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Spanish Log (TAC 2014 Team Lobo) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5021 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 57 of 271 15 July 2011 at 12:43am | IP Logged |
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A quick update on the Spanish.
This week I have revised all the previous fsi drills , and moved on to level 2. I now frequently do exercises out of "spanish verb tenses" while sat in front of the tv. I am active wave 72 of Assimil. Its still tough going. I will plough through to the end, but believe it or not, Assimil doesnt seem like an efficent use of time anymore. Something that surprises me, is that I need exercises and explanations to understand the language properly. I know that Spanish grammar is relativly simple in the scheme of things, but I dont understand how one could gain a good grasp of its intriciacies using only Assimil. I feel like I am missing a grammatical foundation that I should have gained long before now. I am however, looking forward to doing a 3rd wave once I have a more explicit understanding of things. Edited by dbag on 15 July 2011 at 12:44am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5183 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 58 of 271 15 July 2011 at 4:57am | IP Logged |
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If your primary focus is grammar I'd suggest getting an actual grammar book and looking up the parts that you want to improve. I'm sure there are many good books out there. I personally like the Oxford Publishing series. They're cheap, mass market paperback and also very good.
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| supertom Diglot Groupie Joined 4993 days ago 87 posts - 114 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 59 of 271 15 July 2011 at 1:56pm | IP Logged |
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If I were your, I would finish this wave of Assimil at a steady rate of about 1 lesson a day, just as you do now. This way, once you have finished, you will have done everything the book has to offer in both an active and a passive way. This leaves you without 'holes' in your knowledge.
After that, just set it aside for a while and concentrate on other things. Really dive into FSI and try to get much out of it. You will probably get much of the same grammar and vocab, but in a different manner. Also, maybe review MT advanced to get a quick 5 hour overview of the grammar and to get some speaking practice again. Once you feel that you would like to go through a third wave of Assimil, go for it. But don't do it if you don't yet feel like it. I can really see why one would start to bother doing Assimil after finishing about 180 lessons of it and having used it for about 100 hours. So big props to you for sticking to it so long! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5021 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 60 of 271 17 July 2011 at 3:52pm | IP Logged |
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@ kraemder Thanks, Il take a look at those.
@ Supertom. Yeah Il be sticking through to the end. I dont know if my active wave is really that "active" anymore though. I have massive problems translating the lessons now. I think when the course starts to get hard, at around lesson 60, the 1 lesson a day can put you under a false kind of pressure. You are doing the right thing by making sure you memorise every sentence while still on the passive wave. I think your active wave should go smoothly should you keep that up. I have been listenening to Michel Thomas a little more lately. Its great, but its the one course where I have real problems paying attention. Ill suddenly realise I have been day dreaming for 5 minutes and missed a lot of what he said. The practice makes perfect verb tenses book is quite good though. I want to have it finished within a month. Its helping me understand concepts that Ive been struggling with for a while. I have been working through unit 10 of platiquamos. I love this course. I am not going to start with "using Spanish" until I have done with fsi, which could be well into next year. I cant see how it can be of much help to people who arent regulary conversing in Spanish. Its interesting, that if you look at the start of my log I am ridicoulously enthusiastic about Assimil. Well its definetly an awesome course. When I first read :" Assimil vs US language programmes, I really thought that I would much prefer Assimil to fsi. Drills sounded like really hard work. While I wouldnt say I prefer 1 over the other, I would say that I find endlessly listenening and reading to a difficult dialog, much more boring, and much less fruitful, than just running through some pattern drills. Drills are really helping me internalise rules and concepts, and helping me produce speech automatically. When I have finished with both courses I think I will post my experiences on that thread. The strange thing is that most people tend to fall into 1 camp or the other. Personally, I cant imagine being without either. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5021 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 61 of 271 24 July 2011 at 11:56pm | IP Logged |
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Well, this has been an interesting week. The company I have been working for went bust, which means I am going to have a fortnight off before starting the new job.
This means theres going to be a lot of time available for hitting the tapes. The only snag is I may be going to visit a friend in guernsey for a few days. There is no way I would travel with Assimil, for fear of damaging the book. Ill have my mp3 player though, and maybe teach yourself. Ive been pretty ill the last 2 days, so Ive left the drills alone but done lots of stuff in a fairly passive way. Read through lots of Assimil lessons several times. listened to lots of random advanced MT, some LSLC , lots of exercises in the practice makes perfect: verb tenses book, watched a Mexican film, Ran (mentally) through many of the conversation stimulus units in plat unit 1, spent an hour in the bath with Margarita Madrigal etc. I also did an active wave of lessons 1 - 15 just for kicks. Quite easy, but worthwhile. I am definetly going to pick up LSLC again. I listened to lesson 17 today, and while I wouldnt say it was challenging as such, it definetly gets you thinking on your feet. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5021 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 62 of 271 25 July 2011 at 7:06pm | IP Logged |
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Just a quick update. At about 12:30 last night I began working on fsi unit 11. It is incredibly easy! Probably the easiest unit yet. So I am going to move onto Unit 12 tomorrow, which also looks quite easy.
Edit: (got the numbers mixed up, so changed them) Edited by dbag on 29 July 2011 at 11:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5021 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 63 of 271 30 July 2011 at 12:19am | IP Logged |
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Just about done with unit 12. I havent been working too hard, just setting a nice steady pace. This unit is fairly easy really.
There have been a few sentences which are difficult to translate instantly, such as "Theres 200 dollars for me and 200 for them". Knowing the translation and being able to spit it out in 2 seconds are two different things. Thats the great thing about this course, it forces you into overcoming difficulties. I suppose I am going to have to start picking up the pace somehow. Im in no massive hurry, but if I only complete 1 unit a week, I wont finish the course until nearly June next year! Thats far too long. 2 a week will take me to xmas. So Ill make that a rough aim. So glad I didnt wait until September to pick up this course, as was my original intention. Also did the first 2 lessons of LSLC again today. There is a remarkable amount of ground covered in only 1 hour. I am going to try and build in at least 1 lslc lesson alongside my fsi drills from now on, which will help mix things up a bit. I think this course is well worth completing, and Ive heard it does some good work with the subjunctive in the later levels. Nearly finished the active wave of assimil. After that, I will do something with the course every day, but only as an aside to the activities outlined above. Well, Im still enjoying the journey, just need to find some people to speak to! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5021 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 64 of 271 08 August 2011 at 12:29am | IP Logged |
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I havent managed to do quite as much Spanish as usual this week. It turned out out some friends where on holiday, so I missed a day which we spent at the beach. (Still managed to fit some Assimil in though).
I refuse to feel guilty about stuff like that though, life is precious, and you would be crasy to put study over having fun. I must have still put in at least 10 hours this week though, which is at least something.A big problem with fsi is that you cant always tackle new drills in the car, because the sound quality is quite bad, and you need to make sure that you are repeating the right stuff. I have wasted a lot of time this way, just revising old drills becuase I cant quite hear what is being said. I am still on unit 13 because of this problem. I cant make out the replacement or variation drills too well. I am up to lesson 11 of lslc (I think). I missed lesson six, as they are not very well arranged on my mp3 player. I am amazed at how easy I find thesse lessons compared with when I started learning Spanish. There is a steep learning curve with this course though, and I cant wait to start exploring new territory. I start the new job tomorrow, which is exciting. I think I will listen to lesson 11 on the way there and 12 on the way back. Then I will try and complete unit 13 at home. My GOAL is to finish level 2 before september, which should be easy. I also want to do a thorough review of both levels before moving on to level 3, which will involve making sure I have understood everything, and can tackle the basic sentences and cono stimulus of each unit with ease. Considering setting a goal for finishing the verb tenses book, but I think Ill hold off on that. Edited by dbag on 08 August 2011 at 12:32am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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