Encantada!

I like learning languages. It's useful, fun, looks nice in CV, but most of all - you don't have to watch films with subtitles. My newest goal is to know Spanish, one of the reasons being those few Chileans spamming my twitter or facebook. And I don't like not understanding things that pop up in my face.

I'm a lazy person and since I lately had to do an audiobook advert, I tried this form of learning. My first victim is Pimsleur course which I got from my friend.

Each lessons is 30 minutes long. First there is some dialog containing all you have learnt by this time. Then you can hear American (norteamerocano) lector saying or asking you about some phrases in English and then "Latino" actors repeats or answers in your name the same in Spanish. Randomly it's interrupted with a loud "Escucha y repita!" to be sure that you notice that new words are introduced.

Officially the instructions say that you shouldn't do more than 1 lesson a day. Maybe 2 lessons if you're a good student. I'm doing at least 4 for a day. Since commuting to work and home takes me exactly 2h (+time lost for standing in traffic jams) and I have no problems with grasping new vocabulary. In fact, I think that during one Norwegian lesson I had more words to learn than here.

Because this method is surprising efficient. Actors are reading you phrases, new words and when you're about to forget - read it again. So if you here one word 20-30 times within 15 minutes it really drills into your head like new Lady Gaga's song. Apparently repetition is the key to learning new languages. Over and over, and over, and over again.

However it can't be peachy all the time. I'm not a native and I speak Spanish very little (not to say none at all), but... Why couldn't they just hire a poor Juan from Mexico or Spain. Because when I see this American actor who is probably a naturalised Mexican in 3rd generation I see this (taken from here):

Unfortunately this is the first thing that ruins a bit this course. After first 8 or 9 lessons I had the feeling I was listening to "Ultimate guide for Americans on how to get laid and drunk in Cancun." I know this was not the intention of authors (since we - tourists - need to eat, sleep and get laid), but a conversation between a girl who speaks with a decent accent and a gringo-trying-to-sound-like-a-native

s: Vamos al hotel.
h: Si, vamos al hotel.

brings a specific images into my head... I mean. At any real course I have attended to the pattern was like "Hi. My names is John. I live in London. I'm 20 years old. I like computers, but I'm not a geek. May I ask for a sandwich and a glass of water?" While here "Hi. Nice to meet you. I'm North American. Where is the restaurant? We're going to a hotel. I will pay. I want a beer."

The other thing that makes me gnash are the mistakes or vocabulary. For example there is a question "Do you have dollars?" (seriously; and they repeat it quite often) is translated as ¿Tiene dólares? Unless there's some super polite form apart from usted my little brain tells me that for the 2nd person in singular there should be tienes...  

Edit: as my fellow native corrected me, this is possible, because they like to omit the subject (here: usted). However I still say that this makes you disorientated, since I ask you directly and not you miss/mister.

But the cutest and the most amusing thing I found there was a conversation with a Chilean where a gringo saying "you speak Spanish very well." First: wow. Chilean speaking Spanish well. Who would have thought? Second: the word for Spanish they use castellano. In BBC course I've watched they used the word español. The latter is more general and when it comes to Chileans - probably more accurate :>

Ok, I'm kidding here a bit.

But what is for real, is that generally Spanish in Latin American and Spanish is a tad different. I was even told a story about a Chilean professor who went to Spain and used typical Chilean Spanish vocabulary and Spaniards were, least to say, surprised and had problems with understanding. A complicated and funny thing. I remember that when A. came back from Peru and she was talking with some Spaniards they also told her that she doesn't speak castellano in fact and uses lots of words from the New World.

Hopefully after ending those 30 lessons the damages made to my little brain will allow me still to learn Latin Spanish.

Y ahora... quiero comer un bocadillo con queso. Adios!