BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4660 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 305 of 344 08 April 2015 at 6:07pm | IP Logged |
I am having a very weird experience right now and I am afraid that I will lose it. I am understanding like I have never done before. I listen to tapes and even people speaking about town and I am making out the words and my comprehension has grown exponentially in the last week.
My reading of new material is becoming more relaxed. The structure of my verbal responses are improving and I am forming them more quickly.
This is not an epiphany that I have read about with L-R or other methods but something is happening. I have not changed my studies or routine with the exception of writing short stories and having native speakers make corrections for me. I have been doing this for about a month or two.
Has anyone "woken up" before and notice a drastic improvement in their studies in a very short period of time?
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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 306 of 344 08 April 2015 at 10:44pm | IP Logged |
Yes, I've experienced that before. Do you remember me talking about gathering "critical mass"? Eventually, you do reach that point if you've been speaking, listening, reading and writing enough. At some point it starts to become very clear. Looks like that is happening for you now!
¡Enhorabuena! There will be good days and bad days to come with the language, but this is the point that tips the balance toward more good days. Keep your momentum going!
Edited by iguanamon on 08 April 2015 at 10:45pm
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BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4660 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 307 of 344 09 April 2015 at 8:27pm | IP Logged |
I-Mon, thanks for responding. I do remember your "Critical Mass" now that you mention it. I think that I have just focused on keeping my head down and dreaming of the day that I can truly use this language comfortably. I have this habit of telling myself that I am a year away...just keep at it and a year from now I will be able to live in Spanish.
Of course the "year" keeps growing day by day but I do think I will be so much better off in the not so distant future. A side note, I may have gotten this from you in James' log. Buscamundos
I love this site. It combines two of my favorite things, Spanish and travel. I wanted to post it over here if someone has not seen it yet.
Thanks to all,
BOLIO
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Clarity Groupie United States Joined 3524 days ago 85 posts - 107 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 308 of 344 11 April 2015 at 5:25am | IP Logged |
Bolio, I yearn for the peak experience you've described. How wonderful! For now, I can fantasize about being Neo in the Matrix where expert level skills are only a download away.
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BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4660 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 309 of 344 14 April 2015 at 3:36pm | IP Logged |
Over the weekend, a group of friends and I went to a local brewery. We had a great time and the beer was excellent. I met an older man from Puerto Rico. He was a friend of a friend which made us new friends.
Before I knew where he was from I noticed his accent. So, I started talking to him in Spanish. He asked me if I learned it in school and I said that I was teaching myself with the help of friends. He asked if I wanted him to help me. I said yes and his response was interesting. He said, "Then I will correct you EVERY time you make a mistake." Over the next two hours of conversation, he corrected me every time I faltered. It was nice. Every once in a while he would tell me, "I am going to tell you this in English first because it is important that you understand this and then I will repeat it in Spanish, Ok?" It was a great conversation and I look forward to having many more like it! I felt as if I were using the language...really using it.
On a side note, this Language Transfer Complete Spanish program is really nice. I have almost finished the 90 lessons and while I thought it was just going to be a review, it has helped me quite a bit. One of the biggest areas of help has been the Subjunctive. It has been time well spent and I would recommend it to anyone who is at my level or newer without hesitation.
I hope everyone is moving forward and having fun in their studies.
All the best,
BOLIO
Edited by BOLIO on 14 April 2015 at 3:38pm
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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 310 of 344 17 April 2015 at 2:07am | IP Logged |
I'm really happy to hear about your recent breakthroughs! And if you've got the right mindset (namely, this'll help my Spanish out tons!), i imagine having someone willing to correct every mistake you make has to be a wonderful resource, i wish i could thank him personally! I've really only been on the other side, trying to correct others' English, but i guess a lot of people find it embarrassing or annoying to be corrected, so i've stopped. And then they complain i never correct them :P
I'm also really glad you've enjoyed the LT lessons, i'm really hoping they come out with more languages soon. Mihalis' Spanish is really great, though, and they've got a pretty (in my opinion, at least!) accent.
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BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4660 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 311 of 344 17 April 2015 at 6:14pm | IP Logged |
Crush, you were the one who pointed me in the direction of LT and I am thankful. I feel it is so good that I have been a walking advertisement for their site.
The Greek course is more difficult because the student is much better than I am. I see the German course is coming soon and if someone wanted to learn Arabic I would think theirs would be a good place to start as well. As far as other languages, I agree 100%. Russian, French, Italian, Hebrew, Mandarin, Yoruba, Japanese, Portuguese,... It would be a very good headstart to any language a person wanted to study.
I am sorry you have such difficulties with your students being corrected. I worry about my "helpers/teachers" growing tired of always having to correct me due to my mistakes.
Good to hear from you Crush,
BOLIO
Edited by BOLIO on 17 April 2015 at 6:15pm
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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 312 of 344 19 April 2015 at 5:40am | IP Logged |
I love helping people with languages, if i could i'd spend all day doing it, so for me it's never a problem.
The Greek course is also very good, but like you said the student seems to have a pretty good memory. It could also have been the fact that they were recorded in batches several hours at a time, whereas i did about 30 minutes a day. I repeated a few lessons and did the second level twice and felt like it was really helpful to me. The course has also supposedly evolved since then. The Greek course was the first course they came out with, whereas the Spanish course is the first complete course and the first course to use the updated style. I haven't gone through the entire Spanish course, though, i've just listened to sections of it. I really hope they do finish the Greek course, though.
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