Saturday, September 2, 2017

Como Esta Su Espanol, Fiorella?

The Spanish is coming along. Although she still doesn't have all the family relationships sorted out, Fiorella can follow her new telenovela, Mi Marido Tiene Familia, fairly well.  It's helped that callate! (be quiet!) and tranquila! (calm down!) are now part of her vocabulary. The acting also helps. Everything is over-the-top dramatic.

As a linguist, Fiorella knew that immersion was her best way to learn a new language, and as a realist, she knew that Spanish was her best bet because, living in Texas, she heard a fair amount of it around her. From previous language accquisition experiences, she knew she needed to start by developing Spanish ears, which meant augmenting her strolls down the aisles of HEB with telenovelas an hour every weekday evening. First came El Color del Pasion, then El Celular de la Piloto, then La Doble Vida de Estela Carrillo, and now she's watching Mi Marido. 

Telenovela actors are really good, and, interestingy enough, like British actors, they act their own ages and thus have long careers.. Sylvia Pinal, a glamor girl fifty years ago, now plays the family matriarch in Mi Marido.

Of course, the commercials also add to Fio's vocabulary--she's learned all about precios (prices), ventas (sales), dinero (money), choques (car accidents), and segura (insurance).  And along the way, she's picking up verb conjugations. Poco a poco, as they say.





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