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Re: Bex Spanish log 2019: a definitive guide on the slowest way to learn Spanish ever!

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 6:32 am
by Bex
iguanamon wrote:Context serves to help figure out which one is which.
You're right and this I suppose is an issue with drilling. The translation drills and some of the others really aren't in context, I think if it were just a formal conversation it would be a lot easier.

It seems to me that a sentence with a lot of object pronouns in it relies heavily on context and without it, it becomes very confusing very quickly.

This is why I've made an Anki deck, I've written sentences I'd actually use, some with my kids (so informal), some are where I'm a teacher talking to my class, so both of these would use Os. Some I've made so I'm talking to a policeman or government official, but because I made the cards I know the context and drilling them is much easier.

So for example for this card I'm talking to my kids about their father...
Front: Don't either of you tell him I told you.
Back: No le digáis que os lo he dicho

I have no problem answering these, I'm still a bit slow so I'll just keep practicing until I get more automatic. Hopefully then I can complete the FSI lesson and move on.

iguanamon wrote:It's a pleasure following your progress, Bex. Your work with FSI is really helping to advance your Spanish!
Thank you that really means a lot coming from someone who already made this journey :)

Re: Bex Spanish log 2019: a definitive guide on the slowest way to learn Spanish ever!

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 9:23 am
by Bex
Brun Ugle wrote:I make a note of hard bits so I can go back after I’ve done a few more chapters and usually then when I review them, everything clicks into place.

I need to do this too... although I suppose this log in itself is a reminder of which units I found difficult. I just need to remember to go back and actually review them!

Re: Bex Spanish log 2019: a definitive guide on the slowest way to learn Spanish ever!

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 9:30 am
by Bex
Finished Diario de Greg (book 1) today. Good level (for me) for extensive reading. 224 pages but I have halved this for the SC due to images, large spaces between paragraphs etc.

Now I'm going to read it again intensively.

I am struggling to juggle FSI and the SC!

Re: Bex Spanish log 2019: a definitive guide on the slowest way to learn Spanish ever!

Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2019 7:51 am
by Bex
And I've stopped....

...it was obviously all going far too well :roll:

Don't know why maybe it was the FSI lesson I couldn't get through, maybe it's because I'm still struggling to read, maybe it's because my kids are now on holidays, or maybe it's the ridiculous HEAT here!!

Anyway I seem to have ground to a halt for nearly a week now... :?

Re: Bex Spanish log 2019: a definitive guide on the slowest way to learn Spanish ever!

Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2019 10:08 am
by Brun Ugle
Taking a break now and then is fine as long as it doesn’t last too long. If you can’t get through the lesson, try to get through as best as you can, even if it means following along in the book and reading the answers rather than drilling properly. You will still absorb a little. Then move on. Your brain will continue to digest the lesson and then sometime later everything will fall into place. There’s no point in trying to force it. You might also want to try adding in some other materials. Sometimes seeing something in a different place or in a different way can help.

I hope your heatwave breaks soon. It’s too bad we can’t average out our weather. We’d all have more comfortable temperatures. Up here it’s only about 12 degrees.

Re: Bex Spanish log 2019: a definitive guide on the slowest way to learn Spanish ever!

Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2019 12:44 pm
by Bex
Brun Ugle wrote:If you can’t get through the lesson, try to get through as best as you can, even if it means following along in the book and reading the answers rather than drilling properly. You will still absorb a little. Then move on.
It's annoying because I know the grammar, I get nearly all my Anki cards correct, I get 100% correct on the Spanishdict pronoun quiz, I get everything correct in written form in my PMP textbook, so I understand and can apply the grammar.

But when listening, I just can't process the pronouns fast enough to create a response when listening. I know this just means I need to practice more until I can process it quickly enough, the understanding is there but not the automaticity and that means that really I need to drill this lesson more, so I'm hesitant to move on. But maybe I'm wrong?

But anyway it's way too hot for grammar drilling at the moment :lol:
Brun Ugle wrote:.Sometimes seeing something in a different place or in a different way can help
Maybe I'll just stick to reading, Anki-ing pronouns and conjugations along with a little bit of text book work in front of a very, very large fan until the heat dies down a bit.... although that may not be until September now!!

Brun Ugle wrote:I hope your heatwave breaks soon. It’s too bad we can’t average out our weather. We’d all have more comfortable temperatures. Up here it’s only about 12 degrees


Thanks, somewhere in the middle of 12 and 38 degrees would be lovely. I had to lie down for 20 mins to recover after hanging out the washing this morning!!

Madre mía, ¡Qué calor!

Re: Bex Spanish log 2019: a definitive guide on the slowest way to learn Spanish ever!

Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2019 2:24 pm
by Brun Ugle
You will get faster at processing the grammar with time. I would go through the lesson two or three times and move on whether I can do it fast enough or not. Maybe after another five lessons or more, you could revisit this one, but I wouldn’t bother before that. Your speed will increase with time, but I’ve never found it useful to do the same lesson over and over to perfection. If my brain isn’t ready for it, it isn’t ready. My time is better spent working on other things. If I still can’t do a lesson after three times, I probably won’t be able to do it after six times either if that’s the only thing I work on, yet I might find it easy after moving on and working on other things for a while. That’s how it generally works for me.

Re: Bex Spanish log 2019: a definitive guide on the slowest way to learn Spanish ever!

Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2019 2:34 pm
by eido
My listening got better when I practiced writing, because I had what I'd written echoing in my head so it was like mini listening practice.

I don't know if that'd work for you, but it did for me.

Re: Bex Spanish log 2019: a definitive guide on the slowest way to learn Spanish ever!

Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2019 1:23 pm
by Bex
Super Challenge:
June 2019: 5.6 books / 3.5 films
Total: 65 books & 77 films

A little more reading than the last few months. I am going to use the heatwave as an excuse to just read for the next few weeks.


I shall listen to the kind advice given and move on to the next FSI lesson after 3 proper run throughs, whether I feel ready or not.

I'm going to start pairing up the PMP Complete Spanish Grammar workbook with FSI and I'll complete the complementary chapters as they come up on FSI.

For now I'm taking a break from FSI. I will concentrate on enjoying the summer with reading and textbook work until the heat dies down, which may be a while 8-)

Re: Bex Spanish log 2019: a definitive guide on the slowest way to learn Spanish ever!

Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2019 8:33 am
by Bex
I love this....

"But people need to talk to acquire language.”
Robert Harrell: OK, so you need to talk to learn to talk. Right. What language would you like to learn?
— Uhh, Urdu.
OK, let’s start by speaking Urdu.
— But I don’t know any Urdu

https://tprsquestionsandanswers.wordpre ... g-buuuuut/