Brian84's Spanish Log
Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2020 1:41 am
I've lurked here off and on for a long time, but I'm finally investing time in learning languages instead of simply reading about other people learning languages (as interesting as that may be)... so I'm starting this log for accountability. And if anyone who's trod this path before feels like sending some advice my way, all the better.
This isn't technically the first time I'll be learning a foreign language, though it feels like it because it will be the first time I attempt to self-study one. I learned a good bit of German through traditional classes in high school and college, including a summer immersion program during undergrad; but that was years ago, and my German skills have decayed dramatically since. I'm leaving it in square brackets in the subject line for now because I verrrry occasionally attempt to hang on to what I still know, and hope to learn much more again someday.
For a variety of reasons, I'm choosing to focus the bulk of my efforts on Spanish for the foreseeable future. Long term goal? Let's say a solid B2. If I get there eventually, I'll consider it a great success. If I make it further (whispers 'C1+')...absolutely fantastic, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, any more than a goal of B2-via-self-study already may.
So, the plan.
Spanish:
I'm about a month in. After playing around with a few resources to see how they felt, I've settled into a routine with the following courses.
Tagalog:
Perhaps (or likely?) ill-advised, but I'm attempting to very casually learn Tagalog on the side. I don't have any concrete goals here. My husband is Filipino, and this is something we've both wanted to do for a while. He's not super into the idea of learning languages as a hobby, but wanted to try out the Pimsleur lessons. I think I'll keep pace by just doing a Pimsleur lesson every day or two while I go for a walk or run, but if juggling this with Spanish gets to be too much, I'll put it on hold for now. I did preemptively impulse-buy the Living Language course when I found out about it, though, as a follow-up course if/when we make it through all 60 Pimsleur lessons.
Excited to be here. Here goes nothing!
This isn't technically the first time I'll be learning a foreign language, though it feels like it because it will be the first time I attempt to self-study one. I learned a good bit of German through traditional classes in high school and college, including a summer immersion program during undergrad; but that was years ago, and my German skills have decayed dramatically since. I'm leaving it in square brackets in the subject line for now because I verrrry occasionally attempt to hang on to what I still know, and hope to learn much more again someday.
For a variety of reasons, I'm choosing to focus the bulk of my efforts on Spanish for the foreseeable future. Long term goal? Let's say a solid B2. If I get there eventually, I'll consider it a great success. If I make it further (whispers 'C1+')...absolutely fantastic, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, any more than a goal of B2-via-self-study already may.
So, the plan.
Spanish:
I'm about a month in. After playing around with a few resources to see how they felt, I've settled into a routine with the following courses.
- Primary: Assimil Spanish with Ease
- I've never used Assimil before. I'm... shocked at how great this seems, thus far. - Secondary: Learning Spanish Like Crazy
- started with Pimsleur, which was good but felt pretty slow. I got Learning Spanish Like Crazy for free through an Audible trial, and I'm liking it a lot so far, after 10 lessons. I appreciate the conjugation drills being there from the start, as well as how blazingly fast the speakers seem to talk during the listening exercises. - For extra listening, as time permits: Destinos; Easy Spanish (YouTube); Notes in Spanish (podcast)
- these are fun breaks that feel much less like studying than just chilling - Just for fun: Forcing my husband to watch Netflix series in Spanish
- this is with English subtitles, but I'm trying to get familiar with some shows that I can go back and watch w/o subtitles later
Tagalog:
Perhaps (or likely?) ill-advised, but I'm attempting to very casually learn Tagalog on the side. I don't have any concrete goals here. My husband is Filipino, and this is something we've both wanted to do for a while. He's not super into the idea of learning languages as a hobby, but wanted to try out the Pimsleur lessons. I think I'll keep pace by just doing a Pimsleur lesson every day or two while I go for a walk or run, but if juggling this with Spanish gets to be too much, I'll put it on hold for now. I did preemptively impulse-buy the Living Language course when I found out about it, though, as a follow-up course if/when we make it through all 60 Pimsleur lessons.
Excited to be here. Here goes nothing!