Tango To Success: Week 1-1.5

Hola mis amigos! Cómo estas?

I know I’m a little late with the Spanish progress update. I’ve been a little preoccupied. Here’s how things have gone so far in my Spanish studies:

• 100 flash card vocab words added to my Anki deck.

• Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal – Read once through in Spanish! Working my way through it again starting this week using an English version to check when confused.

So far I have not really felt like I’ve learned a lot consciously. I do feel that I’ve subconsciously re-familiarized myself with the language. Some stuff will pop into my head with the meaning right away. More likely, I’ll see the word and think , “Dios mi! That word looks familiar for some weird reason.” When I see the word again in another context it might “click” for the meaning. A quick dictionary lookup can confirm or deny my hunch.

I’m really very happy with the progress I’ve managed to make after a week and a half at this. I’ve slacked off majorly the last few days, but I’m determined to get back on track.

 

My Spanish Study Plan

The Spanish 6 Week Challenge starts tomorrow, and I’m really excited to get going! Here’s a quick outline of the various study methods and materials that I’ll, tentatively, be using for the challenge.

Study Methods:
I will be using a modified method often called the “Listening-Reading Method”(LR method). To use the LR method all you need is an audiobook in the target language you want to learn(L2) and a longer novel in your L2. It is also useful to have read the novel in your native language(L1) so that you can understand the story when you’re listening and reading it in L2. The steps to this method, as I will be doing them, will go like this:

1. Read the book in L1 to familiarize yourself with the story.

 

6 Week Challenge: Spanish!

% of Spanish Speakers per State

Since starting grad school I said goodbye to learning Japanese. Something I had worked on for about two years on and off. I had gotten to a level where I could comfortably read a good chunk of any manga aimed at teenagers without a dictionary. However, it was not something that I foresaw myself using in the future. The practicality of actually using Japanese outside of Japan, or small pockets of Japanese ex-pats, is mind-blowingly low. Like absolute zero low. 😛 So I left language studying behind, thinking I would never have any time for it with grad school and research.

As fate would have it, I’ve found myself staring at my shelf of Japanese material and even flipping through them a little. The desire to pick up Japanese again had faded, but not the wish to continue learning languages. Flash forward to today, when I read about a challenge to take six weeks and try to learn as much of a language as you could. I was intrigued! After reading up on the rules and other pesky details I decided to sign myself up.

Starting the first week of May, I’ll be studying Spanish for six weeks. It’s a language that has enormous potential for being used here in the US and in many countries abroad. Plus, I know that several residency programs prefer applicants with a knowledge of Spanish or another second language. I will be posting weekly updates once that gets rolling. I think I will be using Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) for my study materials. I’m familiar with the English book already, so that’ll help I hope. This should be an interesting little experiment. I’m excited to get back into language learning again. Wish me luck! 😀

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