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Unsure how to progress in my language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4149 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes  Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 9 of 15 21 December 2013 at 1:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yes! Sorry! I just edited my post while you were writing yours. I was mixing up Showtime Spanish with Coffee Break Spanish. I still prefer the natural conversations on Notes in Spanish - I think I only listened to a few Showtime podcasts before deciding they weren't for me. But maybe I should give them another shot! :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Caymane Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4113 days ago 29 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 10 of 15 21 December 2013 at 11:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks everyone for your advice :D
@ 1e4e6 Your comments on changing devices languages like mobiles has reminded me I have to find a Windows 7 language pack.I've had real trouble finding one that doesn't require a partial system reinstall. @ iguanamon Those resources you linked are great! I like the veinte mundos link especially there's loads of content there. I've been trying to fit some FSI Spanish into the day. I am worried about the fact the dialogues are 50+ years old ( and not peninsular Spanish unfortunately) Maybe if I just did the grammar drills.. @ dbag I'm thinking of trying platiquemos as I hear it's an updated version of the original FSI. I'll have a look at their website. @ culebrilla Yes comprehension of RTVE is very difficult.It's funny you should mention Pepa Fernández as her program <No es un día cualquiera> is one of my favorites :) I don't really enjoy listening to Showtime/ Coffee Break Spanish , personally it feels too structured for me. I did enjoy the notes in Spanish Podcasts but I've already listened to most of them, so I'm looking for other ones. The big question bothering me is whether I'm wasting time by listening to dialogues that I can barely make out at times.(Like RTVE) I do prefer listening to native audio though, it's just more interesting and you can occasionally pick out cultural quirks as well. @ Stelle I'm trying to read as much as I can in Spanish. I get my daily news fix from El País online, and I have 2 children's books by Isabel Allende that I've been making myself read... I'm going to try the veinte mundos link that iguanamon left. How do you try and read native books? I usually try to read for general meaning and stop for a dictionary dive only when I have to. That basically means all the time! :D How is your own Spanish mission going? Hopefully better than mine :) Do you find it a big advantage already speaking a foreign language? After writing my original post, I had an addition thing to add regarding writing. Although I love sites like Lang-8, seeing all my mistakes that have been corrected makes me come to dread writing. Unlike speaking, writing is more subject to intense scrutiny and I'm starting to wonder if a number of things I get corrected on could just be matter of opinion - like in English for example we might have: The house was huge and in a lovely area. The house was very spacious and in such a nice area. Both have different shades of meaning, but the general sentiment is the same. There is an option on Lang-8 which is supposed to enable you to ask for corrections in a certain way - accurate, grammatically correct and so ... but you have to pay for it. Thanks again o/ 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4295 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 11 of 15 22 December 2013 at 12:01am | IP Logged | |||||
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There must be something that about RTVE, but I find that it is the easiest Spanish
television whereto to listen, for me. Maybe try Marta Jaumandreu's Informativo de Madrid? She speaks very clearly. madrid/">http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/informativo-de-m adrid/ Since you are in the UK, the overwhelming majority of the hispanoparlante immigrants in the UK are from Spain, probably due to the EU freedom of movement, so RTVE would be very close to their accents. I have met Chileans, Argentinians, Mexicans, and Uruguayans here in Manchester, but to be honest, at least 90% of the Spanish speakers that I have met in the UK are from Spain. Edited by 1e4e6 on 22 December 2013 at 12:05am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| culebrilla Senior Member United States Joined 4002 days ago 246 posts - 436 votes Speaks: Spanish | Message 12 of 15 22 December 2013 at 12:43am | IP Logged | |||||
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If I were you I would NOT listen to RTVE; when certain speakers are on air it gets pretty hard to understand. Even more so if you have other things going on, like driving a car. Try to find something considerably easier, especially if you are having trouble with verb conjugations.
Edit: regarding your issues with seeing writing corrections, you really should get through it. Are the errors that the people point out just stylistic ones like saying "he comido" instead of "comí" and "durante" instead of "por"? Or are they clear errors? Soy 25 años y tengo muchos cosas que hacer esta fin de semana. Edited by culebrilla on 22 December 2013 at 12:45am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6602 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 13 of 15 22 December 2013 at 2:25am | IP Logged | |||||
As for lang-8, they don't prevent you from stating in your entry what kind of corrections you prefer. Also, if you repeatedly correct specific people and they correct you, eventually they'll know what you want/need.
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| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4149 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 14 of 15 22 December 2013 at 3:08am | IP Logged | |||||
I read for pleasure. I started with side-by-side copies of books that I'd already read either in French or in English. I started with Roald Dahl novels - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, The Witches. (I also tried The BFG, which I'd never read in English, but don't recommend it for Spanish learners. The BFG talks in a sort of dialect, with lots of mispronounced words. It was really annoying.) I also read Despereaux, which is one of my all-time favourite children's novels. I only used the English/French version of the novels when there was a scene that I didn't understand, which happened less often with every novel that I read. I tried to read Harry Potter when it was too difficult for me, tandem reading in English and Spanish, but I ended up abandoning it and picking it up a few months later, when I was really ready to read and understand it. At this point, I'm on the second HP book, which I don't own in English or in French. I don't stop to check up a word unless I find that comprehension breaks down completely. At this point, I very rarely find myself in that position. I do read intensively sometimes. I got at least halfway through a second intensive read of Despereaux (looking up all new words, recording myself reading for fluency, etc), but I don't do it regularly - just when I have time/feel like it. If you're interested in seeing how I read children's novels in much more detail, I wrote about it on my blog: reading children's novels I also second the suggestion of VeinteMundos. It's one of my favourite online resources for intensive reading in Spanish!
My mission is going well! I've definitely hit the dreaded "intermediate plateau", but I'm hoping that massive input will help me get past it in 2014. I don't really speak a foreign language, since I grew up in both French and English. But my French *definitely* helps me with Spanish. Will you be part of the Spanish TAC team? Edited by Stelle on 22 December 2013 at 3:10am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Caymane Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4113 days ago 29 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 15 of 15 23 December 2013 at 7:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I won't be joining a TAC team with Spanish as I don't feel that comfortable with my abilities just yet. :P Hopefully when I feel comfortable with my Spanish level I will feel up for the challenge with another language!
Just to let everyone here know I will be away over Christmas so I won't be able to reply to any new posts. Thanks again for all the (Super) helpful advice! :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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