With no teacher to demand my best performance, I have to nag myself into making progress. However, I have resources. Yesterday I started working with flash cards on SpanishDict, a website that has emailed me a word-a-day for months. Mexico Bob swears by flash cards and set up his own Cornflake System, but SpanishDict's flashcard system goes a step further with its Listen feature. A deep, mellow voice pronounces each word, complete with accents in the right place, running the vowels together like a regular native-born Spanish speaker. (Of course, Bob has Gina to do that for him.)
I've named the voice Ricardo, after the actor Ricardo Montalban.
Comprehension is my greatest downfall, due to those run-together vowels. I could ask people to please write down what they're saying, but such inconvenience would be a real conversation-killer. These flashcards include a Recall level that requires me to type in the correct word when Ricardo says it, complete with accents. With a push of a button I can hear it as many times as I need to. I was scoring pretty high before I got to Recall, but I had to do the office supply topic over three times before I scored 100%.
The flashcards are organized by topic, such as days of the week, food items and colors at the easy level, to office supplies (medium level) on up to parts of the body at the hard level (this includes everything from hair follicles and eyelids to knees and belly button!) I can print the cards out, too.
There's a Recognition level that shows a Spanish word and multiple-choice translations in English, timed so you have to stay on your toes.
My favorite flashcards cover common expressions such as, "Me saca del quicio." El quicio is literally a door hinge, so I'm assuming the rough translation is, "It makes me unhinged (or crazy)."
If I'm feeling competitive and take the time to log in, the website will keep track of my results and list them along with other students on a Leaderboard, ranked by score.
One thing I really like is that each verb comes with its article, so you learn right away whether it's masculine or feminine.
The site also a has complete Spanish/English dictionary, which is handy to keep open when I'm reading Mexican newspapers such as Expreso. And beyond individual words, you can translate an entire phrase.
Did I mention that SpanishDict is free?
*Digame = "tell me."
12 comments:
Hey girl, send me the link to this via my email. I'm as bad as you about having the lazy summer. But at least you can immerse yourself there... here I have to wait for school to start. Who want's to go back to school? Not me.
sounds like a great program. i hadn't heard the term, "me saca del quicio" since i lived in miami. your assupmtion to its meaning is correct. it basically means "he/she drives me crazy". not sure what other countries it's used in but cubans sure say it.
just got back from visitng chris and matt on the east coast. had a great time.
sorry i've been so bad about e-mailing. i'll write again soon.
teresa
I have no expectations that my Spanish will improve - yet it does. At least so I am told by my Spanish ONLY speaking friends.
Probably the best thing is to grow without pressure like we did as kids. Then our brains were like sponges instead of sieves (often leaking out what we should know).
Placing high expectations only leads to frustration, and after all many people from whence we came can't even speak their first language very well ;-)
Call it a rational for gross incompetence or go with the flow amiga - life is good and perhaps it will be even better when we can get past lofty expectations for ourselves?
You do well with English - I am a fan, and that I understand.
Calypso - My efforts to improve my Spanish are only partly socially-motivated. Sure, I'd like to get past the "deer-in-the-headlight" look I get when I don't understand. But also it's the little gray cells I'm concerned with. I don't do puzzles or video games, don't play cards, etc. because I find them boring, but I do get a kick out of lightbulb moments related to language, both Spanish AND English.
Jomamma - Hey, I'm lucky to summon the energy to immerse myself in the pool, much less Mexican conversations.
A nonny mouse - Hmmmm, maybe that expression isn't common in Mexico. I've been making note of a lot of these words and expressions to run by my coach Lolita. Sometimes she'll tell me, "No es commún aqui." Or just give me a blank stare.
Thank you for digame-ing us this info. Gonna look into it.
I guess that's what's good about getting my Spanish at the school. We have every dialect possible, from the border lingo all the way up to proper Sicilian. But my Cuban usually just tells me "you makin' me craa-si!" Which I do 75% of the time.
Overboard - Yer welcome, amiga.
Jomamma - Ummm, when you said "proper Sicilian" did you mean "proper Castilian?"
Flashcards are excellent. I made my own while I was obsessively studying Spanish in Morelia ten years ago. I ended up with a pile that was about two feet high, literally.
As long as you spend your time almost exclusively with English-speakers, Spanish is going to be a real bear. Sad but true.
The site looks interesting. (I may add it as a "resource" on my blog.) Now, I need to motivate myself.
Felipe - Claro que si, you need Spanish-speakers around to do it right.
Steve - It'll be easier when you get back to Melaque.
LOL, you aren't as rusty as you thought you were. That's what I get for blogging in the early morning.
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