Jaleel's Spanish Log, 2018.

[Jaleel10]

February Log

07/02/2018

Schedule Tweak !!

I'm usually awake very early due to 1) growing up with my grandparents and 2) work. So why not try to wake up 30 minutes earlier and study some Spanish. Tried it this morning and it seems to be working. But we'll see how it's working in the next few days. And if I can stick a sleep-early-wake-early sleep schedule

* 05h30AM. Assimil First Wave lessons (20 to 30 minutes)
* 07h00AM. Paul Noble (30 minutes)

* 13h10. Reading (35 minutes)

* 17h30. Babbel (30 minutes)
* 18h15. Clozemaster (30 minutes)

* 19h45 Michel Thomas (30 minutes)
* 20h30. Assimil 2nd Wave lessons (20 to 30 minutes)

Total study time: ~2.5 hours. I am listening to Cadena Ser, Salsa music (my favorite genre) and my Assimil lessons at work. I also watch Cable Girls and Rick and Morty occasionally in my downtime so I'm getting the vocal exposure. Albeit passive.


Progress with my courses:

Assimil: Now at Lesson 45 (Passive Phase). That's 45/150 - 30%
Babbel: Now at Beginners Course 3 (Lesson 55). That's 55/190 - 29%
Michel Thomas: Now at Foundation Course (CD4). That's 3h05/22h54 - 13%

Grammar Book and Clozemaster I started with recently so I'll update them in a month.

Accent/Pronunciation watch:
After 1 month: https://vocaroo.com/i/s01TsdxqJKh1

[Jaleel10]

February Log

08/02/2018

Downloaded Hello Talk. A few weeks earlier than I'd like. But I'll hopefully meet some good people. Just need a short and good introduction.

"Hi my name is Jaleel, 22 from South Africa. Lover of football, mythology, games and music. I also like drawing, watching tv, reading and studying spanish of course. I am looking for people to practice spanish with.And I will try to help them with English. I have only been studying for a few months and if you you're around the same level in English or have a lot patience, feel free to send me a message"

Hola mi nombre es Jaleel, 22 de Sudáfrica. Adorador del fútbol, la mitología, los juegos y la música. También me gusta dibujar, leer, ver televisión y estudiar español, por supuesto. Busco gente para practicar español y trataré de ayudarlos con el inglés. Sólo he estado estudiando por unos meses y si estás en el mismo nivel de inglés o tienes mucha paciencia , no dudes en enviarme un mensaje.

I am not gonna ask my Whatsapp friends to correct it for me as I want people to see my level lol. And I didn't use the subjunctive because I don't know any of it's uses aside from from "Espero que"

Weekend is coming up and I need to adapt my schedule as I'll be working 6 hours on Saturday and Sunday.

07h00 - Assimil
10h00 - Clozemaster
13h00 - Reading
16h00 - Grammar Book
19h00 - Michel Thomas
20h00 - Babbel

I'll go for longer periods as I have more time. And I see a lot of people have passed me up on the 6 week challenge

[Jaleel10]

February Log
11/02/2018

Reached the active phase of Assimil. As my British friends would say. Gassed!!

Started reading a short story for A levels . Out of the 600 words I've read so far I know 560 so I'm super gassed about that as well

Removing the grammar book from my studies. Babbel and Assimil already contain a lot of grammar. And honestly I am just too lazy. Adding my Paul Noble audio course for my morning commute to make up for the time.

As I approach the end of Michel Thomas I will research for ways to improve listening skills. As that's why I'm studying Spanish. But direct after the course I will get a video exchange partner. Hopefully I'll find someone at an equivalent level of English as my Spanish. Should take place in the next 30 days.

Oh. I'm 3rd on the 6 week challenge. Gassed!

[Jaleel10]

February Log
20/02/2018

Been more than a week since the last update. My health has been really bad these past few days and the best I can muster is Michel Thomas (I don't know how he doesn't strangle that male student ). I'm probably gonna take a few days break from intensive studying. Do some more research about listening practice and just enjoy the Spanish dubs of Ricky and Morty and Altered Carbon until I'm back at 100.

[Jaleel10]

February Log
21/02/2018

I rarely write in Afrikaans at all so today's update is in Afrikaans Mainly just do shake off some rust. I really should build up a hobby of writing and reading more. Not just in Afrikaans but English and Spanish too. Memes and Reddit are fun and all but I have really been lazy lol

So... Ek het baie besin oor hoe ek my skedule gaan aanpas na ek Michel Thomas voltooi. Ek sal nog steeds iemand soek om mee te praat op Skype of Google Hangouts maar dit gaan tien-teen-een net een keer 'n week wees. So daar gaan '30-minuut-gat' in my skedule wees wat ek moet vervang. Ek het besluit ek gaan lees, lees, lees. Dit is 'n vaardigheid wat ek wil verbeter na jare se slapgatgeid. Was nooit 'n groot leser nie maar het stadig maar seker boeke begin kry vir my in Engels om te lees. So hopelik is dit iets waarin ek kan verbeter en permanent deel maak van my lewe vir al die tale wat ek wil leer.

So ek het vir my 'n Readlang (http://readlang.com) subskripsie gekry. Die feit dat ek my eie geld daar op spandeer sal hopelik genoeg motivering wees om dit gereeld te gebruik So al wat ek moet doen is maar net vir my interesante leesstof kry en 'n gewoonte bou.

Ek sal baie tyd hier spandeer:

2018-02-21.jpg

Maar tog moet ek moet ek bietjie meer tyd spandeer met skrif gemik na A1 en A2. En miskien die artikels los vir late lol. Ons sal sien

Ek gee finaal op met Anki en Clozemaster. Ek het nie die krag of deursettingsvermoë nie. Elke keer probeer ek dit maar tog gee ek op na 'n paar dae Van nou af sal ek net hoop dat lees 'n voldoende genoeg aktiwiteit is vir die aanwins van nuwe 'n woordeskat. Ek sal dit inkorpereer met die 'Goldlist' metode.

Vir die luisteroefeninge sal ek uitstel gee tot ek Assimil voltooi. En hopelik los ek dit tot dan. Ek is definitief nog nie gereed vir dit nie. Dit is darem 'n paar maande weg.

So. Vandag was die laaste dag van lui wees. Ek voel weer gesond en kan van more af met my normale roetine aangaan.

5h00 - Assimil (First phase)
7h00 - Paul Noble
13h00 - Babble
17h30 - Michel Thomas
19h00 - Reading
20h30 - Assimil (2nd Wave)

[Jaleel10]

February log
26/02/2018

Updates:

After near 2 months of """""intensive"""""" study. I'm very impressed by my grammar knowledge.

2018-02-22 (1).jpg

It shows what learning is sticking. Obviously I have 0 speaking and listening skills. But I at least have a base.

Course update

Assimil (1st wave) - Lesson 58/100 - 58%
Assimil (2nd wave) - Lesson 7/100 - 7%
Michel Thomas (I'm at CD 8 of the Foundational course) - 07h38m/22h44m - 33.5%
Paul Noble (I'm at CD 6 of 12) - 06h02m/13h30m - 44.7%
Babbel (I'm at beginners course 4, lesson 12) - 68/191 - 35.6%

Reading example from Assimil. Sorry for the bad quality and backround noise
https://vocaroo.com/i/s1hm9QnQLxPz


¡Que tengan un buen día!

[Jaleel10]

March Update
05/03/2018

1st one of March. That's two months of continuous studying. Proud of myself.

Still going strong with my courses. I reckon two more weeks and I'll be done with the Paul Noble course. It's a great course and I'd recommend it to anyone but it's not necessarily a course for me learning Spanish as a hobby. It teaches a lot of vocab and grammar centred around travel. I'm at CD 8 and I still haven't learned the subjunctive, imperfect, conditional or preterit. But it has its value. It's a nice relaxing course that teaches you lot of fundamentals. But for self-study I'd go for Michel Thomas or Language Transfer.

EL MINESTERIO DEL TIEMPO IS ON NETFLIX. It's as good as everybody says. I am watching with Spanish audio and subtitles. I am missing like 70% of the vocab and grammar but I can make out the gist of most conversations. I also watched Veronica this weekend. It was very disturbing. Also watched with Spanish audio and subtitles. Again, missed a lot but I'll maybe watch it again. Spain always produces great horror films imo.

Bad habit crept up. AGAIN. I looked at other courses. I purchased a Yabla subscription for listening practice as I felt I'm at the point with my studies where I should look to improve it. Also obtained two new grammar books that I'm saving for after Michel Thomas.

I had my first language exchange on Saturday. Completely out of the blue. It was horrible. Luckily my friend understood lol. I couldn't get into a flow. Kept translating in my head. Stammered. A lot. Lots of awkward silences. Ugh. I was disgusted lol. And my friend spoke English so well. I hate that everybody speaks such good English lol. It didn't deter me at all. If anything, I'm more motivated now. I'll be better prepared next time.

Joined a Spanish 'learning' Discord. We're a small group of 20 people and a few natives. It's okay. Not as much discussion as I'd like. But it should be fine for my level.

Obligatory. Dominican accent is SOOOO cool. The flow, the colour, the swagger. Goosebumps.

[Bex]

1st one of March. That's two months of continuous studying. Proud of myself.

Well done

I had my first language exchange on Saturday. Completely out of the blue. It was horrible. Luckily my friend understood lol. I couldn't get into a flow. Kept translating in my head. Stammered. A lot. Lots of awkward silences. Ugh. I was disgusted lol. And my friend spoke English so well. I hate that everybody speaks such good English lol. It didn't deter me at all. If anything, I'm more motivated now. I'll be better prepared next time.

Talking does get easier but don't force it if you're not ready, but if you keep going you will get better. Just keep chipping away at it.

[Jaleel10]

]Talking does get easier but don't force it if you're not ready, but if you keep going you will get better. Just keep chipping away at it.

Yep. Tbh. I'm not ready yet. I was putting it off until I finished Michel Thomas. I might stick to that plan. And in the mean time I am working on improving my listening. I have a plan so let's just stick it lol

Thanx, Bex.

[Jaleel10]

February Log
07/03/2018

Schedule Revision

I've been really swamped with work as of late and have slightly neglected my self-studies. But that's no excuse. Let's continue!

05H30 - Assimil (1st Wave)
07H05 - Paul Noble

13H10 - Babbel

17H30 - Michel Thomas
19H00 - Yabla Scribe (Effectively replaces reading for now)
20H30 - Assimil (2nd Wave)