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Spanish C2: Ventilador/Dominio/Prisma? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Hungringo Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 3777 days ago 168 posts - 329 votes  Speaks: Hungarian*, English, Spanish Studies: French | Message 1 of 12 16 May 2014 at 3:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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In your opinion which of the following materials is best suited for self-study in the C1-C2 range? Any other reasons to buy one and not the other? Thank you.
El Ventilador Nuevo Prisma C2 Dominio - Curso De Perfeccionamiento 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6386 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 2 of 12 16 May 2014 at 5:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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At C2 you perfect what you already know and cover any gaps you have. This doesn't really require a "C2 level textbook" - just go through the materials you previously used and see which topics need more work. Then look for additional explanations/exercises, including free ones online. Read "advanced" texts and honestly admit to yourself which things you would want to be able to say/use but can't.
When you've done this overview, see whether these textbooks meet your needs. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5164 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 3 of 12 16 May 2014 at 6:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm not at that level yet, but I have Gramatica de Uso del Espanol for the B level which was recommended to me by a forum member... and it is a very good resource. They make a C1-C2 course also here.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5051 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 4 of 12 16 May 2014 at 7:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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A good grammar, like the one recommended by James29, :), along with a lot of practice reading, writing, speaking and listening is what I think would help most.
Have a look at the free C-1 Aveteca exercises from the Cervantes Institute. Also, check out the logs of emk and patrickwilken. They're on the same quest and making it happen. Edited by iguanamon on 16 May 2014 at 7:42pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Hungringo Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 3777 days ago 168 posts - 329 votes Speaks: Hungarian*, English, Spanish Studies: French | Message 5 of 12 16 May 2014 at 8:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks guys for your advice. Actually, right now I am about to finish a very thorough revision from scratch to C1/2. Of course practising grammar is always useful, but I don't really think that any grammar book could tell me anything new. Basically, I have 3 achievable goals in mind:
1. Vocabulary building. 2. Style and eloquence. 3. Being more familiar with regional varieties of the language. Edited by Hungringo on 16 May 2014 at 8:40pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4079 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 6 of 12 17 May 2014 at 3:43am | IP Logged | ||
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I still believe that books can help one to C2. I have the latter två, Nueva Prisma C2,
and Dominio: Perfeccionamiento Nivel C. Actually they were literally less than 1 metre from me right now, so I took them to look through the contents right now. The former seems to be more of a class-based coursebook, because it has some directions with the activities about «compañero/a», or classmate, etc., but I used it alone and pretended that I were my own classmate. It covers some advanced nuances of grammar whoses bases have been learnt in early levels like B2, but to tailor subtleties that are not easy to find on one's own, and helps in reading and writing. The CD also helps, because many speak at native speed and register. If I remember correctly, they covered vairous regional accents at full speed like if it were not recorded for the CD, but were a real-life conversation. I finished Nuevo Prisma C2 this January, and my writing certainly improved, especially avoiding "awkward" but grammatically correct syntax, word choice, and constructions. Dominio: Perfeccionamiento Nivel C not yet have I started, but, just looking through the book, which ends on p. 184, it has a very dense amount of content, with often "Competencia Gramatical" sections throughout the book that focus on quite some advanced constructions with their correspdoning nuances. For example on p. 52, there is a box about «posición física o figurada» and «anterioridad o posterioridad física o figurada» for preposiciones, sobre, bajo, ante, and tras. On p. 113, a section on using the subjuntivo with modales, such as lo mismo que sí, según, and others, wherewith in those particular cases I have not much practise. At the start of a Unidad, there are these mini-syllabi: Comprensión Lectora Comprensión Auditiva Competencia Gramatical Expresión e Interacción Escrita Expresión e Interacción Oral Recuerda Gramatical with each having a short list of what is to be accomplished. It contains fill-in blank activities, speaking exercises, dialogues, readings, and very much a large amount of things to do. What I like about the book is that it takes previously learnt concepts (not basic A1/A2, but B2 and C1, for example, and adds more information about how to use nuance and subtlety, for example at the first few pages, p. 16, it has a box on grammar about pero, sino, si no, (el) sino, and otros usos, which is much more than the very direct and clear distinction of pero and sino that was learnt years ago. The only reason that I have not started it is that I have not had the time, but I would definitely recommend this Dominio book, along with Nuevo Prisma C2. They both have CDs, and the latter definitely does not shorten native speed just for the book. It is ture that a grammar book probably would not tell anything new, but there are methods of reusing the grammar into more advanced ways to achieve a refined and/or unmistakeably professional syntaxis through nuance and precision, which is probably what defines C2 from C1, and C2 from any other level. Edited by 1e4e6 on 17 May 2014 at 3:50am 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4798 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 7 of 12 17 May 2014 at 11:53am | IP Logged | ||
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I wouldn't damn C1/C2 courses but I wouldn't rely on them too much either.
What I find C level textbooks good for in general: -explanation and exemples of writing styles (not literary styles. Things you might be required to write in various situations, like a resume) -preparation for a high level exam (like DELE) -focus on the pieces of grammar that are troublesome for advanced students and that aren't covered much in the earlier courses -some vocabulary outside of your comfort zone, which can serve as a kind of a guide to which areas are you still weak at What I believe they don't do: -teach you all the vocabulary YOU are gonna need -teach you the advanced everyday language. even if you pass a C2 exam with flying colors, you are going to encounter situations where you'll need to acquire new skills (a pub somewhere in a small village using local dialect, a group of teenagers/building site workers/cops/doctors/whatever and so on) What they "try" to do: -Give you a lot of reading and listening materal. By then, you are more than capable of finding your own sources and you need much more than is being presented in the course. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5219 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 8 of 12 26 May 2014 at 1:47pm | IP Logged | ||
I don't have the three books mentioned earlier, but since I'm working on a coming C2 exam, I would like to make a few comments. I really like Francisco Matte Bon's Gramática Comunicativa del Español in two volumes: Tomo 1 De la lengua a la idea and Tomo II De la idea a la lengua. It is true that basically all grammar books have the same content. Spanish grammar hasn't changed radically in 100 years. Verb conjugation tables are the same everywhere. But the difference between books is all in the approach. The difficulty is finding the right author or book that fits your learning style. In addition to the three goals stated above, I would add Speaking Fluency. I know that fluency is a much mis- used word around here, but I think that if you a serious about preparing the C level exams, you have to focus on actually speaking and speaking well. This is the real proof in the pudding. All that vocabulary building and grammar study doesn't mean a thing unless you can put it all together smoothly and with good pronunciation. Maybe this is included in style and eloquence. This leads me to strongly recommend using a tutor. You may have to pay or perhaps you can do an exchange, but, in my opinion, to attempt a C level exam without a tutor is setting oneself up for failure. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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