Newbie Spanish Log

Continue or start your personal language log here, including logs for challenge participants
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Fenderman
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Languages: English (N), Spanish (False Beginner).
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Newbie Spanish Log

Postby Fenderman » Wed May 31, 2017 12:57 am

Hello, everyone

I'm a fairly longtime "lurker" of the forum and have finally decided to take the plunge and start my own Spanish learning quest. I've wanted to learn the language for a long time but have always made one excuse or another for not doing so. I really don't have any previous experience in learning Spanish (or any other language) other than playing around on Duolingo from time to time but from looking how motivated everyone is on this forum and the great support you give each other I thought now would be a great time to finally start.

From reading through many of the posts I've decided to begin with the "multi-track approach" for my studies. So, what I'm figuring is:

1. Pimsleur: for my drive to and from work everyday.
2. Destinos: for the majority of my studying. I have the textbook, workbook and audio to go along with the online videos.
3. The "Practice makes Perfect" Basic Spanish Book: for helping with the grammar.
4. Anki: Though from reading many of your posts I'll make sure to use my study time wisely with it since it can become all consuming.

Hopefully the above study plan will give me a good start. I then plan to move onto Assimil after finishing the Pimsleur and also begin taking one or two sessions a week with a tutor on Italki as I continue with the Destinos 52 lessons.

I plan on updating this log weekly to keep me on track.

I look forward to getting to know as many of you as possible in the future!
Last edited by Fenderman on Sun Jun 04, 2017 8:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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jennybenny25
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Languages: English (N), BSL (Lvl2), French (Beginner A1), Spanish (Beginner), Turkish (Beginner), Japanese (Beginner)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1743&p=17622#p17586
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Re: Newbie Log

Postby jennybenny25 » Wed May 31, 2017 6:12 am

Hola and welcome

Good luck! :)
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SpanishDuolingo: 20 / 64

SC Films: 1 / 50

SC Books: 0 / 50

Outputchallenge: 220 / 50000

FirstSpanishReader: 5 / 29

CoffeeBreakSpanishSeason1: 10 / 40


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FirstFrenchReader: 15 / 29

Writing: 243 / 1000

FrenchDuolingo: 29 / 78

CoffeeBreakFrenchSeason1: 15 / 40

LiveFrench: 2 / 25

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Fenderman
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Location: United States
Languages: English (N), Spanish (False Beginner).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 38#p220938
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Re: Newbie Spanish Log

Postby Fenderman » Mon Jun 05, 2017 12:55 am

I think I had a pretty good first week for my language study plan and I'm happy with the results so far. To recap, I did the following:

Destinos:
I finished the first two Chapters of the textbook and workbook and all of the audio files that go along with each. I also watched the videos for each chapter several times. I'm really enjoying this so far and I encourage anyone to definitely use the textbook and workbook and not just watch the videos.

Pimsleur
Completed the first five units. I'm glad that this isn't my main study source and am using it to complement the others since after only five units I can see how people get bored and have a hard time completing it. Still, you can't deny that it really drills the pronunciation.

Language Transfer
Finished the first 12 chapters and am enjoying it. I like how the instructor is breaking the language down and not making it seem as intimidating to a beginner. I have to say of all of the study formats I think I look forward to this the most since it's easily digestible.

Practice Makes Perfect: Basic Spanish
Did the first two chapters. Obviously not the most exciting thing to do but from reading others post I realize how important grammar is so I made it a point to add it my study routine.

So, that's it in a nutshell. I know I won't be able to do as much week in and week out but as long as I stay consistent and do something daily I think I should be good.
3 x

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Fenderman
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Languages: English (N), Spanish (False Beginner).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 38#p220938
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Re: Newbie Spanish Log

Postby Fenderman » Tue Jun 13, 2017 3:05 am

Finished Week 2 and kept up a pretty good pace with my studies. That said, I can already tell that listening comprehension is going to be hardest for me. I know it's early in my learning path but even after studying all week in multi-formats the moment I get to any audio where a Spanish speaker begins to speak more than a few words at normal speed I'm lost. I guess it's to be expected but it's definitely frustrating. Anyway, here's what I did for the week:

Destinos:
I finished the Lesson 3 of the textbook and workbook and all of the audio files that go along with each. I also watched the video a couple of times. Even though I'm enjoying it, other than when Raquel does her review at the end or the narrator speaks at different times it's hard to comprehend the conversations between the characters. Hopefully my listening comprehension will get better.

Pimsleur
Completed Lessons 6-10. I wish some kind of transcript came with this so I could match up what the word looks like more easily since at the moment I'm going online to help me. That said, it's great for help with the pronunciation.

Language Transfer
Finished Lessons 13-18. Slowed down a little bit this week since the Lessons got a little bit longer and I listened to a few a couple of times.

Anki
Did about 15 minutes a day for the vocabulary from Destines and Pimsleur.

Practice Makes Perfect: Basic Spanish
Completed a couple more chapters. The thing I'm wondering is if should be adding the vocabulary from these chapters to my Anki deck. I'd rather not at the time since I'm sure a lot of the words will come up later more "naturally" in Destinos so I don't want to make my deck too large at the moment.

Finally, I booked my first lesson with a tutor from Italki. It won't be for a couple of weeks since I have to leave town this week but from reading everyone's log it seems that the sooner you begin speaking the better so that's what I'm going to do.
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BOLIO
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Re: Newbie Spanish Log

Postby BOLIO » Tue Jun 13, 2017 12:33 pm

¡Bienvenidos!

Iguanamon will be proud. I really like your plan. It will give you a very nice foundation. I am interested in seeing your progression through Destinos with the entirety of the course. Your beginning plan should also have enough variety to keep you from being bored or overwhelmed.

One bit of unsolicited advice, which is hardly ever good but here it goes, listen to native materials from the beginning. Don't even try to listen for understanding. Just try to parse out the sounds, meaning...to listen to the breaks between words and then understand where one syllable ends and another starts. Search Iversen bloodhound listening. I am convinced if I had started listening from day one then I would be farther along and I think it helps a person's production as well.
(Steps off soapbox)

Have fun. Enjoy the journey. It opens up a whole new world and gives you access to several wonderful cultures. We will be watching along with you.

All the best,

BOLIO
2 x
Reminder to myself: Perfection is useless and harmful. Just keep moving forward.

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iguanamon
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Studies: Catalan
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=797
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Re: Newbie Spanish Log

Postby iguanamon » Tue Jun 13, 2017 12:54 pm

Welcome to the forum, Fenderman! I think this approach will serve you well, as long as you don't allow yourself to become overwhelmed with resources. This is an issue for big languages like Spanish. There is so much available for learners that they can get lost in resources. Working with Destinos and the course material will be quite useful for you.

Pimsleur is, believe it or not, intended to be used without a transcript. Stick with it. Master it. It will serve you well. If I were you, I'd add in a grammar source, something simple and cheap like Dover's Essential Spanish Grammar. Keep it to hand and when you need to understand a grammar point better it will help you.

After you get the basics down, it would be useful to go through FSI or the Gramática de uso del español series.

Also, drop by our Spanish Group and have a look and introduce yourself to the Spanish-learning community.

¡Suerte!
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Brun Ugle
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Re: Newbie Spanish Log

Postby Brun Ugle » Tue Jun 13, 2017 1:25 pm

I think one of the things that helped me with listening comprehension was using FSI Spanish Programmatic Course. I know a lot of people think it's incredibly boring, but it is very thorough in teaching the pronunciation. Using it can teach you both to hear and produce the sounds, and you will also learn how the sounds of the letters change slightly in different positions, like a d at the start of an utterance compared to a d after a vowel.
1 x

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Fenderman
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Posts: 70
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Location: United States
Languages: English (N), Spanish (False Beginner).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 38#p220938
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Re: Newbie Spanish Log

Postby Fenderman » Sun Jun 18, 2017 8:26 pm

BOLIO wrote:One bit of unsolicited advice, which is hardly ever good but here it goes, listen to native materials from the beginning. Don't even try to listen for understanding. Just try to parse out the sounds, meaning...to listen to the breaks between words and then understand where one syllable ends and another starts. Search Iversen bloodhound listening. I am convinced if I had started listening from day one then I would be farther along and I think it helps a person's production as well.


Thanks for the advice, Bolio! I'm definitely going to try and incorporate the listening to native materials as much as possible just to get familiar with the sound and flow of how the sentences work. I know it will be incredibly frustrating in the beginning but I'll have to just push through it.

iguanamon wrote:Welcome to the forum, Fenderman! I think this approach will serve you well, as long as you don't allow yourself to become overwhelmed with resources. This is an issue for big languages like Spanish. There is so much available for learners that they can get lost in resources. Working with Destinos and the course material will be quite useful for you.

Pimsleur is, believe it or not, intended to be used without a transcript. Stick with it. Master it. It will serve you well. If I were you, I'd add in a grammar source, something simple and cheap like Dover's Essential Spanish Grammar. Keep it to hand and when you need to understand a grammar point better it will help you.

After you get the basics down, it would be useful to go through FSI or the Gramática de uso del español series.

Also, drop by our Spanish Group and have a look and introduce yourself to the Spanish-learning community.

¡Suerte!


Thank you for all of the information, iguanamon! I'm actually using your "Multi-track approach" since after doing a lot of research on the forum before beginning my language learning journey I found your thoughts on it very helpful. And I completely agree on how someone could become overwhelmed with so many resources since I've already had a friend offer to lend my his Fluent Spanish DVD course but I thought that would be too much at this point with everything else I'm doing so I'm holding it off until I finished at least one or two of the courses I'm working on now.

I'll definitely head by the Spanish Group and introduce myself. Thanks again!

Brun Ugle wrote:I think one of the things that helped me with listening comprehension was using FSI Spanish Programmatic Course. I know a lot of people think it's incredibly boring, but it is very thorough in teaching the pronunciation. Using it can teach you both to hear and produce the sounds, and you will also learn how the sounds of the letters change slightly in different positions, like a d at the start of an utterance compared to a d after a vowel.


Thanks, Brun Ugle. After your endorsement and reading up on it, I now have the FSI Spanish Programmatic Course as my next learning resource after finishing up one of my current ones. It looks very thorough.
1 x

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Fenderman
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Posts: 70
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2016 11:04 pm
Location: United States
Languages: English (N), Spanish (False Beginner).
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 38#p220938
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Re: Newbie Spanish Log

Postby Fenderman » Sun Jun 25, 2017 2:42 pm

Well, I had my first tutor session this past week with an instructor from Italki and I thought my head would explode from thinking so much. Even though I've only been studying a few weeks and my Spanish is at the beginning level the instructor made it a point of getting me to speak as much as possible in Spanish with my limited vocabulary. It was very frustrating but I'm hoping it will get at least a little easier as my language skills improve. At this point I only have a one hour session a week planned but I'm thinking of upping that to two sessions to really push me.

Destinos:
I finished the Lesson 4 of the textbook and workbook and all of the audio files that go along with each. I decided to try something different with this episode by watching the episode several times with and without subtitles since up to this point I haven't been using the subtitles.

Pimsleur
Completed Lessons 11-15. The lessons are getting more difficult and I'm having to listen to them a couple of times each to take everything in.

Language Transfer
Finished Lessons 19-25. I'm really enjoying this course even though a lot of what he covers is going over my head with my limited skills so I'm already looking forward to listening to it again in the future.

Anki
Did about 15 minutes a day for the vocabulary from Destines and Pimsleur.

Practice Makes Perfect: Basic Spanish
Completed a couple more chapters.
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