ShawnP's Spanish Adventure

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ShawnP
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Re: ShawnP's 6-Months Spanish to Guatemala

Postby ShawnP » Tue Nov 22, 2016 3:49 pm

This last week was a good week. I managed my time more wisely and tried to get the majority of my study completed first thing in the morning. I still focused on Glossika as the main part of my study with Cortina Spanish as an alternate. My reading and podcast listening didn't improve greatly but was better than previous weeks. Sometimes life just gets in the way.

I'm starting to realize that my Latin America trip will be here before I know it. Looking at where I am, I will be done with the Glossika material in full and will have covered all sentences by listening and speaking them many times. However, I'm not sure how that will equate to improving my speaking ability. As for Cortina, I'm on lesson 6 of 20 and find it fairly easy at the moment as I'm understanding the vast majority of the conversations and can translate on my own the majority of each lesson.

My totals for this past week:

Glossika Mexican Spanish (6hrs)
Cortina Spanish (2hrs)
Reading (1hr)
Podcasts (1hr)

10 hours this past week is not as much as I'd like. I would like to be around 15-20.

If anyone has any recommendations on Immersion Schools in Guatemala, please let me know.

48 Days til Guatemala
2 x
GERMAN GOALS


: 21 / 100 Assimil German
: 03 / 100 100 Hours Visual - YouTube videos/TV

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ShawnP
Orange Belt
Posts: 174
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2015 3:08 pm
Location: Dirty South
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Re: ShawnP's 6-Months Spanish to Guatemala

Postby ShawnP » Sat Dec 24, 2016 3:39 pm

Well, "Life" got in the way the last couple of weeks and some big changes occurred. My Spanish was very sporadic and nothing to talk about until this week. I even had to postpone my trip to Guatemala a month but that's ok. I'll still have 6-7 weeks to travel and immerse myself once I get there. That is still a pretty long vacation.

One positive thing is that my Master's classes are now over which has given me a lot more free time this past week. I really took the bull by the horns and put in a lot of study, and hope to beat my numbers from this point forward. I'm going to shoot for 20-25 hours each week from now until departure. I'll take tomorrow off for Christmas then be back at it on Monday. Glossika Mexican Spanish has been my go-to material. Currently I'm combing the Web looking at immersion schools all throughout Guatemala as I plan on seeing as much as I can.

Glossika Mexican-8.5 hrs
L/R (Spanish Listening Org)-3 hrs
Cortina Spanish 2.5 hrs

Total Hours: 14

[b]52 Days to Guatemala[/b]
0 x
GERMAN GOALS


: 21 / 100 Assimil German
: 03 / 100 100 Hours Visual - YouTube videos/TV

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ShawnP
Orange Belt
Posts: 174
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2015 3:08 pm
Location: Dirty South
Languages: English (N), German (Learning)
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Re: ShawnP's 6-Months Spanish to Guatemala

Postby ShawnP » Sat Dec 31, 2016 12:51 pm

My weekly studying will be cut short a day so I have only put in 5 days of studying. Overall, I can't complain about it too much. I still enjoy Glossika and have made it to the 3rd book, sentences 2000-3000. However, I've noticed my translation from earlier sentences are slow in coming. I have been listening to 500 sentences each day just to "complete" the program but have decided, after falling asleep in my recliner several times with this approach, that listening to 500 sentences is just too boring. I've decided to slow down on this part and just focus on 50 per day, listening to the same sentences perhaps 10 times and repeating each sentence 5 times. I think this will reinforce the material much better. Perhaps everyone has to find what works best for them.

Other than that, I've only done a bit of listening to podcasts and other material. I really need to step up my game on this but I find my comprehension still pretty good. Considering it's the end of the year and things are going on, I've not put in quite the hours I've wanted.

I dislike reading, which is probably one of the most important things to do. I've got four graded readers with bilingual translations and two graded readers without. When I purchased the Cortina material, which I really haven't dug into as much, I got two more books. It will be my goal to finish all six books in the next six weeks since my trip is in 6 weeks, 2 days.

Glossika Mexican-4 hrs
L/R (Spanish Listening Org) / Podcasts-2 hrs
Cortina Spanish 2.2 hrs

Total Hours: 8.2

43 Days to Guatemala
0 x
GERMAN GOALS


: 21 / 100 Assimil German
: 03 / 100 100 Hours Visual - YouTube videos/TV

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ShawnP
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Posts: 174
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2015 3:08 pm
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Re: ShawnP's Spanish Adventure

Postby ShawnP » Sun Jan 29, 2017 3:08 pm

It's been a while since I've updated this log. I guess I just wasn't happy and thought I'd be much further along in my progress. Sometimes the simpliest of sentences got my tongue-tied. Basically I quit, but the Spanish language seems to be a part of me and I wanted more, haha. This past week I jumped back on the language train and mostly just went over a lot of material that I already covered. I was pleasantly surprised that I had no issues understanding all the Glossika and Assimil material I had covered in the past. Time to get back to work.

On another note, I head off to Guatemala in 16 days. I am planning to start in Panajachel on the north side of Lake Atitlan from 14 Feb-26 Feb then work my way around the lake and finish up in Antigua, Guatemala. I then plan on catching a flight up to Flores, Guatemala so I can go to the Mayan ruins of Tikal, which I understand to be amazing. The ticket is bought, the school knows I'm coming and has a homestay lined up, and I'll have a shuttle waiting for me at the airport when I get there. I'm starting to get excited and I hope that 5 weeks of living and speaking in Spanish push me further along.
1 x
GERMAN GOALS


: 21 / 100 Assimil German
: 03 / 100 100 Hours Visual - YouTube videos/TV

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ShawnP
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Posts: 174
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2015 3:08 pm
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Re: ShawnP's Spanish Adventure

Postby ShawnP » Sat Feb 04, 2017 2:49 pm

This has been a pretty good week and I'm gonna take it easy this weekend, as I'll be watching the Super Bowl, smoking a whole hog on the smoker, and having a cold drink or three with friends and family. I mainly focused on Glossika sentences as usual. From sentence 1000-3000, I used Audacity to break them up in 25 sentences per MP3 so I don't get overloaded each day trying to do 50. I've got sentences 1-999 down pretty good.

On another note, I downloaded a ton of audio clips from Audio Lingua, free of charge. They have many mp3's for a wide variety of languages with native speakers speaking. Highly recommended. I was pleasantly surprised to notice I could follow along with many of the ones I listened to and my listening comprehension has improved somehow although not even close to 100%. It didn't really matter if they were from Spain or some Latin American country. I was kinda pleased with that but definitely need to build my vocab.

On a final note, I've got 9 days and a wakeup and I'm off to Guatemala for a month. I'm hoping that will kick my level up a notch and get me really speaking. I have a sneaky suspicion that a trip like this will get me super motivated to study more. We shall see.
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GERMAN GOALS


: 21 / 100 Assimil German
: 03 / 100 100 Hours Visual - YouTube videos/TV

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James29
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Languages: English (Native)
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Re: ShawnP's Spanish Adventure

Postby James29 » Sat Feb 04, 2017 8:24 pm

Your trip sounds amazing. I always wanted to do a Guatemala trip. Enjoy every second of it. When I did my last two trips I had a "no English rule." It helped.

Enjoy the Super Bowl (unless you are an Atlanta fan) and stay thirsty.
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ShawnP
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Posts: 174
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Re: ShawnP's Spanish Adventure

Postby ShawnP » Sun Feb 12, 2017 3:57 pm

This will be my last log for a little bit most likely. I didn't hit the books as hard as I wanted to this week but still got in a fair amount. Again, I mainly covered Glossika material with a little FSI and Assimil w/o Toil thrown in there. I only read about 60 pages of some bilingual books. This week, four days was spent with family and friends so that definitely contributed to my less than stellar performance.

On another note, tomorrow will be my day to clean house and pack my rucksack. I'll head toward the airport about 4am for my first flight toward Guatemala. It doesn't seem real but it will be come 0-Dark-Thirty Tuesday morning.

James29, I was definitely rooting for the Falcons and was seriously disappointed they blew it the way they did. It reminds me of my study habits most weeks. I start off strong for a couple days then fold like a cheap suit, hahaha.
1 x
GERMAN GOALS


: 21 / 100 Assimil German
: 03 / 100 100 Hours Visual - YouTube videos/TV

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ShawnP
Orange Belt
Posts: 174
Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2015 3:08 pm
Location: Dirty South
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Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3123
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Re: ShawnP's Spanish Adventure

Postby ShawnP » Fri Feb 17, 2017 12:23 am

Quick update. Today is day 2 in Panajachel, Guatemala. So far I'm loving it. My home stay family is great but my showers are cold, lol. I arrived late Tuesday evening and was thrown into the fire so to speak. I don't have a no English rule, but I only reserve English when I absolutely have to. After my first 4-hour lesson Wednesday , I had a monster headache later that night.. I'm quickly realizing all my faults regarding Spanish and have much to learn especially verb conjugations and indirect pronouns and such. However, I've been understood 90% of the time or more. Although my speaking is not great, my comprehension seems to have skyrocketed somehow. Of course, they talk a bit slower for me but I'm understanding most of everything, although a good bit of words escape me. I sat down with the grandmother and watched a little news and understood much. My greatest difficulty seemed to not be shy and let words fly out of my mouth. After a couple days, I hope I don't hold myself back. I'm staying about a 10 min walk away from the school and Calle Santander, which is the street where everything happens. I think this is good as I spend more times studying and less time drinking. The meals are very simple as well as the lifestyle, which I'm enjoying. The weather is superb.

In the evenings I do a little Glossika and FSI BUT not too much. Gotta let my brain rest a little. It's almost time for cena so I'll stop for now.
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GERMAN GOALS


: 21 / 100 Assimil German
: 03 / 100 100 Hours Visual - YouTube videos/TV

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James29
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Re: ShawnP's Spanish Adventure

Postby James29 » Sat Feb 18, 2017 4:47 pm

I still remember the cold showers in the Dominican. Everything else was great, but waking up in the morning with a cold shower really sucked. On the flight home I saw all the big black tubs of water on the roofs of buildings and finally figured out why everyone else was taking a shower in the evening.
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ShawnP
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Posts: 174
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Re: ShawnP's Spanish Adventure

Postby ShawnP » Mon Feb 20, 2017 4:15 am

@James29,

I learned yesterday that if I only turned the nob until water comes out a little instead of all the way, the water is hot. I may change to nightly showers but that morning shower gets me going. Now if these Spanish lessons get me going even more, I'll be happy.

I just realized today is Sunday. Week 2 of immersion school starts tomorrow. I'm studying at JABEL TINAMIT, and I can definitely recommend it although I haven't been to any other schools to compare. I've got a good setup, good home stay, and definitely enjoying my time and my teacher. I'm enjoying it so much I'm considering just staying here for three weeks and just going to Antigua for 2-3 days for picture taking and such on my way to the airport. We did stop in Antigua on the way from the airport to panachel for about an hour. There were a Considerable amount more tourists. I went to the Chichicastenango market today which was ok, nothing special in my opinion. Yesterday was a trip to four towns on Lake Atitlan. San Marcos, San Pedro, San Juan, and Santiago Atitlan. Perhaps I'm a homebody but I didn't find any towns as good as the others. I'll think on it this week and decide if I want to go to a different school. This week, I plan on going to a Mayan museum and doing a cooking class. I'm toying with the idea of climbing the volcano. I've already climbed mt. Fuji and didn't enjoy that very much, so we shall see. There are also trips to Tikal that I may do instead of actually going up there for an entire week.

Other than 4 hours of lessons per day, I've focused on Glossika, bilingual books, and a little MP3 audio in Spanish. I went over FSI 5-13 also. I have it super truncated so all I'm really doing is listening to FSI at a breakneck pace. I Plan on finishing up to unit 30 before I leave in that fashion, and take a more serious approach when I get home. Other than that, chatting with vendors, store cashiers, and restaurant workers. That's enough for now. The pain starts again tomorrow.
1 x
GERMAN GOALS


: 21 / 100 Assimil German
: 03 / 100 100 Hours Visual - YouTube videos/TV


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