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Spanish LR Log | ||
Tags: Listening-Reading (L-R) | Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| supertom Diglot Groupie Joined 4997 days ago 87 posts - 114 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 88 04 June 2011 at 11:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi everyone!
My name is Tom, 23 years old. This is my first language log and also my first language I am trying to learn on my own. My native language is Dutch and my English is not flawless but pretty fluent nonetheless. However, English was learned in the last 15 years or something with little concious effort, as what happened with many. So now, learning Spanish by listening-Reading mostly. I want to use and try this method because I was always terrible in the textbook approach used at my high school. I should have learned French that way, but nothing stuck. Now that I am learning on my own, I want to do it my way. I found that the theoretical approach (learning grammar and words before learning to really use the language) to be something that doesn't work for me. So, I want to learn Spanish by a more natural approach and my first try will be with LR. My Plan: I will try to use 10 day blocks of LR. I started this on last Friday, so the first block will last until next Sunday. In these 10 day blocks I will try to get at least 50 quality hours of LR done. That is an average of 5 hours a day, 10 days strait which is still pretty decent in my opinion. After this 10 day block, I will need to spend about 9 days studying for hopefully my last exam of the year (studying at university). So During those 9 days, I will not be able to LR 5 hours a day. However, I will try to slip in some grammar work. I think this is going to be an essential part of my studies. I will explain why. During LR, I will learn a lot. My listening will obviously make a big leap. However, many things will be based on guesses. During the breaks of LR I will have time to fill in some of those blanks, so that during the next intensive LR round, I can really identify the theoretical aspects I learned during my time off LR. This is all good and well, let us hope I can really make something out of this. My hope is that after 4 blocks of LR (that is at least 200 hours of quality LR and about 50 hours of non-LR study), my level in Spanish will have risen significantly. Milestone 1, 100 hours, Message 72, Page 9 Michel Thomas Review, Message 80, Page 10 Edited by supertom on 19 July 2011 at 1:24pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| supertom Diglot Groupie Joined 4997 days ago 87 posts - 114 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 2 of 88 04 June 2011 at 11:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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Before I started this log, I already studied a little Spanish. I completed Michel Thomas basic twice and done about 20 lessons on Pimsleur. However, since I had many exams coming up, I stopped very quickly after beginning (the exams went good by the way).
So now I am working on my first real start on Spanish. 3-06-2011 Day 1 6 hours LR Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal. Total: 6 hours 4-06-2011 Day 2 6 hours LR Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal. Total: 12 hours 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| supertom Diglot Groupie Joined 4997 days ago 87 posts - 114 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 88 05 June 2011 at 6:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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Had a busy day today, so already knew I wouldn't be able to LR for 5 hours. However, since I knew that, I studied for 6 hours last two days to compensate.
5-06-2011 Day 3 3 Hours LR Harry Potter y la Piedra filosofal Total: 15 hours All in all, it is going pretty well. It ain't like I can understand every word they say, but I can follow the story pretty closely even if I just listen and do not read along. This is a huge surprise for me, as I didn't expected this to happen so soon. To my advantage, I know the story pretty well (reading it now for the fifth time I think). However, I do not know exactly everything that will happen but I can extract that from what I'm hearing. Also noted that the earliest chapters 1-4 are way easier than the later chapters. Also, conversations are way easier to comprehend than when they use half a page to sketch a scene. I guess this is to be expected. The Spanish audiolibro of la piedra filosofal takes exactly 9 hours. Now that I am 15 hours in, I have almost completed it 2 times. After I have LR it three times, I will move on to la camara secreta. That one I can probably finish about 2 times during this 10 day period. Very exited about it, as it is going great! I do have a question however for those who have done LR. Sometimes I notice that I just stop reading along and only listen and still understand what I hear. However, this way I do not read words like 'roof', 'stair' or 'teeth' in my L1 book. And since I do not read it, I don't connect it to the words I hear in Spanish. So my question is, is this a bad thing? Thanks for everyone that is reading along! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lingoleng Senior Member Germany Joined 5301 days ago 605 posts - 1290 votes | Message 4 of 88 05 June 2011 at 11:14pm | IP Logged | ||
I am glad to hear that things work so well for you, so at first my congratulations. Regarding your question: During a long session of about 5 hours you won't be able to avoid these "holes", I guess that's to be expected. But yes, generally speaking you are listening only, as long as these holes last. The main advantage of L-R is the connection of things you don't comprehend to the meaning you can get from the translation, so these phases of listening only should not be too long, as long as you are at a relative beginner level. But again, staying focused for a long time (well, the original idea is meant for even longer periods of about 10 hours!) is very demanding, I cannot do it for such a long time, so I think you have nothing to worry about. Listening only after several sessions of L-R, maybe after a pause of some days or even weeks, can be a good test and a nice confirmation at the same time. And I like the concept of spaced repetition, not only for vocabulary, but for everything you study (while others recommend new input only; I guess you can read a lot and still keep coming back to some material for repetition, these concepts are not mutually exclusive.) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| supertom Diglot Groupie Joined 4997 days ago 87 posts - 114 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 5 of 88 05 June 2011 at 11:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks lingoleng. Not only for your answer, but also because you are the first one to post on this thread besides me!
Yeah, what you say seems to be the same as I thought. The focus thing is an issue. I tend to break it up in slightly smaller pieces. 50 minutes LR, 10 minutes break, after I have completed three hours of LR I take a bit longer break to stay fresh. For now, 10 hours of LR a day is just to much. Those 5-6 hours already take it out of you. Tomorrow will be another five or slightly more hours hopefully. Finishing my second round through HP1 and starting with the third round! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Pablo_V Bilingual Tetraglot Newbie Spain Joined 4931 days ago 22 posts - 39 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Galician*, English, Portuguese Studies: French | Message 6 of 88 05 June 2011 at 11:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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Go on, supertom. You are doing great and if you stick to your plan, you will reach your goal.
I guess that's the magic of learning languages: someday you will suddenly realize you know more than you knew. That day everyone will ask you for your "piedra filosofal". And you will look back to this very moment and understand that no stone was needed, but a plan and a strong will. Go on, supertom. Should you need something, feel free to ask (PM whenever you want). And good luck with those exams at University! Hasta pronto, 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| supertom Diglot Groupie Joined 4997 days ago 87 posts - 114 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 88 06 June 2011 at 5:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks a lot Pablo V, hopefully my endeavours won't cease to be fruitful for a long time.
06-06-2011 Day 4 5 hours LR Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal Total: 20 hours Went well. Tried to read along much more than yesterday. Yesterday I just glanced at the text to know what I can expect to hear, but no details. Today, I followed the audiolibro every line. I think that helps a lot to get new vocabulario. It takes more concentration though, as you have to listen very hard to really hear what the audiolibro is saying and simultaneously read all the time. Also, now I am on my third go through this book. 2 hours into it, so 7 more to go. Although it isn't as exiting as reading it the first time, it still doesn't feel like really studying. That is really a good thing! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| LangOfChildren Tetraglot Groupie Germany Joined 5430 days ago 82 posts - 141 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Swedish Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Thai, Russian | Message 8 of 88 06 June 2011 at 7:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi, I'm always interested in reading people's experiences with L-R, so I'll be following your progress.
How is your comprehension by now? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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