VTruong09 Newbie United States Joined 4319 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Studies: Spanish
| Message 1 of 8 12 February 2013 at 1:39am | IP Logged |
Goals
In a year, I would like to be a solid B1, perhaps even a B2. Fluency will be evaluated
with how I am able to hold a
conversation with native speakers. The conversation should be smooth and natural.
Levels
Advanced Beginner. I took Spanish in High School, but never had the motivation to
become fluent. I did very well on written
exams, but never did well conversationally. Listening comprehension and conversational
skills is what I will have to tackle on
the most during this challenge.
Reasons for Learning:
Knowing Spanish is a fun and rewarding language. It will help me serve my community
better when I work in medicine. Where I
live, I am surrounded by native speakers. I would like to converse with them in their
own native language.
Also, the various cultures of Spanish speaking countries are quite intriguing.
Methods:
Currently going through Michel Thomas (Disk 6), and watching Extr@ (On episode 3).
After MT, I have to decide to go through Platiquemos (and maybe assimil at some point),
while going through through Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish[1 , and then Ultimate
Spanish Review.
Other Supplemental Materials:
Easy Spanish Reader
Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal along with the audiobook, and an English copy of the
book for some LR reading.
Breaking out of Spanish
Possibly Practice Makes Perfect Verb Tenses Series
Verbling
Edited by Fasulye on 12 February 2013 at 8:54am
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VTruong09 Newbie United States Joined 4319 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Studies: Spanish
| Message 2 of 8 12 February 2013 at 1:43am | IP Logged |
This was my progress from last week (2/3-2/10)
Progress
I logged 3 hours total with Michel Thomas, bringing me to disc 6 of 8. I should be
finished with the whole series by next week. By Disk 6, MT actually taught me a good
amount. He finally got to the "tu" form in verbs, the explanation of [ese vs esa, este
vs esta, and esto], imperative (changing ar to er endings vice versa), positive
commands (hooking pronoun at the end e.g. comprelo), and the "gogo" and "gaga" verbs.
Throughout the week, I mainly listened to Spanish music. I also played around with
lyricstraining.com for some Spanish listening comprehension skills. It was pretty fun.
No Anki this week at all, but I have plenty to add to the deck.
MT: 3 Horas
Hours Total: 3
Next Week's Plan:
Finish up MT.
Add to Anki Deck.
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VTruong09 Newbie United States Joined 4319 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Studies: Spanish
| Message 3 of 8 18 February 2013 at 2:46am | IP Logged |
Progress:
I logged 3 hours total with Michel Thomas, finishing up MT. I wanted to do more, but I
had midterms.
I learned about the irregular "ue" verbs, 3 ways to say things are happening in the
future, conditional tense, preterite and past tense. The more advanced stuff definitely
comes in at the end.
No Anki. : (
MT: 8 Horas
Hours Total: 8
Next Week's Plan:
Start MT Advanced, finish at least 2.5 discs.
Add to Anki Deck, do Anki deck
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James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5377 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French
| Message 4 of 8 20 February 2013 at 2:55am | IP Logged |
Good luck with your studies. Learning Spanish is a joy. You are definitely using the right materials. FSI/Platiquemos is definitely what you need. You may want to consider doing Assimil before FSI/Platiquemos. Assimil is definitely easier and would be a confidence booster. FSI is a great course, but is quite demanding. You will be able to get through FSI much faster after doing Assimil.
The MT courses are great. Re-doing them after working with other resources is well worth it.
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VTruong09 Newbie United States Joined 4319 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Studies: Spanish
| Message 5 of 8 03 March 2013 at 9:14pm | IP Logged |
James29 wrote:
Good luck with your studies. Learning Spanish is a joy. You are
definitely using the right materials. FSI/Platiquemos is definitely what you need.
You may want to consider doing Assimil before FSI/Platiquemos. Assimil is definitely
easier and would be a confidence booster. FSI is a great course, but is quite
demanding. You will be able to get through FSI much faster after doing Assimil.
The MT courses are great. Re-doing them after working with other resources is well
worth it. |
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Hi James29,
I've actually read some of your tips on Platiquemos around the forums haha.
Instead of starting MT advanced, I decided to go with Platiquemos. Right now I don't
have the funds for Assimil, but I will definitely try to purchase it in the future (I
found access to the texts, but not to the mp3s).
Do you know if there is a big difference between Assimil Spanish with Ease and Assimil
Spanish without Toil?
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VTruong09 Newbie United States Joined 4319 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Studies: Spanish
| Message 6 of 8 03 March 2013 at 9:18pm | IP Logged |
2013, Week 3&4
Progress
Instead of starting MT advanced, I really wanted to have a change in the style of
instruction. Platiquemos will now be the course I will focus on finishing, which is a
very long term goal. If I get stuck on platiquemos, I think I'll do MT advanced and
Assimil, and then switch back to Platiquemos.
So far I have finished Units 1-3. Units 1 and 2 are review, and there were only a few
words that I did not know that were added to Anki.
Unit 3 is more of what the course is like, less pronunciation and more information.
Other than that, I'm still trying to immerse myself through movies, music, and extr@.
I definitely think I am improving.
Plans for this week
-Finish Unit 4
-Anki
-Do section in "The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice" in accordance to the
Platiquemos Unit.
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VTruong09 Newbie United States Joined 4319 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Studies: Spanish
| Message 7 of 8 11 March 2013 at 9:45am | IP Logged |
Progress
I finished Unit 4. Some of the drills did give me some difficulty, but repeating them
about 6-7 times total helped me advance onward. I didn’t manage to get to my grammar
book, but the unit was just on estar and numbers in adjectives and nouns.
I did some Anki, but not consistency.
Plans for this week
Finish Unit 5
Anki [at least 4 days]
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VTruong09 Newbie United States Joined 4319 days ago 7 posts - 7 votes Studies: Spanish
| Message 8 of 8 17 March 2013 at 9:16pm | IP Logged |
Progress
Finish Unit 5 (Done)
Anki [at least 4 days] (Done)
I managed to breeze by Unit 5 very quickly within a few days. The unit was over the
verb, Ser, which I am very familiar with.
I started Unit 6 of Platiquemos, which takes place a restaurant where two people are
ordering food. I think I could be comfortable enough to order food at a Spanish
speaking restaurant. I guess I will have to try.
Instead of doing the Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice, I’ve decided to go through
Madrigal’s Magic Key. It is really a simple read so far.
This week I rediscovered memrise, and I’ll have to admit, it is much more fun than
Anki. I limited my personal deck to Anki, and I am going through a few decks using
memrise.
I also took a Spanish proficiency test this week through my University. The exam
reported that I tested into halfway into a Spanish 201 course.
Plans for this week
Finish Unit 6
Get to 33% of Madrigal’s Magic Key
Anki/Memrise [at least 4 days]
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