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 Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 5:22 pm
It had been a while since Nash had last seen Micajah. He had been pretty banged up but they managed to make the best of their time with a little language studies. Spanish had been the topic of the day and ever since, Nash had learned he liked language. Not so much as speaking but the learning process was rich and rewarding. The book he had been given he'd looked it over and studied as much as his little brain could take.
Now it was time to put it to the test and hopefully make his personal professor proud. Last time Micajah was just a basic student but he had recently moved to the School of Magic. Nash was soon on his way, currently going through processing detail. Not much about him had changed still as little as ever with his pumpkin head.
Rapping lightly on Mica's door he waited patiently for an answer. Maybe it was a bit too late to be studying? Last he'd checked it was only 7 o'clock at night.
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Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 8:24 pm
Micajah had his nose stuck in a book before he heard the knock at the door, his body laying on his bed on his stomach, and he turned his head to look while using his finger as a temporary place marker. He hadn't been expecting anyone to come over tonight, so he was dressed in knee-length cargo shorts and a pink wife beater a-frame shirt, his hair messy in a half-assed ponytail.
He rolled off his bed and made his way to the door, opening it up and poking his head out to glance into the hallway. When a familiar pumpkin head of hair greeted him he leaned back a little bit before his brain registered the name of the person who was attached.
"Oh, Nash. Come in, come in. No need to stand out in the hall."
He smiled brightly despite his clear awkwardness at being seen dressed like a slob, something he was trying to do less and less, and he stepped aside so Nash could enter.
"What can I do for you?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 11:16 pm
"Mica?" For a moment the boy couldn't register who was at the door until he took another look at his notes. Yep this was his room. Ah well maybe that's what he got for not keeping in contact with the other students he had met over time.
"Sorry you look different..." Despite the sloppiness Nash was more talking about the long hair and his slightly older, mature appearance. "Um.. sorry to bother you, I was eager to learn a bit more about Spanish. I hope I'm not interrupting anything." He slipped past the other student looking around his room.
"So this is where they have you holed up. It's really nice?" He commented standing around until he was offered a seat.
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Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:38 pm
"Heh, not used to seeing me look so disheveled? I'm normally not this messy with my appearance but I wanted to relax a bit before bed, so you'll have to forgive me."
Micajah closed the door as Nash entered and went about moving things around so there was a clear space on his bed, should the other decide to sit there, and he dogeared the page of the book he was reading with a little regret so as to not lose his place.
"Feel free to have a seat on the bed if you'd like, sorry I'm not much for one in the ways of chairs., but sure. I'm glad you stopped by so soon after our lesson, I was starting to wonder if you'd forgotten again."
The older youth sat himself on the floor and set his book beside, waiting to see what Nash would do or what else the boy would want.
"And yes, I can't complain about how it is. At least it's a place to live."
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 12:12 am
Nash took a seat on the bed mindful not to hog the whole thing but getting comfortable enough just the same. Shaking his head, he looked up to the other, "I'm not too worried about your appearance. I'm not all that better off.." he commented.
Holding up the book he had been allowed to borrow he smiled sheepishly from behind it. "Um... mind if we get started. I brought a notebook this time too so I can jot down some notes." He was eager to get started but wasn't sure where they should start. At this point anything was fine so long as he could keep up with the lesson.
"Do you have any new vocabulary for me? Or shall we review first?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 6:48 pm
"Hm, a refresher would be pretty good, and I'm glad to see you've been reading the book. It never hurts to go over the basics again and again, because without them you're pretty much lost in anything."
Micajah smiled at the pumpkin who had settled on his bed for a moment before he turned and started to look for something - eventually finding whatever it was he was seeking in the form of a notepad and paper of his own. Even though he knew what he was doing, he still sometimes had to write it out to make sure he was doing it correctly, his reading of Spanish usually better than his speaking anyway.
"So what do you remember so far? What are the main differences between Ser and Estar, despite the fact both of them mean 'I am'?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 8:04 am
Nash smiled sitting up a bit to take his lesson more seriously as he thought back to their first lesson. Letting his mind wrap around the lesson he then answered, "The difference is that ser is on a more permanent basis for use while ester is on a general basis. For example 'I am a boy' would require the use of ser because its something that cannot change. While 'I am feeling good' would use ester because my condition could change later." He smiled hoping his answer was useful as he looked up for approval.
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 10:15 pm
"Good, good! It seems like you remember that well enough, so how about today we work on learning the different forms of conjugation. Like how to say 'I, you, he/she/it, we, them', and then the proper ending forms for that."
Micajah dropped his notepad down in front of him and wrote out what they were going to learn in English first, followed by the Spanish behind it. For now this is what they would focus on, then worry about what came next.
I - yo
you - tú
he - él
she - ella
you (formal) - usted
we - somos
them (male) - ellos
them (female) - ellas
you all (formal) - ustedes
"There's also something called 'vosotros', which would be the equal to 'you all', but it's informal so you don't really need to learn it. Many people don't use it unless you're in Spain and you're talking to someone you know very well."
He waited for Nash to get this all down before he'd continue.
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Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 6:20 am
"Oh good." He sighed, happy to have remembered that much. It had took him a while but with enough study between classes he had managed. Now as his violet orbs scanned the paper he began jotting down notes of his own to take back with him for later study.
Listening to Mica's explanation and getting used to the sight of the words and their English meanings he was eager to try sounding some of them out, rolling a few of the words around on his tongue he smiled and waited to continue their lesson.
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Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 9:44 pm
"I also forgot to mention this about Ser and Estar, but since we're still sort of on the subject about them, I wanted to tell you that they can be used in another type of situation. Estar can be used to describe where something is (such as location), as well as what a person is currently doing. Ser is used to describe as a possession, like this book being mine, as well as when things take place (events)."
Micajah had just recalled that as soon as he thought about how he would start teaching the boy to conjugate things when asked what he was doing, so he was glad he'd remembered to add it in. For two simple words they sure meant many things, and it was often troublesome or tiring to know all the rules.
"Any questions before we move on? I'm planning on trying to teach you how to conjugate verbs based on their status (I, you, he/she), using Ser and Estar, but let me know if I'm going too fast."
He had already started to write some out on his paper, stopping once he looked up at the pumpkin.
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Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 1:04 am
Nash was eager to get started and jotted down some more notes for the bit of information given to him just then. "No I think we can move on, I'll be able to pick up on things better if we try them out." He nodded running a hand through his hair he gave himself a stretch looking around the room before focusing on Micajah again. It was close to his usual time of snacks but he had done himself a favor and left most of his usual snacks in his room. Only a few wrappers of bubble gum were all he managed to bring.
"Ah do you want one?" He asked pulling the gum out from his pocket. He opened one plopping the bit in his mouth holding the other out for Mica in case he wanted to try.
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Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:29 am
"Ah, no thanks. I don't like to eat when I'm studying since I can be a messy eater sometimes and I like to have my books and papers still clean when I get through it all. Even though it's just gum, with my luck I'd find a way to get it everywhere."
Micajah smiled and wrote down on his paper the first stage of conjugation for the verb Ser. If he could teach a few verbs probably conjugated first then he could go on to listing all the endings out to make it even easier. One step at a time.
Ser - ( to be )
yo soy ( I am )
tú eres ( you are )
él/ella/usted es ( he is / she is / you are [formal] )
nosotros somos ( we are )
ellos/ellas/ustedes son ( they are / you all are [formal] )
"There, copy that down and I'll do the same for Estar right beneath it. Copy that too."
Estar - ( to be )
yo estoy ( I am )
tú estas ( you are )
él/ella/usted esta ( he is / she is / you are [formal] )
nosotros estamos ( we are )
ellos/ellas/ustedes estan ( they are / you all are [formal] )
There would be an explanation shortly, when Micajah knew Nash was done writing.
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:34 pm
Doing as told he copied the information word for word not wanting to miss anything important. While he did so he tried sounding some of the words out in his head others he tried aloud but it was mostly for his own personal understanding, to get a feel for the sound on his tongue.
Ser - ( to be )
yo soy ( I am )
tú eres ( you are )
él/ella/usted es ( he is / she is / you are [formal] )
nosotros somos ( we are )
ellos/ellas/ustedes son ( they are / you all are [formal] )
Estar - ( to be )
yo estoy ( I am )
tú estas ( you are )
él/ella/usted esta ( he is / she is / you are [formal] )
nosotros estamos ( we are )
ellos/ellas/ustedes estan ( they are / you all are [formal] )
Once he was complete he showed his work in case anything was misplaced, Mica could pick it up for corrections. It wouldn't do go to learn words that were spelled incorrectly in his notes. "All set?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 8:58 pm
"Right, muy bueno, well done. You're getting the idea of how it works and you seem to have a good style of pronunciation. Usually the hardest part about other languages it getting them right when you speak, as even the slightest change in tone can make the word entirely different. Just as those who speak Mandarin Chinese, or Vietnamese."
It was true on those, someone could merely raise their tone just a slight octive and a whole sentence would come out differently - and probably offensive in some cases.
"There's actually a little rhyme that goes with keeping ser and estar apart. I sing it to myself when I'm confused as to what to use, or just to keep my memory sharp."
Whenever someone asks you how you are, you respond using the verb Estar.
But when what you're like is what they want to know, you use Ser. Let's repeat and here we go.
He went through and repeated the endings as he had before, his tongue rolling them off with ease.
"Hm...what should come next? To be honest there are so many things to learn and I can teach you them all, but is there anything you want to know first and most of all?"
Micajah had already forgotten his learning plan.
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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 1:40 am
"Actually I want to learn all kinds of languages but as far as this one step at a time." Nash chuckled thinking back to previous lessons and what he'd like to know. "I can't really think of anything. How about I just point at things and you tell me what it is?" He offered thinking it a possibly fun game to play.
"Um if you're not sure about something then maybe we could look it up later. I just want to get out and learn about all the different vocabulary." Looking around he pointed to the desk with a soft smile. "How about that? What's the word for desk?"
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