Tackling Spanish from A1 (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

Tackling Spanish from A1
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camdo2
Newbie
United States
Joined 4673 days ago
26 posts - 32 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 1 of 8

30 March 2012 at 12:13pm | IP Logged

Hi there!

Thanks for reading my log. You can also find further updates at my blog under my name. First, just a little about myself.

I live in Spokane, Washington and am a native English speaker. I like to play saxophone, bassoon, and piano in my spare time. I've been studying Spanish through tech blogs using learning with texts (and exporting them into Anki). After that, I've been running through Pimsleur (on number 3 atm). I'm also going to start going through a grammar work book (which I hope will be a major help, as I have trouble forming cohesive thoughts). I'm just hoping to learn Spanish at a good enough level to hold conversation as I have lots of hispanic family in San Diego (and here).

As I said there, here is my current status with learning:

Pimsleur Unit 3 - For gaining the accent and getting basic conversational skills. I find it very good, and I remember almost everything I hear and say. I did the first one and got bored by it, and stopped. Then, I finally got on the second one and I remembered everything! That was really rewarding, so I'm going to work through these.

Gizmologia articles (tech blog in Spanish) imported into LWT and vocab exported to Anki - This helps me gain vocabulary quickly. I can normally work through words in an article (~100) in 10 anki sessions. Then, it's a matter of reviewing them over time so I get them. It's not all that important to have retention at this point, so I'm making sure that Anki continues to review them quickly.

Basic Spanish A Grammar and Workbook - This is probably the most useful to me at this point. The main thing I feel like I have trouble with is forming cohesive thoughts, in essence the grammar. So far, I'm already learning things, and I'm only a couple pages in :).

Now... for my Goals.

Short Term: In a week, finish through Pimsleur unit 7. Create another Anki deck based on an article and review every day. Continue working through the grammar workbook in order to be able to form more cohesive thoughts and not sound stupid. I'd like to start a different method as well, but I'm not sure what that will be.

Medium Term: In two months, finish Pimsleur I. Go through and review every day several Anki decks. Finish the first 8 units of the grammar workbook. Develop the new method that I haven't discerned yet (a more specific goal will come when I decide what the method will be).

Long Term: In four months, finish Pimsleur II. Develop a WIDE vocabulary using Anki. Finish the grammar workbook and move on to the intermediate one. Continue to develop the new method.

Well, that's all for now folks. I'll try to update every week, but that might not happen. Thanks again for reading!

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Gatsby42
Groupie
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4639 days ago
55 posts - 72 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 2 of 8

30 March 2012 at 7:59pm | IP Logged

Me gusta ver otros gentes aprender espanol, buena suerte!
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camdo2
Newbie
United States
Joined 4673 days ago
26 posts - 32 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 3 of 8

31 March 2012 at 12:17pm | IP Logged

Gracias.

Well, today I went off my routine and just explored.

I was mainly exploring verb conjugations, and that's when a lot of them clicked. I now feel like I have a much better understanding on how to conjugate the verbs in order to form sentences and thoughts and not sound stupid.

I'm probably going to do Pimsleur tonight and continue working through that grammar workbook.

Anki's on hold right now while I continue to gain a better understanding of the language itself.

Oh, and I decided that I should add a couple of methods that I'm using.

Method 1: Podcasts

Now, this isn't an extremely rewarding method at this point (One Minute Spanish is extremely basic while Token or other native podcasts are exceptionally difficult) but the basics help me solidify my language base while the native podcasts help me acquire the accident.

Method 2: L-R Reading

Right now, comics are fairly rewarding to read as I have both the Spanish and English versions of the comics on my laptop. This is helping me gain more vocabulary, and keeping me interested.

Method 3: FSI (or another of this reading/sound method)

I haven't explored this, but it occurred to me that most of my vocabulary building is through writing and text. I feel like I should start making connections between written language and spoken language.

These three methods I'll be testing for effectiveness when I can. I guess that's it for now. Thanks for reading.
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camdo2
Newbie
United States
Joined 4673 days ago
26 posts - 32 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 4 of 8

12 April 2012 at 8:04am | IP Logged

Hm... Last two weeks have been pretty difficult to find time to do anything. Here's a report on some of these methods:

Pimsleur:

Dropping it. I won't need conversation for a while, and it's an extra 30 minutes I could be spending doing something else.

Grammar Book:

By FAR the best method right now. This is really the best method for me to read and think sentences faster. I'll be doing lots of review as far as this method goes.

Anki:

Slow going. When I find time to review my cards I do. As I said in my previous post, I should start making connections between writing and speech. I think one of the ways I can accentuate this is by putting in a native speaking the word into Anki (apparently it's an easy port). Perhaps I'll even add a picture, to increase the remembrance. I'm trying to make this method as reliable as possible, as I can use Anki anywhere and it's the only method keeping my vocab up.

Podcasts:

Token (a Spanish gaming podcast) keeps me interested, and I can understand a sentence here or there, but this is still slow going and quite useless method at this point. However, I'll stick with it for now.

L-R Reading:

Haven't had time in the past two weeks, but when I do, this will play a bigger role.

FSI:

Pretty boring, but I haven't tried to sit down with it. More info on this later.

Well, pretty awful two weeks as far as Spanish goes. Thanks for reading and wish me luck!
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camdo2
Newbie
United States
Joined 4673 days ago
26 posts - 32 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 5 of 8

13 April 2012 at 7:19am | IP Logged

Small update...

Grammar Book:

Making great progress. It's working really well and I'm starting to put lots of the grammar points together.

Anki, L-R Reading:

Haven't worked with it today, so more on this later.

Podcasts:

I'm starting to understand a word here or there on Token, but still a lot of the post above.

FSI:

After hating the Basic Spanish Unit 1, I went back on the forums to get some insight. I saw that Programmatic Spanish is getting decent reviews, so I checked it out. I'm really liking it, and it's helping me acquire the accentual points along with the grammar.

Thanks for reading!
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kenny
Newbie
United States
Joined 4852 days ago
6 posts - 7 votes
Studies: Spanish

Message 6 of 8

13 April 2012 at 4:47pm | IP Logged

camdo2 wrote:

Hola Camdo2, Where did you find Spanish comics? I've been looking but havent found any...I am learning Spanish, also.
1 person has voted this message useful

camdo2
Newbie
United States
Joined 4673 days ago
26 posts - 32 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 7 of 8

15 April 2012 at 10:06pm | IP Logged

kenny wrote:

Hola Camdo2, Where did you find Spanish comics? I've been looking but havent found any...I am learning Spanish, also.

I read manga at submanga.com. The walking dead I just found online. Personally, I would read manga, as the level is much easier than mainstream comics.

Well, here's an update:

Anki:

Having a hard time using this right now. The time investment to return ratio is so low right now compared to other methods I'm using. This is tabled for now.

FSI:

I'm working through Basic and Programmatic. Basic is exceptionally boring. It's more of a chore to do it than how rewarding it is to do another method. However, Programmatic works really well, and I'm moving through it.

Grammar Book:

Going fine. Working with this in conjunction with Programmatic is awesome.

L-R Reading:

This is the method that I've been using the most right now. However, it's not the traditional double text. Normally, I'll just start reading the English version and forget about the Spanish one. So, what I do is more of a "Learning With Texts" type of thing. I read the manga, but when I don't know a word, I throw it in a dictionary on the right side of my screen. This has been working pretty well.

Podcasts:

Ugh... Basically the same as it was above. More catching a word here or there.
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Gatsby42
Groupie
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4639 days ago
55 posts - 72 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 8 of 8

16 April 2012 at 6:50pm | IP Logged

If you're only reading, isn't it just the "R-Method" instead of the "L-R Method"? =P

And yeah, I'm dreading my eventual study of FSI. I already pretty much 100% ignored my
class Spanish book outside of vocab just because of how dry grammar drills are.

Either way, keep up the good fight dude.

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