guitar player's journal

[Jossstick]

@guitarplayer: congrats to the promotion! Couldn’t help to see that parallels of cycling, music and gardening

@ertyu: I never thought about that approach to learning languages. My response to something like this is that I won’t work but the structure your idea gives seems like a very good idea

[ertyu]

@ertyu: I never thought about that approach to learning languages. My response to something like this is that I won’t work but the structure your idea gives seems like a very good idea

It depends on your psychological make-up. Choosing X date on which you'd sit the exam for "lowest level" then aiming for a certificate is for a person who wants a lot of structure and a definite "plan and deadline," and who will be motivated by "the blue ribbon" - getting the cert. Taking a test is also energizing to a certain type of person. For another type of person this literally sounds like torture to avoid at all costs.

[guitarplayer]

Thanks all for the congrats! Sometimes I struggle to communicate with folk at work that I am into working on interesting stuff rather than for 'money' or 'job security' (these still to some small extent though), but I manage to find my way.

On Spanish, the thing is I should have it better integrated if I want it to stick. @ertyu I have been thinking about doing a certificate yes, or at least simulating doing a certificate (like that youtube guy from ultralearning or some similar name). Equally, immersion would work but the reason I mention 'reading Stoics in Spanish' is that if I just did simple immersion, I would be talking about watching movies, shopping and going to restaurants and cafes, none of which I do. So it is not compatible with my lifestyle. Best way I can think of really, is to speak more with DW, but then there has to be something in it for her as well. So I need to make it either funny or informative for her (which I try doing), or something else.

I can translate the ERE book to Spanish for DW's family

Have been revisiting @mF's beginning of journal for that, to gather a few goals and piece together a system for the time being.

@theanimal I take the point of changing devices settings to Spanish!

@thef0x, well done for getting on the Erasmus bandwagon! I did mine in Turkey it was great.

Glesga accent / dialect and generally English in Scotland is a thing of its own for sure!

On exercise, yeh I've had a routine for a while changing it slightly every so often. I am probably now highly specialised in what I do and if I were to branch out to some other activities there would be some learning required! Recently I added standing on one leg at my standing desk, or when tying/untying shoes. I would like to do a pistol squat and need these muscles for it (and some more flexibility)

@Josstick yeh I think there is a lot of potential in each cycling, music and gardening to hit 4 design rules of the emergent movement design

[ertyu]

I can translate the ERE book to Spanish for DW's family

Now this is a brilliant idea -- culminates in actual output and is an actual project one can chunk and complete + meaningful to others

[guitarplayer]

Hi!

I went to the Polish Tatras a few days back, staying at the touristy spot in the said mountains. However, since this was outside of season there were not that many people. Still some snow on the peaks which we managed to tackle with Scarpa boots. Thinking I would get a few pairs of these boots, they truly deliver and the only thing I do to them is to treat them with lanoline every so often.

Big expense, DW got herself a down(like?) jacket and a rainproof jacket to compliment her Didrikson winter jacket. Don't know how much it was, never asked.

I have learned DW has a technique similar to some people on the forum but wonderfully offline in that she has a piece of paper that is now maybe 8 years old and she writes with pencil stuff she wants to buy on that paper. If she changes her mind about an item she erases it, and stuff that remains is something she will eventually buy.

We walked up and down Kasprowy Wierch, went to the five Polish lakes valley as well as hala gasiennicowa with associated lakes; also some minor peaks.

Missed walking, for sure!

Free time made me recalibrate on long term planning which I think I was in a bit of a glut recently - think because I was pushing a lot of mental effort in various directions. With this in mind, I look forward to the European ere meetup which will be my next time off.

[Egg]

Nice. I used to stay in Zakopane at least once per year. Lovely bit of Poland

(Morskie Oko was always a favourite for me)

[guitarplayer]

Hey @Egg, nice to see you pop in

We went to Morskie Oko as well actually. DW is impressed with the lakes and peaks down there. For me it was a reminder after I went there as a child.

[guitarplayer]

2024 update 21/52

Physiological

I am experimenting with relaxing my routine in that I take Sundays off and do not do the usual burpees and pull-ups. Today is the first Sunday I am doing this. Instead, I slept longer, did sun salutations and went for a 1h cycle (in the rain, it was warm though), to get 1.5kg of gourmet mushroom ragu sauce someone was giving away.

Intellectual

I wrote a Python function that calculates optimal route (in straight lines) as a solution to the travelling salesperson problem for up to 27 places (given table with x and y coordinates) with a self imposed hard stop at 30 min of computing time on my laptop. I am tempted to try this on a virtual machine I am using at work to see how much further I could go.

Otherwise, I get a lot of intellectual stimulation from my new work.

Economic

The ragu sauce I got from someone has a market value north of $30.

I am getting my first higher salary this month.

Reconsidering paying the remaining circa $50,000 of the mortgage later this year as I read opinions in the Financial Times that FTSE might be picking up later this year - I think this is the main source of discomfort for me that I know too little about investing. I mean, guided by opinions in the FT? Frustrating (it's okay, that is how progress happens).

Emotional

I recorded a song for my mum for mother's day - mum got touched by this.

Social

Went to a family event recently, saw various family members.

Also, went with DW to the Polish Tatras and this was great social outing with DW.

More recently, we went for a cycle to Kelvingrove together.

Technical

I might be getting a macBook for work to work on a machine learning project.

I got I hope the right tool to swap the front chain set in my bike. But like explained earlier, I might just run down the current chain set as I have noticed that I can utilise 3 gear at the front (not worn off) with lower gears at the back to get the same effect, and the chain is then not skipping.

Ecological

DW told me that she had noticed many plants / flowers that are summer ones in Scotland are spring ones in Poland.

Slugs are eating some of our plants at our raised bed.

Upon our return from Poland, Scotland is in high teens, low 20s. This temperature is optimal or near optimal for lots of things, i.e. lots of overlap on an activities venn diagram.

[delay]

Thanks for your journal update! It sounds like you're doing well. As for investing, I doubt reading the FT makes for good decision making. Now that I'm old, I think I should have taken more risk when I was younger (age 25-45), I should not have gone after investments based on their past performance (that's like fishing in a pond were all the fish have been caught), and I should have avoided financial intermediaries. But then who knows if that holds true for the future!

After I got my first MacBook I never went back. It's so comfortable never to have to think about the battery, OS or drivers.

[NewBlood]

Congrats on the new job gp! Your progression from your old career has been inspiring to read about. Glad you like the new position and can spend more time on interesting stuff.

Equally, immersion would work but the reason I mention 'reading Stoics in Spanish' is that if I just did simple immersion, I would be talking about watching movies, shopping and going to restaurants and cafes, none of which I do. So it is not compatible with my lifestyle.

Re: Spanish, I'd like to make an additional case for watching/listening to content in Spanish (Spanish from Spain. with Spanish subtitles. Or english subtitles first, and then rewatch with Spanish subtitles). It's really the easiest way to habituate your ear to the sounds and melody of it, but especially to get familiar with all the colloquial expressions and swear words (aka punctuation ). If I remember correctly, DW is from South America, right? No doubt you both know it already, but Spanish from Spain can be quite different.

Even though watching TV shows or movies is not part of your normal life, a one month Netflix bootcamp could be very valuable. It's not about learning to talk about movies, it's getting used to the most common expressions and slang people will use around you in every day life, which makes it easier to integrate in a new country.

When I first moved to the US, my written English was actual better than American students' (according to an internship advisor), but I understood less than half of what people were saying, and understood very few jokes. Formal language learning usually doesn't teach you the way people actually talk.

Best way I can think of really, is to speak more with DW, but then there has to be something in it for her as well. So I need to make it either funny or informative for her (which I try doing), or something else.

I've found that once you start a relationship in a language, it's really hard to switch, even for the native speaker of the other language. It feels very unnatural, and obviously much slower.

I hope you find something that works for you both, good luck !!

[Jean]

we were both speaking each others language quite fluently when we started our relationship, but with my gf, we keep switching beetween german and french, depending on who is more tired.
Wouldn't your wife appreciate the possibility to talk in spanish when she could use the extra mental juices it takes to speak english for something else?

[guitarplayer]

Thanks all

@delay, exactly, nobody knows what the future holds.

@NewBlood, this now I consider the third iteration / life, and the previous chapter where I was caring for people in intentional community like places was the second one. The first one involved a lot of studying and volunteering, and I had a few stabs at trying to launch an academic career in various fields. It was quite a wild ride I recall it with lots of affection.

Now that I think about it, I watched Narcos in the past. I also chat with DW sometimes in Spanish. It might be that I am underselling my Spanish skills, I sometimes (not always) do that. it’s to do with character, for the same reason I struggle to be successful with job interviews more often than not.

@Jean yeah it might be good for more than this reason in my interaction with DW. But to get to the point where it is less effort for DW, I would need to learn more nouns that we use in day to day life. Maybe start with food items.

[guitarplayer]

2024 update 22/52

Spanish and Spain

Yesterday I was chatting with DW about Spanish (in Spanish, well, 90% in Spanish perhaps) and now looking through my browser history to collect various musicians, telenovelas and movies from the Hispanic world. Some of them look like I might like them, from the 90s.

Music

I gave in and ordered 2nd hand mics from an online charity shop listing. I was actually mainly interested in Shure SM58 but there was another USB mic for podcasts so this is also coming.

Maths, coding etc

So I finished my module on coding applied maths in Python. I am tempted to look at another module for October, but I know that a better use of time will be to consolidate what I already know...

Money

...and read my textbooks on Economics.

Though with money, we are in principle fine.

[dara]

Spain

So Spanish, how do I go about Spanish. maybe read stoics in Spanish?

I assume that was tongue-in-cheek but short answer is, yes. The long answer is a bit more nuanced. I don't want to be a dick about it but some of the advice that I read here (which is what you would normally find if you ask most people for advice on this topic) made me just shake my head. I wonder how many foreign languages people manage to learn like this and to what level. It's a bit like asking people for financial advice, most people have zero clue and the ones who manage to save 5% of their salaries think they are doing great. At least Duolingo and other useless apps were not mentioned. To be honest, whatever method you use, if you're persistent enough it will have its rewards but boy, there's a difference in terms of efficiency and enjoyment. Also don't expect to reach a high level from language courses or textbooks alone (I don't think anyone suggested that here but the vast majority of people still believe that's the way to learn a foreign language).

I'm a bit late but I hope it can still be useful (learning a language should be a life-long pursuit despite the claims of reaching fluency in 1 month and other nonsense). Look at what happens in a conventional classroom setting and disregard it (I was about to say 'and do this opposite' but there are infinite ways of doing that and they might not lead to better results). How do these work? L1: native language, L2: target language

- very little input, even that tends not to be native (teacher; forced, unnatural textbook listening practice)
- way too much emphasis on output (speaking) from an early stage when the student hasn't had much real input, which ingrains bad habit
- little to no emphasis on sounds of the L2, how to reproduce them and how they differ from the sounds of the L1 (no surprise when even most teachers cannot do this and have poor accent)
- way too much emphasis on grammar
- endless grammar drills that don't simulate real world usage of the language
- translating all the time instead of hearing/reading how the L2 is used (audio, video, books)

I could go on but you get the picture. No wonder that most students after learning a foreign language for years have little to show for it. The most important (and underrated) piece of the puzzle is simply input. Consume as much media (books and movies/series, podcasts, etc.) produced for native speakers as possible and once you get comfortable with the language and you heard it enough, start outputting (in most cases that will be speaking). If you do these enough, you can even surpass natives in some aspects (if you read a lot you can have a bigger vocabulary than the average person who hasn't picked up a book since high school - of course, this would take many years, if not a decade or two). The lack of input is the main reason why you hear so much broken English. People simply translate things from their L1 into L2 without knowing how to say that in the L2. If you get enough input, you will start expressing yourself more naturally, without even thinking about how you might say that in your L1.

Now, if you have specific goals in the short term (visiting the country for example), I'd encourage you to focus more on listening and you can practice speaking cautiously.

One more important thing is, what that input should be. You will progress the fastest reading. Books are much more information dense than movies (a scene where there is no dialogue still needs to be described in a book). The downside is if you focus strictly on reading, your vocabulary will way outpace your listening comprehension and you might not know how certain words are pronounced (the latter is not really a problem with Spanish as its pronunciation is very straightforward). The best is a balanced approach with a focus on reading.

The level of the input matters a great deal also. If you consume something way too easy, you won't learn anything, whereas if you read/listen to something way above your level, you will get very little out of it. The best is if it's something challenging but still comprehensible. If you can understand the plot, it's fine. You might not understand every sentence and definitely not every word. It's fine if you look up words but I'd advise against looking up every unknown one. It just slows down reading way too much and makes it less enjoyable.

So if you can already read them, start with books, novels if you can. There are big differences between them, some might be way easier than others. Modern novels tend to be more accessible than 19th century ones and teach you far more useful vocabulary. Young adult novels are easier still. If those are hard, try children's books or comics.

That means philosophy books will probably be too hard for you in the beginning but if you work your way up, you should get there. One word of advice is I'd stick to originals and not translations if possible. What's the point of reading a worse version of something translated from English, if you can just read the original? There are more great books written in Spanish than you or I can ever read in our lifetimes.

Regarding movies/series, watch them with Spanish subtitles until you can comfortably understand the gist of what's being said. If you stick to subtitles too long, your listening ability won't improve past a certain point because you are still reading the subtitles. I'd focus on Castilian Spanish media in your case as some pronouns and vocabulary can be quite country-specific, especially if you get into jargon. Not that big of a deal but vosotros for example is not used at all in most Latin American countries.

A word about tutors. They can be good and helpful. Unfortunately most of them tend to stick to what they know: traditional classroom-style teaching. It's also expensive. Useful if you know what you want, otherwise quite inefficient.

Language buddies? Yeah sure, it's free but is it worth it? If you have a lot of free time and you can find someone who is a native and willing to converse with you in your L2 and you can stick to a structure that doesn't only involve him using you for free English lessons, ok. But even then probably you need to do 50-50 English and L2.

A relatively similar language like Spanish shouldn't pose that much difficulty for an English speaker and one should start reading it almost from day one. The latin alphabet and the staggering amount of cognates help a great deal. Despite what most people think, you don't need years to reach an A2-B1 level, it can be done in months.

I despise language level certifications. They take something really complex like language ability and try to translate it to a very few-dimensional score. Moreover the participants are more interested in getting good at taking the test, rather than improving their language skills. Only if you think it helps you find motivation.

There is a lot more to unpack there oviously, I just tried to summarise it for you. Hope you can get something out of it.

Equally, immersion would work but the reason I mention 'reading Stoics in Spanish' is that if I just did simple immersion, I would be talking about watching movies, shopping and going to restaurants and cafes, none of which I do. So it is not compatible with my lifestyle. Best way I can think of really, is to speak more with DW, but then there has to be something in it for her as well. So I need to make it either funny or informative for her (which I try doing), or something else.

Immersion is great if you restructure your life to include the target language. Change your phone's lanuage to Spanish. If you read the news, start doing that in Spanish. Create a new youtube account and watch videos in Spanish that you wnjoy and you'll get more recommendations.

Conversing with your gf/bf/spouse can be a double-edged sword. They will basically never correct you, so if she's your main input, you will keep making the same mistakes and use unnatural expressions. Also don't expect the same level of conversation as you'd have in English. It can be a bit awkward for both in the beginning.

[dara]

Oh and regarding the level of English one encounters in Spain, many years ago I saw a video in which a guy was interviewing people on the streets of Sevilla and no one could pronounce 'lettuce' or 'wednesday' even half-way decently, all of the young people completely butchering simple words. A quick search yielded the following result:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3zNkAIHtvw

I don't know, maybe in the most touristic zones of Barcelona or Madrid you can find people who can speak some English, otherwise I'd expect the video to be closer to the (sad) reality.

Forgot to say, congrats on the new passports! It must feel great and opens up a lot of opportunities for the future.

[guitarplayer]

Thanks @dara, yeah I've got a list now

Andres Calamaro – un cantador de Argentina
Jarabe de Palo – un grupo musical de Espana
Juanes – un cantador de Colombia
Yo soy Betty la fea – una telenovela colombiana
Cafe con aroma de mujer – una telenovela colombiana vieja
Pedro Almodovar – un director de cine de Espana

Sometimes I use 'vosotros' teasing DW, then she asks me if I am just back from church or maybe reading Don Quixote.

[guitarplayer]

Hey I am starting new week in a moment!

I think I am going to hit the work equivalent of FI number for this iteration of my professional pursuits, since by the looks of it I am going to become a knowledge worker building machine learning models on a MacBook. I am joking here, but on a serious note why not learn about some other hardware and software on the company’s dime.

I am now doing 22 pull-ups with 201 burpees but I also take a Sunday off and just to gentle running or such. I plan to perhaps reduce number of burpees and improve burpee jumps which will make jumping more strenuous.

[loutfard]

Playful language is wonderful learning material as long as it isn't horribly complicated.

The best example in Spanish I know is "Les luthiers" and their "Aria agraria": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9wPjN_vDU8 .