SCMT wrote:Anyway, what i didn't mention in that thread was how I was going to try to improve my listening comprehension, partly because my log seems like a more appropriate place and partly because i don't really know how. I do believe in the idea that practice doesn't necessarily make perfect, but it usually does make better, so the initial plan is to practice listening more and then adjust the plan as needed. So for January, I'm going to set the goal of listening for at least an hour a day, at least 6 days per week, of authentic, native, Spanish language content. I may listen to content multiple times, or break it into small segments, or slow down the speed, but I'm going to do it without subtitles. That is going to take the form of the El Explicador podcast, youtube videos, movies and TV shows on Netflix, and Spanish language news. I may watch stuff like movies or Netflix with subtitles on, but I'm not going to count it towards my hour. If I watch it a second time without subs, it will count. That's a minimum of 1 hour a day, every day, with a one day cushion in case life gets in the way. If I miss a day, I will either flagellate myself with the green branches of an olive tree or make it up the next time I can. Sounds reasonable, right?
I'm doing similar with German, and have been for a couple of months already, and kind of feel it's working - it definitely feels more comfortable to listen to German, I'm finding that when I do "fill-in-the-gaps" exercises I seem to know subconsciously which word is correct, and if I've just looked up a word and then come across it in a podcast I listen to on a walk, I do notice it (which in turn reinforces my learning of the word). I've also started doing "expectation-free" listening with Russian, where my listening ability is terrible. I'm listening with subtitles in the TL, but deliberately not stopping/starting, writing stuff down, etc. Even then, I found when speaking this week, I knew a word I didn't know I knew, i.e. I just came out with the correct, not so common, word, and almost shocked myself that I knew it. Reconstructing things, I think I had heard it and, clearly, absorbed it without realising. All to say that I'm doing what you're doing, so at least we'll be able to commiserate with each other at the end of the year if it's a complete disaster!