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James29’s Spanish Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| ajackso3 Newbie United States Joined 4554 days ago 29 posts - 52 votes  Speaks: Spanish | Message 137 of 668 20 June 2012 at 4:53am | IP Logged |
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For me personally that sense of adventure is extremely important--a big part of travel for me is about
experiencing new things and breaking out of your comfort zone. But everyone has a different comfort zone... Breaking up your time between two different places could be a great idea...but it depends on what you are hoping to get out of the trip...a week is probably enough to see all the major attractions and practice your Spanish at the local markets and restaurants...but you probably won't come close to really getting to know the place. (in reality two weeks probably isn't enough either). And depending on how long it takes you to adjust to a new environments, you might not get to fully enjoy the experience if you're moving around. Moving to a new area in the middle of the trip also means spending extra time and money on travel expenses. Although with public transportation of cheap charter buses etc, the cost could be minimal, and it would expose you to another situation to use your Spanish... 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5376 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 138 of 668 21 June 2012 at 3:14am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the input. I agree, the sense of adventure and excitement is really important. In actuality, that is one of the major reasons I embarked on this Spanish journey to begin with. Santo Domingo was extremely rewarding for this reason... it really opened up my eyes and gave me a new perspective on so many things. It was a little "scary", but I think I would have been scared no matter where I went.
I have, in fact, been thinking of the exact things you are both talking about... spending a week in two different places... getting to know the towns. I have been thinking of staying in two different places in Ecuador or Mexico. The public bus system in Mexico is incredibly cheap and seems reliable and safe so I think doing some travel inside Mexico would be easy and cheap. If you read this, randomreview, I'd be interested in your thoughts on the Linguaphone second stage course. I considered it a while ago and decided against it because I could not find any reviews of it. It says it is quite comprehensive and I believe it is entirely in Spanish. Have you done it yet? Was it worth it? I am a little sick of courses and I doubt I will do too many more, but I will likely do some advanced courses. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5376 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 139 of 668 21 June 2012 at 3:22am | IP Logged |
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Well, since I am here responding to the very helpful and thoughtful posts by visitors, I figured I'd update what I have done... not too much. I have, at least, managed to do some Spanish every day. I am basically going to work through Breaking out of Beginner's Spanish before I do anything else substantial. I also did a good, but fairly short, skype talk. I am also doing 10 new words a day on Anki... although it is only taking about 5 minutes now so I just bumped it up to 15. Finally, I watched a 30 minute economics show in Spanish. I still have not gotten back into the Spanish TV/DVD habit... slacker!
I have been buying more things on Amazon... this can get addicting! I bought the English text of the Queen of the South and PMP Subjunctive Up Close book. I am slipping the subjunctive into my Spanish more and more now, but I feel like it is the one major area where I still don't quite "get it." I really want to spend some more of my free time on other things this summer so I am going to scale back my time with Spanish a bit for a while. I will still do a little bit of Spanish every day. I also may try to do some more economics lectures. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5023 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 140 of 668 22 June 2012 at 12:14am | IP Logged |
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Well James let me be the first to congratulate you on finishing FSI. What an
undertaking! How do you rate your Spoken Spanish at the moment? I have been thinking a lot about some of the themes explored in your recent posts, particularly on what a long journey this is turning out to be. I am increasingly thinking that one needs to be pushed into B2 and beyond. There is actually a really good log on here "French- taking it to the next level" that has given me a few ideas as to how to approach post-fsi study. I think a trip to South America at some point is almost essential- how exciting! I understand that Chile and Argentina are good places to go if security is a concern. I have been meaning to ask- what are those PMP Up Close books like? Edited by dbag on 22 June 2012 at 12:15am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4829 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 141 of 668 22 June 2012 at 1:17am | IP Logged |
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Peru is pretty safe these days, and also a fascinating country, although Chile and
Argentina would also be excellent choices I'm sure. My daughter toured Latin America for 9 months and found Argentina to be the most "European", and also happened to be her favourite, probably. The language there is a bit confusing, apparently, although also fun :-) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5784 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 142 of 668 22 June 2012 at 1:29am | IP Logged |
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Hi James, it's alright and it does go in deep, for sure, but I don't often use it (yet)
as I prefer Using Spanish, so (you knew I was going to say this, didn't you ha ha) if you are limited in the number of further courses you are willing to do I'd recommend Using Spanish instead. Sorry to sound like a broken record. For your comparison below is the Spanish from the first half of lesson 10 for Using Spanish and a similar sized excerpt from lesson 10 for the other two. It's not possible to get too much from such a small excerpt (I daren't put any more, though) but you can easily see that the level of language goes linguaphone>>Assimil>>Living Language. In my opinion (and I hope this comes through in my random excerpts) the "fun factor" is Assimil>>Living Language>>Linguaphone. Both Assimil and Linguaphone are Spanish of Spain, Living Language is international Spanish (which means just two lessons are set in Spain), but they're not afraid to use appropriate local expressions as you can see below (another example is using departamento to mean apartment in a lesson set in Mexico). Using Spanish works the same way as Spanish with ease (except that the translations into English are a bit...funky), the living language course has its translations on a different page (OK for shadowing!) some excercises, cultural notes (a lot of the notes are on the economy, which I guess you'll find interesting) and some lessons have a reading passage, the Linguaphone course is entirely in Spanish except for the glossary. Hope this helps. Assimil: Using Spanish -¡Auxilio! ¡Socorro! ¡Ladrones! ¡Socorro! -Gritaba un hombre subiendo de cuatro en cuatro, casi desnudo, las escaleras del Palacio de Justicia. -Y, en dos zancadas, se plantó delante del juez del pueblo. -Éste, molesto ante una irrupción que tan poco caso hacia de los buenos modales y de los trámites necesarios, levantóse y dijo: -¡Silencio! ¿Qué significa esto? ¿Qué ocurre? -¡Su señoría! Yo soy tejedor de oficio y pasaba por su pueblo camino de villa toro, adonde me dirigía para comprar telas y tejidos... -¡Vaya al grano! -A la salida del pueblo, en el cruce, tres hombres, amenazándome con navajas y palos, me han obligado a........................................................... ........ Living Language: Ultimate Spanish advanced. Mirando la Tele Elena ha venido desde Tegucigalpa a visitar a sus parientes en Nueva York. Entre ellos, se encuentra su primo Gerardo, quien vive en Nueva York desde que era muy pequeño. ELENA: ¿Habrá algún buen programa en la tele? Gerardo: No sé. Enciéndela. ELENA: ¿Qué veo? ¡Está mi serie favorita desde pequeña: <<Viaje a las estrellas!>> GERARDO: ¿Hablas en serio? ¿La pasan en Honduras? ELENA: ¡Claro! Es una clásica de ciencia ficción. De hecho, conozco bien este capítulo: en éste, el capitán Kirk, el doctor McCoy y Spock bajaron para salvar a los habitantes de un planeta que está por explotar, porque el sol está por convertirse en nova. ¿Ves a esos seres cabezones? Se habían llevado a aquella muchacha muda a un laboratorio subterráneo para ver si su especie era digna de ser salvada de la destrucción.......... Linguaphone: Curso Superior de Español. Elija el deporte más adecuado. A cada etapa del crecimiento corresponden unas características biológicas que deben ser respetadas, por ello, antes de iniciar cualquier actividad deportiva que implique competir, se debe realizar unexamen médico que informe del estado de salud. Entre 3 y 6 años El mejor ejercicio consiste en cualquier actividad lúdica en la que haya movimiento. Es conveniente proporcionar al niño los instrumentos necesarios para desarrollarse . Es bueno correr, trepar, saltar, nadar y montar en bicicleta Entre 6 y 10 años Se produce un aumento gradual del peso, la talla y la fuerza muscular. Es aconsejable que iniciemos al niño en el deporte mediante actividades multidisciplinarias, proporcionándole una buena preparación de base tanto física como psíquica. Actividades idóneas: natación, baloncesto, gimnasia rítmica. Los expertos recomiendan que estas actividades no se practiquen de manera competitiva............. Edited by Random review on 22 June 2012 at 1:39am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5023 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 143 of 668 22 June 2012 at 1:39am | IP Logged |
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@Randomreview Are you at all familiar with the Spanishpod101 advanced lessons? (or any
of the other "advanced" podcasts?) I'm wondering if they are pitched at roughly the same level as the courses above? Edited by dbag on 22 June 2012 at 1:47am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5784 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 144 of 668 22 June 2012 at 1:47am | IP Logged |
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Not familiar with Spanishpod 101, I like Español podcast and ssl4you, they are both
Spanish of Spain but useful for both beginners and intermediate. For advanced level podcasts of the level of the Linguaphone course above I know of nothing general, though there are plenty in specific subject areas, of course. I like science and have just started listening to some science related podcast on ivoox. All of which is a long- winded way of saying I can't answer your question, sorry. I like to listen to the Spanish version of "Democracy now!", that's kind of general news and authentic material hence suitable for advanced learners. Also the DLI resources might be relevant here. Sorry I can't be more help. Edit: Spanishpod did some quite nice advanced podcasts if you don't mind paying or asking Uncle Quentin. Edited by Random review on 22 June 2012 at 1:53am 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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