Watching Azúcar Amarga (Bitter Sugar)

My Spanish movie for the week!



Here's the plot from IMDB (internet movie database):

"Gustavo is a young Havana Communist who believes in the revolution; he hopes for a scholarship to study aeronautical engineering in Prague. But his faith in the new Cuba is tested: his father, a psychiatrist, can make four times as much playing piano at a hotel for foreigners; his sweetheart, Yolanda, wants a career as a dancer and longs for the riches of Miami; his younger brother Bobby simply wants to play rock music, and as a result is in constant trouble with the authorities. When Bobby takes a shocking step of revolt and Gustavo is refused service at a foreigners-only bar, the contradictions in his resolve to become a "new man" push him to the breaking point." Written by {jhailey@hotmail.com}

Although not exactly uplifting, the movie plays in beautiful modern Havana. The story is compelling (and true!) and gives a good picture of life in Cuba. Lots of dialog.

Easiest to understand: Dad, then Gustavo, then Yolanda. It's a little stretch to grasp everything they're saying, as articulation is not very clear, but hey, that's how they speak. I watched it once with English subtitles, then without. Knowing the story line and the content of the dialogs helps tremendously!

On a scale from 1-10 for Spanish learning, I'd give it a 7.

Michel Thomas Spanish Course: Report 1

I'm currently on the 3rd CD of the Michel Thomas Beginner Spanish course. I like his approach a lot - it's like a brain massage where I come out knowing all the basic structures I need in order to speak.

I'm amazed that I'm able to remember pretty much everything he's telling me, even days later, after going through every CD only once. My hunch is that it's because I've done so much Passive Listening of Spanish materials in the past, so I understand everything he says and know how it's spelled and written. I'm not sure how a total beginner would fare since there's no written materials.

I'll be sure to include his CD's into any of my language learning combos for future languages!

Nathalie on the Chuck Wilder Show!

Nathalie discusses with Chuck Wilder why learning languages is one of the factors that can help boost the American economy in these turbulent times.

You can listen to the recording here:

Claudette helping out in Cameroon

SpeakEZ Languages donates 10% of its profits to causes close to our heart. IDAAS is one of them.




Here are a few pictures of Claudette in Cameroon. She was so inspired by the work her friends Glory and George had done that she decided to help them set up a non-profit organization (IDAAS) to provide training on sustainable and self-reliant organic farming practices.















Claudette serves as their U.S. officer and is happy to report that Glory and the IDAAS farms have brought jobs, joy, organic food, education and sustainability to the people of Wum and Bambili (small towns in NW Cameroon)!

Nathalie talks to Scott Sloan on WLW

I talked to Scott Sloan about the LPGA decision to have their foreign players pass an English test to participate in the tour - more about that story at http://www.golfweek.com/protours/lpga/story/lpga-english-news-082508

During our conversation, Scott raised a valid question: why should Americans learn a foreign language, since it's not a necessity for them as much as it is for Europeans? I'm not sure that my answer convinced him... so do me a favor and respond to this post with what I could have said to win him over!

Here's the recording for you:

Jean Dean interviews Nathalie Fairbanks on WRVC

Nathalie had a lovely conversation with Jean Dean about learning a language in Europe vs. the U.S., how to keep up your language skills, whether or not to study Latin, and what's different between learning a language as a child vs. learning as an adult.

Click here to listen to their exchange:

Catherine's Birthday

Here's Catherine blowing out her first birthday candle with Mommy's help. I opted out of making a cake for her -- not knowing about sugar is a blissful state of being!

She very much enjoyed the bananas, strawberries and blueberries...