My Spanish Methods - Correct? (Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies) Language Learning Forum

My Spanish Methods - Correct?
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Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies

21 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3

SiHH
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United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4314 days ago
28 posts - 30 votes

Message 17 of 21

05 January 2013 at 2:58pm | IP Logged

Some great advice thank you so much. Very supportive :)

I am going to stick with Assimil but wanted clarification of whether 'not' remebering each sentance will
hinder my learning process?

I am not giving up on this!

I have been doing the BBC drama series "Mi Vida Loca' as some extra practice also. My aim is to get a Harry
Potter book and read that!
1 person has voted this message useful

emk
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Speaks: English*, French^B2
Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian
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Message 18 of 21

05 January 2013 at 3:36pm | IP Logged

SiHH wrote:

I am going to stick with Assimil but wanted clarification of whether 'not' remebering each sentance will hinder my learning process?

You'll be fine. Some Assimil lessons are too hard to repeat that way, and you should feel totally free to do whatever works for you.

A while back, I wrote a post about the "Assimil intensity knob". The main idea was that you can be pretty slipshod about each Assimil lesson, or you can be very meticulous, but as long as you keep going and keep doing lessons, you're going to be fine. If you're slipshod about the lessons, well, you'll probably have to do some more cleanup later on, but it's not the end of the world. You might hit sudden difficulties in lesson 79 and feel like you've been doing it all wrong, but that's a pretty normal experience, too.

Seriously, I never made more than a half-hearted attempt to speak in unison with New French with Ease, and I somehow managed to learn French anyway. On the other hand, I went over every single word of Assimil L'Égyptien hiéroglyphique and turned every lesson into Anki cards, and that worked great, too.

Modify the instructions however you want, have fun, and keep doing lessons. The important thing is that you keep studying. The exact details of how you study are surprisingly irrelevant. The only fatal mistake for your new language is giving up, or turning everything into a cruel torture, which eventually works out to the same thing.

Edited by emk on 05 January 2013 at 3:44pm
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Sarah Reed
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Speaks: French, English^B1

Message 19 of 21

22 January 2013 at 2:54pm | IP Logged

I think your method is nice, but you should add some grammar to it. Maybe the reason you don't remember the sentences your learn is because you don't understand their structure. If you understand grammar, you can create the sentences by yourself and you will be more independent. There is no need to learn all grammar at once, but to start to get into it little by little.
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Serpent
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Message 20 of 21

22 January 2013 at 5:01pm | IP Logged

SiHH wrote:

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.

The first step to thinking in the language is understanding things without translating them. As you're in the passive wave now, focus on this part. What you're struggling to do now should be easy when you go back to this lesson as part of the active wave.

Sarah Reed, are you familiar with the Assimil method? Of course it's fine to look up more grammar than what Assimil gives you, but it does introduce it beautifully.

Edited by Serpent on 22 January 2013 at 5:05pm
1 person has voted this message useful

Enrico
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Russian Federation
Joined 3540 days ago
162 posts - 207 votes

Speaks: Russian*, English
Studies: Italian, Spanish, French

Message 21 of 21

03 September 2014 at 1:24am | IP Logged

SiHH wrote:

So I started learning Spanish about 10 days ago. These are the methods im using:

- Paul Noble audio in car (15 - 30 mins per day)
- Duolingo - (30 mins approx. per day)
- Assimil Spanish with Ease (1 x lesson per day)

Am I on the right track or should i be using other methods too?

I definitely feel with the combination of the above that I am learning so much. Not everything I go through yet
'sticks', but as each day goes by I am getting better and better! :)

I think Paul Noble or Michel Thomas + Assimil will be good.

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