tiagocunha Diglot Newbie Brazil Joined 4855 days ago 24 posts - 27 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: French
| Message 1 of 17 20 August 2012 at 7:52am | IP Logged |
Hello everyone,
Maybe a English learning log in an English written forum seems strange, but I'm
currently trying to get my English skills from a basic fluency level to a near native
one.I don't know well how to reach this goal, so I'm open to any kind of advice.My
worst skill is the listening understanding, so I'm focusing to increse this without
forget reading/writing/speaking skills.
My current approach is:
1-Watching movies in English(mostly with English subscribes)
2-Learning 30 words per day, reviewing with anki
3-Reading a lot in English(reading is my stronger skill)
4-Posting on this forum, to increase my writing skills
Any advice?
I will try to keep a daily update.
Thanks for any help,
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tiagocunha Diglot Newbie Brazil Joined 4855 days ago 24 posts - 27 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: French
| Message 2 of 17 20 August 2012 at 7:59am | IP Logged |
August 19th update:
Watched the documentary "Heart of Darkness - A Fimlmaker's Apocalypse" with English
subtitles.
New words(25):
absentmindedly,nevertheless,bashfully,candidly,daintily,dari ngly,dastardly,eagerly
earnestly,half-heartedly,haphazardly,icily,jagged,keenly,nas tily,naught,obligingly
,obnoxious,quaintly,seldom,tenderly,unabashed,handsomely
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Dagane Triglot Senior Member SpainRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4504 days ago 259 posts - 324 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishB2, Galician Studies: German Studies: Czech
| Message 3 of 17 20 August 2012 at 3:01pm | IP Logged |
Hi! As well as you, I'm trying to improve my English from a basic fluency to a near native level. Both my main weakness and my learning methods are the same, so surely I'll enjoy your thread.
Apart from watching TV series and films, I'd suggest listening to radio podscats. They're useful if you haven't got enough time to watch any series. The website of the BBC Radio 4 hosts a great bunch of them.
I wish you the best in your improvement!
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Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5159 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian
| Message 4 of 17 20 August 2012 at 3:35pm | IP Logged |
Best luck, tiago!
I should be doing the same, but I'm so busy with my other languages, and they are my real passion. A few months ago, I tried watching the TV show 'Wilfred' (the American one, at which only the dog speaks with an Australian accent). I still can't understand spoken English properly, as I never really cared about doing listening exercises. Now my listening skills are getting better for other languages, like French, and are stationary for English. So, I'll be following your log!
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sctroyenne Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5384 days ago 739 posts - 1312 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Irish
| Message 5 of 17 20 August 2012 at 9:03pm | IP Logged |
Try to find a show with transcripts online or DVDs that have closed captioning (verbatim
English subtitles - may just be listed as subtitles). It ought to help a lot with
listening comprehension. Also, TV series will have a lot of informal language which you
may not know as much of so transcripts will help you pick up some of that vocabulary.
Good luck!
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tiagocunha Diglot Newbie Brazil Joined 4855 days ago 24 posts - 27 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: French
| Message 6 of 17 21 August 2012 at 6:01am | IP Logged |
Dagane wrote:
Hi! As well as you, I'm trying to improve my English from a basic
fluency to a near native level. Both my main weakness and my learning methods are the
same, so surely I'll enjoy your thread.
Apart from watching TV series and films, I'd suggest listening to radio podscats.
They're useful if you haven't got enough time to watch any series. The website of the
BBC Radio 4 hosts a great bunch of them.
I wish you the best in your improvement!
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Thanks... I will include some podcasts in my studying routine!
Expugnator wrote:
Best luck, tiago!
I should be doing the same, but I'm so busy with my other languages, and they are my
real passion. A few months ago, I tried watching the TV show 'Wilfred' (the American
one, at which only the dog speaks with an Australian accent). I still can't understand
spoken English properly, as I never really cared about doing listening exercises. Now
my listening skills are getting better for other languages, like French, and are
stationary for English. So, I'll be following your log! |
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Thanks!
sctroyenne wrote:
Try to find a show with transcripts online or DVDs that have closed
captioning (verbatim
English subtitles - may just be listed as subtitles). It ought to help a lot with
listening comprehension. Also, TV series will have a lot of informal language which you
may not know as much of so transcripts will help you pick up some of that vocabulary.
Good luck! |
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Unfortunately my television only receives brazillian TV channels.But I'm using a lot of
DVDs and I planning to include some series too.Thanks for the advice!
August 20th update
I was very busy, so I only review the vocabulary flashcards and watched a Jamie
Oliver's Food Revolution episode without subtitles!.I understood almost
everything spoken on the video.
So my current stats are:
Videos with subs: 1h36min
Videos without subs: 42min
Videos(total): 2h18m
Vocabulary: 25words
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tiagocunha Diglot Newbie Brazil Joined 4855 days ago 24 posts - 27 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: French
| Message 7 of 17 22 August 2012 at 5:39am | IP Logged |
Thanks for the guy that PM me a link of a great site filled with documentaries, it will
help me a lot!
August 21th update
I "learned" 30 new words, download some BBC4 podcasts(not listened yet) and watched a
movie (The King's Speech) with subtitles.
So my current stats are:
Videos with subs: 3h28min
Videos without subs: 42min
Videos(total): 4h10m
Vocabulary: 55words
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kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4840 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese
| Message 8 of 17 22 August 2012 at 6:00am | IP Logged |
Boa sorte! Good luck!
1 person has voted this message useful
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