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My Road to Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| BeBetter Newbie United States Joined 3495 days ago 18 posts - 22 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 9 of 36 10 May 2015 at 9:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you very much everyone for the great advice! It is so helpful!
I want to try and update my log at the end of every week to keep track of where I am at in my lessons. I really like iguanamon's multi track approach and I would like to start watching Destinos once I get a little further in my studies.I also listened to the first few tracks of the Language Transfer, it reminds me a lot of Michel Thomas Foundations, except with out the really annoying guy who cant seem to pronounce anything. As of now I am up to lesson 17 on Pimseleur 1 and have finished CD1 of Michel Thomas Foundations. So far I have not ran into any problems in understanding any of the material. Everything is going well. I am thinking that my plan will be to continue on this road while trying to experiment with some easy reading until I finish Pimeleur 1 and MT Foundations 1. Then I am leaning towards Destinos or Language Transfer along side Assimil. Continuing to have fun! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Clarity Groupie United States Joined 3526 days ago 85 posts - 107 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 10 of 36 12 May 2015 at 2:30am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi BeBetter,
Welcome to HTLAL! I, too, had a bad experience with high school Spanish. It's actually shocking how little I learned. But I think self-study is a great way to go. I was amazed at how many hours I racked up just by listening to tapes when I drive. My commute isn't that long, but trips to the store and such add up fast. Also, if you're into quirky, you might want to check out the show Caso Cerrado. I learned about here on HTLAL. I believe it's filmed in Miami and it has Spanish subtitles. Very fun, and like Stelle here on HTLAL says, very addictive. Caso Cerrado Looking forward to reading more of your logs! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| BeBetter Newbie United States Joined 3495 days ago 18 posts - 22 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 11 of 36 13 May 2015 at 1:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you Clarity, I will check that out. I do have multiple telemundo tv channels on
my Direct TV, I will have to see if I can record it. I have seen a few of those Extr@ shows on youtube, I can follow along slightly with subtitles. So I have revived my Walking Dead Comic book and it is awesome, I cant wait until I can read through it with no problems. I have started peaking at some of the pages reading the words I know and trying to piece together the story from context. I am thinking I will order the English copy so I can side by side read them. I do an Adult Gymnastics class twice a week and there are multiple bilingual students so I am thinking this is going to be a great opportunity for me to practice having conversations. During work yesterday I ran into someone who is Venezuelan and learned English as a 2nd language at the same age I am. This was very motivating for me. He did ask me to say something for him and I completely froze up. I think that I am going to have to get over the shyness of not wanting to say something wrong or stupid. If anyone has any success stories on how they gained confidence to get over talking with strangers I would love to hear them. Progress: Lesson 21 on Pimslur 1 Half way through 2nd CD of MT Foundations Slightly reading Walking Dead Comic book 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5379 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 12 of 36 13 May 2015 at 5:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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I was quite shy/timid when I first started speaking... especially because I did self study and it was somewhat of a "coming out" when I started using my Spanish... I just had no clue how well my Spanish would work so I was very nervous. Also, understanding people can be incredibly difficult if you have never spoken with them before. Be aware that if the Spanish speaker does not also know English they will be much more difficult to understand.
I'd highly recommend getting a few stock phrases to practice well. Say them a few times every day for practice. Just get used to saying them out loud and so you can recite them by heart. Things that can be applicable to almost all situations. People call them "islands." Something like... "well, I'm just starting with my Spanish journey and I love it. But, I still need a lot of practice and I have an especially hard time understanding. I can speak better than I understand so can you please speak slow for me?" I did something like this. If you memorize something like that and say it with good grammar it will do a lot for you... it will get you speaking in Spanish and then the next few sentences (no matter what they are) will come out a lot easier and you won't have that deer in the headlights feeling. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| rdearman Senior Member United Kingdom rdearman.orgRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5240 days ago 881 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French, Mandarin | Message 13 of 36 13 May 2015 at 6:11pm | IP Logged | ||
Islands are very helpful, and you might even be so good with them that people thing your a native speaker. In French one of my favourite "islands" is: Désolé, je parle français comme une vache espagnole. (Sorry, I speak French like a Spanish cow.) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5379 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 14 of 36 13 May 2015 at 7:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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That's funny. I just learned where that saying came from... I forget where I heard the story. It comes from people saying someone speaks Spanish like they are Basque... then the Basque somehow got morphed into vaca. Interesting.
It is also kind of fun to be able to whip something off fast and with great grammar and pronunciation. That's why I'd always say I can speak Spanish better than I can understand. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| BeBetter Newbie United States Joined 3495 days ago 18 posts - 22 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 15 of 36 13 May 2015 at 7:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think with the more I progress the more confident I will become. Or at least I am
hoping that is the case. I also have the issue of not being able to spit out the answer fast enough for my tapes. For example on the Pimsulr tapes I sometimes find myself having to pause for extra time to come up with the right response. I 99% of the time can come up with the correct response, it just takes me a little longer then I would like. I think I will get better at this with time. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5379 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 16 of 36 13 May 2015 at 11:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'd recommend not pausing Pimsleur. If you cannot get 80% of the responses for a lesson within the given time I'd do the lesson over again.
2 persons have voted this message useful |
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