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Kubelek’s Spanish | ||
Tags: Listening-Reading (L-R) | Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Kubelek Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland chomikuj.pl/Kuba_wal Joined 6852 days ago 415 posts - 528 votes  Speaks: Polish*, EnglishC2, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 1 of 2 23 September 2009 at 2:37am | IP Logged |
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Hi, I wanted to tell you a little bit about my experiences/(experiments? :) ) with listening-reading. It's my learning log, so if you think I brag too much you don't have to read on :)
I first tried it early in the game, soon after completing Assimil Spanish with ease. I might add that I achieved basic fluency in French, so my passive knowledge might have been better than that of a person who had only completed Assimil. The first parallel text I used was Alice in Wonderland. I made it for myself, but I used the wrong translation - the audiobook available online didn't match the Spanish text. It was frustrating, yet I don't think it was a waste of time. I learned a lot of words while preparing the text. Nevertheless, the text wasn't suitable for proper LRing so I only read and compared my favorite fragments. Then came Harry Potter 1, which was sent to me by a forum member. I decided that I'm smarter than everybody else, so I tried to listen to the language, follow the Spanish text and look up unknown words in the corresponding English column on the go. Even though it was not optimal, I managed to learn a lot of words. Suddenly TV programs became much more accessible - Spanish didn't seem like a very fast gibberish anymore. After about 10 hours of this excercise I listened to the rest of the audiobook without the text, just enjoying getting the gist in a language I had studied for about 3 months prior to that. Convinced of magic properties of LR and my own genius I stopped experimenting due to time constraints. A year went by, during which I continued to study Spanish in a haphazard way. I read articles online, added words to Anki, and sometimes read a little bit on some grammar points online. I had a few conversations with Mexican exchange students, and I was happy that I can make myself understood. One day I found a long audiobook online - The world without end by Ken Follet. aYa sent me a parallel text for it, and I tried again. However, my genius must have evaporated during while I was studying anatomy religiously for several months. 7 hours have gone by, but every page was still filled with unknown words, and it seemed that I'm not learning anything useful. I kept a log from that time, but it is lost now. I remember jotting down words that I learned though, and they were 'arrow', 'bush' and the likes - common nouns, and not especially useful ones. Disheartened, I abandoned the endevor. Summertime came, and once again I tried my own 'method' on One Hundred years of solitude. The results were meager. I reread the massive LR thread and found out that I had already forgotten the original method suggested by aYa. I read the book in Polish first. I decided that I really like it, and I'm eager to read it again. So far so good. Then I listened to the Spanish audio for a bit to get used to the reader. The quality of the recording seemed abysmal at first, but I quickly got over it. I started over while following the English text. That was what I was missing - HP worked because I knew it in an out. I read it several times when I was younger, then I used it to learn French. It didn't matter anymore that I'm missing entire sentences of 100 years of solitude - I knew what was going to happen so it wasn't frustrating. I simply read a sentence or two ahead and listened carefully. In about 5 hours it has become pleasant and easy. I got used to the idiolect of the author, and I could guess the sentence in Spanish before I heard it. After LR sessions my head would be filled with Spanish babble for about half an hour. I realized that I'm using verb forms that I have never studied. They seemed natural. I checked a grammar book and confirmed that intuitively I had learned the imperfect subjunctive. That encouraged me to keep going as at that point I was sure I'm learning not merely words but also constructions. As I was nearing the completion of the book, I stopped reading in English and followed the Spanish text. At that point the words I missed stood out and I could easily identify them, so it wasn't a problem to look them up on the go in the English column. I didn't manage to learn all of them. Some did not reappear often enough. It didn't matter though, because it all seemed like good fun and not studying anyway. Anything I got out of it seemed like an added bonus. Later I relistened to random fragments of the audiobook and I could understand them. I don't want to give any percentages here. Of course I missed many words, but I could definitely follow it and enjoy it. I decided to try again with Ken Follet. I bought the book in Polish, read it, and I tried LR. The book was just ok - I don't really want to read it again, especially that summer is almost over and I have other books to read. The Polish translation is pretty removed from the Spanish one, unlike 100 years of solitude. I was pleased to note that I could simply listen to the audiobook and follow the plot, though. I don't think I'll do more than a few hours of it. As soon as the words start reappearing - when I familiarize myself with the idiolect - I'll listen to the audiobook without any aid just for enjoyment. I'm not saying I mastered Spanish, but in one year and a half I made decent progress for the little time I could spend on it (I studied medicine full time). I've never properly studied grammar, yet I feel that I can say a lot, and I understand the grammar of what I read. The gaps become apparent when I try to write to my friends in Spanish. Grammar books seem so boring now, however, that I'd rather wait until it becomes clear through exposure. Yesterday I watched Pedro Almodovar's movie Hable con ella, and it was like the air I breathe. I had Spanish subtitles on, and that was enough to follow the entire movie. Well, maybe not completely, but it has become much easier now after the LR experiment. Prior to that I got a sentence here and there, the rest was too fast to understand. I can read articles online (some thanks to my knowledge of other languages, as the specialized vocabulary transfers nicely). Overall I'm pleased with my progress and I'm ready to move on. Getting my Spanish to an advanced level where I'm able to read literature without any help would require a lot of effort, and it's not my goal at this point. When I started learning it I wanted to become conversational for travel purposes. I think I am there already, party because of LR. So if you haven't tried it yet, give it a go, you might be pleasantly surprised. Edited by Kubelek on 23 September 2009 at 2:46am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Kubelek Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland chomikuj.pl/Kuba_wal Joined 6852 days ago 415 posts - 528 votes Speaks: Polish*, EnglishC2, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 2 of 2 29 September 2009 at 8:09pm | IP Logged |
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I decided to update my Spanish to basic fluency. I spoke at length with a Spaniard at a youth hostel in Prague a couple of days ago. I was pleased with the progress I have made over the summer. I reached a level where I can circumlocute effectively when I don't know how to say something, and I can ask for clarification on the words I missed and understand the response or an easier synonym. My arms don't hurt from speaking Spanish anymore.
edit: When I was updating the profile I read the descriptions of different levels of fluency as defined by FX. I guess I shouldn't update at all, because I can't converse on 'any topic'. I can't do that even in Polish. I can converse on topics that are relevant to me and the ones I have interest in. Edited by Kubelek on 28 October 2009 at 3:38am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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