Listening has always been my main goal for studying Spanish. And the most realistic as I don't live in or have plans to go to a Spanish speaking country. Other than speaking to natives via the internet.
I'm currently labouring through a few courses. Assimil being the main one and a few supplemantary courses. I'm probably a few months away from finishing all of them and then I'll have to move onto the next phase. Which I want to be a primarily listening based. I do realize I also have to spend a lot of time speaking, reading and writing as well. Sorry if this sounds like rambling lol. Spanish is the first language that I'm studying on my own.
So a few questions:
- What are some fun ways to improve listening and what type of content should I be listening to. Lot's of people recommend 'living' audio like audio dramas,vlogs, interviews, subtitled tv shows and movies ?
- What are some of 'non-fun' ways to improve listening. I assume this requires a lot of pause and play type of stuff. Maybe also Subs2SRS.
- How to memorize new vocabulary for someone who doesn't like flashcards ?
- How much time should I spend speaking to natives per week ?. I have the luxury of texting via Whatsapp but how much time should I spend actually speaking and being corrected. Should I just get a tutor ?
Obviously this is still a few months away and I am enjoying the heck out of Assimil but there's obviously no harm in finding ways to improve. Would appreciate some answers, or even links to previous discussions about this. Even some harsh truths.
Really appreciate it.