Una Pregunta

[seosamh]

Empecé aprender hace un año, pero todavía es muy difícil entender cuando veo a películas o escuchar a la radio de la web o si escucho a Euronews en Español, puedo oír algunas palabras pero muchos veces es muy difícil. Puedo leer mucho más sin dificultad, intento leer revistas todos los días, y puedo escribir en foros de español con menos dificultad (muy mal como puedes ver). También, no puedo hablar muy bien, pero pienso que si hago intercambios esta año debe ayudarme.

Por tanto tengo una pregunta, sé todavía tengo muchas cosas a aprender pero quiero saber:


¿Cuantos años hasta podrías escuchar a español muy bien y entenderlo? ¿todavía tienes problemas, cuantos años después?

[chileno]

Originally Posted by seosamh

Empecé aprender hace un año, pero todavía es muy difícil entender cuando veo a películas o escuchar a la radio de la web o si escucho a Euronews en Español, puedo oír algunas palabras pero muchos veces es muy difícil. Puedo leer mucho más sin dificultad, intento leer revistas todos los días, y puedo escribir en foros de español con menos dificultad (muy mal como puedes ver). También, no puedo hablar muy bien, pero pienso que si hago intercambios esta año debe ayudarme.

Por tanto tengo una pregunta, sé todavía tengo muchas cosas a aprender pero quiero saber:


¿Cuantos años hasta podrías escuchar a español muy bien y entenderlo? ¿todavía tienes problemas, cuantos años después?

Lo haces muy bien. Con la ayuda del internet debieras ya estar hablando muy bien....

Lee en voz alta y escucha lo que dices, para que puedas revisar lo que esta mal, de acuerdo a tu criterio. Pero no dejes de escuchar radio o ver películas en español.

[laepelba]

Tengo dos consejos:

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spe/index.html - listening to many short video clips of spoken Spanish with transcriptions.
y
http://radiolingua.com/shows/spanish/ - podcasts (Coffee Break Spanish and Showtime Spanish) that give you practice in listening to spoken Spanish with thorough explanations following short conversations. The hosts of the podcasts are from Glasgow and the Spanish presented is European Spanish.

[pjt33]

No conozco Euronews, pero en general los que leen las noticias hablan rapidísimo. Necesitas escuchar habla despacio para poder distinguir las palabras, luego puedes acelerarlo un poco, hasta entender las noticias.

Intenta ver películas con subtítulos que dicen exactamente lo que dicen los actores. Así sabes lo que dicen y puedes concentrarte en oír las palabras. Pero te advierto que es difícil encontrar pelis adecuadas, porque normalmente los subtítulos son un resumen, y eso es peor que no tenerlos.

[laepelba]

I find that when I use a movie with subtitles that are different than the Spanish voice-overs, it is actually helpful because I listen more carefully and I pick up the differences in the word choices in both subtitle AND voiceover......

[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

I find that when I use a movie with subtitles that are different than the Spanish voice-overs, it is actually helpful because I listen more carefully and I pick up the differences in the word choices in both subtitle AND voiceover......

Like pjt told you, subtitles can be detrimental...and usually are.

[seosamh]

Originally Posted by chileno

Like pjt told you, subtitles can be detrimental...and usually are.

¿Por qué?

He intentado mirar por subtitulos, sino son muy dificil lo encontrar
aquí, creo que necesito comprar unos DVD's de tiendas Español..

A proposito, gracias a todos.

[poli]

La razón es que tenemos la tendencia mirar a los subtítulos y no hacer caso a las palabas dichas.

Una cosa que es mejor es (si lo puede conseguir) una película en español en que los actores hablan bien (como "Abrazos Rotos" por ejemplo) con subtítulos en español deseñado para los que no oyen bien. Tambien sirve muy bien para gente como nosotros que estamos aprendiendo el idioma.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by seosamh

¿Por qué?

He intentado mirar por subtitulos, sino son muy dificil lo encontrar
aquí, creo que necesito comprar unos DVD's de tiendas Español..

A proposito, gracias a todos.

Like Poli said, one tends to read and not pay attention to what's being said.

To me that's half true.

Consider:

In your language, if you want to read, do you go to the cinema or the library?

Why should you do something else when learning another language?

But what's more important, is the fact that our minds connect sounds with actions. At first is just a sound, but as the action repeats through the same or different scenes, repeatedly, the sound starts to make sense and you start to recognize it. It is simple, that's how babies start to acquire their native language instead of studying grammar first.

It doesn't have anything to do with being too analytical or anything of that sort. It's just the way everyone functions.


(Lou Ann?)

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by chileno

It is simple, that's how babies start to acquire their native language instead of studying grammar first.

Yes, but it does not follow that this is how adults learn a second language. In fact the process is entirely different.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Yes, but it does not follow that this is how adults learn a second language. In fact the process is entirely different.

Because adults want to self impose classification. I know it is a function of the brain and that it is important, but not that important when it comes to learning.

Mr Classificator you...

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by chileno

Because adults want to self impose classification. I know it is a function of the brain and that it is important, but not that important when it comes to learning.

Mr Classificator you...

It certainly is for me !!!

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Perikles

It certainly is for me !!!

[seosamh]

Cheers, I get where you are coming from, better to struggle on with recognizing the the sounds, rather than confusing myself. I know when I watch a Spanish film with English subtitles I tend to ignore the spoken Spanish(why i've stopped doing that), I'd guess a similar thing may be happening. I suppose reading and writing are easier to pick up probably and it'll just take a wee while longer to start to feel more confident in listening, the main things is probably just to stick in, immerse yourself and continue on.

[poli]

If you're really motivated, attack it a various angles which include studying how adverbs work and irregular verbs as well a immersion, newspaper reading, forums, dictionaries etc. If you don't get too frustrated, it will come together for you like magic after awhile.

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by chileno

In your language, if you want to read, do you go to the cinema or the library?

Internet

Cuando veía pelis en la tele en inglés solía poner los subtítulos porque una sola palabra perdida puede hacer que no entiendas lo que pasa durante la hora de sigue.

(Además muchas veces las veía bastante tarde y para no despertarme a mis compañeros de piso lo ponía en mudo. Es un buen ejercicio cuando los subtítulos difieren de lo dicho leerlos e intentar leer los labios y descifrar las palabras dichas).

[seosamh]

Originally Posted by poli

If you're really motivated, attack it a various angles which include studying how adverbs work and irregular verbs as well a immersion, newspaper reading, forums, dictionaries etc. If you don't get too frustrated, it will come together for you like magic after awhile.

I'm doing all those things, and I just finished a year of classes and my first book, aula internacional 1, starting to get somewhere i feel, i was just curious as too how long it took other people to get there..

As for the next few months, I think I'm going to try and learn myself for a while, to be honest I felt the classes held me back a little as I was going at other peoples pace really, and sticking around that level, so now my plan is, rather than spend money on classes, I've bought the 2nd book, I'm working my way through it, and I'm watching/reading/listening to as much as I can, I definately really need to start speaking more though, I know there's lots of Spanish living here in Glasgow so I'm going to try and get a language exchange going. And also try and visit Spain once or twice this year if I can.

I'll get there, eventually!

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by chileno

Like Poli said, one tends to read and not pay attention to what's being said.

To me that's half true.

Consider:

In your language, if you want to read, do you go to the cinema or the library?

Why should you do something else when learning another language?

But what's more important, is the fact that our minds connect sounds with actions. At first is just a sound, but as the action repeats through the same or different scenes, repeatedly, the sound starts to make sense and you start to recognize it. It is simple, that's how babies start to acquire their native language instead of studying grammar first.

It doesn't have anything to do with being too analytical or anything of that sort. It's just the way everyone functions.


(Lou Ann?)

I will be overly analytical until the day I die. Seriously - I like watching the movies with both Spanish subtitles and Spanish voice overs, especially when they're different ... because I actually DO pay attention to both, and am mentally comparing the two "versions" as it goes. And it doesn't leave me time to sit around pondering things. I just "notice" the difference, and am then on to the next thing.

I know you think that "learning styles" are not such a valid way of looking at the learning process, Chileno ... but I have to say that, as a professional educator, I really DO believe that there are certain matters of personal preference that significantly affect the learning potential. As adults, we often self-select our best learning style without being aware of doing so. I know that I do so!!

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by seosamh

Empecé aprender hace un año, pero todavía es muy difícil entender cuando veo a películas o escuchar a la radio de la web o si escucho a Euronews en Español, puedo oír algunas palabras pero muchos veces es muy difícil. Puedo leer mucho más sin dificultad, intento leer revistas todos los días, y puedo escribir en foros de español con menos dificultad (muy mal como puedes ver). También, no puedo hablar muy bien, pero pienso que si hago intercambios esta año debe ayudarme.

Por tanto tengo una pregunta, sé todavía tengo muchas cosas a aprender pero quiero saber:


¿Cuantos años hasta podrías escuchar a español muy bien y entenderlo? ¿todavía tienes problemas, cuantos años después?

Yes I can understand you, as you know about me, my situation is something similar to your case, because I have around to three years learning and studying the English and well just I have achieved the level that you can see in my post or last post made for me during all that time, now somebody told me time before that if you want to learn some language, you should endeavor a lot each day with the intent to read books and also magazine and well, if you can intent to chat by voice with someone it's better that only write in English, now perhaps you should to put attention more in the movies, already you need to improve more the language, because sometimes el Spanish is a little hard to understand for the different words existed in the speech, I have the same trouble, sometimes I have forgot the words, really I don't know if in this post I did a lot mistakes or not, well the case it's practice.


I can recommending you that you if you can practice the language spoken with someone it's better, so I believe that in maximum to one year you will be able to speak with someone in Spanish.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by pjt33

Internet

I wish I had had internet in my days... I would've picked up English faster.

Originally Posted by pjt33

Cuando veía pelis en la tele en inglés solía poner los subtítulos porque una sola palabra perdida puede hacer que no entiendas lo que pasa durante la hora de sigue.

(Además muchas veces las veía bastante tarde y para no despertarme a mis compañeros de piso lo ponía en mudo. Es un buen ejercicio cuando los subtítulos difieren de lo dicho leerlos e intentar leer los labios y descifrar las palabras dichas).

Pero eso es suplicio!

Originally Posted by laepelba

I know you think that "learning styles" are not such a valid way of looking at the learning process, Chileno ... but I have to say that, as a professional educator, I really DO believe that there are certain matters of personal preference that significantly affect the learning potential. As adults, we often self-select our best learning style without being aware of doing so. I know that I do so!!

That doesn't mean anything really... You see, I "self-selected" to smoke for a lot of years and now I do not feel too good.

I am talking about something that is natural, instinctive. We might think whatever, and that doesn't make it natural or instinctive, even if you think it is.