¿Comó son las vidas de personas en otras países?

I talked to someone named Dimitri Patarroyo. He is from Bogota, Columbia. I learned that he finished school and likes to dance. From him, I learned that, just like in the US, there is a job crisis. Even though he finished college, he cannot find a job and has been looking for 5 months.
I was proud that I could hold a conversation is Spanish for so long. I actually didn't put the whole thing up, just the main points. I would like to just stick to the point next time I have a conversation; usually it gets off topic.
Greetings
Greetings
Jobs
Jobs
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.43.41 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.43.41 AM

Maggie's 4th blog post

  • Who did I speak with and why did I choose that person?
    I spoke with Kurt. He corrected me on alot of stuff. I chose him because he wasn't that old and he spoke spanish and was learning english. 
  • What did you learn about them? What did you learn from them?

    I learned alot about him. If you read the convo you can find little stuff like his favorite color and what not. 
  • How did this interaction help you move towards achieving your personal goal?

    This interaction helped me by helping me correct my little mistakes like "la" and "el". I now am more careful with my masculine and feminine verbs and words. 
  • What specifically did you do well according to your goals/expectations?

    I didn't use a translator for alot of it. Some of what he was saying was confusing. I got annoyed when he corrected me on every little thing, but it was for good. 
  • What specifically do you need to improve on? (Quote specific things you said or did and what you would have done or said if you could do it again)

    I need to talk more about myself and stop asking the other person questions. 
Kurt1
Kurt1
Kurt2
Kurt2
Kurt3
Kurt3
Kurt4
Kurt4
Kurt5
Kurt5
Kurt6
Kurt6

Conversacion 3

  • Who did I speak with and why did I choose that person?

    I spoke with man from Mexico named Vidal. He actually messaged me first and I decided to continue the conversation.
  • What did you learn about them? What did you learn from them?

    I learned that he like sci-fi, mystery, romance, and just about every other kind of movies except for cartoons.We also talked about areas where I thought I needed work in Spanish. He gave me examples of times when certain tenses are used in everyday conversation. I also learned that he nearly perfected his English accent by listening to music.

  • How did this interaction help you move towards achieving your personal goal?

    My goal was to find examples of when the subjunctive and imperfect tenses are used in everyday conversation. This conversation was some what helpful in meeting that goal. Vidal had some difficulty thinking of specific examples, but was able to give me a few that helped me get the general idea.
  • What specifically did you do well according to your goals/expectations?

    I did well with being able to reply in Spanish and not pausing to ask what he meant or use the dictionary for every word I did not know. I was able to use context clues to get the general idea of what he was saying and respond. 
  • What specifically do you need to improve on? (Quote specific things you said or did and what you would have done or said if you could do it again)

    I still need to work on not using WordRefrence as much. I also need to solidify my understanding of ser v. estar. There was a  point in the conversation where I was confusing the two verbs.

    "Soy en colegio..."
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.42.21 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.42.21 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.42.31 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.42.31 AM

Soap Operas Vs. Telenovelas

We all know soap operas to be incredibly cheesy and funny to watch. But what most people don't know is that Argentina made soap operas popular, one could say they created the genre. America tends to focus on family problems or business problems, mainly because American soap operas are censored, so curse words are not allowed and sex scenes are prohibited. 

Soap operas in Spanish-speaking countries  refer to SO's as Telenovelas. One main difference between Telenovelas and SO's is that they come to an end and new stories are created, almost like a series (as apposed to chapters). Also, there are not as many constraints, so scenes can be more explicit and/or dramatic. Plots tend to go along the lines of teen drama and twisted romance (such as Chiquititas or Belíssima. Though places like Brazil, who create more realistic and historical dramas, Chile and Colombia focus on comedy, everything usually depends on the countys' culture. 

In America, SO's have become less and less popular, but with that, Telenovela has become increasingly popular, especially in Mexico. Most shows revolve around romance and the conflicts between two sides, so there's always a villain. One of the most popular is Los Ricos Tambien Lloran, which actually become popular is other counties, like Russia. Mexican SO's have made a comeback since the 70's, mainly because they can also reflect reality, but in a more entertaining way. 

conversation with Javier

i talked to Javier from spain who was a very nice man and answered my questions and didnt want anything in return. we talked about what kinds of foods he like and what he does with his family. my goal for my second was to talk about what life was like for people in another country and i feel like i could have done a better job with that. but i do feel like i learned a lot about Javier. over all i was very happy with my conversation.
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.54.39 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.54.39 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.55.00 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.55.00 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.55.40 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.55.40 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.55.46 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.55.46 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 9.01.04 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 9.01.04 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 9.01.34 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 9.01.34 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 9.06.14 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 9.06.14 AM

Proyecto de Conversación 3

What does public transportation look like in Spain? Conversation with Jose from Spain.

My partner taught me that commuting in Spain is much like commuting in America. I learned that my partner is a very nice person, although he does have a short attention span. I learned that I enjoy talking to others, as the conversation lasted for a while once again. As we spoke more and more, I became increasingly interested in his cultural traditions. Once again, I was surprised that he was so friendly. If someone tried to chat with me about a school project, I doubt that I would be as cooperative as he was. I am proud that I learned something from the chat. I had a fear that it would be useless because no one would actually accept my chat request. Next time, I plan to talk with more people at once.
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 9.04.47 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 9.04.47 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 9.10.25 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 9.10.25 AM

Week 2

Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.57.28 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.57.28 AM


This time I talked about to a different person and I found out that his grandmother taught him how to speak and he was very grateful for that. I got the hint that he has a strong relationship with her. I learned that I need to be a little more careful with my conjugation. I learned that I wish I learned how to speak Greek. I was surprised that he thought he learned more from his grandmom than he would from his mother. I'm proud that this was a pretty good conversation once again. I want to ask more questions but I'm not sure if I would be able to understand. 

Conversation Blog #2

I talk to "Jessie Tepoz" and she help me in my spanish.
She is very good in spanish and every time i would do a mistake she would correct me, i thought it was funny, but she is a very good teacher in spanish, i would talk to her more often in spanish for she could help me in my spanish and i could improve in my writing.
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.51.39 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.51.39 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.51.54 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.51.54 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.52.06 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.52.06 AM

Week 1

Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.48.16 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.48.16 AM

I learned that he majors in Adventure Education and loves to rock climb. We didn't have a long conversation or exactly a difficult conversation. I had some notes with me that helped me. I learned that my spanish is not as bad as I had initially thought. We had a pretty easy conversation. I did need to use a dictionary for some words that he said. I'm proud that I talked to someone I don't know. I will try to be more direct next time. I wanted to have a typical conversation first and then begin questions so I could see how well I could speak. 



Diferencia de "un broma" y "un chiste"

My goal for this weeks blog was inspired by my last post, which was how to tell a joke in spanish. Every time I asked do you know "un broma" it would seem like they had no clue what I was talking about. After I spoke with a few native speakers, I found out it was "un chiste" that I wanted to learn about. So, I used "italki" to learn what the difference was.
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.50.20 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.50.20 AM

Carter Conversation 3

This time I talked to my mother about when we spent time with the street kids.  This helped me reach my goal because I was able to talk about what we did when we were in there. One thing that I wish I could do better is my pronunciation because  was sick when we did the recording. Besides that it went fine.  
Spanish conversation 3

Conversationsm Blog Post 3 CP

Screen Shot 2012-05-07 at 2.52.07 PM
Screen Shot 2012-05-07 at 2.52.07 PM
Screen Shot 2012-05-07 at 3.08.23 PM
Screen Shot 2012-05-07 at 3.08.23 PM
This week I focused on what specifically insults other cultures or other countries. I partnered up with Catherine and Malik, it was uh interesting have perspectives and having a collaborative question effort. So, originally this was not working out so well. This went one of two ways, either someone thought we were trying to mess with them (which teaches us a thing or too about word choice and sentence structure) or they assumed we wanted to know curses in Spanish. Although, it may have sounded as such we already knew those words were insulting so we changed it around a little bit. Unfortunately I do not have the other screenshots I was not able to capture them but one guy did understand what we actually meant and told me that it's insulting when Americans or really anyone degrade the history of Native Americans or say that they are weak or were used and mean it. We seen that it helped to give them an example for Americans. Catherine said, "Here in America it is insulting to talk bad about someone's mom but if you tell them to shut up it's not a big deal." The use of the example worked pretty good. I'm hoping to come up with a question that is going to give me insight but may not be so confusing when asked in Spanish and instead of talking to multiple people at once talk to one at a time and when the conversation seems to be getting boring to make it interesting instead of starting over with someone new. I want to learn how to make the conversation progress which will take a little more Spanish than the average. 

Conversation 4

 

First Week: Marley Utzig

Partners Name: Multiple

City y Country: Many

 

 

Who you spoke with and why you chose that partner

 

I did not message any of the people they messaged me and I was able to squeeze my practice in with them but not for a straight five minutes which is why I have multiple people for the same topic.

 

What did you learn about them? What did you learn from them?

 

The nice thing about talking to so many different people is that I am learning more about the Spanish culture as a whole, I noticed that a lot of people really like the Red Hot Chili Peppers which I found as interesting not because they are not a good band but because there is a large amount of people who like it.

 

How did this interaction help you move towards achieving your personal goals?

 

I am just trying to hold a conversation and learn more and I really like music so this is helpful in me being interested but also in keeping the conversation flowing.

 

What specifically did you do well according to your goals/expectations? What specifically to you need to improve on?

 

I think I am doing well in the conversations and just speaking in Spanish, I need to think of new ways to leave the conversation. 

Screen Shot 2012-05-03 at 12.36.46 PM
Screen Shot 2012-05-03 at 12.36.46 PM
Screen Shot 2012-05-03 at 12.42.25 PM
Screen Shot 2012-05-03 at 12.42.25 PM
Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.11.24 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.11.24 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.21.58 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.21.58 AM

Blog Post 3: Televisión En la segunda parte: Ecuador

  • What did you learn about your partner?  

    For this blog post, I added two people instead of one to make the post more insightful. I talked with Christian and Guillermo about the television they watch in Ecuador. Christian talked more of American Series while Guillermo talked more about Spanish series but also watches both. Christian is a fan of "Friends" just as I am and we talked about different episodes. 
  • What did you learn from them?

    I learned about a comedy show called "Aqui No Hay Quien Viva" which is comedy series. Guillermo watches this series where he lives. He also taught me that "hay" meant there.
  • What did you learn about yourself?

    I learned that what I like to watch on television will not always be the same as others. Others might not enjoy these shows like I do.
  • What were you surprised about?

    I was surprised at the fact that American series do get watched in other countries such as Ecuador. 
  • What are you proud of?

    I am proud that I got to achieve my goal of researching what type of television is watched in other countries. I am also proud of the fact that I used the dictionary less this time and I talked more on what I knew.
  • What follow-up questions do you have?

    Do other countries watch the same cartoons as Americans?

  • What will you improve on for next time?  How?  s


    Next time,I will try to improve on leaving the conversation better. I kind of cut it short beings though class was over and I had to shut my laptop. I will work on a better"leaving" technique. 

    Links:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqu%C3%AD_no_hay_quien_viva
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.04.14 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 8.04.14 AM
friends-tv-show
friends-tv-show
Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.34.41 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.34.41 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.34.49 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.34.49 AM
the_big_bang_theory-show
the_big_bang_theory-show
ANH2
ANH2

Blog Post #3

So I decided to change my conversation topic to foods. At the moment, Kleber and I are talking about the types of holidays and foods that he eats during those holidays. He still hasn't given me names of the exact holidays that he celebrates, so I'm waiting for that part of our conversation to start. It's interesting to know that we kind of eat the same sort of things during the holidays. However, I wonder how he would react if I told him that my family doesn't really cook much during the holidays mainly because we aren't very hungry during that time period. Since all of our attention is focused on the activity we're doing. I still don't know what country he's from although I think I asked at one point during our conversations. 
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 7.43.01 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 7.43.01 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 7.43.20 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 7.43.20 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 7.43.34 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 7.43.34 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 7.43.48 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 7.43.48 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 7.44.01 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 7.44.01 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 7.44.14 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 7.44.14 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 7.44.26 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 7.44.26 AM

Blog #3

  • Who did I speak with and why did I choose that person?

    I spoke with a guy named Julian. This time, I decided to switch to my Sharedtalk account. So, he requested that we chat, and I accepted. 
  • What did you learn about them? What did you learn from them?

    For this conversation, we spoke about music. He was telling me about how he played the piano and the guitar, and what kind of music he liked to listen to. 

  • How did this interaction help you move towards achieving your personal goal?

    Even though this was the first conversation we've had, I feel like I wasn't as nervous as I was when I did my first chat with the other person on Livemocha. I also think I did better with asking questions, and using Spanish throughout the conversation. 
  • What specifically did you do well according to your goals/expectations?

    I improved with asking them questions, and improving my use of Spanish in the conversation.
  • What specifically do you need to improve on? (Quote specific things you said or did and what you would have done or said if you could do it again)

Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.46.06 PM
Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.46.06 PM
Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.46.21 PM
Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.46.21 PM
Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.46.36 PM
Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.46.36 PM
Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.46.45 PM
Screen Shot 2012-05-08 at 10.46.45 PM

Spanish stereotypes

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g187427-c69822/Spain:Some.Truths.About.Spanish.Stereotypes.html



Many of the general stereotypes that are applied to specific group of people are far from being the truth.  Others may have some ties to the past which may lead to the ideas being perpetuated.  I decided to pick a spanish speaking country in which many stereotypes are displayed in movies.  Americans are generally displayed as a people who are lazy and incompetent.  The people of Spain are also displayed as being lazy and love to party.  While it can be said that many spanish love to party and part take in the consumption of alcohol, there economic status disproves the "lazy" portion of the stereotype.  Also, they are sometimes grouped into the category of being rich and snooty.  While some may have the money to flaunt and poor attitudes as well, this cannot be said for an entire country as a whole.  It is true that Spain has become one of the more expensive countries to visit , and that they ship quality products, which has helped them become one of the highest rated  gross domestic products.


The bull fighting that was once at the heart of Spanish culture, is losing its importance among the people of Spain.  Its easy to take something an exaggerate , for films and other media , which leads to more misrepresentation.  Many of the people of Spain believe that the bull fights are bad, and that they really shouldn't be continued. In some areas, bull fighting is actually prohibited.


Blog Post #3

  • Who did I speak with and why did I choose that person?


    I spoke with a 17 year old from Columbia named Manuel Barbosa. I chose to use him because he was the only one willing to speak in completely spanish for 10 minutes at a time.

  • What did you learn about them? What did you learn from them?


    I learned a lot about life and culture in Columbia. I also learned new words and Columbian "slang"

  • How did this interaction help you move towards achieving your personal goal?


    Well considering my goal was to learn to be more polite he taught me 'impolite' phrases that I would use around my friends. Basically he taught me slang. This was helpful because now I know what not to say, and on top of that now I know how to interact with my spanish friends :D
  • What specifically did you do well according to your goals/expectations?


    Again, I feel like I did very well with speaking only spanish. 

  • What specifically do you need to improve on? (Quote specific things you said or did and what you would have done or said if you could do it again)


    Being able to understand what they were saying, like the gist of it. I found myself confused a lot of the time.
manuel
manuel

Post #3

This week I had very interesting conversation with a friend from Ecuador. His name was Larzon Angulo and we began by speaking about where he was from and he brought up the amount of violence in Ecuador (avoid possibility offending him by asking about how violent his country is.) What I found most interesting was that Larzon asked me what I meant if he didn't understand my Spanish while my last two partners worked around it. I also helped Larzon learn some things in English for instance he called me "gentle" and I told him he should probably say kind. Larzon spoke about how people in Ecuador are poor because they want so much which is an idea that I think can connect to Americans as well. I found that as I spoke to Larzon he shared a lot of the ideas I had about America but with Ecuador. I was intrigued by this because I never thought to countries so far away from each other can be so similar.
1
1
2
2

Tarea_ E4U8_Long Live The Butterflies

Para la Tarea, yo tenía que publicar la información que tenia para el proyecto de este cuarto. Sin Embargo, mí pareja y yo dividimos el trabajo entoces esto es mí parte. Adémas, hay una foto de el estuche. Simplemente, un sketch para el cuvridor/cover del CD. El estuche es simple por qué quéria qué la audiencia viera el mensaje qué quiero demonstrar y esto para mí es la frase mas importante en la pélicula, "Long Live the Butterflies" "Vivan Las Mariposas". Creo qué esto sí es verdad y aunque ellas estan muertas menos Dede sus pasos en como cambiaron la Republica Dominica todavia VIVE. Le aggrege otros detalles y también 3's mariposas para representar Las Hermanas Mirabal. 

Qué Disfruten :)

Cancion y Artista
  • Yo No Me Doy Por Vensido - Luis Fonsi
Esta cancion es como una esena en la pélicula por qué un día Minerva Mirabal quéria estudiar leyes en la unversidad. En este tiempo, esto no era posible, esto no fué posible por la dictadura de Trujillo. Pero, ella nunca se dío por vensida y después iso un appuesto con Trujillo. Cuando gano este appuesto al fín pudo ser sus sueños realidad. Por eso ella nunca se dío por vensida.

Cancion y Artista
  • Next 2 You - Justin Bieber Y Chris Brown
Next 2 You me recuerda de esta pelicula por qué es como una reunion qué siempre se forma cuanda Las Hermanas Mirabales estan en situaciones muy polemicas. El comportamiento de las hermanas era muy emociónal cuando había problemas dificiles, por ejemplo, cuando Minerva se quería ir para comensar su profesion su hermana especialmente Patricia no quéria qué se fuera. Por esto, escojí este cancion. Ademas, las hermanas siempre estan lado por lado o “side by side” y next 2 you es la canción perfécta para describír esta escena.

Cancion y Artista
  • I am your angel - Marc Anthony

"And when all hope is gone, I'm here
No matter how far you are, I'm near
It makes no difference who you are
I am your angel
I'm your angel"

Para mí, pienso qué cuando las hermanas se murieron esta cancion enseña mucho simbolismo a sus muertes. Por ejemplo, antes del maltrato, las chicas resarón. Estas parte de las canciones enseñan qué su dios es como un angel qué siempre va a estar hay. Y va a estar a ir por las buenas o las malas. Claro, las hermanas son diferentes por qué son especiales y son muy dedicadas pero es obvio que no eran como todas las otras mujeres en esta era de la Republica Dominicana.

Cancion y Artista
  • Pocket Full Of Sunshine - Natasha Bedingfield


Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 5.03.20 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 5.03.20 AM

Conversation #3

  • Who did I speak with and why did I choose that person?


    I spoke with Melina in this conversation. I talked to her before and she made sense.

  • What did you learn about them? What did you learn from them?


    She likes playing volley ball and going to the beach. I also learned a bit of the culture
  • How did this interaction help you move towards achieving your personal goal?


    It worked out good, my goal was to talk the culture but I don't think she quite understood what I said.

  • What specifically did you do well according to your goals/expectations?


    I learned but not much, it was fin though

  • What specifically do you need to improve on? (Quote specific things you said or did and what you would have done or said if you could do it again)rc


    She didn't understand me so I had to write in english to get my point across. I'm not so sure other than trying better
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.50.06 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.50.06 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.50.17 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.50.17 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.50.25 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.50.25 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.50.33 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.50.33 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.50.48 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.50.48 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.50.54 AM
Screen Shot 2012-05-09 at 10.50.54 AM