Paper-Trail For Spanish Language Learning Project - Relating To "Teasing Out The Underlying Structure of Spanish"

Paper-trail -

Initial Start Date - (16 /Nov/ 2016) - found the comment in The Loom of Language, that it was easier to learn two sets of 5 language's grammar rules at one time than to learn just one such set, to be very insightful...and this arose because of the fact that English has two major feeder streams, whose contents are more or less homogeneous.

I also found the comment there that knowing English gives the keys into both sets of languages, (11 of them) to be fascinating.

(25Mar/2017) The task of sorting out the grammar and language structures of the European languages for my spreadsheet tool has been a challenge and yet I have been blessed so much by doing the task. Seeing that there are two kinds of words (Content or meaning words; and Function/Utility words) was teh first breakthrough. so I laid out a page for each of these on my website. Then seeing that a third page was needed for the "syntax" of languages - instruction sheets as to how the various words hung together in a proper sequence - was the next step. When it came to laying out the syntax sheet of the spreadsheet set, the next breakthrough came in realizing that a two stage process of some sort needed to be represented, and that the old and more modern systems of "diagramming sentences" would be a great way to articulate the two tasks. Grasping this underlying structure and  the mind's use of this structure in communicating has been a massive development for me in my own learning process. This is a very interesting time for me as I grope forward into a solid understanding of Spanish and its European brothers ans sisters.

(June 12/2012) I have gradually built up my spreadsheet. Pressing into the verbs section, I made some general pages for verbs in general, and hen created 3 pages, one for each of the endings
(ar,er,ir)in order to keep things loose and evenly flowing forward. I found that other tools and sites tended to do too much at once, and that was not helpful.

I then pulled the lists of "most common verbs" from a variety of lists and put them on their relevant pages, and entered the stat figures in the opening top left corner of the sheet in order to
get some perspective of priority learning (more bang for my buck). I expanded the dark pink columns (my euro-language of focus) for the Spanish material, making columns for notes, examples (links to YouTube etc)
and the 6 pronouns that verbs take. I then broke out the verb segments on each page into regular and irregular verbs, and broke those out into transitive and intransitive verbs (now called more transitive
and less transitive verbs, as it is on a continuum). I found and adapted a generic form for the layout of verbs and entered it at the bottom, though I have now moved this to its own page as it was easier to deal
with such detail as a separate layer of verb work.

I found three types of examples for each of the listed infinitives...scriptural text examples, hymns, and secular songs or video clips off YouTube. I gave each a column in order to at least roughly sort these, with a
note in brackets as to where to find printed lyrics in my binder for the songs (where they exist) as well as a word or two on the general nature of he example URL.

Once most of the examples were listed I shifted the columns so the examples were nearer the infinitives and the columns for pronouns sectioned off somewhat out of the way. It was at this point the generic material
was shifted to its own page as mentioned above.

I left it and returned once I realized that the pronoun columns would be good for entering (for example) present tense of "leverage words" such as "poder" and even there I could then just either enter the first person of a
few of those or else all six persons for one of them...keeping the input load low, while maximizing the leveraged power of the infinitives.

Then I realized that just doing the little additions allowed me to keep volume of material low while becoming acquainted with eh basic meanings of the infinitives (still only on the "ar" page), while allowing gradual
acquisition of he verb endings as the "helper verbs" were also absorbed...giving a base for their use withe the base infinitives themselves...

Having seen this overall development plan, I felt more at ease with doing the base work on the "er" and "ir" pages, in order to set things up for teasing out the various "leverage words" (eg. poder is an "er" verb, though it can
be used with all three lists of infinitives...and no doubt there are others like that.

My earlier wonderings about which part of speech would be best to start with seems to be taking care of itself...almost like Krashen's comments about there being a "natural order' or sequence of subconscious acquisition of
language (both L1 and L2). That is, there seems to be a "readiness" for each new piece I work on, and then a need for some other part to be able to utilize the new material. like prepositional phrases, direct objects and subjects
as well as adjectival objects and adverbs and pronouns of various types to further leverage the verbs as they emerge. I can see them flowing out as needed and then, being mixed in with moves to other tenses etc. (by way of the
leveraging verbs), as it all starts to come together. Then I can sense a need to learn the first elements of syntax as I need to link together the components of sentences in their appropriate sequences so others can decode
my messages most easily.

As someone said, the particular verbs do tend to be personal depending on our interests and spheres of operation, as to nouns. and I see these expanding with need and awareness as I operate and the "comprehensible input"
level now rises high enough to enable them to be absorbed from daily life contexts.

Already, just from this sort of indirect contact with the language through spreadsheet building, and songs at Church and on YouTube etc, as well as listening to spoken content at church and on YouTube Spanish "courses" I find
my general comprehension level rising without a lot of intentional "memorization"...which does not work for me anyway...

Language learning is quite a fascinating process indeed, as I meta-process myself going through it. I do find he pressure to speak becoming more problematic now I have been around he church for 7 months...speech does indeed tend
to be the street level assessment tool of just how much we are able to do in a language...but I want to get this right and want to learn how it emerges on its own...after all, this part of the learning process is supposed to be for
helping Jamie and Carol...how can I be of help if I revert to a system which did not work for me the first time around with French in school...

'Nuff for now. great stuff. Thanks for all this , Lord.

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