Well, that's why we're going to the Southern Cone ... so that you can practice!!" But I think that after 2 and a half years of learning, I should be able to follow a general conversation in Spanish. I think that, after working with my Mexican tutor, I'd be okay if my destination were Mexico City. But that's not the case.
I'm looking for advice ... how can I spend the next several weeks before I leave preparing for these experiences?
Any advice you can give me would be GREATLY appreciated!! THANK YOU!!!
I am about 2 and a half years into my pursuit of learning to speak Spanish. I am mostly "self-taught", but that means that I:
- am using lots of workbooks
- am reading many articles online about the Spanish language and Spanish learning
- am VERY GRATEFUL for wonderful help given to me here on Tomisimo
- attended a month-long course in Buenos Aires last summer with 5-hour classes every M-F for four weeks
- have accepted advice and corrections from my Spanish-speaking students and their families and a few colleagues (the colleagues are not those with whom I work closely, so this is a very small piece of my learning)
- have been working with a tutor for about 8 months now for conversation practice ... she is from Durango, Mexico
All that to say that, in my opinion, it isn't really "self-teaching" when one relies on so many other people to help me with my learning! :rose:
I have had two opportunities to travel to South America. First, two summers ago, I vacationed in Uruguay for a week and then spent about 3-4 days in Lima, Perú with a friend and her family.
The second, as mentioned above, was for a month-long course in Spanish and then an added week-and-a-half visiting friends in Uruguay.
This summer, again, I have a unique opportunity to visit South America. A friend has business meetings in several capital cities and has agreed to allow me to tag along with her. We will start by visiting her family in Perú (the same friend & family I visited two years ago), and then a few days in Buenos Aires, about a week (or a little more) in Montevideo (Uruguay), where I will probably also break off on my own and spend a few days visiting my friends who live in a rural part of Uruguay, and then from Montevideo to Santiago for a few days before returning to Lima before flying back to New York.
My reason for bringing this up is that, with all of the work that I've done, I am still having GREAT difficulty understanding the Spanish spoken in the Southern Cone countries. When I was in Buenos Aires for a MONTH, I couldn't understand the BsAs accent any better the last day I was there than I did the first. I couldn't even understand the waitress at the restaurant I went to EVERY DAY for a month on the last day when she was saying good-bye to me. I have visited my friends in Uruguay twice, but still don't understand my one friend's husband who does not speak English. When she and he were in DC to visit me last February, we went to dinner at the home of some Uruguayan friends of theirs who live in DC and for several hours I tried VERY hard to understand the conversation and didn't get more than a random word here or there.
I have been working on listening to podcasts posted by Argentines (can't really find anything by Uruguayans), and have found a series of videos with transcripts (I have mentioned these videos before, they are put out by the University of Texas and are brief videos of people from different Spanish-speaking countries talking on random topics, given with transcripts so that you can follow what is being said) and some of the speakers are from Southern Cone countries.
The other day, one of the videos I was watching was a Chilean man. I didn't understand what he was saying, even when I was looking at the transcript. I couldn't make his sounds match what I was reading (IN SPANISH) in the same window. I can't seem to follow the Argentine podcasts. I can't understand my own Uruguayan friends. Bottom line is that I am frustrated with myself........
My Peruvian friend says, "Well, that's why we're going to the Southern Cone ... so that you can practice!!" But I think that after 2 and a half years of learning, I should be able to follow a general conversation in Spanish. I think that, after working with my Mexican tutor, I'd be okay if my destination were Mexico City. But that's not the case.
I'm looking for advice ... how can I spend the next several weeks before I leave preparing for these experiences?
Any advice you can give me would be GREATLY appreciated!! THANK YOU!!!