fadeaccompli

Prepositions are troubling me.

The thing about Spanish prepositions is that as soon as you get away from the very literal/physical ones describing the position and movement of two physical objects in actual space, they stop meshing with English prepositions quite so well. It's a little subtle thing, and it's usually clear from context, but--it's one of those places where my ability to express myself in a language starts sliding behind my reading/listening comprehension.

All those little places where there's an "a" and I would have expected a "con", or a "de" when I thought it would be a "por"... Spanish is not just English with different words. Spanish is not just English with different words and a different way of handling verbs. Spanish is not just English with different words and a different way of handling verbs and adjectives on the other side of nouns and some quirky idioms and gendered nouns and...

I am also troubled by the words that I just can't find in my dictionary, and can't find a close-enough word to guess at. But vocab is one of those things I just have to pick up over time; I'm still slowly getting used to the words for shoulder, to tie up, wild beast, tangle, bug, shoreline, motorboat, to be in the habit of doing, compass--all those words that show up over and over again until I reach for the dictionary to look them up for the sixth time and realize I remember what it means.

But vocab I have the dictionary for. It's those prepositions that are gonna get me.

gesto: gesture, or facial expression
desprecio: disdain
descompuesta: broken down
choza: shack
tripulación: crew
botín: booty

In which our protagonist goes to meet the grandmother he does not approve of, after whining about not wanting to go to the Amazon on an adventure, dammit. Once again, I needed to stop and look up words before finishing the first sentence. ("muchedumbre" means "crowd." Good to know!)

You would think that with two entire chapters in the book just on taking trips and general travel, I would be able to translate a few paragraphs about meeting someone in an airport with ease. But nooooo. I'm getting more out of cognates than vocabulary from my textbook, unless you count things like articles and prepositions.

Anyway, time to keep reading and meet the eccentric grandmother. Given that Alex has been muttering about how she'd happily push him into a piranha-filled river, I think I like her already. Alex is, after all, a whiny, sullen, occasionally violent brat. But then, he has good reason for it, being both a fifteen-year-old boy and under a huge amount of stress at home. I kinda hope she schools his ass anyway.

1. Primo amicatiam incolarum rogabat. At first we asked he was asking for the friendship of the inhabitants.
2. Feminas Galliae non monebatis et nun in viis ambulant. You were not warning the women of Gaul, and they were are now walking in the street.
3. Italiam semper amabam, et nunc amo. I was always loving Italy, and I never love it now.
4. In insula Sicilia pugnabamus sed incolae amicitiam negabant. We were fighting in the island of Sicily, but the inhabitants refused friendship.
5. Cur agricolas Graeciae superas? Why do you overcome the farmers of Greece?
6. Amicitiam puellarum sperabatis, O nautae, sed non impetratis. O sailors, you hope were hoping for the friendship of girls, but you never do not get it by asking.
7. Feminae Graeciae cum agricolis Italiae erant sed amicitiam negabant et pecuniam semper rogabant. The Greek women were with the Italian farmers, but they refused friendship, and always asked for money.
8. Feminae fabulam de Graecia narramus. We tell the woman's story about Greece to the woman.
9. Agricola poetae viam non monstrat. The farmer does not show the road to the poet.
10. In viis Romae ambulant et poetas semper pugnabant. They walk in the streets of Rome, and always were fighting poets.
11. Cum nautis Galliae ambulatis, O feminae. O women, you walk with Greek sailors of Gaul.
12. In taberna nautas monebamus sed semper pugnabant. We often warned the sailors in the tavern, but they were always fighting.
13. Ubi feminae Graeciae in Italia habitabant, cum agricolis Hispaniae pugnabam. Where When the Greek women lived in Italy, I was fighting Spanish farmers.
14. Poetae agricolas saepe concitant ubi fabulas de feminis Galliae narrant. Poets often stir up the farmers where they tell stories of Greek women of Gaul.

Comments: Two verb tenses (present indicative active, imperfect indicative active) for all four verb endings, plus 'to be', seems a touch much for one chapter. I'm enjoying the Latin -> English translation, but I have the sinking feeling that this book isn't going to be offering any English -> Latin translation at all, which is a pity. I find it very useful for understanding.

(Corrections of sentences I got wrong are in bold above. I am somewhat annoyed that I've already discovered an error in the answer key: pugnabant does not mean listened.)

Alexander Cold despertó al amanecer sobresaltado por una pesadilla. (Alexander Cold woke at dawn frightened by a nightmare.)

I've just started the first chapter of one of the very few YA fantasy (I think? It might just be general adventure) novels that I was able to find at the Austin City Library branch that boasted the most Spanish books. As I suspected, the main problem appears to be that 90% of the books available, at least in elementary and YA categories of fiction, are translated from English. (Two were translated from German, which was at least nice for the novelty.)

This is apparently the first YA book by the author, Isabel Allende. I confess that I am slightly bemused to find that the protagonist is named Alexander Cold--his parents are Lisa and John--but if I'm running around slapping Czech names on my fantasy protagonists, why shouldn't an author from Chile put English names on hers?

Attempting to decipher unfamiliar vocabulary from context has been rough going so far, as the first paragraph starts by recounting a dream the protagonist had. And it's not encouraging that I had to look up three words in the first sentence alone... But, hey, if it were easy, it wouldn't be instructive.