Romance Language Mix
Printed From: How-to-learn-any-language.com
Forum Name: Language Learning Log
Forum Discription: Your personal language learning logbook: milestones, successes, brick walls & goals great and small. Document your progress and get support, tips and encouragement from other forum members.
URL: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=41236
Printed Date: 15 May 2021 at 6:08am
Posted By: Nnavi
Subject: Romance Language Mix
Date Posted: 06 August 2019 at 10:22am
This is my first log. I start learning Portuguese my way by comparing it to Spanish and
Italian.
I don't know how to make a log. I'm not very good with forums and I apologize if I make
mistakes in posting.
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Replies:
About 10 years ago I thought it could be very good to try to learn some languages
that were close to Spanish i.e. Italian and Portuguese. Some friends told me that this
would
be very difficult because of interference between studied languages. But I wanted to try at
least and started with Italian. I had a personal teacher and took clases 1 hour per week. I
realized that traditional learning with lessons starting from alphabet was very boring. And
I realized that I knew many grammar things and some words. When I passed a few lessons I
asked my teacher to try a different approach - I said how something from the grammar is in
Spanish and then she told me how was in Italian. I very like this approach, it is difficult
for me and maybe for the teacher. I spent half an year with lessons and then made a break
for a few months. After that I tried to test myself for interference. I had some
interference but only in some places.
Now I want to try this approach with Portuguese. Many years I collect books, grammars,
files, textbooks, dictionaries and other stuff about Portugues and of course about Spanish,
Italian and English. I read a lot forum topids about Portuguese here and in other sites -
try to choose a suitable materials. Finally I'll try to summarize my preparations.
1. I made a list of all my books for learning Portugues and add this list to the list
of all my books for learning English,Spanish,Italian and etc.
2. I made a column "Portuguese" in my table for learning time in Google Spreadsheets.
I see something similar in a forum thread here some years ago. Maybe this?
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/fOrum/printer_friendly_ posts.asp%3FTID%3D30438&
sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwja8p_T8u3jAhVQ46QKHRUpCwQ4ChAWMAN6BAgPEAI&us
g=AOvVaw3nxryroT7NnOXiTdGqaGHm"
>link
3. I installed Portuguese keyboard and start to try it.
4. Changed the language of Edge browser to read news in Portuguese.
5. I read two grammar book
6. Read twice FSI: From Spanish to Portuguese - I think this will be my learning book.
7. I watched lessons of Professor Pasquale Explica
8. I search for words lists, sites, videos and etc but with comparison between
Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.
And this is for now. Continue searching an information about old grammar books and good
additional stuff.
Nnavi on 06 August 2019
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Day 1 - end of preparations. I decided to start learning Portuguese with 2 text books -
40 leçons pour parler portugais (in Bulgarian with 2 cds) and Teach yourself
portuguese (in Bulgarian, 2003 edition without cassettes). I like them very much, tried
them two years ago but I couldn't find enough free time to start seriously. From time to time
I tried some sites and books in Portuguese, tried to listen TV, some podcasts, and I
understood almost nothing from the European variant and much more from the Brazilian one. I
very like grammar lessons of professor Pasquale - he has a very clear pronunciation and I
listen lessons two times. But when someone speaks fast or not clear I lost the context.
Nnavi on 10 August 2019
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Almost month passed. A brief revision of my studies:
- Teach yourself Portuguese - I learnt first 5 lessons
- 40 leçons pour parler portugais - I learnt first 16 lessons(lessons are small)
- added all new words in Anki with Brazilian pronunciation (I couldn't find an European
pronounciation)
- started to learn them
- made a phonetic drills with european-portuguese.info - I want to teach myself correctly
to pronounce both European and Brazilian variants. My goal is to become understanding
speech especially from Europe.
- try to listen TV from Angola - News
I made a revision of my previous atempts to learn Portuguese. On Transparent Proficiency
Test - Brazilian Portuguese I had a 69% total - 80% and 93% Grammar, 70% Vocabulary and 13%
Reading comprehension. This was 2-3 years ago. Spanish results are similar - 71% total but
80% and 84% Grammar, 57% Vocabulary and 53% Reading comprehension. Now I make an Italian
test (I was learning Italian 5 year ago, I have to refresh it) and i got 63% total (very
low - shame on me) - Grammar 64% and 40% , Vocabulary -87% and Reading comprehension - 70%.
I have these difficulties - it is strange to me to use "lh" and "nh" - I don't know why.
Some sounds are difficult for me - "ou", ã, em , õ. I will practise them a lot. Brazilian
pronounciation is very easy for me, but European is more difficult, the "e" and "i"
mutations in the beginning and in the middle of the word are too much for me. I try to read
and listen words but can't find enough words with European pronunciation. Lessons are a
little bit boring for me but I try to focus on new words and phonetic drills.
As usually I summarize my grammar and vocabulary explanations in a Word file. I started
before a presentation on PowerPoint about irregular verbs in Portuguese. I start modifying
it with the intention to classify verbs by groups of irregularities. I made similar
presentations for Italian and Spanish and I find them very useful for memorizing
conjugations of irregular verbs.
Nnavi on 02 September 2019
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2019 is gone. So I have to make a review of my studies.
Portuguese I started to make phonetic drills and excercises in my study book. It was
boring but I think phonetic repetition was good for me. I struggled most with word
memorizing and in reading. So I started Anki deck. It is difficult to find pronunciation of
European Portuguese - like mp3s or wavs to put it into Anki. I found only a dictionary with
IPA transcription - http://www.dict.com - www.dict.com . I made some phonetic
exercises in my favourite podcasts and found podcasts only for European Portuguese. So I
read the articles and started to listen the podcasts and some shorted videos. I had 3.6h
listening and about 2h reading in 2019. This is not enough but I have 18.1h listening in
2020 and
this is a good start. I still do not make effort to speak and write. I think I have to read
more and learn new words and continue with my vocal drills. I want to try FSI course "From
Spanish to Portuguese". I made the vocal drills but was not focused on the book itself.
I have some readind and writing problems especially with verb conjugations. I tried to
learn the correct pronunciation and to learn myself to "hear" it and spelled it. So I read
in Portuguese some articles about but in vain. I cannot predict how to pronounce a word
without
accent mark. So I continue my grammar notes and add some useful information from sites and
grammar books. Also I am making PowerPoint presentations with some irregular verbs - I
found this useful for me to understand the groups of irregularities (in Spanish and Italian
). I struggled with rules of Acordo ortografico and Sistema de acentuação
gráfica some years before. I cannot predict exact where is the accent it it is not
explicitly pointed.
Nnavi on 27 January 2020
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Now about Italian. I found some podcasts and video channels in YouTube and started
to followed them and listen them. Also I watched 2 seasons of Commissar Rex Special Unit
with subtitles in Bulgarian. I made 25.5h listening for 2019 and 19.5h for 2020. This helps
me a lot - not only improve my speaking but improve my comprehension especially when I try
to understand fast speaking. Also I listen many tips and tricks videos in English and
Italian about learning Italian and languages at all. I try to make notes in Italian - it is
hard to me to write fast and make mistakes but I try it. It is very fun and pleasant for
me. Additionally I read 1/2 of Zanichelli grammar in Bulgarian trying to fill my gaps. I am
very happy that startedd to search in Italian, to read articles about words meanings in
Italian from Treccani. Also started to write in Italian - to write a diary about my
progress in learning. I started to write in Word with Italian keyboard and spell checker
installed to catch most of my errors and to fight with them. I found that I have some
difficulties with doubled consonants and with preposizioni articolati. I made an Anki deck
with pronunciation and started to exercise. I think I have to continue reading articles
from internet but not only. I have to read some type of texts - news, books, comics etc.
because my vocabulary is poor and I produce boring texts.
Nnavi on 27 January 2020
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And my beloved Spanish language. I started massively to listen video and audio
podcasts
and some cortometrajes and follow some YouTube channels. So I made 9.3h listening in 2019
and
13.9h in 2020 but I think it is not sufficient. I understand a lot but I have difficulties
with high-speed speaking and accents from all over the world. So I focused on understanding
some major accents or dialects - from Argentina, Chile, Andalucia, Mexico. I listen VIII
Congress of Instituto Cervantes - so many accents but slowly to moderate speaking.
Additionally I started to listen some documentaries on DW Español and understand almost
everything. Also read a book about history of the Spanish language. I decide to start a
diary
in Spanish for my progress with the language like in Italian and Portuguese. My only
problem
is that I am not persistent.
Nnavi on 27 January 2020
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