@RegDwigнt What's the sticking point here for you: grammar, vocabulary, or phonetics? Do you just need to be immersed in it so you get the automatic conversational reflexes down? Have you tried reading articles in Spanish from newspapers or Wikipedia? Have you tried watching subtitled movies?
Or is it that you aren't used to listening to a syllable-timed language so you’re having trouble perceiving which word is which?
Yeah I studied French. I also studied Spanish. At both the school and university level. That's the fun part about it.
Had I stuck around for just a couple more semesters rather than quitting to Make Money, I would've been a certified translator English-Russian-German with Spanish on the side.
Immersion is the key yes. Which is why I'm where I'm at. I'm sort of very immersed, but then again I'm not really at all.
Funny, that.
Grammar is trivial I know all about grammar. Phonetics I just laugh about. Vocabulary is like 95% there passive, but active like 1%. That's the crux of it really.
Reading articles is a good one actually. As trite as it sounds it really is.
Like, 100% of what I do online or at work is in English. Maybe half a percent in Russian. I don't even read or speak German, you know. But that's of no consequence as I've been at native level in German for the longest time.
But yeah Spanish or French or Portuguese, like every five years I go on a vacation and then I can practice. Other than that, I might as well try speaking Chinese.
So yeah I guess I should go add Hola and Semana to my bookmarks and just read shit every single day. Right now my only exposure to Spanish is reading stuff my friends post on Facebook.
@Robusto someone has a question about Chicago, yo.
What do you call a road that parallels a main road and is primarily used for parking?
This would be like a frontage road for main roads instead of highways. Plus it is mainly used for parking.
If you are familiar with Chicago, this word would describe the roads on both sides of Martin Luther Ki...
The new font that they picked for all the comments to questions--it's smaller, harder to read, and drops down the 3's. I'm wondering why they picked that one. I must've missed that discussion. It's been like that for a while now.
@tchrist Hmm, maybe I'm the only one seeing this... Well, I did see someone else comment on it. I mean the 3s are below the line...like in line with these lowercase letters: g, j, p, q, y. Maybe I just have an ancient laptop; I dunno.
Oh, it's called oldstyle figures (versus lining figures...as they were before, I think). Some numbers, like the 3 that I recently noticed, are called descenders. Huh, once again, I'm the only one descending...well, there's no reasonable explanation for that. Never mind. https://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-3/numbers/oldstyle-figures
@Cerberus I bought the ear plugs. Some malleable material that shuts out noise much better than my own makeshift inventions. Thanks for the recommendation.
Well, maybe not malleable, 'cause I don't hammer them in my ears! Just soft.
I just stumbled upon a documentary about the people that sight new content posted to Facebook and Twitter and YouTube to keep them free or porn and decapitation videos and all that stuff. It's quite insightful and haunting and well shot. It's in German tho. Also a full 90 minutes long.
@tchrist OIC, Georgia, that makes sense. I have no idea what people are on if it's not Windows or a Mac...wow. My computer degree predates Windows. I was ahead of my time.
@Færd Isn't it though? I thought that. How original!? So I looked it up to figure out how to spell it (I'm not hooked on phonics), and wouldn't you know it--Skwooshi Dough! For sale on Amazon. That's why no one can invent anything nowadays. It's already for sale on Amazon...so sad.
@tchrist Uh, my husband's (and he's 10 years older than me) and my son's...and everybody else's...OIC what you mean. Nah, I was finished before Windows. Haha, not totally.
What do you call a road that parallels a main road and is primarily used for parking?
This would be like a frontage road for main roads instead of highways. Plus it is mainly used for parking.
If you are familiar with Chicago, this word would describe the roads on both sides of Martin Luther Ki...
English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…
English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…