This is a Can Opener

[livingdeb]

Remember a couple of weeks ago I decided I would spend more time doing stuff and I would spend more time learning Spanish?

I have spent zero time doing stuff (as I had described it before). However I have started learning Spanish again.

Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish

I'm bringing my Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish book with me and working on it to and from work. This book overpromises a bit: "This book will teach you to:
1. Speak Spanish
2. Read Spanish
3. Write in Spanish
4. Think in Spanish"

(I like to say each of those things louder and louder: speak Spanish, READ Spanish, WRITE! in Spanish!, THINK! IN! SPANISH!!!)

But it is the most Debbie-friendly book for learning grammar that I have found. It's all about learning rules, having lots of examples and lots of repetition, and minimizing memorization as much as possible. It's not so great with vocabulary other than cognates.

I have worked with this book so long that my first copy is falling apart. I have never finished it. Actually, I may have finally finished it last time, but the last lessons are rushed and hard to learn. Still, I keep forgetting things, so it's good to start over. I do get quicker each time.

I have already gotten to the first test on page 83. I still managed not to get a perfect score, but it's because in order to get a right answer, I need to:

* remember the right word
* remember the right form of the word (e.g., singular, first person, feminine, etc.)
* remember how to spell it properly
* remember how to do accents properly
* put accents in the right place

I am not a detail-oriented person. But once you learn it, then you start using it properly, and then it becomes habit, and you no longer need to be focused on details, you just communicate.

Destinos

I also have plenty of supplies for "Destinos" and have watched two episodes.

I have also watched many (most?) of the Destinos episodes before once, but this time I'm going to take more time to learn the vocabulary for each unit. I need a lot of work with vocabulary.

Spanish Proficiency Exercises

And lastly, I've decided that I don't just need to study Spanish every day, I need to listen to it every day. Listening is my weakest point of all, but this is how babies learn, right? You just get used to hearing things certain ways and then they sound right that way. Arg, and people talk so fast!

So I was very happy when someone e-mailed a foreign language learning page link to the academic counselor group at my employer and I checked it out and I found these Spanish proficiency exercises. My favorite part are these tiny videos showing people speaking, about one paragraph per video (at least in the beginner section). The first unit is on every-day objects. Each person is in their office or kitchen or something and telling you about various objects at hand, almost like you are a little kid, but somehow it makes them all seem cute rather than patronizing.

"And this is a wallet, which is used for money and credit cards ..." And they keep lifting things up and showing you. My favorite one where was someone was showing us a can opener, saying this is indispensable in the American kitchen. Other places, too, but mainly America where everything is in cans.

They also have the words inscribed so you can read along, but I don't at first because I would totally abuse that as a crutch. I just listen for at least two times, trying to figure out as much as I can. Then I listen again while reading, once or maybe twice. Then I usually read very slowly and then listen again with or without reading along for a few times.

They have folks from all around the world, speaking Spanish with different accents. And did I mention, they're all so cute!

Comments

Accents

[sallini.livejournal.com]

Your comment on getting the accents in the right place reminded me that in my Spanish 3 class in high school, my friend the exchange student from Spain would often forget to put the accents on words when we were working at the chalkboard and I would make a big deal of adding them for him. His response was basically an (unidiomatic) version of Give me a break; I'm Basque.

Living in Austin, it's almost impossible not to encounter Spanish-practicing opportunities. Much easier than if you decided to learn Russian... or Basque.