Two Spanish Language Learning Programs

I've been trying to teach myself Spanish with a couple of computer based training programs. The first program I tried, Transparent Spanish. This program has been pretty good for helping me build reading a vocabulary. But I had a very difficult time listening to the recorded speech. The parts of the program devoted to helping you develop listening and speaking skills lack instruction.

This second program, Pronounce It Perfectly explained why I had difficulty discerning words while listening. Apparently in Spanish not every syllable is pronounced. If a word ends in a vowel and the following word starts with the same vowel, the words are run together and only one syllable is pronounced. Sure that makes pronunciation easier, but that makes it much harder for people like me to develop listening skills.

My one complaint with Pronounce It Perfectly, is the timing. After listening to a phrase, the program asks you to repeat it. But half the time, the program doesn't give you enough time to say the whole phrase before it moves to the next one.

I wouldn't recommend relying solely on either of these programs. But both have their strengths and weaknesses. Using them together I'm building at least a little skill.

 

Update Feb 2023: Neither of the programs mentioned above held my attention very long. In Aug 2022 I started using duolingo, and that has held my attention longer than any other language learning program.

Royal Classics

I've been using the Royal Classics Recital guitar strings for about 4 months. I absolutely love them. These strings give my guitar a beautifully rounded sound.

But these strings do have their down side. The G-string is a little tinny when open (though it sounds fine when fingered). The strings are more sensitive to the weather than the D'Addario. With the D'Addarios, I only had to retune the strings daily for the first couple of weeks. After that, they stabilized. I've been using the Royal Classics for several months now and I still have to retune them almost daily.

Also lately, I've been playing several songs with drop D tuning. Going back and forth between the D and E tuning makes the sixth string lose it's tune even more often. But it's worth it to get the beautiful sound.

You are your own Gym

I picked up You are Your Own Gym because I have only a 110 barbell set.

The good: lots of different exercises you can do with just your body and stuff around the house, like chairs, towels, phone books, etc.  Lauren shows how to exercise nearly every muscle group, and how to vary the intensity for beginners to more advanced fitness levels. I've only tried a couple of the exercises so far, but they do seem to be challenging.

The bad: Lauren's statements about aerobic exercise and nutrition are totally wrong. Lauren states you don't need aerobic exercise to burn fat, just increase your lean muscle mass. Most people probably need to do both. Lauren also states that you need 2 g of protein for every lb of your target body weight. That's only true for competitive bodybuilders. The average person does fine with 0.8-1.2 g of protein for target body weight.

Using Lauren's exercises may help improve your fitness. But make sure to include some aerobic exercises, and get your nutrition information from a better source.

 

Update Feb 2023: Recent studies have  shown that walking within the first hour after eating lowers blood sugar, which is essential for burning fat and maintaining a healthy weight. So Lauren's assertion that  you don't need aerobic exercise to burn fat has again been proven wrong.

Lightning, A poor beginning

I've  started reading blogs about writing. One of the blogs I read said that the purpose of the first chapter is not to start the plot, but to help the reader become invested in the main character; get them curious or interested in what happens to this character.

Also this week, I start reading Dean Koontz's Lightning. I see that the first few pages are from the POV of a throw-away character. We need to get to the second chapter before the main character is even old enough to have a point of view. This was very annoying to me, and managed to hammer in the point of the blog I just read. I almost put the book down. But a lot of people like Koontz, so I'll try and read a little further to see if there is anything else I can learn from him.

Megamind

If I had known that Megamind was a Will Ferrell movie, I'd have never have rented it. Good thing I didn't know, because this was a thoroughly enjoyable film.

I've seen/read a lot of stories where the hero had to become as evil as the bad guy in order to defeat the bad guy. But this is the first story I've seen a villian has to become a hero in order to defeat a false hero. That alone, mades the story worth watching. But the well written satirical references to Superman and Lex Luthor made the story charming as well as innovative.

The animation and the acting were good. But it was the writing that made this a film standout for me. The film explored a couple of familiar themes:

• does a hero always have to be a hero, can't he ever retire?
• What's a person to do after they've finally succeeded in accomplishing their life long goal? In this case, it was the villian who finally defeated the hero.
• once evil, always evil?
• can love turn an evil villain good?

From my perspective as an aspiring novelist, I loved seeing these themes twisted and shown from the villain's perspective. It's so different from the super hero comic books which are predominantly written from the heroes' perspectives.

This is a good movie to watch and to learn from, especially if you're interested in learning a bit about writing satire.