Get your bowl on
April 8, 2008Hubby likes to bowl. He usually plays on a league during the summer and he generally does one or two charity bowls (is that what you call it) every year. He has one coming up soon and needs to practice. So we’re heading to the bowling alley tonight. It should be interesting.
I suck at bowling. I rarely bowl 100. I have a hard time finding a ball I like and those icky shoes are never lysol-ed enough for me. But hubby wants to bowl so bowl we shall. He doesn’t know he’s buying me dinner afterwards and none of that bowling alley food either. Haha.
In other news, let me just say Coffeebreak Spanish is the bomb. I’ve downloaded all 58 podcasts and by the time we go to Acapulco, I should be speaking Spanish like a whiz. However, UNDERSTANDING foreign languages has always been my problem. I can order food, ask questions, etc. but I never understand the people when they speak back to me. Feh. So if anyone has hints on how to improve my listening comprehension, I’d greatly appreciate it. Have a fantastic week. Hasta pronto!
Listening to Spanish (or any foreign language) radio, t.v. shows like soaps and news programs works. The more you listen the more you will begin to hear the pauses between words and vocal nuances. You don’t need to concentrate or try to figure out what they are saying, just listening causes it to seep in.
Of course you might find yourself in a spanish speaking country and still be lost because some regions speak rapidly.
Thanks for the advice. I’ll have to try that. I’m sure there must be some Spanish channels on TV. However, I fried our DirecTV box though :-(
Comment by c2a — April 8, 2008 @ 5:19 pm
Hi there,
I’m not sure that there are any shortcuts to this. I think you have found out what I found out when I did the state department course of cd’s before going to Guatemala to study Spanish intensively. The easiest part of language learning is memorizing the initial phrases. You don’t understand what they say back to you because you haven’t put in the long hours of language study. The best way for you to learn without making a serious investment of time is probably by talking to people in Spanish whenever you can. Beyond that, I would recommend signing up for a class. If you don’t want the structure of the class you could buy some grammar books and work your way through them, and I am sure there are a ton of online resources. Also, I imagine that in Acapulco or anywhere else you go in Mexico there are language schools that could give you intensive classes for a week, two, twelve, whatever you are up for. Your experience may be different, but I just found that by watching Spanish tv before I knew Spanish, that I just didn’t understand anything. Listening to music can help because let’s face it, most lyrics to popular music are pretty inane and you’ll catch the simple constructions almost immediately : ) Of course now I have the best teacher ever, a Spanish speaking man… Buena suerte!
Comment by Liz — April 9, 2008 @ 6:04 pm
The Aston Martin in my driveway translates 0 to 100 mph in less than 10 seconds
Comment by The OE — April 9, 2008 @ 10:14 pm
I had the same problem while in Madrid, I was able to ask for things and even get them to understand what I was saying in my spanglish and french word with the o at the end language. Once they started responding I was lost until I told them to slow down.
Comment by Honest — April 10, 2008 @ 3:30 pm
I have probably bowled about half a dozen times in my life. The last time I did was about a week ago and I scored 145. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. It was fun but not something I’m scheduling time for.
Comment by chele — April 14, 2008 @ 12:05 pm
I agree with c2a, you have to surround yourself around the culture
Comment by Moneymonk — April 16, 2008 @ 11:44 am
I think I’ll try that one. Right now I’m listening to Discover Spanish podcasts and they are OK.
Comment by Rich — June 12, 2008 @ 1:16 pm