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You Claim I Can Do What? - Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Ender Newbie United States Joined 5421 days ago 22 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 20 27 January 2010 at 9:32am | IP Logged | ||
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BACKGROUND: Several years ago, I took four semesters of Spanish at my university. I made it through those classes with A's and B's, yet I still knew next to nothing practical. I was severely hindered by my complete lack of listening ability. I gave up, thinking that I had zero practical language ability, and forgot about learning Spanish. I decided a few days ago to take one last stab at it before declaring myself completely inept. I still think you're all barking if you believe that I'm ever going to understand anything in Spanish, but I'm game to give it a try with a different approach.
MY GOAL: I'm mostly focusing on my LISTENING (in)ability right now. My goal is (some time in the distant, or not too distant, future) to pick a dubbed episode of a show I haven't seen and actually understand what's going on. It might not be much for you polyglots out there, but I'm still skeptical that it's possible for me. MY PLAN: I have a couple of TV series that have dubs/subs available in Spanish. As I've watched these a few times in English, I already know the gist of the episode (and sadly, I know more or less what the lines are supposed to be). I'll try to at least watch two episodes and then rewatch them. I am also making flashcards in ANKI for the 1000 most common Spanish verbs (pulled from a list I found on the net). I will add to these with with words from the series I'm watching after I'm done, as well as my old textbook. I found the LingQ website and downloaded several lessons. I also downloaded a children's story and subscribed to a weekday podcast of news in Spanish from the BBC. My library has Pimsleur in Spanish, but I could only download the Short Course to itunes for now (8 lessons). All copies of the first half of the beginner's course are currently checked out. Today: Watched Angel w/subs&dubs #2, #3. Rewatched Angel w/subs&dubs #2, #3. Made ANKI flashcards for 224/1000 common Spanish words. I do not know how often I will update this logbook, but I'm aiming for somewhere betweek daily and weeky. Suggestions always appreciated. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ender Newbie United States Joined 5421 days ago 22 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 2 of 20 28 January 2010 at 4:05am | IP Logged | ||
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Today:
Pimsleur #1, #2 ANKI flashcard study 20minutes* Angel #4 (x2) *I don't think I'm all that impressed with the ANKI flashcard program. I recall learning words much faster with handheld flashcards. 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 3 of 20 28 January 2010 at 10:40am | IP Logged | ||
I must admit, I love actual flashcards and had bags and bags of them up until about a month ago. Anki (and other similar sites) save a lot of storage space! Also, I think they just help you organize better and give you easier feedback in the form of charts, statistics, etc. Also, I've finally conceded that these sites are invaluable if you study by the Leitner system (or something similar) - I had shoe boxes with my different sets of flashcards and it was really a bit messy. I use Flashcard Exchange and Anki, and I've learned to love them both. Give it a week or two in order to really judge. However, occasionally I do still make flashcards (when reading a book for example) and then carry them around in my purse in a ziplock bag. Good luck! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ender Newbie United States Joined 5421 days ago 22 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 20 29 January 2010 at 4:10am | IP Logged | ||
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Bastet, you make a good point. I printed the list instead and studied from that. I'll use ANKI as more of a self-test once I've either written them out or learned them from a hardcopy.
Starting today, I've begun writing down ten new vocabulary words per episode. It will be a separate ANKI deck, and I'll write them down in a composition notebook. I'll also be keeping track of how many hours I've listened to Spanish weekly, including the first episode of Angel (watched twice). Today Listened to 4 news broadcasts from the BBC (15minutes each) Studied first 200/1000 most common Spanish words (only missed 17 on the first pass through ANKI) Created Angel deck in ANKI, added 20 vocabulary words Watched Angel 1.5 x2 Watched Angel 1.6 x2 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ender Newbie United States Joined 5421 days ago 22 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 5 of 20 30 January 2010 at 4:45am | IP Logged | ||
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Listened to news broadcasts again x2 (2 hours) - at work
Studied second set of most common Spanish words - 400/1000 added 22 words to Angel ANKI deck created new podcast/radio ANKI deck with 2 words so far listened/read through first three 'Who Is She' audiofiles and transcripts on LingQ watched Angel 1.7 x2 watched Angel 1.8 x2 My brain hurts. :( I'm annoyed that my Ipod did not automatically jump to the next podcast after each one finished. I had to pull out my ipod each time, which isn't very stealthy while you're at work. :/ Edited by Ender on 30 January 2010 at 4:48am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lorsque Groupie Canada Joined 5443 days ago 64 posts - 67 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 6 of 20 30 January 2010 at 5:06am | IP Logged | ||
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That is awesome Ender. I'll give Angel a try. I think its Ange in French. That is a good sign. If your brain hurts, that means that its working. You will be there very soon. Try not to make learning Spanish work. Make learning Spanish as fun as possible. Porque no? Que estas haciendo? Look for a repeat all on your ipod.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Astrophel Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5736 days ago 157 posts - 345 votes Speaks: English*, Latin, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Cantonese, Polish, Sanskrit, Cherokee | Message 7 of 20 31 January 2010 at 7:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I also have problems with listening comprehension in Spanish, and something that's been working for me is to listen to a few sentences, pause the video, and repeat what you heard even if you don't understand it. When I would repeat a sentence to myself, slowly, I would suddenly realize what had been said, and that I hadn't understood it not because I didn't know the words, but because the speech was too fast. When you hear the same phrase again you'll understand it because you know what it's supposed to sound like.
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| Ender Newbie United States Joined 5421 days ago 22 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 8 of 20 01 February 2010 at 12:30am | IP Logged | ||
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lorque - Yes, Angel is subtitled AND dubbed in French! :D
My brain was hurting mostly from just listening (to anything) for this long. I need a lot of quiet or sound can trigger headaches, but so far I've been okay. I'll look for a repeat all on my ipod. I don't have problems with music, it's just these darn newscasts that I'm having trouble with. Astrophel - I'll try that. Yesterday- Listened to news broadcasts again x2 (2 hours) - at work Studied third set of most common Spanish words - 600/1000 selected words to add to ANKI deck watched Angel 1.9 x2 watched Angel 1.10 x2 watched half of Angel 1.10 without subtitles... I lost my internet connection. Might only be temporary, but I won't be able to update everyday. I'm at a friend's house now. ;p So far today- Listened to news broadcasts (2 hours) studied fourth set of most common Spanish words - 800/1000 watched Angel 1.11 x2 watched Angel 1.12 x2 watched Angel 1.13 x2 Week One- Listened to 24 hours of Spanish Edited by Ender on 02 February 2010 at 8:44pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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