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Spanish Log (TAC 2014 Team Lobo) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| July Diglot Senior Member Spain Joined 5271 days ago 113 posts - 208 votes  Speaks: English*, SpanishB2 Studies: French | Message 105 of 271 06 February 2012 at 12:15am | IP Logged |
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Work is a bit hard to come by in Spain at the moment, but if you'd like to teach English,
(or are patient and don't mind it) there's work to be had in Madrid and Barcelona, especially if you have corporate experience. I don't know about Seville, as the rate of paro down there in the south is espantoso. Prices of most stuff (except books and dvds, which are expensive) is about the same as in the UK, especially in the cities. But Spain is an excellent place if you're looking to get out of a rut - believe me I've been there! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5020 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 106 of 271 22 February 2012 at 12:17am | IP Logged |
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Im definetly going to explore options while Im down there. Im not sure how long Ill be able to spend down there with the money Ive got. So Im really going to have to maximise the time Ive got from a language learning point of view.
Whatever happens It'l be fun. I imagine I will go to somewhwere in South America afterwards, it would make a lot more sense than asia at this point, although I must admit I find it a little more scary than asia. Tomorrow I shall try and find time to write a short update on what I have been doing the last week or so. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5020 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 107 of 271 26 February 2012 at 11:21pm | IP Logged |
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Level 5, as predicted is rather easy, but I must say that I have found it to be the least enjoyable level so far. The audio quality of some sections is almost unusable, particulary when its being played through my awful car speakers.
Also, I just dont like the way some of the lessons are set up. There are drills on the difference between por and para, which seem like a very uneffective way to learn the distinction between the two. My enthusiasm for the course has wained slightly, but I guess this is natural. I often wonder if I have had too much of a perfectionist attitude towards it, and whether I should have pushed through the earlier units at a faster rate. In fact, I have been thinking I could have significantly reduced my learning time by searching for oportunities to use the language earlier on. If someone was to apply the structures learnt in each fsi unit almost immediately, then Im sure that person could learn at a very rapid rate. I have been concentrating on listening a lot again the last fortnight or so. I signed up to the free trial at Spanish pod and download all the podcasts and transcripts in the intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced sections as well as all the specialised podcasts. I must say I am very impressed with all this. The only sad thing is that they have given me absolutely no incentive to pay for anything! This is unfortunate as they have some really good content, but it seems that they have a fundamentally flawed busisness model. Strangely, considering that I am soon to leave for Spain, I havent really done as much studying as you might think. Im in need of this trip to add a touch of excitement to this whole process. I think getting much past a B1-ish level is very hard studying from home. Some incentive is needed to help you keep pushing past those comfort zones. Well, tomorrow is my last day at work, so once I have that off my mind I will be able to think more on what I want out of this, and get some kind of plan together. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5020 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 108 of 271 04 March 2012 at 11:41pm | IP Logged |
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Unfortunately last Monday didnt quite work out as planned. I suppose it was technically my last day, but I returned home with a list of tasks to complete and was told to check my emails till end of the day Wednesday. This put me out quite a bit really, and I havent done a fantastic amount of study, although I have done something every day.
I am planning on leaving for Spain next Monday or Tuesday. I doubt I will get too much done by then as I have a lot of other stuff to do by then. I think, despite what I wrote in my last post, that I will mostly work through old fsi units rather than pushing ahead with too much new material. I think this will be more motivating, and Im likely to get more studying done this way. I think having several recent drilling hours under the belt will also be a great help when I arrive in Spain- I want to have the language slipping of my tongue when I get there. Strangely, I have felt far less motivated the last 2 weeks than at any time in the previous year. I suppose this just means that I need a holiday and a chance to have fun with the language. As great as Spain is, I would not have thought about long term travel there if it hadnt been for the fact that I have poured so much effort into learning the language, as I am much more attracted by destinations further afield. Well, I am thinking of booking some tickets to travel in South East Asia from Aug-Sep to early September. If I just get them booked I wont have to deal with the indecision anymore. So I will have quite a strict budget for Spain and will need to come back when the money runs out. I have a few money saving ideas I will be testing while I am out there, whch will hopefully maximise my chances to practice the language. Edited by dbag on 04 March 2012 at 11:43pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5020 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 109 of 271 31 March 2012 at 7:09pm | IP Logged |
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Okay, so long time no post. Well I am writing this from a hostel in Santander, Northern
Spain. I have been in Spain for the last 2 and a half weeks, and am coming back on Wednesday as I can't afford to pay the inflated room charges for Semana Santa. I wanted to update regularly but things haven't really worked out that way. Also I am using a tablet which is somewhat awkward to write on. Very briefly, I daily flit in between being really pleased with how much I can say in Spanish, and really frustrated by how little I can say. Probably a healthy stage on the road to fluency. I have a lot of work still ahead, that's for sure. I also just notice that I wrote the first post of this log on April of last year, so this log is nearly a year old!! Well, I'm going to enjoy my last few days and write a nice long summary when I get back. Ciao! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5373 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 110 of 271 02 April 2012 at 2:24am | IP Logged |
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How exciting... I cannot wait to hear the summary of your trip.
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| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5020 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 111 of 271 11 April 2012 at 11:26pm | IP Logged |
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Wow, so this log is a year old today! To be honest, I'm not really sure how I feel
about that. The good thing is I have studied every single day for at least a year (at least, I can't remember taking any time off). I kind of feel like I should be a lot better at Spanish than I am considering the time invested. But things are going well and I am still as enthusiastic as ever. I thing the “problem”(for want of a better word) is that I have spent to much time in comfort zones, and too much time patting myself on the back for the progress I have managed to make. In fact I have spent a lot of time reflecting on what I would do differently where I to start learning another language, but that's probably another post for another time. I need to write about how I got on in Spain, which I mean to make a start on tomorrow. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5020 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 112 of 271 14 April 2012 at 1:58pm | IP Logged |
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For some reason, I didn't study very much in the run up to my trip. I think I did at
least a little something everyday, but this period was probably the least productive in terms of studying that I have ever had. I'm not sure why really, I guess I had a lot on my mind, and a lot of things to sort out. At this point my plans where still rather vague, and I was considering how best to spend the year. In many ways the Spain trip was intended as something of a warm up, as I intend to do a lot of traveling this year. I had originally intended to fly straight into the South of Spain, but decided that I would take the cheapest flight that I could find, where ever that may be, which turned out to be Barcelona. Now, I have already had a long weekend in Barcelona with friends, so I wasn't too worried about spending much time there. It's a beautiful place though, but very expensive, and I found out that it's actually wise to book well ahead if you want to stay in a half decent hostel. In the end I booked a cheap but very nice private room for only one night, and decided to make my way South from there to Valencia. I spent a few days at home feeling very worried and stressed, because prices for simple dorm rooms were outrageous, and there seemed to be almost no availability anywhere, even a week ahead. At these prices, I began to doubt whether this trip was feasible at all. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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