A plea to all beginners: Please participate in the translation threads
Please participate in the translation threads. They may seem too hard (they are certainly very hard for me), but if you are not failing, you are not trying hard enough. I remember some thirty years ago while learning karate someone saying they were afraid to practice the katas outside of class because they might make mistakes. The sensei said that you are going to make mistakes no matter what, so you may as well start now. On the other hand, I have heard stories about great guitar players that learned from experts and were never allowed to play unsupervised. Both approaches have merit, but speaking Spanish is more like the karate model as far as I can tell. Nobody starts speaking a language in complete grammatically correct sentences.
So please join me in making a total fool of yourself in order to advance more rapidly.
15 Answers
Well said, Lorenzo! If you are not making mistakes, then you are not learning Spanish! The more chances you take (learned ones of course), the more mistakes you will make but the more quickly you will make progress. And let me add that no one, and I mean NO ONE on this website will put you down or make you feel bad if you don't do as well as another learner. (And if they do, we'll sic Eddy on them! 
)
So go out on a limb! Take the road less traveled! Get ready to Open mouth... Insert foot! And have fun all the while! 
What am I missing here? Which are the "translation threads" ?? Are these elsewhere besides in "Answers" ??
Hi Janice....I think that this all began when Heidita began posting her "Yo Leonor" threads (Also known as her "killer threads" or "Maria Jose Navarro threads") back in early November. Since then, Heidita, Carlos and Chaparrito have all posted several translation threads. Heidita and Carlos have also been nice enough to post "transcription" threads to sharpen our listening abilities.
Here are a few of the previous threads:
Transcription of the Week (Carlos) - currently an active exercise
Chatara en orbita (Chaparrito)
Audio video: Write what you hear (Heidita)
Oral transcription and Translation of the Week (Carlos)
La Burbuja - Maria Jose Navarro (Heidita)
Disfraz que no vestido - Maria Jose Navarro (Heidita)
¿Quieres que te lo cuente otra vez? -Jorge Berlanga (Heidita)
La luna y el grifo...José Luis Alvite (Heidita)
Humo otra vez, María José Navarro (Heidita)
Yo Leonor, part two - Maria Jose Navarro (Heidita)
Yo Leonor, part one - Maria Jose Navarro (Heidita)
I participated for the first time a few days ago, and I have to say I'm hooked....like they say, it only takes once to become addicted!
BRAVO 
I haven't seen someone make a post like this in the longest time, I applaud you lorenzo ;D.
Thank you, thank you Izanoni1 for
....a few of the previous threads:
I will bookmark your answer and come back to listen to all and transcribe them when I have completed listening to Pepe Carvalho y una desconocida. I decided right when I knew that I was going to learn Spanish that since when people speak to me later in a Spanish-speaking country, I won´t have what they are saying written down on paper in front of me. Thus I have been trying right from the beginning to learn only by listening to Spanish. This is a terrific resource for me!! I very much appreciate your collecting the links!!
Janice said:
What am I missing here?
These are all in the 'Answers' section. Sheila started a thread about this the other day here: http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/122343/i-would-love-to-see-some-more-translation-exercises-please-somebody
In that thread there are a number of links to some of the recent Translation Exercises. 
Yes, please do. I've only been learning since October, but i really enjoy them. And I've learned so much too.
(please excuse bad typing, I'm doing this on a mobile phone, and texting is a skill I've never quite grasped )
What am I missing here? Which are the "translation threads" ?? Are these elsewhere besides in "Answers" ??
Oh thank you! I try Carlos' translations. On the last one I only got one sentence out of ten right. I feel like a fool but I am Really Trying! Maybe I should change my screen name from yogamamaof2 to makingafoolofmyselfmamaof2?
I´m just starting to participate in some of the answer threads. I don´t have anyone to practice spoken spanish with, so translating and having to write my own sentences en español is really helping to solidify the learning. It is a very active form of practice. Good exercise for the brain, too, even if you don´t get things right.
Lorenzo I prefer to see it as making mistakes rather than failing since we can only really fail to learn anything if we give up just because we start making mistakes
I have made some real clangers i.e bad mistakes most of which I have been able to laugh at later in the light of day but at the time I have felt emotions ranging from slight foolishness to complete embarrassment and wishing the earth would open and swallow me up.
The funniest clanger was when I wanted to say: I am (or feel) embarrassed but said
Estoy embarrazado which actually means'' I am pregnant'' which is not such a smart thing to say if you are a guy in company 
I really did feel embarrassed after that! lol 
For the ladies only lol you can say either estoy avergonzado /o tengo vergüenza /o me da pena (apologies to the more advanced students but I do not have the accent available to place above the u)
I have had many opportunities to give up but I passed them all by/declined them lol
I would therefore encourage all the new members to keep learning and Don't ever give up!
Bravo Lorenzo!!
In my business of many years we have been asked often "how is it you know you are doing it right?" our response was always " because we already know how to do it wrong".
A really cool idea. These are hard! This will definitely will give me some much needed practice.
I think I will. I actually haven't so far because they look too hard -_-
¡Me impresiona mucha! (I am very impressed!) The Spanish beginners of the world should applaud you guys! I tried really hard when I was a beginner, and it definitely paid off! I'm sure it will with you, tambien (too)! ¡Buena Suerte! (good luck!) y ¡sigue así! (keep it up!)
