Japanese And Spanish Again 2016 (PINNED)

Sick for a long time, now attempting to do this all over again.  New version Rosetta Stone for Spanish brushing up. Wanikani, Rosetta stone, and Human Japanese (app for IOS) for Japanese.  Starting again as I have forgotten so much.

Still trying to do Level-Unit-lesson order for Rosetta stone (before the computer this disc works on dies, which will mean the end, as this is such an old disc that it no longer works on modern computers due to conflicts with operating systems, or something).

Spanish: 
Rosetta stone, version 4, I think it is. Will just note down information that is new and useful.

Websites that are useful for Spanish:
Spanish Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/latino
shows: Zou (children's show)
Tierra de Reyes (telenovela)
About.com spanish resources: http://distancelearn.about.com/od/isitforyou/tp/FreeOnlineSpanishClasses.htm
Sources for Spanish Language videos: http://howlearnspanish.com/2012/09/spanish-videos-subtitles-free/
Spanish news - http://www.bbc.com/mundo
Good spanish dictionary - http://www.spanishdict.com




Japanese:
Rosetta stone - old, will jot down useful information to remember.

Websites that are useful for kana:
Very detailed chart of kana: https://tinyurl.com/yc7fmvxx
Personal Kana sheet (to print and make your own chart): http://www.textfugu.com/free/personal-kana-sheet.pdf
Hirgana chart: http://www.textfugu.com/resources/hiragana-chart/
Methods to learn hiragana: http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/reading-writing-memorizing-hiragana/4-6/
Katakana chart: http://www.textfugu.com/cheat-sheets/katakana-chart/
Methods to learn katakana: http://www.textfugu.com/season-3/learn-katakana/2-2/
Real Kana has a website, but it's somewhat broken now. However, the app for IOS works very well and there is a link to where you can find the app on the website: http://realkana.com
Tofugu hiragana - a method using visual images to help remember kana shapes, might be more effective for some. https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/learn-hiragana/
Tofugu stroke order chart: http://www.textfugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/hiragana-stroke-order-chart.pdf (note, や is incorrect on this chart, with strokes 1 and 3 reversed)

Practicing Hirgana and Katakana:
Drag and drop hiragana - http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/hiragana-timer.html
Drag and drop katakana - http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/katakana-timer.html
Writing hiragana and katakana - http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/writing
Great practice for fast recognition of kana - http://lab.fleon.org/type-kana/
Nice, easy space invader type game for kana - http://www.valiantls.com/games-for-learning-japanese.html
Warrior game that builds up kana knowledge - http://www.kongregate.com/games/tukkun/kana-warrior
Printables for writing practice, hiragana - http://www.guidetojapanese.org/pdf/hiragana_trace_sheet.pdf
http://japanese-lesson.com/characters/hiragana/hiragana_writing.html (contains blanks, too)
Printables for writing practice, katakana -
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/pdf/katakana_trace_sheet.pdf
http://japanese-lesson.com/characters/katakana/katakana_writing.html (contains blanks, too)
hiragana and katakana with combinations for modern borrow words included https://www.coscom.co.jp/hiragana-katakana/kanapdf/renshuu_hiragana.pdf


Websites useful for Kanji or general learning:
Textfugu - japanese learning program, first lessons free to try out: http://www.textfugu.com/lessons/
Wanikani - made by textfugu folks, for learning kanji: https://www.wanikani.com
Tae Kim's Guid to Japanese - many believe is one of the best guides out there. Don't know if I agree, but it's been dead useful so far, and it's free to boot. http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/
Good information on Radicals and what they are: http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa070101a.htm
Good list of Radicals for Kanji: http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/radical-names.html
Lessons for learning to write kanji: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sheaa/projects/genki/kanji_main.html
Nihongonomori - youtube lessons: https://www.youtube.com/user/freejapaneselessons3
Erin's Challenge - lots of lessons, many formats, video: https://www.erin.ne.jp/en/
Tofugu - Japanese culture blog: https://www.tofugu.com
general learning, including cultural - https://www.coscom.co.jp/index.html
On on'yomi vs. kun'yomi, and general info -https://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/how-to-determine-onyomi-and-kunyomi-of-each-kanji-character.html
also on'yomi vs. kun'yomi - with some differences of opinion -https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/onyomi-and-kunyomi/
Kanji readings - what do the '.' and '-' mean? -
1. https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/38681/what-is-the-meaning-of-dots-and-dashes-in-kunyomi-readings
2. http://forum.jisho.org/discussion/1197/-and-in-the-kanji-yomi/p1
The official jōyō kanji list published by the Agency of Cultural Affairs - This is very long, and ALL in Japanese, so it can help with kanji, but only if you can read enough Japanese. - http://www.bunka.go.jp/kokugo_nihongo/sisaku/joho/joho/kijun/naikaku/pdf/joyokanjihyo_20101130.pdf


Apps useful for Kanji or general learning:
Good list of Apps for learning Kanji that are popular with native speakers- http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/best-kanji-apps/
'Pibo -Japanese Picture books' by Ever Sense, Inc, for iOS - huge collection of japanese children's books, all stories have read along audio.
Human Japanese - app for IOS, beginning Japanese lessons. Very straightforward.  Made the more sense to my autistic child than any other language program. Great use of the media.
'Learning Japanese' by Ronald Timoshenko, FREE app - this is the app version of Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese, which many people think is one of the best guides out there.
lingodeer - highly recommended, with a kind of wanikani style, for beginning, early intermediate japanese, chinese, or korean learning.

Websites useful for learning to read Japanese:
Children's book recs: http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/learn-japanese-picture-books/
Satori reads - in beta, reading material for japanese learners, by the folks who created 'Human Japanese: https://satorireader.com
Jisho.org- good for translating, including looking up radicals, how to write kanji: http://jisho.org
Many sources recommended by Tofugu (listed below)
Kodomo times - a newspaper aimed at children with more difficult kanji translated for you. (may no longer be up, I think) http://www.chunichi.co.jp/kodomo/
Kodomo Asahi - a newspaper aimed at children. Orange link goes to elementary school level paper, blue link goes to middle school level paper. http://www.asagaku.com
Asahi Shinbun - adult newspaper - https://www.asahi.com
News Web easy by NHK - news with simple kanji and vocab, but also audio included so you can listen along.   http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/20120824_k10014498931000.html
Traditional Japanese Children's Stories - these were created by a japanese language teacher, so there are translations. http://life.ou.edu/stories/
Fuku Musume's Fairy tale collection - http://hukumusume.com/douwa/betu/
Fantajikan youtube - the audio (and written) stories from fantajikan site (latter which is no longer up)   https://www.youtube.com/user/fantajikan/videos


Websites useful for learning Japanese Grammar:
particle ga vs. wa: http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/japanese-particle-ga-wa/
particle ne: http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/japanese-grammar-particle-ne/
particles ka, ne, and yo: http://www.japaneseprofessor.com/lessons/beginning/the-sentence-ending-particles-ne-and-yo/
particles to end sentences: http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/japanese-sentence-particles/
Grammar for conversational fluency: http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/improve-conversational-japanese/
Japanese grammar guide: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar

Websites useful for learning Japanese conjugation:
WaniConjugation - for WaniKani users, to practice conjugation of verbs/adj: http://waniconjugation.co.nf
verbix: http://www.verbix.com/languages/japanese.shtml
The ultra handy japanese verb conjugator: http://www.japaneseverbconjugator.com

Websites useful for Japanese Vocabulary:
Japanese counting words: http://www.tofugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/japanesecounters.pdf

Websites for daughter learning sessions:
Super beginning lessons - https://thetruejapan.com/how-to-learn-japanese-a-guide-for-absolute-beginners/
beginner lessons - https://thetruejapan.com/learning-japanese-for-beginners-a-complete-guide/
super beginner kanji - http://www.japanese-lesson.com/characters/kanji/index.html
(check beginner lessons for more kanji)
THIS level is where http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar is recommended.

Good lessons to check out after learned a little bit - https://www.japanesepod101.com
recommended as useful - https://iknow.jp


Websites useful for advanced Japanese learning:

- NINJAL-LWP FOR TWC - lots of data on words - common particles, commonality between words, etc... - http://nlt.tsukuba.lagoinst.info/compare/
- Reading materials on subjects you love
- THE "A DICTIONARY OF JAPANESE GRAMMAR" BOOK SERIES (there are three levels, beginner, intermediate, and advanced, each with its own book) - I have found these at amazon.com
- conversations on 'Facetime, Facebook Messenger, LINE, Skype, Google Voice' with other people. Or call up and talk to japanese businesses, hotels, that sort of thing. Will need to make some friends and keep up with them, for this!
- teaching it - when learn, teach it. Jot down notes whenever something wasn't entirely clear to you when teaching, and go through it again. Basically, the feynman technique. 

Rosetta Stone Lesson Summaries Spanish(PINNED)

Because I sometimes want to go back and review, and can't recall which lesson the information is in!

Spanish - dishes, office supplies, verbs, nouns, grammar

vocabulary from Rosetta stone, first version and version 4
Latin American Spanish

Dishes:
el vaso - cup
el tazo - cup
el tazón - bowl
el plato- plate


Office supplies-
la pluma - pen
el bolígrafo -pen (version 4)
el papel - paper


verbs-
tener - to have
sostener - to hold (usage of con with sostener - sostiene el telefono CON su mano izquierda)


Adjectives - 
redondo - round
cuadrado- square (adj)
rectangular - rectanular
algo - something
Ambas mujeres - some women
ninguna mujer - no women


Use of a pronoun?
- una esta senalando con su mano derecha y la otra esta con su mano izquierda.

Nouns - 
el micrófono - microphone
la cantante and el cantante - singer
la guitarra- guitar (grammar) tiene una guitarra en la mano izquierda y una en la mano derecha - note the pattern here of una
gire - turn
no estacione - no parking
no gire a la izquierda/a la derecha - no left turn, no right turn
no gire en U - no U turn
el reloj - watch
la ventana - window
la casa - house
señal - sign
la vaca - cow
el canguro - kangaroo


words to be confirmed-
Aviso - caution?
venado - deer?


Grammar -
- Está señalando CON su mano derecha. - pointing with the right hand.
- shapes grammar- no es X, Y, ni Z
use 'es' with shapes like round or square.

Izquierda and derecha

la izquierda
la derecha

la mano derecha - the right hand
la mano izquierda - the left hand

For where something is, like being in someone's hand, you use the verb 'estar'
If it's in a hand, use the preposition 'en'

For example, a ball in a woman's hand is:
La pelota está en la mano de la mujer.

Remember that for two or more things, estar has to change forms;
Las pelotas están...

Heat, cold, and seasons 1-5-6

Rosetta Stone
1-5-6

New Vocab:
fire - el fuego
snow - la nieve
ice - el hielo
sun - el sol
candle - una vela
flower - flor
purple - violeta
to cover (?) - cubrir (ex. La nieve cubre las montañas.)
quemar - to burn (ex. El fuego está quemando la vela.)
smoke - el humo
match - el fósforo
flame? - una llama
echar - to emit or give off? (ex. El fuego está echando el humo blanco)
To have/make (a flame) - hacer (una llama)
summer - el verano
winter - el invierno
scarf - la bufanda
people or crowd? - la gente
ice cream - el helado
drink - una bebida
to shine (down/over) - brillar (sobre)
ground - el suelo


Grammar:
--When discussing temperature, something that is always a temperature seems to use the verb 'ser.'
Ex: El sol es caliente. La nieve es fría.

--When discussing temperature, something that is a certain temperature now, but not necessarily always, seems to use the verb 'estar.' Either that, or it's solely when discussing food temperature. Check as this comes up later.
Ex. El pan está caliente.

--To be 'behind the clouds' is the same as in english- behind.  ex. El sol está detrás de las nubes.

-- When discussing temperature in terms of weather, use Hacer.
ex. Hace calor en el verano. Hace frío en el invierno.

-- When discussing heat in terms of weather, use calor, not caliente.

--In the sun or under the sun? = 'al sol.'
ex. Estas personas están sentadas al sol.

-- When discussing a person being hot or cold, use 'tener.' Also use calor, not caliente, possibly?
ex. Él tiene calor. Él tiene frío.

--To shine down on something, or over something, use sobre.
ex. El sol brilla sobre el suelo.


Unknown:
burner? - el lumbre.  Looks like a small stove top burner.


How did it go?
This one is taking longer to stick for some reason.

Was anything tricky or difficult?
I have a hard time remembering candle (vela), smoke (humo) and flame (llama), for some reason. And remember when to use caliente vs. calor. Going to take some practice to do this.

What would make it better next time?
I think practicing it in different contexts, maybe do more of the speaking, as that tends to make me think more.

Spanish Goals this year

Spanish goals this year:
1. Finish 2 levels of Rosetta Stone by June, 2014
2. Memorize 300 verbs by June 2014 - choose from review cards, then add.
3. Choose a telenovela to watch by June 2014
4. Do Spanish daily with children through December, 2014

Su and sus

Unit 2, ...

ENGLISH LESSON FIRST: Possessive adjectives vs. possessive pronouns.
Adjectives are used to modify nouns, whereas pronouns are used to replace nouns.
Possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns can be easily confused at first because of the similarity in words, so you have to look at how they are being used.

Possessive adjective:
my
your
her
his
its
their
our

Ex.
my dog, your cat, his canary, their car

All of these are modifying a noun, changing what we know about it, further describing it.

Possessive pronouns:
mine
yours
his
hers
theirs
ours

ex.
That is Sally`s.
That is hers.

That is Brina's.
That is his.

These would be used to replace possessive nouns. Without pronouns, mine and yours would simply be the names of the people involved, rather than the pronouns we usually use.

SPANISH LESSON, POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES AND POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS:

Possessive adjectives:
1. Must match the nouns they modify in number and gender
ex. la pelota amarilla - the yellow ball
las pelotas amarillas - the yellow balls

el papel amarillo - the yellow paper
los papeles amarillos - the yellow papers

2. Spanish has two forms of possessive adjectives, a short form before nouns and a long form after nouns. The short form is more common, and the long form can have a more formal, literary feel. The long is more often used when translating -of ours, yours, etc...

Short form of possessive adjectives, before a noun, sometimes known as possessive determiners - 
mí, mís - my
tu, tus - your (single, familiar) - notice the lack of accent on 'tu.' Tú means 'you'
su, sus - your (single or plural formal), its, his, her, their
nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras - our (same in long and short forms)

ex. Quiero comprar tu coche - I want to buy your car.
Quiero comprar sus coches - I want to buy her cars. (whether it's her, his, and such is determined by context)

Long form of possessive adjectives, after a noun - 
mío, mía, míos, mías - my, - of mine
tuyo, tuya, tuyos, tuyas - your (singular, familiar), of yours
suyo, suya, suyos, suyas - its, his, her, your (formal, singular or plural), of its, of his, of hers, of yours (sing, formal), their, of theirs
nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras - our, of ours
There is one more form which is not used in Latin America, for you, plural, familiar.

ex. Prefiera la casa tuya.  I prefer your house. I prefer the house of yours.
Es un coche nuestro. It is our car. It is a car of ours.


DIFFERENCES IN USE:
1. For body parts, clothing, and items intimately associated with an individual,  Spanish uses el, la, los, or las - the equivalent for the.' However, it is still translated as a possessive adjective.
ex. Sam arregla el pelo. Sam brushes his hair

2. Repetition of possessive adjectives
In Spanish, a single possessive adjective refers to one noun only, unless multiple nouns refer to the same person or object.
Son mis amigos y hermanos - They are my friends and siblings. However, a better translation might be 'They are both my friends and siblings.'

Son mis amigos y mis hermanos. This is to say 'They are my friends and siblings' and mean that some of them are your friends and others of them are your siblings.

So 'my cats and dogs' would be 'mis gatos y mis perros.'


Possessive pronouns: EXACTLY THE SAME AS THE LONG FORM POSS. ADJ.

1. They match the noun that would be 'modified' by them as if they were poss. adjectives. 

Example: Tu madre y la mía no pueden cantar. Your mother and mine can't sing. We use 'la mía' because it matches 'mother,' and mine represents: my mother. 

Mis calcetines son rojos. Los suyos son verdes. My socks are red. Yours/his/hers/yours pl/theirs are green. Suyos is plural and masculine to match the word socks, but doesn't give us any idea whether this is his, hers, yours, etc....

The pronouns:

mío, mía, míos, mías - mine

tuyo, tuya, tuyos, tuyas - yours (singular, familiar)

suyo, suya, suyos, suyas - its, his, hers, yours (formal, singular or plural), theirs

nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras - ours

Some linguists consider them possessive adjectives, still. These are NOT used the same way we use poss. pronouns in English.


DIFFERENCES IN USE:
1. Possessive pronouns are usually preceded by the article el, la, los, or las.  The exception is when the poss. pronouns follows the verb 'ser,' like in es or son. It is usually not used then, although it can be kept for emphasis.

2. Suyo - This is obviously pretty ambiguous. If the context doesn't reveal what suyo should mean, it can be left out and replaced with things like 'de él,' 'de ella,' 'de ellos/ellas.' To mean of his, of hers, of theirs.
Ex. No es mi coche. Es de ella. It isn't my car. It's hers.

3. The singluar masculine form can also be treated as neuter and preceded by 'lo.' Even though it is singular, the pronoun can stand for multiple objects. The neuter is used when no specific object is being referred to.
Ex. No toques lo mìo. Don't touch what's mine. Don't touch my things.
Lo mío es importante. What's mine is important. My things are important.

Sources for this information:
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-difference-between-a-possessive-pronoun-and-a-possessive-adjective.htm#did-you-know
spanish info long form - http://spanish.about.com/od/adjectives/a/long_form_possessive_adjectives.htm
Spanish info short form - http://spanish.about.com/od/adjectives/a/possessive_adjectives.htm
Spanish info poss. pronoun - http://spanish.about.com/od/pronouns/a/possessive_pronouns.htm

Ships and boats

Rosetta Stone
Level 1, Unit 2, Lesson 3
Words for boats

un barco - a ship, boat, or barge. Usually larger.

una barca - a small boat, dinghy

un bote - a small boat, like a rowboat or dinghy. Often used for something smaller than 'una barca.'

un buque - a ship but with a particular role, like un buque de guerra (warship) or un buque de carga (cargo ship)

'un baque' is totally unrelated but I thought you'd like to know it. It means 'the blow which a body gives when falling.' Or a bang or thump, in other words.

Tools

Rosetta Stone
Level 1, Unit 2, lesson 3
Tools

el herramienta - tool

More tools:

sierra(f) - saw (usually a hand saw)

martillo(m) - hammer

clavo(m) - nail, as in 'to hammer.' Uña is a nail as in a fingernail (uña del dedo)  or toenail (uña del pie).

llave(f) - wrench (only for the tool)

la pala(f) - shovel

el rastrillo (m) - rake

Plural and singular noun rules

Rosetta Stone
1-2-3
umbrellas and other strange nouns

Paraguas - umbrella

Paraguas is a special kind of noun in spanish, called a compound noun, which is made by forming two words into one (I'm not sure which two words are involved for paraguas). What is special about this is that when you have compound nouns like this, the singular and plural are the exact same word, only the article changes.

el paraguas - an umbrella

los paraguas - the umbrellas

Another compound noun is 'abrelatas' - abre + latas = open + cans

el abrelatas - a can opener

los abrelatas - the can openers

The general rules for singular and plural nouns are:

1. If a noun ends in a vowel (a,e,i.o,u), simply add an -s at the end to make it plural.

ex. el gato + s = los gatos

el perro + s = los perros

2. With a few exceptions, if a noun ends in a consonant, add -es.

ex. la universidad + es = las universidades (universities)

la ciudad + es = las ciudades (cities)

3. If a noun ends in -c, change the -c to -z and then add the -es.

ex. el lapiz becomes lapic + es = los lapices (pencils)

la voz becomes voc + es = las voces (voices)

4. If a noun ends in -ión, drop the accent before adding -es.

ex. el avión becomes avion + es = los aviones 

la televisión becomes television + es = las televisiones (televisions)

5. A plural masculine noun is also masculine. A plural feminine noun is always feminine. But if a plural noun refers to a mixed group that includes both masculine and feminine, the plural is always masucline. 

ex. 1 gato (male cate) + 1 gata (female cat) = dos gatos

Information from here: http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/plnoun.htm

Fish and other meats

Rosetta Stone notes
1-2-3
Animals and meats

un pez - a fish, such as one swimming in the water. Un pez está nadando. A fish is swimming.

un pescado - fish, as in food that you eat. Un pescado en tu plato. (A fish on your plate) Although I'm still checking to make sure that 'un pescado' is correct. Seems to be.

Other meats:
vaca(f), toro(m) - cow, bull
carne de res, carne de vaca - beef
hamburguesa(f) - hamburger

gallina(f), gallo(m)(more in the USA) - chicken, rooster
pollo(m) - chicken meat, chicken that you are eating

cerdo (m) - pig
carne(m) de cerdo or chancho(m) -pork
chuleta - porkchop

cordero (m) - lamb
chuleta(f) de cordero - lambchop

guajolote or jolote (m) (used in Mexico), pavo (m) - turkey, turkey (used more in Spain)
pavo (m) - turkey meat

salchicha (f) - sausage
Chorizo (m) - cured sausage

Spanish - personal a

Personal 'a'
This is a concept that doesn't exist in English, so it can be a bit tricky to figure out.

Basically, why you would say:
Está tirando la pelota.

but then say:
Está tirando al niño.
Note: "al" is a word that is what is used when you have a + el together. a + el = al

It's all because of the concept of a personal 'a' in spanish.


Personal 'a'
If a person is a direct object of a verb, unless it's the verbs  'tener' or 'hay,' the spanish language adds an 'a' before the person. There is nothing like this in english. 

What is treated as 'a person?'
Actual people: 
A person can be Marta, girl, boy, my mother, your son. It can be used for objects that are unspecific or indefinite people, like doctor or carpenter, but it is usually only used in these cases if you KNOW the people.

Like, for 'I know two doctors' you would use an 'a' before 'mèdicos.'

ex.  Conozco a dos mèdicos.

'I need two doctors' - no 'a,' because you have no personal feeling toward these mèdicos.

ex. Necesito dos mèdicos. 

Pets:
You also use a personal 'a' before an animal if there is close feelings toward it, like a pet. You would not do this with a random animal, like a wild bird or random animal.
ex. Veo a mi gato, Batman. I see my cat, Batman.

Some pronouns are also treated like a person:
Alguien (somebody), nadie (nobody), quién (whom) require a personal 'a'. So do alguno (some) and ninguno (none) if they refer to people.
Ex. ¿A quién pertenece esta silla? Whose chair is this?
¿Médicos? No vi a ningunos. Doctors? I don't see any.
¿Carros? No vi ningunos. Cars? I don't see any.

Countries and objects:
A country or object can be personified, although it implies a personal relationship, such as great emotion. Like a country that an expatriate misses, or a favorite doll or toy.
ex. Yo extraño a los Estados Unidos. I miss the United States. (implies greater relationship or feeling)

Basically, personal 'a' denotes a personal aspect toward the object in question, is my impression.

Exceptions:
There is a personal 'a' used after tener if it is used to mean holding someone or having someone somewhere.
ex. Tengo a mi hermano en los brazos. I have my brother in my arms.
Tengo a mi hija en el pesebre. I have my daughter in the crib.

It can also be used when tener is used to indicate an exceptionally close relationship. Like, if one were talking about how you often feel alone and sad, but then you have your friends to help, you could say tener a mis amigos. But just saying I have friends would be, 'tengo amigos.'



My information came from these two sources:

The basics on this are here, although they miss a few things - http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/persa.htm

More details, examples, and exceptions shown here - http://spanish.about.com/cs/grammar/a/personal_a.htm

Question words

Rosetta Stone
1-1-10
Question words

¿Quíen? - Who? When asking a question ex. ¿Quíen está bebiendo?
¿Qué? - What? When asking a question
¿Qué llevan las mujeres? - What are the women wearing? The verb comes after the question word, then the noun.

¿Qué es este? - What is this? (close to speaker) estos = these. esta and estas are feminine
¿Qué es eso? - What is that? (far from speaker) esos = those. esa and esas are feminine
¿Qué es aquel? - What is that over there? (far away from both speaker and listener) aquellos = those. Aquella and aquellas = fem.

Also a neuter form for the demonstratives is used for discussing abstracts or an unknown objects
esto - this ¿Qué es esto? would be used when you have no idea what it is.
eso - that
aquello - that over there
Good site discussing this: http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/demonstratives.htm


¿Dónde? - Where? When asking a question
¿Dónde está...? Where is...? (singular) example ¿Dónde está el gato?
¿Dónde están...? Where is...? (plural) example ¿Dónde están los gatos?

¿De qué color...? - What color ...? ¿De qué color es este carro?

¿Cuál de...? - Which of ...? Like, which of these cars is blue? ¿Cuál de los carros es azul? Notice that the verb and adjective stay singular, even though 'carros' is plural.

¿Qué está haciendo ...'noun?' - What is 'noun' doing? ¿Qué está haciendo el niño? El niño está nadando.
Notice again, to ask a question: Question word (Qué) verb (está haciendo) and lastly, noun (el niño). Where in English, we say: What is the boy doing? So, it's question word (What) part of verb (is) noun (the boy) last part of verb (doing?).

sobre vs. encima de vs. en

Rosetta
1-1-10
prepositions that came up during question words


sobre - a preposition.  In this context, it means above or over. More vague

encima de - encima de is used as an adverb, means more like 'on top of.'

en - on

An example of how this can change meaning.

La mujer está sobre la mesa.
The woman is above the table. She could be on it, jumping over it, above it somehow else, like on a ladder or stepstool. Can be touching it or not.

La mujer está encima de la mesa.
The woman is on top of the table. Can be touching it...it seems less likely used if there is no physical contact, but I'm not certain.

La mujer está en la mesa.
The woman is on the table, but this can also mean 'in the table,' so this could need context to make sure the meaning was clear, it sounds like.

A great list of common prepositions and common meanings: http://spanish.about.com/od/prepositions/a/prepositions.htm

They are: a, antes de, bajo, cerca de, con, contra, de, delante de, dentro de, desde, después de, detrás de, durante, en, encima de, enfrente de, entre, fuera de, hacia, hasta, para, por, según, sin, sobre, and tras.

Spanish - clothing, camisa vs. camiseta and abrigo vs. chaqueta

Rosetta Stone
1-1-9
Clothing continued, with added material

Camiseta vs. camisa vs. blusa:

camiseta (f) - shirt, t-shirt, pullover shirt. This is for more casual shirts, typically without buttons, and can refer to clothing worn by a man or woman.

camisa (f) - shirt, dress shirt, button up shirt. This will often have buttons, more formal, often referring to clothing worn by a man.

blusa (f) - shirt, often with buttons, more formal or dressy, potentially. This is always referring to clothing worn by women.

Abrigo vs. chaqueta:

abrigo (m) - long, overcoat (abrigar - to keep warm)

chaqueta (f) - shorter jacket

chaqueta de lluvia (f) - rain jacket

Various other clothing:

el sombrero - hat

traje de baño - bathing suit

anteojos - glasses

el zapato - shoe

los calcetines - socks

el vestido - dress



Some references used:
A forum post about chaqueta and abrigo, mostly in spanish: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1768336

Pants, Pantalón vs. Pantalones

Rosetta Stone
1-1-9
Clothing with added material

Pantalón vs. pantalones

The girl wears pants is: La niña lleva pantalón. La niña lleva pantalones.

The girls wear pants is  Las niñas llevan pantalón. Las niñas llevan pantalones.

Both pantalón and pantalones seem to be correct and can be used interchangeably, according to some sources. However, more sources say that pantalones is more often used.

Although it looks like this may be one of those grammar issues for native spanish speakers too, considering there are spanish articles on this:

http://blog.lengua-e.com/2008/pantalon-o-pantalones/

I am marking the above site here until I can translate it all and figure out what the right answer is. :-)

Also of note:

Whether it's a singular or plural set of people wearing pants, both the singular and plural of pants seems to be okay to use.  Ex: Las mujeres llevan pantalón.

I have also seen 'pantalón' and 'pantalones' both with and without an article (el, los, un, or unos), following llevar. I am unsure if this is preference or if there is a rule I do not yet know.

Other bottoms:
calzones - shorts (Latin America and Mexico)
pantalones cortos (m) - shorts, a pair of shorts
calzoncillos  - underpants
vaqueros(m) - denim trousers/jeans
jeans (m) - jeans (Mexican slang). This seems to be used with a plural article for a singular pair of jeans.
jeans ceñidos or vaquero ajustado - skinny jeans
falda (f) - skirt

Spanish - colors

Rosetta Stone
1-1-3
Colors with added material

Colors:
colors are adjectives, so match in gender and number and come after the nouns in spanish
*oscuro - dark (can also use with colors, like azul oscuro = dark blue)
*claro - light (can also use with colors, like azul claro = light blue)
*NOTE: some sources from Mexico are using different terms for light and dark WITH THE COLOR BLUE:
azul marino - navy blue
azul cielo - I think 'sky blue' is the best translation of this, perhaps

rosado(a) - pink
rojo(a) - red
blanco(a) - white
negro(a) - black
marrón - brown (also castaño, moreno, or pardo, depending on the shade)
gris - gray
morado(a) - purple (or púpura)
verde - green
amarillo(a) - yellow
anaranjado(a) - orange
azul - blue
plateado(a) - silver
dorado(a) - gold(en)

Nouns can also be used as colors, like we use the term coffee. However, if they are, frequently they will still be treated as a noun and not change number or gender, although the longer they have been used in this capacity, the more they seem to shift to changing in number and gender like a normal adj. Different speakers may use them differently, as a result.

An example:
a coffee-colored shirt is una camisa de color café.

Also, with nouns used as color, the de color or color de may be left out, so you'd just have 'una camisa café.' This information, plus more on this, can be found at this site: http://spanish.about.com/od/adjectives/a/colors.htm

Some spanish nouns that are also used as colors:
beige, beis - beige (according to some, the 'beige' is pronounced close to 'beish.'
cereza - cherry colored
chocolate - chocolat colored
esmerelda - emerald
grana - dark red
humo- smoky
lila - lilac
malva - mauve
mostaza - mustard colored
naranja - orange
oro - gold
paja- straw colored
rosa - pink
turquesa - turqoise colored
violeta - violet

Spanish - alimento vs. comida

alimento vs. comida

alimento  - masculine noun
1. (n) nourishment, or 'edible objects.' Seems to be used more in a technical sense, like a word that a professional like a Dietician or scientist might use when discussing something that people or animals eat, or when discussing food in terms of nutrition.
2. (n) encouragement or incentive
3. (n, plural) allowance given by an heir to relatives; a pension, an alimony

Some example uses:
de mucho alimento - nourishing
alimentos integrales - whole foods
alimentos naturales - health foods
de poco alimento - of little nutritional value
alimentos grasos - fatty foods
alimentos rico en fibra - fiber-rich foods
alimentos rico en proteínas - protein-rich foods
alimentos fortificados - fortified foods


comida - feminine noun
1. (n)eating, food, cooked food - Seems to be used more in everyday language, like we're eating fast food tonight, I have some junk food, that sort of thing
2. (n)meal, dinner, or lunch (in Mexcian spanish)
3. (n) Possibly 'board,' as in room and board, but that may be specifically Spain and not Mexico and South America

Some example uses:
comida chatarra - junk food (Latin American spanish)
comida casera - home cooking
comida para perros - dog food
comida rápida - fast food
comida de Navidad - Christmas dinner
comida de trabajo - business lunch
bendecir la comida - to say grace



Related words to know:
grupo alimenticio - food group
The food groups in spanish: vegetales, frutas, granos (grains), proteína (protein), lácteos (dairy).
Bajas en azúcar - low in sugar


Much of the above examples and definitions came from www.spanishdict.com

Spanish Resources I

These are just the first ones I've found that have been recommended or pop up a lot. A reminder: Spain's spanish and South America and Mexico's spanish are not the same, just like England's English and American English are not the same. You can understand one if you know the other, but there are going to be some differences.

For a philosophy in learning languages plus resources: http://www.fluentin3months.com/

For spanish speaking practice partners - check out http://community.skype.com/
Then ask for people interested in practices spanish so you can learn, if you practice your first language.

For Spanish lessons - http://www.studyspanish.com/

For more Spanish lesson, and those of other languages, check with the library. Many libraries, including mine, have a deal with Mango so that if I have a library account, I can use the Mango learning program for free.

For Spanish vocabulary help - http://wordreference.com/

For spanish learning and practice with live partners - http://livemocha.com/

For Spanish vocabulary on a spanish site - http://www.rae.es/rae.html

For youtube spanish lessons -  http://www.youtube.com/user/languagenow

For finding spanish speaking partners - http://www.easylanguageexchange.com

For asking questions about Spanish at a Spanish forum - http://forums.tomisimo.org/

For more help at a different Spanish forum - http://www.thespanishforum.com/

This site is for Japanese learning, but it also addresses the concept of how to learn a language in a general sense and is very useful for that, too. Different ideas than from fluentin3months, so may be of use: http://japaneselevelup.com/

Spanish - prepositions, sitting, and tables

So, first on the list here is becoming fluent in spanish by, uh, July 15th or so. I'm not starting from scratch, as I took three years of spanish before in school, but it's been a while since I tried to really speak it, and low blood flow to the brain plus over a decade has knocked most of it into the shadowiest corners of my mind.

But I have the internet, I have Rosetta stone (which actually helps me, personally, as long as I have supplemental materials), and I have the motivation to get better at this so I can be of more use to my kids as THEY are learning spanish.

So, here's what I start tracking down as I'm going through Rosetta stone, to supplement what I'm learning/re-learning on it.


Two phrases that are very similar:

El niño está sentado en la mesa. Means: the boy is sitting on the table. 

and

El niño está sentado a la mesa. Means: the boy is sitting at the table.

Important distinction. :-)