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Bolio’s Spanish Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4603 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 321 of 344 11 May 2015 at 11:42pm | IP Logged |
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Just a quick note;
I have been working on my islands. But the main point of my post is this... I started watching 'Águila Roja' with subtitles. It takes quite a bit of time to complete one episode but I think it is helpful. Here is my process. 1)On the first viewing, I pause the video at each unknown word and find the definition. 2)Then, I create an Iversen List. 3)Then, I repeat the episode while using the subtitles. 4)Finally, I watch a third viewing without subtitles. By the third viewing, many of the words are sticking with me. Oh, and I am stealing some of the sentences for my islands. This is the most fun I have had studying yet. I am looking for more shows to use this idea. @rdearman Self doubt I have in spades. As far as McCormick, I understand why he does what he does. He wants to interact with as many people as possible on a very casual level. (However, I have heard his Chinese is very strong...I don't know. I do know his Spanish is not very good but he is living proof that people will help you if you speak.) I would rather have a very deep understanding of three major languages (English, Spanish and Russian for example) than a very basic understanding of 50. But I get why he does what he does and I am all for it. I like the Skype idea and have had conversations with two of our friends from Mexico but the conversations were 35% to 65% Spanish/English. Thanks for dropping in here. James, I know it is really important to read and read a lot. I just need to listen as much as possible too. I LOVE to read. Speaking of which. My world has been turned upside down. I did not know my IPAD had a monolingual dictionary for my thousands of pages of PDFs I have stored in my IPAD/phone. I was having to write them down and then look them up later. I would sometimes copy and paste into google translate if I had the internet. But if you hit "define" and then the "Manage" button at the bottom left...there it is...spanish dictionary. Game changer. I am happy and mad at the same time. Happy I found it but mad it took this long. Anyway, all the best, BOLIO 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5207 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 322 of 344 12 May 2015 at 1:17am | IP Logged |
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Good to see you are at the cusp of the next level. I remember my Portuguese took off when I worked with a Brazilian Novela and my tutor. The Spanish subtitles are a good substitute for a tutor. I would listen first with no subtitles then with the subtitles to check my guesses, but if your order is working for you, great!
Águila Roja has a lot of episodes. You should notice a great improvement in your listening skills and comprehension after 25 or 30 episodes. When I did my first Brazilian novela, I would write notes for a review and tell it orally to my tutor. This really helped consolidate everything and worked on my productive skills as well. My tutor had watched the same episode. So, it worked really well. You are on the right track and, as I said, I believe you will make great strides in your learning in the weeks and months to come. It is wonderful to see you advancing! Edited by iguanamon on 12 May 2015 at 1:18am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Clarity Groupie United States Joined 3467 days ago 85 posts - 107 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 323 of 344 12 May 2015 at 1:48am | IP Logged |
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Hi Bolio! I wish I enjoyed reading as much as you do. I'm sure it would improve my vocabulary. I'm finding that my italki tutor helps me a lot with speaking. He is very reasonably priced and flexible when it comes to scheduling. Although I'm surrounded by lots of people who are native Spanish speakers, I still have this guilt or fear that I'm going to inconvenience them with my Neanderthal Spanish. When I speak with my tutor, I don't feel guilty at all! It's great!
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| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4235 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 324 of 344 13 May 2015 at 12:09am | IP Logged |
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That is unfortunate that your conversations are 35-65 ES-EN, but you have to feign
pretending to not know English or at least try to keep on with Spanish no matter how hard it becomes. When I was below A2 and I went to Mexico 10 years ago, I did struggle, but no one switched because I never uttered a word of English. I paused, stuttered, and all sorts of stuff, but you should be pleased to know that Hispanophones, unlike for example Northern European countries, are usually very patient with learners and do not readily switch to English unless absolutely necessary (and given that they actually can speak English). Also take advantage of living in a high Hispanophone region. The only Hispanophone place that I frequent nowadays that is within reach is either a Spanish or Mexican restaurant. I have no colleagues nearby generally who speak Spanish right now, but when I did, English was always something that was spoken with reluctance. They usually much prefer if you speak Spanish. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5810 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 325 of 344 13 May 2015 at 5:00am | IP Logged |
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Bolio, your method sounds very similar to how i use Subs2SRS (with Anki, you can also use AnkiDroid on your phone to study "on the go"). I believe Águila Roja has subtitles in English and Spanish. You also get more review this way and the things you learn/hear stick through repetition. If you skip all sentences that are too easy or inaudible, it's a fun way to learn vocabulary and get some good common expressions down. If you're interested in trying it out, i'd happily make a deck or two for you to see if it's something you'd be interested in.
I also really enjoy reading and i feel that's been my main way of practicing/improving my Spanish after having finished Platiquemos. When your vocabulary grows, conversations become much easier and you don't have to spend as much time thinking about words, you have more time to focus on pronunciation and grammar. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4954 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 326 of 344 13 May 2015 at 3:21pm | IP Logged |
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Great to seeyour progress and a new method. I am sure such intensive listening will help
you immensely and fast. Bad luck I am an extensive person who gets bored by such analysis, because I know it works fine and you're gonna be a great exemple. One recommendation: When choosing the next series to disect for learning, get something that takes place in modern times. It's not like Aguila Roja (or my favourite Isabel) were somehow totally wrong and inappropriate learning tools, not at all. But some things are slightly different and I think the balance needs to be established. Well, I am different from Crush. I tend to move pronunciation away as the first roadblock, then grammar with some vocabulary and then I am left with tons of vocabulary left on my path. It's fascinating to see how different paths can still work. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| BOLIO Senior Member United States Joined 4603 days ago 253 posts - 366 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 327 of 344 13 May 2015 at 11:26pm | IP Logged |
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1e4e6, Crush and Cavesa, thanks for the imput. I do thank all of you for taking the time.
1e4e6, I do take advantage of having native speakers around me. Everyday at lunch I can find someone to talk with. I was reading an Easy reader during lunch and an employee saw me and was amazed that I was reading in Spanish. SInce she was there, I asked her about a word in my book that I was not familiar with (Ganadora) even though I had figured it out from context. She helped me with the word then she called another employee over to show her that I was reading a book in Spanish. Neither of them could read in Spanish. We chatted for 2 minutes and they had to go back to work due to their boss was watching them. He came over and spoke to me in Spanish, asking where I learned. The funny thing was that he is a native Mandarin speaker and has learned Spanish over the years from being around the workers. Cavesa, I understand what you mean about the age of the language in the series. Also, I had to start with season 6 due to the earlier seasons do not have subtitles on RTVE.es. I am looking for a more modern series or even English DVDs/series I can watch in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. Crush, the deck idea sounds great. I started dumping the phrases and sentences into Anki and test myself in down moments thru the day. I have to be careful with Anki because it can quickly become where I spend too much time IMO. This process is intensive reading with audio and the enjoyment of tv/movies. I am looking forward to it every day. All the best, BOLIO 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4235 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 328 of 344 14 May 2015 at 6:10am | IP Logged |
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That is very good to have available native speakers, because not everyone has that
luxury. Most of my languages like Danish or Portuguese have no native speakers nearby except for some friends some of whom are already moved back to their countries, and if not for them, no one is readily there everyday ready for conversation, so your environment is very conducive to learning Spanish. Did you say that you live in Texas? That is quite close to Mexico. Spain is a 1,5 hour flight from the UK and Tijuana, the closest city in Mexico from California, is a long drive unless one lives in Los Angeles or San Diego. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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