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