I don't know if I am missing something because I am using the library edition or not. But I was cruising along loving every lesson until I hit '1.7 Traveling on Schedule'. Amy warns that if you don't understand how to tell time in Spanish, you should review the Rocket Spanish Beginners Guide - which of course I do not have.
I searched the forums for this and seemed to find others saying the Beginners Book has been transformed into the Language and Culture Lessons. So I found lessons 2.7 which seems to cover telling time. But the 1.7 is too hard because I don't understand the time concepts yet and 2.7 is too hard because it assumes I know other words and concepts to which I have not yet been introduced. So I seem to be at a standstill currently.
Any advice?
Going great until I hit 'Time'
terryg
January 15, 2014
Dan-H24
January 15, 2014
Terry: I am not sure what you mean by "library edition." But I can tell you that when I purchased the online version of Rocket Spanish Premium, I got access to the Beginner's Spanish book which I could download in PDF format. The Beginner's Book does have a unit on telling time, which has very similar information to Language and Culture lesson 2.7.
If you don't have access to these resources, I suggest you do a Google search on the subject. I have found some articles that expanded or provided additional information on subjects covered in Rocket Spanish.
Buen suerte,
Dan
Patrice-B
January 18, 2014
terryg, I have only the "library edition" and my recommendation to you is to proceed with lesson 1.7 and learn what you can. What I have learned in my studies is that anything I think I have mastered I can repeat and still learn more.
Also, you will find in these forums a lot of help, answers, suggestions, encouragement and much more.
!Buenas suerte!
terryg
January 24, 2014
Thank you both for your responses!!
terryg
January 30, 2014
Just to update:
I realized that 2.7 was too advanced, but that was because I had not yet tackled the numbers in 2.5 and 2.6. So I did 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7 and prepared me well for 1.7.
I think they should consider reorganizing so that 2.5-2.7 come between 1.6 and 1.7.
Anyway, I am happily back on track at the moment. Thank you both again for your feedback!
Patrice-B
January 31, 2014
terryg, Cuándo ud. listo...
¿A qué hora te levanta en la mañana?
¿A qué hora va a trabajar?
¿A qué hora come su cena?
¿Qué hora es ahora mismo?
Poco a poco aprendemos español juntos.
terryg
January 31, 2014
¡Gracious Patrice! (I appreciate the opportunity to practice.)
A las cuatro y cinco.
Esta varia, en general a las ocho y media.
Aproximadamente seis en la tarde.
Esta es a las nueve once en la manana.
terryg
January 31, 2014
I had to look a few of the words ... but I tried to only lookup the ones I didn't know ... and not the whole sentence.
Lo siento. Me levanto a las cinco y quater.
¿De donde eres usted?
¡Usted esta aprendiendo un muy de idiomas!
Dan-H24
January 31, 2014
Terry: Si, me gusta practicar con estudiantes otros aquí tambien.
¡Te leventas muy temprano!
terryg
January 31, 2014
¡Hola Dan!
Ci. Tengo un largo viaje al trabajo.
Usted tiene una gran cantidad de estrellas.
¡Usted tiene trenta siete mil cinco cientos de estrellas en espanol!
Dan-H24
January 31, 2014
¡Bueno, tengo más mucho aprender todavia!
Patrice-B
February 2, 2014
¡Me encantan estas conversaciónes en español!
Terry,
Soy de los estados unidos pero ahora mismo estoy en El Yucatán de Mexico hasta abril.
¿De donde es ud.? ¿Cómo va a trabajar? ¿En pie, coche, autobús, o tren?
Dan, (o los otros estudiantes que quisieran)
Por favor, ayúdame con mi gramática si hace falta. Gracias.
Dan-H24
February 2, 2014
Patrice: Sí, estas conversaciones son gran practicar y me disfrutarles también.
terryg
February 2, 2014
Dan,
Si todavía tiene mucho camino por recorrer, luego tengo millas. :)
¿De donde es usted?
Patrice,
¡Excelente! Mi familia tomó un crucero que se detuvo en Cazumel y Cancún hace muchos años.
Soy de los estados unidos tambien. Ahora vivo en Texas. En carro, yo viaje en couche. Yo lección a clases de español en el coche.
Dan-H24
February 2, 2014
Terry: Vivo en Roanoke, Virginia. No hay muchos personas hablar español aquí, y es dificil practicar con otros.
terryg
February 2, 2014
Yo estoy en la situación inversa. Vivo en Texas y hay muchas personas que hablan español, pero yo todavia no hablas suficiente español para tener conversaciones reales. Pero mi amigos de trabajo tener estado muy paciente conmigo. Me dejaron pido:
¿De donde eres?
¿Como te llamas?
Me gustaria un cafe con leche y azúcar por favor.
Yo sólo puedo esperar hasta que pueda tener una conversación real.
terryg
February 2, 2014
Pero estoy sorprendido de lo mucho que esto está ayudando. Me veo obligado a buscar muchas palabras y expresiones, así que me siento como que estoy haciendo trampa. Pero yo soy capaz de ir más lento que una conversación cara a cara - que me esta ayudando a aprender.
Dan-H24
February 3, 2014
Yo entiendo, Terry. Practico pensando en español, escribiendo en español, y escuchando en español todos los días. Pero no tengo confianza cuando hablando cara a cara y me siento como un venado en los faros
Patrice-B
February 5, 2014
Terry,
Ud. tiene suerte que compañeros de trabaja se habla español. Quizas podría preguntar algo nuevo...como...¿Tiene hermanos?
Una otra idea es para decir: ¿Cómo está? Muchas veces después este ud. va a tener la oportunidad para responder también. Hay más frases que "Estoy bien". Puede decir: Fenominal, o más o menos.
My suggestion here is that as you learn more, use more! :)
terryg
February 5, 2014
Dan,
Yo entiendo. ¡Precisamente!
Patrice,
Si. Trato de todas las frases del principiante.
¿Estas casado?
¿Cuantos hijos?
¡Buenos días!
¡Buenas tardes!
¡Hasta luego!
I have also been listening to Coffee Break Spanish podcast and they have introduced me to some of the other replies:
¡Fenominal! (as you mention)
¡Estupendo!
Fatal :(
But I am finding opportunities at work (small ones) to use some spanish. I say "¿Estas listo?" sometimes. Or "Vamos a conseguir algo de comer" when we are about to go to lunch. But when I overreach, I get replies that I can't possibly understand yet.
It's all good though. I don't mean to sound too discouraged - I am not. I just really really want to get to a point where I can have an actual conversation and I don't know how far down the road that will be.
And like I said to Dan, I am surprised how much conversing here, in Spanish, is helping. When doing the Rocket Spanish lessons at first, I was completely uninterested in the writing portion. I thought "I don't care if I can read or write Spanish, I only want to speak it." But I quickly realized how helpful it is to see the Spanish words written. It makes memorizing them much better. Well, it is the same conversing here. I have to look a lot of words up and it takes a long time, but it really is helping with my comprehension!
¿Eres un estudiante lingüística? ¡Usted está aprendiendo muchas lenguas aquí!
Patrice-B
February 5, 2014
Terry,
Very familiar with coffee break podcasts and funny enough that is where I too learned fenominal! Que casualidad!
I enjoy the enthusiasm, support, ideas, and exchanges in these forums immensely. Spanish is the only language I am studying. I tried a little Portugese but that ended quickly!
Ahora mismo, necesito pensar en español. Aquí es una otra frase que mi amiga me dijo cuándo alguien decir ¿Comó estás? Estoy más fino que el pelu de la rana. Loosely translated: I am finer than the hair of a frog!
Hasta pronto.
Dan-H24
February 5, 2014
Patrice:
Yo sé esa frase, pero en Ingles.
I would, however, be terrified of saying it to a native Spanish speaker, knowing as little as I do right now. God only knows what kind of insult that might be taken for. Awhile back I was talking with my Peruana tutor, and somehow the subject of gauchos (the Argentinian cowboys, not the pants) came up. She told me to watch who I said that word to because in her part of the world calling someone a gaucho is an insult.
Patrice-B
February 5, 2014
Dan,
I had no idea it was an English phrase! The gal that said it to me has a splendid sense of humor. Now, I will join your caution and suggest to Terry (and others) that the phrase can be fun if used with your very familiar (tú-type friends) that have a sense of humor.
terryg
February 5, 2014
Patrice,
Oh wow. Your profile list the following languages:
ロケット英語
Rocket Arabic
Rocket Chinese
Rocket English
Rocket French
Rocket German
Rocket Hindi
Rocket Inglés
Rocket Italian
Rocket Japanese
Rocket Korean
Rocket Portuguese
Rocket Sign Language
Rocket Spanish
But I see now that you only have badges in three of them.
I thought you must be a language sadist ... lol.
Patrice-B
February 7, 2014
terryg,
Hahaha, there must be an error with RS! I am only studying Spanish! You must be viewing the "wanna be Patrice" that studies 14 languages simultaneously earning three badges with 11 others in the works! I looked at my profile and see very little.
No soy don de lengua. :)
terryg
February 11, 2014
Patrice and Dan,
Both of you mentioned working on thinking in Spanish. Can you elaborate on what that means, or I guess how one goes about trying to do that? I can't even imagine not have to convert the words in my head.
Dan-H24
February 11, 2014
Terry: for me it means several things:
1. As I am going about my daily business I try to remember to take the time to think about how I would describe my actions in Spanish. For example, when I finished breakfast this morning, I said (or thought) to myself, "necesito limpiar mi cocina." I also try to spend driving time thinking about how I would order food or interact with people in other ways if I was in a Spanish speaking country.
2. As my comprehension of Spanish slowly improves, I find myself thinking about what a sentence I just heard or read means, vs. trying to make a direct, word for word translation of Spanish to English, which as I am sure you know, does not always work.
3. I actually thought about this just this morning, and made a note to ask my tutor about: when I see a noun in Spanish, "naranja," for example, should my mind see the word "orange" or should my mind see an actual orange? I will be interested to hear what she says.
There are probably other ways "pensar en Español" that I have not thought of, but this is my contribution.
terryg
February 11, 2014
Thanks Dan! If you don't mind, let me know what your Tudor says. I have wondered the same thing. While my co-workers are a big help - all of them grew up learning both Inglés and Español. So there experience in this area is not super helpful to me.
Thanks!
Patrice-B
February 11, 2014
Hola a todos,
Dan's explanations on thinking in Spanish are very useful. I concur that many times I say to myself: How would I say that in Spanish?
One simple example that comes to mind is the sentence: How old are you? In Spanish I need to think: How many years do I have?
Another useful practice in present, future, and preterite tenses is to incorpórate the three in each day:
1. Wake up saying to yourself: Voy a limpiar mi cocina hoy, or Limpiaré mi cocina hoy. (I do like using "ír" for future tense.)
2. During the day you can use present tense. Estoy limpio mi cocina.
3. At the end of the night you can review with preterite: Yo limpié mi cocina hoy.
Entonces, ahora yo tengo que ir de compras por (or is it para?) nuestro comida. Poco a poco nosotros aprendemos más en español.
Que tenga un buen día.
Dan-H24
February 11, 2014
Terry: ¡Claro que sí!
Patrice: I like your idea of the future, present, and past tenses of the same subject. It should reinforce using the correct conjugation of the same verb.
One question though on your present tense example: should it not be "Estoy limpiando mi cocina"...I am cleaning my kitchen?
Patrice-B
February 12, 2014
Dan,
Even as I wrote my present tense example I paused. I want to believe that we are both correct. I think that your example is using the present gerund, or perhaps the present progressive. Wait! I know what I did wrong. I should have written: Yo limpio mi cocina.
Perfect example of me needing to go back and review once again!
ricardo-rich
February 12, 2014
Hola amigos,
This is what I have been doing for several years thinking in Spanish and creating conversations, utilizing as many tenses and situations that come to mind and avoiding the literal translation. I want to continue to develop my "Spanish Mind", that is, those wonderful moments when I get it and don't translate in my head. Cuando estoy solo en casa me hablo a mi mismo en español. Creo que Dan tiene razón. Debe decir "Estoy limpiando mi cocina ".
Saludos,
Rich
ricardo-rich
February 12, 2014
Patrice,
¡Que bueno! Has corregido la frase. Tienes razón se dice "Limpio mi cocina". Creo que se dice" para" nuestra comida.
Saludos,
Rich
Ava Dawn
February 12, 2014
This is awesome!
Cristian-Montes-de-Oca
February 13, 2014
Hola a todos!!!
Me alegra ver que todos están aprendiendo español y que tienen conversaciones entre ustedes para practicar!
Just a few comments that i can make as a native speaker are the following
- A las cinco y cuarto
-Voy a limpiar mi cocina hoy, Limpiaré mi cocina hoy, limpio mi cocina and Estoy limpiando mi cocina are all correct! The first 2 sentences are telling that you will, in the not so far future, will clean your kitchen. The last two say that you are cleaning (at this exact time) the kitchen.
-It is written FENOMENAL(phenomenal) which comes from the word Fenomeno (Phenomenon). It's almost like saying "Awesome"!!! Other similar words can be Estupendo!, Muy bien!, Excelente!, Super!
-Yo tengo que ir a comprar nuestra comida or Yo tengo que ir de compras por nuestra comida.
-Estoy mas fino que el pelo(not "pelu") de una rana! hahaha this made me laugh a lot!!!, to be honest i have never listen to this phrase before, and that is the funny thing about spanish, every corner in Mexico speaks it a bit different and this type of phrases are the proof of it!.
Besides that, everything you guys wrote in spanish was EXCELENTE and FENOMENAL!!!!! Muchas felicidades mis amigos americanos!!!
Do you want to prolonge the practice conversation we have here??? ok!
Well , first i will answer the same questions you already answered!
Me llamo Cristian, soy de Tijuana, Baja California ,México, vivo a 15 minutos de la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México. Estoy aprendiendo Alemán con Rocketlanguages.
Yo me levanto a las 5:45 a.m
Entro a trabajar a las 7 a.m
Mi horario para cenar varía todos los días, pero generalmente ceno a las 6 p.m.
Ahora son las 2:15 pm!
Amigos,please answer the following!
¿Cuál es su comida preferida?
¿Tienes mascotas?
¿Cómo se llaman sus mascotas?
¿Cuál es tu banda de música o artista favorito?
Saludos!!!!!!
Dan-H24
February 14, 2014
Hola, Cristian. Gracias por tu participación en la conversación.
Me encanta tratando de alimentos de otras culturas.
no tengo una mascota, pero tuve un perro se llama Indy.
Mi artista de música favorito es Jimmy Buffett. ¡Soy cabeza de loro!
Saludos,
Dan
Patrice-B
February 14, 2014
Hola mis amigos,
Christian, muchisimas gracias por ayudarnos. Estos foros son muy buenos.
Me gusta cocinar. Ahora mismo, mi favorita cosa para preparar es pizza. También me encanta los chiles disponible aquí en El Yucatán. Yo como carne, pero prefiero vegetariano.
Como Dan yo tuve mascotas. Dos gatos se llaman Cleo y Felix. Lo cree o no cuando era niña yo tuve un caballo por un rato.
Dan, yo tengo una amiga que es aficionada de Jimmy Buffett! :) Me gusta Santana, y música salsa, y la canción se llama Mambo #5!
Terry, Christian, o alguien, díganos.
Cristian-Montes-de-Oca
February 14, 2014
Muy bien amigos!
Awesome way to practice spanish, isn't?
A mi también me gusta mucho cocinar y al igual que Dan, disfruto mucho la comida de otras culturas (But none can compare to some good mexican tacos, enchiladas or birria haha).
Actualmente no tengo mascotas, pero tuve varios perros. Amo a los perros! Mi perra favorita se llamaba Muñeca (doll, in english).
Mi música favorita es variada. Me gusta el Heavy Metal (Metallica, Slayer, Iron Maiden), el rock clasico (I LOVE the Beatles and Led Zepellin), Musica clasica (JS Bach and Vivaldi) , rock en español (yeah, it sounds funny but we have rock music in spanis and they call it simply Rock en español, include bands like Cafe Tacuba and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs).
Patrice!, Did you know Santana lived part of his childhood/teenage years in Tijuana? Carlos Santana learn some of his guitar skills whilst living here!! :D
***A few corrections :
-Me encanta probar (or comer) comidas de otras culturas*
-Se llamaba Andy (Since you are talking about the past , he was called or he used to be called or something similar)
-También me encantan los chiles...(since chiles is in plural, change encanta for encantan)
-Lo crea o no , cuando era niña....
Besides that, everything is PERFECT!!!!
Who will start the next round of questions????!
**Please , correct me if i have something wrong in english!
Patrice-B
February 15, 2014
¡Saludos!
Christian: Claro yo necesitaba usar plural con los chiles. "Lo crea o no" This must be a subjunctive or command. I get it! Gracias una otra vez.
Your English is very good. Here are my suggestions:
-Awesome way to practice Spanish isn't it? Or maybe, Isn't it an awesome way to practice Spanish? I think either one works.
-Carolos Santana "learned"..."while" living here. And, no I did not know he was your vecino! Jajaja
Dime mis amigos,
¿Qué hicieron hoy o por día de San Valentin?
Cristian-Montes-de-Oca
February 21, 2014
Hola Patrice:
Yo no tengo novia (pero estoy saliendo con alguien-i'm dating someone).
Nosotros vimos películas y cenamos con su familia. Le regalé flores de color rosa y chocolates.
Y , ustedes como celebraron San Valentin amigos?
saludos desde Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico!
terryg
February 21, 2014
Hola Cristian y todos!
Lo siento para la tardar responder. He estado muy ocupado.
(Replying to Christian's Feb 13th message.)
¿Cuál es su comida preferida?
¡Todo ello! Me gusta comer casi todo. Pero para nombrar unos pocos; bistec, sushi y comida tex-mex. Mi desierto favorito es el budín de banana.
¿Tienes mascotas?
Tengo dos perros.
¿Cómo se llaman sus mascotas?
Nuestra gran mezcla labrador negro se llama Carbón y nuestra mezcla de terrier pequeño se llama Toby.
¿Cuál es tu banda de música o artista favorito?
No hay favoritos, pero me gusta el rock clásico y la música de los 80s. Si te gusta el rock clásico. ¿Te gustan los Pink Floyd?
terryg
February 21, 2014
Hola Patrice,
No hicimos nada especial para el día de San Valentín. Pero mi esposa había dicho que no era necesario para conseguir unos a otros nada y evité que atrapan y bought her roses de todos modos. ¡Menos mal!
Dan-H24
February 21, 2014
¡Oscuro Lado de la Luna!
Terry: Remember the "Pensar en Español" conversation, and that you asked me to report how my tutor responded? Today I read the following sentence to her in English: "She bought bananas, oranges, apples, grapes, and pineapples." Then I asked her if while I was saying the english nouns she was thinking plátanos...naranjas...manzanas...uvas...piñas, or was she seeing images of the fruits themselves. She said the fruits, not the Spanish words. I think on a good day with Spanish nouns with which I am familiar I see the things rather than have to first think of the English words, I just have to get lots better at it!
Dan
terryg
February 21, 2014
Very good Dan, thank you. I now wonder about verbs. I bet the same thing happens - it's just easier to think of imaging a fruit. But I think in our minds, when we hear 'run' we still visualize the action even if it is not as visually oriented as nouns.
Patrice-B
February 21, 2014
Hola a todos,
Forgive my English, but I am laughing and smiling at Dan H24's intro. I had to read that a couple times before I realized what I was reading and it took me back to my '67 Opal! I had 2 speakers mounted in the back window and had that music on...geez I think we called them 8 tracks; it was before cassettes? Hahaha I'm still around to talk about it!
I'll write in Spanish next time. Les promito.
Dan-H24
February 21, 2014
Patrice: ¡Algunos flashbacks pueden ser buenas!
Cristian-Montes-de-Oca
February 21, 2014
Hola Terry!!!
I love PINK FLOYD!!!! haha
By the way , i think you mixed the word DESERT vs DESSERT. We call the first one "Desierto" and the other one "Postre" haha. Postre also means "later on" or "after" or something similar, maybe because the ice cream and the cake comes after we finish eating :) In Mexico we have a lot of different desserts (and we also have some cool deserts in the north haha a whole different story! look for Sonoran Desert in Wikipedia, which we both share Mex_US).
To think about it, we dont have a word for FLASHBACK, i actually use either flashback or the french DEJAVU!. And yes, Dan, algunos flashbacks pueden ser buenos! :P
DARK SIDE OF THE MOON!!! a total classic!
Anyway! about the "Thinking in a another language" i do it all the time with english. In the example about the fruits, when they tell me APPLE or ORANGE i think about the fruit, per se, instead of the spanish word Manzana or Naranja, and really started to show up naturally without me noticing it. That is when we can consider you have really aquired the language, i think.
Who has more questions? :D Quien tiene mas preguntas?
Yo tengo una pregunta!
A que se dedican ustedes?En que trabajan? (ademas de ser excelentes en español :) )
terryg
February 21, 2014
Lol ... that one 's' makes all the difference in the world - at least I am not aware of a Banana Pudding Desert.
I am having trouble translating your question ... "That we are engaged? In work?" Ayuda por favor. :)
Cristian-Montes-de-Oca
February 21, 2014
In other words the questions means..."What do you do for a living? what do you do at work? what do you do at your job?...etc :D
Banana Pudding Desert! LOL! With sand and cactus on top! haha Camel not included!
terryg
February 21, 2014
Ahh, I was wondering if that was it. The separation between the two questions confused me so I wasn't sure.
Yo trabajo en tecnologia de la informacion para una universidad. Especificamente mi grupo disena, instala y mantiene de audio y video sistemas en las aulas utilizado para la enseñanza.
Y tu?