Wedding Blog
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 
. 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 
).
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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Share this post: Why Blogging is a Challenge for Me
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
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…
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!
<3
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!
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!
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
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
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.
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.
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!!
Wow! I would have never known. I figured that you had studied English probably starting at a young age in school.
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!!
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!
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!
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.
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*
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
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.
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!!
I started a blog because I recently got married and moved to a new city. I don’t have a job yet so blogging gives me something to do every day, and it helps me to catalogue the new things I’m seeing and doing in my new city every day. I like blogs that have a focus, like weddings or food or travel, rather than those that are just someone writing about their life in general.
Thanks for sharing. I always thought your English was VERY good for anon-native speaker and wondered how you reached your proficiency. I totally know what you mean by throwing yourself in and the fear of working with native speakers, I’m doing the same thing in Germany right now but I could not imagine blogging in German. Keep up the good work, you’re excelling.
I wish I spoke spanish even half as fluently as I speak english! Does Mr. Poodle speak spanish?
I would have never guessed you were ESL!
no te preocupes miss poodle! we all love reading your blog - and holy crap, your crafting skills speak for themselves in any language 
Oh, Miss Poodle, I do know the feeling. I’ve had real English classes but have never lived in an English-speaking country. Sometimes it takes so long to just write a comment here…
I have a blog, in Portuguese. I used to have a personal blog and when I got engaged it was kind of obvious I would blog about all the planning. I love the feedback people give me, the exchange of ideas and if I feel my mom or my sisters are tired of hearing about the wedding I can blog what I wanted to say.
I’m with the hive, maybe I’m just not paying attention, but I had no idea you weren’t a native speaker. You’re doing great!
Ms. Poodle, I think you’re terrific!
Hi Miss Poodle,
This post inspired me to leave my first ever comment on this site! I am an adult ESL teacher in the Inland Empire (in a city next to the one where your FI lives). I had no idea that you have never formally studied English. Your writing is far superior to my advanced level ESL students! Have faith in your language abilities. Blogging is a GREAT tool to improve your writing skills, and your FI will continue to help you improve your speaking/listening. You’re doing all the things I recommend to my students.
I’m a writer and used to blog to improve my writing style, but I recently stopped after about 4 years.
Feel free to email me if you have any questions about English. I can also help you find adult English classes (if you desire) once you make your move to San Bernardino. And keep blogging. I’ve really been enjoying going along with you on your journey here.
Aww, Miss Poodle, you are the cutest! I can’t believe that you’re so new to English! You are doing an amazing job of blogging in a second language! Keep it up.
I think you are doing great! I would never have been able to tell you are still learning. = )
i think you’re doing a great !!!! i wish i had the courage to start a blog in english, but it seems like a wonderful idea to improve our knowledge in this lenguage!
i too learned english by watching movies and listening music when i was in highschool, and then i had english classes on college, which helped me a lot!
Thank you so much for the support! You guys have no idea how much all this means to me! REALLY!
@jmc: well is not that I don’t feel comfortable, because I’ve notice it’s starting to be a more natural thing now, But sometimes I’m still afraid you guys are not going to understand me hehe.
@mary-alice-me: To be honest, I alway try to push him to talk to me on spanish more often (he’s trying really hard to improve) but on the daily bases we do speak English most of the time
@LatteLove: He did knew words when we met, but now he’s trying to get better, because he said that he does not want our children to teach him spanish lol
@Megan: Thank you so much for your comment! and I feel really flattered by your words I think it will be really cool to actually take classes, maybe I should after the wedding
I can speak spanish fluently and your written englis is AMAZING (I could never blog in spanish)! You have nothing to worry about!
I’m also a fluent Spanish speaker. I learned from watching TV and singing along with the radio! Your blogging is excellent, no te preocupes.
I think this is very brave of you! And like so many of the others here, I could not tell at all that this is a challenge for you. I absolutely love your creative and artistic projects and ideas.
Keep it up, Poodle! You’re a great blogger! Your inspiration projects and crafts are sooo inspiring — I wish I could be half talented in the kitchen as you are in the crafting room
I can’t believe you started learning English so recently… your writing is flawless!
In reading your posts, I actually wondered once when/where you learned English, since your English in writing was so good I thought you must have been speaking for years and I wasn’t sure whether you or Mr. Poodle was the Chilean. Hope the practice makes you feel more confident!
Like I’ve said before, Poodle, there is NO way to tell you are not a native English speaker. I cannot believe you learned all of what you’ve learned in like 3 years. Very impressive. You write just like the average (intelligent) American-bravo! I wish I spoke even 1 language as well as you speak (or write!) English.
Yo tambien creo que escribes muy bien. Mejor que mi espanol por seguro. Y parece que si quisiera escribir unos mensajes en espanol, hay muchas avejitas que les gustaria leerlos! Como siempre, gracias por compartir con nosotras.
Your skills are unbelievable Poodle. I lived in Italy and speak Italian but would be way too nervous to try to blog in Italian! Props to you!!!
ms. p, thanks for sharing something so personal. you’re a terrific blogger and do quite well with English, despite it being a second(?) language. i put a ? mark after “second” because, who knows, (with you) it could be a third or fifth or tenth language?? i admire your tenacity and willingness to continue to learn and grow as an individual in a myriad of ways. you truly are remarkable!:-) thank you for continuing to inspire us with your ideas and craftiness.
You’re doing wonderful! Your projects inspire the hive and we all enjoy reading them!
Go Ms. Poodle! Nunca hubiera sabido que apenas empezaste blogging en Ingles! You’re doing great! Being in the hive for a while has actually made me start my blog because Im thinking of actually starting a side business and because I never got the cojones to apply to weddingbee!
You inspire all of us, I’m so impressed with your talents… sewing, crafting, and on and on, oh yeah, ENGLISH!!!
I am so impressed by your wrting. I actually thought that you must have studied English for a long time to be able to write so well. Both of my parents are not native English speakers, and I know how hard grammar can be to master in speaking alone. I’ve been speaking Spanish my whole life, and I don’t think I’d be able to blog…
i would have never guessed you were not a native english speaker! i am so impressed by your blogging and and crafty talents too!
you’re amazing. your grammar and english are better than a native speaker! i love your ideas, enthusiasm, warmth and energy! and man, you have serious, serious diy skills!
i would never have known english was your second language… i’ve never had doubts of your blogging language!
you are awesome. i never would have guessed that you are not a native speaker. keep the great blogging up
Wow - I had no idea that you’ve only been speaking English for a few years - you’ve been doing great I think! And when you were on BeeTV the other night…I wouldn’t have ever suspected!
[...] or PDF files… it was a mess!) Second, and more importantly, I saw blogging as a really good chance to practice and improve my [...]
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Miss Poodle, Santiago, Chile/San Bernardino, CA
Age and Occupation: 27, Industrial & Web Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Firefighter & Mountain Patrol
Engagement Date: February 25, 2009
Wedding Date: January 2010
Venue: Mr. P's Grandparents’ Ranch
About Me: I’m a Chilean girl who's crazy about nature and swimming. I enjoy carving, drawing, reading and sewing; I drool over computers, fabric, pretty paper, purple and patterns. To me, chocolate should be one of the seven wonders, right next to lemon pie. I never thought an exchange work experience program was going to change my life forever, but while working in California, I met Mr. Poodle, and ever since my days are better and brighter. We are two goofy souls that, after finding each other, couldn’t help but want to be together forever. It has being a long and sometimes hard road, since we have to deal with such a long distance between us, but we are now facing the last stage of our Fiancé Visa, and soon we will be together. You know the best part? We will be married! So I’ll be blogging from Chile until just a few months before our “green and purple” wedding.
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