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My Spanish Methods - Correct? | ||
Tags: Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| SiHH Newbie United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4315 days ago 28 posts - 30 votes | Message 9 of 21 15 December 2012 at 5:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ha ha.
I wont give up - things are starting to 'click' now, and I am enjoying it :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| BrianDeAlabama Groupie United States Joined 4315 days ago 89 posts - 113 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 10 of 21 02 January 2013 at 9:13am | IP Logged | ||
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@SiHH- Hey I have spent over a $1,000 on Spanish language materials over the years. I
started accumulating them hear and there. I've bought Pisleur's Spanish levels 1-3 and plenty of other books and stuff. I'd have to say though that as of recent I have made some huge strides in my Spanish. I studied fairly well (on my own) from 2003-2007. In 2007 due to some personal problems I quit studying Spanish for 5 years. My ability to use verbs were horrible! And my ability to understand was minimal at best. I attended the Spanish/Latino ministry at my church for around 4 years and I was only understanding around 30% of the messages (even after attending for 4 years). Well in 2012 I made the decision to take another stab at Spanish. Recently I started studying SEE IT & SAY IT IN Spanish by Margarita Madrigal and that helped me out A TON on proper verb usage. I bought the Magic Key to Spanish by Madrigal too. It is next on my study list. I started attending the Spanish services at my church again. About 2 months ago I bought the Spanish New Testament in mp3 format. It was the dramatized version of the RV1960. I missed Spanish church for about a month due to work and my 3 kids taking turns getting sick during the weekends. Well, during that month of church I missed I was listening to each chapter at least 5 times before moving onto the next. I was also reading aloud each chapter at least once and other times following along with the reading. The New Testament recordings had various native speakers with different accents and it also had some classical music in the background. After one month of doing this when I returned to church my comprehension was around 75%-80%! I couldn't believe it. Listening to the New Testament and using Madrigal's books "unlocked" some Spanish I had tangled up in my head! I started watching some of my movies with Spanish subtitles and Spanish audio. I understood well over half of the movie. I estimate between 60-70%. I believe that there is something to the music theory that Susanna Zaraysky has spoken about in her book and youtube videos. Here book is titled, "LANGUAGE IS MUSIC". I find the relationship to recall and memories to be interesting. I can hear a song from the 80s or 90s and it can bring me back in time like it was only yesterday. When listening to music the brain is reported to be stimulated in many more areas. I'm definitely not a music guy. Out of the nearly 80+ hours of material on my iPod zero minutes of it is music. Maybe consider trying the dramatized New Testament and buy Margarita Madrigal's SEE IT & SAY IT IN Spanish and MADRIGAL'S MAGIC KEY TO Spanish. !Buena Suerte! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5058 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 11 of 21 02 January 2013 at 1:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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If anyone wants the New Testament in Spanish, or a gazillion other languages- many quite rare and uncommon, for free download in MP3 format, it is offered for free (and legal) by Faith Comes by Hearing audio download. It is a huge file, around 500mb, available in either dramatized or non-dramatized versions. It's also available as a free ap for android and iphone/ipad with text. Bible.is Apps Edited by iguanamon on 02 January 2013 at 1:44pm 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| BrianDeAlabama Groupie United States Joined 4315 days ago 89 posts - 113 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 12 of 21 02 January 2013 at 6:45pm | IP Logged | ||
Some representatives from "Faith Comes By Hearing" came to my church's mission conference a few months back. I meant to post those links too! Thank you for posting them. I'll keep those links more readily available. They have some really good stuff available. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4705 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 13 of 21 03 January 2013 at 10:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think your methods are perfect, SiHH: simple and effective. I would only suggest adding some listening practice to the mix. Maybe once you've finished with Paul Noble you could do some listening in your car.
First of all, you can use the Assimil CD's for listening practice. I listen to my Assimil CD's quite a bit outside of the "official" lesson time: I both listen ahead and review quite a bit. When I listen ahead, I am working on my skills of getting the gist of things without knowing all the words. When I review I am consolidating my previous gains. Both make the Assimil course more effective. Besides that, find something at more native speed to listen to. The Bible suggestions above should be useful. Besides that there must be news or other native podcasts you could listen to. Even if you don't understand much of what you hear at first, keep listening to get used to the natural rhythm of the language, and develop that skill of figuring out the gist of things even when you don't understand all of it. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| SiHH Newbie United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4315 days ago 28 posts - 30 votes | Message 14 of 21 05 January 2013 at 11:57am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for your recent comments, I have only just read them having not been on the forum for a while.
Things are going well I think. I have just completed Paul Noble's course and really enjoyed it. I wish he did a follow on from it! With regards to Assimil, I must say that at times I love it, and at times I hate it. The method I use and borrowed from this forum means I need to repeat 'whole' sentances after listening to the Spanish and english a couple of times. I dont know if i am doing anything wrong but I simply am really struggling to recall the sentances now... It was easy at first, but I am on lesson 29 now and I have noticed the last few lessons that I am struggling with it. - Do I need to recall whole sentances, or are parts of it ok (breaking it down)? - I understand this method helps to 'think' in Spanish, but is it a must? It is the one bit of the lesson which i dread now, and am not enjoying it because i know i will struggle to recall everything. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4705 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 15 of 21 05 January 2013 at 12:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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If something is making you "dread" your lessons, then drop it. It might be a useful thing, but if it takes away the enjoyment of learning, then it will ultimately kill your motivation.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5058 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 16 of 21 05 January 2013 at 1:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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Assimil is not the "begin all and end all" of language learning. Not every method is appropriate for everyone. Just because Assimil is highly recommended on this forum doesn't mean everyone will have the same results. I've somehow managed to learn two languages, and am working on my third, without Assimil, Anki or Michael Thomas.
What works for me are multiple tracks. Jeffers has given great advice. Yes, you should be listening ahead and reading ahead of what you already know. Listening and reading is a good way to learn the skill of getting the gist, and then learning new vocabulary. Learn a word once and you may remember it for a short time. See it in a newspaper article again and it will begin to stick. Hear it again in a song and read it in a story and it's yours! Multiple tracks doesn't mean endless hours of study. It just means that you devote some time each day to exploration of what's out there. There are so many resources fro Spanish available. FSI Spanish Courses developed by the US State Department and available for free; DLI Spanish Courses developed by the US Defense Department and available for free; Destinos Spanish Video Course originally produced for US Public Television over 20 years ago- the videos are all on youtube if you are geo-restricted- the books can be found in pdf format too. The list goes on and on and on. One of the reasons that Harry Potter and The Bible are popular with language learners is that they are (or, in the case of the Bible- used to be) well known. So it gives you a bit of a head start because you already know the story. Do you know the Grimm Brothers' Fairytales (or been to the Panto)? Here's a link to Cuentos de hadas- Grimm's Fairytales- Audiobook with e-text available for free from librivox.org. A bit of searching will find English translations of the stories for you- though they won't be word for word. Read the English story. Listen to and read the Spanish story. At the same time you are doing some sort of structured learning. You learn a word or a phrase. You see it in the story. The next day you are listening to the news on Democracy Now- Spanish and simultaneously reading the transcript and you see it and hear it again- it's yours! Democracy Now is not slow Spanish, it's fast, very fast. Even though you won't understand 5% at first, in a few months you will understand a lot more- the gist. In a few more months you'll understand most of what you here- if you persist with your other tracks. The podcast will only take about 10-12 minutes of your time. To listen and read, the best way is to click on the first headline and open the "escuche" button in the next tab. At first it will seem like a waste of time- "I don't understand anything"! Keep at it and you will understand more and more as you work with whatever you choose to study. One day read some, the next day listen and read, check out some video, etc. Switch it up. Find some music you like. Lyrics Training is a fun way to learn some new vocabulary and expressions. Keep it interesting. I'd go nuts if I was dependent solely on Assimil, or even in conjunction with Michael Thomas/PaulNoble. Many people, by no means all, in the current Assimil challenge are starting to find that to be true as well. If Assimil isn't doing it for you, drop it like a wet fish and find something that will help you to learn the language. You can do this, SiHH! Make it happen! Edited by iguanamon on 05 January 2013 at 2:51pm 6 persons have voted this message useful |
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