Bueno Entonces Spanish Videos (Language Programs, Books & Tapes) Language Learning Forum

Bueno Entonces Spanish Videos
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Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes

18 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3

Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4143 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French, English, Spanish Studies: Tagalog	Message 17 of 18 19 November 2013 at 7:43pm \| IP Logged
	I've been learning Spanish for almost six months, and I'm now at a solid intermediate level. This is my first foreign language (I got my first two languages for free), and I didn't even know that courses like Assimil existed when I started. So I think that it's very possible to learn a language without buying any programs! So far I've done all of my learning using free (or nearly free) resources. If I look back on my learning, I can split it into phases (although I can't tell you exactly how long each one lasted). I started my anki decks at the beginning and keep adding to them. Phase one: * I wouldn't necessarily recommend these first two resources for serious language-learning, since they include a lot of English, but I found them to be a very fun and gentle start to language learning. - Coffee Break Spanish - I made it through about 2 weeks of daily podcasts before outgrowing it, but it was a very pleasant, VERY easy start to Spanish - Mi Vida Loca - again, I only made it through about half the lessons before deciding that there was too much English, but it was an easy intro - Duolingo - good for basic vocab and sentence structure. I did it every day at first, now I only work on it once every week or two - Pimsleur lessons 1-16 (free from the library) - started listening to Spanish songs, learning the lyrics so that I could sing along Phase two: - Destinos - I just watched and tried to understand. I skipped over the first 3 minutes or so of every episode (hated that intro!), and near the end of the show, when I understood nearly everything, I sometimes skipped over Raquel's recaps. - Notes in Spanish intermediate - I listened to each podcast once or twice - Veintemundos - intensive reading: read and listened several times, looked up new vocab - children's novels, mostly by Roald Dahl (extensive reading - I only looked up vocab if I was really confused) - language exchanges and Skype tutoring - BY FAR the most important part of my learning. I wasn't working at the time, so I aimed for 4-5 hours of Spanish practice per week - kept learning new Spanish songs - started learning grammar using Practice Makes Perfect Verb Tenses - I joined the six-week challenge in July Phase three: - Drama Fever - watched several Spanish series with English subtitles - Notes in Spanish advanced (listen to each podcast at least twice) - continued with Skype exchanges and tutoring (working two jobs now, so my aim is at least 2.5 hours of Spanish conversation per week) - continued with extensive reading (novels) and music - let go of intensive reading, grammar workbook and duolingo - I guess I got tired - started doing FSI Basic while walking Phase four (current): - lots of reading. Currently reading Harry Potter. - Started watching dubbed TV show (Buffy), without subtitles. - Back to grammar - sudden need to learn the subjunctive to keep up with my conversations - carrying on with FSI, Notes in Spanish advanced, Skype exchanges / tutoring, music After Christmas, I plan on transitioning completely to native materials and working on improving my Spanish to fluency. Out of everything that I've done to learn Spanish, I think that Pimsleur was the only "course" that I did in the beginning. It was good for pronunciation and basic sentence structure, but I wasn't disappointed that I could only get my hands on the first 16 lessons. I was ready to move on. Now that I'm at a slightly higher level in Spanish, I really like the FSI drills. But if that was my only - or even my main - way of learning, I think that I would have given up long ago. Comprehensible input is hugely important. And while the basic dialogues in courses like Pimsleur and FSI are definitely helpful, they wouldn't be enough on their own to maintain my interest. Books, TV shows, music, conversations with native speakers - I consider those my best teachers. 5 persons have voted this message useful
Kunji Newbie United States Joined 4040 days ago 19 posts - 24 votes Studies: Spanish	Message 18 of 18 21 November 2013 at 3:31am \| IP Logged
	Thanks for the info. I have tried FSI a few times because it gets such high praise and because its free. I hate it and that is putting it kindly! Using that program is a pretty stiff price to pay to wear the "I learned a language for free" badge. :) 2 persons have voted this message useful

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Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4143 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French, English, Spanish Studies: Tagalog	Message 17 of 18 19 November 2013 at 7:43pm \| IP Logged
	I've been learning Spanish for almost six months, and I'm now at a solid intermediate level. This is my first foreign language (I got my first two languages for free), and I didn't even know that courses like Assimil existed when I started. So I think that it's very possible to learn a language without buying any programs! So far I've done all of my learning using free (or nearly free) resources. If I look back on my learning, I can split it into phases (although I can't tell you exactly how long each one lasted). I started my anki decks at the beginning and keep adding to them. Phase one: * I wouldn't necessarily recommend these first two resources for serious language-learning, since they include a lot of English, but I found them to be a very fun and gentle start to language learning. - Coffee Break Spanish - I made it through about 2 weeks of daily podcasts before outgrowing it, but it was a very pleasant, VERY easy start to Spanish - Mi Vida Loca - again, I only made it through about half the lessons before deciding that there was too much English, but it was an easy intro - Duolingo - good for basic vocab and sentence structure. I did it every day at first, now I only work on it once every week or two - Pimsleur lessons 1-16 (free from the library) - started listening to Spanish songs, learning the lyrics so that I could sing along Phase two: - Destinos - I just watched and tried to understand. I skipped over the first 3 minutes or so of every episode (hated that intro!), and near the end of the show, when I understood nearly everything, I sometimes skipped over Raquel's recaps. - Notes in Spanish intermediate - I listened to each podcast once or twice - Veintemundos - intensive reading: read and listened several times, looked up new vocab - children's novels, mostly by Roald Dahl (extensive reading - I only looked up vocab if I was really confused) - language exchanges and Skype tutoring - BY FAR the most important part of my learning. I wasn't working at the time, so I aimed for 4-5 hours of Spanish practice per week - kept learning new Spanish songs - started learning grammar using Practice Makes Perfect Verb Tenses - I joined the six-week challenge in July Phase three: - Drama Fever - watched several Spanish series with English subtitles - Notes in Spanish advanced (listen to each podcast at least twice) - continued with Skype exchanges and tutoring (working two jobs now, so my aim is at least 2.5 hours of Spanish conversation per week) - continued with extensive reading (novels) and music - let go of intensive reading, grammar workbook and duolingo - I guess I got tired - started doing FSI Basic while walking Phase four (current): - lots of reading. Currently reading Harry Potter. - Started watching dubbed TV show (Buffy), without subtitles. - Back to grammar - sudden need to learn the subjunctive to keep up with my conversations - carrying on with FSI, Notes in Spanish advanced, Skype exchanges / tutoring, music After Christmas, I plan on transitioning completely to native materials and working on improving my Spanish to fluency. Out of everything that I've done to learn Spanish, I think that Pimsleur was the only "course" that I did in the beginning. It was good for pronunciation and basic sentence structure, but I wasn't disappointed that I could only get my hands on the first 16 lessons. I was ready to move on. Now that I'm at a slightly higher level in Spanish, I really like the FSI drills. But if that was my only - or even my main - way of learning, I think that I would have given up long ago. Comprehensible input is hugely important. And while the basic dialogues in courses like Pimsleur and FSI are definitely helpful, they wouldn't be enough on their own to maintain my interest. Books, TV shows, music, conversations with native speakers - I consider those my best teachers. 5 persons have voted this message useful
Kunji Newbie United States Joined 4040 days ago 19 posts - 24 votes Studies: Spanish	Message 18 of 18 21 November 2013 at 3:31am \| IP Logged
	Thanks for the info. I have tried FSI a few times because it gets such high praise and because its free. I hate it and that is putting it kindly! Using that program is a pretty stiff price to pay to wear the "I learned a language for free" badge. :) 2 persons have voted this message useful