BOLIO's Spanish log

[BOLIO]

SOOOOOOO,

I see this is where all the "Cool" kids are hanging out these days. HTLAL is a shell of it's former self.

Anyway, I like to study Spanish and had a log over at the other place. I have studied Spanish with the exception of a recent 5 day layoff, pretty much every day since February 5th of 2014. I have completed the following courses:

Michel Thomas
Language Transfer
Assimil with Ease

FSI thru Unit 35...I really should finish it but it can wear on me.

My wife is from Mexico and Spanish is her mother tongue but it does not help as much as you would think. Well, it did not in the early stages. Now, we use the language in short burst. If I am comfortable and we are dealing with a subject matter that does not stretch my vocabulary and it is easy for her to speak without repeating...then we use Spanish. However, if not, she will quickly return to English and stay there. But she is much better now than ever before in speaking with me in Spanish.

Listening is BY FAR my weakest skill set. I have made a promise to myself to use Veinte Mundos every day. In addition, I am listening/watching to some of the scripted Telemundo shows. Caso Cerrado is one that comes to mind. I have also watched some of the stuff on RTVE like Víctor Ros. I may go "Cold Turkey" on subtitles and see if my understanding will improve.

I love to read. It is my strongest skill set as of now. I recently finished a book recommended by James29 called Stormbreaker. It is part of the Alex Rider Series. I completed the first 80 pages or so by underlining every unknown word and making an Iversen list. Then, I stop doing the Iversen list (great method but I just wanted to complete the book quicker) and would write above the unknown words or phrases and create an interlinear text in the book itself. So know the entire book is in interlinear form and I am going to read through it again. Once completed, I will start the next book in the series.

I am happy to see my mentors here. People like Iguanamon, Crush and James29 have been there to help me through each new hurdle. Luke, Stelle,Randow Review, Dbag, sfuqua and others are fine examples of those who have done what I am wanting to do. EMK and Tastyonions are two that have helped me by reading about their journeys into French, even though I have zero desire to learn French they still motivate me. NancyDowns is a peer of mine in Spanish but has the ability to tackle Arabic while learning Spanish. Solfrid Cristin, Iversen, Expugnator, Chung, Cavesa, 1e4e6 and so many more are what made HTLAL great. I am thankful for this site and I want it to become an even better version of HTLAL.


All the Best,

BOLIO

[iguanamon]

Good to see you resuming your log here, Bolio. I'm also gald to see that you are going to concentrate on getting your listening better. The veinte mundos articles/podcasts are a good start. There's a lot of variety of subjects and associated vocabulary. The Spanish is clear and easily understood. There's no English except in the mouse over definitions. The key, is daily listening. Whether you listen to the news, do the veinte mundo articles, an audio book or a tv series, as long as it's comprehensible, daily, regular and for an extended period of time it will do the trick. Many people who want to improve their listening only manage a few minutes a few times a week. This is generally not enough.

It's about momentum and building upon that momentum, until it becomes automatic. The veinte mundos articles will expose you to a wide range of vocabulary about many different subjects. They're short, about 10-12 minutes long. The audio is downloadable as an mp3 file. The accurate transcript is downloadable as a pdf. You could even put them on your phone for "hidden moments" throughout the day. How to use them? I would listen first, then read, then listen again, then read and listen, then just listen again- and then move on to the next one.

This is just an idea to get you started in the beginning. After a little while, you won't need to do that much intense activity. Eventually, you'll be able to drop the transcript and that's the objective. Whatever you find that works for you is good. The keys are not dwelling on any one article and anki-ing every scinitllating detail to death, and, move on. "Move on" helps to build momentum. It may not seem as if you are making progress at first, but after a month, after two months and after three months you will notice a lot of progress.

I know you dropped FSI, now would be a good time to pick it back up. The drills, combined with native materials and listening will serve to reinforce each other. Also, consider a skype conversation tutor or a free language exchange partner. PLQE.org and nulengua.com are in Guatemala @ $10 US/hr. Even once a week, one hour, sessions would do wonders for your Spanish.

Whatever you do, if you need advice, just ask.

[Polyclod]

Yay another Spanish learner.

I'd second the advice about keeping up with FSI. You don't want to burn out, so I found it best to break the units up and just focus on a specific grammar point, drill it, and back off for a while. But honestly that last volume of the course (Units 44 through 55) is a goldmine. The drill sentences get longer, so you get a chance to practice saying longer, more complex sentences. And the later units focus on some grammar points that Assimil never mentions. So yeah, take it easy, but try to finish it.

Generally I've found that the sooner you move away from courses the better, but further down the road if you want some more advanced practice, Assimil Using Spanish is very good. It gets maligned because the English translations are complete crap, and they are *horrible*, but if you can understand the Spanish without them, there's a lot of example sentences to put into context the advanced grammar points that you drilled in FSI that aren't covered in Spanish With Ease. I like to shadow the audio and use a pencil to highlight sentences in the book, it helps me internalize stuff like the subjunctive when I see it "in context".

Keep it up, Spanish is one of those languages that keeps giving and giving!

[James29]

The key, is daily listening. Whether you listen to the news, do the veinte mundo articles, an audio book or a tv series, as long as it's comprehensible, daily, regular and for an extended period of time it will do the trick.

This is just about exactly what iguanamon told me about a year or two ago. It did not work for me as fast as I thought/hoped, but this is really the key. It works. It just happens if you do this. My "listening" has been Buenos Dias America for 15-20 minutes every morning. Just make it part of your day. If you can find something that you would listen to every day in English that would be perfect. I like to listen to the news on the way to work in the morning and now I don't even think of it as "Spanish", it is just listening to the news.

Also... I'd give another vote for continuing with FSI. Take it slow and take breaks when you need them. Maybe just do it two days a week... as time goes by those weeks add up and you'll get through it.

I'm really glad you enjoyed Alex Rider. I really like that series. I am now easily reading books for adults, but I have book five in the cue and I cannot wait to read it. I've also been thinking of learning French and have noticed they have translated all ten books into French and they are all available on the Kindle. The Theodore Boone series was/is equally interesting to me and I'd say it is a tad bit easier reading.

Keep up the good work.

[BOLIO]

Wow. Thanks for the responses.

I-mon, I know what you say is true. DAILY listening is the only thing mandatory in my Spanish life. VeinteMundos and the Telemundo scripted shows are what I am concentrating on right now. Also, I've started listening to the local news again in Spanish.

The consensus from everyone is FSI is beneficial. The funny thing is that I profess this course to be the greatest language course for Spanish today. And yet... Here I am. I will chart my progress with it here. I am kind of excited about it.

James, as always it is good to visit with you. You and Iguanamon always lead me down the right road (it is called experience lane). I'm glad you have brought your log here.

Polyclod, we are neighbors. I am looking at your log with interest. I want to learn several languages also. Of course, I need to learn the first one before I can learn the others.


Thanks to all.

BOLIO

[BOLIO]

I have decided to return to Unit 31 of FSI. It is the start of the third volume consisting of Units 31- 45. Lesson 31 deals with the past progressive construction. For example;

Tu estabas engordando muchísimo.

There is nothing too difficult in this Unit but I will spend the next couple of days getting VERY comfortable with it. FSI is like taking medicine you know is good for you.

Listening Skills:

Veinte Mundos articles

Cayambe, Ecuador
Myths and Truths about Spain
Taganga Fishermen in Columbia

The articles are clearly spoken at a slower pace. It is the opposite of Democracy Now News Service in regards to speed. The articles are short but interesting to me.

Also, four episodes of the local news in Spanish. When I can understand them with ease then I will be happy with my level of Spanish.

READING

Not too much going on here. I re-read 40 pages or so of my book "Stormbreaker" which has been turned into a Interlinear text from my looking up all unknown words. I enjoy it and I am looking forward to the next book in the series called "Point Blanc" which I will convert it as well. I hope after finishing all 10 in the series it will have been a very useful exercise.

SPEAKING

Same old same old in this category. I can walk less than 100 meters and find someone to speak Spanish with in my home town. Every day I find some one. Nothing too big, "How is it going? Where are you from? How is it working here? How long have you lived here? Thanks for speaking with me in Spanish." People as a whole love others who put forth effort.

I hope everyone is well. Thanks for the time.


BOLIO

[BOLIO]

Unit 31 of FSI SPanish Basic Course is completed.

It wasn't too heavy and most was a review but I drilled this Unit harder than any of the Units I've done in the past. Moving forward, this is my model. One Unit per week and DRILL IT 'till I KILL IT!

I have been watching the Simpsons since they are simulcasted in Spanish and it is so easy to do...there are 10 a day during the week on various channels of my cable provider and I record them all. They are hard to understand due to their exaggerated "Cartoon" dialogue. But it is getting better. Telemundo and VeinteMundos are in the rotation as well. I have watched at least 45 minutes every day for a couple of weeks now and many times I have done more than two hours.

I have not read much. I have another 100 pages to go in my Alex Rider series book (This is the second time reading it).

FSI and Listening takes up most of my study and will for many weeks to come.

Hope all is well,


BOLIO

[iguanamon]

Sounds like you have a good routine going now, Bolio. I know it can be somewhat frustrating to still be focused so much on learning when you want, and feel like you are ready, to do more with your Spanish, but it's this type of dedication that will build the critical mass you need to be able to do more with your Spanish. Keep this up (and add in more speaking), make it a habit and you will get to where you can have a lot more fun with the language.

I don't even notice Spanish anymore. A large part of my daily news is in Spanish from the Prensa Asociada (AP), BBC Mundo and El País through my phone apps or the laptop (in addition to twitter, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and Ladino). I know it sounds like a lot, but throughout the day, in my hidden moments of five minutes here and ten minutes there, I can get a lot in.

The thing about language-learning as a monolingual adult is, that it takes time. It takes time to learn to think in another language and internalize it to a point where you don't even notice it anymore. It takes a lot more time than people think it should. You should know that it can and does happen, that you are on the right path to making it happen and that it will happen for you too,

For the Simpsons- if you know the episode and season number- for instance Simpsons S10E01 you can download the subtitle file and open it up in your word processor. You can then make your own bilingual text by making a two column, one row, table. Then you copy the Spanish text and paste it in the left hand column and the English in the right hand column and align the two by hand. It takes a few times to get good at this (I can align a half an hour [22 mins without commercials] episode in 5 mins) and the subtitles will not match the dubbed version you are watching exactly. They will give you the meaning and understanding and will also serve as a reading exercise. I did this early on in my Portuguese learning and it helped me a lot. Alternatively, you could just read the Spanish and then watch the episode. Knowing the meaning in advance can help to focus on the dialog and get more out of it in my experience at this stage. Keep up the good work!

[BOLIO]

Thank you Iguanamon. I am sure there will be several learners who can benefit from this practice and the link.

I understand the need for hitting critical mass. I also understand it will take more work and I am rejuvenated. Maybe it is the simplicity of it all....Study FSI, Listen (a lot) Daily, Read a little and Speak a little. Nothing crazy. Very Basic. I do think more now in Spanish than ever before and it is a GREAT deal more. However, it is not automatic like you are talking about. It is still very much planned and by design. I long for the day when I can look up one day and realize that I have spent the morning thinking in Spanish. It will be very nice, indeed.


Thanks again,


BOLIO

[BOLIO]

Unit 32 of FSI is a nice memory.

I enjoyed it. I also found via livelingua.com the Headstart to Spain program. I am using it as an all audio course. It starts with a short conversation at native speed. It then breaks it down piece by piece and you repeat the conversation in sections. Then after you have mastered the conversation they then start working drills and exercises from it. I found it quick moving and beneficial. I started at a random point towards the end of the program(#13 I think). I will go back and do them all when traveling to and from work.

Listening:

Veintemundos, Los Simpsons, Captain America: Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy are my tools for listening. I am not using subtitles. This is a big change for me. The two movies, I have seen many times and know each scene by heart. The Simpsons are different but Iguanamon posted the link to the subtitles...and I may end up using them. But for now, I am moving from one episode to the next and focus on listening. My plan for the movies is to watch them as much as possible until I pick up 95% plus of it. I understand a lot more than I thought I would. It is interesting how they chose to translate the dialogue in some places. I was just happy to be able to notice it.

Also, I watched a really interesting TedTalks with the guy who started Duolingo. It was really neat to hear him tell his story of how his site works and what was the original idea that it came from when he was a little kid. His Spanish was very nice. Very clear and he said every letter of every word. It was enjoyable to say the least.

All the best,

BOLIO