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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Rout Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5714 days ago 326 posts - 417 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish Studies: Hindi | Message 25 of 27 26 December 2012 at 6:54pm | IP Logged |
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Okay, so I guess I'll update. ^^ I didn't take into account that I almost always get sick this time of year. During semiconscious states, I managed to finish two books.
Reading: I did these readings a lot more carefully. The first book, First Spanish Reader by Angel Flores, is a classic. I can see why! It's fairly short, but it's packed with content. I wish I'd had more time to spend with this one, but I've got a lot more books to get through. I especially like the proverbs sections and some of the excerpts from modern literature. I also tried something new: I underlined all unknown words, words that I could guess from context/cognates that I'd like in my active vocabulary, and interesting constructions. The second book, Historias de Puerto Rico by Muckley and Martinez-Santiago, is fantastic. It's part of a series of four bilingual books (the others focusing on Spain, Mexico, and one focusing on all of Latin America). Like the previous book (the Flores reader), I underlined a lot of words, but I was a lot more conservative with this book because I think I got a little carried away with the previous. I'm going to Gold List the vocab/constructions from both books. Also, Historias de Puerto Rico (and the other books in the series) have a free downloadable audio component for use with some the stories. I'll be shadowing these stories while making me way through Historias de México, by Barlow and Stivers, in a similar fashion (hopefully with less need to subrayar). On the whole, the content from the books in the Historias de . . . series is easier, so I kind of wish I would have started with those first. They are all by different authors/editors, so I can suggest the best sequence for making one's way through them after completing them. Other: Since I was sick I didn't get much of a chance to make it through my planned regimen. I did make it through chapter 10 of the Mastering Spanish Vocabulary book and most of chapter 7 - "Private Life, Social Situations," but my Spanish tutors had quite a laugh at a lot of the very peninsular vocabulary included in the "Youth Scene, Young People" section. I'm going to have to look up equivalents for all these words, words such as "chachipiruli" and "cholar" if I can find them. :\ - Starting to Gold List Using Spanish Vocabulary by Batchelor and San José to supplement my study of Mastering Spanish Vocabulary. USV is a great book filled with lots of Mexicanisms and Argentinianisms (I'm skipping the latter). Unfortunately, it still has a lot of Peninsular terms (I called my friend "amigote" and he said, "that makes it sound like were... gay friends"). Still a great book! - I've started reading A Text-Book of Modern Spanish, as now Written and Spoken by Ramsey (free download from Google Books). With a title like that, you can bet it's old (1894 to be exact), but it's amazing! I've been reading a little bit every day. I figure, as long as I'm having "aha!" moments with every third entry, why not? The grammar is the same, but the example sentences and Spanish orthography is dated (but that's okay since I'm well aware of the differences). - I've started listening to podcasts every chance I get in which I'm not doing something else. I'm downloading and listening to (mostly) academic/political/news podcasts from Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Columbia. - Now that I'm not sick anymore, I'm going to try to get back to my other projects, mainly shadowing Liven Up Your Latin American Spanish by Algorta, and working my way through those subjunctive workbooks. That's all I can think of for now. Edited by Rout on 27 December 2012 at 12:36am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Rout Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5714 days ago 326 posts - 417 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish Studies: Hindi | Message 26 of 27 15 January 2013 at 3:23am | IP Logged |
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Okay, so trying to be an active member here and other language learning sites, working throughout the week, going to school, and studying Spanish four hours a day leaves me pretty occupied.... And I love it! Seriously, if I hear someone say (s)he "would love to learn XX" but doesn't "have time" I'm just going to walk away.
Reading: It's been a while, and I haven't read much in the way of readers. I have been putting a lot of time reading them, but much more intensively, so the amount I've been getting through is a slower-going. I guess I got tired of "absorbing" the language and was trying to forcefully inject it into myself. I can't say this wasn't good for my abilities. I'll be picking up the pace a little now. I finished Historias de México which was very easy. Much easier than Historias de Puerto Rico. I thought maybe it was because of the intensive work I'd put into the latter, but after starting Historias de Latinoamérica which seems about the same difficulty as HdPR, I have to say that the stories in HdM were simply easier. I'm almost done with Historias de Latinoamérica. It also seems that the translation in Historias de México are the most true. So far, I'd definitely say that I'd start with it first. The only one in the series I haven't gotten to yet is Historias de España (which is next). Other: I started the TAC 2013 with a Spanish log. I'm devoting at least 90% of my language learning efforts on Spanish. This is going to leave my German pretty rusty by the end of the year, but I'm okay with that (my plans are changing in 2014). The description is more detailed on the log, but I'm doing at least 1 hour a day each of reading, listening, writing, and grammar study. I'm also going to try to get 100 hours of speaking practice before year's end (this is postponed at the moment). With this much work, it would be very weird if my Spanish weren't at a pretty respectable level by the end of the year. I mean, look at what Benny does in 3 months, or Luca does in a year and a half, and this is with much less study (I know, I'm not either of them, but I'm not exactly green behind the ears either). Aside from working on the subjunctive currently (in the written drill/ taking extensive notes stage - later I'm doing oral drills), I'm still making may way through readers, and I've also started to try and finish making my way through DLI Headstart for Puerto Rico again during commutes (unlike FSI, it reminds me a lot of Pimsleur - I don't see as much reliance on written materials; almost everything is explained on the tape). Lately, some technical difficulties have prevented me from getting further in the course. I've already completed several essays and have had them corrected on lang-8. I might end up committing these to memory. Also, still goldlisting vocabulary (from Using Spanish Vocabulary or words from the readers I'm using). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Kronos Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5263 days ago 186 posts - 452 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 27 of 27 13 February 2013 at 3:32pm | IP Logged |
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Do you consider using Read and Think Spanish, published by McGraw-Hill, as well? It is now out in a slightly expanded edition. Apart from serving as a (monolingual) reader, content-wise it appears like a thematically varied cultural guide to Latin America (also Spain, but it is only one of many countries here), and the culture notes are also informative.
The other titles in this series are Italian and French, and English for Spanish speakers. I have the Italian one and estimate that it features roughly 6,000 - 7,000 words and expressions (bold print in the text, glosses in the margin). The count for Spanish should be about the same - the book is a bit thicker, but it also has those cultural notes at the bottom of some pages. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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