Allison's log: Spanish, 2017-2018
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 12:49 am
Hello and welcome to my 2017 log! My previous (and first) log can be found here: Allison's log: Spanish (TAC 2016). My new log's title is not any more creative.
The history of my relationship with Spanish (originally written for the Spanish Group)
I learned words and phrases of Spanish in elementary school, then started learning Spanish for real in junior high, continued in high school, and ended up taking AP Spanish my junior year. By then, I was a decent though not spectacular level in reading and writing, a terrible level in listening, and somewhere in between in speaking.
Then I stopped learning Spanish. On the strength of what I remembered of my high school Spanish, I tested out of my college second language requirement. Every so often, I would try to read a news article or advertisement in Spanish, but largely I didn't see the need for it, so I didn't focus on it.
Then about ten years later, I became a lawyer and it turns out Spanish is incredibly useful in the kind of lawyering I'm doing. I'm learning Spanish in order to be able to use it professionally, but I also enjoy learning and using Spanish in and of itself and would continue with it even if it stopped being useful professionally.
In about May 2015, I started learning Spanish again as a false beginner. I went to classes for the structure and consistency. They were incredibly helpful. Around December 2015, I started incorporating materials outside of class into my routine, including joining LLORG and reading and listening to native materials. The leveled classes ended about March 2016, then I did a conversation class until June, which was both helpful and not ideal, since the teacher chose conversation topics that I was not necessarily interested in. I've been participating in the Super Challenge since May, and I kept up the pace until I fell behind starting in October. These past few months it's been tough to find the time and energy to put toward Spanish, but I'm keeping contact with it, however minimal some weeks.
At this point, I can read a book without outside help (including dictionaries and the like) and understand and enjoy it. For listening without outside help, some podcasts/shows/etc., I understand and enjoy, and others, depending on accents/speed/topic/distractions/etc., I can get the gist and miss details. I have not been practicing my speaking or writing recently, but I'd put those in the "can get by" category.
I'm excited to reset my Spanish studying to be more consistent in 2017. I'm also looking forward to bringing up my output skills.
How I use my log
I try to at least update weekly with what I've done along with any thoughts or comments that have struck me throughout the week. I welcome any comments, questions, musings, jokes, advice, etc., from my fellow forum members. I welcome posts written in Spanish and will probably respond to those in Spanish, but mostly I'll write in English here, because that's the language I've decided to use for my meta learning.
Any other languages?
I have a lifelong fascination with American Sign Language (ASL) that I've never done much with. I've only occasionally gone past fingerspelling, but my interest in it has been consistent since I was a kid, so maybe this is the year I get serious about it. Maybe.
An interest in German snuck up on me last September, and I dabbled in some of the free internet resources for a couple weeks. I haven't done anything since then, but I've barely done any Spanish since then either since it's been a busy/tough couple of months! I don't know why I would learn German since I wouldn't have any use for it (and I know some of you don't understand that statement!), but it's been pulling at me for a while. We'll see if I do anything with it.
The start of 2018
The history of my relationship with Spanish (originally written for the Spanish Group)
I learned words and phrases of Spanish in elementary school, then started learning Spanish for real in junior high, continued in high school, and ended up taking AP Spanish my junior year. By then, I was a decent though not spectacular level in reading and writing, a terrible level in listening, and somewhere in between in speaking.
Then I stopped learning Spanish. On the strength of what I remembered of my high school Spanish, I tested out of my college second language requirement. Every so often, I would try to read a news article or advertisement in Spanish, but largely I didn't see the need for it, so I didn't focus on it.
Then about ten years later, I became a lawyer and it turns out Spanish is incredibly useful in the kind of lawyering I'm doing. I'm learning Spanish in order to be able to use it professionally, but I also enjoy learning and using Spanish in and of itself and would continue with it even if it stopped being useful professionally.
In about May 2015, I started learning Spanish again as a false beginner. I went to classes for the structure and consistency. They were incredibly helpful. Around December 2015, I started incorporating materials outside of class into my routine, including joining LLORG and reading and listening to native materials. The leveled classes ended about March 2016, then I did a conversation class until June, which was both helpful and not ideal, since the teacher chose conversation topics that I was not necessarily interested in. I've been participating in the Super Challenge since May, and I kept up the pace until I fell behind starting in October. These past few months it's been tough to find the time and energy to put toward Spanish, but I'm keeping contact with it, however minimal some weeks.
At this point, I can read a book without outside help (including dictionaries and the like) and understand and enjoy it. For listening without outside help, some podcasts/shows/etc., I understand and enjoy, and others, depending on accents/speed/topic/distractions/etc., I can get the gist and miss details. I have not been practicing my speaking or writing recently, but I'd put those in the "can get by" category.
I'm excited to reset my Spanish studying to be more consistent in 2017. I'm also looking forward to bringing up my output skills.
How I use my log
I try to at least update weekly with what I've done along with any thoughts or comments that have struck me throughout the week. I welcome any comments, questions, musings, jokes, advice, etc., from my fellow forum members. I welcome posts written in Spanish and will probably respond to those in Spanish, but mostly I'll write in English here, because that's the language I've decided to use for my meta learning.
Any other languages?
I have a lifelong fascination with American Sign Language (ASL) that I've never done much with. I've only occasionally gone past fingerspelling, but my interest in it has been consistent since I was a kid, so maybe this is the year I get serious about it. Maybe.
An interest in German snuck up on me last September, and I dabbled in some of the free internet resources for a couple weeks. I haven't done anything since then, but I've barely done any Spanish since then either since it's been a busy/tough couple of months! I don't know why I would learn German since I wouldn't have any use for it (and I know some of you don't understand that statement!), but it's been pulling at me for a while. We'll see if I do anything with it.
The start of 2018