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Amerykanka’s TAC 2012 (Teams Žá & Żubr) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5169 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 65 of 119 04 June 2012 at 11:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm glad that I took the AP Spanish exam, but I am rather worried about my grade. I have to console myself
by watching Spanish soap operas (it's amazing what terrible acting I can put up with as long as the actors in question are not speaking English). Polish is a fantastic language, but I agree, the cases can be bewildering. Fortunately when I was eleven and barely spoke any Polish at all I signed up for classes and was thrust into an all-Polish environment for three hours a week. It really helped. There are still some nouns that I have trouble with, though, and the verbs are nightmarish. I really need to start reviewing declensions and conjugations. Flashcards are a lifesaver!
I'm glad I'm not the only one! The other day I needed to write "civilization" and tried to spell it "cywilization." 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5965 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 66 of 119 05 June 2012 at 12:30am | IP Logged | |||||
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Even if you don't get the results on you exam you hope for (and I hope you have a pleasant surprise!), just taking an AP course can help a lot with future coursework.
I just remembered that I could not have taken AP Spanish hecause it wasn't offered when I was a student. I did take AP English, which was a difficult and intense course, and I had a fantastic teacher. I was a very bad test-taker at the time (too much anxiety), and so did poorly on the exam - but then used what I learned in that class to make excellent grades in future academic work, and even now the lessons are still with me in a meaningful way, after all this time, 2 years, uh, I mean 20+ years later! (minor detail) So I think you'll be glad you had the AP coursework. It can only help! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5169 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 67 of 119 16 June 2012 at 4:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
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@Meramarina - yes, I think I learned a lot in studying for the exam, so I am really glad I took it, even if I
receive a bad score. I need to update this log properly later, but right now I just wanted to note that yesterday I purchased El Reino del Dragón de Oro by Isabel Allende. Now I have something to read after I finally finish La Ciudad de las Bestias . I had taken a break from this book while I was studying for the Spanish AP exam, but now I am reading it again, so it shouldn't be long before I finish. The book is considerably easier for me to read now! :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5169 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 68 of 119 09 July 2012 at 1:35am | IP Logged | |||||
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It has been a long time since I posted an update, but I have been studying! I have made quite a bit of
progress, too, even though I have decided to tone things down a bit for the summer. Relaxation is important, so I have been relaxing and enjoying myself. I still do the bare minimum of study to ensure that none of my languages suffer from neglection, and I study extra when I feel like it, but I am not pushing myself. This fall I will get more done as a result of having had the break. What's more, I want to spend my extra time having fun with my family and doing other things that rank higher in importance than studying languages. (I hate to say it, but languages are not the most important thing in my life - people are!) Anyway, here is my update. Spanish I have started studying in preparation for my trip to Nicaragua at the end of July. This was supposed to be an intensive study time, but then I decided to relax a bit (as I mentioned above). I have had several conversations with my Puerto Rican aunt which went very well for me, so I am confident that I will be able to communicate effectively in Nicaragua. For this reason I am not worried about letting my study schedule slack a bit. So now I am just studying sort-of-intensely, which translates as watching soap operas, reading La Ciudad de las Bestias, listening to podcasts, reviewing my Anki cards, and learning new vocabulary. I should probably brush up on my grammar, too, since I have some definite weak points. I now have 4, 376 Spanish flashcards in Anki, which means I know at least 4,500 words, since some cards have multiple words on them. I had wanted to be at 5,000 cards by now, but oh well. I am steadily adding new vocabulary. I have started reading La Ciudad de las Bestias again - only 70 pages left, and then I will have read my first book in Spanish! I can't wait! I downloaded some of the Radio Ambulante podcasts (which Vos kindly posted a link to, I think in the Spanish forum) and I have listened to almost 50 minutes of them. I like them a lot, especially since I can understand about 85% of what the speakers are saying. I have also been listening to the "Notes in Spanish Advanced" and "Notes in Spanish Gold" podcasts. I don't like them as much, but they are still an invaluable resource. (Plus I can get all the episodes free on iTunes!) If anyone is interested, the website is www.notesinspanish.com/category/advanced. Finally, I have been watching soap operas. LOTS of episodes. I think this has really helped my Spanish, though. Polish I have been making a concerted effort to review and update all my flashcards, both the paper ones and those in Anki. I have been reviewing my old word lists, too. My main goal for this summer is to refresh my knowledge of Polish vocabulary. Since I have so few chances to speak Polish (besides my conversations with my tutor), I tend to forget words, and I am trying to stop this alarming tendency. I have also been reviewing and learning difficult conjugations and declensions. I made a special Anki deck just for this purpose, and so far it has worked very well! I am still reading Stara baśń and likely will be for a long time - it is even harder than Pan Tadeusz. I have read 60 pages so far. I'm not sure if I mentioned this in an earlier post, but Kraszewski's writing style reminds me of James Fennimore Cooper's in The Last of the Mohicans. I know that's kind of strange, seeing as one man wrote in Polish and the other in English, but still . . . Latin Nothing terribly interesting to report. I finished Chapters 31, 32, 33, and 34 of Wheelock's. I am learning about deponent verbs, which are REALLY neat. Now I am exhausted after writing that long update. Time for more relaxation! :) Edited by Amerykanka on 09 July 2012 at 1:36am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5169 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 69 of 119 09 July 2012 at 1:39am | IP Logged | |||||
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I forgot. Today someone told me a joke in Spanish, which I thought was pretty funny. It may be a well-known
joke, I have no idea, but in any case this is the first time I have heard it. - ¿Cuántas personas caben en el estómago de una ballena? - No sé. - Ninguna, porque va llena. :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5169 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 70 of 119 13 July 2012 at 9:56pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I have nothing new to report, except that I received my Spanish AP score today. I got a 5 (which is the
highest score possible)!!! I am VERY excited!!! :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5393 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 71 of 119 13 July 2012 at 9:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
That is so awesome! ¡Felicitaciones! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Amerykanka Hexaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5169 days ago 657 posts - 890 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Polish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian | Message 72 of 119 13 July 2012 at 10:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
Thank you! :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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