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Spanish - Study Plan Suggestions please | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Emerald Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom languagedabbler.blog Joined 6245 days ago 316 posts - 340 votes  Speaks: Hindi, Gujarati*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 16 26 April 2010 at 4:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hello,
I am wondering if those of you, who have experience of various methods, could offer the most effective study plan from following methods. I want to be able to speak at least basic Spanish (and write it) by December, because I am going to Spain then. I have at my disposal following courses: Michel Thomas, Pimsleur and Assimil. I have used them all before for other languages, and I like them, but I don't know what is the best way to combine them for most productivity. I have started with Michel Thomas Foundation course. Here is what I was currently thinking to do: Michel Thomas Foundation Michel Thomas Advance Pimsleur Assimil Pimsleur Advance Michel Thomas Language Builder Michel Thomas Vocabulary FSI ?? (Don't know what Programmatic one is yet - but Basic? - or should this be earlier to get writing practice?) Michel Thomas Review Course What do you think? Does this seem like a good sequence? Any suggestions? Thank you PS: I don't know any Spanish. Just starting from scratch now. Edited by Emerald on 26 April 2010 at 5:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| TerryW Senior Member United States Joined 6357 days ago 370 posts - 783 votes Speaks: English* | Message 2 of 16 27 April 2010 at 1:08am | IP Logged | ||
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Your proposed materials are all good recommended courses (except maybe the MT Language Builder and Vocabulary courses which may not be necessary considering all the others) and the order is fine.
You may want to branch out and do any 2 of them at once to hold interest. I would recommend that you do the FSI Programmatic 1 course even before MT Foundation (guess I'm too late for that suggestion if you started), since it *really* breaks down pronunciation, and many Forum people complain about Michel T.'s pronunciation not being very good. If you get a good grounding in pronunciation before MT, that shouldn't be a problem. The FSI Programmatic courses are step-by-step, and in lesson one they really make sure you can hear the accented syllable difference between PApa and paPA (like 1,000 unnecessary times), vowel sounds, etc. Although it does start out really simple if you are good with languages, it does pick up the pace pretty quickly. It's (legally) free online, so if you don't like it, just drop it. Or if you really like it, maybe do Programmatic 2 right after. The FSI Basic Spanish courses are a good choice to do after all of the others, because they are somewhat tedious, and will take up quite a bit of time if you do all 4 of them. They are big on drills, which I like but many people don't. They have a high "dropout rate" reported here, from boredom, tediousness, etc., but if you complete them you'll be in great shape Spanish-wise. Edited by TerryW on 27 April 2010 at 1:14am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| TerryW Senior Member United States Joined 6357 days ago 370 posts - 783 votes Speaks: English* | Message 3 of 16 27 April 2010 at 1:12am | IP Logged | ||
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Oops, sorry, I hit "Quote" instead of "Edit" to edit the above, and didn't notice it was a duplicate. Edited by TerryW on 27 April 2010 at 1:16am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| robsolete Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5385 days ago 191 posts - 428 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 4 of 16 27 April 2010 at 1:35am | IP Logged | ||
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I would do Assimil and Pimsleur at the same time--just using Pimsleur as an "extra practice" exercise (driving, cleaning the house, etc.)
After you complete the first Assimil book I'd also start reading bilingual texts voraciously. There are tons of great Spanish/English bilingual books of short stories by representative authors of both Latin American and Europeans Spanish. Great introduction to the literature, and much more fun for acquiring vocabulary than yet another contrived language learning course. Although I am quite enjoying Assimil's "Using Spanish" at the moment, so I guess I have no right to complain! I think FSI is great but requires patience. I think a good strategy is to really use FSI when you have an intermediate command of the language, hand-picking certain exercises to fill gaps in your vocabulary or grammatical usage. Edited by robsolete on 27 April 2010 at 1:37am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Emerald Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom languagedabbler.blog Joined 6245 days ago 316 posts - 340 votes Speaks: Hindi, Gujarati*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 5 of 16 27 April 2010 at 9:00pm | IP Logged | ||
Hi Terry, Thank you. I have a few more questions from that answer if you don't mind. I have started Michel Thomas, and currently on Disc 2, so do you think Pimsleur would be more beneficial to do alongside it or FSI Programmatic? I really liked FSI German, which was drills, so if Programmatic is similar then I won't mind drilling. I guess if FSI would really benefit before MT, I can stop with MT for now. I will have to think about that. With Assimil - I have only got the audio (got it cheap on library sale), and I have been trying to find the book to buy but I can't seem to find it. I think it's Assimil with Ease I have - but the popular one around seems to be Assimil using Spanish. Will it be useful without the book? I do plan to buy some bilingual texts once I have learned the basics. My concern with not doing more than one course at a time was just in case different techniques hinder each other. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Emerald Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom languagedabbler.blog Joined 6245 days ago 316 posts - 340 votes Speaks: Hindi, Gujarati*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 16 27 April 2010 at 9:03pm | IP Logged | ||
Hi Robsolete, Thank you. Do you have any suggestions for good Spanish/English books - European Spanish only. I don't want to complicate things just yet by branching out in Latin American, seeing as I am going to Spain. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| robsolete Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5385 days ago 191 posts - 428 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 7 of 16 27 April 2010 at 9:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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I really like the bilingual series by Dover Publications: I've seen their books in Spanish, French, German, and Russian. Not sure if they do more languages than that.
Anyway, I'd recommend this book. It gives a great introduction to the major Spanish authors and the translation is well-done and quite readable on its own: http://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Stories-Cuentos-Espa%C3%B1oles -Dual-Language/dp/0486253996 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| robsolete Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5385 days ago 191 posts - 428 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 8 of 16 27 April 2010 at 10:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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Oh, just a note. "Using Spanish" is the intermediate-level book, not the beginner. "Spanish With Ease" (or "New Spanish With Ease") is the beginner's book. If you can't find a local store that sells the book-only, look online or on the Assimil site itself, where I'm sure you can order it.
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