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*Revised* Spanish B2 By November 2014 | ||
Tags: Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Caymane Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3896 days ago 29 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 24 26 August 2013 at 4:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hello all!
My name is Mark and I've been learning Spanish since the start of the year. My motivation for learning a language was originally driven by a basic want to speak a language but I soon caught the language learning bug and became eager to read everything I could find in Spanish and look for natives on Skype to converse with. I have decided to create a clear goal and time frame in order to better motivate and encourage myself. I set myself the B2 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages as my goal, with a generous amount of time as I hope to be starting college full-time soon. So, on the official website the criteria is listed as:
I have been been using the following: Anki flashcards ( Have not used for some time but I feel it's good to refresh my methods so will start again) Skype to talk with natives via 50/50 language exchange. ( This is always the important and difficult part!) A native "text" with audio to follow along with like a book or podcast. Native material, news websites, books, pod-casts. (I usually set a time limit for these and focus on words/ set phrases that are common in the text) And in the future I will get a private tutor to asses my level and give advice on areas I'm having difficulty with. So... A very basic setup I'm afraid, as I cannot travel anywhere to stay and be immersed I will have to settle for slower progress. :( Thanks for reading! I will be further updating this post with (Hopefully!) regular updates. Feel free to leave advice and comments below :D  <---- Habla al mono
porque la oreja no te escucha :D Edited by Caymane on 03 April 2014 at 1:37pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5050 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 2 of 24 26 August 2013 at 5:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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First, welcome to the forum, Mark. You have a good plan in place that if you follow it with dedication and persistence I have no doubt will lead to success. I like the fact you are using native materials and native speakers to work with the language. Are you also using a structured course material. No problem, if you aren't, I'm just curious because I think it would be an interesting experiment to demonstrate that it is possible to learn a language without using Assimil, Teach Yourself, FSI, Colloquial, or, indeed, any structured course.
You may be interested to look at the Centro Virtual Cervantes Aveteca which has free exercises and materials from A1 to C1. They also have a free graded reader series from beginner to advanced called Lecturas paso a paso which has exercises and native language definitions for difficult words. I'd also recommend Veinte mundos. Veinte mundos is a free online resource with interesting articles relating to the Spanish-speaking world with text and audio- downloadable in pdf and mp3. The texts have explanations for difficult words in English popups. The levels range from intermediate to advanced. Working with a text above your level will help you to see what you need to do to get there, and they'll be great help once you get past A2. The University of Texas-Austin has a series of graded videos with transcripts and translations from a wide range of Spanish-speakers available UT Spanish. Destinos is a free learning telenovela and DLI GLOSS provides great exercises. There are so many free resources available for learning Spanish it's amazing. I do believe that it is possible for someone to learn the language (free and legal) at least to intermediate level without spending a penny other than for an internet connection. When you are ready for an online tutor Proyecto Linguistico Quetzaltenango de Español is a non-profit organization in Guatemala that offers tutors for $10 US/hour. Free language exchanges are great practice but nothing beats a paid tutor to help you work on your language difficulties. Worth every penny. ¡Buena suerte con tus estudios en el idioma! Edited by iguanamon on 26 August 2013 at 5:54pm 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Caymane Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3896 days ago 29 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 24 26 August 2013 at 6:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you for your reply :)
It's funny, someone I was talking to today just told me about "Lecturas paso a paso" and now I see you mention it. :) It's a great resource as it seems to focus on common words/expressions as well as having simple explanations in Spanish for some of the tricky words! I think I will try to find a online tutor in Spain though as living in the UK it would be better to focus on some of the regional vocab and phrases for taking the European exam. I'm not actually sure if the CEFR focuses on the Spanish from Spain or if it allows for the differences but I would rather be safe than sorry. :) I will be sure to have a look at the rest of the links you mentioned. Edit: Does it take time for a forum picture to show up? I can't see mine. Edited by Caymane on 26 August 2013 at 6:02pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4797 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 4 of 24 27 August 2013 at 12:11am | IP Logged | ||
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It is a cute picture but it won't show up unless you pay 40 dollars per year. No kidding.
Welcome to the forums, I wish you a lot of success and I'm looking forward to read of your progress. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Caymane Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3896 days ago 29 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 5 of 24 27 August 2013 at 10:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ok, so first log entry!
Very good start today to my new goal =) 1 hour conversation all in Spanish as the guy felt bad about his English so we agreed to do that another time. I had prepared vocab for a discussion on crime which I used most of the words with him correcting me. It was such a good convo we drifted off into politics in general. Will flashcard all words I didn't use with images from Imágnes de Google. 25 minutes of reading/listening with La Cuidad de las Bestias, I've already completed my first read through and have started a rerun with an audiobook this time. I feel I can get a slightly better grasp of the plot with a few details I missed last time. As for flashcards as of now I have made 5 cards with vocab I keep seem to be forgetting. Finding and adding images takes more time but I'm going to see if it will improve my recall According to my previous test taking I have a rough level of A2 and can keep a conversation going with a little wild sentence forming at times, but that's one of the great things with languages - so long as you are understood! Chao Oh and I decided to just add the picture to my post, I don't want to pay $40 to post a picture :D Edited by Caymane on 27 August 2013 at 10:48pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Caymane Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3896 days ago 29 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 24 01 September 2013 at 2:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hello all :)
So in the past week I have: Two 1 hour language exchanges, Less than normal because I feel that while every time I do one I learn more It will be more efficient time-wise if I prepared specific topics to talk about rather than talk about stuff at random. I'm definitely learning words better using them in context. For example: I was talking about crime and I used words like Pena, armas blancas, disturbio and when I come to think of them I can really feel the connection between the word and the subject. I'm wondering whether or not a role play would be a good idea given that some subjects might be difficult to talk about without one! Listening: I found the "Radio Nacional" website and started listening to that.I could understand maybe 30% but I think I better organize my listening by setting a time limit and then just focus on understanding it without trying to translate or spend time thinking about the words. I continued reading/listening with la Cuidad de las Bestias, about a quarter through. Continued making flashcards with pictures for all the words I have encountered reguarly, about 20 now I will be starting college next week so less time to spend studying. :( Still I planned for it and I'll still have weekends, It will just be less regular. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4995 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 24 02 September 2013 at 11:30am | IP Logged | ||
Ah, my favourite type of language exchange partner! :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Caymane Newbie United Kingdom Joined 3896 days ago 29 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 8 of 24 02 September 2013 at 3:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, it does give me guilty pleasure when they are happy just to speak Spanish :)
I try not to think of it as wasting half of the time when I do a 50/50 language exchange because I can't afford to have paid lessons atm. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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