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Sentence Mining Spanish TAC 2014 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4687 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes  Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 9 of 39 05 October 2013 at 1:46am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, at least I know of a couple people that are feeling my pain!
Today: Between last night and today, I worked through the first 11 chapters of Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish. So far, it is very helpful and is pretty easy to follow along with. It has almost no real grammar points, but tons of vocab through cognates. It jumps right into the past tense instead of the present which is kind of unusual, but makes sense because so much of what we talk about as to do with things in the past. The language seems a little dated, but I will probably keep doing a chapter or two a day until I feel like it has stopped being useful. I listened to half of the next disc of Michel Thomas (6) and I must say it is getting pretty boring. I LOVED Michel Thomas for German and I really thought it would be the way to go with Spanish too, but it is really dragging. I will power through it, but I am looking forward to putting it in my rear view mirror. I completed Pimsleur I lesson 12. I'm really liking Pimsleur. I also did Pimsleur for German and so far in Spanish it is not disappointing. I have been compiling some beginner conversational type phrases in a notebook and will try to devote 15-30 minutes a day reviewing that. I hope to post a Youtube video of my progress sometime next week. Tonight I plan to work through some more Synergy Spanish, and then probably tackle some basic grammar. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4687 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 10 of 39 07 October 2013 at 7:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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This weekend, I completed Pimsleur lessons 13 and 14. I have not tackled the last 2 discs of Michel Thomas yet but I am going to buckle down and plow through it this week.
I am also collecting vocabulary for ANKI. This is something I did with German that I found very helpful. I think that grammar can be very difficult to process until you have the vocabulary set to make sense of it. If you have vocabulary, you can create more examples of grammar structures and stuff like that. I am still looking over grammar rules, but just not as intensively as I am studying vocab. I think I may be ready at the end of this week to look at the possibility of a Spanish Skype conversation or Google+ hangout. Hopefully these conversations can get me in the habit of speaking "real" Spanish as opposed to textbook Spanish. I want to learn Spanish the correct way, but I also don't want to sound stiff or overly formal like a textbook. I am going to record a youtube video of my progress so far later this week so I have something to compare it too in the upcoming weeks and Months. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4687 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 11 of 39 09 October 2013 at 4:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hello! So, the last 2 days have not been as productive as I would have liked, but I did manage some Spanish.
I finished Pimsleur I lesson 15. I listened to a few hours of Instant Recall Spanish which was ok, but maybe a bit basic for my current level. I did learn a few new words though. I have started looking at important verbs. Barron's 501 Spanish Verbs has been super helpful in identifying the verbs to start with. Right now I am focusing on their "essential 55" verbs and their conjugations and uses. I find that the best way to learn verbs and their forms is to create sentences with them. This at least gives my brain an actual use for these new words. I intend to record my Sapnish video tonight, so hopefully I can get it uploaded and here in my log for a checkpoint for future progress. Thanks for reading! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4687 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 12 of 39 15 October 2013 at 4:06am | IP Logged | ||
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I did not get around to recording my Spanish video like I wanted to, but I did get some other stuff done.
I listed to all of disc 6 of Michel Thomas. It is starting to get a little more engaging. I have started work on some "islands" (small, prepared monologues about certain commonplace topics) about my family, my work, my interests etc. I did this same thing for German and it proved very useful in conversations, especially in the beginning. I have continued to study the most common verbs and have been listening to Instant Recall Spanish Vocabulary and am up to lesson 5 in Spanish in 100 Days. I have accepting an invite for this week (Thursday) to a Spanish "Hangout" on HTLAL's Google+ group (The Language Learning Den). I am excited to try out my conversation skills (or lack thereof) and am really looking forward to actually using some of what I've been studying for the last few weeks. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4687 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 13 of 39 17 October 2013 at 12:54am | IP Logged | ||
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I have finished Pimsleur I 16 and 17. I am about half-way through disc 7 of Michel Thomas Basic Course.
I have collected a decent bunch of "islands" for repetition and practice. I have been consistently involved in Spanish, just not in any one particular method. I have been reading bits of grammar books here and there. Then reading some vocabulary books here and there. Then listening to random stuff. I really need to focus, but I'm having fun. Looking forward to the Hangout tomorrow on Google+ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4687 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 14 of 39 25 October 2013 at 5:12am | IP Logged | ||
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Hello. I realize it has been an unacceptable length of time since updating this log, so here it is.
What have I been up to? Completed Michel Thomas Foundation Been studying grammar fairly intensely through a variety of books I have started reading Harry Potter in Spanish (I have already read it in English, French and German) I have been compiling some lists The lists: So I have made some lists of adjectives (about 50), adverbs (about 80), verbs (about 200), prepositions/conjunctions/pronouns (about 25), and nouns (about 250). These words have been hand picked by yours truly to reflect the type of vocabulary that I typically use in everyday conversation. I think that if I really learn these 600 or so words, along with a a good foundation of sentence structure and grammar, I will be able to discuss almost anything I could want to talk about. My goal is to be "conversational" by 1/1/13 and I think that this will put me right where I want to be. To accomplish this, I will push ANKI for the next month at about 20 words per day (luckily, I probably already know half of the words anyway). That will give me a month to study up on sentence structure and practice activating the new words I learned. I think this is exactly the Spanish base that I am looking to build. In case anyone was wondering, my Google+ hangout last week got cancelled (sick host) so I didn't get a chance to see where I'm at in real conversation. Maybe there will be another one soon. On a side note, I think I have narrowed down the next language I want to learn to: Czech, Indonesian, Polish or Turkish. Thoughts? Suggestions? Advice? Adios amigos! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BaronBill Triglot Senior Member United States HowToLanguages.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4687 days ago 335 posts - 594 votes Speaks: English*, French, German Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Persian | Message 15 of 39 28 October 2013 at 10:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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Update time!
I have been hitting ANKI pretty hard (20 new words per day) for my new words and I think I am retaining them fairly well. I have also been studying the grammar books pretty intensively so that by the time my vocabulary is a bit better, I will be able to put those words together properly. I am a couple chapters into Harry Potter and it is coming along quite well. I know the book so well that it is easier to follow and guess words through context thatn it would have been otherwise. I have decided to get a Spanish Italki tutor for a couple Skype lessons per week for the next couple of Months as I think there is no better way to practice speaking than to actually speak with someone. 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 16 of 39 28 October 2013 at 10:40pm | IP Logged | ||
I *love* my Spanish italki tutors. Let me know if you need any recommendations! I've worked with 3 very good teachers, all of them from Spain. They're priced anywhere between 10 and 15 dollars per hour - and very well- qualified. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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