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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5377 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 121 of 344 25 April 2014 at 1:40am | IP Logged | ||
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Iguanamon's post is great. Listening/understanding just comes over time.
One other suggestion is Spanishpodcast.org I really wish I tried it earlier. It is a great resource and it is designed for learners - but it seems more like listening to native material than any "course" material. The topics are interesting and the vocabulary varies quite a bit. The speaker has a great voice... but she has a heavy Barcelona accent (I love it). Getting used to listening to accents from Spain is a good idea. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5264 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 122 of 344 25 April 2014 at 6:01pm | IP Logged | ||
Yep. That's right. Now you see what I mean about Assimil being unnaturally slow, ;). I think the newsreader on DN is Uruguayan. If you can get used to DN, everything else will seem very easy, indeed. The NHK daily newscast is obviously more Japan oriented. The only reason I recommend these is because they have accurate transcripts available. In the case of DN, it is a direct translation of the English. If you really feel ambitious one day, let me know and I'll show you how to make a bilingual text of it. Believe it or not I can listen to Democracy Now on my car radio at 3:00pm every day, if I happen to be out and about, via Puerto Rico. They give it away free to radio stations all over Latin America. Edited by iguanamon on 25 April 2014 at 6:05pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4660 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 123 of 344 25 April 2014 at 7:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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I-Mon, This morning listening to Assimil on the way in to work had me laughing. The speed with which the actors are speaking are "turtle-esque" compared to the Democracy Now! I can see how this will help me. I am convinced it is like running. What seems impossible at the beginning is very doable after a while. I really like having the ability to read the text while listening. It turns it from little more than noise to something recognizable and bits and pieces are understood.
James, I liked the Spanishpodcast.org. Again, the ability to read along makes it enjoyable. I signed up for the super challenge that Solfrid created. Any suggestions concerning the books and movies/ Television episodes??? It is beyond me. However, I figure along with my Assimil, Living Language and FSI it would help to be exposed to that much Spanish. As far as the reading, I am viewing this as "Extensive Reading" and will not be looking up every word. Does this make sense or should it be more of an intensive excercise like I currently do with the books I use now? Thanks 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5264 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 124 of 344 25 April 2014 at 8:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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You're probably not quite ready for the super challenge yet but if you're going to give it a go anyway... . Why not start off with Wayne Drop. There's also a Spanish version. At your present stage, if you can work your way through Wayne Drop at the same time you're using your courses, I think you will notice improvement. Better intensive reading rather than extensive reading right now at your present level.
Though, I advocate using native materials, I don't think reading extensively is going to help you much if you can't make sense out of what you're reading at this stage. You should probably start by trying to make your way through one story at a time of Grimm's at the same time you're going through the courses. In using a multi-track approach as a beginner you need to have a good balance between native materials and formal courses. In the beginning that balance is much more towards the courses- maybe pick a day or two and read and try to work your way through a text using context and cognates to guess the meaning. Or, devote 20 minutes a day to it. At the same time, your coursework will start to make more sense to you because you'll be able to see why the author(s) want you to learn what's in the lesson. Obviously, at first, reading won't make much sense at all. But, if you persist it may start to make more sense to you. Look at my thread on the multi-track approach or my Haitian Creole Log to see how I do/did it. These may be too advanced for you right now but you could give them a try: Cuentos de Grimm Volume 1 Audio (Librivox.org) Cuentos de Grimm Texto. In words that any southerner will understand, don't go whole hog all of a sudden. Start off with a paragraph and work your way up. Edited by iguanamon on 28 April 2014 at 1:34pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4660 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 125 of 344 25 April 2014 at 10:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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The super challenge is an additional item. It will force me to spend an extra hour plus daily to either reading or watching a movie (with subtitles) on top of my Assimil, FSI, Intensive Reading.
Here is my schedule for today: 5am- 5:30 Scriptorium Assimil 5:30 - 6am Intensive Reading (collecting new vocab words) 7 - 7:30 Listen to the Assimil lessons on the way to work 12 - 1pm(lunch) FSI(45 minutes)/Democracy Now(15 minutes) 5:30-6pm Assimil/ Michel Thomas while returning from home. ****Three days a week I do Iversen's Wordlist for various amounts of time**** This is pretty much my schedule on a daily basis. Yesterday I started doing FSI at lunch vs Assimil or Scriptorium or Intensive Reading. Tuesdays are tough because of commitments but most of my Spanish days look like this.I think I could watch 60 minutes of Spanish every night...easily. There are roughly 600 days in the challenge. I need 150 hours of film = 15 minutes a day. This I can do. The reading???? The reading part of the challenge will be the hardest for me. I will try. I have downloaded Grimm. I just completed Little Red Ridinghood and the Valliant Tailor. I look forward to it. I am thinking that every 100 days(complete random number) of the challenge should allow for greater volume on the reading front. I will have to do the heavy lifting of the reading 6,9,12,15 months down the road as I progress. My thought process is that If I continue to do my Assimil, Scriptorium, FSI and Intensive reading... addding an hour to an hour and a half of movies/ extensive reading should be helpful as long as I am not subtracting from the courses and strategies I am already using. Thanks again for Grimm and all your help! EDIT: I have 2.5 hrs in the books today but tonight is a big night at the BOLIO household. I am home alone...just me and my studies. I will get four additional hours in tonight. I finished FSI 7 today at lunch. It was pretty easy. So for my reward I will do Assimil 38-41 Scriptorium tonight and spend some time with my Iversen Wordlist...Y unas copas de vino! 78/372 Edited by BOLIO on 25 April 2014 at 11:17pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5867 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 126 of 344 26 April 2014 at 5:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would recommend putting the reading off for a little while, at least until you get through Assimil (and perhaps FSI), or do as Iguanamon says and work on reading shorter simpler texts but reading intensively, making an effort to understand what you're reading. For now i think you'd be fine focusing more on the video part of the challenge.
As for what to watch in Spanish, i would really recommend watching Spanish dubs of cartoons that you like in English. The dialog tends to be much clearer, the language is relatively simple, and you don't really notice the dubs not matching the video as much as with a "real person" movie. Things like The Simpsons, Futurama, Avatanr, etc. As for Spanish shows, someone once told me that, at least in Latin America, a surefire way to win someone over (as a learner of Spanish) is to toss in a few references from El Chavo del 8. If you can follow along (it's pretty simple, though there are lots of plays on words), it might be worth watching. Your wife probably knows the show ;) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4660 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 127 of 344 26 April 2014 at 10:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ok. I will focus on the movies and tv shows I n addition to my regular schedule. I only got 2 hrs in last night.
80/370 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4660 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 128 of 344 28 April 2014 at 4:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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The weekend was good. I was able to get my Assimil Scriptorium done thru lesson 40. I will get two or three more done today. I am going to make an effort to write more in Spanish. Hopefully it will not be too painful. As always, corrections are appreciated.
A veces, las cosas simples pueden hacerme pensar. "Ven"... "Ellos ven su niño" o ¡Ven acá!. Ayer por la noche, pregunté mi esposa sobre "Ven". Ella empezó reir y dice que nunca pensó que las dos palabras eran las mismas. Ella dice que yo pienso demasiado. Quiero ser profesional en español. Pero, ahora, estoy como un niñito en español. Bueno, puedo hacer FSI en la hora del almuerzo y voy a escuchar a "Democracy Now" tambien. Gracias y buenos días. 83/367 Edited by BOLIO on 28 April 2014 at 4:21pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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