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Amy’s Spanish Viaje | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| AmyinBrooklyn Senior Member United States Joined 3845 days ago 87 posts - 122 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 65 of 104 12 July 2014 at 9:00pm | IP Logged |
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This week I’m in California for a family vacation so it’s a little harder to focus on my studies. But I’m managing. I even did FSI on the plane - I was pretty sure the engine and (crying babies -thank you, babies!) covered my low voice. I usually find myself doing more podcast listening and video watching when I’m tired and that’s certainly been true this week. Yesterday I watched three 45 min episodes of my Hulu show -Que Pobres, Tan Ricos.
But I have had a couple of encouraging moments. My brother-in-law is a fluent Spanish speaker (not native, though) and he and I had a twenty-five minute conversation in Spanish in which I understood everything and was able to make myself understood. I felt really proud of myself after that conversation and for some reason, it helped to solidify my long-term goal with Spanish. I realized that what I wanted was to be able to speak an educated Spanish. (Maybe there is a better way to describe this. I’m not sure of the terminology). I’m meaning that while some people are content learning a language to the point where they can simply communicate and carry on a conversation. I want to progress to a level that sounds like I’m an educated speaker in my TL. Anyway, that was a big realization. And it does feel a little silly admitting because I know that I have a long way yet to go. I've been avidly watching they World Cup and this week I spent a lot of time listening the Argentine chant song for the World Cup (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/10/world/americas/argentines -sing-of-brazils-humiliation-in-advance.html) . It is insanely catchy and even though I’m a Brazil fan, I learned all of the words to the song. I think it’s fun when you notice little language details. Like how in the beginning of the song are the words - “Brasil, Decime Qué Se Siente” which reminded me that when you ask someone HOW they feel, it’s not a direct translation to Como, but instead you use Qué. (I’m sure someone will tell me if I’m pulling the wrong lesson from the song!). Anyway, even though I’m on vacation and am a little more relaxed in my study, it’s been a good week overall. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| AmyinBrooklyn Senior Member United States Joined 3845 days ago 87 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 66 of 104 20 July 2014 at 1:18am | IP Logged |
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Just back from my family trip to California. I’m proud that I made time to stick to my study schedule even though the Internet was a little shaky. Because I was traveling, I didn’t have my italki sessions but I did manage to have a few sessions of reading aloud to my boyfriend.
I’m working my way through FSI. Today, I tried a little experiment. I did FSI in the morning and again in the evening. I’m not sure that I could manage to do that every day, but I’d love to work my way quickly through the course (or at least advance a little more - I’m only on Lesson 7). Right now, it’s pretty easy - although, I do occasionally mess up. I’m doing each lesson three times before moving on. I’m also still enjoying Que Pobres, Tan Ricos. I’m happy that telenovelas have so many episodes! I’m already on episode 53 - but luckily I have another 70 to go. While I was away, I read “The Ultimate Language Learning Secret (Magnetic Memory Series)”, which was pretty disappointing. I thought that it was going to talk about using Memory Palaces for vocabulary learning - something I’ve thought about playing with, but instead, it was pretty vague - the main technique described was to mixing it. Something all of us are familiar with here - a mix of vocab study, writing, speaking, reading, listening and watching. I read Stelle's review of “How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately,” a book that I had read in the first couple of months of my language study, but in reading her review, I realized how useful the techniques are, now that I’m a little further along. I’m planning on reading through the book this next week. (Thanks, Stelle!) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| AmyinBrooklyn Senior Member United States Joined 3845 days ago 87 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 67 of 104 26 July 2014 at 4:26pm | IP Logged |
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This has been a tough week at work but I’ve managed to keep up with my study. It’s become one of the constant things in my life.
I’ve been focusing on FSI (this week I made it up to lesson 10) and my telenovela (and my lessons with my italki teacher). The telenovela is great because it’s something I can do with my boyfriend but I still don’t feel like my comprehension is where I want it to be. It’s a vocabulary problem, which I’m trying to figure out how to solve. I think I really need to figure out a method that works for me and I’m not sure if Anki is the right one. I think my problem with Anki (I go from L1-L2) is that the new words feel divorced from their meaning. For example with the words that I learn in Anki, I feel like I’m constantly translating in my head. When I see the word, I need to think of the English meaning, but those words that I’ve learned other ways I have seemed to internalize. Maybe it’s just time. But I’d like to speed up my vocabulary learning but some of the vocabulary methods that I’ve read about seem so confusing. I watched an entire episode of my show, hit pause, and wrote down every word that I didn’t know. The number was an embarrassing 60 or so words. And of course, the biggest frustration is when I have looked up the same words 10 or so times - but it still trips me up when I see it in a different form. If anyone has any vocabulary suggestions I’d appreciate hearing about them. Today I started trying a new method. I took 10 words and found sentences where those words were used. I’m going to try to practice those sentences with my boyfriend later today and see if that work helps me internalize the words. I know it's just little by little, but I wish I could see a jump in my vocabulary. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| AmyinBrooklyn Senior Member United States Joined 3845 days ago 87 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 68 of 104 11 August 2014 at 3:10am | IP Logged |
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Well, I did it! This week I hit 500 hours of Spanish study. (501 to be exact). Looking back at my log, I think I had hoped to hit that number back in March. I'm not sure that I really did the math on that one. It's taken me 10 months to get to 500 hours. I'm hope to hit 600 by October. I think I can do it.
Right now, my study balance has been FSI (I'm doing every lesson 4 times) and my Hulu show. I'm allowing myself to count 2 episodes per day, but sometimes I do watch more than that. I've also gone back to episode 1 and I'm trying to apply the Telenovela Method to it - which basically means that I write down every word that I don't know, look up those words and put them into Anki, then I go back and watch the episode repeating everything that is said, and then watch it again without the subtitles. (It's outlined in The Telenovela) So far I've only been doing this method for about 20 minutes a day, but I'll probably spend more time on it once I've finished the first pass of the show. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| AmyinBrooklyn Senior Member United States Joined 3845 days ago 87 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 69 of 104 17 August 2014 at 6:37pm | IP Logged |
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This week has been all about FSI and Que Pobres Tan Ricos. I’ve managed to squeeze in Anki study sessions, but things have been so busy/stressful in my real life that I haven’t had an italki session in a couple of weeks. I really need to get back on that conversation. It just feels like the conversation part is moves so slowly that my comprehension and passive vocabulary grows by leaps and bounds - particularly with all the listening that I do. (I think I’m frequently getting 4 hours of listening a day), but the benefit just doesn’t show up in my speaking. I know it’s poco a poco but still. I’m making a commitment here to have two italki sessions this week. I know that’s the only way to see progress so I need to make a commitment to make it happen.
I also haven't had much time to carve out for the Telenovela method, but I'm trying to give myself a break. There are only so many hours in the day, right? I'm so grateful that I found a Telenovela that I really love because it doesn't feel like work at all. The other day, after four or so hours of watching. I forgot that they were speaking Spanish. Now, it's not that I understood everything - there is a lot of slang in the show, but I just forgot that I was translating in my head and actually said to myself - it's funny watching this mexican show in English, then I was like, "Wait. This is Spanish!" 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| AmyinBrooklyn Senior Member United States Joined 3845 days ago 87 posts - 122 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 70 of 104 24 August 2014 at 9:41pm | IP Logged |
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I feel like I'm becoming a broken record - FSI and Que Pobres Tan Ricos. Man, I'm going to miss that show when it's over! I am really enjoying FSI. I am going through each lesson 4 times - which is a little bit of a random number, but I found that by the 4th time, I'm pretty solid with it. I'm only at lesson 15 so it's going slowly but I enjoy having it to listen to and work with. I don't know why I respond so much better to FSI than Assimil but right now I'm just going with it. Maybe I'll get around to Assimil at some point.
My work schedule has been so busy lately that it's been difficult to carve out time for my italk sessions. By the time, I realize that I have a block of time free, I've missed the 24 hour window. I spoke with my boyfriend's mom on Skype this week and I felt pretty rusty. I have this weird mental block where I picture the first half of the word that I'm thinking of, but can't quite remember how to pronounce it. I went ahead and scheduled two italki sessions for this week so that I can get back in the swing of practicing. I also went to the Library this weekend and checked out El Principe de la Niebla (as recommended on Stelle's log) and am going to give it a go. And I think I'm going to easily make my goal of 600 hours by October! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5326 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 71 of 104 24 August 2014 at 11:33pm | IP Logged |
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I love that bit about watching TV and thinking it's in English. :-) That's always a cool sensation. And it sounds like you're over the big hump, in terms of passive skills. From here on in, you'll be able to maintain and improve your comprehension mostly by goofing off in Spanish.
I don't have any magic advice for speaking, unfortunately, other than practicing when you can. Sometimes I find it helps to remind myself of all the stuff I can do, and not stress out about the stuff that's still beyond my reach. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5169 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 72 of 104 25 August 2014 at 12:04am | IP Logged |
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Hi Amy... going through FSI at four times a lesson will be great. Don't worry about not doing Assimil. If you finish up FSI the way you are going you won't want to bother with Assimil. I found that I simply could not plow straight through FSI without taking some fairly lengthy breaks. Keep an open mind and if you feel like you need to take a break from FSI you may spend a couple months with Assimil. If you are bound and determined to do Assimil after FSI, I'd recommend getting the Using Spanish Assimil as that will be more appropriate to keep you challenged. Good work.
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