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| samfrances Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4053 days ago 81 posts - 110 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 9 22 October 2013 at 1:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hi all
So, I've been learning Spanish for about 5 years, with varying levels of commitment, but have spent a lot of this time at an "advanced beginner" plateau. I've always found vocabulary more difficult than grammar, and I've recently had a breakthrough by moving from vocabulary lists to Anki flashcards. I'm impatient to get to intermediate already, and even to an advanced level, so I'm trying to put in 20 hours a week until at least November 2014 to see if I can make a breakthrough. I have an outlandish aim that I could leap from A2 to B2 level in that time, although I don't know how realistic that is. In future I'd like to learn Latin (for the beautiful case system) and Mandarin (for its growing importance as a global language, and for the interest of learning a tonal, non-Indo-European language). I've studied linguistics (in my experience it doesn't help you learn languages, but it does increase your appreciation for their beauty and complexity). Other interests include computer programming and web development, fiction, philosophy, and many other short lived interests at various points in my life. I'd be very grateful for any advice on how to make that breakthrough to intermediate. Edited by samfrances on 22 October 2013 at 1:55pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6704 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 9 22 October 2013 at 3:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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I find it interesting that you got your breakthrough by moving from vocabulary lists to Anki because I learn most of my vocabulary through wordlists (using a few tricks like learning the words in blocks of 5-7 instead of one word with its translation at a time). But if Anki works for you then that's of course the method you should use.
Welcome to the forum. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| samfrances Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4053 days ago 81 posts - 110 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 9 22 October 2013 at 4:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks Iversen.
I suppose I found the organisation aspect of scheduling when to revise each area of vocabulary a bit of a hassle. With anki, I still have to think about what vocabulary to add, but once its in the deck then scheduling takes care of itself. Out of curiosity, what's the thinking behind learning words in blocks of 5-7 instead of one word with its translation at a time? Are these blocks of related words? Edited by samfrances on 22 October 2013 at 4:18pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5533 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 9 22 October 2013 at 6:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Welcome to HTLAL, from a fellow Anki user!
If you spend 20 hours a week studying Spanish between now and next year, I certainly believe that B2 is within reach. If you want to reach B2 in all your skills, you'll need to practice each of them. Here are some random ideas based on my experience. Take them with a grain of salt. :-) Reading: If you're near A2, this would be a wonderful time to start looking for cool Spanish books (or websites, magazines, comics, or newspapers—whatever interests you). Particularly in a Romance language, it's possible to make big gains by reading a single interesting book. If you look up some unknown words, add the most useful ones to Anki, and take an interest in the grammar, this process will go even faster. Ebooks with popup dictionaries and highlighting are especially useful, but paper books work fine, too. Listening: Sometime around B1, it's possible to get started with native TV, especially if you find a series with clear dialog. Some science documentaries (like BBC's Planet Earth) are quite accessible in many languages, as are some dubbed series. Apparently there are some very accessible Spanish telenovelas, too. I had the best luck buying DVD box sets and watching several seasons of a series before moving on, because I could get used to the voices and the vocabulary. Writing: Lang-8 is absolutely marvelous. Write on a regular basis, and go out of your way to correct the entries of people whom you'd like to see correct your work. Try for 100 words, as correct and idiomatic as you can make them. If you can't think of anything to write, write about your day or your hobbies, or try to explain something about your profession. Speaking: Verbling is pretty useful, and I'm sure there are Spanish-language Meetups almost everywhere. And it doesn't hurt to speak to yourself, either, and silently narrate your day. There's also quite a few people on these forums who swear by FSI drills for activating their speaking skills. I've never tried it; I was lucky to have access to native speakers. For some people, at least, a big part of the trip from A2 to B2 is using their new-found skills in the real world. After a point, it's not enough to learn about the language, and it becomes necessary to practice it like an actual, physical skill. Good luck, and please feel welcome to keep a log here on HTLAL! 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| samfrances Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4053 days ago 81 posts - 110 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 5 of 9 23 October 2013 at 12:14am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks emk.
I've started a log (I tried to link to it, but the text filter removed my link). I'll definitely look at lang-8 and Verbling. Is Verbling the one that is a bit like a language learner's version of chat roulette? Are there any telenovelas you would recommend in particular? Edited by samfrances on 23 October 2013 at 12:15am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 4145 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 6 of 9 23 October 2013 at 2:07am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm aiming for a Peninsular Spanish accent, so I've been watching TV shows from Spain. I really enjoyed
Desaparecida, and am currently watching La Fuga. Good shows! 12 episodes long, with clear endings - long enough to get comfortable with the accents/speech patterns and engaged in the story, not so long that they jump the shark or get cancelled before finishing. I watch them on DramaFever, but I think that they're only available in North America. Before trying Spanish TV shows, I watched all 52 episodes of Destinos: Destinos It's cheesy and silly, and yet surprisingly engaging. I really learned a lot from watching it! Notes In Spanish has also really helped with my listening comprehension. I listened to all of the intermediate podcasts (once each, for the most part), and then moved on to the advanced podcasts. I listen to each of them three or four times during my commute, and by the last listen, I can understand almost every word. Language exchange partners are a key part of my learning - and without them, there's no way that I would have advanced as quickly as I have. I found my partners on www.conversationexchange.com and www.italki.com. Once I'd worked with a few language partners, I decided to try working with a teacher over italki. It was by far the best choice that I could have made! Working with a good tutor is far more useful (for me!) than any language program out there - and also arguably cheaper. I don't think that a year to reach B2 is unrealistic at all. Enjoy your Spanish learning! Edited by Stelle on 23 October 2013 at 2:08am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| samfrances Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4053 days ago 81 posts - 110 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 9 23 October 2013 at 11:31am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for your encouragement, Stelle. I'll definitely check out Destinos and try and find a conversation exchange on italki.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6704 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 8 of 9 23 October 2013 at 1:33pm | IP Logged | ||
Once upon a time in a far and misty past I wrote a lot about wordlists here (and here), but basically the idea behind the blocks is to prevent you from keeping one new word and its translation in your mind by forcing you to run through a limited number of other words at the same time. My belief is that trying to recall something from just beyond the treshold of your consciousness is more efficient than keeping the samme reel running until you switch to the next word on the list. Edited by Iversen on 23 October 2013 at 1:34pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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