Lisa's Language Log
Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 11:02 pm
I'm posting this mostly for my own records... I am surprised with my progress in Spanish and I kind of want to keep track of when I started and what I've been doing while I still remember. I am planning to switch focus on German too at some point soon and will see how well they integrate with each other.
Background:
On average I had similar levels of Spanish and German education and abilities, but the practical breakdown was very dissimilar, as I knew (at one point, having forgotten almost all of it) more Spanish but could (at one time and still to some degree) fluently speak very bad German.
Current work:
I read about Anki and downloaded it around May 12. I started with the deck "1001 most useful spanish words and sentences". It's slow and tedious to get all the bits of the sentences correct, but having the audio, and seeing grammar in context has made a difference. Also speaking the answers aloud exposed some things (my tongue needed practice to even produce arreglarlo and reloj). The load got overwhelming by and by and I had to reduce the new cards per day; it felt like I wasn't making progress.
I started my own deck, and now add words to that when I come across them in reading or decide I need to know some particular word. Seem to be managing to keep up with 35 new words a day. spanishdict.com has been very helpful in giving example sentences using a particular word, and pronunciations. I do my deck almost every day, but the 1001 deck only maybe half the time now (set to 10 new cards per day). Grammar is a problem. Anki did not work at all for verb conjugations for me. A little progress using studyspanish.com. I have some self-study books that I've looked at. Still, very weak and not sure of the best approach.
Reading children's books wasn't working: they are boring. I started Señor de los Anillos around June 18. While rather over my reading level, since I know the books in English so well, I can skip over bits that are too hard or when I'm tired, and can't get lost; and it's enjoyable to read. The vocabulary does skew a bit from common usage.
I have been avoiding German more or less for the last year. Still, German words or expressions come first into my head when I want to produce Spanish. When I get back to German who knows what will happen to the spanish.
Current status:
Spanish
- reading: B2 per dialangweb
- I am not able to follow normal spoken spanish, though I can sometimes follow audio learning materials.
- Speaking is slow and effortful.
- haven't had to write anything.
German
- reading: A2 per dialangweb
- I can speak and understand general chat in German.
- Writing (e.g. a Christmas card note) is very hard.
Background:
On average I had similar levels of Spanish and German education and abilities, but the practical breakdown was very dissimilar, as I knew (at one point, having forgotten almost all of it) more Spanish but could (at one time and still to some degree) fluently speak very bad German.
Current work:
I read about Anki and downloaded it around May 12. I started with the deck "1001 most useful spanish words and sentences". It's slow and tedious to get all the bits of the sentences correct, but having the audio, and seeing grammar in context has made a difference. Also speaking the answers aloud exposed some things (my tongue needed practice to even produce arreglarlo and reloj). The load got overwhelming by and by and I had to reduce the new cards per day; it felt like I wasn't making progress.
I started my own deck, and now add words to that when I come across them in reading or decide I need to know some particular word. Seem to be managing to keep up with 35 new words a day. spanishdict.com has been very helpful in giving example sentences using a particular word, and pronunciations. I do my deck almost every day, but the 1001 deck only maybe half the time now (set to 10 new cards per day). Grammar is a problem. Anki did not work at all for verb conjugations for me. A little progress using studyspanish.com. I have some self-study books that I've looked at. Still, very weak and not sure of the best approach.
Reading children's books wasn't working: they are boring. I started Señor de los Anillos around June 18. While rather over my reading level, since I know the books in English so well, I can skip over bits that are too hard or when I'm tired, and can't get lost; and it's enjoyable to read. The vocabulary does skew a bit from common usage.
I have been avoiding German more or less for the last year. Still, German words or expressions come first into my head when I want to produce Spanish. When I get back to German who knows what will happen to the spanish.
Current status:
Spanish
- reading: B2 per dialangweb
- I am not able to follow normal spoken spanish, though I can sometimes follow audio learning materials.
- Speaking is slow and effortful.
- haven't had to write anything.
German
- reading: A2 per dialangweb
- I can speak and understand general chat in German.
- Writing (e.g. a Christmas card note) is very hard.