My self study

[Chris]

Well, I know more this week than I did last week. That's progress right? It's funny because last week I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere and that what I was learning was just too hard. I wanted to give up but I didn't and look! Still, I have a long way to go and a lot of stuff to learn. Just think what I'll understand and know a month from now!

I completed livemocha Spanish 101 and moved on to 102. I can make a paragraph but it still has errors. I'm starting to understand some errors that I am making though so that's good.

[JPablo]

Muy bien, Chris... ¡sigue adelante! Estoy seguro de que tendrás éxito si persistes.
[Very well, Chris... keep on! I am sure you'll succeed if you persist. :)

[Chris]

Estaré persistes, estaré éxito.

[JPablo]

Estaré persistes, estaré éxito.

I believe you mean,
I will persist, I will succeed.
In which case it should be,
Persistiré, tendré éxito.

Or
Seguiré persistiendo, tendré éxito.
(I will continue to persist, I will succeed.) :)
(Let me know if any questions on this.)

[Chris]

Yes that's what I meant heh. Picking the correct verb is just as difficult as conjugating it heh.

[JPablo]

I understand, Chris... Well, that's why we help each other... (Do not hesitate to correct my English!) :)

[Chris]

!Pero tú hablas inglés muy bien! Yo tengo nada contribuir. heh

[JPablo]

¡Pero tú hablas inglés muy bien! Yo no tengo nada con qué contribuir. heh

Well, thank you, but sometimes I also put my foot in it... (Sometimes it's an overlook, and sometimes is plain ignorance...) (The fact of the matter is that you always learn more and more... and when you are a native speaker you always have a lot more certainty on the correct expressions...)

At any rate, I made a couple of corrections to your post.
One, "I do not have anything to contribute to" (?)
I added the "no". I.e., you can say in English "I have nothing to contribute". In Spanish you have to add "I do not have nothing to contribute". (I take this last version is not correct in English, but that's is literally the way you say it in Spanish.)

The second red section (con qué) is literally "with what", ie. "with what to contribute". (I take that in English is not correct, but it is 'literally' the way you say it in Spanish.)

I hope you understand this. Sometimes, even if you think you have nothing to contribute, the fact of asking a question that is going to help you, may as well help the person who is answering you, by making him/her think about it, research it... you name it. Knowing you are helping other people is something that can help you... even if only in the satisfaction of having done something positive... :)

[Chris]

Right, in English if you say "I do not have nothing..." it means that you do in fact have something heh. It's called a double negative and I should have caught on to that one because I learned about it today in fact.

The second red section "with what to contribute" would probably be heard in English like this "With which to contribute..." but only by English teachers or more educated people. We common folks can't be bothered to add extra fluff to our sentences lol.

¡Gracias por la corrección!

[JPablo]

De nada, Chris. Gracias a ti. Y gracias por tu explicación.

[Chris]

Dices mi que usar la palabra "estando."

Estoy sólo estando me.

Would that be one way? I am just being myself.

[CrOtALiTo]

Dices mi que usar la palabra "estando."

Estoy sólo estando me.

Would that be one way? I am just being myself.

I will correct you some mistakes in your post.

Me comentas que debo usar la palabra Estando?

You're telling me, that I should to use Estando word?

Estoy solo.

In that phrase you don't need the word Estando.

But anyway you can use the word in other examples.

For example.

He estado en la ciudad de Mérida.

Estando parado por mas de 10 horas, es necesario que descase.
I being standing during ten hours, I need to rest.

I hope my example can help you.

Have fun.

[Rusty]

@Chris: I'm just being myself = siendo yo mismo (solamente)

[Chris]

Era delgado. Aquí soy gordo. No es verdad. Era delgado, es verdad pero no soy gordo. Soy un poco gordo. ¿Como hacía conseguía este vientre grande?

[JPablo]

Yo era delgado. Ahora soy[estoy] gordo. No es verdad. Yo era delgado, es verdad, pero no estoy gordo. Estoy un poco gordo [gordito]. ¿Como hacía conseguía este vientre grande? [¿De donde saqué esta barrigota?]

Hi, Chris, I gave you my 'corrections/suggestions' above. In this case the "yo" is kind of needed, to make it clear. "Era" could refer to 'he' as well, so I would include the pronoun (yo) in this context, to dispel any question.

"era/estaba" with "gordo" both seem correct, but "estaba" gives the idea that is a condition that may change. 'Yo he sido siempre delgado' indicates that "I have always been skinny"... "pero ahora estoy más gordito" but now I a little bit more plump".

(Let me know if this helps and/or if any question.) :)

[Chris]

Sí, ése ayudaba.

Aquí was a huge mistake. I know the difference between now and here lol. I guess I still don't know the differences between Ser and estar. I thought I did heh.

Anyway this was a small exercise for speaking about things that were in the past. I was skinny, but now I'm fat. For a little while I thought using the conjugated past participle was correct but I'm not really sure what that is used for.

[JPablo]

Sí, eso me ayudó [or] me ha ayudado.

Aquí was a huge mistake. I know the difference between now and here lol. I guess I still don't know the differences between Ser and estar. I thought I did heh.
Make some more examples of your own, so you get more and more familiar.
Yo soy traductor.
Ahora estoy cansado.
Yo soy español
Ahora estoy en el sur de California. (etc...)

Anyway this was a small exercise for speaking about things that were in the past. I was skinny, but now I'm fat. For a little while I thought using the conjugated past participle was correct but I'm not really sure what that is used for.

Maybe practicing a little bit more, trying to make up some more sentences may be beneficial... If you have any question, let me know.
Yo soy persistente, pero hoy estoy agotado...
Él es americano, pero está aprendiendo español.
Tú eres muy estudioso, pero estás teniendo algún problema... :)

[chileno]

Era delgado. Aquí soy gordo. No es verdad. Era delgado, es verdad pero no soy gordo. Soy un poco gordo. ¿Como hacía conseguía este vientre grande?

This is the perfect example of why you should start translating from Spanish to English.

You would know if it makes sense or not.

It would accelerate the learning process. :)

[Chris]

Well, I finished all the courses at LiveMocha. Well, the Spanish 101-102-201-202. I liked them at first and learned a lot but towards the end they just turned into vocabulary lessons. The writing and speaking out loud parts were invaluable.

Now I think I am more prepared to start my book again. I had tried it before but it got over my head pretty quick. I'll have to make up some vocabulary flash cards as I go. I use StudyDroid on my phone so it's going to be easy to make them, and with a little searching I should be able to add images for each one I hope.

I'm also going to juggle with this translating my Spanish book into English as chileno has suggested.