Comments on: Mi Vida Loca

Mi Vida Loca

skoosh — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:32:08 -0800

Courtesy of the BBC, an award-winning mystery masquerading as a language education program.

Mi Vida Loca is a rather interesting series of interactive, self-guided Spanish conversation exercises for English-speaking users; what's novel about them is that they are embedded within a "you are there" story about a woman whose job as a journalist has apparently earned her some shady enemies. Simple tasks like paying for a meal or buying a bus ticket take on a heightened urgency as you struggle not only to learn the language and make your way around a foreign country, but also to catch up with your mysterious new friend and find out what's really going on. The series recently (as in about a week ago) won a BAFTA TV Craft Award for Interactive Innovation - Service Platform.

By: skoosh

skoosh — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:33:41 -0800

Double-Post Disclaimer: I know that the BBC Languages section has been previously mentioned on MeFi, but this series seemed like a very new, very different addition that did not exist in 2006. So there you go.

By: seandq

seandq — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:59:47 -0800

This sounds very similiar to Clara Perspectiva, a "telenovela" that is bundled with my Spanish book. I'm currently in the third level of International Baccalaureate Spanish (or, if you prefer, Espanol del Bachillerato Internacional), and it is a tenet of the third level that you follow a telenovela to really integrate the language. However, in the past, we followed La Catrina, following a young woman trying to execute her deceased wealthy grandfather's will. This year, Clara Perspectiva seems very similar to Mi Vida Loca, without the first-person integration: a teenager works as an intern at a upscale magazine (a la Ugly Betty) but then her college professor is abducted and she goes on a quest to "discover the truth". I'm curious how much better the BBC programme is over this series that is bundled with our textbook.

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:13:33 -0800

I thought this was going to be about Ghost Writer. This looks nice, too.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:34:32 -0800

Japanese take

By: hurdy gurdy girl

hurdy gurdy girl — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:47:02 -0800

This is great timing--I am going to Barcelona soon, after not having been there in over ten years. Needless to say, my Spanish (limited to begin with) has atrophied. I just did the first lesson and it was excellent. This is so well done--truly an engaging method for language learning.

By: punchdrunkhistory

punchdrunkhistory — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:26:51 -0800

Before I read the BBC mention, I thought for sure this would be Destinos.

By: lupus_yonderboy

lupus_yonderboy — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:55:01 -0800

This is standard (i.e. marvelous) for the BBC, that used to have such great shows as "Suivez La Piste" and... er, a German one we used to watch in the early 60s. If you're going to watch a language show, it might as well be exciting, right?

By: Tesseractive

Tesseractive — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:23:33 -0800

OMG seandq, I watched La Catrina in high school spanish back in...2001 I think? I bet you don't have the pleasure of watching it on laserdisc. I am all about a good dramatization of ordering food and inquring about the time.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:54:31 -0800

These are so oddly compelling. I'm not even sure I'm learning that much Spanish. I think I'm just a sucker for second-person POV movies.

By: Araucaria

Araucaria — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:54:28 -0800

It's somehow reminiscent of "Gerda malaperis!", a mystery story for beginning Esperanto students.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:18:27 -0800

OMG! Those bastards! They kidnapped her! They didn't count on my uncanny property buying skills though.

By: Acey

Acey — Tue, 26 May 2009 02:46:21 -0800

This is superb, I've been meaning to learn Spanish for sometime, and this is in exactly the right format to hook me in. Might be a while before I can watch Abre los Ojos without subtitles, but I look forward to the day!

By: greytape

greytape — Tue, 26 May 2009 09:50:31 -0800

I've been loving Mi Vida Loca for some weeks now. Very excited about Destinos now though, thanks punchdrunkhistory.

By: flibbertigibbet

flibbertigibbet — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:05:50 -0800

This rocks.

By: empath

empath — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:50:06 -0800

You can watch Destinos for free here.