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Kerrie - TAC 2010 (Team O) [Spa Fre Ger] | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| ~ribbit Newbie United States Joined 6045 days ago 17 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English | Message 9 of 19 25 January 2010 at 5:57am | IP Logged |
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Actually, I am having a hard time keeping up with my classes (4 accounting classes and 2 other business classes) and keeping up with everything else as well. =(
Today I did the first CD of the Michel Thomas French course, and (although the girl on there seems educationally challenged), I think I will glean a lot more from this course than the Spanish. I am making a commitment to myself to get one CD done per day (at least during the week - it's harder when the kids are home on the weekends, with soccer, and friends and everything). I FINALLY got my mp3 player in the mail late last week, so I can listen while I ride my exercise bike in the morning. [Part of my problem has been that most of my audio files are on my computer and I have had no other way to listen to them.] I also feel a little lost in regards to Spanish. It seems like every program or approach I have used either bores me or overwhelms me. My passive (reading) knowledge is good enough to understand the majority of whatever I'm reading, but I am always feeling like I have to look stuff up when I don't automatically understand it. I think part of my problem the last week or two has been because of this. I put Spanish as my priority and then I'm not really sure where to go with it. I have a hard time trying to "concentrate" on one or two Assimil lessons for more than 15-20 minutes, because it all feels very familiar, even when there is alot (vocabulary-wise) that is new to me. I have read the first chapter of HP1 about 15 times. Maybe I need to just sit down and read through it with the Spanish. I feel like I've been approaching my Spanish in the same way I've been approaching French (and German), and that I need to analyze every bit of it. A few years ago, I just borrowed (kids) Spanish books from the library and read them. It didn't matter if I understood or not, I just read through them - and it was amazing how much I learned just from doing that. Maybe at this level, it's easier for me to learn from the context. Maybe I should go back to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Lemony Snicket books that I was reading a few years ago and start there. If anyone has any suggestions for breaking through my Spanish brick wall, please feel free to share! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Katie Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6722 days ago 495 posts - 599 votes  Speaks: English*, Hungarian Studies: French, German | Message 10 of 19 25 January 2010 at 8:29am | IP Logged |
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Hang in there Kerrie! You'll get through it!
I've been the same with my language studies - Anki hasn't stuck with me, yet again... and FSI and Assimil both bore me, so I'm relying on books and magazines and DVDs to help get me through. It seems to be working so far... I still try to read through grammar notes etc, but I focus mostly on immersing myself in the language - reading whatever I want to read, watching what I want to watch etc... Anyway, go with it - don't be too harsh on yourself. Immersion is also learning - it just means that you'll be learning stuff as you come across it instead of in a bulk lot. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ~ribbit Newbie United States Joined 6045 days ago 17 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English | Message 12 of 19 26 January 2010 at 3:39pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the encouraging words. Sometimes I forget that there are other people out there like me with great ambitions and not enough time and energy to go after everything 100% all the time!
Yesterday I did CD 2 of the Michel Thomas French course, and I'm going to aim for CD 3 today. The other night I grabbed El Vampiro Lestat and decided to go with something totally different. I have the English version, too, so that can be a handy reference point for me. (It's so much easier to do it that way than to have to look up words all the time!) I read the English first, about five pages, then read the Spanish. There were a few times I referred back to the English, but for the most part I understood 80-90% of what I was reading. I'm sure if I were to read the Spanish without the English, I'd have more trouble with it, but it's more enjoyable this way, and I feel like I actually accomplished something! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ~ribbit Newbie United States Joined 6045 days ago 17 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English | Message 14 of 19 01 February 2010 at 5:57am | IP Logged |
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I've gotten through the MT French discs 3-4-5 in the last few days.
I also listened to the first MT German disc the other day, but I think I am going to hold off on the German for now. I have to confess to not working on my Spanish reading the past few days. My nephew got me interested in a young-adult series of books (The Shadow Children) and I have been hard at work reading all 7 of them. But now I'm done with them, I am going back to Spanish reading. =) I am going to do MT French (disc 6) tonight, then read Lestat El Vampiro for awhile before I head to bed. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Katie Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6722 days ago 495 posts - 599 votes Speaks: English*, Hungarian Studies: French, German | Message 15 of 19 01 February 2010 at 11:50am | IP Logged |
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Sounds like you're doing well! Perhaps I should take your lead and start to fill my evenings with language immersion again. I used to do this at one stage...
1 person has voted this message useful |
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