Sunday, March 27, 2016

Decálogo del perfecto cuentista / Decalogue of the Perfect Storyteller


Decálogo del perfecto cuentista
Decalogue of the Perfect Storyteller

Horacio Quiroga
Translation: Kristi Moore

I
Cree en un maestro -Poe, Maupassant, Kipling, Chejov- como en Dios mismo.

One
Believe in a master – Poe, Maupassant, Kipling, Chejov- as in God himself.

II
Cree que su arte es una cima inaccesible. No sueñes en domarla. Cuando puedas hacerlo, lo conseguirás sin saberlo tú mismo.

Two
Believe that your art is an inaccessible peak. Don’t dream of conquering it. When you can do that, you will get there without knowing it yourself.

III
Resiste cuanto puedas a la imitación, pero imita si el influjo es demasiado fuerte. Más que ninguna otra cosa, el desarrollo de la personalidad es una larga paciencia.

Three
Resist imitation when you can, but imitate if the influence is too strong. More than anything, the development of the personality takes great patience.

IV
Ten fe ciega no en tu capacidad para el triunfo, sino en el ardor con que lo deseas. Ama a tu arte como a tu novia, dándole todo tu corazón.

Four
Have blind faith not in your capacity to triumph, but in the fervor of your desire. Devote yourself to your art like a lover, giving it your whole heart.

V
No empieces a escribir sin saber desde la primera palabra adónde vas. En un cuento bien logrado, las tres primeras líneas tienen casi la importancia de las tres últimas.

Five
Don’t start writing without knowing from the first word where you are going. In a well-told story, the first three lines have almost the same importance as the last three.

VI
Si quieres expresar con exactitud esta circunstancia: "Desde el río soplaba el viento frío", no hay en lengua humana más palabras que las apuntadas para expresarla. Una vez dueño de tus palabras, no te preocupes de observar si son entre sí consonantes o asonantes.

If you want to express this scenario with exactitude: “From the river blew the cold wind,” there is no more pointed way to express it in human language. Once you are the master of your words, don’t worry about which ones are consonants or assonant.

VII
No adjetives sin necesidad. Inútiles serán cuantas colas de color adhieras a un sustantivo débil. Si hallas el que es preciso, él solo tendrá un color incomparable. Pero hay que hallarlo.

Seven
Don’t modify unnecessarily. Stripes of color will be useless against a weak noun. When you discover precision, it will have an incomparable color. But you have to find it.

VIII
Toma a tus personajes de la mano y llévalos firmemente hasta el final, sin ver otra cosa que el camino que les trazaste. No te distraigas viendo tú lo que ellos no pueden o no les importa ver. No abuses del lector. Un cuento es una novela depurada de ripios. Ten esto por una verdad absoluta, aunque no lo sea.

Eight
Take your characters by the hand and firmly lead them to the end, without looking at anything else but the road you plotted.  Don’t abuse the reader. A short story is a novel purified of rubble. Take that as an absolute truth, although it may not be.

IX
No escribas bajo el imperio de la emoción. Déjala morir, y evócala luego. Si eres capaz entonces de revivirla tal cual fue, has llegado en arte a la mitad del camino.

Nine
Don’t write under the regime of emotion. Let it die, and evoke it later. If you are capable then of reviving it as it was, you have arrived halfway to art.  

X
No pienses en tus amigos al escribir, ni en la impresión que hará tu historia. Cuenta como si tu relato no tuviera interés más que para el pequeño ambiente de tus personajes, de los que pudiste haber sido uno. No de otro modo se obtiene la vida del cuento.

Ten
Don’t think of your friends while writing, or about the impression your story will make. Write as if your story will have no other interest except for the little world of your characters, where you could be one of them. No other method will give life to a story.

FIN / END




Saturday, March 26, 2016

Recursos/Resources - Radio Ambulante

One of the biggest challenges in learning a language is leaving the classroom, books, or apps behind, and becoming familiar with the sound of native speaking. It can be frustrating when you've worked endlessly, only to find yourself struggling to carry on a basic conversation because you can't keep up with the language at normal speed. 

Here are some common reactions:

Are they even saying the whole words?!
Why are they talking SO FAST?
This sounds like total gibberish!
What happened to this language I thought I knew?

Here is part of the solution: Radio Ambulante. For teacher or student, this is a gold mine of native Spanish audio in the form of human interest stories. They represent a variety of cultures and dialects. The best part - they have transcripts in both English and Spanish for some episodes.


You can make fantastic progress in listening skills when you connect authentic audio with the written words you already know or recognize. (Yabla is engineered on this concept.) If you are still struggling with vocabulary, use the English transcript to gather the meaning. If the stories are too long, choose a manageable section, and read/listen, listen/read until you understand what's happening.

Choose stories that interest you, and you'll be learning while you're learning.

When you don't have time for focused listening, play the audio in the background of your day. Your brain needs time to learn all the idiosyncrasies of the spoken language. Yes, it is a whole new challenge, but it is one of the most rewarding. When you can listen to a native speaking your second language at full speed, and you understand them with ease, that means you have a giant hurdle behind you.

Disclaimer: I have not listened to all episodes, and some may not be appropriate for younger audiences. The ones I have listened to are perfectly appropriate for high school and up.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Recursos/Resources - PRACTIQUEMOS




This is a great resource! It's free, simple, and gives clear explanations. Mini-lessons like this help establish the foundation of the language. They also help avoid common errors.
 // 
¡Este es un gran recurso! Es gratis, simple, y explica todo con claridad. Mini-lecciones de este tipo ayudan a establecer las fundaciones del idioma. También ayudan a evitar los errores comunes.


You can subscribe to the Youtube channel. / Se puede suscribirse al canal de Youtube. 


Follow on Facebook. / O sigue Facebook. 

Saturday, November 8, 2014

The Path to Knowledge

This graph (stolen from Twitter) illustrates my experience studying Spanish as a second language. The first three years of college were fun, with zero fluency and little usefulness. Since I was constantly learning and improving, I had a blast.

At the end of six years as I was finishing a Bachelor's, I felt like I could conquer the world in Spanish. I knew just enough to be a hazard. I had some great opportunities that I wasn't qualified for, and I did them anyway.

Then I started a Master's degree. Right away it really began to sink in how little I knew, and how much is left to learn. I have officially returned full circle to the "I know nothing" phase. Now is the time to either give up, or resolve to be a student of the language for the rest of my life. I have chosen the latter.

I share this because I was totally unprepared for the stage I'm in now. I didn't think the learning curve would feel like going downhill. I don't feel like an expert. I thought I would have an invincible level of confidence by now. I hoped I would be more fluent too. I miss the excitement of the first few years. But would I go back now? No way. My optimism was not totally misplaced. I can do things now that I couldn't back then, but I also have a better awareness of my own skills as they relate to my limitations. It's been a huge reminder that perfection was not the goal in the first place.

No matter what stage you are in today - enjoy it! Maximize your strengths. Don't stop working because you don't feel instant gratification. Find ways to measure and recognize your progress. Be realistic about your weaknesses. Study on, because if you haven't figured it out by now, languages are as infinite as the creativity of the human mind. You will never finish, so let that be your inspiration to keep going.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Back to School

This great cartoon by Tom Gauld is a reminder for all students - read the book!  

If you're studying a foreign language, then in addition to following all the other good advice you hear, you should also read as much as possible in your target language. Reading is slow. At first it feels ridiculously difficult. "At first" meaning for a long time... it won't be easy.

When I say "book" I'm not just talking about tackling Don Quixote, or the fancy-sounding classics. When you are able, dive in to a big book. Go for it! Keep in mind, however, that fiction is difficult to comprehend. The art of fiction relies on creativity and subtlety. Find your level. Don't despise the small start. Read news articles, short stories, or magazine articles. (Pictures help!) Read about familiar subjects that already interest you. Read bilingual children's books. Seriously.



Time spent reading is never wasted. You're absorbing vocabulary, sentence structures, and subtleties that you may not catch at listening speed. You're also seeing correct spelling, grammar, and details that disappear when speaking. If a movie or a summary helps you understand context and storyline, that's okay. But remember that there is no substitute for reading.



Friday, March 7, 2014

How to Keep Calm and Carry On



Q. Are you going to make mistakes as you learn a second language?

A. Is the Pope Catholic?





My favorite part of the video is that he handled it like a pro. He literally did not even blink. He corrected the error, and kept speaking. Speaking of errors in high places, remember George W. Bush having issues with his native language?  And let’s not forget that Barack Obama choked during the oath of office. Speaking a foreign language might make you hyper sensitive to your mistakes, but you probably haven't paid much attention to how often you slip up in your native language. It happens! And people probably aren't judging you for it like you are judging yourself. 

The fear of these mistakes can wake up in new ways as you grow in a language, and as your opportunities to use it increase. If you let it, that fear will undo all the progress you make studying. Fear will send you back to where you started out. The only way forward is to accept mistakes as part of the process. Have a strategy (or strategery) in mind. You have lots of options: Correct yourself. Apologize if necessary. Do nothing and keep going. Laugh. But remember, it’s not a big deal if you don’t make it a big deal.

Embarrassing mistakes happen to the best of us. Many leaders have made hilarious, humiliating errors on the world stage that will be memorialized forever on YouTube. They kept going because they have bigger things on their minds, like wars, economies, and policies. These errors are small things. As for the Pope, I’d love to know if he had a good laugh about this later. I have a feeling he might have.