(This blog is the English translation of this week’s primary blog, which was originally written in Spanish.) There’s a common piece of advice for language learning (and perhaps learning anything) that you should enjoy the journey. The end goal is fine and it’s important to have one, but you shouldn’t worry about the goal, rather … Continue reading Don’t Enjoy the Journey, Enjoy the Things
(This blog entry is written in Spanish. There will be an English translation available tomorrow morning / Este blog está escrito en español. Habrá una traducción de inglés disponible mañana por la mañana.) Hay un consejo común para el aprendizaje de idiomas (y a lo mejor el aprendizaje de cualquier cosa) que se debe disfrutar … Continue reading No Disfrutes el Camino, Disfruta las Cosas
I’ve done my best to not do this very often, but like I did right around the holidays I’m taking a week off from writing a pre-numbers content post. Most of the week was fine for me, but I went through some pretty heavy emotional stuff over the weekend, which is when I normally draft … Continue reading Weekly Update
There are a number of knowledgeable, interesting voices on the internet that offer advice on language learning. I follow several of them and enjoy hearing their takes on different things. Often times they present interesting ideas and techniques, and I have taken a large amount of inspiration from a number of those voices—most notably Stephen … Continue reading Understanding Language Levels Comparatively
I’ve talked before about how a lot of the general discourse of language learning as it exists online is centered on motivation. Which makes sense, as it’s probably the single largest failure point in a hopeful learner’s journey. Motivation dwindles as time and difficulty ramp up, until you start missing days here and there, shrug, … Continue reading The Value of Motivation Advice
(This blog is the English translation of this week’s primary blog, which was originally written in Spanish.) Most of the time I talk about my successes in these blogs. There are a few reasons for that: because successes make me happy, because it’s better to share something if it works than if it’s a failure, … Continue reading My Failures Learning Spanish
(This blog entry is written in Spanish. There will be an English translation available tomorrow morning / Este blog está escrito en español. Habrá una traducción de inglés disponible mañana por la mañana.) La mayoría del tiempo hablo de mis éxitos en estos blogs. Hay unas razones para eso: porque los éxitos me ponen feliz, … Continue reading Mis Fracasos del Aprendizaje de Español
This week I finished reading Cien Años de Soledad. Normally, I reserve mentioning that sort of thing until the weekly numbers and recap section of this blog, but in the case of this book, it proved to be an especially heavy challenge. Not in a difficulty of reading sense, though it was a pretty tough, … Continue reading Reading Books You Don’t Enjoy
So here we are in 2020. After spending the last month or so reflecting on stuff that’s happened up to this point, it’s now a new year, which comes with new things to look forward to. Last year had its ups and downs, but trended toward positive for me, and I hope that continues onward. … Continue reading Yearly Themes for 2020
While I have occasionally had unrealistic fantasies over learning Spanish to my goal super-fast, I have mostly viewed this project as a long-haul endeavor. Nobody learns a language overnight, and every expert out there warns about how necessary it is to put in the time and effort in order to see results. I didn’t start … Continue reading Understanding the Intermediate Plateau
