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Amy’s Spanish Viaje | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Kerrie Senior Member United States justpaste.it/Kerrie2 Joined 5394 days ago 1232 posts - 1740 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 49 of 104 16 March 2014 at 12:52am | IP Logged | |||||
This is a really great way to help your audio comprehension. I got the boxset for Stargate SG1 a year or two ago, which is one of my all-time favorite shows. I could probably recite all ten seasons for you. I re-watched with Spanish and French dubs most of the time, but even when I watched with Italian or German dubs, I was surprised how well I could follow, simply because I knew the show so well. It is definitely worth finding something you're familiar with to watch. :D 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| AmyinBrooklyn Senior Member United States Joined 4050 days ago 87 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 50 of 104 17 March 2014 at 3:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I have been very lax in my log lately. (emk - thank you for checking in!) But, luckily, I’ve still be keeping up with my Spanish studies for two hours each day. To date, I’ve logged 311 hours. I’ve been doing a lot of listening, writing, reading and speaking and not too much grammar study.
On the listening side of things, I’ve finished the entire Intermediate Notes in Spanish series (listening to each one twice). I’m wishing I had another learner video series to watch. But I’m working on Notes in Spanish Advanced now. It’s a little more difficult than the Intermediate podcast. But if I listen twice, I can get most of it. For the Intermediate series, I did purchase the transcripts so that I could make sure that I was getting everything but I'm going to see how I can do in the Advanced series without it. I think it's probably time to transition to a show. I like the Buffy suggestions. I'll probably wait until I return from my trip to find something new. My italki sessions have been great. I absolutely love my teacher and really look forward to them. They have been a huge confidence booster for me. (My boyfriend's mom has offered to do some Skype sessions with me so that I can practice and I think I might take her up on that when I get back.) I've also been reading Despereaux aloud to my boyfriend and we've both noticed a huge improvement in my reading. I'm still botching a lot but it's nice to see progress. In addition to my Spanish studies, I started reading The Story of Spanish (in English) (a follow-up to the story of French). It's been really helpful and interesting to learn how the language developed - which words are borrowed from which language. I'm really enjoying it. Unfortunately, there isn't a Spanish version. I have only 11 more days until I leave so I'm just going to keep working hard. Keep up with my practice and see how I do. I'm not expecting too much. I'm trying to keep in mind that just 6 months ago, I didn't know a single word in Spanish. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| AmyinBrooklyn Senior Member United States Joined 4050 days ago 87 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 51 of 104 25 March 2014 at 5:13am | IP Logged | |||||
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Week Total: 14 hours 51 min.
Grand Total: 326 15 min. For the last few weeks, my routine has been Michel Thomas Advanced, Notes in Spanish (I finished the Intermediate podcasts and am now on the advanced), Anki and italki (3 hours a week with a tutor) and reading Despereaux (aloud to my boyfriend. I do some combination of these activities for two hours per day. It's hard to tell how much progress I'm making with these activities. I'm not sure if I would be progressing faster if I did some different method. (I keep toying with the idea of supplementing my home study with another group course). I still have problems with grammatical concepts. I was listening to Michel Thomas this morning and he scolds a student for guessing - I feel like I'm guessing all the time. (Well, not all the time but with the woulds, and coulds) Anyway, I'm leaving on Friday so I'm going to have two full weeks of Spanish all the time. Honestly, I also wonder if it will feel strange to not work on some Spanish every day. It's become such a part of my routine! But I'm certainly not going to take any books. Game Time! A big thank you to everyone on this forum for your support. I'm going to refine my goals for the rest of the year when I come back. Wish me luck! Edited by AmyinBrooklyn on 25 March 2014 at 2:33pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5531 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 52 of 104 26 March 2014 at 9:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
Well, think of this way: When you speak English, you can "guess" the correct answers, but you can't necessarily explain them. And if somebody gives you a grammar test, you mostly do it "by ear"—you ask yourself whether or not an answer sounds correct. You can do this in a second language, too. If you hear enough Spanish, and if you use enough Spanish, stuff will just start sounding "right", and you won't always know why. Of course, studying grammar can help, too, but there's nothing wrong with building a good intuition for how the language works. I mean, if you want to chat with somebody in Spanish, which is more useful? Having a pretty good "feel" for how to say things, or being able to explain the fine points of the subjunctive?
Whoo-hoo! This is so awesome! Go chat with people, do a little pantomime when your vocabulary fails, guess wildly, make new friends, ignore the jerks, and have faith that it will all work out somehow. :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| AmyinBrooklyn Senior Member United States Joined 4050 days ago 87 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 53 of 104 02 May 2014 at 7:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Hello, everyone. So, since I got back from Peru I’ve been a little remiss with my log here. Full confession: My lack of posting is probably because I feel a little guilty about how little Spanish I spoke while in Peru. The trip was absolutely amazing. It was an emotional experience because it was the first time my boyfriend had been back in his country in 10 years. We made the most of every single day and I saw so much of the Cusco region and of Lima. (But I’m dying to go back to see more). I think that I had hopes that my shyness would evaporate in Peru. Guess what. It didn’t. I was still just as shy and I had someone at my side 24/7 who spoke the language perfectly. I did try to speak Spanish with my boyfriends family but it was hard and I know I speak really slowly and my tongue gets into knots.
BUT. I am still proud of myself. I understood so much more Spanish than I ever imagined I would. I actually learned that, right now, listening is my strongest skill. The hours of podcasts and TV watching have paid off in that respect. For example, we had a Spanish speaking guide at one of the Incan sites and I understood 90 percent of what he was saying (of course, I had the context to help me.) I did have a harder time understanding my boyfriend when he was talking with his friends, but I understood quite a bit - so much more than I thought I would. So I’ve been home for three weeks now and I’m proud to say that I’ve jumped right back into to my studies. I’m more determined than ever to keep going. But I am giving myself a little spring break in that I’m only committing to 10 hours a week of Spanish study (vs. the two hours per day that I was doing before). I’m meeting with my italki teacher twice per week, nearly finished with Despereaux and have finished Michel Thomas advanced and am almost done with Michel Thomas language builder. Next week, I’m going to turn my attention back to Assimil and finish that darn thing if it’s the last thing that I do. I'm chugging away. A little everyday and just trusting that it might take a year, it might two, it might take four, but all it takes is a little practice everyday. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4143 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 54 of 104 02 May 2014 at 8:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
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What a great update! I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. And if you understood 90% of a guided tour in Spanish, I think
that's really something to be proud of! So…do you like Despereaux? I made my dad read it (in French) and he hated it. Haha! But I really love that book. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| AmyinBrooklyn Senior Member United States Joined 4050 days ago 87 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 55 of 104 04 May 2014 at 2:19am | IP Logged | |||||
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Stelle -
I love Despereaux. You recommended it and it has been a huge, huge help. I read the book to myself first, looking up any words that are unfamiliar, and then I read it aloud to my boyfriend. My pronunciation has improved so so much because of that book. He really drills me on where I'm placing the accent on each word. I only have two more chapters to go and I'm looking for my second book. Any suggestions? I'd love to stay in that children's literature sphere. Thank you so much for suggestion it! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5531 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 56 of 104 12 May 2014 at 2:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
This is so very cool! It sounds like you've reached a point where you can understand clear, formal speech (like a tour guide), but you still have some problems understanding old friends chatting among themselves (which is one of the very hardest listening challenges, so no worries there). This is really impressive for five months of study! If I had to guess, I'd say your listening skills are somewhere between B1 and B2. Really cool, and really impressive. By the way, if you're into TV, there's a good chance you could actually start watching a DVD box set of an easy TV series. (Dubbed series are generally easier, except for HBO.) The first few episodes may be hard—you might have to watch them a couple of times each, use transcripts or subtitles, and check out a plot summary on Wikipedia—but after a season or two, I bet you'd be in pretty good shape. Of course, this is just one possibility among hundreds of cool things. Speaking will get easier with practice, of course. Every conversation where you feel like a 2- or 3-year-old, with your brain melting, brings you one step closer to chatting away. Anyway, congratulations on your trip! It sounds like it was a lot of fun. :-) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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