How to Make the Most of a Study Abroad Experience

I would like to post about how to get the most out of a study abroad experience. There are many new experiences and many questions. If you are considering a Study Abroad program through your school or a company then you will not be alone in your travels and can group with other people in your experiences. Here are some informative, fun, and quirky tips I have picked up from my experiences of traveling to San Luis Potosi, SLP Mexico and Cuernavaca, Moralos Mexico.







When you go abroad make sure not to pack too many things. You will be buying things to remind you of your travels so under pack. Another good tip when packing is be sure to keep and store every bag you get from stores. This is really good packing material for breakables...and it's free.



Be sure when you travel to some place long distance you bring toilet paper with you. This is very important. There are some locations where you can buy toilet paper, but some loactions there is none avialabe...so bring a roll. Charmin is now making cute personal sized rolls. Don't be lured into that...bring a whole roll and your new friends will love your knowledge and your sharing. You may think this is a silly thing to note, but to me this was suprising and a vital note to mention.



Research the area and note what attractions you want to do which weekend. By knowing what each area is famous for you can guess or estimate how much you will spend buying the crafts of the area or if you will simply need more film for the area. For instance, Zacatacas is famous for jewelry...plan to spend nice sum here as it's a very beautiful city with wonderful local crafts. However, if you plan to travel to San Miguel you will take far more pictures and need more camara space.



Write down on a note card your new address. Every time you take a taxi you can get help finding your home and don't have to struggle with too much of a language barrier. Soon though you can even help the taxi driver get to where you're staying.



Talk to the locals and ask them what to visit. Be friendly and open and learn and love the culture. Live each day to the fullest!



Your planning and research will help you make the most of your adventures. Good luck and start your reseach!

Translation Review: Success or Lost?

It maybe that I am good at gussing when someone uses a translation site. Or it maybe that I have used enough sites to know the common mistakes or when one site simply is poorly funcitioning. I am not sure if my ability to scan and realize the words that came out poorly translated is by seeing the mistakes the translation website makes over and over or if it is from using them myself. But, everytime I ask someone if they used a translator for a specific part the answer is always "yes". Why is that? Because some translators are not as well created as others.

www.freetranslation.com

This website is handy if you're in a fix, but it's not the best out there for several reasons. It doesn't have any user interaction. You can't distinguish between several different types of meaning to get different words. Often it just will guess and see what happens. If you mis-spell or type another (or leave out an accent mark) the translation will not occur. Not only is this unhelpful it is frustating. Thus, the user ends up with a choppy mess of words that mean different things for different situations than the user intends and will repeat the mistake in the future not realizing the website's error. A professional translation costs to be completed and with the service given by free use I would be wary of waiting on a timely and costly translation. Although, this seems to be the only way to get an accurate translation from this site.

Other sites offer multipule meanings, spelling help, and link you to other words you may want to use. If you're using a translation website I would not recommend Free Translation.

Picture of the Day

At first this image may not seem like it has anything to do with Spanish. However, when I saw this picture a vast amount of words came to my mind. One of the best ways to learn Spanish is to completely put yourself into the language. Labeling is a very useful technique to help you learn vocabulary skills and put yourself into the Spanish language completely.

If you look closely at the picture you can see a lot of useful things to label. the bright red lamp (lampara). The woman reading a newspaper. Newspaper = periodico (accent over e). It appears she is on a bus. Bus = autobus (accent over first u). There is a table. (mesa).

By labeling things that you use daily you will see the language more and more and become more accustomed to using it. Simply take some sticky notes and attach them to everything in your home. Key places are your bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and garage. However, you can put them all over your home to keep up the reinforcing actives.

Good luck and happy labeling!

About This Blog

I am a Spanish major at the senior college level. This year I will be entering my eighth year of study of the language. I have been to Mexico twice for study abroad programs. My first experience I went to San Luis, Potosi for two months with a no English rule. I was awarded an excellence award for entering the program and abiding by the no English rule. My second experience I went to Cuernavaca for four weeks. I learned additional culture and history of Mexico through traveling to nearby areas. Additionally, I am tutoring on campus as a Spanish tutor. Fall 2009 will be my third semester tutoring. I tutor all levels the campus offers. With this blog I would like to take what I have learned from my travel abroad, my own studies, and my tutoring experiences and share them with you to give you a guide to learn Spanish.

My personal interest in this topic is helping others learn more about Spanish. I would like to use this as a resource and learn more from others who have additionally experiences. I hope that you will find some useful tips that will help you learn Spanish. My main hope is that by following this blog you will discover a passion for the Spanish language and culture. I developed an interest and came up with the idea for this guide through Spanish after studying Spanish and working with introductory Spanish students. I know there are some common topics in the language where additional practice and clarification could be useful. I would like to explore those topics. I would, however, also like to explore some fun cultural topics and interesting history to keep the passion for the language alive in this blog. This guide is important to me because I want to help others develop a passion for the Spanish language and build their communication skills.

I hope that students of Spanish or those with an interest of knowing more about the Spanish language, culture, history, or literature read this blog. It would also be wonderful for those with helpful links and resources or have more knowledge about a specific topic to comment and add helpful or interesting information. I am a firm believer that at no matter what level you are in the language you still have valuable information to contribute. Also, if you have any questions and would like to know more about a specific topic please comment and we can explore that topic!

Mis Tres "blogs" Favoritos

There are good blogs and not so good blogs on the Internet. This post will explore my favorite three blogs.



My top favorite blog is microsiervos. This blog is in Spanish and gives me the opportunity to prat ice the language. You can read interesting posts in a multitude of topics all in Spanish. The blog is written by native speakers which will also help you pick up colloquialism.

My second favorite blog is Engadget. What attracts me to this blog is that it can be viewed in several different languages; including Spanish. You can go from Spanish to English and check to see how much you understood. Not only do I have a love for the Spanish language but, I also have a fasination with technology. There are many interesting posts of breaking technolgy that I find very interesting. So, if you enjoy reading about new technology and want to double check your Spanish comprehension you should check out this site.

My third favorite blog is La Cocina De Nathan: Cuban , Spanish, Mexican Cooking & More. This is a very resourceful blog if you feel like trying out some Hispanic cusine. There are many posts with creative ideas. The autor includes pictures and directions on how to make these delicious meals. I find it a great resource and something fun to try.

These are my three favorite blogs. I hope you all check them out and enjoy!