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And suddenly I’m learning Portuguese! | ||
Tags: Portuguese | Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| ymapazagain Senior Member Australia myspace.com/amywiles Joined 6965 days ago 504 posts - 538 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: SpanishB2 | Message 1 of 52 16 November 2009 at 2:01am | IP Logged |
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A couple of days ago I realised with a rather heavy heart, that after four years of attempting to learn Russian I really haven't made it that far. I love the language, and I'm very keen to travel throughout Russia. But for some reason the language just doesn't "click" for me. I started with Pimsleur and by mid level 2 I seemed to hit a bit of a wall. So I tried Michel Thomas, which I think helped a little, but not as much as I would have liked. I've also attempted to work through the Princeton course, but it all seems so overwhelming! I'm still not competent enough to finish level three of Pimsleur, which after 4 years is pretty atrocious!
So I’ve decided that I’m just not ready for Russian yet. I will learn it one day, but I think I will wait until I am able to study and travel through Russia for an extended period of time. I think that's what I need for this language! It's hard not to feel a bit of a language failure when I think about my Russian, but I need to remember that in that same time I've done really well with my Spanish. I can now watch movies, read novels and chat with people online with few problems. I am really chuffed with my level of Spanish, though of course I still feel I have a long way to go! But I feel confident with this language, it feels comfortable and familiar. I just never got that with Russian. So...With Russian temporarily out of the picture I had a gap to fill. I wanted to go for an "easy" language (if there is such a thing), so I decided that I would choose another Romance language. In third place was Italian - I would love to learn Italian but I really don't have any practical use for it at the moment so it would be a bit pointless. In a very close second place came French - When I tried to learn a little French before my trip to Paris last year I was amazed at how easily I picked it up. French is great for cinema and travel in some parts of the world...but still not quite useful enough for me right now. So...in the number one winning spot came Portuguese! I am currently saving money like a mad woman to be able to spend (at least) a year of my life travelling through Central and South America. I have Spanish to get me through most places; however there is one pretty big chunk of South America where I will need Portuguese. Brazil fascinates me - the music, Capoeira, the rainforest (what's left of it...), the beaches... I have known some Brazilian people and they have all had a fantastic attitude towards life. I feel like I need to know Portuguese, not only for the practicalities of travelling around Brazil, but also to really learn about the culture and to have a great time meeting new people. So... PORTUGUESE Day 1: Pimsleur Level 1 Units 1 - 8 So far it seems to be going great! The similarity with Spanish is certainly a help at this stage. Fortunately I haven't yet mixed in any Spanish words by mistake. Just for curiosities sake I listened to the initial conversation in Level 2 - Unit 1 and I could understand that perfectly too, which hopefully means that I will be able to breeze through the first level within a few days. That is if I don't fall asleep...Pimsleur seems to have that effect on me! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| LatinoBoy84 Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5581 days ago 443 posts - 603 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Latvian | Message 2 of 52 16 November 2009 at 2:49am | IP Logged |
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Good Luck! Check out the Spanish to Portuguese FSI course. If you Spanish is up to par I am a huge advocate of Assimil. Assimil has published a course in Portuguese (AND Russian) with a Spanish base; You'll be able to see the differences side by side while strengthening your Spanish.
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| ymapazagain Senior Member Australia myspace.com/amywiles Joined 6965 days ago 504 posts - 538 votes Speaks: English* Studies: SpanishB2 | Message 3 of 52 16 November 2009 at 11:29pm | IP Logged |
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Hi LatinoBoy,
Thanks for the advice, however I think learning Portuguese through Spanish would actually confuse me! Right now I'm trying to keep Spanish and Portuguese as two very seperate entities in my mind, making sure I have a substantial break between using each language so that I don't get them muddled up. I'm sure further down the track this won't be such an issue, but at this point I feel that it's best for me. PORTUGUESE Day 2: Pimsleur Level 1 Units 9 & 10 Once again nice and easy, however I hadn't slept the previous night so I only made it through two of my planned four units before falling asleep! Edited by ymapazagain on 16 November 2009 at 11:31pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6558 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 4 of 52 16 November 2009 at 11:39pm | IP Logged |
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Best of luck with Portuguese, I've also recently started this wonderful language and I'll check up on your progress and also to steal ideas.
I too am keeping Spanish compartmentalized to focus on slowing down and actually learning the language. Edited by zenmonkey on 16 November 2009 at 11:41pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ymapazagain Senior Member Australia myspace.com/amywiles Joined 6965 days ago 504 posts - 538 votes Speaks: English* Studies: SpanishB2 | Message 5 of 52 17 November 2009 at 11:33pm | IP Logged |
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PORTUGUESE Day 3:
Pimsleur Level 1 Units 11, 12 & 13 I was hoping to make it to level 15 today but I ended up doing quite a lot of Spanish instead. Which is fine, it's all languages! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ymapazagain Senior Member Australia myspace.com/amywiles Joined 6965 days ago 504 posts - 538 votes Speaks: English* Studies: SpanishB2 | Message 6 of 52 18 November 2009 at 7:16am | IP Logged |
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PORTUGUESE Day 4:
Pimsleur Level 1 Units 14 & 15 I did do about a quarter of unit 16 aswell however I started to feel a little too tired to focus so I stopped. If I get a bit of an energy boost I might come back to it later today, if not i'm happy with two units per day as good progress. SPANISH: I figure I aught to keep track of what I am doing with my Spanish as well. I have been reading Crepúsculo by Stephenie Meyer. I am now 134 pages in. Whenever I come across a word that is unfamiliar to me I enter it into FlashcardDB. At the moment I am averaging 4 words per page (of a standard sized paperback novel). I am sure this will improve as I progress through the book. It is frustrating because I can read several pages without having to look up a single word, and it feels fantastic to be able to do that! Then all of a sudden I find myself having to look up 20 words on one page and it drives me crazy! At the moment I am trying to read a chapter a day, followed by spaced repetition study with the flashcards. Edited by ymapazagain on 18 November 2009 at 3:54pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| ymapazagain Senior Member Australia myspace.com/amywiles Joined 6965 days ago 504 posts - 538 votes Speaks: English* Studies: SpanishB2 | Message 7 of 52 19 November 2009 at 9:00am | IP Logged |
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PORTUGUESE Day 5:
Pimsleur Level 1 Units 16 & 17 I managed to get (very sleepily) through two units today. I'm finding the my's and your's and our's all a little tricky, but it's starting to click. I might have to cut back to one unit a day for a little while, I have a few uni assignments due over the next week. But so long as I keep it going a little ever day that's okay! SPANISH: I revised my Crepúsculo vocab on flashcard DB, then read the next chapter. This was a long one; 22 pages. I find that after 15 or so pages I begin to get very tired and struggle to focus. It helps if I take a ten minute break then go back to it and finish the chapter feeling a bit more refreshed. Vocab was a lot better for this chapter, averaging 2 words per page. Edited by ymapazagain on 19 November 2009 at 12:22pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ymapazagain Senior Member Australia myspace.com/amywiles Joined 6965 days ago 504 posts - 538 votes Speaks: English* Studies: SpanishB2 | Message 8 of 52 19 November 2009 at 12:34pm | IP Logged |
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PORTUGUESE Possessive Pronouns:
Hope i've got this right! O meu amigo A minha amiga Os meus amigos As minhas amigas O seu amigo A sua amiga Os seus amigos As suas amigas O nosso amigo A nossa amiga Os nossos amigos As nossas amigas Correct? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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