Bex's Spanish log 2018. Chapter 2: Improbable ambitions

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Bex
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2018. Chapter 2: Improbable ambitions

Postby Bex » Fri Jan 19, 2018 10:01 am

Friday Update.

Reading Target: 100 pages. This week = 174 (2018 total 285)
Writing Target: 1000 words. This week = 595 (2018 total 857)
Listening Target: 120 minutes. This week = 183 (2018 total 400)
Speaking Target: 60 minutes. This week = 65 (2018 total 125)

Notes on progress/activities.
Reading target was again easily met, I don't seem to be able to get into a daily routine of short reading times but I am sitting down every few days and reading for 45 minutes or so. I seem to enjoy reading for longer periods and just slightly less often than daily. First book finished this week, now moving onto an intermediate reader.

Writing target again wasn't met but it was better than last week. I think that partly I need to just write for the fun of it and partly January is actually a difficult time to keep in touch with people, it is a pretty dreary month and nothing much happens after the excitement of Christmas, this makes it more difficult to exchange emails. I may start to introduce topics and ask more questions to vary the topics of our emails a little and give me more to write about, my enthusiasm for it did improve as the week progressed. I also wrote something which I posted onto Lang-8 for corrections.

Listening is still going well. I listened to NIS beginners 16-23. There are 30 podcasts for beginners, so I should be finished with those next week and then I'll move onto the intermediate NIS which should be more interesting. I am managing to listen to bulk podcasts whilst doing housework for a few hours at a time during the week, it is becoming such a habit that it feels a it odd doing housework without my headphones on now :lol:

I am still having to push myself to speak, I am not a talkative or sociable person and so I think this will always be a struggle but I have fixed upon one teacher for now. I also book a week or two in advance so I can't avoid booking the lessons. I chose this particular teacher because he always has something ready for each lesson to talk about, I like this because the lessons whizz by and I don't have to talk about myself or think about what to say...it avoids all those awkward silences which is great for me and the teacher is making me talk pretty much non-stop for the full 45 mins! I also did around 20 mins of shadowing Assimil (lessons 16-30) this week, it's OK but I may change how I do it slightly as I'm sure I could get more from this activity.

Anki is pretty boring, I am wondering if I might change to Clozemaster but I'd have to pay to get the "verbs" section which I want to work on, but Anki is so dull and I'm sure that having all the top 50 verbs in 4 different conjugations, the deck must contain verb conjugations which are hardly ever used...what I really need is a list of the top 500 verb conjugations! There must be a fun way to learn them?

edited twice: to correct sentence and writing total.
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2018. Chapter 2: Improbable ambitions

Postby coldrainwater » Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:55 am

I think it would be fun sometime (read, I probably won't actually do it) to look at writing sources in order to mold short pieces that tend to be heavy on the verb conjugations that they use often. To keep the substantives interesting, I think I would end up taking 10 (or so) unknown words from my own personal wordlist and working them into the topic if short on ideas. It would be good (for me at least) to get ahold of some writings like formal letters and other examples with drastically different intents (pamphlet on nutrition to practice subjunctive and imperative for example since they are very doubtful that you will follow their advice (subjunctive) but they are really good about urging you to do so (imperative)).

When I see it in the wild, those conjugations then start to seem fun for me as I actually catch the patterns while reading. Put the same thing in a grammar book and it isn't exactly the drills that excite me, but rather the theoretical side of grammar (so I end up bored by default unless I am reading a much tougher grammar book). To each their own I suppose. When I see a subjunctive mood in native material that I really care about, I am more inclined to also geek out for a few minutes and look over a related [online] grammar source to make sure I understood it and what its alternatives were. Jumps to Linguee, WordReference, and even youtube then sort of happen naturally. YMMV. You then are not married to any one grammar reference and can explore those more freely.
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2018. Chapter 2: Improbable ambitions

Postby Bex » Thu Jan 25, 2018 9:06 am

Another mini-challenge completed yesterday.

Notes in Spanish: Inspired Beginners - 30 podcasts all now listened to.

I have been randomly listening to the Intermediate podcasts every now and then as well, I prefer the intermediate podcasts because they are purely in Spanish and I seem to be able to follow and understand them relatively well. The beginners ones were a little too easy and although it was nice to go over some of the basics again, I did make sure that I went through them as quickly as possible. I will have to spend more time with the intermediate podcasts I think.
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2018. Chapter 2: Improbable ambitions

Postby AndyMeg » Thu Jan 25, 2018 3:00 pm

Bex wrote:Another mini-challenge completed yesterday.

Notes in Spanish: Inspired Beginners - 30 podcasts all now listened to.

Congratulations! :D
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2018. Chapter 2: Improbable ambitions

Postby Bex » Fri Jan 26, 2018 7:24 am

AndyMeg wrote:
Bex wrote:Another mini-challenge completed yesterday.

Notes in Spanish: Inspired Beginners - 30 podcasts all now listened to.

Congratulations! :D

Thanks AndyMeg.

I quite like the mini-challenges because I give myself extra time to do them. There's no pressure since they're just a fun bonus, however with the weekly targets I get annoyed with myself for not achieving them because I know that it is going to take a mountain of input and output to move forward in my Spanish and every week I need to push up that mountain.

The mini-challenges are a good way to make the weekly climb more fun :D
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2018. Chapter 2: Improbable ambitions

Postby Bex » Fri Jan 26, 2018 8:36 am

Friday Update.

Reading Target: 100 pages. This week = 61 (2018 total 346)
Writing Target: 1000 words. This week = 184 (2018 total 1,041)
Listening Target: 120 minutes. This week = 221 (2018 total 621)
Speaking Target: 60 minutes. This week = 45 (2018 total 170)

This week week was extremely busy with family..coupled with January being the busiest month for me at work :roll:

Reading: Moved onto my second book, this one is supposed to B1 level but I'm still not having too much trouble reading it.

Writing: Again terrible, only wrote one email...in fairness I only received one email to reply to but even so I should be writing more. I think I shall start transcribing my intermediate podcasts next week, I shall set myself a mini-target of transcribing 10 lessons, that should be a decent enough amount (around 100 minutes) of transcribing to see if a) it is worth spending time on, b) I have time to do it and c) I can stand doing it.

Listening: Still going well and still enjoying it. I seem to have settled into a routine of binge listening once a week whilst doing the housework, not ideal because I know because I should be listening every day. I do however sit and watch TV every evening for at least 30 minutes in Spanish, mainly watching the weather forecast and news etc, I do not count this TV time but it does mean that I get exposure to Spanish listening every day which is the main thing.

Speaking: 45 minute iTalki lesson again this week, nothing more.

I am happy with my Spanish activities this week despite not meeting all my targets. Last year I would have completely neglected my Spanish when I was this busy and so I am pleased that I actually took the time to do some of my activities, I wasn't far from completing most of them and I smashed my listening target again this week.

I am pleased that my activities are becoming enough of a habit and are enjoyable enough that I will fit them in even when I am this ridiculously busy.
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2018. Chapter 2: Improbable ambitions

Postby Bex » Mon Jan 29, 2018 9:36 am

Second book finished today...

B1 reader 120 pages: Nuevo año, nueva vida.

I am not sure what I shall read next but I have to say that Spanish graded readers are not the most compelling of reading material.
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2018. Chapter 2: Improbable ambitions

Postby DaveBee » Mon Jan 29, 2018 10:39 am

Bex wrote:Second book finished today...

B1 reader 120 pages: Nuevo año, nueva vida.

I am not sure what I shall read next but I have to say that Spanish graded readers are not the most compelling of reading material.
Teen fiction is supposed to be a good bridge, Cavesa and Ani both seemed to enjoy the french language version of the Sookie Stackhouse series.
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2018. Chapter 2: Improbable ambitions

Postby AndyMeg » Mon Jan 29, 2018 11:56 am

Bex wrote:I am not sure what I shall read next but I have to say that Spanish graded readers are not the most compelling of reading material.

What kind of books do you usually like to read in your native language? If its novels, for example, what kind of genre?
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Re: Bex's Spanish log 2018. Chapter 2: Improbable ambitions

Postby iguanamon » Mon Jan 29, 2018 12:33 pm

AndyMeg wrote:
Bex wrote:I am not sure what I shall read next but I have to say that Spanish graded readers are not the most compelling of reading material.

What kind of books do you usually like to read in your native language? If its novels, for example, what kind of genre?

You are ready to read real books now. The first book I read in Haitian Creole was "Robinson Crusoe". I started with the Old Testament Bible in Creole and Ladino. Those books were my "graded readers". "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" was my first "real" book in Ladino. I also enjoyed reading "The Little Prince" in both languages. It is so much more than a "kid's" book.

James29, here on the forum, rarely reads a book originally written in Spanish and does just fine. I used to question him about this. I was wrong to do that. If I can paraphrase him, he says that he doesn't really like reading to begin with so a book has to be something he knows he's going to like before he'll invest his time reading it. He also watches plenty of native media. So, the fact that the majority of his reading is overwhelmingly based on "translated from English" literature hasn't hurt him in the least.

So, pick something or an author you like in English and look for the translation or, have a look here for some ideas: AmericaReadsSpanish.org. It's a website that encourages reading in Spanish with descriptions of books and levels, both original and translations from all over the Spanish-speaking world. Whatever you decide to read, the first book will be the hardest. In that first book, it will probably get easier after the first one hundred pages. Don't worry about how difficult it is, just know that it's something we've all gone through before and that it gets easier over time. Reading is a great way to increase and improve your vocabulary and usage. You've come a long way, Bex, congratulations. You have a right to be proud. ¡Suerte!
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