Bex's Spanish log 2016/17

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Bex
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016

Postby Bex » Fri Feb 10, 2017 12:18 pm

Friday update................

This week:
Podcastsinspanish level 1: finished listening to podcast 18 today.
Assimil Active Wave: Finished lesson 35 Active wave.
Glossika GSR 2: Up to 15
TV: at least 30 mins every evening.

Still enjoying the podcasts - they're definitely getting easier now that I've listened to 18 of them and I am getting used to how they speak with all the pauses, half sentences, mumbling etc. Very different from my old course audio!

Assimil active wave 2 has highlighted all of my weak areas nicely, I have been writing for 30 days and now I am going to stop and go through everything I can't do property and learn it. I will also study why I got them wrong.

I have decided I will do this reviewing of Assimil for only 2-4 weeks, until I feel I have grasped why/where I was going wrong and then I shall start back on an Assimil Active wave THREE - it will be interesting to see if studying my errors, learning the vocab and re-studying the grammar will have any effect on my writing ability!! I see SRS looming!

Glossika is going well, managing to do 1 GSR a day - as long as I do it first thing and get it out of the way it doesn't seem to be a problem.

TV is getting easier to understand, noticing a definite improvement in my listening ability now. I can watch TV happily (programme dependant) for over an hour now without feeling like my head is going to explode!
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Bex
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016

Postby Bex » Fri Feb 17, 2017 8:35 am

Friday update:
This week:
Podcastsinspanish level 1: finished listening to podcast 20 today.
Assimil Active Wave: Revising (memrise). Managed to do every day this week.
Glossika GSR 2: Up to 16
TV: at least 1 hour every day this week.

Feeling ill this week with a bad cold. Throat hurts too much to do Glossika!
Managed to study a couple of podcasts but that is about it for studying.

I have built a memrise course with all the vocab and grammar/sentence structures i got wrong from lesson 1 through to 35 in the active wave. Luckily I did this before I got ill and so I do at least have something I can study each day which doesn't take much effort whilst I recover and I've also managed to watch more Spanish TV :roll:

I think the podcasts may be too short and I'm not getting enough exposure to new material. I can't decide if I am better off doing extensive reading/listening or intensive. I suspect I need a better balance of both.

I am getting the feeling that with Glossika and the way I study the podcasts (word for word + dictionary) and my Assimil active wave writing that I do, that I have too much intensive studying going on and this is why I am struggling to make myself study the moment I get a cold, because it's so labour intensive, time consuming and boring.

I think I may look at veintemundos.com for more reading/listening and just intensively study podcasts/Assimil 2 or 3 times a week or just get a good grammar book?

I think I may be trying to cover too many bases at once and I'm just not doing any of them very well.

Maybe time to switch it up a bit (again) or maybe I'm just feeling low because of my cold?
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016

Postby AndyMeg » Sun Feb 19, 2017 10:52 pm

I think it is better to make decisions after the cold is gone. ;)

I agree that you may be trying to cover too many bases at once. The same happened to me when I was studying japanese and I think that's one of the reasons I took many long breaks from my japanese studies. For korean I'm trying to stick with just a few resources that I enjoy a lot and that I think complement each other really well (Glossika, most frequent words and watching subbed and no-subbed korean TV).

Intesive study alone can be really boring and exhausting. Extensive study alone can make you feel like you are not progressing fast enough. I think about 30% of intensive studying and 70% of extensive focused exposure ("focused" because music on the background doesn't count) makes a very good balance (and it is also very enjoyable if you use material that genuinely interests you).
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016

Postby ShawnP » Mon Feb 20, 2017 3:38 am

Bex,

Enjoy reading your log. It seems we both have trouble with courses. I've bounced around so many timeswith FSI/Assimil, I feel ur pain . I'm using Glossika Mexican as my main source (just started book 3). I'm reading bilingual books at the moment and listening to easy native content. We're probably around the same level. I've thought about picking up assimil again, but decided (for me) why bother. For now.

Many of these guys have 1000 times more experience as me so their advice is probably spot on. I second AndyMeg's advice though. Do what you'll stick with. I guarantee you could come to Guatemala right now and do just fine. You won't be perfect, far from it, make tons of mistakes, but you will understand and be understood. I'm in Panajachel right now and starting to speak up a storm, but far from perfect. This trip has only renewed my interest in Spanish. However, it'll all come together if you keep plugging away at what u enjoy.
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: 21 / 100 Assimil German
: 03 / 100 100 Hours Visual - YouTube videos/TV

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Bex
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016

Postby Bex » Wed Feb 22, 2017 10:24 am

AndyMeg wrote:I think it is better to make decisions after the cold is gone. ;)

I agree... I am feeling better now.
AndyMeg wrote: I agree that you may be trying to cover too many bases at once.

Good I'm glad someone agrees with me :D
AndyMeg wrote: Intesive study alone can be really boring and exhausting. Extensive study alone can make you feel like you are not progressing fast enough. I think about 30% of intensive studying and 70% of extensive focused exposure ("focused" because music on the background doesn't count) makes a very good balance (and it is also very enjoyable if you use material that genuinely interests you).

Again agree........... I need to stop going back over old material, repeatedly and move on.
ShawnP wrote:Enjoy reading your log.

Glad someone enjoys it!
ShawnP wrote:However, it'll all come together if you keep plugging away at what u enjoy.

This I think is the crux of my problem... finding something I enjoy doing in Spanish.

Thank you AndyMeg and ShawnP for all your advice, it is really very much appreciated. I have decided to stop studying so much. I can cope with a bit of studying but I am just adding more and more studying lately, because I don't know what else to do to improve and I know how to study!

AndyMeg I think your 70% extensive "focused" exposure and 30% intensive studying sounds about right and with that in mind I need to stop just studying the language and actually start exposing myself to more of it, much, much more of it. I need to read, watch and listen a lot more and study a lot less.

I can definitely fit in a bit of studying each day and I should be able to read and watch TV each day too. I think I will use veintemundos.com for my reading to start with and also see if I can find a book I want/am able to read. Reading will be hard to start with for me, especially as I am not really a reader anymore...[sigh]... I used to read a lot before I had kids but that was long time ago and I am not in the habit anymore....but I am sure I can change that :D

If reading isn't enjoyable then I shall find something that is.........one way or another I am going to find something that I enjoy doing in Spanish.
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Kwiziq
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A2: 100 / 100
B1: 91 / 100
B2: 53 / 100

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Bex
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016

Postby Bex » Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:18 pm

Friday update................

This week:
Podcastsinspanish level 1: finished listening to podcast 18 today.
Assimil Active Wave: Finished lesson 35 Active wave - on hold.
Glossika GSR 2: Up to 19
Listening/Reading: Matilda - two hours this week.
TV: at least 30 mins every evening.

No podcasts this week.

Glossika is going well, my understanding and speaking of the various past tenses is definitely improving, I know when I have said something incorrectly most of the time now and why.

I am slowly understanding more and more TV and so watching it is becoming more and more enjoyable.

Well I didn't exactly use the resources I thought I would this week but I have started reading. I'm not very good at it and so I have started with Matilda (Roald Dahl). I am currently listening the the audio-book in Spanish whilst reading in English - I seem to be able to follow the gist of the Spanish audio and I can quickly pair most of the words up if I concentrate and so I shall read the whole book this way. Once I have read it all (and am familiar with the story, which I am not currently) I shall re-read it in Spanish whilst listening to the audio, if I can. If not I will re-read it in English until I can follow the Spanish and then I shall move onto another book.

I find that the audio is dragging me along and I am not as easily distracted as when I just read, but I do not know enough Spanish to read and understand at the audio speed yet (I don't seem to be able to process it fast enough, even though I know most of the words) and so this was the best compromise I could come up with. Not sure if it will be of much benefit but spending an hour day actively listening to Spanish I thought would be a good thing and I am enjoying spending time with Spanish which was the main objective.

I am off to a good bookshop this afternoon to see if I can pick up some easier books for me to just read for fun, hopefully I can find something.
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B2: 53 / 100

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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016

Postby AndyMeg » Fri Feb 24, 2017 3:31 pm

Bex wrote:Well I didn't exactly use the resources I thought I would this week but I have started reading. I'm not very good at it and so I have started with Matilda (Roald Dahl). I am currently listening the the audio-book in Spanish whilst reading in English - I seem to be able to follow the gist of the Spanish audio and I can quickly pair most of the words up if I concentrate and so I shall read the whole book this way. Once I have read it all (and am familiar with the story, which I am not currently) I shall re-read it in Spanish whilst listening to the audio, if I can. If not I will re-read it in English until I can follow the Spanish and then I shall move onto another book.


Awesome idea! :mrgreen:

I'm doing something similar with korean. I watch 20 minutes of a raw k-drama episode a day. Episodes are 60 minutes long, so I finish one episode in three days. The fourth day I watch the whole episode with english subs and the fifth day I'll watch it raw again. So far I'm enjoying it. ;)
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Bex
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016

Postby Bex » Thu Mar 02, 2017 3:27 pm

Quick update....

I have been ridiculously busy this week as the kids had Mon, Tues and Wednesday off school for carnival!

I managed to listen to all of Roald Dahl's "Matilda" audio-book in two sittings of about 2 hours each (so 4 hours total audio in Spanish), whilst reading a copy of the book I have in English. Really enjoyed listening to the Spanish and it is nice to "spend some time" with the language instead of just studying it all the time. Instead of forcing myself to keep going through a lesson or study for a certain length of time, I found that I had to force myself to stop instead :D

I can follow along enough that when I get lost, which happens only about once every 10 pages, I can find my way back without stopping the audio. Which is comprehension enough for me at the moment and I am enjoying both the reading and the listening.

I am not sure if I should re-listen to Matilda or just move onto another book. I don't want to start feeling like I'm studying again, which I may if I repeat it. I have decided to take a break from studying for a while, whilst I try to re-focus on just enjoying Spanish.
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Kwiziq
A0: 100 / 100
A1: 100 / 100
A2: 100 / 100
B1: 91 / 100
B2: 53 / 100

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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016

Postby DaveBee » Thu Mar 02, 2017 5:01 pm

Bex wrote:Really enjoyed listening to the Spanish and it is nice to "spend some time" with the language instead of just studying it all the time. Instead of forcing myself to keep going through a lesson or study for a certain length of time, I found that I had to force myself to stop instead :D
Sounds like a big step forward :)
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Bex
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2016

Postby Bex » Thu Mar 09, 2017 2:19 pm

Another quick update on my listening & reading progress so far....

Matilda - completed - 4 hrs.
Harry Potter 1- Chapter 16 - 7 hours 20 minutes.
Total time reading & listening - 11 hours 20 mins.

Still enjoying the reading & listening. It is definitely getting easier now that I am over the 10 hour mark.

I tried to re-read Matilda after I had finished it but I got bored half way through and moved onto Harry Potter. I've never read the Harry Potter books but I have seen all the films because my son is a big Potter fan.

I now find myself occasionally reading ahead a few lines of the audio and then just following the audio without reading anything, it's almost like I'm drifting off into listening only. I am also occasionally getting chunks of audio where I do not need the English translation, which is always a nice surprise.

I have also done about 2.5 hours of listening only this week to Harry Potter 1. I definitely can't understand the specifics of the Spanish audio when I don't have the English translation in front of me but I can follow the story. I definitely understand enough for it to be enjoyable to listen to on it's own, however I doubt that this would be the case if it were unknown material.

I am enjoying listening to the Spanish audio and I have ploughed through way more material than I ever would have before, so I shall continue for now and see where this leads me.
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Kwiziq
A0: 100 / 100
A1: 100 / 100
A2: 100 / 100
B1: 91 / 100
B2: 53 / 100


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