Spanish language Q&A Forum

Are desde and de interchangeable. For ex, I saw him from a distance. Would both work?

Lo vi desde una distancia. 

As an extremely well-educated native North American speaker trying to learn Latin American Spanish, I find the semantics in this lesson frustrating. This is punctuated by all the comments seen here. There is insufficient context provided. For example (ignoring the hint since hints aren't given in real life), one of the quiz questions asks to translate: "They are having ice cream." I would immediately think "Están tomando helado." - or perhaps "desfrutando" given some of the loose lesson translations. However, to think: "Van a tomar helado." I need further context. For example: "They are having ice cream this afternoon." - "Van a tomar helado esta tarde." Otherwise in English you are much less ambivalent saying: "They are going to have ice cream." I understand both sides of the arguments and I fall more on the side of "They are going to have," but a better solution is to provide a more complete explanation and context in the lesson, after all, it is more common to say "They are going to have." Concede that we use the exact same literal expression in both Spanish and English but then take it further in the lesson to explain the nuanced differences in English thought compared to Spanish thought. 

Sigo pensando and Continúo pensando… am I misunderstanding? How is continúo an option?

Above the Q&A form is this statement: This lesson is already in your notebook. Go to your notebook now to kwiz this topic as many times as you like.  When I click to go to my notebook to do the short kwiz again I am not able to do the kwiz again. The opportunity never comes. There is a problem with the program.