False Beginner in Spanish
Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2022 6:54 pm
Hi all,
I decided to learn Spanish for the first time 3 years ago, taking 2 semesters of classes at the local community college, and making it (almost?) to the A2 level. Conversation and improving my speed of responding were the biggest challenges for me.
I resumed my studies last month, with some new motivation: I will be visiting Spain for 2 months in February 2023, and I am seriously considering moving there permanently! This time I decided to go the self-study route, so I'm very grateful to have found this forum. I also have another nice advantage when it comes to motivation: my fiancé is pursuing this journey with me, and she is at a very similar level to me in Spanish. We do some learning together, but also on our own, due to differences in our schedules and learning styles.
I'm following a multi-track approach, with some components inspired by examples from SCMT and this blog post by Ian Carnaghan. I've also discovered many interesting tips from videos and articles by Alexander Arguelles, and I read "How to Learn a Language" by Paul Pimsleur.
My Current Approach:
Pimsleur Castilian Spanish
* Current Progress: Lesson 29
* 30 minutes / 1 lesson per day, first thing in the morning
* I'm using the App version, which has some interactive content in addition to the audio, but I'm mostly using the audio
* I recently started using a handheld bluetooth remote to pause the audio when I'm prompted to speak
Speakly App
* Current Progress: 195 words (Beginner I, Chapter 2/3)
* 10-20 minutes per day, in the evenings
* I'm mostly using the "Build Your Vocabulary" and "Listening Exercises" materials
* I wanted something I can make incremental progress on with my phone in short bursts and Speakly seems okay for that, so far. It feels like it has more depth than Memrise, which is what I used for this a few years ago.
Consuming Content - Video
* My fiancé and I watch a 30 minute episode of extra@español most evenings. We have watched all 13 episodes, and we're almost finished watching them all a second time. On the first viewing I completely understood maybe 25% of the lines, and now it's maybe 40%? I plan to keep watching the episodes over and over for as long as I can take it
Additional routines that I would like to incorporate:
Assimil - Spanish With Ease
* I have the book and the audio files, and I've just finished editing the files as recommended by Dr. Arguelles
* Today I will start with the first lesson!
* I'm going to try to follow the 15 minute per day approach recommended by Dr. Arguelles, based on my notes from his video:
1. Blind shadowing - listen and speak along with text and try to understand it as you say it based on prior lessons
a. Hope to understand 50-60%
2. Listen to the Spanish, Speak Spanish, while looking at English
a. Hope to understand 80-90%
3. Read Spanish, Speak Spanish, tracking along reading English at same time (one hand tracing under Spanish, other under English)
4. Read Spanish, tracking along reading English, and stopping to read grammar notes
a. This is where real learning takes place, it will take more time
b. Make little * marks in book for areas that give you trouble, to remind you to review closely again next time
c. Do the exercises
5. Read it again and make sure that it flows, only follow English if you really need to
a. Should feel pretty good, maybe 1 or 2 points unsure of
6. Blind shadow
a. Should be 90% confident, global understanding
b. Steps 1-6 used 10 minutes of total 15 minutes
7. Review previous lessons
a. During beginning learning stage, do new lesson first, then old ones
b. When reviewing the oldest lesson, spend less time on it - shadow it in Spanish
c. When reviewing more recently completed lessons, reference English translation more
Consuming Content - Reading
I don't have a consistent schedule for this, yet. Two challenges:
* At my beginner level, a lot of the readily available content is too advanced for me
* It's been hard for me to find time to fit this into my schedule
My new plan is to set aside time for this extra reading, but on weekends only
* I found the children's books Elefante y Cerdita at my local library - fun reads for me at my current level
* I also found some Graphic Novels based on classic adventure stories. The language in these is slightly more advanced, but the illustrations help to provide context
* I also have a short soap opera story in comic book form from one of my old text books, with accompanying audio files. I plan to format this so that I can easily see the frames of the comic and hear the audio simultaneously. It's nice because it progresses through A1 to A2.
Building Vocabulary / SRS
I don't have a consistent schedule for this yet, either (beyond what I'm doing in Speakly).
* I've played around with ANKI and found that it's not fun for me.
* I found an easier to use SRS tool called Mochi, and this is the one I think I'll use if I want to do SRS on my phone.
* I'm interested in trying Goldlists, but due to time constraints, I think I will try making it a weekend-only activity.
Next Level Studying
As I finish Pimsleur (121 days from now!) and Assimil (100 days from now!), I will be looking for other content to study. Some potential options:
* Beyond the Basics (Living Language Group): I bought an inexpensive used copy of this to see if it might make a good follow up to Assimil
* Online language exchange or paid tutors, focusing on conversation
* Immersion classes or semi-private lessons during our 2 months in Spain in early 2023.
I like the idea of doing these logs on a monthly basis, as a way to formalize my planning, document my progress, and hold myself accountable. Thanks again for this forum and for any advice or suggestions!
I decided to learn Spanish for the first time 3 years ago, taking 2 semesters of classes at the local community college, and making it (almost?) to the A2 level. Conversation and improving my speed of responding were the biggest challenges for me.
I resumed my studies last month, with some new motivation: I will be visiting Spain for 2 months in February 2023, and I am seriously considering moving there permanently! This time I decided to go the self-study route, so I'm very grateful to have found this forum. I also have another nice advantage when it comes to motivation: my fiancé is pursuing this journey with me, and she is at a very similar level to me in Spanish. We do some learning together, but also on our own, due to differences in our schedules and learning styles.
I'm following a multi-track approach, with some components inspired by examples from SCMT and this blog post by Ian Carnaghan. I've also discovered many interesting tips from videos and articles by Alexander Arguelles, and I read "How to Learn a Language" by Paul Pimsleur.
My Current Approach:
Pimsleur Castilian Spanish
* Current Progress: Lesson 29
* 30 minutes / 1 lesson per day, first thing in the morning
* I'm using the App version, which has some interactive content in addition to the audio, but I'm mostly using the audio
* I recently started using a handheld bluetooth remote to pause the audio when I'm prompted to speak
Speakly App
* Current Progress: 195 words (Beginner I, Chapter 2/3)
* 10-20 minutes per day, in the evenings
* I'm mostly using the "Build Your Vocabulary" and "Listening Exercises" materials
* I wanted something I can make incremental progress on with my phone in short bursts and Speakly seems okay for that, so far. It feels like it has more depth than Memrise, which is what I used for this a few years ago.
Consuming Content - Video
* My fiancé and I watch a 30 minute episode of extra@español most evenings. We have watched all 13 episodes, and we're almost finished watching them all a second time. On the first viewing I completely understood maybe 25% of the lines, and now it's maybe 40%? I plan to keep watching the episodes over and over for as long as I can take it
Additional routines that I would like to incorporate:
Assimil - Spanish With Ease
* I have the book and the audio files, and I've just finished editing the files as recommended by Dr. Arguelles
* Today I will start with the first lesson!
* I'm going to try to follow the 15 minute per day approach recommended by Dr. Arguelles, based on my notes from his video:
1. Blind shadowing - listen and speak along with text and try to understand it as you say it based on prior lessons
a. Hope to understand 50-60%
2. Listen to the Spanish, Speak Spanish, while looking at English
a. Hope to understand 80-90%
3. Read Spanish, Speak Spanish, tracking along reading English at same time (one hand tracing under Spanish, other under English)
4. Read Spanish, tracking along reading English, and stopping to read grammar notes
a. This is where real learning takes place, it will take more time
b. Make little * marks in book for areas that give you trouble, to remind you to review closely again next time
c. Do the exercises
5. Read it again and make sure that it flows, only follow English if you really need to
a. Should feel pretty good, maybe 1 or 2 points unsure of
6. Blind shadow
a. Should be 90% confident, global understanding
b. Steps 1-6 used 10 minutes of total 15 minutes
7. Review previous lessons
a. During beginning learning stage, do new lesson first, then old ones
b. When reviewing the oldest lesson, spend less time on it - shadow it in Spanish
c. When reviewing more recently completed lessons, reference English translation more
Consuming Content - Reading
I don't have a consistent schedule for this, yet. Two challenges:
* At my beginner level, a lot of the readily available content is too advanced for me
* It's been hard for me to find time to fit this into my schedule
My new plan is to set aside time for this extra reading, but on weekends only
* I found the children's books Elefante y Cerdita at my local library - fun reads for me at my current level
* I also found some Graphic Novels based on classic adventure stories. The language in these is slightly more advanced, but the illustrations help to provide context
* I also have a short soap opera story in comic book form from one of my old text books, with accompanying audio files. I plan to format this so that I can easily see the frames of the comic and hear the audio simultaneously. It's nice because it progresses through A1 to A2.
Building Vocabulary / SRS
I don't have a consistent schedule for this yet, either (beyond what I'm doing in Speakly).
* I've played around with ANKI and found that it's not fun for me.
* I found an easier to use SRS tool called Mochi, and this is the one I think I'll use if I want to do SRS on my phone.
* I'm interested in trying Goldlists, but due to time constraints, I think I will try making it a weekend-only activity.
Next Level Studying
As I finish Pimsleur (121 days from now!) and Assimil (100 days from now!), I will be looking for other content to study. Some potential options:
* Beyond the Basics (Living Language Group): I bought an inexpensive used copy of this to see if it might make a good follow up to Assimil
* Online language exchange or paid tutors, focusing on conversation
* Immersion classes or semi-private lessons during our 2 months in Spain in early 2023.
I like the idea of doing these logs on a monthly basis, as a way to formalize my planning, document my progress, and hold myself accountable. Thanks again for this forum and for any advice or suggestions!