A warm welcome to my first Korean (여보세요, 나의 한국 친구!) and second Indian IP address/reader.
My visitantes map is going crazy. What’s going on, here? The Midwestern United States readership is about to edge out the West. Go Spurs, down with the Jazz? I’d make a Kansas joke, but I’m afraid one potential reader in particular would crucify me. Art imitating life? DTLF running out of content? All of the above?
I’ve been taking clases en espanol in order to satisfy the third language requirement for INSEAD, much to the detriment of my malnourished wallet. At first, I had the grandiose idea of enrolling for a university-level course and pretending, to myself, that I was an undergraduate again. After realizing that university schedule + work = does not compute, and the fact that a university most likely wouldn’t admit me for one course, I lowered my sights and searched for local college courses. Same deal. Great. Now what?
Google search and hit the “I’m feeling lucky” button. Lo and behold, a local language school popped up. Scoped it out, looked good, signed up for two adjacent level classes at the same time. This’ll be great, I thought.
—
Day One, Class 1
Maestro: Hola. ¿Cual es tu nombre?
DTLF: Me llamo DTLF.
Maestro: Can you spell that, please? (en Ingles)
DTLF: Deeee, teeee…
Maestro: Slow down, slow down. One more time? (en Ingles)
—
Class 1 is basically spoon-fed beginner’s Spanish, even though it’s marketed as “Advanced Beginner.” The farthest it goes is to “DTLF, ¿te gustas dulces?” Definitely not what I was looking for, and, surprise, non-refundable class fees!
—-
Day One, Class 2
Maestra: <Really fast, really long string of staccato Spanish that I still haven’t managed to translate, accompanied by a searching gaze in my direction, followed by a look of pity as she understands how out of my league I am.>
Maestra turns to another student
Maestra: <Yet another really fast, really long string of staccato Spanish that I still haven’t managed to translate>
Other Student: Si.
Maestra: Today, we will be covering the imperfect irregular reflexive preterite subjunctive quasi-indirect pronoun. You’re familiar with this, no? (en Ingles, for my benefit)
DTLF executes a textbook facepalm.
EDIT: For those of you who are not familiar with a facepalm, here’s an illustration of Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the SS Enterprise in ASCII!
……………………………………..________
………………………………,.-‘”……………….“~.,
………………………..,.-”……………………………..“-.,
…………………….,/………………………………………..”:,
…………………,?………………………………………………\,
………………./…………………………………………………..,}
……………../………………………………………………,:`^`..}
……………/……………………………………………,:”………/
…………..?…..__…………………………………..:`………../
…………./__.(…..“~-,_…………………………,:`………./
………../(_….”~,_……..“~,_………………..,:`…….._/
……….{.._$;_……”=,_…….“-,_…….,.-~-,},.~”;/….}
………..((…..*~_…….”=-._……“;,,./`…./”…………../
…,,,___.\`~,……“~.,………………..`…..}…………../
…………(….`=-,,…….`……………………(……;_,,-”
…………/.`~,……`-………………………….\……/\
………….\`~.*-,……………………………….|,./…..\,__
,,_……….}.>-._\……………………………..|…………..`=~-,
…..`=~-,_\_……`\,……………………………\ ……………….`=~-,,.\,………………………….\
…………………………..`:,,………………………`\…………..__
……………………………….`=-,……………….,%`>–==“
…………………………………._\……….._,-%…….`\
……………………………..,<`.._|_,-&“…………….`\,
—-
Class 2 is akin to a university level Spanish class, even though it’s marketed as the next step past Class 1. Day 2, Class 2 is in 2 hours. Good times.
May 26, 2007 at 8:27 pm |
Hey – I’m your Korean visitor, and I came wandering here searching for info about INSEAD
I haven’t yet made a “how I am planning to get into INSEAD” site, but I will soon :p
Keep blogging!!
May 30, 2007 at 5:21 pm |
Dig the Picard!
July 27, 2009 at 8:13 am |
My name is Alex Gladstone and I’m in the INSEAD J’10 promotion.
I’m leaving this comment here in the hope that some of from the US and Canada that are stressed about your second or third language requirement (which is probably Spanish) can benefit.
If you do need certification in Spanish you basically have 3 options. The first is to fly to France and take the language test in Fontainebleau with FL&C language school, but I wouldn’t suggest that unless you are already pretty close to fluent.
The second option is to study independently or with a school familiar with the DELE exam, but this is fairly difficult since the DELE exam is only given twice per year. Regardless of whether you are in a January or July start and when you might get your acceptance letter, you will be in a situation where you’ll only have one shot to take the test. The DELE takes a very long time to return your results (up to two months?) so while you wait you’ll have to keep studying in case your fallback is to take the FL&C test instead.
The third and IMHO the best option is to take classes with tradfax.com to prepare for the FIDESCU D.I.E. (I know its a terrible acronym for an exam but don’t worry) which is also accepted at INSEAD. Tradfax is the first (and right now the only) school and _exam_center_ in North America that is associated with FIDESCU.
Tradfax is physically in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. It is run by Francis Guinazu who has been teaching Spanish, Portuguese, and English as a foreign language for over 25 years. He or another instructor can assess your skills and if necessary set you up with an intensive course of study (say, 8 hr/week or so) to help prepare you for the exam, and you can do it in person, via skype, or even by phone. You can take the test with tradfax directly rather than having to fly to Spain or elsewhere.
I’m plugging them because I personally used their services and went from a very basic level of Spanish to the required level in just a few months while working a full-time job by using their intensive course.
Check them out at http://www.tradfax.com
And good luck to you all!