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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| JW3 Newbie United States Joined 3377 days ago 4 posts - 5 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto | Message 1 of 6 29 January 2015 at 11:34am | IP Logged |
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After years of false starts and vacillation, I am ready to work my way to Spanish
fluency. Over the years I have acquired most of the major programs. At this point I have so many resources to choose from that I am suffering from analysis paralysis. I would be grateful for any suggestions on a good plan of attack. As of now I have just been using Rosetta Stone and Duolingo, plus have started watching Destinos. Here are my options: Assimil Spanish Without Toil Pimsleur (all levels) Michel Thomas Paul Noble Rocket Spanish Learning Spanish Like Crazy Living Language (basic, beyond the basics, and advanced) FSI Basic FSI Programmatic Platiquemos (all levels) Linguaphone - All Talk Vocabulearn (all levels) Rosetta Stone Background: two years of Spanish in high school (20 years ago), and three semesters in college. I have a couple hundred words of vocabulary and a basic understanding of verb tenses and grammar (but could use some review). Within a mile radius of my home 25% of the people speak Spanish. ALSO, I have lots of free time to devote to this. I would appreciate any thoughts on what program(s) I should use, and in what order. Thanks! Edited by JW3 on 29 January 2015 at 11:40am 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 2 of 6 29 January 2015 at 12:40pm | IP Logged |
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The problem with using too many learner intended resources (like courses) is that it tends to lead the learner to look at the language as a "thing" to be studied and not as a means of communication. Limit yourself to two complementary courses out of that list. Get a grammar book or guide and start learning now.
By complementary, I mean a course like Assimil or FSI Basic and Pimsleur/Learning Spanish Like Crazy. Don't do them sequentially but at the same time in order to gain the benefits of synergy. By same time I mean the course with a book when you can read and the audio course when you can't. When I was doing DLI Portuguese Basic, I'd do it in the morning and then follow it up with Pimsleur on my morning walk or at another time in the day. Also, have a look at what emk is doing with Spanish: A little subs2srs experiment. This would be a great way to learn with native material and train listening at the same time. Some members have had success with Michel Thomas, but I can't get past the annoying students. Language Transfer Spanish is free and legal to download and from what I can tell, not nearly as annoying. Something like this can give you a good overview on how the language works. It's short. I've never been a fan of the Michel Thomas approach, but I have seen where it has helped people. Throughout the day, try to add in "non-learner intended" native material by starting off small and working your way up. You could start with songs at lyricstraining.com. Have a look at my post the multi-track approach for more detail. Don't feel that you have to use all of the resources in your possession just because you have them. The main thing is, no matter whose advice or mix of advice you follow, to get started. Keep going and don't stop. Be persistent and consistent in what you do. Edit: I didn't notice you were doing Destinos- DEFINITELY keep doing it. Destinos is a great complementary course for any more formal course. Edited by iguanamon on 29 January 2015 at 10:09pm 6 persons have 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 6 29 January 2015 at 2:52pm | IP Logged |
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Iguanamon is one of the most helpful members here and offers some good advice, but I'm going to offer a different perspective based on my experience and what I think will actually work. I'm going to assume you are not a polyglot and you do not want to study several hours a day. I suggest you try my 18 month "dummy-proof" plan for learning Spanish. I did dozens of courses (some are good and some are bad) and concluded that the following plan is extremely efficient. It is guaranteed to work if you commit half an hour a day every day for a year and then an hour a day on FSI for 6 months. If you do the following courses in this order you will learn Spanish.
Pimsleur 1 and 2 Michel Thomas Foundations twice Assimil Michel Thomas Advanced twice re-do the Assimil active wave FSI Basic Course (three times each lesson) Then jump into native materials and have even more fun. Starting with courses keeps you moving and keeps you from getting discouraged/overwhelmed with being clueless about native materials. It is efficient. It is also fun! Using and learning the language in courses is fun. You will be able to see and feel your progress every day which is a great feeling. Good courses like the ones above are designed by experts to provide you with the most efficient and effective learning materials. You will have plenty of time to get into native materials after you build a good solid foundation in the language. It is true that the above plan will not make you natively fluent, but it will put you in a place where you can have very meaningful discussions, read books and continue your language journey through native materials. I agree with the criticism that courses give you a false sense of security. That is not necessarily a bad thing. It keeps you from getting discouraged/overwhelmed as you progress. Good luck. 3 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 4 of 6 29 January 2015 at 4:09pm | IP Logged |
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My opinion is closer to Iguanamnon's, even though I dare to differ as well.
You have already got some experience with Spanish, so the really basic courses, like Michel Thomas, might soon be boring. And, truth be told, I don't think there is much value in doing all three audio based courses Pim+MT+PN. Get Assimil + one more course, if you want to follow a more or less classical course. If not, it won't harm you, should you get resources from the next paragraph. Get a good quality grammar ressource with exemples and exercisesand perhaps a vocabulary builder. What I'm using and I'm happy with: Grámatica de uso del Epanol Viva el Vocabulario Vocabulario by Anaya ELE En Gramática by Anaya Ele En You might want to try an SRS for vocabulary, such as anki or memrise but not everyone likes it. Continue your Destinos (I only watched one episode some time ago as I was already more advanced but it does have good reputation), add some music (for exemple at lyricstraining.com), some reading and podcasts (there are tons of those, such as notesinspanish or material on a cervantes website), wikipedia etc. And quite anywhere else. And as soon as possible, get some real but accessible Spanish. Comic books or books of easier genres, tv series and so on. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| JW3 Newbie United States Joined 3377 days ago 4 posts - 5 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Esperanto | Message 5 of 6 31 January 2015 at 12:00am | IP Logged |
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Thank you for the advice.
I decided to go with Iguanamon's advice and use FSI and Pimsleur simultaneously. I started today, and my mouth is already very sore after the FSI drills. I plan to keep playing with Duolingo on occasion for a change of pace (it's fairly fun), and work my way through Destinos. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4454 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 6 of 6 31 January 2015 at 12:45am | IP Logged |
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The advice given so far is good, but I would like to add something.
One of the very real advantages of Spanish, in my experience, is that you could start talking to native speakers with the level you have *right now* ("a couple hundred words of vocabulary and a basic understanding of verb tenses and grammar") and a surprisingly large portion of them will be glad to bear with you, have some basic conversations, and help you learn new things. That is not true for all languages. Of course, I realize that you may not be comfortable with it at this point, but dipping into conversations through language exchange sites now and again could potentially be very motivating. And if you are interested in a particular Hispanophone culture or country, getting to know some people who belong to it would definitely not hurt. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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