Bridging the Spanish Gap Challenge #007
December 15, 2016
<p><a href="https://deliberatespanish.com/blog/notice-mistakes">Getting better at noticing mistakes</a> is one of the best ways of <strong>taking your Spanish to the next level</strong>.</p><p>This challenge has been carefully designed to do just that.</p><p>Here is a bare-bones example in English:</p><div class="translation mistake gap"><p><span class="sp">Sentence with mistakes: What is you problems?</span></p></div><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">Reference 1: Is this your bag?</span></p><!-- --><p><span class="sp">Reference 2: I think I know what the problem is.</span></p></div><p>As you can see, the <strong>reference sentences</strong> hint at the mistakes in a way that is neither too obvious nor too obscure. The final answer would be:</p><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">What is <strong>your</strong> (from Ref. 1) <strong>problem</strong> (from Ref. 2)?</span></p></div><h2>Now for the real challenge</h2><p>Find the mistakes in these four sentences (in red) using the reference sentences (in blue).</p><div class="translation mistake gap"><p><span class="sp">M1: Después del cine, me decidí ir a una heladería porque hacía meses que no me he tomado un helado.</span></p></div><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">R1: Al final nos hemos decidido a empezar nuestro canal de YouTube.</span><br><span class="en">We ended up deciding to start our YouTube channel.</span></p><!-- --><p><span class="sp">R2: Me acuerdo de esas noches locas cuando nos íbamos a bailar.</span><br><span class="en">I remember those crazy nights when we would go dancing.</span></p></div><div class="translation mistake gap"><p><span class="sp">M2: No estoy seguro sobre lo que voy a hacer en mi viaje próximo a México.</span></p></div><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">R3: ¿Estás seguro de lo que vas a hacer? No quiero que luego te arrepientas.</span><br><span class="en">Are you sure about what you're going to do? I don't want you to regret it later.</span></p><!-- --><p><span class="sp">R4: ¿Qué te parece si la próxima vez vamos a mi casa?</span><br><span class="en">How about if next time we go to my house?</span></p></div><div class="translation mistake gap"><p><span class="sp">M3: Aparece un hombre simpático, pero si le dijera que he besado a su hija no creo que le haría mucha gracia.</span></p></div><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">R5: Las cosas no siempre son lo que parecen.</span><br><span class="en">Things are not always what they seem.</span></p><!-- --><p><span class="sp">R6: Aunque se lo pidieras de rodillas, no creo que te perdonara.</span><br><span class="en">Even if you begged on your knees, I don't think she'd forgive you.</span></p></div><div class="translation mistake gap"><p><span class="sp">M4: Este último parágrafo es demasiado largo. No sé cómo me lo puedo hacer más corto.</span></p></div><div class="translation reference gap"><p><span class="sp">R7: Lo que más me gusta de tu libro es que me sale una carcajada cada dos párrafos.</span><br><span class="en">What I like the most about your book is that I laugh out loud every couple paragraphs</span></p><!-- --><p><span class="sp">R8: ¿Por qué me lo has dado sin funda? Ahora no sé cómo lo voy a tapar.</span><br><span class="en">Why did you give it to me without a cover? Now I don't know how I'm going to cover it.</span></p></div><hr /><p>To really squeeze the learning out of this exercise, do it in two steps:</p><ul><li>In the first step, <strong>go with your gut</strong> and correct whatever you think is wrong without looking at the reference sentences.</li><li>In the second step, <strong>double-check your gut</strong> to make sure that each mistake you found corresponds to one of the reference sentences. If you have more mistakes than reference sentences (or more reference sentences than mistakes), you're still missing something.</li></ul><p>If you think this exercise is too difficult, focus on the reference sentences. Treat them as <a href="https://deliberatespanish.com/blog/fix-mistakes">scaffold sentences</a> and try to recall them from memory. Once you've internalized them, it will be much easier to spot the mistakes.</p><p>You can <a href="mailto:nacho@deliberatespanish.com/blog?subject=Bridging%20the%20Gap%20Challenge"><strong>email me</strong></a> your attempt (or if you like public accountability, post it in the comments), and I'll reply back with the answer key.</p><p>Have fun!</p>