I quickly realized that spending two months in Brazil, while amazing, definitely hurt my Spanish language skills. Add to that the additional time I spent in the States for Christmas, and I now find myself playing catch-up just to get back to the point I was at in December. It’s amazing how little time it takes to forget so much of what you learned.
Luckily, I’m back in Buenos Aires and have re-enrolled in the University of Buenos Aires’ Español por Extrañeros class, Nivel 3! So, while I may be the slowest in class, I am getting back into learning again. I also had my first session with my amazing tutor Marco today, so I’m sure my mediocre Spanish will return soon.
Well, today I found a very cool language web site that may also help. It’s called Learn10 and their goal is to help you learn a language 10 words at a time. Every day, they send you ten of the most frequently used words or allow you to input your own (subscription version). They give you these words via a Flash widget, email, text messages, or their iPhone app. They show you how these words are used by searching Twitter streams for them, thus providing real-world usage. They also provide tests, pronounciation and the ability to record your own pronunciations (and video) too. And you can post your results to Facebook and Twitter. The basic version of the site is free, while the premium version is only $9.95/month and includes a screen saver, competition and history to keep track of your progress.
You can check out their widget below:
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ANKI.
Hiya, Dave. When it comes to using technology to learn Spanish, I cannot recommend enough the use of a free flashcard program called ANKI. What's great about it? It's super-efficient; it uses a spaced-learning algorithm, which means it only shows you a flashcard when you need to see it, not earlier, not later.
In the past 3 months, I made 4,800 flashcards. No way I would've been able to absorb these using paper cards. But w/ Anki, I've got a pretty good handle on all of them . . . some of the cards I know well, I won't see again for another half year . . . but the cards I'm still having trouble with, I'll see in the next day. That's why it's efficient.
Lifehacker did a good post on Anki here: http://lifehacker.com/5129286/anki-teaches-text-a…
Finally, if you're too lazy to make your own flashcards, you can download decks (free) from their web site. Heck, if anyone wants my deck, I'd be happy to share them.
p.s. Hablaremos en castellano la proxima vez que nos vemos!
Ok, of course I want your flash cards.
hey dave! when did the latest course start at uni? i'm here in bs as now and looking for a cheaper solution to learning than $150US per week for my spanish school.
Here is my deck – http://www.mediafire.com/?qyvdmtwgeta
The 4,800 cards comprise the following sources:
1. Modern Spanish: Bilingual Vocabulary Cards (1000 of the most useful, non-obvious words). Amazon link: http://tr.im/iX4A
2. The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice (terrific book). Amazon link: http://tr.im/iX4L
I studied the above two sources systematically, to completion, so I would consider their representation in the deck to be comprehensive. The deck also includes other bits and pieces picked up from classes, etc.
Hope that's helpful!
- Henry
Henry, thanks so much for the deck. I'm definitely going to use it and I hope it helps other people too!
My friends Ken and Gillian also pointed me to another great site – News in Slow Spanish at http://newsinslowspanish.com.
News in Slow Spanish is a podcast for those who already possess a basic vocabulary and some knowledge of Spanish grammar. The host reads the news selection and she and her students discuss the news in simplified Spanish at a slow pace so that you can understand almost every word and sentence.
Each program consists of two parts. The first part presents weekly news about the economy, world events, technology, culture, health, etc. The host and her students have a short dialog after each news segment to expose listeners to common Spanish expressions. The second part of the podcast reviews expressions and grammar used in the news report.
Pretty cool…
They started March 23. You can find the schedule at http://www.idiomas.filo.uba.ar/mapa/lab/espanol.h… but the next ones will not start until after these complete on May 22.
$150US sounds high. How many hours per week?
Great find! I just checked out this resource a few days ago and I really like it; just the thing to bridge the gap when it comes to understanding the spoken language (Argentines speak so quickly). Thanks Ken, Gillian and DaVe for bringing this to my/our attention.