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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| xandreax Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5906 days ago 142 posts - 160 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 33 of 73 30 September 2008 at 6:33pm | IP Logged |
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Hey! I was interested reading these entries because I have been studying Spanish for almost a couple of years but I have had some of the same problems as you, such as thinking of how to say sentences like you mentioned (The professor has already given them to us) quickly and without thinking for more than a few seconds. What I did find helpful were a couple of workbooks that I purchased on amazon.com based on the reviews.
There is a series called "Practice Makes Perfect" and the exercises for the Verb Tenses book and the Pronouns and Prepositions book are very helpful for any intermediate to advanced student. Also, I've gone through "The Ultimate Spanish Verb Review and Practice", which is great too. The books go over a lot of the trickier aspects of the language and there are tons of useful exercises. Just wanted to put that out there in case you're interested in that kind of extra practice. Have a good day =) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| irrationale Tetraglot Senior Member China Joined 6056 days ago 669 posts - 1023 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese | Message 34 of 73 02 October 2008 at 6:03am | IP Logged |
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Finished Unit 33.
Changing my tactics a little, because FSI seems to have changed theirs. Now it seems to be easier lessons (or I am getting better, one or both of the two), but with tons of vocab and readings. I mean, a lot of vocab...around 90 words a Unit at least. Unfortunately, the readings are incredibly dull and technical. Anyway, I am going to start doing the lessons in 3 days at least, instead of 2, and am going to space out the words in Anki amoung the days. Although I could (a lot are loan words), I just don't think it is wise to memorize 45 to 50 words a day over two days, I seriously doubt that that would help my rentention and fluency. Hopefully FSI will review these words, or use them in the audio. Starting 34 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| irrationale Tetraglot Senior Member China Joined 6056 days ago 669 posts - 1023 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese | Message 35 of 73 07 October 2008 at 12:33am | IP Logged |
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Finished 34.
Things are happening that are causing me to take longer now...and are really frustrating me. First, these lessons (Platiqemos) have gotten much more boring and tedious. Mostly I am memorizing words, not learning new ideas. I have to memorize about 90 words per lesson, some very techinal words (I don't know when I am going to use "circuito" and "especialista") Given, most of these words are cognates and are easy to remember, but still. The readings are incredibly boring, to make it worse. Also the Chinese is interfering somewhat..I think later on it will be better when I get into the rythm of memorizing the characters and Pimsleur, along with the Spanish. But now its chaos. Anyway starting Unit 35 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| irrationale Tetraglot Senior Member China Joined 6056 days ago 669 posts - 1023 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese | Message 36 of 73 09 October 2008 at 8:59am | IP Logged |
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Finished 35.
Another superlong reading but easy lesson. Memorized about 90 to 100 words, mostly cognates, most being very technical and academic (this makes sense because most cognates in English are like this). Passed a milestone; I am now thinking to myself in Spanish automatically, if but sporadically. Related to this; I have passed the automatic sentence construction milestone...no longer do I have to think about non-complex sentences before saying them. This is due to both FSI's drills, and very very frequent convos with natives daily. I can absolutely see advanced fluency ahead of me now...I only need 2 more tenses and more words. Lesson 36 and finally the subjunctive!!! Edited by irrationale on 09 October 2008 at 9:00am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| irrationale Tetraglot Senior Member China Joined 6056 days ago 669 posts - 1023 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese | Message 37 of 73 16 October 2008 at 3:41am | IP Logged |
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Lesson 38 started yesterday
The subjunctive..is strange. I will admit that. I know how to use it based on the examples given to me, but I don't have a feel for it in general. Using the subjunctive, I have greatly improved my Spanish involving requests, orders, wishes, etc directed toward other people. It is an extension of the joy I felt when learning commands, because of my work environment, I frequently wish and implore other people (and they me)! The absurd amount of words continues. Surprisingly, my brain hasn't exploded yet from memorizing somewhere around 30 words a day now, plus Chinese characters. Given, most of these memorized aren't in my command, only in my mental "reach". Still, I don't know what else to do...slow down maybe and have a huge backlog of words when I finish? Or maybe forgo memorizing the cognates with the readings? Anyone have any thoughts on this? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| irrationale Tetraglot Senior Member China Joined 6056 days ago 669 posts - 1023 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese | Message 38 of 73 19 October 2008 at 3:57am | IP Logged |
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Started Unit 39 yesterday.
Basically a throw-away unit, laughably easy and off topic and probably put in as a break during the subjunctive units. This gives me time to catch up on my vocab anyway, which is my main focus these days. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| irrationale Tetraglot Senior Member China Joined 6056 days ago 669 posts - 1023 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese | Message 39 of 73 21 October 2008 at 11:45pm | IP Logged |
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Unit 40 started today.
Back to the subjunctive again ;) I am getting to like the subjunctive, actually, and really appreciate their thorough treatment. It is really improved my fluency and reduce the need to cicumlocute, which is the main problem as of now. For example, in this lesson I finally found out how to express the "whichever, whenever, whatever, however," etc type statements in Spanish with the subjunctive. Before I always had to circumlocute my sentence into a rambling clarification. Now I simply use the subjunctive! Spanish is really efficient like that! It is hilarious and at the same time unfortunate (for Spanish speakers) that it is so easy to change a sentence into the subjunctive in Spanish, but it English it is extremely random from case to case. This seems to be the general idea of the difference between the two, same with the PAST 1 and 2, and estar vs ser, and it is funny to me that the subjunctive is described as a "dreaded" part of the language in FSI. As a side note, I have limited my words in Anki to 20 new words a day. If they back-up, so be it. As of now, the words are what are slowing me down, and I figure that I can continue to learn dubious vocab such as "cristalizar" after I finish FSI and know the grammar. Along with Chinese and chinese characters, this should be a comfortable amount of memorization. I will increase if I see it fit. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| irrationale Tetraglot Senior Member China Joined 6056 days ago 669 posts - 1023 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog Studies: Ancient Greek, Japanese | Message 40 of 73 25 October 2008 at 1:33am | IP Logged |
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Started Unit 41 today.
Okay so this Unit seems pretty difficult, and I have to admit I actually had to look at the grammatical explaination this time. The subjunctive definitely got racheted up a notch in difficulty, and this is just the obligatory usage. I can tell now why the subjunctive is an annoyance with Spanish learners. One thing that helps me personally with the "lack of fufillmet" feeling is imagining saying "might" and "may" and somehow transferring that feeling of when I say those in English to Spanish. I know it isn't the same as the subjunctive, but it is close isn't it? I really need to get the feeling for the subjunctive and not just memorize all the rules. Also one thing that has been tripping me up about the subjunctive is I have noticed that the Spanish speakers around me don't seem to use it that much, so I don't get to hear the context. Or maybe I am in the wrong setting? Oh well... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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