Spanish

Mallorca – Destination Dreamin’

/ Ben Starling / Leave a comment

We’re Destination Dreamin’ of Mallorca

Mallorca is on our route from mainland Spain to Greece on the upcoming boat delivery. 

The Can Opener is about to begin studying exceptionally hard and all good Can Openers deserve an extra bit of start-up motivation. 

We’re gonna take a moment to relax, put the paws up, crack open the smoked oysters, and picture the future… in Mallorca.  We can hardly wait!!

 

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Destination Dreamin’
Next: Cruising in Oceania
Next: Menorca – Destination Dreamin’ 
Previously: More Destination Dreamin’ of Spain

More Destination Dreamin’ of Spain

/ Ben Starling / Leave a comment

Crewing on the boat delivery from Spain to Greece… looks like it might really come through! 

That gives the Can Opener just a few short months to become bilingual. 

To ensure the deed is well done, I have filled an ipod with Spanish lessons culled from the CD that came with his textbook.  Then I attach this to his head while he is doing my dishes, ironing my cape and polishing my sceptre. 

I expect great results.

Meanwhile we are both so excited, we are doing some more destination dreamin’ of Spain!

 
 
–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Destination Dreamin’
Next: La Dolce Vita

Previously: Spain – Destination Dreamin’

French, Spanish… and then some!

/ Ben Starling / Leave a comment

Just ordered even more great books for the sea library!

But these should be the last additions for a while. Lookin’ forward to more good snoozing ahead…

  • Spanish for Cruisers: The Boater’s Complete Language Guide for Spanish-Speaking Destinations, by Kathy Parsons
  • French for Cruisers: The Boater’s Complete Language Guide for French Waters, by Kathy Parsons

and

  • Twenty Small Sailboats to Take You Anywhere, by John Vigor
  • Seaworthy Offshore Sailboat: A Guide to Essential Features, Handling, and Gear, by John Vigor


Book reviews coming soon! 

–Captain Cat


(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Book reviews coming soon:

Spanish for Cruisers
French for Cruisers    
Twenty Small Sailboats to Take You Anywhere

Seaworthy Offshore Sailboat
Languages

Study Sailing in French… and Spanish?

/ Ben Starling / 3 Comments

Big load of books (ordered last week) came through the mail slot yesterday! I am celebrating first off with a giant snooze on Tania Aebi’s Maiden Voyage. It looks great!

Aaaaaaaannnd… I just ordered:
  • Mettre les voiles : Le manuel pour choisir son bateau, naviguer, vivre à bord, par Antoine 

I figure if the Can Opener’s upgrading his French for cruising in the Pacific Islands, why not kill two birds with one stone (yum) and get a ‘How to Cruise’ text in French to study with?

Come to think of it… the Can Opener’s just a beginner at Spanish. I bet I can find some kind of beginner ‘learn to sail’ book that covers parts of the boat and basic terminology in Spanish. 

Maybe something put out by the Spanish yachting association or on amazon.es. Hmm. Off to research…

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Can Opener: Okay – I see the logic and all… but are you ever going to include me in your planning?

Captain Cat (tail lashing): Why would I do that?

Spain – Destination Dreamin’

/ Ben Starling / Leave a comment
 
You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.
–Yogi Berra

We may have a line on a catamaran delivery from Spain to Greece… It’s with a guy we met at the Cruising Dinner. Will it pan out? Who knows?! At least we feel like the ball is rolling… and that feels great!

Now we’ve got somewhere to aim for. We’re pretty good at dreaming of Greece. And now’s as good a time as any to start dreamin’ of Spain…

 


–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Captain Cat: Incidentally, Can Opener. How goes the Spanish studying?

Can Opener: I’m plugging the podcasts into my head as we speak… ¿Qué tal?!

Destination Dreamin’

What Happened to ‘Spanish for Sailing’ Studies??

/ Ben Starling / Leave a comment
In a Caribbean market – would you know how to ask for any of these?
So. What happened to the Can Opener’s Spanish studying regime?

Why Spanish?
I’ve mentioned before that I require the Can Opener to successfully communicate while shopping in island markets for my breakfast treats (in the Caribbean, 64% of West Indians speak Spanish. Only 14% speak English)*. Treats are an important part of the life that I aspire to and deserve.

Study Plan #1
To achieve this, I added 30 minutes of study time per day to the Can Opener’s original ‘Plan to Get Trained’ – which is all part of Captain Cat’s ‘Invincible Plan to Get Cruising’.

How’s it going?
Recently, I checked in with him… casually asked how the studying was going… as I had noticed that the stack of Spanish texts hadn’t budged from where they were 2 months ago.

The conversation went something like this…


Captain Cat: So. Can Opener. Qué passa?

Can Opener: ??

Captain Cat: The Spanish studying, bud. You’ve been hitting the books as promised?

Can Opener: Ah ‘Qué passa’! Why didn’t you say so? Multo FABulissimo, um, Capitano, um… Cat. Tostada buena macarachi tequila… hmm.

Captain Cat (with eyes as tiny slits): We must have a little chat… NOW.

Shortly thereafter…

Agreed: Study Plan #2

  1. The Can Opener will aim for 15 minutes of Spanish study – Monday to Friday only.
  2. Any kind of studying counts: reading, podcasts, writing exercises…
  3. We’ll check back in a month or so and see how it’s going.
  4. We are a merciful captain.
Cat wisdom
Better slow and steady than idealistic and not happening.


Your suggestions on motivating the Can Opener? 
I prefer rewards rather than punishments. Give him an extra sardine if he finishes his exercises? Add a smoked oyster for listening to a Spanish newscast?

I can’t take away his TV watching privileges as he doesn’t watch it anyway.



–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

* Languages of the Caribbean, Wikipedia 

Languages
Previously: Languages for the Islands

Languages for the Islands

/ Ben Starling / Leave a comment
How do you ask ‘how much for each of these’?
I need the Can Opener to be able to successfully communicate while shopping in island markets for my breakfast treats…

What languages are spoken in some of the most popular cruising destinations – the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands?

While English can take you a long way in larger cities, the real magic of sailing is that you can visit the tiny, out of the way villages and islands rarely visited by regular tourists.

Being able to communicate in the language of whatever customs/port official you are standing in front of can go a long way towards making life smoother and more carefree too. 


Mediterranean
Official languages of islands in and around the Mediterranean include: French, Spanish, Greek, Italian, Croatian and Turkish, as well as Maltese, Corsican, Sardinian and Arabic. The first four are spoken on the largest of the Mediterranean islands.

Caribbean
According to wiki, only 14% of West Indians are English speakers. Less than 25% speak French. On the other hand, 64% of West Indians speak Spanish. (Although Dutch is still an official language in Aruba, Curaçao and St Martin, less than 0.7% of islanders speak it these these days.)*

Sounds like Spanish in your pocket would be a great help. Especially if you decide to sail around South America before heading over to the… 

Pacific Islands
Almost every island has English as at least one of the official languages (and Australia and New Zealand are not too far away too). The exceptions are French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Vanuatu where French is an official language. There are also 100s of indigenous languages spoken.**


Language Training

Fortunately the Can Opener has a few years of French study behind him and a bit of Italian. But no Spanish. And for the first 3 major legs of our long term passage plan, it looks like English and Spanish will give the best coverage.

So. I have put the Can Opener on a new program of intensive Spanish study for 30 minutes/day, 5 days a week. Starting now. He can learn the other 17 languages I have planned for him while we’re on the boat.

Since his Spanish consists of a few words like ‘burrito’ and ‘tequila’, he can’t get any worse. The only way to go is up.

Cost of Language Study
  • Can Opener’s old university textbooks from a Spanish course he dropped years ago – free!
  • Library study materials – free!
  • University introductory language lessons on podcasts (if you search carefully) – free!
  • Bookmarking and reading articles and news sites in Spanish online – free!
  • Emailing good friends who are native Spanish speakers – free!
  • Pronunciation lessons from Captain Cat – free! (Repeat after me: Soy un gato guapo!)

The real challenge is not cost. It’s the discipline to put in the 30 minutes of study time per day, every day.

Fortunately I am very disciplined about the Can Opener’s discipline. I find he absorbs the most early mornings, right after preparing my 6am first breakfast.

Any other recommendations on good low cost ways to study languages?



–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)


Next: What Happened to ‘Spanish for Sailing’ Studies??
Previously: Plan to Get Trained

* Languages of the Caribbean, Wikipedia
** Official and Spoken Languages of Australia and the Pacifics, Nations Online