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Mitch’s Spanish log (TAC 2015) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| mitcht Newbie Australia Joined 3733 days ago 32 posts - 36 votes Speaks: English* | Message 9 of 28 30 November 2014 at 7:43pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks guys, yeah it appears a worthwhile course so I'll persevere.
As an aside, whilst I'm not too concerned with vocab at the moment, how do you advise building that? Reading, watching shows, podcasts, etc.? Cheers. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mitcht Newbie Australia Joined 3733 days ago 32 posts - 36 votes Speaks: English* | Message 10 of 28 01 December 2014 at 6:04am | IP Logged |
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Today I revised one unit of FSI and worked through a new one. Currently only on unit 4 so it's a little daunting
seeing how much is ahead. I also did some of my beginners workbook, I am well past most of the content but I do pick up the occasional vocab or piece of grammar so I've stuck it out. Maybe it has been a bit stupid as if it's important I'll no doubt pick it up later and not have to glean it out of the time wasted revising what I know well. I only have 50 pages left so I think I'll suck it up, finish it and perhaps use this as a lesson for the next one - don't waste time filling out verb tables you know backwards and focus on weaker/new areas. Mitch 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 11 of 28 01 December 2014 at 1:00pm | IP Logged |
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If i had to go about learning vocab again i'd do it much differently. I brute forced it, going through a 5,000 word frequency dictionary (Routledge's A Frequency Dictionary of Spanish) with Iversen-style word lists, though only actually studied around 3,000 since i ignored cognates and words i'd learned in Platiquemos. After that i just read tons of books, watched movies, and spoke Spanish.
Now, i'd probably do something along the lines of emk's Spanish subs2srs experiment. It's what i'm doing with Chinese now. 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 12 of 28 01 December 2014 at 1:30pm | IP Logged |
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I don't use srs/Anki. I never have. My vocabulary is learned by exposure and some conscious memorization. I'll write a word down. I'll say the word out loud ten times and the equivalent English word once in sets of five. This is only when there is a particularly troublesome word.
Emk's subs2srs method looks great, but it is not "out of the box", "ready to wear". There's a considerable amount of computer skill involved in the set-up. Repetition is the key. I get mine through daily reading, listening and conversation. In order to do this, you have to be willing to devote some time to it. You can make your own parallel texts from sites like GlobalVoices.org which has translations from Spanish to English and vice-versa. There's also albalearning parallel texts some with audio. As I said earlier, the veintemundos site is amazing. You get a bunch of interesting articles on a variety of subjects of cultural interest around the Spanish-speaking world with ten minutes or so of audio. Imagine how much your Spanish would improve if you did two of these a week for the next six months. Also, a daily newscast in Spanish provides varied vocabulary. In order for it to work, you have to listen every day. It helps to use a transcript until you can train your listening. I'm too busy now to give you some links but let me know if you want them and I will provide them later. 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 13 of 28 01 December 2014 at 2:25pm | IP Logged |
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I think so much of learning strategy depends on your anticipated time horizon and your desired end level. If you have a long term horizon and want to reach a high level I'd really focus mostly on getting the grammar down early on and pick up whatever vocabulary you get in the process. Later on you will be able to pick up vocabulary much faster that way.
I think of it as a bookshelf (a concept which I may have borrowed from either Michel Thomas or someone here on the forum) where you build the bookshelf first (the grammar/structure of the language) and then put the books in (the vocabulary/idioms/etc). The books stack in much more nicely if you do it that way and you don't have to constantly re-organize them if you have the bookshelf fairly well built when you start piling in the books. In terms of actual methods to pick up vocabulary... I'd say reading with parallel texts is the way to go for me. I wish there were more of them. It is interesting, fast, effective, in context and there are really no downsides. I'm not one at all for "studying" vocabulary and never do flashcards/anki/lists. Reading books at an appropriate level also seems to work quite well. 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 14 of 28 02 December 2014 at 5:41am | IP Logged |
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Yeah, once i got to the point where i could understand a book without a dictionary i basically stopped actively studying Spanish. But i agree with putting a big focus on grammar, in particular Spanish verbs. It's not as necessary if you just want to passively understand Spanish, but if you want to speak it reasonably well i think it's well worth the effort. Vocabulary is something you'll be spending the rest of your life picking up, whereas the grammar is a bit more narrow.
I also agree with iguanamon that consistently reading and listening to Spanish is much better and more interesting than using Anki or flashcards. Flashcards can also easily take up the majority of your study time and turn studying into a nightmare, so you've got to be careful. Personally though i guess i'm similar to Iversen in that i like to get a quick boost in vocabulary by studying it intensively for a few months and then jump into native materials to maintain it, fill it out, and provide context for all the loose words floating in my mind. Once i get to that point i basically drop all formal vocabulary study and pick it up through context or looking up words i hear frequently or just want to know. If you are interested in the subs2srs stuff i'd be happy to help you get started. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mitcht Newbie Australia Joined 3733 days ago 32 posts - 36 votes Speaks: English* | Message 15 of 28 04 December 2014 at 2:38am | IP Logged |
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Have had a little bit of a stilted couple of days as am spending a few days in Vegas with considerable distraction.
Have managed to review a couple of FSI units and currently on unit 6. Have also continued to work through my beginners grammar book. It should be finished in the next couple of days thank god. Will look to schedule an italki class for when i'm back and perhaps cover a few podcasts on the trip home. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mitcht Newbie Australia Joined 3733 days ago 32 posts - 36 votes Speaks: English* | Message 16 of 28 09 December 2014 at 11:13pm | IP Logged |
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So I have progressed a bit during my LV vacation and on return. Have continued working through the workbooks
(finished one, thankgod!). Surprisingly I'm not finding this too much of a chore though I don't like entering things into Anki i must admit. I have also been continuing with FSI which I'm finding a bit of a slog, I can see how it will be useful so I'll suck it up and keep going but I don't think it will be an easy road. Once I am commuting and can just put it on whilst driving I think it will be easier than sitting down to it. Have also listened to a few podcasts ( notes in spanish, showtime Spanish) and find things coming back easy after a few months of nothing. I've booked a skype session with a tutor tomorrow too which I am looking forwards to. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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