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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Hungringo Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 3989 days ago 168 posts - 329 votes  Speaks: Hungarian*, English, Spanish Studies: French | Message 1 of 6 05 March 2014 at 10:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have given myself 1.5 year to improve my English and Spanish. Nevertheless, I am not sure what is the best strategy: "annihilate" one language first or after finishing a book/material pick a book/material in the other language. Of course there is no complete separation, since apart from monolingual materials I mostly study English in Spanish and vice versa, and even when concentrating on one I still passively (TV series, newspapers) practice the other. I want to go through the following materials:
English: Assimil El Inglés Assimil Inglés perfeccionamiento (70 lessons, new edition) Assimil Angolul könnyűszerrel (sans peine) Assimil Inglés perfeccionamiento (63 lessons, old edition) Assimil Angol üzleti nyelv könnyűszerrel (L'anglais des affaires, old edition, 40 lessons) Assimil El inglés americano Cambridge English in use: full series from beginner to advanced. 18 books altogether Steven Collins-Practical everyday English Steven Collins-High-level everyday English Steven Collins-Advanced everday English Inglés sin barreras DVD series Headway full collection Effortless English full collection Watch at least 1000 hours TV programmes Spanish: Assimil Spanish with ease Assimil Using Spanish Assimil Spanish (new edition, if comes out) Assimil Spanish without toil Hugo Spanish in 3 months Hugo Spanish advanced 8 different Hungarian-based Spanish books (Business Spanish, Grammar, Translation skills etc.) Paul Turk:Palabra por palabra Colloquial Spanish 1 Colloquial Spanish 2 Colloquial Lat-Am 1 Colloquial Lat-Am 2 Living Language- Spanish beyond the basics Ugarte-Espana y su civilización Diaz-Plaja_La Espana que sobrevive 4000 Must Know Spanish words Suena 1-4 Destinos DVD collection Linguaphone Spanish (old edition) Linguaphone All Talk Spanish Platiquemos 1-8 Practice and improve your Spanish Practice and improve your Spanish Plus FSI Spanish Michel Thomas and Paul Noble full programme (might skip beginners discs) Watch at least 1000 hours TV programmes Normally, I study at least 6 hours a day. I got off to a good start with English, but now I am facing burnout, my initial impetus died off, my thoughts wander away even if I keep my eyes on the pages or keep listening to the audio and often I cannot finish my daily stint. I wonder if wouldn't be better after finishing an English material to pick a Spanish one and then again an English book and then a Spanish and so forth. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7206 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 2 of 6 05 March 2014 at 10:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't have an answer to your question, but based on your postings, I would think your English is way more
advanced than a lot of those courses could take you. Quite frankly, I haven't noticed any holes in your English. What is it that you want to do but don't do as well as you would like? The other thing is, based on your course list, I would think some would surely end up being too elementary. For instance, having done most of Platiquemos/FSI Basic, I've never had the patience to stick with Spanish with Ease - although I own it - because it's too easy. Or do you just enjoy breezing through courses that are easy for your current level? Edited by luke on 05 March 2014 at 10:51pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Hungringo Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 3989 days ago 168 posts - 329 votes Speaks: Hungarian*, English, Spanish Studies: French | Message 3 of 6 05 March 2014 at 10:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks, Luke. Even if my English is not bad (my Spanish is better than my English), by doing a systematic revision I want to fill in possible holes I might not even be aware of, furthermore would like to learn more idioms, phrasal verbs and improve my pronunciation. Edited by Hungringo on 05 March 2014 at 11:03pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 4 of 6 06 March 2014 at 12:45am | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, these resources are overkill, especially as you're in the UK and already speak good English. Bear in mind that the advanced grammar books usually cover the "foundation" well and make sure there are no gaps in your knowledge. If you discover any, only THEN use the beginner/intermediate materials to eliminate those gaps.
How much do you read in English? I'd say you just need to develop a more natural style, to incorporate the fancy vocabulary into your speech without sounding stilted. Modern literature is great for that, and so is HTLAL for example ;) In my opinion, this is much more important than weeding out the minor grammar errors. Your style is with you at all times and it should be your friend, not your enemy. If you really want to use coursebooks, you could get one that focuses on the written part of a language exam. I'm not saying it's a bad idea to learn more phrasal verbs and idioms, though. In fact, having many of them at your disposal will let you choose more precisely. But sometimes making the right choice requires confidence and even courage. Learn to appreciate the eloquent simplicity of English. You can't show everything you know all the time - a carefully chosen glimpse can say a lot more about the extent of your knowledge. As for the pronunciation, shadow native materials. And try to make friends with some language geeks who will find it fun to scrutinize your speech and suggest specific things to work on. I also recommend joining the Advanced ESL Team for TAC 2014. No, it's not too late :P At your level, 1-2 hours a day is the absolute maximum of the formal study you can (or should) do. For two languages, I would say it's three hours total, no matter how you divide them. The rest should be spent on native materials. I don't think it really applies in your case, but here's a link to a wikia article I started, about learning languages simultaneously. But remember that you never actually finish a language - fortunately. :-) Finally, I hope you haven't purchased all these resources yet. I recommend just going to a store or library and thumbing through books until you find something that "clicks". There are so many resources for English and Spanish that it's even unlikely that the most popular ones will be the best fit for you. Try not to purchase more than 1-2 books at a time (per language). The honeymoon effect mentioned in the article also applies to resources. They always seem so shiny in the beginning, but sooner or later the charm wears off. Don't blame yourself for it, but don't take the easy way of starting something different either. Look at the various challenges too - you're not eligible for the 6 Week Challenge, but most other challenges or projects (like my consistency thread) will help you with the most awesome and most annoying part: not giving up. :-) Good luck! 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Hungringo Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 3989 days ago 168 posts - 329 votes Speaks: Hungarian*, English, Spanish Studies: French | Message 5 of 6 06 March 2014 at 1:32am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks, Serpent, I will heed most of your advice.
Since I have already purchased all the above mentioned materials (with the single exception of the new Assimil Spanish) I am going to go through them anyway but at high speed. For instance, I intend to finish Hugo Spanish not in 3 months but in 3 days. For some odd reason I find satisfaction in moving a book from the "to do" shelf to the "done" shelf. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 6 of 6 06 March 2014 at 1:38am | IP Logged | ||
And have a look at this thread. I'd resell at least some of the materials while they are still new and shiny. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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