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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5185 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 113 of 668 19 April 2012 at 3:24am | IP Logged |
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I have seen bilingual readers, but I have never tried one. I try to stick to things that have audio. For some reason I am not too interested in just reading things in Spanish.
I note, also, that your comment on your log about how to find a hostel was quite interesting. I had never thought of staying in a hostel. I spent about an hour searching the hostel website you used. Some places look reasonably nice and are very cheap. It is giving me ideas for another trip because I can get cheap plane tickets to some places. My big concern is safety. I am from a small town area and I get nervous going to some of the larger (but very "safe") US cities. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5185 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 114 of 668 24 April 2012 at 1:11am | IP Logged |
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Last week was a decent week. I did another unit of FSI. I finished lesson 49 and started on lesson 50 today. I should explain how I am doing the lessons now.
I start by reading the dialogue out loud once or twice. Then I do the second track. I initially skip the full reverse build up. I simply listen to the audio and then repeat it in the pause... I usually read it right off the text. Then I do about the first two thirds of the exercises/drills. I repeat the exact same thing the next day. Then the third day I do the full build up followed by the dialogue audio on the second track (just the sentence followed by the pause to repeat). After the previous two days the full build up is challenging, but not impossible. I then do the rest of the exercises/drills that I did not do on the first two days. I repeat the exact same thing the next day. This system seems to work wonderfully. The last third of the drills are usually review or drills not really related to the point of the dialogue or grammar sections so I find that I am getting all the "meat" in the first two days and then the second day I am able to use it to get through the full build up. In terms of the rest of the week, I did a decent amount on the Da Vinci Code, but I am still not even half way through it. This second time through I am realizing how long of a book it is. Working on it just part time is going to take some time. I still really like it. I learned something... I feel I found that sometimes there is a point where I say to myself "boy, this is too much work to translate all these Spanish words/thoughts in my head... I am just going to listen in Spanish"... this is KEY because it makes me feel like I really KNOW the language. Sometimes it happens without me even knowing it. It just seems easier sometimes to just relax and not focus so much... and I understand better. I am still watching CSI episodes. I am quite pleased that I have found something that I can do in the evening. I don't always have enough time, but I think I am doing one episode every other night. I did four this past week. There was one scene in an episode that I wanted to be sure I understood so I went back and watched it in English. I got the general point, but I certainly missed a lot of the details (though not any of the really important details). The weird thing was that when I watched the scene again in Spanish I totally understood everything... I mean every single word. I also finished up the book of Acts. That was probably about an hour and a half. The audio is getting easier to understand, but it is still rapid-fire. Eventually, when I am better, this will be good audio because it covers so much ground. With both CSI and reading the Bible I realized that I really know most of the words, grammar and many idioms, but I simply cannot process them fast enough. I am definitely improving and I can see my improvement, but I'd like to speed up the process. I also did a meetup. I was nice. There were two native speakers and I got some good practice in. I also got some good compliments from other learners. I had a short phone call with someone I had not spoken with in a few months and she was very surprised at my improvement. That made me feel good. I think it was partly because I am starting to work the subjunctive into my every day speech. I read a chapter and a half of Breaking out of Beginner's Spanish. What a fantastic book. This book is really a must for any intermediate learner. I noticed so many things he mentioned as I was reading and watching TV during the week. The book is perfect for those times when I want to do Spanish, but I just don't feel like it or when I can't really focus 100% on what I am doing. It just does not feel like studying or learning... it feels more like just reading an entertaining book. I picked up the first three boxes of Seinfeld (four seasons) for $5 at the second hand store. I think it is cool that they have a French soundtrack too. I think I may buy one or more TV shows, but then I need to stop. I have almost too many now. Well, that is it for now. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5185 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 115 of 668 30 April 2012 at 3:17am | IP Logged |
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This week I did not have as much time as I usually do, but I still managed to complete one FSI unit. I spent 5 days on unit 50, but I broke it into three parts and I did each part twice so I really only did the whole unit two times. It is hard to believe I am only five units away from finishing FSI.
I recall about 1-2 years ago thinking I would do Platiquemos/FSI during the summer of 2012 and that when I was done with that I would be "done" with Spanish study because I would have almost perfect skills. Boy was I wrong. I would NEVER have started studying Spanish if I knew how much work it would be. In addition to FSI I worked through a decent amount of the da Vinci Code. It is nice because the chapters are so short I can usually do a chapter or two during the day. I am more than half done with it now and it is getting good again. I watched an episode or two of CSI... maybe only one. I was busy this week and had a number of night meetings. I went to a meetup. Nothing new there. I have started thinking seriously about another trip. I don't know where yet. Price is a big factor so it will likely be either the Yucatan or Puerto Rico or Colombia. I could go to the Dominican again, but I think I'd rather try a different place. I have also really been thinking hard about what to do after FSI. Doing FSI makes me realize that I need to work more on grammar. Doing LR makes me realize that I need to do more on vocabulary... ugh... I need to work on everything! I feel like there is so much I need and want to do that I cannot make up my mind. I have wanted to do Using Spanish for so long that maybe I will dive into that. Doing LR is rewarding too... I like that feeling of feeling like I have actually read a real book. I checked out some of the "up close" Practice Makes Perfect books at the local library. The one on the subjunctive looks really good. It made me realize that I really do not "know" the subjunctive. It is going to take a lot of time to get to a high level in Spanish. Somehow I need to find people to speak Spanish with. The meetups are mostly people like me and very few native speakers. I have not done a skype talk for a while and even when I do it does not seem too efficient because I speak English so much. I wish I had more free time... unfortunately, my free time is very scarce. I really wish I had a family member or neighbor or friend who was a native speaker. I keep thinking about this mentality people often have on this forum to "dive into native materials as soon as possible." I really don't think that is always good advice. I still think an hour with FSI or Assimil gets much more accomplished than an hour of LR or watching Spanish TV. I am going to continue to do courses. I am going to work in native material simply for fun. The one area I think courses fall short is with listening comprehension. I suppose I could do Assimil in a way to use it for listening, but it is not really designed that way. LR and TV do seem to be helping my listening/understanding quite a bit. I mean, seriously, with 60 hours I could go through the entire FSI course one more time. Most people spend about 60 hours with Assimil. So, what would be more useful... reviewing the entire FSI course (or doing the full Assimil course) or reading/listening to the da Vinci Code two and a half times (or watching Spanish TV for 60 hours)? I think courses are much more mentally demanding so doing them for extended periods of time is very tough. Doing LR for extended periods is quite easy and enjoyable. Oh well, I will get off my soapbox. So, I guess the bottom line is that I am going to continue to work through advanced course material like Using Spanish and a review of FSI... I will also work in LR with good books. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4832 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 116 of 668 30 April 2012 at 2:35pm | IP Logged |
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Wow, unit 50!
I have the same sentiments as you regards courses, and think they are much more efficient. I am anticipating spending a bit of time with the programmatic course after platiquamos. Have you looked at it? Apparently it has a very thorough treatment of the subjunctive. And there's always those DLI courses....!;) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5185 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 117 of 668 08 May 2012 at 3:01am | IP Logged |
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The good news is that I did unit 51 last week. The bad news is that I have not done any Spanish for the past three days. I simply had an unusual combination of personal and work committments that converged over the same three days. At least it makes me appreciate my priorities.
Anyway, I will get back into the swing of things tomorrow and start with FSI unit 52. Last week I also did some of the da Vinci Code. I think I am roughly three quarters done with it now. I also did a meetup. I am getting more and more confident. A lot of it has to do with the fact that it is often the same people I am talking with and I am getting to know them so well. I watched one or two CSI episodes. I am almost done with the first full season. Regarding your questions, dbag, I briefly looked at programmatic once, but I could not really understand how it was put together and it seemed like a lot of English on the audio... also I think it is much more basic than the Basic course. Admittedly, however, I only briefly reviewed it and that was a long time ago (when I was deciding which FSI course to do). Regarding the subjunctive, you should know that further on in platiquemos/FSI they really keep drilling it (lessons in the 40s and 50s). They do it in many different forms and do a lot of drills. I think they sufficiently cover it in FSI. I am never too sure what people are referring to when they say the DLI courses, but I have seen a very comprehensive looking DLI course. It looks extremely comprehensive like the Basic course. I doubt I will do it, however. Currently my thought is that I think I would do the Basic course again if I were to do another drilling type course. I think going through the Basic course again would really supercharge my fluidity. I am thinking of going through FSI the exact same way I am doing it now... do every lesson twice. I am going to take a long time before I do it again. Also, I think I will work through Using Spanish before tackling FSI again. Another good option would be Living Language's Ultimate-Advanced. It looks pretty good. Well, with this weak Spanish behind me I am looking forward to getting back on track tomorrow, Edited by James29 on 08 May 2012 at 3:05am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Random review Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5593 days ago 781 posts - 1310 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin, Yiddish, German | Message 118 of 668 09 May 2012 at 2:54am | IP Logged |
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The drills in the programatic course are nowhere near as good IMO, it does have some
neat ways of looking at grammar in the text, though. The explanation of ser and estar is even rather funny! It's not worth working through (again IMO), but it's worth downloading the pdfs and spending a few hours reading certain bits. The DLI course (if it's the one I'm thinking of) does not have the FSI style drills on the audio (or else it'd be stunningly good), so you actually need a teacher to give you the answers. What it does have is a dialogue interrogation that I really liked. Why not try a lesson and see what you think? Read through the dialogues quickly (they form a continuous storyline) until you get to a lesson that contains some things you are not already 100% comfortable with and try out the dialogue interrogation on the relevant tape. I'm glad you mentioned Living Language's "Ultimate Advanced" course- I've been meaning to recommend it to you for ages and kept forgetting. I have this course and really like it. Because most units are set in Latin America it also makes the perfect complement to Assimil's "Using Spanish" and the presentation is very "shadowing-friendly" (to coin a new term). I'm sending you a PM. Best of luck. Edited by Random review on 09 May 2012 at 2:56am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5185 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 119 of 668 11 May 2012 at 3:18am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the PM Randomreview. How would you compare Ultimate Advanced to Using Spanish in terms of difficulty? Are they roughly the same or is one noticeably more difficult?
I should mention that I have been doing Anki again for about a week or so. I am using a deck with the most common 5000 words. Right now I am just doing it on weekdays and I am adding 30 cards a day. I am only doing it for 20-30 minutes a day. So far, I like it and I think it will be good for building vocabulary. I also finished the first full season of CSI today. I need to think about which show I will do next. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5185 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 120 of 668 13 May 2012 at 5:27pm | IP Logged |
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I decided not to work on FSI this week. Things were still a little hectic this week so I did not have much time on Monday morning so I just decided to work on the da Vinci Code this week. I finished it yesterday. I could easily follow the story, plot and it was very enjoyable. I must say, however, that there was a ton of vocabulary I really did not know. I highly doubt I would have been able to really follow the story if I had not read it in English first. If I tried to read/listen to Angels and Demons in Spanish/Spanish I would likely not be able to follow the story too well.
I also read the book of Romans this week (listening to Spanish and following English text). It is getting easier to understand the audio. It seems slower, but I am sure it is just that I have been working on listening skills. Like I mentioned above, I have been doing some Anki. It is nice because I can do it for 5 or 10 minutes here and there and actually feel like I am accomplishing something. I will stick with it and try to do a little bit each weekday. I like the concept of working through the most common 5000 vocab words. That seems like a good number to focus on. After finishing CSI I borrowed The Practice from my local library and I have now watched the first two episodes. It really makes me realize how different TV shows are. The Practice has much more conversation and they speak very fast. The vocab is totally different too. I am glad I did not decide to just get all the CSI seasons and watch them. This makes me think of a concept I have long believed it but never really written about. I try to incorporate different types and styles of learning material to get a well rounded perspective of the language. For example, when I was picking my first several LR books I tried to pick three somewhat different books for children (Cajas de Carton, El Leon/La Bruja/El Ropero, Harry Potter) so I would get exposure to differing accents, vocab and writing style (instead of doing three Narnia books or three Harry Potter books). I like the concept. I try to apply it with using different course book material too. I think I will follow the same concept for adult books and TV shows. I am going to try to get exposure to many different types of Spanish. Something in the back of my mind keeps nagging at a desire to speak French. I have noticed that I always check TV DVDs to see if they have a French sound track too. Something tells me that sometime in the future I may want to use them for French. The same is true for the books I am LRing... I try to see if there is a French audio book too... just in case I eventually learn French. This week I requested Assimil's New French With Ease from the library for inter library exchange. I think I will just check it out. I really do not want to spend time on French because I feel like I have so much further to go with Spanish. I would hate to start neglecting Spanish after coming so far. I feel like I am really making progress with Spanish and I would hate to get out of this great groove I am in. Nevertheless, this French thing keeps nagging at me. I have thought about learning French through Spanish as a "break" from Spanish for a while... I have also thought about just learning French as a passive language and just try to develop listening skills. Oh well... whatever happens happens. I also requested the Michel Thomas Spanish Booster from the library. I have not read too much about it here on this forum. I don't know if it will be too easy or if it will be useful. The last time I did the MT Advanced CDs I said I would never do them again (because they were too easey) so maybe the booster will be a waste of time... but it is only 2 discs so it may be worth the shot to see how useful it is. This week I really did not spend too much time on Spanish. I would really like to get back on track with FSI and finish it up. I am thinking more about another trip. The more research I do the more excited I get about finding a good location. After reading dbag's log on going to hostels really got me looking for inexpensive ways to travel and learn. I had never in my life thought of staying at hostels but it really cuts the cost of traveling way way down. This makes me realize how affordable it can be to travel... especially if I go to one of the places where I can get cheap airline tickets (Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Yucatan/Cancun). One of my skype partners has turned more into an email exchange. I have not mentioned that too much lately, but I have been doing quite a bit of Spanish emailing. I have not, unfortunately, been doing very much real talking with natives. I cannot remember the last time I had a real talk with someone in person or real life. Lately the meetups have not had any natives. Hopefully that will change as the group will start meeting at the local latino center. My thinking goes on in terms of what to do after FSI. I'd like to stick with doing a course a little bit each day (maybe just 15/20 mins a day of a course) followed by native material like books or videos. Something will work out. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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