My journey to Spanish fluency

[iguanamon]

Conversation islands ala How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately by Boris Shekhtman. Try to learn the vocabulary associated with the most common cases you will encounter. Ex: if most of the cases are immigration related- immigration law vocabulary and common phrases; if divorces- divorce and custody vocabulary and phrases.

For example: Greeting of the day plus introduction. "How can I help you today? Please speak slowly and clearly. I'm still learning Spanish. Could you rephrase that, please? Ok, let me see if I understand correctly. You want me to do X, right? You need Y, right?" "The first thing you need to do is stop contacting your husband/wife. That will be my (your lawyer's) job". "How old are your children?", "How many years have you been married?", etc.

Having a set group of phrases available to use will be quite helpful Also you can role play with self-talk or your tutor.

[westminstress]

Thank you. This will be perfect. I would estimate that 70% of what I would say in these clinics is repeated or variations on a theme. If I am confident with all the basic phrases I can identify in advance, I should be able to handle whatever else comes up, and I can always ask for an interpreter if necessary. I have most of the vocabulary already, just need to be able to put it together in phrases.

[westminstress]

Hi everyone! I'm still here, though it's been a long time since I posted. Around the time I last posted I started to get very busy at work and didn't have as much time to focus on active Spanish learning. I didn't quit Spanish though - I just went on auto-pilot with the activities I was already doing. That included listening to the VOA news most weekday mornings, reading Isabel Allende in Spanish (I read La casa de los Espíritus and am now almost finished with Retrato en Sepia), occasionally watching an episode of a novela on Netflix or Yabla, and Memrise drills of verb conjugations and vocabulary. This is all stuff I can just do without needing to invest much effort in thinking about it.

I wanted to post today, though, because I had a little milestone yesterday that I wanted to share. Last night at my pro bono legal clinic I finally had the opportunity to speak Spanish! It was my first time using Spanish in a professional setting, and all things considered it went pretty well. I made many mistakes but I was able to understand my client and she understood me. Actually for the most important parts of the conversation, where I wanted to be sure that we had good understanding of each other, I used a translator. But we were short on translators so I did a good part of the interview myself. I noticed that the verb drills have really paid off because I did not get too tripped up by conjugating. I still have a long way to go to speak Spanish fluently and I am not ready to let go of the translators but this was an important step, and I feel pretty good about this accomplishment.

In other news: My listening and reading comprehension continue to improve. At this point I read without a dictionary and for the most part watch without subtitles. I do not understand every word but the missed words don't affect my comprehension too much. Sometimes I will turn on the subtitles or look in the dictionary because I want to know the meaning of a word or phrase, but this is not necessary for comprehension.

I finally broke down and signed up for Amazon Prime. The main benefit of this for my language learning is the Amazon Prime app which allows me to download videos to my phone to watch offline. There isn't too much Spanish content but there is some, so this has expanded my ability to watch Spanish-language videos while commuting.

I'm ready for a change from Allende, so I bought the Spanish translation of the first of the Elena Ferrante novels. Have been wanting to read these for a while but I held back because I prefer to do my recreational reading in Spanish rather than English, and I usually look for native Spanish materials. Than the lightbulb went off that I could just buy the Spanish translation instead of the English translation and read the books that way. The Spanish is also closer to the original Italian, so that's another plus.

I am getting really bored of the verb conjugation drills and I suspect they are starting to outlive their usefulness. I would like to phase them out. Does anybody know of a good iPhone app that covers Spanish grammar? Not duolingo. Something like a Spanish grammar workbook, but one that can be completed electronically rather than with pencil and paper. I am looking specifically for grammar exercises that I can do on my phone without an internet connection.

[westminstress]

Another mini-milestone to report. I was recently making election-related phone calls and happened to reach a few Spanish speakers and was able to communicate with them. As at my legal clinic, it was a little rough, but I did it! A few months back I probably would not have tried to communicate, other than to explain that I don't speak Spanish very well and someone else would call them. I do feel like I have crossed some kind of threshold in that I actually have the confidence to speak Spanish now, even though I still have lots of room for improvement.

I think I would like to spend some time improving my accent and pronunciation. Does anybody have any specific tips for doing this? I assume some kind of shadowing would be helpful, but are there specific resources I should check out? I would prefer to practice a Latin-American rather than Spanish accent.

Also, I am still looking for iphone-based grammar resources that work offline, if such a thing exists. If you know of anything, please share!

[Cavesa]

If Clozemaster has an app alrady, it could be used as grammar practice. On Memrise, there are awesome conjugation courses by edthird, I'll find an post here the three links, if you are interested. And memorisation of conjugations (especially the irregular ones) is a good supplement to systematic learning of them. For use of the grammar, you can access quite a lot of input on your phone. But grammar apps are not that easy to come by. Sure, there are plenty learning apps, but they are mostly crap.

A good way to work on pronunciation and accent is repeating after audio. Tv series are awesome for that (and for tons of other skills). On rtve.es, there are tv series with precise subtitles, so you can easily stop the audio and repeat after the native. Shadowing is well known as prof. Arguelles uses it, but I somehow never got to like it. I tried but there wasn't any progress, I was just stressed of having to listen and talk at the same time and out of pace of the audio. But it certainly works for some learners, so it is worth a try.

Audiobooks+the text can be used as well, especially at a lower level. Tv series are more natural but audiobooks are easier and the natives reading them are well trained to speak properly and pronounce correctly. So, you can try the audiobooks first and get to more natural stuff later.

You can as well use audio you don't have the transcription to. But in such a case, make sure you understand everything correctly before repeating, to avoid this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIwrgAnx6Q8

Other two pronunciation tips:
1.look up words on forvo.com, whenever you are not sure. And you can usually choose from several natives, from various regions.
2.Have you covered the basics well? There are pronunciation guides for not only beginners but intermediate learners as well. the series Fonética published by Anaya looks worth borrowing in a library, as it goes up to B2 and might adress some issues of yours, including common mistakes.
.........
What I should have started with: great log, I've been enjoying it. Thanks for it!

[westminstress]

Thank you! All good tips. I think you pointed me to the edthird conjugation courses before, and I have been using them. They have helped extremely because I used to have the huge conversational stumbling block of having to actively think about all my conjugations. Now after doing the edthird courses the conjugations are much more automatic, and that really does make speech a lot easier. I haven't completed the courses but I would like to phase them out because I've finished the most common verbs and, though I have seen great improvement, I think I may be facing diminishing returns.

ETA: I had not heard of Clozemaster but it looks like it has a lot of potential! I will report back.

[westminstress]

Hi everyone. The U.S. election results have really jolted my desire to become completely comfortable in Spanish. I have a feeling my legal skills will be more in demand than ever by Spanish speakers. It's been about a year now that I've been actively studying (not starting from scratch, mind you) and I am hopeful that in another year I will finally be where I want to be.

Since redoubling my efforts I have added a few new items to my routine. I wasn't able to identify a good electronic grammar app so I am working with the Gramática de Uso de Español B1-B2 - a few lessons a week while commuting. It's a great book, I just wish they would do an iphone app. I've started doing a bit of Clozemaster every day as well. It is easy to fit in in odd moments and I think marginally helpful. I've also been listening to the Democracy Now en Español broadcast fairly regularly in addition to VOA news. I've streamlined my time on Memrise to work in these other things and looking forward to the day when I won't be doing it much anymore!

I was thrilled to learn that Radio Ambulente is not only coming back, but is now affiliated with NPR and I expect will have weekly broadcasts starting this week. Yes! This is by far my favorite show in Spanish so I am happy to soon be listening to it again.

I started La Amiga Estupenda by Elena Ferrante (translated from the original Italian). Loving it so far. The first few dozen pages were slow going as I got used to a new author, new characters. I picked up steam about 50 pages in, have now read about 80 pages with excellent speed and comprehension, and I'm really enjoying the story.

[westminstress]

Today a Spanish speaker called our office for help and I had occasion to speak with her as I was the only person around who speaks Spanish. I was shocked at how well this conversation went. I understood everything she said very well and was able to respond. As usual I was stumbling a bit and did not know how to say everything I wanted to say, but was able to get my point across (though certainly not artfully). More importantly I was able to ask some clarifying questions *and understand the responses.* I feel that my pronunciation was better, general conversation skills much better (such as properly wishing some someone a good day etc.) and my verb conjugations are SO much better (thank you Memrise). I still have a lot of work to do but I can feel that fluency is within reach if I just keep at it. Love that feeling. It is new.

Somewhat related to the above, I think that now would be a good time for me to have a tutor or regular language partner of some kind so that I can practice speaking. I'm mulling various possibilities from one on one, in-person tutoring (the most expensive option, but probably most effective/efficient for me right now) to online tutoring to posting a message at my local library to see if I can find a partner for a regular intercambio (lots of spanish-speakers in my neighborhood and I would think at least one would want to practice their English).

In other news, I am really loving La amiga estupenda and have read about about half of it at this point (on p. 175). I've also been continuing to review my Gramática and completed chapter 18 - I am going to try to complete a few chapters a week. Still slogging through Memrise verb drills (bitter medicine, but it has helped me a lot) and sneaking in a bit of Clozemaster every evening.

Voice of America has a new video podcast called Foro Interamericano where they get people from across the political spectrum to comment on the political news. I've been enjoying that along with the new Radio Ambulente (now weekly!), daily doses of VOA news and occasional sprinkles of Democracy Now. And a few Yabla episodes of Muñeca Brava mixed in now and then.

[NoManches]

Today a Spanish speaker called our office for help and I had occasion to speak with her as I was the only person around who speaks Spanish. I was shocked at how well this conversation went. I understood everything she said very well and was able to respond. As usual I was stumbling a bit and did not know how to say everything I wanted to say, but was able to get my point across (though certainly not artfully). More importantly I was able to ask some clarifying questions *and understand the responses.* I feel that my pronunciation was better, general conversation skills much better (such as properly wishing some someone a good day etc.) and my verb conjugations are SO much better (thank you Memrise). I still have a lot of work to do but I can feel that fluency is within reach if I just keep at it. Love that feeling. It is new.

Somewhat related to the above, I think that now would be a good time for me to have a tutor or regular language partner of some kind so that I can practice speaking. I'm mulling various possibilities from one on one, in-person tutoring (the most expensive option, but probably most effective/efficient for me right now) to online tutoring to posting a message at my local library to see if I can find a partner for a regular intercambio (lots of spanish-speakers in my neighborhood and I would think at least one would want to practice their English).

In other news, I am really loving La amiga estupenda and have read about about half of it at this point (on p. 175). I've also been continuing to review my Gramática and completed chapter 18 - I am going to try to complete a few chapters a week. Still slogging through Memrise verb drills (bitter medicine, but it has helped me a lot) and sneaking in a bit of Clozemaster every evening.

Voice of America has a new video podcast called Foro Interamericano where they get people from across the political spectrum to comment on the political news. I've been enjoying that along with the new Radio Ambulente (now weekly!), daily doses of VOA news and occasional sprinkles of Democracy Now. And a few Yabla episodes of Muñeca Brava mixed in now and then.

Congratulations!!

I've always been a big fan of Radio Ambulante and I'm super excited that they are coming out with weekly shows

If you want to find language partners i recommend using the app "Hello Talk". Here you can search for people learning your language who speak the language you want to learn. I have found a a lot of people close by who want to learn English and speak Spanish.

I also recommend using the site conversationexchange.com

I am very confident that you will find tons of language partners nearby if you check out these sources. They have helped me out tremendously.

Congratulations again on your progress!

[klvik]

Somewhat related to the above, I think that now would be a good time for me to have a tutor or regular language partner of some kind so that I can practice speaking. I'm mulling various possibilities from one on one, in-person tutoring (the most expensive option, but probably most effective/efficient for me right now) to online tutoring to posting a message at my local library to see if I can find a partner for a regular intercambio (lots of spanish-speakers in my neighborhood and I would think at least one would want to practice their English).

As an educated, native English speaker you have a lot to offer to people trying to take their English to a high level. If you decide to go the practice partner route, it should be easy to find potential partners. I've had great luck finding amazing practice partners on italki by looking for people studying for the TOEFL or IETLS exams. They are serious about improving their language, already have a high level of English and need to practice more than idle chit chat. I also find that primary school teachers make excellent practice partners.

FYI- if you give a fictitious age so that you appear to be a woman in her 50s or 60s, you will cut down on the number of flirtatious messages.