Why Blogging is a Challenge for Me

Why Blogging is a Challenge for Me

August 8th, 2009 @ 11:35 am by Mrs. Poodle
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Some of you may know that I’m a Spanish speaker and I’ve never had real English classes. So I’ve learned from music, movies and the internet. Back in 2006, I knew only some words and the basics, like “where’s the bathroom” and “can I have one?” to survive in California.

My goal for getting into the exchange program then was to learn English the tough way; to just go there all by myself and live the experience smile022 . I never thought I would find the love of my life there… yay!

I’ve managed to learn enough to understand everything people say to me and start conversations, BUT it was really hard for me to not do the “translate everything in my head” process before speaking or writing.

Because I lack all the English grammar lessons, and because sometimes it’s REALLY different than the way we normally do it in Spanish, I was really scared about actually working in California and communicating ALL DAY in English (I even had nightmares Why Blogging is a Challenge for Me : wedding culture Eek03 eek03 ).

Then I thought about blogging, and here comes my personal challenge: English speaking people are actually reading this!! I know I’m a baby blogger, but doing this pushes me to not just plan our dream wedding, but also to practice and learn. I’m not just writing, but also following and reading all the wedding-related blogs I find interesting. Yes! I’m learning from all of you BEES!

I know there are different stories about why people start blogs. If you have a blog, what does blogging mean to you? And why did you start it?

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54 Responses to “Why Blogging is a Challenge for Me”

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Member

Mr. Mango (message) 146 posts, Blushing bee

ur doin fine poodle! love reading your blog!

8/8/09 @ 11:55 am (reply)

Bee

Miss French Bulldog (message) 7,730 posts, Bee Keeper

You’re doing great Miss Poodle, I have been very impressed
Weddingbee is what inspired me to start blogging, I knew that in order to apply I had to have a blog… in the end blogging has made me a better writer, I know I still have a lot of grammar stuff to work on, but when I got back and read my earlier posts I can tell my writing has improved

8/8/09 @ 11:59 am (reply)

Member

thefuturemrsjewell (message) 1,829 posts, Buzzing bee

miss poodle, you are such a star! i love reading your blogs. you are a natural! i haven’t started my own blog yet, but after being on the hive for the last few months i think i am finally going to give it a try…

8/8/09 @ 12:03 pm (reply)

Bee

Mrs. Bunny (message) 349 posts, Helper bee

Thanks for writing this post, Mrs. Poodle! I’ve been wondering about your experience with English. I’m not sure how much editing Mrs. Penguin does to your entries, but I’m continually impressed by your skills.

Like many Americans, I took Spanish classes in high school. I really enjoyed them, so I was glad my college required at a certain number of semesters of a foreign language. Because I’d been in immersion classes in high school, I tested into a higher level of Spanish grammar classes than I really was ready for. The result was disastrous for my GPA!

I did end up taking a three-week trip to see my high school Spanish teacher at her new home in Nicaragua. That trip taught me way more about the language than I ever learned in class. Unfortunately, it didn’t really improve my grammar at all, because the Nicaraguans I met were so kind that they didn’t bother to correct me when I used the wrong verb tenses (my weak point, for sure!).

To sum up, I’m still OK at understanding spoken Spanish, moderately OK at reading written Spanish, pretty bad at writing Spanish and horrible at speaking it!

haha … just looked at the question at the end of your post and saw that this was not the kind of response you were asking for at all, but I just wanted to commiserate with the challenges in learning a foreign language.

You’re doing a great job so far! Keep it up!

8/8/09 @ 12:06 pm (reply)

Member

D.Marie (message) 2,484 posts, Buzzing bee

Hi Miss Poodle! I love sharing this experience with you and I think you’re doing a wonderful job at blogging. Congrats to you for learning a new language. I had a few spanish classes in high school but I can only remember a few easy ones like numbers, hello, and some colors! I love your blog and I love all the crafts you put together. Your clay flowers are beautiful.

I have a blog too and I started it because I wanted to reach out to the writing community and I found myself finding so many wonderful people to share experiences with…and now I find brides, scrapbookers, and anyone who will listen! I love sharing my scrapbooking pages and all my adventures of being a bride!! Women in the blogging community are so nice and have great comments and advice. And the Bee has helped me find more brides who visit my own blog and I visit their blogs to find even more ideas…too many ideas!! Congrats to you Poodle!

8/8/09 @ 12:14 pm (reply)

Member

iswimibikeirun (message) 1,355 posts, Bumble bee

Wow! I’d wondered how much English you knew before. I never would have guessed you didn’t have formal classes. But, you’re right, just jumping in is the best way to go. A co-worker did that when she first moved to the States. She’d be so tired at the end of the day. Now, she finds herself translating English into Spanish (and is a 2nd year law school student). Her willingness to just talk without being embarassed really helped. At first, we didn’t correct, her, but as she became more confident, we did. You’ll do the same!

8/8/09 @ 12:26 pm (reply)

Guest

Asia

Oh my goodness… Somehow it never even occured to me that you haven’t been speaking English you’re entire life. You’re fantastic! O.O

8/8/09 @ 12:27 pm (reply)

Guest

Asia

Oh my goodness… Somehow it never even occurred to me that you haven’t been speaking English you’re entire life. You’re fantastic! O.O

8/8/09 @ 12:27 pm (reply)

Member

tea (message) 7,263 posts, Bee Keeper

you’re doing a great job miss poodle! no worries, my mom didn’t know much english when she met, married my dad and moved to the states. she pretty much learned the same way you did. by doing! hmm, maybe i should move to korea so i can finally learn korean!

i have a blog as well. not sure why i started. i just like to write. i did start a wedding planning blog because i started collecting so many ideas that i had to put them somewhere.

8/8/09 @ 12:48 pm (reply)

10.

Member

jmc (message) 882 posts, Busy bee

I think you’re doing great! It honestly never occurred to me that you didn’t feel comfortable writing in English. This is a great way to practice, and Weddingbee is a supportive community as you know, so you don’t have to worry.

8/8/09 @ 12:50 pm (reply)

11.

Bee

Miss Argyle (message) 2,516 posts, Sugar bee

I started my blog to keep my friends in the loop on my wedding plans, as most of them do not live in the same state as me. It then turned into a source of inspiration for brides-to-be around me, and it gave me a truly gratifying experience knowing my blog no only keeps my family in the loop, but inspires others.

And, Ms. Poodle, I think you’re doing great!!

8/8/09 @ 12:59 pm (reply)

12.

Member

kayakgirl73 (message) 2,124 posts, Buzzing bee

Wow! I would have never known. I figured that you had studied English probably starting at a young age in school.

8/8/09 @ 1:17 pm (reply)

13.

Member

lauralou852 (message) 516 posts, Busy bee

I am seriously impressed with your grasp on the English language!! I’ve taken Spanish classes for the last 6 years and there is NO WAY I could blog well enough in Spanish for Spanish speakers to even understand it! You’re doing great!!

8/8/09 @ 1:24 pm (reply)

14.

Member

Ruby Slippers (message) 509 posts, Busy bee

Girl, you are crazy! Your written English is 100 times better than sooo many blogs out there that are written by (alleged) first language English speakers. When you first mentioned where you were from and how you’d met Mr P, I even thought that your English was great and you must have grown up bilingual. If this is the result of only 3 years, then I swear there is no end to your talents! You’re amazing. Keep blogging!

8/8/09 @ 1:51 pm (reply)

15.

Member

mary-alice-me (message) 1,864 posts, Buzzing bee

Wow - I did not know. Do you only speak to Mr. Poodle in English? You might have answered this somewhere before…

I have a cooking blog I started to challenge myself to start trying new recipes, to share my successes and failures, and explore vegetarian cooking. It’s been great!

8/8/09 @ 1:51 pm (reply)

16.

Member

ggsb (message) 1,245 posts, Bumble bee

I’d wondered if you were in a similiar situation to a Persian friend of mine. During wedding planning people would ask her about certain aspects of the wedding, but use various words she was unfamiliar with and she would be left wondering what they were talking about. It turned into an inside joke…”let me google that and get back to you”.

Now to answer your question, I started my blog as a way to use my more creative side…the side that feels a bit pushed to the back and ignored right now.

8/8/09 @ 2:04 pm (reply)

17.

Guest

bluebell

Wow. Just… wow. I have to say, I agree with some of the posters above. It has NEVER occurred to me that you’ve only recently been learning English! Not only do you have great command of the language, you’re an eloquent writer. I think you’ve just inspired me to go overseas to improve my Chinese *grins*

8/8/09 @ 2:22 pm (reply)

18.

Bee

Miss Cloud (message) 802 posts, Busy bee

I personally think you do a wonderful job blogging
I started blogging because I needed a way to filter ideas and things, they just make more sense when they are typed up. I kept blogging though because I wanted to be a bee

8/8/09 @ 2:50 pm (reply)

19.

Member

polkadot (message) 218 posts, Helper bee

Miss Poodle, not only is your English great, but you’re also a great writer. Not an easy feat in a foreign language! You should be proud I started blogging because it is a great outlet for me, a place for me to vent, and a place for me to practice my writing skills.

8/8/09 @ 3:47 pm (reply)

20.

Member

Jamielee (message) 142 posts, Blushing bee

Wow, I would have NEVER guessed that English was not a primary language for you! I think you do amazingly well, and if you hadn’t told us, I think many of us would have never known!! Congratulatons, you must have a real knack for picking up languages.. wish I could do that!!

8/8/09 @ 3:48 pm (reply)

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