Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

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Bex
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Postby Bex » Mon Oct 16, 2017 12:56 pm

Procrastination makes easy things hard, hard things harder :cry:

I do not usually express my emotions on my log but I am feeling so down about 3 years of studying Spanish and still not being able to say more than a sentence or two. I feel like an idiot.

I am so bad at self directed studying, if I procrastinate any more it will be another 3 years and I still will not speak a word of Spanish.

I am fed up with living in a country where I can't speak to anyone, I am tired of it all and I have had enough, my brain is not wired to be sociable or to conquer my fear and speak to strangers.

This was supposed to be a fun adventure but I just feel alone.

:(
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Postby AndyMeg » Mon Oct 16, 2017 3:33 pm

Bex wrote:Procrastination makes easy things hard, hard things harder :cry:


La procrastinación usualmente se debe a una de dos razones: 1) nos aburren las actividades que estamos haciendo; o 2) tenemos algún miedo que nos impide hacer esas actividades aunque nos gusten. Descubrir la razón de la procrastinación ayuda a superarla ;)

Bex wrote: I do not usually express my emotions on my log but I am feeling so down about 3 years of studying Spanish and still not being able to say more than a sentence or two. I feel like an idiot.

I am so bad at self directed studying, if I procrastinate any more it will be another 3 years and I still will not speak a word of Spanish.

I am fed up with living in a country where I can't speak to anyone, I am tired of it all and I have had enough, my brain is not wired to be sociable or to conquer my fear and speak to strangers.

This was supposed to be a fun adventure but I just feel alone.

:(


Si vives rodeada (eres una chica, ¿verdad?) del idioma español, hay muchas cosas que puedes hacer para mejorar tu fluidez al hablar. Yo tampoco soy muy buena en el aspecto social, pero se me ocurren algunas cosas que tal vez te puedan servir:

- Ponte metas pequeñitas en diferentes ámbitos. Por ejemplo, ir a una papelería y preguntar si venden lapiceros de color verde. Y luego, por ejemplo, podrías ir a un restaurante y pedir que te preparen una comida sin determinados ingredientes. Si no sabes cómo preguntar/pedir estas cosas, pues buscas de antemano y vas preparada. Incluso puedes practicar a solas antes de intentarlo de verdad e imaginarte qué te podrían responder, decir o preguntar y prepararte para poder actuar en consecuencia.

- Cuando ya tengas varias experiencias con metas pequeñitas, entonces ponte metas más grandes. Por ejemplo, busca alguna actividad de tu interés e inscríbete en un curso. Aunque no se te de bien el aspecto social, siempre podrás hablar de cosas relacionadas con el curso. Por ejemplo, si te gusta un curso de dibujo, inscríbete a un curso de dibujo y piensa qué tipo de conversaciones relacionadas con el curso se podrían presentar. Busca vocabulario y frases relacionadas con el tema del curso y practica conversasiones imaginarias (piensa en diferentes posibilidades y practícalas). Cuando estés en el curso diles a las persoans que el español no es tu idioma nativo y que todavía no lo hablas con fluidez, pídeles que tengan paciencia cuando no sepas expresarte con claridad y diles que agradecerías mucho si te ayudan a encontrar las palabras adecuadas cuando te haga falta. (puedes ensayar de antemano cómo decir todo esto).

Si la interacción en persona te cuesta demasiado trabajo, podrías empezar interactuando con personas por internet. Por ejemplo, buscar foros en español sobre temas que te interesen y participar en ellos; o incluso hacer cursos virtuales (de dibujo, sobre música, etc.) en español.

Algo que me ha ayudado muchísimo a mejorar mi inglés conversacional es participar en foros en inglés y hacer cursos (en inglés) sobre temas que me interesan. Además, también podrías probar con chats específicos para determinados temas o intereses (yo he hecho esto y al principio tenía que recurrir muchísimo al traductor de Google, pero ahora no lo uso tanto).

¡No estás sola!

¡Mucho ánimo! :D

¿Qué sería de una aventura sin dificultades? Por eso es una aventura ;)
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Bex
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Postby Bex » Mon Oct 16, 2017 3:50 pm

AndyMeg wrote:¿Qué sería de una aventura sin dificultades? Por eso es una aventura ;)


Gracias es muy apreciado
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Postby DaveBee » Tue Oct 17, 2017 12:58 am

Bex wrote:Procrastination makes easy things hard, hard things harder :cry:

I do not usually express my emotions on my log but I am feeling so down about 3 years of studying Spanish and still not being able to say more than a sentence or two. I feel like an idiot.

I am so bad at self directed studying, if I procrastinate any more it will be another 3 years and I still will not speak a word of Spanish.

I am fed up with living in a country where I can't speak to anyone, I am tired of it all and I have had enough, my brain is not wired to be sociable or to conquer my fear and speak to strangers.

This was supposed to be a fun adventure but I just feel alone.

:(
Lots of people get worried about speaking. Ultimately you're just going to have to do it. (I say this while *not* having started to talk French yet!)

One popular strategy for beginning to talk is to have pre-prepared answers to predictable questions, e.g. "where do you live", "where are you from" etc. I believe this is called "language islands". Then when people ask you questions you don't need to think of an answer, you have one ready.

As you're living in Spain you could couple this with volunteering, that way you don't have to try to meet people socially, you get assigned a task, with other volunteers and get speaking opportunities that way. (I think Elenia volunteers with the Red Cross in Sweden.) You could probably get the names of local charities from your local library.

You can do this! :-)
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Bex
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Postby Bex » Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:06 am

Feeling more optimistic this week :D

I have decided to look through my all study methods and work out why I am doing them...

My analysis of each method will include...
1. Methods purpose.
2. Methods timeframe.
3. Methods predicted outcome.

I am also going to try and integrate more fun activities into my schedule.

Hopefully with some real thought about of all my methods and why I do them, I can then tweak my schedule towards my current goal.

More procrastination I know :roll:
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Bex
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Postby Bex » Tue Oct 24, 2017 12:39 pm

I have made a list (sorry no idea how to share images) and it is clear that I have way more input than output, not really a surprise but shocking to see how much difference there is, out of 11 activities only 3 include output and I actually only do 1 of them!

For output I have on my list:
Glossika
Teacher (italki)
Writing

I can increase my output on a couple of my other activities;
Listening/Audio-books - I could add shadowing.
Anki/Quizlet - I could only answer by writing.

Having got so upset at my terrible output skills last week, I am determined to do something about it. I am planning to now to stop whining and finally take the plunge and activate all that passive knowledge I have been accumulating for the past 3 years, no more accumulating, I shall concentrate on mainly output for the foreseeable future, I shall also try to concentrate on only enjoyable activities for a while too (so that's shadowing off the list!).

My new plan:
100 hours speaking practice on italki.
Glossika, it has really helped with my past tenses and so I shall keep going.
Writing (I would like a Spanish Penpal, ideally someone who is learning English so I can correct them in return, not sure where I'll find one?)
Anki/Quizlet (writen/spoken answers only) - will set a target shortly.

I would like to aim for 10 hours of output a week in the short term, maybe up until Xmas and then re-evaluate for the new year.

So there it is my totally overhauled plan......I'm sure it will be tweaked again in the next few weeks :roll:
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AndyMeg
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Postby AndyMeg » Tue Oct 24, 2017 12:54 pm

Bex wrote: (I would like a Spanish Penpal, ideally someone who is learning English so I can correct them in return, not sure where I'll find one?)


Some options:

Hellolingo
My Language Exchange
Italki
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Bex
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Postby Bex » Tue Oct 24, 2017 1:30 pm

AndyMeg wrote:Some options:

Hellolingo
My Language Exchange
Italki


Thanks AndyMeg....I have added a couple of posts to italki (and had a couple of replies already :D ) and a request on the board at mylanguageexchange.com (still awaiting approval) and so I shall see what comes of that, hopefully not just loads of spam or worse :shock:
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Postby DaveBee » Tue Oct 24, 2017 1:39 pm

Bex wrote:
AndyMeg wrote:Some options:

Hellolingo
My Language Exchange
Italki


Thanks AndyMeg....I have added a couple of posts to italki (and had a couple of replies already :D ) and a request on the board at mylanguageexchange.com (still awaiting approval) and so I shall see what comes of that, hopefully not just loads of spam or worse :shock:
Tiia mentioned trying something called a "tandem group on facebook".
tiia wrote:Well and I posted in a tandem group on facebook yesterday to get speaking practice. It didn't take a long time until I got some messages and until now it seems that my request really attracted people with whom I might have at least something in common. Let's see how it will work out, when meeting in person.
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Bex
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

Postby Bex » Tue Oct 24, 2017 2:41 pm

DaveBee wrote:Tiia mentioned trying something called a "tandem group on facebook", which I think is tandemechange.com.


Thanks DaveBee, I have signed up will see what happens!
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Kwiziq
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