School Bells

I have heard of the Coffee Break podcasts, Sancho. I did the first one. :D Once. I'll give them a whirl. They have French and Chinese, too, in addition to other languages.

Here's the link, Maddie:


http://radiolingua.com/cbs-step-1/


The BBC also has an online course:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/


Congrats, Mutatis.

That's really cool, OP. What did it look like? Did you feel somewhat awed-I would, I admit it!

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Originally Posted by The Comedian

I'm goin' back to school. Actually, I started several weeks ago. Still workin' and all that, just going to school part-time -- trying to pick up my second MA, this new one being in philosophy.

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good luck! :)

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Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandis

Every year, my university selects one grad student to be a representative on their literature committee, and guess who they picked? This guy! (Commence jokes now.)

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Congratulations, Mutatis.

Let us know if you need a reference.

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Originally Posted by Madhuri

...Just imagine an Indian speaking Spanish! If those who know the language hear me, they'll be rolling on the floor laughing at my accent :p It will sound funny, I am sure :)

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One thing found with Latinos is that they love to speak Spanish with a non-native speaker. I’ve had the exact opposite experience in Europe, regardless of the country, and regardles of the local lingo. So, Madurhi, if you come to Latin America, just jump right in. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how warm the people can be. And I reckon they’ll dig your accent. A few years ago, a co-worker and I had a chance to bomb around Quito for a day. She’s a Chinese woman with a pidgin Spanish that’s about as crappy as my pidgin Spanish. But she has an aggressive, take-no-prisoners type of personality. I can’t remember having so much fun in a long time. Ecuadorians tend to be overly polite, in my opinion, and now they’ve got this overly caffeinated Chinese woman jabbering away at them in a rapid-fire version of Spanish and Mandarin. What a hoot. We had a great time. I just stood back and watched the show, for the most part.

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Originally Posted by qimissung

That's really cool, OP. What did it look like? Did you feel somewhat awed-I would, I admit it!

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They have them bound in newer leather binding, it was strangely ordinary. I got to handle some 16th century manuscripts on parchment too. Apparently the rarest thing in the University collection are some pages of the Gutenberg Bible, but the librarian didn't let me touch that.

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Originally Posted by OrphanPip

They have them bound in newer leather binding, it was strangely ordinary. I got to handle some 16th century manuscripts on parchment too. Apparently the rarest thing in the University collection are some pages of the Gutenberg Bible, but the librarian didn't let me touch that.

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Robarts has a first folio, but you cannot touch it.

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Originally Posted by OrphanPip

They have them bound in newer leather binding, it was strangely ordinary. I got to handle some 16th century manuscripts on parchment too. Apparently the rarest thing in the University collection are some pages of the Gutenberg Bible, but the librarian didn't let me touch that.

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That's always a little disappointing. What about the text? Was it also ordinary? :(

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Originally Posted by qimissung

I have heard of the Coffee Break podcasts, Sancho. I did the first one. :D Once. I'll give them a whirl. They have French and Chinese, too, in addition to other languages.

Here's the link, Maddie:


http://radiolingua.com/cbs-step-1/


The BBC also has an online course:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/

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Thanks, Qimi. :)

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Originally Posted by Sancho

One thing found with Latinos is that they love to speak Spanish with a non-native speaker. I’ve had the exact opposite experience in Europe, regardless of the country, and regardles of the local lingo. So, Madurhi, if you come to Latin America, just jump right in. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how warm the people can be. And I reckon they’ll dig your accent. A few years ago, a co-worker and I had a chance to bomb around Quito for a day. She’s a Chinese woman with a pidgin Spanish that’s about as crappy as my pidgin Spanish. But she has an aggressive, take-no-prisoners type of personality. I can’t remember having so much fun in a long time. Ecuadorians tend to be overly polite, in my opinion, and now they’ve got this overly caffeinated Chinese woman jabbering away at them in a rapid-fire version of Spanish and Mandarin. What a hoot. We had a great time. I just stood back and watched the show, for the most part.

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The teacher at the institute is Spanish. He speaks English but with an accent; I can see some interesting conversation happening in the future. :D

Grading papers today and feeling very frustrated by students who can't follow the simplest of format instructions.

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Originally Posted by OrphanPip

Grading papers today and feeling very frustrated by students who can't follow the simplest of format instructions.

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Could be worse. I just lectured on "World Literature" and these kids argued Western people are sexist because of Greek mythology. Here they abort and murder female babies because of their gender, but us "Westerners" are sexist because Aphrodite is an objectified sense of male desire. What?

The way literature is written here they see it as a continuous unbroken tradition, and think we are still in the times of aristotle, and they still in the times of Confucius. Nothing could be further from the truth, they call it history because things change.

Basically I told the girl, I do not care that you've read Virginia Woolf and imagine yourself something of a Feminist, you know nothing about Feminism, or history.

Trying to finish my final assignment but due to factors that were out of my control, it's left till very last minute... Just trying to throw things together and hope that my Prof will be able to make sense of it all :D

Someone remind me not to take anymore courses.

I mean the one after this one... Next course will start in February :svengo:

Good luck Scher I hope it all goes well.

Thank you, Cacian.

Phew. Another assignment (and course) out of the way. Next one starts in February, which gives me two whole weeks of freedom.

Luckily, I have got student assignments to mark to keep me busy; don't know what I would have done with all this free time, otherwise.

Scher - I've said it before and I'll say it again - you are a glutton for punishment. Oh and by the way, you really ought to think about not doing any more courses....after the one in February, that is.....

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Originally Posted by papayahed

Thanks guys! I was waffling between an MBA and Spanish. Spanish won over because I really wanted to start this semester and I haven't taken the GMAT yet.

This semester I'm taking Spanish and Intro to Fiction. Both should be pretty decent, except one of the books for the fiction class is Possession by Byatt. I really really disliked that book!!

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I ditched Spanish a while back because the school didn't offer any night classes and it started getting difficult to fit them in with work and all. (I talked to the dean about it but she pretty much told me that I needed to make school a priority.)

And Viola! 5 years later I'm starting the MBA program in March. yeah!! It won't be as much fun as spanish but it works with my schedule AND I can get work to pay for it.

That last night be the best part! Congrats, papaya, on getting accepted. What will you be getting your degree in?