I am learning Chinese - not counting words, but completing a self study course. My goal is to complete 1 set of lessons per day.
DW is Chinese, and her parents do not speak English. I’m also traveling to China in a couple weeks! for the first time.
Here's my first 15 of the year:It may not work for you at all, but I keep this tiny notebook in my work backpack where I jot down interesting vocabulary I want to retain. At this point it is not the standard stuff that I can look up easily but mostly the things Google Translate has trouble with for whatever reason. I can flip back through for a reminder lesson but often the process of writing it down is what I need to remember.
I think I'll also use this list to clarify words or groupings of words that are muddled in my mind, even if they are somewhat familiar (like the difference between drop and fall, for example).
1. female: hembra
2. to pray: rezar (prayer: oración)
3. claw: garra
4. cloth (fabric): tela (rag: pedazo de tela o trapo)
5. to wear: llevar/traer puesto
6. to put on (clothing): ponerse
7. to take off (clothing): quitarse
8: to pump: bombear (pump: bomba)
9. coconut: coco
10. daisy: margarita
11. to dive: zambullirse
12. to wag (a tail): menearse
13. engine: motor (machine: máquina)
14. envelope: sobre
15. to fall: caerse (to drop: dejar caer)
I am learning Chinese - not counting words, but completing a self study course. My goal is to complete 1 set of lessons per day.
DW is Chinese, and her parents do not speak English. I’m also traveling to China in a couple weeks! for the first time.
1 set of lessons per day is awesome! Setting aside that kind of time would be so helpful. Are you doing it for the whole year? If so, what level of Chinese are you currently at, and where would you like to be (just out of curiosity)?
Where can one get a measure of how many words they know in another language? Is there some app or website that can estimate based on a quick test?For me podcasts are good as well as reading books. But the gold standard is just making yourself speak it. Haltingly, poorly, embarrassingly, whatever... just do it.
I've been learning Spanish for most of my life and never have managed to attain fluency. I always need more vocabulary, but the grammar is what really stops me from speaking with others (learning the subjunctive - ugh. And as I've gotten better with that, it's made me forget basic verb forms like the present and preterite of irregular verbs!)
I listen to about 6-7 Spanish podcasts currently (most are weekly), so I get lots of comprehension but very little practice using the words, since I almost never speak it. I feel like I need to speak to actually master new vocabulary and one of my goals is to find some groups or lessons where I have to speak this year, so joining in on this thread is applicable.
I'm in. I started learning French about 5 months ago and would love to get to a very basic conversational level this year.Le français c’est ma langue aussi
Where can one get a measure of how many words they know in another language? Is there some app or website that can estimate based on a quick test?
I've been learning Spanish for most of my life and never have managed to attain fluency. I always need more vocabulary, but the grammar is what really stops me from speaking with others (learning the subjunctive - ugh. And as I've gotten better with that, it's made me forget basic verb forms like the present and preterite of irregular verbs!)
I listen to about 6-7 Spanish podcasts currently (most are weekly), so I get lots of comprehension but very little practice using the words, since I almost never speak it. I feel like I need to speak to actually master new vocabulary and one of my goals is to find some groups or lessons where I have to speak this year, so joining in on this thread is applicable.
I am planning on setting up an internal job transfer to Portugal this upcoming summer so I have started Duolingo Portuguese. It appears to be more of the Brazilian dialect but it's the easiest path to learn it without having an opportunity to speak it on a regular basis. My native language is Dutch and I also speak (mostly) fluent French so that last one most definitely help with my Portuguese (and Spanish too although not focusing on that).
Several of my colleagues are Brazilian so technically I could speak it, but I am concerned that trying to force business meetings in Portuguese unnecessarily won't be very productive :)
I am about to complete the first 'stage' (not sure what they call it) on Duolingo having started right at or just before the new year.
A good resource is conversationexchange.com. Connecting with someone with whom you can have a language exchange is really, really helpful. You can do email exchanges or video calls, or face to face if you live in the same city.
You do have to kiss a few frogs to find a compatible partner, and there are some scammers who are interested in things from you other than help with English, but I've found those to be pretty easy to filter out. I have connected with a total of four reliable partners over the years. For three of them we discontinued due to time commitments or other issues (finding suitable call times across time zones can be a challenge) but I've actually been working with one guy I met on there for nearly five years now. He's helped me enormously with my French, I've been able to help him a lot with English, and we've actually become quite good friends in the process.
I'm adding Anki, conversationexchange.com, and italki to my language-learning resource list, thanks!
@SunnyDays right there with you on idioms! I find that even for the more literal uses of Spanish, it would be so much easier if there weren't multiple ways of saying the same thing. My husband (who is studying English) was puzzling over the phrase "in tandem with" the other day. It's just a fancy way of saying "together with" or "simultaneously" (depending on the context) or any other multitude of options.
The 10,000 words are just the jumping off point I'm trying to build up to. I think it will take living in Mexico and totally immersing myself in Spanish (using little to no English) for 2 years to really achieve the level of fluency I'd like (which is still far from the level of native speakers). But even then... my mom is from Germany and grew up bilingual German/English, though German was truly her native language since it was the community language. She's lived in the US for 40 years (the entirety of her adult life) and now sometimes has trouble finding the German word she wants to use. It's such a dynamic process.
Memrise has lessons for the 4000/5000 most common words ordered by word frequency in several languages. It's really helping me with Thai, but I'm just a beginner.
What can you use to help you figure out which words still need to learn with more advanced vocabulary? I'm at a more advanced level in Spanish, so I already know pretty much all of the 5000 most frequent words.
My husband and I have been talking about a trip to Japan in March of 2021, so I started learning Japanese.
¿Es posible que puedas escribir las palabras de una manera que nos permite ver las palabras inglesas sin ver las palabras españolas? ¿Tal vez poner algunos espacios entre ellas para que podamos cubrir las palabras de un idioma? Gracias
¿Es posible que puedas escribir las palabras de una manera que nos permite ver las palabras inglesas sin ver las palabras españolas? ¿Tal vez poner algunos espacios entre ellas para que podamos cubrir las palabras de un idioma? Gracias
¡Claro que si!
A caveat: the words I'm studying aren't necessarily the most frequently used. They are just words I have questions about when I'm translating my toddler's books from English to Spanish. I'm going this route instead of frequently used word lists because the images, repetition, and active use of the language help me commit them to memory. There may be spelling errors! I also am hit or miss with checking the correct form for Central Mexico with my husband.
Here's a word list I like: https://www.brainscape.com/flashcards/spanish-frequency-5000-1-5781583/packs/8804899
Hi! I'm trying to improve my Spanish now that I'm taking a break from work during the pandemic. I'm conversant in my specialized setting but not great outside of it. My goal is to be able to have a general conversation, read the newspaper, and be able to follow TV shows / podcasts. Duolingo says I blew through 2200 words in the first week, but a good number of them I'm sure I wouldn't be able to use actively. It's also sometimes a little too easy, being a native English speaker, to guess what the Spanish is while reading, so I started to close my eyes to focus on the listening. It's working really well for me to pick up words this way in context. I'm not formally trying to re-study the grammar, but I do scan conjugation tables sometimes so the exact shade of the sentence is clear. Do I really need to learn the imperfect subjunctive and imperfect2 subjuctive?
The accent in Duolingo seems to be Northern Mexican, but I hear a lot of Dominican and Puerto Rican where I live, and I first learned Spanish in Argentina, which has its own linguistic quirks.
After Spanish, I want to improve my Mandarin. I wish Duolingo had Cantonese.
Memrise has lessons for the 4000/5000 most common words ordered by word frequency in several languages. It's really helping me with Thai, but I'm just a beginner.
What can you use to help you figure out which words still need to learn with more advanced vocabulary? I'm at a more advanced level in Spanish, so I already know pretty much all of the 5000 most frequent words.
I suggest reading in Spanish and looking up words you don’t recognize. If a word is common enough to appear in a newspaper or magazine article, it’s probably one you should know. Same if you want to build vocabulary on a certain subject, such as your profession - read about that subject in Spanish.
Hi! I'm trying to improve my Spanish now that I'm taking a break from work during the pandemic. I'm conversant in my specialized setting but not great outside of it. My goal is to be able to have a general conversation, read the newspaper, and be able to follow TV shows / podcasts. Duolingo says I blew through 2200 words in the first week, but a good number of them I'm sure I wouldn't be able to use actively. It's also sometimes a little too easy, being a native English speaker, to guess what the Spanish is while reading, so I started to close my eyes to focus on the listening. It's working really well for me to pick up words this way in context. I'm not formally trying to re-study the grammar, but I do scan conjugation tables sometimes so the exact shade of the sentence is clear. Do I really need to learn the imperfect subjunctive and imperfect2 subjuctive?
The accent in Duolingo seems to be Northern Mexican, but I hear a lot of Dominican and Puerto Rican where I live, and I first learned Spanish in Argentina, which has its own linguistic quirks.
After Spanish, I want to improve my Mandarin. I wish Duolingo had Cantonese.
This is good. You can pick up a lot more than just vocabulary from reading also. For simple stuff it is good to memorize vocabulary (table, chair, green, woman). But at some point you start to get into the nuances that don’t translate easily. « Retrouvailles » , for example is a word that doesn’t have an equivalent in English. In French you are “under” the rain or the shower whereas in English you are “in”. That kind of stuff you learn from immersing yourself to get context.Memrise has lessons for the 4000/5000 most common words ordered by word frequency in several languages. It's really helping me with Thai, but I'm just a beginner.
What can you use to help you figure out which words still need to learn with more advanced vocabulary? I'm at a more advanced level in Spanish, so I already know pretty much all of the 5000 most frequent words.
I suggest reading in Spanish and looking up words you don’t recognize. If a word is common enough to appear in a newspaper or magazine article, it’s probably one you should know. Same if you want to build vocabulary on a certain subject, such as your profession - read about that subject in Spanish.
I like the fact that Duolingo uses Mexican-ish Spanish. Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Argentine Spanish are probably the hardest dialects to hear. I'm getting to the point where I can understand Mexican Spanish reasonably well, but Caribbean and Southern Cone dialects, especially Dominican, might as well be Swahili for me. When I do happen to understand Caribbean Spanish, it blows my mind how many letters they leave out. It's basically French. DH even had a coworker who had to be a translator when her Peruvian family and her Puertorican in-laws visited together. Those dialects are not for beginners.
Learning Mandarin is probably helpful if you eventually want to learn Cantonese. Sort of like learning Spanish would really give you a leg up on Italian.
For Duolingo users who want to know how many words they've learned or their relative strength, check out duome.eu/[yourusernamehere] for your stats.
My husband returned to work this week and I've spoken only in Spanish to my daughter the last 3 days. I figure that I might as well continue on with what we've been doing, at least for the next few months. Extra motivation for me to expand my vocabulary.
This is good. You can pick up a lot more than just vocabulary from reading also. For simple stuff it is good to memorize vocabulary (table, chair, green, woman). But at some point you start to get into the nuances that don’t translate easily. « Retrouvailles » , for example is a word that doesn’t have an equivalent in English. In French you are “under” the rain or the shower whereas in English you are “in”. That kind of stuff you learn from immersing yourself to get context.Memrise has lessons for the 4000/5000 most common words ordered by word frequency in several languages. It's really helping me with Thai, but I'm just a beginner.
What can you use to help you figure out which words still need to learn with more advanced vocabulary? I'm at a more advanced level in Spanish, so I already know pretty much all of the 5000 most frequent words.
I suggest reading in Spanish and looking up words you don’t recognize. If a word is common enough to appear in a newspaper or magazine article, it’s probably one you should know. Same if you want to build vocabulary on a certain subject, such as your profession - read about that subject in Spanish.
The “to know” one is interesting in French also. “Savoir” is to know in the sense of facts. “Connaitre” is know in the sense of familiarity, so you “connaître” someone and you “savoir” where you left your book.For Duolingo users who want to know how many words they've learned or their relative strength, check out duome.eu/[yourusernamehere] for your stats.
This is helpful; thanks!My husband returned to work this week and I've spoken only in Spanish to my daughter the last 3 days. I figure that I might as well continue on with what we've been doing, at least for the next few months. Extra motivation for me to expand my vocabulary.
Since you speak Spanish with your family, does this mean you're fluent in speaking already? I don't think I've ever achieved fluency in a language other than English. My definition of fluency would be the ability to have an extended conversation with a native speaker without feeling tired afterwards;)This is good. You can pick up a lot more than just vocabulary from reading also. For simple stuff it is good to memorize vocabulary (table, chair, green, woman). But at some point you start to get into the nuances that don’t translate easily. « Retrouvailles » , for example is a word that doesn’t have an equivalent in English. In French you are “under” the rain or the shower whereas in English you are “in”. That kind of stuff you learn from immersing yourself to get context.Memrise has lessons for the 4000/5000 most common words ordered by word frequency in several languages. It's really helping me with Thai, but I'm just a beginner.
What can you use to help you figure out which words still need to learn with more advanced vocabulary? I'm at a more advanced level in Spanish, so I already know pretty much all of the 5000 most frequent words.
I suggest reading in Spanish and looking up words you don’t recognize. If a word is common enough to appear in a newspaper or magazine article, it’s probably one you should know. Same if you want to build vocabulary on a certain subject, such as your profession - read about that subject in Spanish.
Even beginning-level stuff has quirks and nuances that can only be learned from a bit of immersion in the language. For instance: "conocer a alguien," literally "to know at someone," whereas in English we just say "to know someone." Also, I don't know if I'll ever use ya vs todavía correctly: https://www.realfastspanish.com/podcast/tips-031-ya-vs-todavia
Agree that Duolingo Spanish is clear and pretty easy to understand, pero la mayoría de los hispanohablantes en mi cuidad son boricuas y dominicanos, so I need to understand Carribean accents. Improving my speaking and aural comprehension would be really useful for work, and I'd like to improve my reading as well, for fun.
I spent years studying French and Mandarin, but my French is now completely replaced with Spanish, since I almost never use French. Whenever I try to speak French, Spanish comes out, and I often can't tell what language I'm speaking; it's a strange feeling.
I'm conversational in Mandarin, and I speak to my parents in Shanghai dialect. I use Mandarin at work too, and Cantonese would be helpful, but I don't understand a word of it. I'm still quite illiterate, after years of trying to learn written Chinese. Back in the day, we didn't have smartphones, and we'd have to count the number of strokes in the main radical and look in that section of the dictionary: so frustrating back then, and so easy now to point with a smartphone or trace the character on an ipad.
Even beginning-level stuff has quirks and nuances that can only be learned from a bit of immersion in the language. For instance: "conocer a alguien," literally "to know at someone," whereas in English we just say "to know someone." Also, I don't know if I'll ever use ya vs todavía correctly: https://www.realfastspanish.com/podcast/tips-031-ya-vs-todaviaThe “to know” one is interesting in French also. “Savoir” is to know in the sense of facts. “Connaitre” is know in the sense of familiarity, so you “connaître” someone and you “savoir” where you left your book.
« Je vais manger » :)
The infinitive « manger » already has « to » baked into it.
À is « to » in the sense of direction, like going to the store.
For Duolingo users who want to know how many words they've learned or their relative strength, check out duome.eu/[yourusernamehere] for your stats.
This is helpful; thanks!My husband returned to work this week and I've spoken only in Spanish to my daughter the last 3 days. I figure that I might as well continue on with what we've been doing, at least for the next few months. Extra motivation for me to expand my vocabulary.
Since you speak Spanish with your family, does this mean you're fluent in speaking already? I don't think I've ever achieved fluency in a language other than English. My definition of fluency would be the ability to have an extended conversation with a native speaker without feeling tired afterwards;)This is good. You can pick up a lot more than just vocabulary from reading also. For simple stuff it is good to memorize vocabulary (table, chair, green, woman). But at some point you start to get into the nuances that don’t translate easily. « Retrouvailles » , for example is a word that doesn’t have an equivalent in English. In French you are “under” the rain or the shower whereas in English you are “in”. That kind of stuff you learn from immersing yourself to get context.Memrise has lessons for the 4000/5000 most common words ordered by word frequency in several languages. It's really helping me with Thai, but I'm just a beginner.
What can you use to help you figure out which words still need to learn with more advanced vocabulary? I'm at a more advanced level in Spanish, so I already know pretty much all of the 5000 most frequent words.
I suggest reading in Spanish and looking up words you don’t recognize. If a word is common enough to appear in a newspaper or magazine article, it’s probably one you should know. Same if you want to build vocabulary on a certain subject, such as your profession - read about that subject in Spanish.
Even beginning-level stuff has quirks and nuances that can only be learned from a bit of immersion in the language. For instance: "conocer a alguien," literally "to know at someone," whereas in English we just say "to know someone." Also, I don't know if I'll ever use ya vs todavía correctly: https://www.realfastspanish.com/podcast/tips-031-ya-vs-todavia
This is good. You can pick up a lot more than just vocabulary from reading also. For simple stuff it is good to memorize vocabulary (table, chair, green, woman). But at some point you start to get into the nuances that don’t translate easily. « Retrouvailles » , for example is a word that doesn’t have an equivalent in English. In French you are “under” the rain or the shower whereas in English you are “in”. That kind of stuff you learn from immersing yourself to get context.Memrise has lessons for the 4000/5000 most common words ordered by word frequency in several languages. It's really helping me with Thai, but I'm just a beginner.
What can you use to help you figure out which words still need to learn with more advanced vocabulary? I'm at a more advanced level in Spanish, so I already know pretty much all of the 5000 most frequent words.
I suggest reading in Spanish and looking up words you don’t recognize. If a word is common enough to appear in a newspaper or magazine article, it’s probably one you should know. Same if you want to build vocabulary on a certain subject, such as your profession - read about that subject in Spanish.
Ah, I’m sorry. Maybe it is just Tapatalk but I got an accent grave instead of a strike through. Hence the confusion.« Je vais manger » :)
The infinitive « manger » already has « to » baked into it.
À is « to » in the sense of direction, like going to the store.
Yes, exactly in French, but in Spanish they do put it in. (I put a strike through theà, but I don't think it was obvious). Il va dormir = Él va A dormir. That can make for confusion since French and Spanish both have similar grammar but with little differences like that. When you do Duolingo directly from one Romance Language to another, it seems to harp on those differences. That helps keep from getting confused between them if you're trying to learn two Romance Languages at the same time.
Ah, I’m sorry. Maybe it is just Tapatalk but I got an accent grave instead of a strike through. Hence the confusion.« Je vais manger » :)
The infinitive « manger » already has « to » baked into it.
À is « to » in the sense of direction, like going to the store.
Yes, exactly in French, but in Spanish they do put it in. (I put a strike through theà, but I don't think it was obvious). Il va dormir = Él va A dormir. That can make for confusion since French and Spanish both have similar grammar but with little differences like that. When you do Duolingo directly from one Romance Language to another, it seems to harp on those differences. That helps keep from getting confused between them if you're trying to learn two Romance Languages at the same time.
Even beginning-level stuff has quirks and nuances that can only be learned from a bit of immersion in the language. For instance: "conocer a alguien," literally "to know at someone," whereas in English we just say "to know someone." Also, I don't know if I'll ever use ya vs todavía correctly: https://www.realfastspanish.com/podcast/tips-031-ya-vs-todavia
Just a little question, should "heel" (#446) be «tacón»?
Just a little question, should "heel" (#446) be «tacón»?
In Central Mexico, heel as in the body part is el talón. If it's part of a shoe, for example, it's el tacón.
I have 5 or so mistakes in my lists that I need to correct! Hopefully Monday.
Just a little question, should "heel" (#446) be «tacón»?
In Central Mexico, heel as in the body part is el talón. If it's part of a shoe, for example, it's el tacón.
I have 5 or so mistakes in my lists that I need to correct! Hopefully Monday.
I learned something.
| lever, stick shift (car) | palanca | |
| crew (ship/aircraft) | tripulación | |
| hierarchy | jerarquía | |
| the bridge (of a ship) | la puente (de un buque) | |
| steep | escarpado | |
| involved | involucrado | |
| famine | hambruna | |
| balloon | globo | |
| dining room | comedor | |
| to harm (formal) | perjudicar |
Can't recommend specific programs for you since I'm focused on a different language, but I have found habits that work. Best thing is to force follow a habit of a certain schedule.
I download a 10 minute news podcast and listen to it every morning (six days a week). Usually on my commute to work, but not always. Sometimes while getting ready in the bathroom. Or whatever. But I always listen, it's just a habit.
I also keep track in my weekly bullet journal of a commitment to watch at least three hours of TV programs or movies. I usually try to record programs that I'd enjoy watching in English as well, so it becomes kind of a combination of learning with brain candy. Typically I break that up into 30 minutes per day, but if I'm just not feeling it one day I allow myself to skip that day, but still make up the time. I do have a regular exercise schedule and so I piggyback on that. I try to watch while exercising (multi-tasking bigtime here) but sometimes will just kick back on the couch and relax.
I can tell you that with practice it actually becomes easier. When I first started I would have to really concentrate ... could not listen while driving for example. As you ear improves, you understand more and need to focus a bit less, which frees you up to listen at times and places where you are not 100% concentrating, more similar to the level of concentration required to listen to something in English.Every other night, my husband and I switch off reading articles to each other in English and Spanish. I've seen a few of the words from my list, which is fun, and also have picked up a few new ones. "Jornada" is the word that keeps popping up this week.
I still haven't made listening (to the radio/podcasts/youtube) a habit. When does everyone else fit their listening in? I thought it would work while cooking, but I'm too distracted trying to keep the food from burning while wrangling my toddler. Also, what do you all listen to?
I'm having a baby in a few weeks and decided to scale down my weekly word count to 20. I'll try to take 2 weeks off and then get back at it (this could be wishful thinking). Hopefully the baby is super relaxed and makes my job easy. We're also pushing back our Mexico gap year plans to 6 or 7 years from now, so I think I'll still reach my goal with 20 words and it will be more realistic.
I'm interested to hear what's worked for you so far and what barriers have come up. My main issue is just making myself do my word list (I never feel like it). I'm happy with the fact that I'm retaining all my words (retention was my biggest problem in the past).
I found out how to make tables with the code here, so I'm going to try it out with this installment:
lever, stick shift (car) palanca crew (ship/aircraft) tripulación hierarchy jerarquía the bridge (of a ship) la puente (de un buque) steep escarpado involved involucrado famine hambruna balloon globo dining room comedor to harm (formal) perjudicar
Edit: Had one of the pairs switched.
That looks sharp! How do you create a table?
| row 1 cell 1 | row 1 cell 2 | |
| row 2 cell 1 | row 2 cell 2 |
| to sift, to seive | tamiser | |
| steering wheel | le volant | |
| interested in | interessé à | |
| can I? (interrogative form) | puis-je? | |
| at the same time | en même temps | |
| keep one's word | tenir sa parole | |
| sth browns (cooking) | qqch revient | |
| to brown sth (cooking) | faire revenir qqch | |
| leap year | année bissexte | |
| a grater | la râpe | |
| fur | la fourrure | |
| scared | effrayé | |
| a meow | un miaulement | |
| ensure that | faire en sorte que | |
| press the button | appuyer sur le bouton | |
| slobbery | baveux | |
| rush hour | heure de pointe |
I was born & raised in West Texas & took four years of Spanish. I wouldn't say that I was ever fluent, but I could certainly pick up enough in a conversation to get by. I haven't used the language in over a decade now, and I can barely recall more than basic words at this point.
I would, however, like to learn Portuguese and actually retain the language. It's going to be a while, but I would like to take a trip to Portugal, and it looks like a very good place for expats.
For those who are fluent in languages they don't frequently use, what are your tips for not losing the language over time if you don't have anyone to speak with?
I was born & raised in West Texas & took four years of Spanish. I wouldn't say that I was ever fluent, but I could certainly pick up enough in a conversation to get by. I haven't used the language in over a decade now, and I can barely recall more than basic words at this point.
I would, however, like to learn Portuguese and actually retain the language. It's going to be a while, but I would like to take a trip to Portugal, and it looks like a very good place for expats.
For those who are fluent in languages they don't frequently use, what are your tips for not losing the language over time if you don't have anyone to speak with?
I don't know that you'll actually lose it. I think it just gets really rusty. My sister lived in Portugal for a year and a half speaking only Portuguese. My parents went there to help her move back home, and despite being a native speaker she could barely speak English when they got there. Naturally it came back, but it took a few days of talking to them before she fully got back to normal fluency.
I've noticed just doing Duolingo every day has helped keep things fresh. I stumble on words a lot less when I try to talk to my sister and brother-in-law in Quebec now. I think movies, videos, and music would probably be helpful, too.
If you know a decent amount of Spanish, I would suggest doing Portuguese in Duolingo as if you were a native Spanish speaker. You get a 2-for-1 deal, and counterintuitively I think it helps to keep from getting confused on the small differences between the two.
It looks like Duolingo only offers Brazilian Portuguese, rather than European Portuguese. The dialects are pretty different, though I could probably get by. I started Memrise, though it doesn't have the option for me to try learning as a native Spanish speaker.
It took less than a day to realize that Portuguese is going to be a much more difficult language than Spanish. In Spanish, there is lot less phonology. Words sound exactly like they look in Spanish, for the most part. That doesn't seem to be the case in Portuguese.
Add to that the fact that Spanish is a more universal language (half of my kid's toys/books have Spanish settings/translations), and I think I'll be better served just re-learning Spanish for now.
Does Memrise have European Portuguese? I'd be surprised if there's a lot of material out there for European Portuguese given that only 10 million people live in Portugal in comparison to 200 million in Brazil. I don't know that learning Brazilian Portuguese would be a huge issue if there is a lot more material for it, though. The pronunciations are fairly different, but in the end I don't think the jump from Brazilian to European Portuguese would be much harder than American to British English.
Parce que je sais qu'il y a des gens ici qui sont intérressés au français, je vais donner des mots en français aussi.Ah chouette, un autre francophone!
to sift, to seive tamiser steering wheel le volant interested in interessé à can I? (interrogative form) puis-je? at the same time en même temps keep one's word tenir sa parole sth browns (cooking) qqch reveint to brown sth (cooking) faire revenir qqch leap year année bissexte a grater la râpe fur la fourrure scared effrayé a meow un miaulement ensure that faire en sorte que press the button appuyer sur le bouton slobbery baveux rush hour heure de pointe
Ah chouette, un autre francophone!
Je ne connais pas le mot « reveint ». En fait, mon portable essaie de le corriger « revient ». Je connais plutôt le mot « dorer » (« make golden »).
Merci pour « année bissexte ». Voilà quelques chose de nouveau pour moi.
| hora pico | rush hour | |
| apodo | nickname | |
| vendimia | vintage (wine) | |
| experimentar | to experience | |
| entrañable | endearing | |
| aderezo | dressing (food) | |
| egipcio | Egyptian | |
| sobrellevar algo | endure sth | |
| el añil, el índigo | indigo | |
| ludoteca | playroom, game library | |
| darse un chapuzón | take a dip (swim) | |
| ventrílocuo | ventriloquist | |
| tétrico | dismal | |
| torpe | clumsy | |
| trajo | he brought (irregular past) | |
| algodón de azúcar | cotton candy |
Sometimes when you put out all this new vocabulary it makes me feel a little discouraged when I see how little of it I know. I feel like I'll never master Spanish. I need to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Being able to hold a conversation is still huge even if it's a little rough. Polishing it and adding more vocabulary just makes things better. It's ok if my Spanish is never native-speaker level.
| 651. season | la estación, la temporada (de deportes) | |
| 652. ewe | la oveja | |
| ram | el carnero | |
| lamb | el borrego, el cordero | |
| 653. outside (line/edge) | exterior, externo (el borde exterior) | |
| 654. to sail | navegar | |
| 655. garment | la prenda | |
| 656. to shout | gritar, vocear | |
| to scream | chillar | |
| to yell | gritar, chillar | |
| to call out | llamar | |
| 657. to sink | hundirse | |
| 658. to rest on | apoyarse en | |
| 659. to skate | patinar | |
| 660. to glide | deslizarse, planear (en el aire) | |
| 661. ice skates | los patines de hielo (patín: singular) | |
| roller skates | los patines de ruedas | |
| 662. ski | el esquí | |
| 663. to skip | ir dando brincos | |
| 664. skyscraper | el rascacielos | |
| 665. to sled | ir en trineo | |
| 666. slice | la rebanada, la tajada, la lonja (carne) la rodaja (fruta) el trozo (pastel) | |
| 667. slide | la resbaladilla, el tobogán | |
| 668. top of | la parte superior | |
| 669. to slip | resbalarse | |
| slippery | resbaloso | |
| 670. tortoise | la tortuga terrestre |
| pandilla | gang | |
| nicho | niche (in a wall) | |
| el barandal | railing | |
| requesón | ricotta, cottage cheese | |
| desodorante | deodorant | |
| algo a cambio | sth in return | |
| rebeldía | rebelliousness | |
| escala | layover, a stop (transit) | |
| chatarra | scrap, junk | |
| manga | sleeve | |
| el arenque | herring | |
| un cojín | a cushion | |
| silla de ruedas | wheelchair | |
| un resfriado | a cold (illness) | |
| tabla de surf | surfboard | |
| los gatos tienen siete vidas | two less than in English | |
| un sinfín de | endless | |
| fodongo (MX) | slobbish, slovenly | |
| novato | novice, rookie | |
| refrán | saying |
| éclore | to hatch | |
| un bourgeon | a bud | |
| content DE | content with | |
| chatoyer | shimmer | |
| le macis | mace | |
| les agrumes (m) | citrus | |
| créneau horaire | time slot | |
| la devise | currency (money) | |
| dégarni | balding | |
| un étal | a stall, a stand | |
| se côtoyer | to mingle, to rub shoulders | |
| déambuler | stroll | |
| un statut économique | an economic status | |
| décrasser | to clean | |
| la fécule | starch | |
| étaler | to spread out | |
| mijoter | simmer, stew | |
| boucaner | to smoke (meat) | |
| une gousse d’ail | a clove of garlic | |
| épater qqu | to wow someone |
| cebada | barley | |
| daltónico | colorblind | |
| daltonismo | colorblindness | |
| resplandeciente | glowing | |
| musgo | moss | |
| estaca | post, stake | |
| escupir | to spit, spit out | |
| incautación | seizure (legal) | |
| depredador | predator | |
| sobaco, axila | armpit | |
| cigarra | cicada (false friend) | |
| engrapadora (MX), grapadora (Col), | stapler | |
| corchetera (Chile) | ||
| gancho | clothes pin | |
| un trago | a drink | |
| presentir | to sense, to get a feeling | |
| remordimientos | regrets | |
| un timbre | a doorbell | |
| un perezoso | a sloth | |
| malicioso | malicious | |
| alcantarilla | sewer | |
| alcantarillado | sewer system |
| El mundo es un pañuelo | It's a small world | |
| Hacerme agua la Boca o hacerme la boca agua | To make my mouth water | |
| Es pan comido | it's a piece of cake | |
| Hablando del rey de Roma | To speak of the devil (idiom) | |
| Hacer una montaña de un grano de arena | make a mountain out of a mole hill | |
| roedor | rodent | |
| costar un ojo de la cara | cost an arm and a leg | |
| la gota que derramó/colmó el vaso | the straw that broke the camel's back | |
| Hay gato encerrado | it smells fishy | |
| desmoronar | crumble | |
| resquicio | loophole, gap | |
| villano | villain | |
| atascado | stuck, mired (mud) | |
| atorrado | stuck (wedged) | |
| el telón | curtain (stage) | |
| toque de queda | curfew | |
| fastidiar | bother | |
| desventaja | disadvantage | |
| un encendedor | a lighter | |
| un reajuste | a readjustment | |
| pandemia | pandemic |
@Luz, cuando tienes un momento (jajaja), ¿podrías preguntarle a tu marido cuál es la diferencia entre "rara vez", "raras veces" y "raramente"?
¿Cómo están tu hijos? ¿Todavía tranquilos?
@Luz, cuando tienes un momento (jajaja), ¿podrías preguntarle a tu marido cuál es la diferencia entre "rara vez", "raras veces" y "raramente"?
¿Cómo están tu hijos? ¿Todavía tranquilos?
As a native speaker, I´d say that raramente is the only one I use normally. However, to me the three forms have the same meaning and I could not rank order them by occurrence. You have similiar adverbial constructions like casi nunca or apenas that are more commonly used, at least in Spain.
Saludos!
| de todos modos | anyway, in any case | |
| hada | fairy | |
| lidiar con | deal with | |
| atinado | wise, sensible | |
| filo | cutting edge of a blade | |
| hablar con rodeos | beat around the bush, mince words | |
| una reja | a grate | |
| chisme | gossip | |
| trabarse | bind,lock up | |
| revisión | inspection |