Spanish Group

An area with study groups for various languages. Group members help each other, share resources and experience. Study groups are permanent but the members rotate and change.
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iguanamon
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2354
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 11:14 am
Location: Virgin Islands
Languages: Speaks: English (Native); Spanish (C2); Portuguese (C2); Haitian Creole (C1); Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol (C1); Lesser Antilles French Creole (B2)
Studies: Catalan
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=797
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby iguanamon » Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:36 pm

Jaleel10 wrote:Would appreciate any and all advice given.
I'm in (a) rut with the garnering and memorization of new vocab. I basically have three options I want to follow.
- Put it off until I finish Assimil in about 3 months
- Start using Clozemaster
- Read articles (from Veinte mundos) or graded readers and put the unknowns into Anki (or a Gold list or Iversen list)
Because I'm studying Spanish as a hobby and don't really use the language actively, via speaking. So it's hard for me to pin down what to do next and how to approach it. I sometimes feel I'm in a hurry and want to do as much as possible. So any advice would be appreciated.

The issues here as I see them are:
1) You are frustrated because you don't speak Spanish yet. This is normal. It takes time. Even after Assimil you won't be at a level where you won't have more to learn.
2) Memorization is only one tool in self language-learning.

There's nothing wrong with srs. It's a good tool... but are you using it to help you or are you expecting it to do all of the heavy lifting for you? Learning vocabulary comes from multiple exposure. Reading and listening provide that exposure in multiple contexts. We have learners here who use srs and others who don't. I'm one who doesn't use it and haven't used it. Speaking for myself, at this level, I wouldn't worry about memorizing vocabulary. Basic vocabulary will repeat often enough if you are reading and listening. My advice is to finish your course and get some exposure to comprehensible input that isn't overly challenging. In other words, at this level you shouldn't be trying to read Don Quijote or watching Almodóvar movies for learning. You will learn vocabulary naturally as you see or hear it in more contexts.

Twitter is a good way to get some exposure to language with short texts. Parsing 280 characters isn't overly taxing. Trying to parse a literary novel or a film would be overwhelming at this point. Your vocabulary will come along if you're patient, continue to study and get some comprehensible input*. In basketball, a typical score might be 110-90. There is no 110 point shot. The game is one one basket at a time. It's hard to accept but that's the way it is in language-learning too. It takes time and effort. SRS is a good, useful tool but it can't do everything. Reading is a good, useful tool but neither can it do everything. The VeinteMundos articles are a good, free resource. Graded readers are useful. The Bible, Harry Potter, any book with which you are familiar can help. There are many ways to advance beyond courses.

When I was learning Haitian Creole, I did a course and I also used a 17 page pamphlet made by the US Army Corps of Engineers about a fictional raindrop's voyage to the Everglades National Park. It was designed to teach fifth graders in Florida about the water cycle and the wetlands environment. It was printed in English and Spanish too. Wayne Drop can be downloaded for free, legally, with an English language version and a Spanish language version. You can make your own parallel text from it. I spent about a month on it trying to puzzle it out very early in my HC learning. Doing something like this helps you to make your own connections. I didn't enter any of the vocabulary into SRS since I don't use it. When I finished it, I was proud to have been able to read something non-learner intended and it helped me to make my own connections with what I was learning from my course. I then went on to read a learner intended graded reader (with audio) of a condensed Haitian novel. I was also reading Genesis in parallel text, short news articles and twitter (with a dictionary when needed). I've written about it in the post in my signature link at the bottom, in which I describe my use of the multi-track approach.

To sum up, don't try to bite off more than you can chew. Don't worry about knocking yourself out over memorizing vocabulary, if it's important it will repeat. Do get comprehensible input. Finish your course. Be mindful that even though you say you have no intention of speaking or using Spanish productively, over time you may change your mind... it happens. ¡Suerte!

*Comprehensible Input is input which can be made to be understood via the means of a faithful translation, video or photographic clues or by some other means- dictionary, tutor or combination thereof.

Some links to help: Cervantes Institute Free Graded Readings Online

Using GlobalVoices.org to make simple parallel texts
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Bex
Blue Belt
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Joined: Thu Sep 15, 2016 7:10 am
Languages: English (N), Spanish (A2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 77#p157977
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby Bex » Fri Mar 16, 2018 8:09 am

Jaleel10 wrote:Would appreciate any and all advice given.

I'm in rut with the garnering and memorization of new vocab. I basically have three options I want to follow.

- Put it off until I finish Assimil in about 3 months
- Start using Clozemaster
- Read articles (from Veinte mundos) or graded readers and put the unknowns into Anki (or a Gold list or Iversen list)

Because I'm studying Spanish as a hobby and don't really use the language actively, via speaking. So it's hard for me to pin down what to do next and how to approach it. I sometimes feel I'm in a hurry and want to do as much as possible. So any advice would be appreciated.


I would say it depends on your time restraints...

If you have no spare time = Put it off until I finish Assimil in about 3 months.

If you have 5 mins here and there or random time on public transport = Start using Clozemaster.

If you have dedicated time you can put aside each day/week for a new activity = Read articles (from Veinte mundos) or graded readers and put the unknowns into Anki (or a Gold list or Iversen list).
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Bluepaint
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby Bluepaint » Sat Mar 17, 2018 6:03 pm

Anyone have any recommendations for, preferably free, reading materials on Spanish history? Particularly 12th to 18th centuries. Audio and audiovisual materials also welcome (tv, podcasts, Youtube channels etc). A level suitable for someone B1+ but I don't mind if it is harder as it will still be encouragement!
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jeff_lindqvist
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Sat Mar 17, 2018 6:41 pm

For me, a combination of Veintemundos (audio+text), MuyHistoria and Spanish Wikipedia (text) is enough. Also Revista de Historia has some free content.
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Jaleel10
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Location: Springbok, South Africa
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby Jaleel10 » Tue Apr 03, 2018 2:04 pm

What are some good Twitter accounts to follow ?
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iguanamon
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2354
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 11:14 am
Location: Virgin Islands
Languages: Speaks: English (Native); Spanish (C2); Portuguese (C2); Haitian Creole (C1); Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol (C1); Lesser Antilles French Creole (B2)
Studies: Catalan
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=797
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby iguanamon » Tue Apr 03, 2018 2:24 pm

Jaleel10 wrote:What are some good Twitter accounts to follow ?

That's hard to answer without knowing what your interests are. I follow a mix of my favorite authors, poets, journalists, some musicians and some regular people too.

For general interest, I'd recommend @InstCervantes- the Cervantes Institute and @RAEinforma- Real Academia Española for general information on what's going on with the language. @BBCMundo is great for general interest, magazine type, stories along with @gvenespanol for interesting stories that are not in the limelight. Really, whatever your interest is, be it sports, music, books, philosophy, poetry, photography... etc... there will be someone or something for you to follow.
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Jaleel10
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby Jaleel10 » Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:24 pm

iguanamon wrote:
Jaleel10 wrote:What are some good Twitter accounts to follow ?

That's hard to answer without knowing what your interests are. I follow a mix of my favorite authors, poets, journalists, some musicians and some regular people too.

For general interest, I'd recommend @InstCervantes- the Cervantes Institute and @RAEinforma- Real Academia Española for general information on what's going on with the language. @BBCMundo is great for general interest, magazine type, stories along with @gvenespanol for interesting stories that are not in the limelight. Really, whatever your interest is, be it sports, music, books, philosophy, poetry, photography... etc... there will be someone or something for you to follow.


Thanks for that.

Sorry, I'm bad at thinking sometimes lol. I'm typically for football, basketball, tv and anime, comedy, mythology. I think I can probably just enter those terms in Spanish in the search bar and go by amount followers, activity, etc. ?
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eido
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby eido » Tue Apr 03, 2018 5:01 pm

Jaleel10 wrote:Thanks for that.

Sorry, I'm bad at thinking sometimes lol. I'm typically for football, basketball, tv and anime, comedy, mythology. I think I can probably just enter those terms in Spanish in the search bar and go by amount followers, activity, etc. ?

I don't know if you're opposed to YouTube personalities, but sometimes if you find a person from there, they post interesting content to their Twitter. (EX.) There might be the equivalent of YenPress and Funimation for Spanish-speaking countries, too. If there are, you could get updates on the latest releases in the target language. I don't use Twitter, but I can't see that it has a language filter. I tried searching "Danny Phanton" since that's how it's pronounced in Spanish, but all I got were a lot of Portuguese tweets and people misspelling it in English :? So yeah, do what you suggested and enter the Spanish terms for them. It might take some digging though. Try hunting for people first, though, 'cause if the title of the show wasn't translated, it'll take forever to find stuff.

I did find this tweet, too, which is just the DP theme song written out in chorusing style the way people do it on YouTube sometimes.
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Jaleel10
Blue Belt
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Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2017 6:44 am
Location: Springbok, South Africa
Languages: Afrikaans (N), English (N)
Spanish (Advanced-B2)
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby Jaleel10 » Wed Apr 04, 2018 6:52 am

eido wrote:
Jaleel10 wrote:Thanks for that.

Sorry, I'm bad at thinking sometimes lol. I'm typically for football, basketball, tv and anime, comedy, mythology. I think I can probably just enter those terms in Spanish in the search bar and go by amount followers, activity, etc. ?

I don't know if you're opposed to YouTube personalities, but sometimes if you find a person from there, they post interesting content to their Twitter. (EX.) There might be the equivalent of YenPress and Funimation for Spanish-speaking countries, too. If there are, you could get updates on the latest releases in the target language. I don't use Twitter, but I can't see that it has a language filter. I tried searching "Danny Phanton" since that's how it's pronounced in Spanish, but all I got were a lot of Portuguese tweets and people misspelling it in English :? So yeah, do what you suggested and enter the Spanish terms for them. It might take some digging though. Try hunting for people first, though, 'cause if the title of the show wasn't translated, it'll take forever to find stuff.

I did find this tweet, too, which is just the DP theme song written out in chorusing style the way people do it on YouTube sometimes.


Thanks, Eido. I appreciate it. I'll play around with it and see if I can some good ones !
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iguanamon
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2354
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 11:14 am
Location: Virgin Islands
Languages: Speaks: English (Native); Spanish (C2); Portuguese (C2); Haitian Creole (C1); Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol (C1); Lesser Antilles French Creole (B2)
Studies: Catalan
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=797
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Re: Spanish Group

Postby iguanamon » Wed Apr 04, 2018 12:09 pm

Bluepaint wrote:Anyone have any recommendations for, preferably free, reading materials on Spanish history? Particularly 12th to 18th centuries. Audio and audiovisual materials also welcome (tv, podcasts, Youtube channels etc). A level suitable for someone B1+ but I don't mind if it is harder as it will still be encouragement!

I don't know of anything suitable for learners at B1 level. Ivoox has plenty of Spanish history podcasts. Here is a series of 20 episodes from Roman times to Franco. Ivoox is the mother lode of Spanish podcasts. Here's a link that may help Historia de España which is divided into historical periods.
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