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Returning to Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| 236factorial Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6532 days ago 192 posts - 213 votes  Speaks: Mandarin, English*, French Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 94 19 May 2007 at 8:40pm | IP Logged |
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After learning french for over 7 months, I had decided to return to Spanish for a while, which I take in school, be at least close to fluent in it, and return to french (which may be more than three months later).
Well, it's been one month since starting Spanish, but I'll start with the beginning. (Before April 20th, the "official" start date) During my spring break (from 4/6 to 4/15), I had started to listen to programmatic Spanish, units 4 to 9. With my past experience with the language, these were blatantly easy. I was surprised, however, to find that the course began with the past tense. Even though these units were so easy, I felt my Spanish rushing back to my brain; I felt immediately that this was going to be a journey to fluency. So in 5 days of 45 minutes a day of study, I finish units 4-9. (But I will confess that I didn't do the pronunciation section of dialogs even once since I found that saying each syllable in "conozco" twice was slightly repetitive.) Next entry: what happens in the rest of volume I? Edited by 236factorial on 19 May 2007 at 8:42pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| 236factorial Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6532 days ago 192 posts - 213 votes Speaks: Mandarin, English*, French Studies: Spanish | Message 2 of 94 20 May 2007 at 2:23pm | IP Logged |
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(4/21-5/1 - the "easy stuff" of volume one - U10-20)
As I went through the first volume, I found that my previous knowledge of Spanish was actually messing me up sometimes. Although I have already learned the preterit and present subjunctive before starting the course, I had become so accustomed to using the present tense that a suddenly switch to using almost exclusively past and subjunctive was certain to trip me up. (especially the subjuctive because the endings are so similar to the present). As same as my prior knowledge of Spanish messed me up, it also helped me throughout the volume. I didn't have to struggle to get used to "tener que" or "acabar de", and having learned french as well, I already had the idea that languages do not translate to each other word for word. Major problems: - using "le", "les", etc. especially when using it with the verb "decir". ex. I keep saying "le dije" for "he told you" - always saying "ese" for "this". Don't ask my why. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| 236factorial Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6532 days ago 192 posts - 213 votes Speaks: Mandarin, English*, French Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 94 20 May 2007 at 3:43pm | IP Logged |
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(5/2-5/14 - finishing volume 1)
The last few units became a little of a struggle, each taking twice as long as the previous ones. While I was glad that the application section no longer had 60+ translations, I was starting to have difficulty translating the practice exercises. I found none of them extremely difficult, nor any really easy. Strengths: Double object pronouns were very easy for me, which, from the instructions in the book, is quite unusual. Commands are improving. Less trip ups in the preterit Possessive adjectives were nothing to worry about. Problems: Leaving out the reflexives in "quedarse". The "dropping something" construction. Free forms of the possesives - mostly forgetting to agree with the modified noun. After doing a quick but extensive review of the first volume, I await progressing to the second... 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| 236factorial Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6532 days ago 192 posts - 213 votes Speaks: Mandarin, English*, French Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 94 22 May 2007 at 3:15pm | IP Logged |
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When I first started the second volume, I was relieved to find an introduction on pronunciation instead of teaching more patterns.
Unit 26 was quite a bit harder than the previous units. There are less translations in the application section, but they are harder. I caught on to "más de", "más de lo que", etc slowly, which was a bad thing since a majority of the unit deals with that. In fact, I still mess up at times by saying things like "más que cuatro" for "more than four." even after repeating the drills several times. And, much to my displeasure, unit 27 seems to deal with more of this comparision fun. Note: with a new battery for my iPod, I can listen to the tapes without worrying about running low on battery every 3 minutes. Yay. Edited by 236factorial on 22 May 2007 at 3:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| 236factorial Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6532 days ago 192 posts - 213 votes Speaks: Mandarin, English*, French Studies: Spanish | Message 5 of 94 23 May 2007 at 7:37am | IP Logged |
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I finished unit 27. It was the hardest unit ever (as in dialogue #26, “de todas, esta es la más difícil”). Learning new comparison constructions (like no… nada más que) messed me up even more and introducing two compound tenses was sort of heavy for one unit.
Luckily, through repeated drills, I have mastered the material quite well, although my present perfect is weaker, especially when I have to use “ya”. Better wish me luck in the next unit as I see some stuff on the imperfect! Another note: my Spanish teacher has approved me to skip one year of high school Spanish! Now I can actually pay attention in Spanish class instead of doing translations in the FSI course while the teacher is talking. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| 236factorial Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6532 days ago 192 posts - 213 votes Speaks: Mandarin, English*, French Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 94 24 May 2007 at 3:24pm | IP Logged |
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Isn't it horrible when you're doing so well on a unit and then a ridiculous drill stops you in your tracks? Well, unit 28 was that case.
The introduction, dialogue, and the practice drills were much easier than those of unit 27. Then the "ejercicios de coordinación" came and ended my rather short-lived glory. After a couple of repetitions, I had the drill pretty well, but some errors won't escape. That's all. I still have the applications to do... How are you supposed to answer "Si le pongo un cero, ¿qué me dice Ud.?" 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tuffy Triglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 7026 days ago 1394 posts - 1412 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, German Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 94 24 May 2007 at 5:07pm | IP Logged |
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Interesting to read your log.
I recognise a little what it's like to be stopped by a drill :( I'm experiencing that a little with unit 22 of Platiquemos. Not something huge but a few details bother me and thus slow me down a little. But when I read your log I see that there will be some real horrors up a head pretty soon :) I guess your course is more or less the same as Platiquemos? Anyway, good luck and keep going! Edited by tuffy on 24 May 2007 at 5:08pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6431 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 8 of 94 24 May 2007 at 5:30pm | IP Logged |
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Good luck getting past it. I got stuck on a drill of sorts with Esperanto, back in 2004, and didn't really take it up again until this year. I'm glad that it looks like you're pushing onwards.
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