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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| 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 289 of 344 29 November 2014 at 5:53pm | IP Logged |
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Crush explains well what I mean by "going beyond the minimum" in corrections. Just striking out words and replacing them isn't ideal. If they can understand why, then that is useful to them and it will win you friends for doing so and better corrections for your own posts. As I said to Bolio- think Crush! If you were a Spanish-speaker and you got great corrections from Crush, you'd probably want to meet up with Crush for a skype exchange. That's how you can find someone worthwhile with whom to do an exchange. In my experience, it's better than random happenstance.
I also try to give the posters a vote of confidence by telling them I enjoyed reading about what they posted and that I understood the meaning that they were trying to get across. I also offer to provide further help if needed or wanted. I don't lie. If I didn't understand, I'll gently mention that they need to review their studies, but this rarely happens. Most of the time you can see what the posters are trying to say. In addition to a language, you are also learning a culture. Those two or three paragraphs often provide a little glimpse into their country's culture, which sometimes doesn't translate well into English. Imagine an American trying to translate college football tailgating into Spanish, the words may come out ok but the cultures are different. It helps to keep this in mind when writing- that we can have different frames of reference and try to give some background. I used to love it when someone from South America would post something explaining their cultural traditions. It spurred me to keep at it because that's why I do this, I want to get to know a people and their culture through their language. I still remember a post about Las Fallas, the fantastic annual pyrotechnic celebration in Valencia, Spain. I would really like to see that. Estoy agradecido a Crush por haber explicado mejor que yo. Edited by iguanamon on 30 November 2014 at 1:57pm 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 290 of 344 09 December 2014 at 3:56pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for all the great advice. Please know that it means a lot to us who are starting out.
Spanish has been good but boring as far as something I could "log" about. I have spent most of my organized studies with FSI. I feel as if I have become proficient with Units 16,17,18,19, and almost 20 since my last post. I will keep at it. I do feel more relaxed now that I have done away with having an end date to my FSI studies. One day I will finish it and that "one day" I will be able to speak Spanish much better than I can now. I am getting close to buying my tickets for Mexico in March. My family is ready to get back to San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. We fell in love with that town and cannot wait to return. We were there in June and I can say without pause that my Spanish is better now than it was then. It should be a nice journey. We made friends there that we have kept in touch with since June. It will be nice seeing them again. As always, thanks to all of you who help me without any gain for yourself. One day I will pay it forward. All the best, BOLIO 1 person has 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 291 of 344 10 December 2014 at 9:31am | IP Logged |
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I think for those of us who stop by your log regularly there are a couple things that keep us coming back. First and foremost, we can see that you put in a lot of effort. Then there's the fact that it's just easy to help out, you're doing all the work, we're just along for the ride. And when you say that there's no gain for us, seeing all the progress you've made this past year is a huge reward in itself. The day you move Spanish from "Studies:" to "Speaks:", consider it paid forward ;)
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| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4650 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 292 of 344 29 December 2014 at 5:05pm | IP Logged |
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I have been busy with work and family the last two weeks and I am ashamed to say that my Spanish effort has been lacking. I have missed a few days with FSI but have done something in Spanish every day. I am either reading or trying to speak.
I spent a few days with my wife's family and after being married to her for almost 20 years, I can say that I have never felt more a part of her family than this last trip. I understand more than ever and it feels good. I still get frustrated when I am unable to understand but I know a year from now, if I continue my studies, I will be able to speak only Spanish during our visits. It is becoming real to me. I have a long way to go and I need to get back to work with FSI. It really is a great course. Why I go through periods of inactivity with it is beyond me. I actually enjoy it but find myself slacking sometimes. Anyway, all the best to you and your studies! BOLIO 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4650 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 293 of 344 12 January 2015 at 6:24pm | IP Logged |
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I am not much into "New Year Resolutions" but I have started thinking about how I will attack the next year in Spanish. February 5th will be the one year mark of my studies. In some ways it feels longer than one year. The truth is there is really no wrong way to study or a perfect way either.
As of now, I still work on FSI (not as many hours as I should),reading a few graded readers, audio books, a little Veinte Mundos, an occasional Practice Makes Perfect exercise and a healthy dose of online news. I don't now how I will change my studies moving forward or if I will. I do know that I will complete FSI. Past that I am open for any and all opportunities. I have given consideration to a brute force approach. You know an Iversenian approach of taking on new vocabulary and verb conjugation. Diving head first into a 5000 word frequency list (Non Cognates) and my book of 500 Spanish verbs. Mastering them until I am a well oiled vocabulary machine. When completed I would be unstopable in the Spanish speaking world (Cue evil laugh). However, it doesn't sound like much fun. So, I am trying to find a happy medium of fun vs efficient for my second year. We shall see. All the best, BOLIO 1 person has 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 294 of 344 21 January 2015 at 12:47pm | IP Logged |
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When you finish FSI, you won't need to worry about verbs. Vocabulary however will still be a bit of a stumbling point. I did what you mentioned and made wordlists out of Routledge's "A Frequency Dictionary of Spanish". This helped me immensely and was the last time i ever really put traditional study time into Spanish. All in all i think it was around 3,000 words (after removing cognates and words i already knew) that i studied over the span of a few months. You're right, it's not fun, but at the time i was a Spanish-studying machine and had lots of free time. I've never done that for another language and don't think i could do it again.
Lately i've really enjoyed doing Subs2SRS cards, doing something similar to what emk is doing now would probably be helpful and also help with your listening comprehension. But i think at that point you will really already have all that you need to get by conversationally and watch TV shows and movies in Spanish. Reading adult literature (i mean, novels not written for children) might be another story, though. It's definitely worth the effort. I say finish FSI and then reanalyze what you feel is still lacking in your Spanish. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4650 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 295 of 344 27 January 2015 at 9:06pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks Crush. I know vocab will be lacking after I complete FSI. However, I have started the Iversen word lists from the Big Red Book of Spanish Vocabulary's Frequency list of 5,000 words. The list starts with the most common and works it's way back to the 5000th word. I have been surprised by many words that are very high on the frequency list that I did not know. Also, there are some words that I have control over that do not make the 5000 word list at all. Interesting.
FSI still comes to me in spurts. I will have a few days of almost obsession followed by days of no activity with it at all. My reading is becoming much better while my understanding of the spoken word, while no doubt has increased, it is still FAR behind my reading abilities. I continue to review my studies and continue to ponder which changes are to be made. One thing is certain, FSI gets completed. My progress is slow, I mean to say that I am behind the master plan that I created for myself several months ago. In my mind, I was to be finished with FSI by now and as I type I am working on Unit 31. Really, I think my "Master Plan" was too aggressive. All The Best, BOLIO 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4650 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 296 of 344 06 February 2015 at 6:25pm | IP Logged |
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Alright,Alright,Alright.
Today we enter into year TWO of daily self study of the beautiful language of Spanish. In review of last year, I must say that I am happy to still be here. I am also happy with my progress but in all honesty, I am no where near I thought I would be in terms of conversation ability. This is a combination of false expectations and being a rather ungifted student. I am the tortoise. I had thought of doing a complete transformation of my study process but I do not think it is needed. I have decided to focus on a few simple activities. I am going to treat these activities as a menu and pick from them daily. 1) FSI (Starting unit 32) No great adjustment here I just need to finish it. 2) Read while LISTENING to my audio books/pdf/online, etc. - This is a big difference for me. In the past I would read whatever I had and almost never listen to the audio (even though I had it). This changes now. No audio = no read. 3) Iversen word list + ANKI - OK, I have several children/youth books that were read and all unknown words highlighted. SOME of the words in the earl chapters later became known to me but many do not. I was to put them through an Iversen word list but stopped the practice because some say it is not needed and the definitions would be learned through context. This worked for me sometimes but more times than not it hasn't. Unknown words NOW go into an Iversen list. After working the list, the ones I have difficulty with make it to ANKI. 4) Listen / watch news in Spanish. I have been doing this but not daily 5) Walk 60 minutes per day. (I had a knee injury and have put on 30lbs.ugh) - While walking, I will listen to the FSI audio and practice responses WITHOUT pausing the tape. If not FSI, it will be one of my audio books. 6) Online novela - For the days that will allow it, I will watch episodes via my work computer in my office while eating. Realistically I can do this three days per week. 7) Speak daily with my wife, friends, strangers. - My wife has started spending a few minutes every day speaking with me in Spanish. My goal is for it to grow into a majority situation with my wife. 8)Veinte Mundos This is a site I have dabbled in but not spent near the time I should have. This will change. I look at it as shorter version of "Listen while you read books". The vocab is more extensive than the current line up of books I am using. 9) Lang8 - I have signed up but done nothing with it. I think it will help me produce(speak)as well as increase the obvious skill of writing. 10) Travel time listening to audio books. - While sitting in traffic to and from work. I did this most days, now everyday. As always, saying is easier than doing. I will also post more frequently about which activities I am doing. For example yesterday looked like this. 5Feb15 45 minutes FSI (Unit 32) 15 minutes speaking with my wife 30 minutes Local News 35 minutes Iversen List That was a homerun Spanish day for me. I will log it daily or weekly (Broken up into daily pieces). All the best, BOLIO Edited by BOLIO on 12 March 2015 at 3:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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