Playing the real estate game

Mar 12, 2014 10:59

On Saturday Rita and I were walking past a medium-rise apartment building between here and downtown, and Rita fairly idly wondered how much they cost. So I told her that the sign on front said the leasing/sales office was open every day from 8 to 5 for viewing apartments, so why not? It was Saturday morning and we had nothing urgent to do. (Rita ( Read more... )

spanish, costa rica

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Comments 7

timetiger March 12 2014, 15:36:28 UTC
That is so cool you were able to have a real and complicated conversation in Spanish! I've studied the language on and off, but my progress has been limited by my almost always being too shy to actually talk to any of the gazillions of native speakers I encounter every day.

I'm interested to find out that Duolingo has been so helpful to you. I've been playing with it for the past couple of weeks, but I'm not sure how much I'm really retaining. You've encouraged me!

I hope you can find an apartment you like, and at the right price. Good luck!

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adina_atl March 12 2014, 17:15:17 UTC
One thing I've found with Duolingo is that you have to avoid going through the lessons too quickly. It's better to do a few skills and then use the "Strengthen Skills" option to get them firmly planted before going on. I suspect it's possible to get all the way through the "tree" of skills without actually retaining a thing if you rush it.

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therealjae March 12 2014, 16:22:25 UTC
So exciting! Sounds like Rita has some catching up to do to get to be as good as you, though. :)

I've asked you this before, I think, but--what's your immigration status there?

-J

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adina_atl March 12 2014, 17:08:47 UTC
I'm in Costa Rica on a 90-day tourist visa. But Costa Rican tourist visas are remarkably flexible creatures. You can't work at a job, for a salary, but you can own property and even run a business, work in the business, and take profit from the business. So, for instance, the owner of a hotel I know has owned the hotel for more than four years--which is how long I've known him, and he wasn't new to it then--manages the hotel and mans the front desk, and makes his entire living from the business. But every three months he goes to Florida for at least three days--which isn't a hardship, as his family and girlfriend live there ( ... )

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therealjae March 13 2014, 00:54:30 UTC
Man, I wish the places I wanted to regularly live on a temporary basis worked like that! Envy. :)

-J

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elainasaunt March 12 2014, 17:04:39 UTC
¡Felicidades! And thanks for mentioning Duolingo, which is new to me. I'll have to give it a look and see if it might be something I can recommend to my French students who are supposed to be learning English.

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adina_atl March 12 2014, 18:08:08 UTC
Definitely check it out. They have an English for French speakers course, I just checked. "English for X speakers" is actually their primary market, with "X for English speakers" as their secondary, and "X for Y speakers" as their tertiary. The English taught is largely US English, not British English, if that makes any difference to you.

If they're advanced enough, they can also sign up for the "French for English speakers" course, which gives them access to the "French for English speakers" discussion forum. I find it both interesting and valuable to read (and in a few cases respond to) what Spanish speakers are having trouble with in English. Someone was trying to translate the English sentence "I both can't and won't" and I was able to help him out, while writing in Spanish.

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