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James29’s Spanish Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4136 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes  Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 441 of 668 26 May 2014 at 3:08pm | IP Logged | ||
Have you tried listening to the same chapter or episode multiple times? When I started listening to Spanish podcasts, I found that I needed to listen once to get the words, once to get the big ideas, and once for enjoyment. By the third listen, everything was clearer and seemed much slower. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5254 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 442 of 668 26 May 2014 at 4:52pm | IP Logged | ||
I couldn't agree more! Short audios are more conducive to repeat listening. When I first started listening in Portuguese, I would listen to the same thing more than once. In the beginning stages of listening, it helps. After a few months, you won't have to do that. What also helps is daily listening. Listening to the news daily for a long time helped me to train my listening. It also helps with vocabulary as the items differ. I prefer a less formal newscast, something other than a straight reading of stories. Sometimes beginners/intermediates will try listening, find it too hard and give up. Why? Because it is hard and frustrating, especially in the beginning. Persistence and being consistent with listening helps to build "critical mass". Eventually, if you keep at it, listening becomes easy. By the way, Radio Mambí in Miami has 14 episodes of La Tremenda Corte with digitally cleaned and clear audio. Trespatines makes "mistakes" in Spanish all the time- many of them to hilarious effect. El Juez is always trying to correct him. The catchphrase that el Secretario uses to greet El Juez, "¿Cómo sigue su salud?", is so ingrained in me it's part of how I greet my friends. When one of my friends screws up "Póngase tres pesos de multa" naturally seems to just come out (of course using "tuteo"). Mention LTC to a Cuban, Dominican or Puerto Rican over 30 and watch them be surprised and warm to you at the same time. To see Trespatines' word play, try the episode Teatricídio V1 with the transcript. There's a lot going on in this episode. Trespatines' "mamita" runs the "bolita" or "bola" lottery game. Numbers have a relation to animals and professions, superstition and dreams. That lottery is played here in the VI too. Amazing what you can learn in a 15 minute radio show. ¡Vale la pena! Edited by iguanamon on 05 September 2014 at 5:44pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5367 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 443 of 668 01 June 2014 at 4:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, I finally finished Man, Economy and State this week. I have not updated my 2014 goals for quite a while (because nothing has changed) so I will update my progress now.
My goals for 2014: Read any 15 books in Spanish. -> 6 done (Anthem, Joven Abogado #1 and #2, Narnia #1, Harry Potter #2, and Man, Economy and State). Watch any 100 30 minute TV episodes in Spanish -> COMPLETE (well over 100+ done) Re-read Cassell's Colloquial Spanish -> finished the "G" section. No progress in a long time. Re-read Practice Makes Perfect "Subjunctive Up Close." -> No progress yet. Discussion: It really felt great to finish Man, Economy and State. That was something I have wanted to do for several years. The book had a huge impact on me when I read it the first time in English I wanted to "re-live" that experience. I must admit, however, that it was not nearly as motivating going through it this time... but I am very glad I read it. It was easier to read than I thought it would be. Even though it is about 1100 pages I basically knew, or could guess, exactly what was going to be written. Anyway, on to the next project. This week I also watched several TV programs... a few episodes of the Simpsons and several of The Firm. I am really getting into the storyline and characters of The Firm. It is a great show. Too bad they only did one season. I am more than half way done with it. I can understand it very well. There are occasionally some spots where I back up the video and re-watch a minute or two. Usually that is when someone says something that is a big surprise to everyone... a shocker. I don't have the benefit of guessing what this person is supposed to say or taking clues from the context of the show... because the statement/testimony is a totally surprise. When I rewind the show, however, I can usually understand exactly what was said. I tried out a couple other TV programs, but did not find anything too interesting. I'll continue with what I have... I have way more Spanish stuff than I'll ever be able to finish. I moved on to reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I am listening to the audio while following along with the text. I finished chapter four this morning. I read it a couple years ago. This time it is remarkably easier. I recall thinking that the audio was spoken pretty fast, but now it seems to me like he is talking a bit too slow for me. Anyway, it is a nice, easy and motivating read. I note that it is funny reading it after Man, Economy and State because the content is in many ways so diametrically different. One thing I have always liked doing is reading different works and looking for common threads. I feel like if I read things from various different "successful" people and I can identify what they all have in common I will get more out of my studies than if I simply read someone's works and blindly take his/her advice. In fact, this is how I got into Austrian Economics... I used to read everything written by Warren Buffett and I noticed a distinctly Austrian theme in what he wrote... even though it seems as though he did not even realize he was identifying ideas and concepts through practice/work that the Austrians had identified through other more scientific methods. I downloaded four episodes of "La Tremenda Corte". I have only listened to a couple. I have the ones with the transcripts and hope to really "study" them someday and then re-listen to them during my commute in the morning. I can understand them if I follow the transcript, but I think it would be a bit too tough to listen, drive and understand from scratch. I have been listening to the Voz de America news podcasts every morning on the way to work. That is turning into a good habit. It is about right for me. It is interesting and I can understand it quite well. Plus, it is new every day and a decent source of news. I had a couple good Skype talks. I tried out some new partners. My schedule is really a problem and will probably make things too difficult to work out. The conversations were great and my one on one "small talk" Spanish is really quite good now. I can honestly say that it really felt as easy as English to speak. I still do meetups, but I really just count them as more social time than Spanish time... unless I spend the time talking to a native speaker (which rarely happens anymore). I did the first lesson of the Cervantes B1/B2 book that Iguanamon recommended. It is going to be a wonderful resource. I don't think I'll do it yet. I'd like to get my 2014 goals done before I move on to anything else. The first lesson was on masculine and feminine. At first I thought to myself "masculine and feminine at B1/B2, wtf?" but the lesson was great and I learned a lot. It covered things that are not taught at the lower levels... like a lot of exceptions, etc. I only made one real mistake in the drills (well over 90% correct), but I would have not gotten that many correct had I not just read the lesson. This is the type of grammar I need to work on so I am looking forward to working through the book. I splurged again on resources. Ugh. I saw all the specialized resources available on the website of the prisma publisher. They have TONS of stuff for advanced levels of learning. There were so many things I wanted to buy... business Spanish, Latin American B1 Spanish, Medical Spanish, etc, etc. I ended up buying their "Temas de Derecho." If anyone is interested in doing intermediate/advanced Spanish courses you must check out their resources. Here is the index. But, take some time to search through their catalogue in various ways because it is a bit hard to navigate... and they have some real gems in there. All of their courses have a full unit pdf example so you can really see the quality of the resource. I cannot wait until they come out with the B2 Latin American Spanish course. I am embarrassed to say that I picked up three Harlequin romance novels in Spanish. It was really an impulse buy. I live in a small town and there is a small used bookstore that I sometimes stop in at. They sell paperback books for $0.50. I picked up a Spanish dictionary there and the English version of the books I LRed. Anyway, I always scan through their books for books in Spanish and I NEVER find any. This time there were three of these Harlequin books for $0.50 each... I was so amazed I bought them. I cannot imagine I will ever read them. Oh well. I am again thinking about taking another trip. I won't have the ability to get away from work until November-ish. I realized that we are in June now and I really should start planning if I want to do another trip. Somehow I'd like to make my trip have something to do with my work. I have been searching Latin American Universities for intensive courses, but it is difficult. Perhaps I could just go to a Spanish school and take intensive Spanish lessons directed at helping me with Spanish for my job. I think that's about it for Spanish this week. One additional thing I noted today was that I cannot even remember the last time I went a full day without at least 20 minutes of Spanish. I would not be surprised if it has been well over six months. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5254 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 444 of 668 01 June 2014 at 6:14pm | IP Logged | ||
Good to see you're developing the habit of daily listening. I find that an interesting news program greatly expands my vocabulary, especially when reinforced with continuing stories. The VOA program isn't a dry, straight news recital, program. I find that what's most important for me in listening is building "critical mass". The habit of daily listening does that for me.
This is so important! Well done! I think you'll be quite pleased with what daily listening to that VOA program will do for your Spanish when 2015 rolls around in six months. Keep up the good work, James29, :). Edited by iguanamon on 01 June 2014 at 6:20pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| BAnna Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4614 days ago 409 posts - 616 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Turkish | Message 445 of 668 01 June 2014 at 8:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Great to read about your progress. Isn't it funny how we sometimes are tempted to watch or read things in another language that we wouldn't in our own language?
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| sctroyenne Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5383 days ago 739 posts - 1312 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Irish | Message 446 of 668 01 June 2014 at 8:31pm | IP Logged | ||
That's about when I'm thinking for somewhere in Central America (leaning heavily towards Guatemala now since 1-on-1 instruction is standard, Spanish schools don't seem as built up in Nicaragua). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5367 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 447 of 668 01 June 2014 at 9:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, Guatemala has always been near the top of my list... primarily due to the cost factor. There are tons of great schools there. There is a website that has reviews of all of the Spanish schools in Guatemala. http://www.guatemala365.com/
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5367 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 448 of 668 08 June 2014 at 9:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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Not a lot going on in the world of Spanish this week. I am slowly working my way through Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I am a bit more than half way though it now.
I am also watching the Simpsons again... almost done with the seventh season. Things were out of control at work so things were kind of limited. I had close to 20 hours in the car this week. I listened to the VOA news podcast each weekday and listened to one of the newscasts twice. I also listened to one episode of La Tremenda Corte a couple times. I'll just keep chugging along. I must say that this log definitely keeps me motivated and "honest." I am kind of dragging today and have not yet done any Spanish and now, after posting this entry, I feel like I cannot go the whole day without doing some Spanish so I'll do something... even if it is just watching an episode of the Simpsons. I hope this coming week is a bit more "normal" and I can get back to my regular Spanish routine. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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