improve my spanish

Oops. I wasn’t. I bought a copy of Crónica de una muerte annunciado thinking I’d be able to handle it. Wrong.

Instead, I went to the library and picked up a copy of Grammatica descomplicada and have had much better luck.

Ok, so it’s not the most Mexican destination in Mexico, but there it is all the same. Lest you think that everyone was speaking English to me, I was making efforts in Spanish. For the most part it paid off. I only had to resort to English once, and that was a stalling tactic at a restaurant while I gave it a quick once over to see about its quality.

I managed to find an ATM and museum (and read the plaques there) in Spanish. I also found out about topes, completely in Spanish. I’m starting to recognize the perfect tense now. Woo hoo!

I picked up a copy of the Spanish language version of Una breve historia de la lengua española at the 2007 MLA Conference for half-price. Lucky me.

While I can’t always read super fluently in, say, general fiction, this isn’t too bad. I can read a whole page and only stumble on two or three words. But then again, it is using lots of linguistic terms and presumes a basic knowledge of Latin. So I guess I’m lucking out.

Of course, this also works out for my goal of Read more books in their original language

That’s right, Lord Voldemort.

Since I’ve been home with baby, I’ve taken to watching movies I own with the Spanish language track on. Or if it doesn’t have that, I put on the subtitles and turn down the sound so the English track isn’t so clear.

It’s easier when you already are familiar with the movie.

And MySpace.

Both available in Spanish, so I’ve switched over.

Friday night I went to see Volver, which I enjoyed quite a bit.

Of course, there were subtitles. I’d’ve never gotten the whole story were there not, but I understood more than I thought I would. Yay me!

I also picked up the “tener que…” construction from the movie.

Next week: We’re going to go see “Pan’s Labyrinth.” Tambien en Español.

Ahora vivo en la vecinidad de un supermercado. Cuando estoy en la tienda, hablo español.

So hopefully, that should get me some practice, no?