Hitting My Stride

Class 13 was filled with useful information! I feel like I made it through the first two weeks of classes working with material that was pretty much review for me, having taken formal Spanish classes before. Today's class was the first that both presented a lot of new concepts and cleared up ones that previously had confused me.

For starters, class 13 spent a lot of time describing, modeling, and practicing the use of indirect verbs - those that agree with the object of the sentence, not the subject. Examples include: gustar (to like/appeal), doler (to hurt), parecer (to seem), and interesar (to interest). The two that have given me the most fits so far have been "encantar (to love/be enchanted with)" and "faltar (to be lacking/missing)." I have heard them used countless times but couldn't quite figure out or remember how to use them myself. I would always substitute "no tengo (I don't have)" for "me falta (I'm missing)." Yes, I'm able to make my point but it's a round-about way of saying it. My learning style works much better with rules than with having to figure out patterns on my own. When I'm conversing with a Spanish speaker I spend so much time trying to understand what he/she is saying rather than how he/she is saying it. Said another way, I listen more for vocabulary than grammar; it isn't until I take a step back to think about what I am hearing or have concepts laid out for me that I fully understand the grammar. The approach Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish uses combining conversation and formal instruction is perfect for my needs and seems suitable to all levels of Spanish. After class 13, I feel extremely comfortable using indirect verbs and am excited to practice them over the next few days.

Another thing I learned from this class is that the "diéresis (ü - who knew it was called this)" makes an otherwise silent letter be pronounced. Now I might be able to pronounce the name of a nearby street (Güemes) correctly - and here I thought I had sound Spanish pronunciation.

The one negative from this class (and this is nitpicking) is the time they spent on the synonyms for "caradura (jackass)." It's so hard to remember one slang word, never mind five. I think it's fine to have it translated within the text of the conversation, but to spend time digressing to discuss different ways to call someone a jackass is a waste of time.