Run-on Sentences

I was always taught in English classes to put one complete thought per sentence.  Joining two or more different thoughts in the same sentence would result in a RUN-ON sentence!  Horrors!

I had noticed that this rule is not generally followed by the Spanish-speaking writer. I often have seen sentences that seem to go on and on, with just a comma or a conjunction joining the different thoughts.  Why is this?

My teacher Lorenzo was telling our class about how "we Spanish people like to make a sentence, and then add more to it with de or que or en or a, and then add some more, and keep going on, all in the same sentence."  He said that it's not uncommon to have three completely different, unrelated thoughts together in one sentence.

Suddenly two things I had experienced made sense!  Once when I was having my writing corrected by a native Spanish speaker, he commented, "You need to write longer sentences." Another time I was reading something one of my tutors had written, and I wondered, "How can she be a tutor when she uses run-on sentences in her writing?" Now I understand!

The English rule of "only one thought per sentence" is not followed in the Spanish world.  In fact, it's discouraged.  Now I get it!  Thank you Lorenzo!!


 

Mi profesor Lorenzo

He estado asistiendo a una clase de español los miércoles por la noche durante ocho semanas. Mi profesor Lorenzo es de Cuba, y ha viajado a muchos países hispanohablantes incluyendo España, México, y Colombia. Lorenzo nos cuenta historias del origin de la lengua y de la vida en otros países, haciendo la clase muy interesante. También divide la clase en pequeños grupos, y hablamos juntos en español por un rato al final de cada clase. Pienso que voy a aprender mucho de Lorenzo. 

 

I'm taking a Spanish class on Wednesday nights for eight weeks. My teacher Lorenzo is from Cuba, and he has traveled to many Spanish-speaking countries, including Spain, Mexico, and Colombia. Lorenzo tells us stories of the origin of the language and of life in other countries. Also he divides the class into small groups, and we talk together in Spanish for a while at the end of each class. I think that I'm going to learn a lot from Lorenzo.

Una nueva mujer

Una nueva mujer comenzó trabajar en mi oficina ayer. Cecilia nació y creció en Colombia donde asistió a la escuela, vivió en Brasil donde nacieron sus niños, y ahora reside en los Estados Unidos. Sabe hablar español, portugués, e inglés. ¡Estupendo! 

A new lady started working at my office yesterday. Cecilia was born and raised in Colombia where she attended school. She lived in Brazil where her children were born, and she now resides in the United States. She knows how to speak Spanish, Portuguese, and English. That's great!

Un viaje a México

This is a video I made while practicing for my Spanish 102 final exam, an oral presentation in Spanish (of course).  I picked the topic of our trip to Mexico in 2004, because I could incorporate a lot of vocabulary from our textbook.  I practiced about 8 or 10 more times after this, but I didn't record again because I was standing up, since that's how it would be done in the classroom.  It took me about 8 hours to write this.  I posted the written presentation on Lang-8, where my friends Daniel from Argentina, Aldem from Spain, and jdinunci from Venezuela helped me with grammar corrections (thanks guys!).  I made index cards with the main words and starter phrases, and I practiced many times, sometimes using hand motions to help the class understand me.  You can't see these very well on the video.  Please note that I cannot speak like this in real life (yet), although I hope to be able to some day.  Enjoy!

Cool Salsa

Cool Salsa, edited by Lori M Carlson, is a book of 36 poems in both Spanish and English.  Here is a sample poem that relates to language learning.


Aprender el inglés
by Luis Alberto Ambroggio

Vida
para entenderme
tienes que saber español
sentirlo en la sangre de tu alma.

Si hablo otro lenguaje
y uso palabras distintas
para expresar sentimientos que nunca cambiarán
no sé
si seguiré siendo
la misma persona.


Learning English
Translated from the Spanish by Lori M Carlson


Life
to understand me
you have to know Spanish
feel it in the blood of your soul.

If I speak another language
and use different words
for feelings that will always stay the same
I don't know
if I'll continue being
the same person.


I'm not really a big poetry fan, but I enjoy this book because it shows a lot of feelings and it makes me think.  It also helps that it has both Spanish and English; that way I can easily understand any parts I don't quite get.  
 

New Direction for This Blog

Hello everyone,

In the past I have used this blog to practice writing in Spanish, with corrections made by my tutor(s) shown in bold print.  However I am no longer working with a tutor, so I am going to change the usage of this blog.  

I will now be writing in English (most likely) with the sole intent of sharing my love for learning the Spanish language.  I have been studying Spanish as a hobby for 5 years and I think I can share some encouragement, some ideas that are helpful to a new learner, and my joy in learning & starting to communicate in a new language.

I am currently taking the 2nd semester of Spanish, a 4-hour credit course, at the local community college.  Previously I attended about a dozen adult continuing education courses of 10 weeks each, and I studied for 1+ years with a tutor via Skype.  I have also studied many, many hours on my own, either with books or online.  I have a collection of about 75 Spanish books.  I'm just telling you all this so that you'll understand my passion for learning Spanish. 

I am into it big time!!

Now that I've made that clear, I will end this post.  I'm looking forward to hearing from some of you about your excitement for language learning.

Regards,

Alicia