During our recent stay in Seville, Spain (see picture left), we were again reminded how challenging local dialects are for foreign language learning.
That is especially the case when they try to improve their new language in an immersion environment, as in the country where their new language is spoken.When you visit only for a few days and your interaction with locals is quite limited – as happened during our first stay to Seville in 2012 – you don't seem to notice the dialect very much.This time, however, it was different.
The Language Learning Challenge
The four European languages we are very familiar with, German, Spanish, French, and Italian, all have different dialects spoken in various regions.
All language schools and online programs, including GamesforLanguage.com, teach a "standard language" that you may hear on radio and television, but which may be spoken in only a few regions of the country.
Chances are you'll find yourself in a region where your language learning efforts over the last few months don't seem to be quite enough. It's no different in Spain, but also presents an opportunity to learn more about the local dialect.
THE MISSING “S” in the Seville Dialect
As we describe in a previous post: Learning Spanish –First Impressions of the Local Dialect in Seville, Spain, we noticed right away that some consonants are dropped at the end and in the middle of words, so "gracia" instead of "gracias," "do cerveza" instead of "dos cervezas," "E'paña," "e'pañol," etc.
But this was just the tip of the iceberg. There are other differences to standard "Castilian" Spanish and even to other regions of the Andalusian dialect.
SESEO & CECEO
Generally speaking, typical Andalusian pronunciation features as the "leveling s, z, and c sounds" (the latter before an [i] or an [e]). This means that in parts of Andalusia [s], [z] and [c] have an [s] sound (called a "seseo" dialect.)
In other parts of Andalusia [s], [z] and [c] have a [θ] sound (called a "ceceo" dialect.) Seville, in fact, is a small language island.
Surrounded by regions that speak "ceceo," the city itself is mostly a "seseo" haven. On the street, with the many tourist coming from other regions of Spain, you of course heard a mixture. In any case, neither "seseo" nor "ceceo" is really part of standard Castilian. Castilian and Andalusian have been perceived as distinct dialects since the the 15th century.
In Castilian Spanish, [s] is pronounced as [s]; and [c] and [z] are pronounced [θ]. The latter is sometimes called the "Castilian lisp," which is often attributed, incorrectly, to the lisp of a Spanish king. This and other language myths are wonderfully debunked in a recent blog post: 10 Myths And Misconceptions About World Languages, the "Castilian lisp" in Myth #4: "The Spanish Kings's Lisp."
DROPPED CONSONANTS
We noticed that [d] was weakened or dropped entirely when between two vowels. For example in the bus, we heard "próxima para" (instead of "próxima parada," next stop); and, our Sevillian acquaintances would say "a menu'o" (instead of "a menudo,") often.
Flamenco terms are famous examples: cantaor (from cantador, Castilian: cantante "singer"); tocaor (from tocador, Castilian: músico); and bailaor (from bailador, Castilian: bailarín). When spelled, the [d] is also dropped, we learned. [See Wikipedia "Andalusian Spanish"]
FORMAL OR INFORMAL
Spain in general, including Andalusia, is known for it's greater informality compared to Latin American countries. When we met our tutor for the first time, he immediately addressed us with "tú," though we were clearly older than he.
Since pronouns are dropped unless you need them for clarity or emphasis, out tutor happily used the pronoun-less "tú" form with us, but dropped the "s-endings" (tiene, habla, quiere, encuentra, etc.). When I asked him whether Sevillians could tell the difference between "tiene" (informal with the dropped "s") and "tiene" (formal), he said, actually no, and smiling, said that he had never thought about it.
So, in Sevilla, you may not always catch right away whether someone is addressing you formally or informally.
PAYING ATTENTION
In most cases, you don't chose to stay or live in a region because of a particular language dialect: Work, family, friends, cultural, or other interests, etc. generally impact your decision. So chances are that you will find yourself in a city or town with a local dialect.
When you are starting to notice what distinguishes the local dialect from the standard language, your language learning is one the way to reaching another level. And the sooner you can discover some to the typical idiosyncrasies of the local language, the faster you'll be able to understand and eventually speak it.
At the end of our month there, we could pretty well understand our tutor and our language exchange partners, but we spoke the Seville dialect only in small chunks, such as with "gracia" and "do cerveza." Thus, in Seville, we still remained at the first stage, but feel quite confident that after a few more weeks we would have graduated to stage two.
Bio: Ulrike & Peter Rettig are co-founders of Gamesforlanguage.com. They are lifelong language learners, growing up in several European countries before moving to Canada and the United States. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
At the end of our one-month-for-fluency stay in Seville (March 2015), we experienced the two initial days of Sevilla's amazing family festival, the Semana Santa (Holy Week).
The entire city seemed to participate. Whole families, from babies to grandparents, and many groups of young and old came out into the street, especially in the late afternoon and evenings. This year drew especially large crowds, as spring was in full bloom and the weather was sunny and warm.
The Preparations
We already noticed in early March that viewing stands were being erected behind the Ayuntamiento (City Hall), on the route of all the processions.
From days before Semana Santa, Sevilla was transformed: Repairs to buildings and roads were completed; balconies were draped with festive cloths; mobile restrooms were erected and hooked up to the city sewer system (no “porta potties"!); barriers and chairs were placed at major viewing routes; the inner “casco antiguo” (old town) was closed to traffic in the afternoons, taxis were banned, bus routes were changed, and a large part of the old town became a pedestrian zone.
Daily program booklets came with the local newspaper El Diario de Sevilla and showed the routes and times of the various processions. The article on Culture Trip can give you an idea of some of the details.
The Brotherhoods
During Semana Santa, there were seven to ten daily processions, organized by the different "cofradías" or "hermandades" (religious brotherhoods), social organizations that play a crucial role in putting on the processions.
Sevilla alone has 60 different "cofradías," some of which are associated with trades, as can be seen in their name, for example, "La Cena" (dinner), "La Hiniesta" (broom), "La Borriquita" (little donkey), others have a spiritual names such as "La Paz" (peace), "El Amor" (love), "La Amargura" (bitterness).
Still others carry the names of various saints. Some of the "cofradías" trace their origin back to the 16th century; they often have several thousand members, who participate in the processions. You can find out more about the brotherhoods in the above link.
The Processions
These solemn processions have large floats bearing Jesus and Mary statues, are decorated with candles and flowers, and are accompanied by spirited music and hundreds of "Nazarenos" (penitents) wearing pointy hoods and cloaks in various color combinations.
All that makes for an unusual, elaborate, unforgettable spectacle. Especially the “Nazarenos” dressed in all white may create some unpleasant (KKK) associations for older, especially African Americans.
For locals, however, the hooded figures that could be seen walking through the old town to their procession starts, were just part of the Semana Santa celebrations, which began officially on Palm Sunday.
Each of the processions moved along a specific route and took many hours to complete it. Several of them started at 3 PM and ended at 2:00 or 3:00 AM in the morning.
We could see that many of the "Nazarenos" following the processions were teenagers or even younger, and these were accompanied by parents or other family members who provided them with water or a sandwich from time to time.
In Seville you can't see the men who carry the ornate and quite heavy floats. They are underneath each float and and only come out occasionally for a well-deserved drink when the procession comes to a to a halt.
The Atmosphere
The atmosphere in the city during those days was electric, excited, but the crowds were surprisingly calm and measured.
Several times, as we walked from one procession to another, we were caught in a stream of people who were doing the same. In spite of our initial anxiety at being in such a densely-packed and moving crowd, we witnessed no out-of-control behavior, no unpleasant incidents, no shouting.
There were lots of small and older children present and we thought that surely some of them would get lost in the crowd. Later we heard of only one case of a child that had gotten lost, but was found again after a few hours.
People were surprisingly patient, courteous, laid back. And, even though there was a lot of waiting time, no one seemed to get upset about this. People socialized, chatted, kids played hide and go seek. It was truly a lively, inclusive folk festival that added powerful memories to those of our stay.
Bio: Ulrike & Peter Rettig are co-founders of Gamesforlanguage.com. They are lifelong language learners, growing up in several European countries before moving to Canada and the United States. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
My husband and I spent the month of March in Seville, Spain (left: La Giralda under blue sky, seen from el Alcázar), mostly in sunny, warm weather, while our home town, Boston, USA, kept getting bombarded with relentless snowfalls.
We were lucky to be away at that time, but the main reason for our trip was to improve our Spanish through the best kind of "immersion" that we could set up.
It's not easy for adult foreigners to meet and engage with locals, so we had a plan: We set up "live" language exchanges in advance and were determined to find a local teacher for conversation lessons.
Warming up with Language Exchanges
Language Exchanges with locals are a great way to start practicing speaking in a relaxed, friendly way. We did these the two of us together, armed with questions and a few scripted, memorized sentences. (see also our recent post: 4 Tips for Improving Your Foreign Language during a One-Month Stay).
To be honest, our initial conversations were pretty halting. To be able to talk about your own experiences in a casual, spontaneous way, you need to know present and past verb forms.
For Spanish, with its different past tenses, that's quite a task. Using just the simple past gets the basic message across but often not all of the meaning. Already our first exchange conversation had us go back to our place and review the basic tenses of common verbs such as "hacer, estar, ser, ir, haber, poder, tener, etc." I wrote out the forms by hand on sheets of paper. We memorized them and practiced them in between sightseeing stints.
It wasn't just the grammar which made a normal conversation challenging. All of our exchange partners were from the Seville area and spoke the local city dialect. (Local people from Seville talk fast and drop some letters, including most occurrences of the letter 's' in the middle or end of words.) In time, though, we got used to the dropped letters.
Doing those conversations during our first two weeks was a big step forward. It felt really good to begin understanding spontaneous questions and to learn how to ask them.
The great thing about meeting with others is that your head starts preparing and practicing for the conversations in advance and processes them afterwards. It's another level of learning, quite focused and effective.
Adding a Tutor
We intended to ask our language partners if they knew any tutors for our remaining two weeks, but instead came across a notice at a nearby square. It offered: Clases de Español (see photo), and had a phone number attached. I mustered my Spanish and texted our interest in 7 tutoring sessions. We got an answer quickly and set up a first meeting for the next day.
Carlos, a licensed teacher of Spanish at a local school, spoke no other foreign languages except some Italian. That he spoke no English was a huge stroke of luck for us. It forced us to express and explain ourselves only in Spanish. He in turn, being a trained teacher, knew just when and how to correct us without interrupting the conversation too much.
A Conversation Format
You can't learn a language without speaking it, and engaging in a conversation is clearly the best way to level up your speaking skills.
On the one hand you are listening to the other speaker(s) and interpreting what is being said; on the other, you are beginning to frame an answer, but at the same time have to keep in mind grammatical points such as verb endings, tenses, pronouns, agreement, etc. Besides, your answer has to have some momentum to keep the conversation going. Stopping at every second or third word is not going to cut it.
Being in a live conversation gives you the chance to ask questions. If there's something you don't understand, you can just ask for an explanation or a clarification. Questions are also a good way to keep the conversation going and to give you a certain amount of conversational control.
Topics for Conversation
Our main intent was to practice conversation, but to keep conversations moving along you need to have interesting things to discuss. Carlos asked us for topics we'd like to focus on.
During our stay in Seville, general elections in Andalusia were happening and one of our sessions was a question-and-answer session about Andalusia's political history, and we explained voting processes and party structure in the U.S.
Also, at the end of our visit, the amazing festivities of "Semana Santa" (Easter week) began. (See above a picture of one of the many processions that occur every day from Palm Sunday to Easter. A future post will provide more details.)
Besides discussing some of the local traditions of Easter week with us, Carlos also told us of his memories of growing up in Seville, especially his experiences as a child during the Easter week festivities. This made the lessons quite personal and interesting.
Learning to Rephrase
When you're talking about something in a foreign language, it can often happen that you're looking for a specific word, but just cannot remember it. An excellent skill to practice is to rephrase what you're trying to say and express it in different words, rather than stop short and rack your brains.
Knowing that English would not help, we were forced to say things "in other words," again and again, and actually got pretty good at it. To be able to do this, of course, you need enough vocabulary. Reading the local newspaper every day was helpful for the topics we were talking about.
Clarifying Grammar in Context
Conversational practice is an ideal vehicle for learning grammar in context. I normally use a grammar text to look up questions that I have. I rarely start with a text book to learn grammar.
In our conversations with Carlos, we started out by talking about things we had done, i.e. we had to use Spanish past verb tenses. Since there are several to choose from and they differ in usage from English past verb tenses, our conversations were a effective way to practice the Spanish forms.
Carlos gave us a helpful, simplified guideline for which tense to use when. The "imperfect tense" (imperfecto) sets the scene that you embellish with other events. The "simple past" (pretérito) expresses an event in the past that is finished and doesn't relate to the present. The "present perfect" (pretérito perfecto) is a past, finished event that nevertheless still impacts the present moment.
Understanding which verb tense to use as we talked about past events and experiences was a great way to learn a difficult chunk of grammar.
The Local Dialect
At first, our tutor spoke a little more carefully and avoided dropping the "s" from words as he talked. But after a couple of sessions, he fell back into his dialect pronunciation. We could have asked him to use a more standard way of speaking, but found in time that we could understand him quite well. In the end, it has made our Spanish a little more versatile.
Carlos explained to us that the Spanish of Andalusia is closer to Latin American Spanish than that which is spoken in other parts of Spain and that was due to large waves of emigration from Andalusia to the Spanish colonies in the Americas.
Our Fluency Boost
Did our month in Sevillemake us fluent Spanish speakers? Not as fluent as we'd like to be. But it gave our fluency a big boost.
When we compare our initial taxi ride from the airport to Seville at the beginning of our stay, to our ride from Seville to the airport at the end of our stay, there was quite a difference.
At the beginning, we asked a few short questions or made brief comments and didn't understand a lot of what the taxi driver responded. At the end, we were chatting away with the taxi driver about our stay, the elections, Semana Santa, differences of taxi ownership and taxi colors in Spanish cities (In Seville they are all white) etc. We clearly had made noticeable progress.
Now we just have to figure out how we can give our language fluency another boost!
When it comes to foreign currency, traveling has become so much easier: Instead of worrying about how much of the foreign currency you should change at home or at the foreign airport (do you still remember “traveler checks”?) - today you can pay with your credit card(s) in many places or withdraw cash at ATM machines all over the world.
Yes, you have to be conscious about the various bank and exchange fees and be aware of the fee differences between the various cards.
But, even if you are, you'll still want to read about our recent experience in Seville, Spain. Here is our story:
Beware of ATM Withdrawals at Night
Ever since an ATM in Barcelona did not return my card a few years ago, I have been reluctant to withdraw money from a cash machine at night.
At that time, it happened during the day and I just went into the branch office and recovered my card without much of a problem. If one's card is withheld at night, things might get more complicated, especially if you have to explain your problem in a foreign language.
In Seville, as in many cities in Spain and Italy, dinner in a (non-tourist) restaurant typically starts after 8 PM. As we were returning from a very pleasant dinner out, we walked by a Unicaja ATM and replenishing my depleted funds seemed appropriate.
Feeling good and confident, I disregarded my usual concerns and went ahead with a withdrawal. I chose the English language option at the machine to avoid any mistakes and everything seemed to go along fine.
A prompt on the screen instructed me to take the cash. I waited patiently for a moment, when suddenly another screen came up: “For technical reasons it is not possible to provide you with the cash requeted [sic].”
Well, this seemed strange, but technical malfunctions happen. I did not see a phone or intercom to report the error right away and took my card when it was ejected.
I also waited for and observed the next machine customer (see picture above) as he completed his transaction, apparently without a problem (and fortunately without “my” cash!)
Check your Bank or Credit Card Account
However, two days later, when I checked my bank account, I saw to my surprise, that 505 euros had indeed been withdrawn (500 euros plus a 5 euro transaction fee).
I returned to the ATM, which is located at one of Unicaja's branches in Calle Sierpes, and reported the problem to the customer service representative at the bank. She summoned others for help, but none of the branch employees' English was better than our Spanish, so we had to explain the problem in Spanish.
After checking the bank's accounts and verifying my credentials, passport and credit card, the manager agreed that it was indeed the bank's problem. (As this happened two days after the initial withdrawal, we were somehow surprised that they had not discovered this issue earlier.) I signed and received a transfer notice of 500 euros to be put back to my account and assumed that the money would show up in my account within a few days.
The Story Continues
Why did I not just ask for the 500 euros I had been unable to withdraw from the ATM machine? In retrospect, I believe that's what I should have requested. But since I went to another bank to successfully withdraw money from its ATM right after the failed attempt, I did not want any more cash.
I also believed that the deposit back to my account would be done quickly, i.e. within a day or two. (Later I found out that such a request would not have been honored anyways, as credit card/bank rules prohibit it.)
When five days later I still did not see the deposit of the 500 euros in my account, I went back to the branch to inquire. By that time, we had also brushed up on our Spanish banking language and explained our situation again.
However, we were told that there was nothing they could do, as they had already initiated the transfer back to my account. I was told that I should just be patient.
Fool me Twice, Shame on You
Then I thought, now with the branch office open, let's give the machine another try. And when I tried to make another withdrawal, exactly the same happened: The ominous screen - “For technical reasons it is not possible to provide you with the cash requeted [sic]” appeared again.
This time, however, we not only took photos of several of the screens, but also reported the problem right away. As the ATM customer before us apparently also had an issue and was making a complaint, it was clear that the bank was aware of the problem. Our second failed transaction was immediately canceled.
Patience Wearing Thin
A few more days have passed and now it's been more than ten days since my first unhappy withdrawal experience. I've sent several e-mails and we have made several trips to the branch office, but the funds still haven't not shown up in my bank account.
In our latest foray into the Unicaja bank's branch office, we asked for the branch director. His explanation was more differentiated and he reiterated that Unicaja ("Un banco pequeño, pero un buen banco!" - A small, but a good bank") indeed had made the transfer back to the "Maestro" intermediary (Master Card in Europe), but Maestro, apparently, had not effected the transfer back to my bank yet.
And credit card/bank rules (supposedly!) don't allow cash payments by the bank for failed ATM transactions. Patience again. While Unicaja's branch staff were very nice and tried to be helpful, we were really surprised that none of the staff spoke any English, French or German, the languages we are still more fluent in than Spanish.
However, it gave us a great opportunity to practice our Spanish and apply the banking terms we had looked up and tried to memorize.
ATM Lessons Learned
1. Avoid any cash withdrawals at night, especially in a foreign country. 2. Check whether the machine has a phone or intercom with which you can report a problem right away. 3. Only use ATMs during during working hours that are part of a bank or branch office. (In Seville typical bank working hours are from 8:00 AM to 2:30 PM) 4. Obtain a written confirmation of the deposit back to your credit card and inquire with your credit card company/bank that the deposit was made. 5. Learn some key banking/financial terms in the foreign language.
English not Spoken Everywhere
While our experience with Unicaja was somewhat annoying, it also gave us an opportunity to brush up on our financial language and practice our Spanish. The experience with the branch personnel and its manager also confirmed what we had experienced ourselves and heard from others here in Seville: English is not the preferred foreign language in southern Spain.
As I've mentioned, no one at the bank spoke English. As a matter of fact, the bank director said proudly: "No hablo inglés, sólo hablo español." (I don't speak English, I only speak Spanish.)
Also, to our surprise, our Spanish tutor, a professor at a local university, speaks no English either, and we have heard from others that French and German have come into favor in recent years as foreign languages learned and spoken in southern Spain.
Update - The end of the Story
On April 9, 2015, nearly exactly a month after the 500 Euros disappeared from my bank account, I finally received a deposit of Euro 500.00 back to my account. I am still not sure who is holding the Fee of 5 Euros, Unicaja, Maestro, or my bank, but I am sure I will find out in time.
While Unicaja maintained that there was nothing they could do - they had returned the 500 Euros to Maestro - I suspect that my formal complaint to the bank that had issued the debit card and the bank's follow-up finally gave me my money back. It is still surprising to me, however, how long it took Maestro to return the funds that they had received two days after the failed transaction.
Last fall, American friends of ours spent a month in Dijon. They had rented an apartment over the Internet with the dream of soaking up local life “the French way” and getting a huge boost in their fluency in the French language.
They certainly had a wonderful time exploring the city and the surrounding region, and they thoroughly enjoyed the local food.
But, not surprisingly, they found it difficult to engage with locals in French, beyond their daily shopping chores, ordering in restaurants, sightseeing adventures, and asking for directions and information around town. (see Becoming Fluent in French in 1 Month in Dijon, France - Part 1 )
When we started planning our one-month stay in Seville, we thought a lot about how we could get the most language learning out of our visit
Our Four Tips
1. We always use the local language – in our case Spanish - and refuse to use English. When we asked for information in the local tourist office, the young woman was eager to respond in English to our (still imperfect) Spanish, but then continued in Spanish when we did not follow suit. We found an apartment in the old town and have started to frequent local cafés, bodegas, and market stands to the point that the waiters and sales persons know us and don't mind chatting with us, only in Spanish.
2. We spend mornings (or several hours, as it fits our schedule) learning Spanish on our own. We start with online sessions on GamesforLanguage, Duolingo, and Babbel, where we need to speak up and sound out Spanish phrases and sentences. We follow this up with exercises in a grammar book and by writing out verb conjugations on a sheet (which we carry around for practice in between).
3. We listen to Spanish TV in the morning as we get breakfast ready, read an article or two in the local newspaper (or online, using Lingua.ly) and typically watch the Spanish evening news. Most evenings, we also watch parts of a Spanish film or program after we get back from dinner out.
4. We meet with language exchange partners. No doubt, this last point, meeting with native speakers for extended conversations, is giving us the most dramatic results. It goes without saying, however, that our other efforts are also essential techniques for putting our brain into “Spanish gear,” expanding our vocabulary, as well as our sharpening listening and speaking abilities. (Our experience with a local Spanish tutor will be the topic of another blog and can obviously not be separated from the “most dramatic results.”)
Setting up Language Exchanges
On the internet, we found quite a few different language exchange sites. We subscribed to three of them: conversationexchange.com, mylanguageexchange.com and gospeaky.com. While all three are free, we found conversationexchange.com to be the most effective for us. (Although we had bought a premium membership for mylanguageexchange.com and had been able to find several contacts in Seville, none of them has worked out so far.)
On the other hand, conversationexchange.com allowed us to screen both for Sevilla and for “face-to-face” conversations (both options that gospeaky.com does not offer). Key to finding language exchange partners in the city where you are staying, is to start the search early. Some subscribers may have moved and not all of them check their site regularly. We've been able to meet with three of our contacts already several times and have been very pleased with the interaction. Below we describe our thoughts for face-to-face meetings, these may apply as well to skype or other real-time online conversations.
Preparing for our meetings
We write out scripts with basic sentences about ourselves plus questions to ask (and continue to do so for every meeting). This has us figure out the difference between imperfect and simple past verb tenses, for example, and continues to make us look up some basic additional vocabulary about professions, family, hobbies, local politics, European news, etc. We practice these “scripts” and our various questions first silently and then out loud.
Meeting with our Language Exchange Partners
During our short first visit to Seville three years ago, we had not really noticed it. But several friends have alerted us that locals in Seville have a distinct dialect that is not always easy to understand by foreigners. We've already encountered the “dropped s” that happens not only in final position of words but also in their middle.
Most people in Sevilla say “gracia” (instead of “gracias") and “i-quierda” (instead of “izquierda”). When we order two beers, we hear the waiter echo us with “do cerveza” (instead of “dos cervezas”) but that is just the tip of the iceberg. (see also Learning Spanish - First Impressions of the Local Dialect in Seville, Spain) Though the three people we've been meeting, Sara, Carlos, and Marta, are quite different in age, background, and profession, our language-learning experience with each is rather similar.
Dividing up the Time
Going with the advice of friends who are more experienced in language exchange, we said right off at each meeting that we'd like to stick with 20 minutes Spanish only. That was followed by 20 minutes English only (or, in the case of Carlos, 20 minutes German - which he preferred), with the rest of the time open to going back and forth.
We believe that dividing up the time equally is a better arrangement than having each person just speak the language he or she is learning. Listening comprehension is an important skill to practice, especially with native speakers, and in the case of our local exchange partners, a real challenge for us.
Fast Colloquial Spanish
Sara, Carlos, and Marta are all from Sevilla and speak rapid-fire Spanish with us, dropping their s's all over the place (sometimes even when speaking in English). It is quite clear that it's hard to have a language exchange with someone who is a total beginner in the language s/he is learning. In order to have anything like a conversation, both parties should know the basics of communication and have an adequate vocabulary. Although it is intimidating at first, jumping into real spoken language is the best way to go.
Listening in a Conversation
When you listen to the radio, watch a film, or listen in whenother people are speaking, you are of course training your listening skills. But that kind of “passive listening” is a somewhat different activity from listening while engaged in a conversation.
When someone speaks to you, you are expected to respond. In fact, as you're listening, your mind is interpreting what you're hearing and beginning to create a response to what is being said. When this is happening in a foreign language, your brain - including its grammar region - is in in full, active gear. It's the best kind of brain training.
No doubt, after our four weeks in Seville, we'll both better understand and may even have picked up bits of the local accent, though I don't think I'll continue to say “gracia” (without the “s”) once we've left this charming town.
Using face-to-face language exchanges in the city you are staying is not only a great way to meet local people, but can be key to improving your fluency in the foreign language. This way, you can certainly level up considerably in one month.
We are now in Seville, Spain, staying a stone's throw from Plaza de la Encarnación and right in the middle of Seville's extensive "casco antiguo" (historical town).
Three years ago, after staying in Barcelona for a month, (see: In Barcelona Learning "Spanish" is not Enough), we also took a trip though southern Spain, and stayed three days Seville. We immediately took a special liking to this lively and charming city.
We had fun retracing the steps of David, our young Gamesforlanguage Spanish 1 traveler, whose visit to Barcelona, Granada, Seville and Madrid provides the basic narrative for our Spanish 1 course. This year, with the plan to again improve our Spanish, we chose Seville as our one-month home.
Discovering Seville
When staying in a new city, the first few days are always a time to get one's bearings. In Seville, it's easy to keep getting lost in the narrow streets of the old city. They seem to run crisscross in no predictable direction, and the height of the buildings prevent you from orienting yourself with the sun's position.
But Seville's "casco antiguo" is a very walkable part of the 700,000+ inhabitants city. Once you've learned the major street patterns, you can easily reach all historical sights on foot.
Las Setas
The Metropol Parasol, dominates the plaza and surprised us during our first evening (see picture above) as we explored the neighborhood. Suddenly we found ourselves under what locals in Seville call "las setas" (the mushrooms).
It is a giant structure, designed by the German architect Jürgen Mayer and constructed of wood panels and steeland built between 2005 and 2011 to replace a defunct and derelict space. We should note that this structure has created much controversy, both due to its form, as well as due its construction cost and cost overruns.
We found the area of the Metropol Parasol quite appealing, with the giant Plaza full of life, outside seating areas for cafés and restaurants. A fruit, vegetable, fish and meat market is easily accessible on the street level, and, from a viewing platform on top, you have a wonderful view of the city, including La Giralda and now the newest item of controversy, the "Pelli Tower".
The Pelli Tower
The 580 foot, 43 story high tower, designed by Cesar Pelli's (former dean of Yale University's School of Architecture) New Haven firm, is currently being completed on the site of the 1992 Expo across the Guadalquivir river from Seville's historic city center.
As you can see on the picture above from the top of "las setas", the Pelli Tower in the back ground not only exceeds in height any of Seville's buildings, but is even nearly twice as high as La Giralda. Seville had to fear for its status as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2012. But after assuring the UNESCO Commission "that there will be no more buildings of such great height in the area", Seville was not put the UNESCO "danger list".
La Giralda and Alcázar
A cousin came to stay with us for the weekend, so we started out with visiting again La Giralda (the Almohad tower of the cathedral, picture left) and the Alcázar (a Mudéjar palace, picture below, right).
We marveled not only at the wonderful architecture and mosaics, but also at the many orange trees, full with oranges, in the courtyards and gardens.
Coming from New England and escaping the snow and cold, the weather here in Seville is a special treat during March. Sunny days with temperatures in the mid to high seventies encourage us to have lunch outside. The nights cool down into the high forties, providing perfect sleeping conditions.
Tre or Tres?
On Sunday, the three of us ventured to Triana, a neighborhood with a traditional tile and pottery industry as well as a lively flamenco culture.
Sitting in a sidewalk restaurant on the Calle San Jacinto, we experienced a somewhat funny exchange with the waiter, which made us pay special attention to the local dialect and pronunciations.
I ordered three beers, and - being under pressure - I let my Italian interfere. I said: “Tre cervezas, por favor.” The waiter gave me a quizzical look and asked in turn “Un? ... Dos? ... Tres?” and when I confirmed: “Tres, por favor” he nodded and said: “Tre, vale.
We found this amusing because I had mistakenly said "tre," very much in the way that he then acknowledged my order. He clearly had not expected a "Seville dialect" from me!
Dialect of Seville
In Seville, final consonants, or consonants at the end of syllables are often dropped. So, we mostly hear "gracia" (instead of "gracias" [thanks]) and "die" (instead of "diez" [ten]). We've also been noticing - in our frequent queries for directions - that Sevillians say "i-quierda" for "left" (instead of izquierda).
A closer, more academic look at the dialects of southern Spain provides a much more complicated picture, of course. During our stay, we were happy to soak up the language as it happened to us and to speak as much Spanish as we could.
Bio: Ulrike & Peter Rettig are co-founders of Gamesforlanguage.com. They are lifelong language learners, growing up in several European countries before moving to Canada and the United States. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The promising thaw, some time ago, in the relations between Cuba and the U.S. brought to mind that La Paloma, a song that over the years has been adapted and sung in so many languages, actually originated in Cuba.
In an earlier post, La Paloma Lyrics - Learning Spanish with a Song, we focused mainly on how you can learn some typical Spanish expressions by saying or singing the song's lyrics. In addition, we gave a brief summary of the song's history: Composed around 1860 by the Basque composer Sebastián Iradier after his visit to Havana.
La Paloma - A Song for the Ages
When you google "La Paloma song," you'll find a Wikipedia entry which tells you not only details about the song's motif (the dove), dating back to 492 BC; some of its history (a favorite of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico); early translations into French and German in the 1860's, with new lyrics in different languages, interpretations by famous artists; as well as the many movies in which a version of the song occurs.
La Paloma is arguably the most frequently played song and melody in the world. I've read that in Zanzibar it's being played at the end of weddings, in Romania at the end of funerals. In Germany it's a sailor's song, made famous by Hans Albers in his movie "Grosse Freiheit #7" in 1944.
The La Paloma - Carmen Connection
When digging a little further, I discovered that there's a connection between Iradier's "La Paloma" and the "Habanera" aria in Bizet's Carmen: "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle," which is said to be very close, melodically, to "El Arreglito," another song composed by Sebastián Iradier. Both are "habaneras," the name used outside of Cuba for the Cuban "contradanza," a type of dance music that became popular in the 19th century.
Bizet originally thought El Arreglito was a folk song, only to discover that it had been written by Iradier who had died ten years earlier. Bizet then added a note to the vocal score of "Carmen" to acknowledge the source.
Cuban Music History and Future
Another Wiki entry further explains: "The Cuban 'contradanza' (also called contradanza criolla, danza, danza criolla, or habanera) was a popular dance music genre of the 19th century. ... Its origins dated back to the European 'contredanse,' which was an internationally popular form of music and dance of the late 18th century.
It was brought to Santiago de Cuba by French colonists fleeing the Haitian Revolution in the 1790's ... During the first half of the 19th century, the 'contradanza' dominated the Cuban musical scene to such an extent that nearly all Cuban composers of the time, whether composing for the concert hall or the dance hall, tried their hands at the contradanza."
It's interesting that the language circle was completed when Iradier brought back the "habaneras" from his visit to Cuba, and when Bizet used "El Arreglito" for his French opera "Carmen". Many of the well-known dance styles such as rumbasalsa, mambo, chachacha, reportedly began in Cuba.
In the coming years the rediscovery of Cuban artists, which began in the 90s with the popular "Buena Vista Social Club" album and Wim Wender's 1999 movie about the band, will very likely continue.
And, if you're interested in the island's music and are maybe even considering a visit, the MyCubavisit.com website will give you some worthwhile information and insights.
Postscript:
(1) I recently came a across the post of a young Polyglot-in-the making. She suggests four simple steps for learning with songs to improve both your listening and speaking (maybe even singing!) skills. 1. Listen! 2. Sing! 3. Translate. 4. Retranslate It's fun AND effective and it works for all languages!
(2) We recently discovered a Spanish language site, Language Zen, which uses Spanish songs a their lyrics as part of their program. You won't find "La Paloma", but many contemporary songs on Language Zen. Also read our "Language Zen" - Learning Spanish - A Review
P.M. Tools for Language Learning? - updated 2-11-2017
Many language projects seem to fail because of Lack of motivation and Poor Time Management.
This is consistent with the unattributed survey graph we discussed in our previous post, Not enough time? Really? Language Learning and setting Priorities, although the graph had the order reversed: 24% of the respondents had voted for “Not enough time” and 16% for “Keeping up motivation” as their main difficulty when learning a new language.
(We had also speculated that the “not enough time” response may hide other reasons, so the discrepancy matters little.)
Lack of Motivation or Waning Motivation?
Maybe “lack” of motivation is not the right term. Most adult language learners are quite motivated when they start learning a new foreign language.
The strongest reasons are typically related to immigration, a new lover or family member, travel to or work in a foreign country, job or study requirements, and similar clear needs to be able to communicate in the foreign language.
There are other reasons, such as getting in touch with your family/language roots, religious interests, challenging yourself, or even just a passion for language learning. There is, however, an obvious correlation: The stronger the NEED, the stronger the motivation.
Even if motivation was strong at the start, it can easily weaken as the magnitude of the language project becomes clear.
This is especially true for those learners that get caught by slick marketing slogans and ads. And, motivation may also wane for those who have not learned to manage the essentials of what is really a long-term project. They will discover that learning a foreign language as an adult is not difficult per se, but that they will have to commit time to learn and practice.
My father often quoted a (German) saying: “Vor den Erfolg haben die Götter den Schweiß gesetzt” which translates as “The gods have set sweat (hard work) as a condition for success.”
Well, learning a foreign language does not involve sweat, but it does require sustained effort. And those who indeed approach language learning as a long-term project could benefit from applying some of the Project Management tools they may already be using in their professional life.
What is a Language Learning “Project”?
While not all elements typically found in Project Management handbooks are present in a foreign language learning project, important ones are: Projects follow a plan and organized approach; they have a beginning and an end and thus need a time schedule; they need resources; they have an end result or achieve a goal.
What is, however, quite different from the typical “project,” which often involves many people, is that YOU alone are all of these in one: the Project itself, its main participant, the Project Manager, both a resource and a resource consumer, the judge of success, etc.
Which P.M. Tools should you then apply?
Schedule – There are really two parts to this: (1) How long you have, and (2) How much time you can commit. Both are obviously closely related.
If you have only, say, three months to become proficient, you'll have to commit lots of time, take an immersion course, or find a tutor, etc.
(See also our post: 10,000 Hours for Foreign Language Mastery? We state there, for example, that for languages in Group I, Language Testing International (LTI) estimates that it takes a person with “Average Aptitude” 240 hours of training “under the supervision of an instructor and with 1-4 students per class” to reach “Intermediate Mid” proficiency.)
On the other hand, if you have much more than three months, you have many more choices and decisions to make. Such a schedule or timeline does not have to be complicated and is not difficult to create. For my timeline, I use an Excel-type spreadsheet; below, I show my current plan for improving my Spanish and learning Dutch. (More about my reasons for learning Dutch below.)
Resources – Here, money, teaching materials, and human resources come into play. Again, how long you have and available resources are important.
From free to pricey online courses, library materials, books, CDs, audios and DVDs, adult education/community college/university courses, to immersion courses in your country or abroad – the choices and decisions are yours.
The question of “What is best for me?” or “What is the best value for me?” is difficult to answer in general, but, if you google such questions, you can find many blog posts and reviews (including ours) for opinions and recommendations. One note of caution: There is no single “best” program or approach. Money alone does not buy you proficiency in a foreign language.
Nobody can do it FOR you. You have to do the learning YOURSELF! There may be approaches and methods that fit the way you learn better than others. Do some research and try out some approaches.
Most importantly, find the course(s) – in whatever medium – YOU ARE MOST LIKELY TO STICK WITH. But once you have decided on one or, even better, several teaching resources, you should show these and your practice/attendance on a simple timeline. (see below)
A schedule then serves several purposes: It documents your plan visually, you can add, modify or delete activities, it shows key milestones: reading an article; understanding a conversation, an audio, a video; participating in a conversation; writing emails, texts, a journal; proficiency tests, etc.
Accomplishment/Goal – Here, language learning deviates from the typical “project completion” celebration as learning a foreign language as an adult is often a life-long project.
Take my case: I've been in the the U.S. for many years, but have never been able to completely eliminate my German accent – it's not as noticeable as Henry Kissinger's, but it's still there. I took “accent reduction” classes and have to be conscious of how to pronounce “Ws” and “Vs.” I also occasionally find words that I have not heard before.
On the other hand, I read German newspapers to keep up with German as well. As with all languages, German is constantly evolving alongside new social developments. However, by setting certain milestones and targeting your learning to achieve these milestones, you can celebrate your accomplishments and then set yourself the next one.
If your goal is acing a proficiency test you need to take for college or work, it's an obvious one. But as you can see from my schedule example below, I also have a very specific goal for learning Dutch.
Why Learn Dutch?
Dutch is not a language one would learn without a very good reason. (A Google search surprised me, though: There are over 23 million people speaking Dutch, the majority living in The Netherlands (16 million) and the Flemish part of Belgium (6 million).
Islands in the Caribbean (Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, St. Maarten), Suriname (South America), and elderly Dutch speakers in Canada and Indonesia make up the balance.
In addition, Afrikaans, one of 11 official languages used in South Africa, is based on Dutch, and Afrikaans and Dutch speakers mutually understand each other. (This adds another 7 million.)
Now the reason I want to learn to UNDERSTAND Dutch is this: Every couple of years, my wife and I attend a family reunion in The Netherlands. My wife understands and speaks Dutch fluently and with my German background, I sometimes can make out a little.
But that's not enough to really be part of a conversation – even if I were to answer in English or German.
You may know that the Dutch probably speak better English than most of their European neighbors and our relatives are no exception. But when joining a table where everybody speaks Dutch, I often found that making all switch to English seemed like an imposition.
My goal therefore is quite simple: I just want to UNDERSTAND the conversations of our Dutch relatives. This way, when I am sitting at a table where Dutch is spoken, I can participate in the conversation and not force the whole table to switch to German or English. My longer-term goal is obviously to also speak Dutch, but I'll be happy with an interim step by September.
My Plan for Spanish and Dutch
The timeline below shows my current plan.
My focus is on completing the Spanish Duolingo course, as well as our GamesforLanguageSpanish 1 course (for the second time), before we head to Sevilla in the spring.
During our stay in Seville, we plan to hire a tutor for regular daily practice. My wife and I will make every effort to converse in Spanish and obviously take every opportunity to practice our Spanish while shopping, sightseeing, etc. We'll evaluate ourselves on our Spanish fluency at the end of our stay.
After our return in the spring, I'll increase my Dutch learning efforts, complete the Dutch Duolingo course, and subscribe to one or more online courses, most likely, Babbel and LingQ. My goal is to understand Dutch conversations during our stay in the Netherlands.
I do not know yet what I will do after getting back home. I'll probably start reading some Dutch books, maybe watch some Dutch YouTube clips, and, yes, start talking more in Dutch with my wife.
As for Spanish, assuming our fluency has further improved, we'll look for conversation partners among our friends and on online language exchanges, continue reading Spanish books and newspapers online, and watch Spanish movies and videos - because we know: "If you don't use it, you'll lose it!"
Postscript: At the time of the family reunion I had achieved my goal of being able to follow conversations. I am continuing my Dutch practice using both LearnwithOliver's and Lingohut's free Dutch lessons.
New Year's resolutions (and Fireworks!) seem to be universal in many countries and many of us use the beginning of a new year - whenever that may be - as a moment to both look backwards and forwards.
As the biggest New Year's Eve party in the U.S. is arguably held at Times Square in New York City, other countries also know how to party in their capitals or major cities.
Around the London Eye (the giant Ferris Wheel), huge fireworks light up the sky and the New Year's Day Parade with dancers, acrobats, and musicians is the place to be.
The Arab world does not celebrate the New Year, the notable exception being Dubai where this year another spectacle will likely eclipse last year's event at which nearly 500,000 firework rockets lit the sky during just 6 minutes.
This year the entire façade of the Burj Kalifa, at 2480 feet the highest building in the world(right), is to be covered with LED screens, which will be part of the fireworks, laser, and video show.
China celebrates its New Year according to its moon calendar, in 2015 on February 19, when the year of the sheep begins with the traditional Chinese fireworks and the country comes to a standstill for nearly a week. However, January 1 is also a holiday in China and in the larger cities the young celebrate the day by eating out and going to parties.
In countries where the four languages of our gamified Courses and Quick Games are spoken, the end-of-year traditions vary quite a bit, even by region in each country. The summary below can only list a fraction of the events and traditions and we invite our readers to comment and add others they know about.
German Speaking Countries
German is the country's only official language in Austria, Germany, and Lichtenstein. It is the "majority" language, and shares official status with the other languages, in Switzerland and Luxembourg.
Germany
New Year's Eve in German speaking countries is also called "Silvester," as December 31 is St. Silvester (or Sylvester) Day. This fourth-century Catholic pope and saint became associated with New Year's Eve, after the reform of the Gregorian calendar in 1582 when the last day of the year became December 31.
(Apart from the German-speaking countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Israel all use a variant of Silvester's name as the preferred name for New Year's Eve.)
In Germany's northern state Schleswig-Holstein, quite a few old traditions survive: "Rummelpottlaufen," quite similar to Halloween in the U.S., sees costumed children with a self-made music instrument (a can, covered with pig skin or thin leather, pierced by a willow-stick, which when turned and rubbed makes hollow and scary sounds), going from door to door on New Year's Eve, singing old tunes and being rewarded with candies and sweets.
Berlin is the site of Germany's biggest New Year's Eve party, which takes place around the Brandenburg Gate; "Berliner" (jam-filled doughnuts) are a particular favorite in Berlin, as in many other German-speaking countries during Silvester.
In the southern parts of Germany, originating from Austria and Switzerland, a cheese Fondue or Raclette is often also a typical New Year's dinner. At midnight a "Feuerzangenbowle," a punch made with red wine, orange peels, cinnamon, cloves, and poured over a burning sugar cone supplements or even replaces the German "Sekt" (sparkling wine).
Austria
In Austria, Vienna clearly holds the top spot for New Year's Eve celebrations. Before midnight, small marzipan or chocolate "fortune gifts" (figures of chimney sweeps, little fortune piggies, four-leaf clover, etc.) are exchanged.
As in many other German-speaking regions, "Bleigießen" (lead pouring) - the melting of small pieces of lead, dropped into cold water - results in a popular, fun game: the various forms of the hardened lead pieces let the participants speculate what a person may experience in the coming year.
This YouTube video of an ARTE.TV video (see also our post on how to connect to ARTE.TV) explains to a French audience (in German) how "Bleigießen" is done.
Impressive fireworks are part of the Vienna tradition as is a glass of champagne, and after the midnight countdown, the Danube waltz plays on all radio and tv stations.
I'm not familiar with any particular Silvester traditions in Switzerland, Lichtenstein, or Luxembourg that differ from those in the other German-speaking countries and regions.
French Speaking Countries
French is the second-most widespread language worldwide after English, as only these two languages are spoken on all five continents. French is an official language in 29 countries, most of which form la francophonie (in French), the community of French-speaking countries.
While particular end-of-year traditions may exist in most of these countries, we'll just focus here on France.
France
In France, huge municipal firework displays are not the customary way to usher in the New Year these days. French people tend to take things more quietly and celebrate with friends at home or in a restaurant.
These New Year's Eve celebrations - le réveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre - traditionally are a feast that includes plenty of champagne and foie gras or oysters, symbols of prosperity and good fortune. [You say "la" Saint-Sylvestre because it's short for "la fête de Saint-Sylvestre."] At midnight, everyone kisses under the mistletoe and offers their good wishes for the new year.
In Paris, the city of lights, New Year's Eve becomes a visual feast: from many vantage points in the city you can see the iconic, illuminated Eiffel Tower.
You'll find the biggest New Year's party on the Avenue de Champs Elysées, where hundreds of thousands of people gather to celebrate and wish each other "Bonne année" (Good year).
This year, Paris is adding a first-time spectacle before the final countdown: a 15-minute video show projected on the Arc de Triomphe, highlighting the Parisian "art of living." At the stroke of midnight, the skies will fill with illuminations.
On New Year's Day, it's the tradition to have a large family dinner and to give presents to the children as a way to celebrate the arrival of the new year.
Italy
Italy, where San Silvestro died on December 31, 335, obviously has a special relation to the Saint and uses the term "Notte di San Silvestro" (as well as "Vigilia di Capodanno") as names for New Year's Eve.
There are some particular Italian Notte di San Silvestro traditions that you may not know about: The most curious one must be to wear red underwear during the last day of the year.
It is supposed to bring you luck, health and love. Importantly, it should have been given to you as a present, for example for Christmas, and worn for the first time on New Year's Eve. This centuries-old custom, originally just observed by women, is now also being adopted by men! Anything for luck, health and love!
The San Silvestro dinner, eaten with family and friends, varies quite a bit from region to region, but it often includes fish and seafood.
At midnight when the bells ring, a traditional lentil stew is often eaten, one spoonful per bell, served together with "zampone" (pig's trotter, stuffed with spicy ground-up pork, usually dried and cured) or "cotechino" (a rind-and-pork-meat sausage). The round lentils, representing coins, are supposed to bring wealth and good fortune.
At midnight, fireworks are also displayed across much of the country and the first day of the year, "Capodanno," is an official holiday in Italy as in most other parts of the world.
Italian is also an official language in Switzerland (Tessin & Graubünden), San Marino, and Vatican City, and a second language in Malta, Slovenia, and Croatia, but we know little about particular end-of-year traditions in these regions or countries.
Spanish Speaking Countries
Spanish is a national language in 20 sovereign states and one dependent entity, totaling around 442 million people. For a Wikipedia list of countries where Spanish is an official language, click here. We'll focus here on Spain and Mexico.
Spain
New Year celebration in Spain starts with a family dinner, which often take place in a restaurant that also offers live music. Towards midnight many Spaniards go into the streets and to public squares to meet with friends and clink glasses to ring in the new year. New Year's celebrations are lively with fireworks and all kinds of noisemakers. In the town hall, sparkling wine and grapes for good luck are distributed.
In Madrid, people flock to Puerta de Sol for the city's big communal street party. But no matter where they live, Spanish people share the custom of the twelve luck-bringing grapes: at each of the twelve strikes of the midnight clock at the Puerta del Sol clock, you eat one grape and make a wish. (There are even special 12-grape holders as shown in the left picture.)
At strike 12 all grapes must be gone or else you risk getting bad luck. The strikes of the town hall clock are 3 seconds apart, so the official countdown starts 36 seconds before the hour. Throughout the country, everyone can watch the countdown on television.
[It is said that the custom of the 12 grapes goes back to 1909. In that year the grape harvest was overly plentiful that someone had the idea to use up the excess grapes in this way.]
From midnight on, it's time for toasts, hugs, and well-wishing, but not before each person has tossed a golden ring into his or her glass, for good luck.
And similar to the Italians, Spaniards also believe that wearing red underwear on the last day of the old and the first day of the new year brings the wearer luck, health and love.
Mexico
In Mexico, a family dinner, either at home or at a special restaurant is at the center of new year's celebrations. Tradition has it that the meal should start with a bowl of lentils, a symbolic promise of wealth and prosperity. The preferred drink is often tequila.
Shortly before midnight grapes are handed out for the traditional luck-bringing ritual. As in Spain, you should eat a grape and make a wish at each of the twelve strikes of the clock at midnight. The grape tradition seems to have migrated to most other Spanish-speaking countries as well.
Also, in Mexico there is a slight "refinement" from Spain's tradition: Mexicans have to choose what is more important to them: Wearing red underwear lets the owner be lucky in love, wearing yellow underwear makes the owner wealthy in the New Year.
Family Traditions
And as countries and regions have developed particular traditions and celebrations, so have many families: In my father's family in Berlin, Germany, the after-midnight snack was "Heringssalat," a Scandinavian/Northern Germany specialty that has many recipe variations.
The herring, potato, apple, and pickle combination makes a welcome change after the sweet treats of the Christmas season and we are now continuing this tradition with our extended family here in the U.S.
Since then I have tried out a few more iPad apps and also purchased and installed Google Chromcast. Here are some more “discoveries”:
German Apps
The German channel 1: das Erste or ARD
“Das Erste” (also: www.daserste.de) gives several choices with a selection bar at the bottom: “Tipps” (tips for viewing choices), “Live” (which sometimes you can't stream for “legal reasons'!), and “Program,” which lets you see the currently playing program.
With the arrow “<” icon you can scan previous programs. Those with a “Play” arrow you can often stream and play. (However, sometimes my iPad does not stream movies which work fine on the laptop and with www.daserste.deorwww.ard.de).
Recently, I have found that rather than the app, using Safari on the iPad and with www.mediathek.daserste.de or www.ardmediathek.de/tv works better. Just select the movies or programs that interest you.
Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg (rbb)
“rbb mediathek” is the ipad and Android app of the Berlin-Brandenburg radio station, which can also be accessed via http://mediathek.rbb-online.de/tv. This app actually works quite well and you can see the latest TV-news, documentaries, movies, newest clips, and live streams just by scrolling down the home page.
You can even go back and find a program you may have missed with “Sendung verpasst” (broadcast missed) by selecting one in the alphabetical directory “A bis Z.” Under “F” you'll find “Film im rbb” and the rbb movies from the last seven(7) days that you can stream. Because this app work so well, it has become one of my favorites.
YouTV.de
A reader of the previous post suggested also YouTV.de to watch German TV channels. We are currently trying out the free version and like it. You can have TV programs recorded and watch them later.
There are also fee options that expand the number of programs you can record and the number of days they remain available.
French Apps
The France TV Pro app I had discussed previously stopped working for me after I upgraded my iPad to iOS 8.1.1, so I deleted it. I am currently trying “France 24.” The ads are quite entertaining in French, but the “News Bulletin” as well as the “Business” news are in English, so not helpful for French learners. (Corrrection: top left, "Accueil", you can change the language to "Français"). France 24 is a news channel and you can listen to news clips in French of events happening around the globe. I also installed the “Télé-Loisirs” app but it plays only short previews. It requires access to a “box” of various French companies (freebox, TV d'Orange, SFR neufbox, Bbox and DARTY BOX) and can't be accessed in the US.
Arte+7 Mediathek (Arte.tv) still works best for me for French language movies. (For example, if you chose the movie, currently playing: "Plus que 6 jours” which will be available for 3 more days, you'll hear “High” German (as well as Swiss German) and see French subtitles, a multilingual experience for French/German learners...)
Do readers have any other suggestions for French apps?
Italian and Spanish Sites
I haven't found any worthwhile individual apps that let you stream Italian and French movies.
Italian
The many Rai apps you can find in the iTunes Store let you download some old shows as podcasts. But I have found that the Rai website, www.rai.tv while confusing, is a better bet. “Rai Replay” will allow you to replay broadcasts of the last seven days for the listed channels. It takes some searching to find a movie or episode that you can play in the US, even if you focus only on the blue coded broadcasts, (“I programmi già disponibili in modalità Replay sono contrassegnati dal colore azzurro”) as quite a few can't be played in the US or your country.
Spanish
Finding Latin American channels in the US is typically not a problem. Many or most of the Cable companies have them as part of their basic package. If you are looking for TV stations in Spain you can chose among five: RTVE,antena3, quattro, telecinco, and Canal+ (which is a subscriber service). Those that I tried for a movie video all require the Flash Player (which will exclude the use of an iPad),
I also recently came across Bethany's post: Fun way to Reinforce Learning, in which she lists the following sites, and which she recommends especially for dubbed movies in the two languages:
Postscript: Sipeliculas also requires the Flashplayer, and while you get 5 free days with italia-film when you enter your credit card, watch out: They use Geeker.com for their membership management and you are automatically renewed, if you don't cancel in time! Both seem to have a good selection of movies.
Google Chromcast
I succumbed to the urge to buy another gadget: Google Chromcast. After setting up the Chromcast via an iPad app, I was disappointed that I could only “cast” those programs to the TV, for which the iPad app was Chromcast enabled. For example with “SnagFilms” you can cast all kind of movies, but I haven't found a foreign one yet worth watching. (and you'd have to live with the annoying ad breaks while watching!)
However, using your laptop with your Chrome Browser and after installing the “Google Cast” extension, you can cast any movie or program you can find and play on your lap top. I did so yesterday with several German rbb (see above) and French arte.TV movies. (Unfortunately, you'll also encounter quite a few movies on Arte where you'll get a message like: “Cette vidéo n'est pas disponible dans votre pays” or “Dieses Video ist in ihrem Land nicht verfügbar” (This video is not available in your country), obviously depending on the country from which you are trying to access the site.)
(One way to get around this problem is to pay for a Secure line VPN. I subscribe to a Avast Secure Line VPN and can get all my German stations and movies by selecting Frankfurt as my city.)
Bio: Peter Rettig is the co-founder of Gamesforlanguage.com. He is a lifelong language learner, growing up in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and leave any comments with contact or below.
During our recent stay in Seville, Spain (see picture left), we were again reminded how challenging local dialects are for foreign language learning. 
First Impressions of the Local Dialect in Seville, Spain, we noticed right away that some consonants are dropped at the end and in the middle of words, so "gracia" instead of "gracias," "do cerveza" instead of "dos cervezas," "E'paña," "e'pañol," etc. 
We noticed that [d] was weakened or dropped entirely when between two vowels. For example in the bus, we heard "próxima para" (instead of "próxima parada," next stop); and, our Sevillian acquaintances would say "a menu'o" (instead of "a menudo,") often. 
