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Stelle Speaks Spanish and Tagalog | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4796 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes  Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 33 of 384 21 August 2013 at 9:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
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You are awesome! My hero!
I love your dedication and focus on speaking. A nice beginning to listening might be a dubbed series. I watched Once upon a Time and I enjoyed it a lot. I was like A2 listening at the beginning. Or I tried Pilares de la Tierra. Again dubbed but noticeably more difficult. Or something originally in Spanish? I'm looking forward to reading of your experience with listening. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3931 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 34 of 384 22 August 2013 at 3:58am | IP Logged | |||||
Thanks! I've never been anyone's hero before! Haha! (or should I say "jajaja", which I just learned today from my language partner) I focus a lot on speaking because it's my end goal: I want to be able to talk to people. So I figure that it makes sense to practice a lot! Thanks for the TV show suggestions! My language partner also told me about "camera cafe", a Spanish show which she says is funny and easy enough to follow. Edited by Stelle on 22 August 2013 at 4:00am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Emily96 Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4215 days ago 270 posts - 342 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Finnish, Latin | Message 35 of 384 22 August 2013 at 4:57am | IP Logged | |||||
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I just read your whole log and looked at your website - it was really interesting! I like how you break your study time
into specific skills. I think i'll have to adopt a similar game plan, it would help me stay focused throughout the day. You mentioned that you used to (still do?) teach languages - which ones? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3931 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 36 of 384 22 August 2013 at 12:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
Hi Emily! I'm glad you found it interesting...because I was thinking that my log was kind of dull. Ha! But yes, my language learning has gotten much easier and much more fun since I broke it down into five categories. I teach French. I've been teaching for 10 years now - French immersion for 8 years, and adults for the past two years. I also dabble in online tutoring - but that's just so that I can take as many Spanish lessons as I want without paying for them out of pocket. ;) I've also taught English, but I have to admit that I much prefer teaching French. You're Canadian, right? Did you learn your French in school as a child, or as an adult? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3931 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 37 of 384 22 August 2013 at 1:00pm | IP Logged | |||||
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A few days ago I finished Despereaux, and I've really missed my 20 minutes of reading for pleasure at the end of
the day. I ordered the first three Harry Potter books, but they won't get here until next week. I decided to start over with Despereaux, this time reading intensively rather than extensively. The first time I read the novel, I just read it, guessing words from context. I only looked up a word if it kept popping up and it was leading to a breakdown in understanding. This time, I'm focusing on one chapter at a time, reading it for much deeper understanding. Yesterday, in a little over 20 minutes, I read one chapter – about 3 pages – four times. - first read: read through without stopping. In the ideal world, I'd add an audiobook to this, so that on my first read, I could listen to a native speaker. However as far as I can tell, there's no Spanish audiobook for Despereaux. Too bad. - second read: look up all of the words, expressions and phrases I couldn't quite understand. There were surprisingly few! I also confirmed meaning on several words that I'd guessed from context. I used both a French version of the same book and – when I needed confirmation – Google Translate. - third read: read out loud, recording my voice. This was trickier than I'd expected. In my head, I pronounce every word beautifully. Out loud, I stumble often. I think that there's definitely value in reading aloud to work on my oral fluency and pronunciation. - fourth read: read along while listening to my recording. I marked a few passages where I stumbled a lot, and then practiced reading those sentences again when I was done. While this might sound kind of boring, I actually really enjoyed it! I love the language in Despereaux, and I think that the translator did a beautiful job (well, as far as this Spanish beginner can tell, anyway). I'm not sure that I could read a book intensively like this if it weren't filled with beautiful language. Once Harry Potter shows up in my mailbox, I'll read that series extensively (I've ordered the first 3 books). But I think I'll continue with the intensive reading of Despereaux – in addition to extensive reading, rather than instead of it. Whether or not I'll make it through all 50-some chapters using this approach remains to be seen. I figure I'll do it until it stops being fun. Total minutes for yesterday: 172 minutes talk to someone: 60 minutes - 2 30-minute Skype conversations with language partners listen to something: 31 minutes - Notes in Spanish: 3 intermediate podcasts read something: 29 minutes - veintemundos article (which I didn't really enjoy, so I only read it once while listening to the audio) - Chapter 1 of Despereaux write something: 10 minutes - translating sentences using past preterite practice vocabulary: 42 minutes - anki - duolingo (I'm now 3/4 of the way through the skill tree, and I have to say that the sentences are getting odder and odder - not at all normal context. Today, for instance, I had to translate "These potatoes belong to others". Oh. OK.) Edited by Stelle on 22 August 2013 at 1:01pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Emily96 Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4215 days ago 270 posts - 342 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Finnish, Latin | Message 38 of 384 22 August 2013 at 8:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
Actually, i'm still in school! I'm going into grade 12 french immersion. Plus i did a three month exchange to quebec last year that really helped boost my skills.
I use duolingo too, and i've noticed the same as i advance up the skill tree! It starts some funny discussions, but isn't so great for learning... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3931 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 39 of 384 23 August 2013 at 12:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
Ah, I did that thing that I do where I assume everyone online is exactly the same age as me. Ha! It's great that you're getting such a head start on languages! I wish that I'd started learning a third language in high school... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3931 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 40 of 384 23 August 2013 at 12:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I really struggled with one of my Skype conversations yesterday. I don't know why...I just couldn't seem to string
a sentence together properly! It was really frustrating. Oh well, today is a new day! Total for yesterday: 161 minutes talk to someone: 65 minutes - Skype language exchanges listen to something: 22 minutes - Notes in Spanish: 2 intermediate podcasts read something: 21 minutes - Despereaux (intensive reading) write something: 37 minutes - Practice Makes Perfect verbs (all of the irregular verbs in the preterite are tricky!) practice vocabulary: 16 minutes - anki 1 person has voted this message useful |
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