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James29’s Spanish Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4142 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes  Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 497 of 668 15 August 2014 at 9:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's really hard to change the language that you use with your significant other! My husband always answers
me in English. Drives me crazy! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5863 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 498 of 668 16 August 2014 at 5:11am | IP Logged | ||
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It is hard once you get into a habit, though. With some people it's just easier for me to speak Spanish, speaking English sounds really awkward. With a bit of effort i can get over it and get comfortable speaking in English, but at first it feels really weird and i always want to toss in Spanish words.
With people i didn't used to speak to in Spanish i can get by in a sort of Spanglish, jumping back and forth between the two or tossing a word or phrase from one language into the other, usually something that i've either forgotten or is just easier to express in the other language. For a partner i imagine it's gotta be more difficult, especially if one language feels more intimate. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lorren Senior Member United States brookelorren.com/blo Joined 4249 days ago 286 posts - 324 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Danish, Irish Studies: Russian | Message 499 of 668 16 August 2014 at 5:38am | IP Logged | ||
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I should spend some more time with FSI. I understand what I read fairly well, but my grammar is quite lacking. The first few chapters look really simple though... I think that pushed me away a bit. However, I suppose that if I skip over the really easy chapters, then I could focus on the parts that I need help in.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5260 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 500 of 668 16 August 2014 at 1:02pm | IP Logged | ||
Just because a course may start with ¿Cómo está Ud.? doesn't mean you have to do the same. When I started learning Portuguese with DLI (similar to FSI) I jumped in at Unit 4 of my course for the same reason. Feel free to jump in where you feel it is appropriate. I did DLI for the drills at the same time I was engaging with the language in all facets. It was extremely helpful. I got to where I enjoyed and looked forward to the drills because I knew they were helping me so much with what I was reading, hearing, speaking and writing every day. So, when you jump in, stick with it, it takes time for the habit to form. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5373 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 501 of 668 16 August 2014 at 3:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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Or, you could simply do each FSI lesson once until you get to a point where you feel you need to do it more than once. If you go through them just once quickly at one a day you can get half way through the entire course in less than a month.
I have actually been considering going through FSI again, but I think I'd skip the first 15 units. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4142 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 502 of 668 16 August 2014 at 4:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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I started FSI at an early intermediate level. I skipped over units one and two - the pronunciation and useful phrases.
I started on unit 3, which was where they introduced the first dialogue followed by drills. While there was nothing new in the first few units that I did, I don't regret starting with something "too easy". I just went through them quickly using audio only, while walking the dog. It was a good review and helped me build automaticity. Then, when I started hitting the tricky lessons, I repeated when necessary. I did the whole course (well, up to unit 48, anyway - I might pick up again where I left off someday) using audio only. I found the textbook clunky and hard to read. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5863 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 503 of 668 17 August 2014 at 5:36am | IP Logged | ||
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Also, just because the material looks easy doesn't mean that you can produce it rapidly in a conversation. As Stelle mentions, it can help to build automaticity in your speech for things that you previously had a passive knowledge of. The first couple units you can probably safely skip, though.
3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5373 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 504 of 668 17 August 2014 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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OK, time to update for the week. I have made some good progress on El Intermediario. I am on page 276 out of 337. I have not yet read today, but should get some time later today to read another chapter or two. The book is starting to "come together." It is worth the read so far and I like it. I am noticing that I rarely consult the English, but I'd say I still feel like I am happy it is there. Many times I check the English and I really "know" or could easily figure out what the Spanish means... it is just comfortable to say to myself... "yup, I knew that even though I'd never seen that." I'm not sure what I'll do when I finish the book.
I've made a bit more progress on the Cassell's book, but that is really slow going simply because I never have that type of free time. I have hardly been to the beach at all this summer :( Things with work have been very busy and will likely get busier over the next month or two. In an interesting way this can sometimes give me more Spanish time as my body wakes me up earlier for some reason and I have extra time in the morning to do whatever I want. I still do the VOA news in the morning on the way to work. An interesting thing happened this week. There was an interview of someone in Ferguson, Missouri related to the rioting and he spoke English in a way that I could not really understand and I said to myself "I'll just wait for the Spanish translation so I can understand what the heck he is saying." That was kind of funny. I watched a bit of Caso Cerrado this week too. My evening habit of watching a 30 minute TV episode in Spanish has been suffering a bit lately. My son is on summer vacation so his bedtime is later and that leaves me ready to go to bed as soon as possible after him. I have not watched the Simpsons for quite a while. I may try to get into that again and do another season. No meetups this week and maybe only a few text chats on Skype. Nothing major. I have noticed something kind of funny about my Spanish. I can put on a great Mexican accent (or at least I think I can). I grew up watching Speedy Gonzalez and can easily imitate his voice/accent in English. I just imagine I am him when I speak Spanish. One of my crazy goals has always been to speak Spanish in a way where native speakers think I am a native speaker from somewhere else... in other words, they note an odd Spanish accent more than the English accent. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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