Spanish Lessons, via Slowly pen pal letters ?
And just now I wrote a reply to a new penpal friend, which is taking lessons in Spanish with the wonderful Duolingo — a free languages learning app. [ Wikipedia has a good reference page here ]
I like and recommend it, have worked assiduously for a month in an intensive schedule (you can chose how much time to commit to lessons each day). The language I was learning was French, one that I can understand, orally or in writing, a lot better than writing or speaking. It is free and can be downloaded in Android and iOS versions.
How is it working out ?
My pen pal is enjoying the course, and the challenges of translating paragraphs of text which I wrote and sent in my last Slowly letter to them.
It is actually an excellent use for Slowly – I remember seeing a post in Twitter from a Brazilian teacher who brought that into their institution, and met with great success.
My new friend is eager and is sending me more letters, as I responded to this one (the text below is my full reply, other than removing personal details and names).
Seems wonderful! Muchas Gracias a la Equipa de Slowly app!
Today's Letter — La carta de Hoy :
Hola amiga!
And today you responded with :
Okay, onto the next exercise. Yann wrote:
Ayer escribí una carta a una chica de Ecuador, preguntando se podría por favor enviarme una estampilla de su país. Le dijo que aún no tenía una, y seria muy grato si pueda hacerlo. En mi carta, le envié una estampilla del Canadá, aquella que tienes también, con el dinosaurio Azur. Pienso que le agradó, ella me respondió con la estampilla que yo precisaba. :)
TRANSLATION
Yesterday, (learnt what “Ayer” was yesterday btw lol) I wrote a letter to a girl from Ecuador, told her to please send me a stamp from her country...... In my letter, I sent a Canadian stamp, that you have also with the dinosaur azur. I think that I liked it, she responded with the stamp that I needed.
Phew! How'd I do? Text soon x
Not bad at all, I think.
“Ayer” I leaned in Cuba, speaking to local people, very nice and human.
My translation of my own Spanish text?
“Yesterday I wrote a letter to a girl in Equador, asking if she could please send me a stamp from her country. I told her that I didn't have it yet, and would be grateful if she could do it. In my letter, I sent her a stamp of Canada, that one you also have, with the blue Dinosaur. I think it pleased her, she responded to me with the stamp I needed. “
You are a good student! :)
And on to another paragraph? New challenge! :)
Hola de nuevo,
Y ahí tienes la otra estampilla de Canadá, que muestra un Inuksuk.
En Inglés, hay esta página a Wikipedia.
És muy interesante, como ellos usan los inuksuks para marcar caminos en la paisaje — que en el Norte de Canadá puede sir muy desolada, sin arboles o otra vegetación; és muy difícil, el clima.
Hay muchas fotos de Inuksuk en Internet también, muy hermosas!
Till next time, dear friend! :)
Yann2.
...And the letter above is now on the Slowly Mail system, to be delivered in a few hours.
Famous Last Words
Special thank you to all the folks behind the SLOWLY app.
Letters we share, with pen pals all over the world. A modern day take in the traditional penpal experience. Come and join us, using SLOWLY.
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