Spanish, fluent from scratch in 1 year. (Language Learning Log) Language Learning Forum

Spanish, fluent from scratch in 1 year.
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13 messages over 2 pages: 1 2 Next >>

garmur
Newbie
IrelandRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5551 days ago
16 posts - 16 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 1 of 13

17 January 2010 at 10:04pm | IP Logged

¡Hola a todos! I've recently become very interested in languages in general, and
so after toying with the idea of learning Esperanto first, I've decided to just jump
straight into learning Spanish. I'm setting myself the goal of becoming basically
fluent in one year. I'm doing this in conjunction with another goal (to get fit),
and so I've started a combined outline & log online on
posterous. The plan is all on there, but I'll
repeat it here in the hope you'll have some tips or advice on what I've planned!

The Goal
By the end of December, I'm planning to be fluent in Spanish and to have proven that by
passing the DELE exam at either B2 or C2 level (I'm not so interested in 'specialised'
vocabulary described in the C2 explanation, but I'll decide on that as I come to it).

My Plan

(Now to April) Basic conversation - Because I don't have the option of
travelling abroad and doing an intensive immersion course, I'm not aiming to be fully
fluent in 3 months (even though it can be done). During these first 3 months I'll be
studying 5 - 6 days a week for an hour or more, using traditional (book & audio)
materials and exercises. By the end, I plan on being able to hold a basic conversation
with a native, provided they're speaking slowly enough for me to understand and not
talking about anything too uncommon. Basically I'll just be getting a solid foundation
of grammar & vocabulary in.
(April to July) Immersion environment - Again,
because I don't have the luxury of having time off to travel for a few months just yet
(maybe next year), I have to find a way to create the same effect. So what I'll do is
basically to surround myself in Spanish. I'll be changing everything I use (PC, phone,
websites) into Spanish, watching only Spanish content (tv & movies) within reason and
writing/speaking in Spanish as much as possible. The end result after these 3 months
will hopefully be that I'll be much better at understanding natives speaking at normal
& fast speeds, will have an improved vocabulary and a good sense of how natives use the
language in terms of idioms and word choice etc. (even though Spanish and English share
a huge amount of cognates, sometimes a word we might use commonly that has a direct
translation would sound strange or outdated to use in Spanish)
(July to
October) Reach fluency - The aim from here on is simple, speak in Spanish as much as
possible and keep studying, until I'm at a level I'd be happy calling fluency. Not too
much to explain. I might also travel to Spain for a few days at a time when I get a
chance during these final 6 months, stay in a hostel and get some practice in...
ryanair might be crap but for 11.99 euro to get to madrid they could have me sitting in
the luggage compartment for all I care.
(October to New Years) Preparation &
exam - From here on it's exam time. I'll sort out which exam I'll be taking, book it at
Instituto Cervantes, prepare for it and get it absolutely right in. Hopefully will have
the results and all by New Years.

Sorry if the writing is hard to understand in places, it's copied directly from the log
which is written in informal English and may have some slang specific to Dublin,
Ireland! I'd be greatful for any advice or opinions on the plan I've set out so far...
I've only begun learning so it's all open to change.

I also plan on getting a lot of practice done here and on various other forums and
sites so I look forward to getting to know a lot of other people who are interested in
languages along the way. Thanks for reading, ¡gracias!

Edited by garmur on 17 January 2010 at 10:08pm
1 person has voted this message useful

Sprachprofi
Nonaglot
Senior Member
Germany
learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 6474 days ago
2608 posts - 4866 votes

Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian
Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese

Message 2 of 13

17 January 2010 at 10:39pm | IP Logged

If you have a small budget, I cannot recommend languages-tutor-enrique-kates">Enrique Kates strongly enough as a tutor. I had taken
less than 10 classes with him (and done pretty much nothing else, though I vaguely
remembered some Italian) when I was having a natural conversation with him for an entire
hour! See also my
blog post about that.

Edited by Sprachprofi on 18 January 2010 at 10:49am
2 persons have voted this message useful

garmur
Newbie
IrelandRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5551 days ago
16 posts - 16 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 3 of 13

18 January 2010 at 2:19am | IP Logged

Thanks Sprachprofi, I've looked at his edufire profile and all of his students give him
great reviews. I would definitely consider getting a few lessons in a short while, even
if just for the opportunity to speak in Spanish with someone who could guide me in the
right directions and tolerate my slow, incorrect speaking! Your recommendation is much
appreciated.
1 person has voted this message useful

goosefrabbas
Triglot
Pro Member
United States
Joined 6372 days ago
393 posts - 475 votes

Speaks: English*, French, Spanish
Studies: German, Italian
Personal Language Map

Message 4 of 13

18 January 2010 at 2:50am | IP Logged

Good luck garmer! It looks like you've planned well. Specifically what materials do you plan on using until April?
2 persons have voted this message useful

garmur
Newbie
IrelandRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5551 days ago
16 posts - 16 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 5 of 13

18 January 2010 at 11:28am | IP Logged

goosefrabbas wrote:

Specifically what materials do you plan on using until April?

Thanks goosefrabbas! I've managed to get my hands on some well-reviewed materials, so
I'll list what I'm using here:

Books
Practice Makes Perfect - Spanish Vocabulary, Spanish Verb Tenses & Spanish Pronouns and
Prepositions.
Teach Yourself - Spanish Starter Kit.
Collins Complete Unabridged Spanish / English Dictionary.
Breaking Out Of Beginner's Spanish by Joseph J. Keenan (for later use)

Audio
Michel Thomas Spanish, complete course.
Teach Yourself - Spanish Starter Kit.

Other
I'm using the Opencards extension software for
OpenOffice.org to learn vocabulary. Along with employing mnemonic tricks to remember
the words, this is coming in very helpful and I definitely recommend you check it out!

I also get the opportunity to speak to two Argentinians in work sometimes, but I'm
still embarrassed to speak with them in Spanish. When I have enough vocabulary to speak
about things other than colours and my car being broken, I'll speak to them as much as
possible! I also plan on using this website,
SharedTalk and
foro de español to practice, get advice and
find language partners with whom I can speak to regularly over Skype or IM.

I'm also a member on both Babbel and
LiveMocha but they're courses didn't appeal to me
and the way they kept pushing their paid courses turned me off... although I'm sure
they'd be good resources for finding language partners.

That's it so far, what do you guys think? Any tips or advice?
1 person has voted this message useful

Bastet
Diglot
Pro Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5913 days ago
28 posts - 29 votes
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: French
Personal Language Map

Message 6 of 13

19 January 2010 at 10:57am | IP Logged

It looks like you have a pretty solid plan, covering "all fronts" of the language. I learned basic Spanish in night
school and University over 10 years ago, so I can't really comment much on materials like Michel Thomas,
though many others have. I've used the Practice Makes Perfect series - I liked them because of the writing
component. I find things seem to "stick" better when I write. I have used Pimsleur and Learn In Your Car CDs,
but only for some of the vocabulary and phrases and mainly to practice my pronunciation. That is, I didn't use
those to learn the language from a beginner.

Don't underestimate the value of regular listening sessions. It is crucial to start training your ear now. I found
this site, pYabla, which is a subscription site that has real TV, Music videos,
interviews, etc. with transcripts. I also just started with LingQ, mostly for vocabulary, but it has audio with
transcripts and is free. It might good listening practice for a beginner.

Good luck! I, too, am working on Spanish, so I look forward to seeing your progress. I hope you meet your
goals.
2 persons have voted this message useful

garmur
Newbie
IrelandRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5551 days ago
16 posts - 16 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 7 of 13

19 January 2010 at 11:18am | IP Logged

Bastet wrote:

I've used the Practice Makes Perfect series - I liked them because of the
writing component. I find things seem to "stick" better when I write.

Yeah I'm really enjoying the Practice Makes Perfect books too; I find them very well
laid out and the exercises help to 'solidify' the vocabulary and rules in my head.

Quote:

I have used Pimsleur and Learn In Your Car CDs, but only for some of the
vocabulary and phrases and mainly to practice my pronunciation. That is, I didn't use
those to learn the language from a beginner.

I tried listening to these whilst driving and found that the information just wasn't
'sticking', but I have found Michel Thomas CDs very helpful when listening at home,
even though his accent is very bad and sometimes he speaks so slow it's tiring.

Quote:

Don't underestimate the value of regular listening sessions. It is crucial to
start training your ear now. I found this site, Yabla,
which is a subscription site that has real TV, Music videos, interviews, etc. with
transcripts. I also just started with LingQ, mostly for vocabulary, but it has audio
with transcripts and is free. It might good listening practice for a beginner.

Thanks for the recommendations! I'll be sure to check them out. Yabla in particular
looks like it should be helpful, as I'm not sure I can fit any more exercises (LingQ)
into my current study schedule. I'll give both a fair shot though.

Quote:

Good luck! I, too, am working on Spanish, so I look forward to seeing your
progress. I hope you meet your goals.

Thanks for the tips and encouragement Bastet, it's much appreciated!
1 person has voted this message useful

Sprachjunge
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 7169 days ago
368 posts - 548 votes

Speaks: English*, German^C2
Studies: Spanish, Russian

Message 8 of 13

19 January 2010 at 11:20am | IP Logged

Best of luck, Garmur. I just wanted to second Bastet's advice: it is very sound. You should make sure that you can understand a lot more Spanish than you can produce, at least in the beginning. This means that you will have to listen to hours upon hours of Spanish. Yabla and LingQ are great sites (Yabla is worth the small fee, in my opinion, and LingQ is free.) Another free site is Audiria--they have tons of listening material at native speed (and native slurring, haha, which is all to the good).

3 persons have voted this message useful

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