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| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4650 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 129 of 344 29 April 2014 at 4:15pm | IP Logged |
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Last night I finished FSI Unit 8. I have to admit, it is growing on me. Yesterday, I read some of James and DBAG's logs while I was waiting for a client. Both seemed to hold FSI in high regard as well as Iguanamon and DLI.
I changed it up for the better. Now, I work through it and not try to memorize everything. I actually enjoy the substitution/translation drills and I try to parrot the actors and their accents. While the speed is faster than Assimil, it is more appealing to my ear. By not trying to memorize everything, it takes the stress out of the process. Scriptorium through Assimil 42 is done and I must say that I really find this excercise relaxing. I spent 30 minutes on the Iversen wordlist I have going. It was a nice day with 3 hours of productive study. A friend of a friend reached out to me about studying Spanish. He had mentioned to our common friend about wanting to learn. He was directed to me. He asked what courses should he do. Based off those that went before me (Iguanamon, James, Crush, DBAG, Luke, Hermon Munster,etc) I shared the idea of: Step 1) Michel Thomas + Madrigal's magic key (They kind of work the same way) Step 2) Assimil Spanish with Ease Step 3) FSI Basic course Step 4) Living Language beyond the Basics + Native material audio with text Step 5) Assimil Using Spanish if you can find it (I have not found one yet) ****Also speak whenever you can...even if it is to yourself***** I explained to him that I am in the process of completing these steps, and that my hope/ belief is that, after completion, I will be conversational about the lighter things in life without being a burden to the native speaker. We shall see. Have a great day everyone. 86/364 2 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 130 of 344 29 April 2014 at 7:04pm | IP Logged |
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You have to buy the Using Spanish book separately from the CDs. Buy the book (available here at Schoenhof's) and then buy the audio under the French name. It is actually pretty reasonably priced.
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| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5857 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 131 of 344 30 April 2014 at 12:38am | IP Logged |
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I honestly think 4 and 5 aren't really necessary after FSI, you could try slipping them in alongside FSI or before (or to replace something else). But if you do all of those, i'm pretty sure you'll be much further along than "conversational". You'll have really solid grammar, a nice vocab base, and be able to think and get by in Spanish. The one thing that will probably still be biting you won't be the grammar but rather vocab holes. I used Iversen's lists to help with that and if you enjoy them recommend them "encarecidamente", especially if you're reading, talking, and watching movies. You'll see the words pop up all over and it feels great to see that progress :)
Oddly enough, i just wrote out an outline for learning Spanish to a high level about a half an hour ago for a friend, it included: 1. LSLC (Learning Spanish Like Crazy), 2. Assimil Spanish Without Toil, 3. Platiquemos. Pretty similar to your list, which i think speaks to the quality of the materials. Congrats on finishing Unit 8, btw! 3 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 132 of 344 30 April 2014 at 2:36am | IP Logged |
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I agree with Crush that if you work through Assimil and FSI thoroughly you don't really need too much more.
Also, I note that Beyond the Basics is roughly equal (or perhaps slightly easier) than the last part of Assimil Spanish with Ease. I think it would be far too easy after after FSI. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4650 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 133 of 344 30 April 2014 at 6:54pm | IP Logged |
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You know, to say thanks to the two of you along with I-Mon is really such an understatement.
I will complete Assimil within 8 weeks and I will start the Living Language course with my primary focus then being FSI. I do feel as if FSI is the most important course. My questions for the two of you are; 1) How many times would you go over the dialogue and the various substitution, translation and replacement drills? Once, twice...ten times? When are you really done? 2) Would you do drills with the text in front of you or would you not look at the text. I have a harder time understanding without following the text (maybe that is the purpose). Do you start with the text and get to the point where you can respond without the text? As always, thanks. I worked through Unit 9 yesterday and it was not too difficult but I need to go over some more today during lunch. I also completed Assimil Lesson 43 Scriptorium and passive 57. Tonight, I will have additional time for studies (Wednesdays are my heavy lifting weekdays for Spanish). I will focus on Assimil and spend an additional hour with one of my books doing Intensive reading(AKA research for new vocabulary words). 88/362 EDIT: James, thanks for the link concerning Using Spanish. Edited by BOLIO on 30 April 2014 at 6:56pm 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 134 of 344 30 April 2014 at 7:06pm | IP Logged |
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I did each FSI lesson either two or three times, but I was fairly well advanced at the time. I think the rule should be to move on when you can do the entire lesson without the text in front of you. If you make a couple mistakes or "tongue twister" mistakes that's fine. I would definitely not get bogged down. Some of the lessons and drills can be tough. If you get hung up just move on and come back to the tough drills later. Some of the lessons in Unit IV are extremely difficult and I do not believe you need to master them (I certainly did not), but I'd definitely try to master all the lessons in Units 1-3.
I found the best thing to do was to quickly read the dialogue and text and notes and then simply play the audio. Use the book for the drills if you need to. Then the next time do the same thing or if it feels easy do it without the book. 2 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 135 of 344 30 April 2014 at 7:40pm | IP Logged |
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I agree with James29. Don't get too bogged down with the drills. Do them until you feel you've got the drilling concept down, or just come back to them later if they're especially difficult- but remember to make a note of it. The drills help with "drilling the concepts into your head".
Everything else you're doing in your other course, intensive reading and also listening outside of course-world will help to reinforce grammar and vocabulary. Try not to burn out. Remember, perfection is not the goal. Proficiency is the goal. It's ok to make mistakes, people will correct you (especially if you ask them to) and that's additional, real world, reinforcement. At the first of the year, over at Team Exploradores, we had several beginners join with the same goals that you have to speak either Spanish or Portuguese. It's May tomorrow. There are few left. You're still plugging away and making good progress. That's 90% of it, "showing up"- being consistent and persistent. So simple and key to language learning, yet so difficult for many folks to do. You're doing well so far. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5857 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 136 of 344 30 April 2014 at 9:34pm | IP Logged |
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I agree with both of you, though i'll add a couple other things.
When i went through the course learning most of the material for the first time (ie. it was completely new to me and not a review), i did almost every unit about 6 times. There were one or two easy units that i did 5 times and also a couple harder units that i did 7 times (and perhaps even one that i did 8 times, i can't quite remember). But yes, i would try NOT to use the book, it's easier with Platiquemos since all the exercises are divided into separate MP3 files, but what i did was go through a unit once, read the grammar explanations, and look up any words that i couldn't make out from listening to it. After that i left the book out completely and just used it as an audio course. FSI might require you to rely a little bit more on the book, but the drills should be done without the book just listening and answering. I considered myself done when i was answering about 95% of the drills correctly and without needing to pause. A couple slipups here and there are ok especially if you feel like you really do know it. The first 2-3 times i did a lesson were pretty brutal, i felt like i'd never be able to understand/answer quickly enough. Then something magical happened almost every time around the fourth repetition, and by the 6th time i was always surprised how easy it seemed and how it could've ever seemed difficult. But i was repeating a unit 2-3 times a day, so my experience might be a bit different from yours. Still, it's something to give you an idea, especially since you'll have a much better foundation having gone through Assimil in addition to your scriptorium studies. Ya has progresado mucho, y cómo bien dice iguanamon, ¡lo más importante es no abandonar! Parece que cuánto más sepas más preguntas tienes, pero ahí está la gracia, si no tienes preguntas no tendrás ningún interés en seguir adelante. ¡Ánimo y adelante! :) Edited by Crush on 30 April 2014 at 9:44pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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