discomfort Newbie United States Joined 4990 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes Studies: English
| Message 1 of 7 20 March 2011 at 6:58pm | IP Logged |
Hi,
I,ve been learning Spanish on my own for about a year, and was hoping I could get some advice on next steps.
So far I have completed the following programmes:
Michel Thomas Basic and advanced
Teach Yourself - Spanish complete course
Michel Thomas Vocabulary course
William Tardy - Easy Spanish Reader
I am currently studying Madrigal's magic key to Spanish and watching a sitcom I am very familiar with, dubbed in Spanish (I only manage to understand bits and pieces)
Can anyone recommed what I should do next?
I am keen to carry on with similar types of audio/book courses, but do not want to spend money on something which will cover stuff which I already know. Can anyone recommend anything?
Any advice will be appreciated.
Thanks
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BRS36 Newbie United States Joined 5030 days ago 2 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 2 of 7 21 March 2011 at 1:49am | IP Logged |
I don't really have anything to recommend as far a complete programs go, but to supplement your learning you might look at the reading series "Leer en Espanol." There are 6 levels. They come with CD recording of the text if you want to listen before or while reading. These are still not authentic reading materials, but they do an excellent job of introducing useful vocabulary and recycling it. I believe I started with a level 2 or 3 book after finishing the "Easy Spanish Reader." It's a nice series for people who just aren't quite ready for authentic readings.
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krotox Diglot Newbie Poland Joined 5045 days ago 14 posts - 28 votes Speaks: Polish*, EnglishC2 Studies: Spanish
| Message 3 of 7 21 March 2011 at 7:20pm | IP Logged |
I have seen this link somewhere on this website already but anyway: Learn Spanish with Notes in Spanish Podcasts
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psy88 Senior Member United States Joined 5583 days ago 469 posts - 882 votes Studies: Spanish*, Japanese, Latin, French
| Message 4 of 7 22 March 2011 at 3:27am | IP Logged |
I am impressed with how much you have done in a year. Congratulations! Have you considered a language partner, or speaking informally with native speakers?
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iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5254 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)
| Message 5 of 7 22 March 2011 at 3:43am | IP Logged |
I agree with psy88. It is time to start speaking Spanish, after all, isn't that your goal? You're going to make mistakes, sure, but that's how you will advance. Congratulations on the success you have had getting to this level. You have worked hard! Now you need to find someone to speak with regularly, ideally a Spanish speaker who wants to improve his/her English. Linguajero.com is a good site to visit where you can practice your writing and meet people for a language exchange. If you wait til you're "ready", that moment may always be in some ill-defined future. You're ready!
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Arthaey Groupie United States arthaey.com Joined 5038 days ago 97 posts - 155 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 6 of 7 23 March 2011 at 2:50am | IP Logged |
I second what iguanamon said -- start speaking now! Find a partner on Skype, Craigslist, Meetup.com,
mylanguageexchange.com, or any of the other sites out there that exist to help you find a conversation partner.
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reyeszjj Triglot Newbie United States Joined 5789 days ago 11 posts - 13 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, English, Spanish Studies: French, Latin
| Message 7 of 7 23 March 2011 at 5:13am | IP Logged |
I suggest you expand your vocabulary first, this will certainly give you a boost in every aspect, you should see
improvement in reading/listening immediately, not so fast for speaking and writing, but you can see the difference
when you really want to express something. Expanding is not about from 3,000 to 4,000, 10,000 should be the goal at
this stage, IMO. Check out Dorothy Richmond's Spanish Vocabulary, it contains over 10,000 words
Learn some real Spanish, not the one from the boring books, I mean, most of the published books. I also recommend
Note in Spanish podcast, I learned 'un montón' from this podcast, this is real Spanish, pay close attention to how
Marina constructs her sentences in intermediate and advanced levels (about 40 dollars for the transcript), you would
learn a lot and begin to talk like 'native'
My final suggestion is getting a Spanish verb conjugation book, review several verbs when you're free everyday,
actually I can not say how useful it is, you just have to try to believe, I recommend Alfredo Gonzalez Hermoso's Spanish
Verb Manual.
Good luck
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