Hello and apologies if this has been asked a million times. I was wondering what counts as speaking and writing in this early stage. I know there are tutors to link up with for speaking and writing on the board but my question is does that have to be from what you recall without double checking? I find myself understanding then completely forgetting at times when reading and listening so I’m not super consistent. Then trying to produce seems extremely hard in and of itself. I’m not expecting to be perfect or comfortable, it just feels like I don’t know how to get the ball rolling. I’ll try to sum it up with these points below.
In what manner do you start writing and speaking?
Does transcribing / copying text on paper count as writing? Or does it need to be from you?
Does reading out loud count as speaking? Or does speaking out loud to myself without reading count?
Finally what ways helped you get over your shyness when trying to talk to someone?
My daily goals are very small being I just made it to beginner 2 so I’m not worried about the workload. Just how to go about it.
I have started writing with duolingo. You desactivate word bank and you type what you hear. During the first lessons I took I had to speak. It was very painfull and my vocabulary was too limited. I was mostly smiling not speaking. To start really speaking, you need a basis of vocabulary. Method is to study a text with Lingq. Therefore, you have a context where you can say a few things. Currently, I do 30 minutes sessions with friends. 30 minutes at the beginning is too long aim at 10 maximum 15 minutes.
What do you mean by “count” ? Do you mean part of brain in charge of writing yourself is stimulated in the same way if you are doing a copy ? By copying, I imagine you do the same work as very slow reading when you pay attention to each letters. So I won’t put it in writing category. As when you write you take content from your memory.
Same as 2, when you speak you use your memory middle term long term memory. When you repeat you use short term memory. It does not count as speaking.
Build a positive environnement. Negativity and critics will hinder your speaking capacity. I don’t think teacher will be good at that. As teacher have a strong tendency of delivering lessons. Also one lesson is usually one hour and it’s way too long.
This serie is quite easy at the beginning:
One day will be abble to understand famous old mexican serie:
El chavo del ocho
Hi there! We are at the same level of Spanish and I have similar questions! Here’s what I’m thinking now in case it’s helpful for you!
First, I don’t think transcribing counts as writing or that reading out loud counts as speaking. I think the idea behind writing and speaking is that you need to come up with the words yourself from memory. That’s what makes it so challenging when you’re new to a language!
Right now, my current focus is only on “input” - reading and listening, because I feel like I need enough basic vocabulary to be able to write and speak effectively (and have it be fun & not too stressful!). I am thinking of adding those in another 3-6 months, depending on where I am.
For speaking, from what I’ve read, the best thing to do is find a language partner or tutor and have regular (at least weekly) conversations. One great tip I read is to have an idea of your conversation “topic” before the session, so you can prep yourself by reviewing appropriate vocabulary, and maybe even having a “cheat sheet” of words and phrases nearby to help you through the conversation.
One idea I read for writing was to start a “journal” in your new language. It only needs to be a couple sentences/day. You can have your language partner review it for you and give feedback.
Of course, I haven’t started either of these things yet, but I can let you know how it goes when I do!
Best of luck and feel free to reach out and we can brainstorm more ideas together if you want!
Sorry for the late reply. Finally got internet back. Thank you for your suggestions, and you got exactly what I meant with the typing and speaking. Thank you for your input and I will try what you suggested.
Thank you for your ideas. I never thought of doing it that way but it makes a lot of sense. Sorry for the late reply, I just got internet back. I will definitely look into that and try to find a language partner. My only concern is my budget is tight so idk how much speaking with a tutor I can do. I will look into everything you said and I appreciate your input.
There’s lots of things you can do. Write a daily (or weekly journal) of what you’ve done for that day or week, or any other thoughts. Write about a topic that interests you, or a trip, or some other occasion. Read an article and try to summarize it in the target language (the reading could be in your native or the target language). You can try talking to yourself about any of these things. Another thing I’ve been doing lately is to go through the mini stories that are in my native language, in sentence mode. For each sentence I try to say something that is the equivalent, or close to, that sentence, but in my target language (i.e. translate from native to the target). You can really try to do this with just about anything. It’s also nice because you don’t have to think of something to say, but merely try to say it in the target language with whatever words you can. It doesn’t need to be an exact translation…i.e. it can be simplified. Then you can check the official translation (highlight the sentence and have your target language set as the dictionary language). If the sentence is too long you can copy and paste to deepl or something. So if you get stuck you can always check.
You can also submit writing here on Lingq to the Writing Exchange to get corrections. Or you can sign up with a tutor or try to find others that you can speak with. The nice thing about the other ideas, especially if you’re shy, or not a talkative person in general, they are low pressure ways of working on output
These don’t count as writing in my book. It possibly is beneficial, but it’s not writing imo. You need to try and output your own words.
I don’t count this as speaking either. Again, I think you need to be trying to come up with the words. Again, what you describe might help with pronunciation and becoming more comfortable saying the words (assuming you are also listening and trying to mimic the sounds your hear from native speakers), but to me it’s not speaking.
You just have to suck it up and be vulnerable. Doing some of the exercises I decribed may get you comfortable in your personal setting so it’s not so traumatic when you actually try to speak to someone.
Thank you, I never thought of doing the reverse method with the mini stories. I will give these ideas a shot as well. And I will attempt the writing exchange and hopefully it isn’t too bad haha. And with sucking it up I will do my best. I know everyone here is trying to learn and everyone’s been encouraging, I just need to make myself take that next step, and a part of me is using this forum to help hold me accountable and remind me to take that step. Thanks again for the thoughtful response. I will keep this all in mind.
I have bad memories of translating to French and then back to target langague.
Let’s take
thanks for the effort. I prepared it to be washed.
It’s translated
Merci pour l’effort. Je l’ai préparé pour être lavé.
Then you may be confused and say
thanks to the effort. I prepared it for be washed.
In spanish:
Yo soy listo. I’m smart.
Yo estoy listo. I’m ready.
Once translated you loose context. You may use soy when you mean estoy.
I used italki to start speaking. Since they are tutors, it takes some of the initial anxiety out of the equation. If I do another language, I’ll probably make sure I read a million words and listen for many hours first (sorry, I didn’t measure my hours) , unless I really felt the need to speak.
Does transcribing / copying text on paper count as writing? Or does it need to be from you?
I don’t think transcribing would be that effective. Luca Lampariello uses a bi-directional translation method where he translates sentences from L2 to L1, and then back on a different day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN1vCmZTOOE You don’t have to generate your own content for this, but it can help you by allowing you to notice differences in how you expressed the ideas.
Another idea is to write simple Spanish and have chat GPT correct and/or converse with you. You don’t have to write much, but you can learn how to say things you can’t yet say, without the worry of a listener if you are shy.
Does reading out loud count as speaking? Or does speaking out loud to myself without reading count?
This is similar to the above, but there are many who think shadowing (i.e. vocalizing along with or sequentially with the audio) help you get more comfortable with producing the words
Finally what ways helped you get over your shyness when trying to talk to someone?
ChatGPT is one way, finding a tutor or conversation partner you feel comfortable with is another. I feel anxiety when I’m about to have a lesson. I just put myself in the position to speak. For me, if I schedule the lesson, I’ll do it even if I get nervous. You may be more or less compatible with different teachers, but many know how to make people feel at ease. Mistakes are a necessary part of the process. People understand. Go in knowing you’ll make a bunch, and that making mistakes and even having silence while you work out how to say something can be good.
You don’t have a question about listening. I listened to a lot of podcasts:
Coffee Break Spanish
DuoLingo Spanish
Españolistos
Español Automatico
How to Spanish
News in Slow Spanish (I just listened to the free portion)
@Vidarshh re; “sucking it up”. Hopefully not sounding too harsh. I’m generally shy myself, or not terribly motivated to be vulnerable myself. So it’s something I will say to myself.
BTW, good thing about writing exchange is it will count in your LingQ stats. Other speaking and writing opportunities, if you want to keep track, will need to be manually entered.
Does reading aloud count as speaking? That depends on what you want to achieve. Reading aloud is a great method for pronunciation training! I’ve only just found this out, unfortunately. As you can see, I write (and speak) English fluently, but I’ve always kept an accent. My accent didn’t get better until I started reading aloud (or rather, deliberately mimicking audio recordings of professional native speakers). So, in my opinion, reading aloud very much counts as speaking! It helps build the muscles you need for the new language.
This is another issue I feel I’m having. The subtle nuance goes over my head at times. Also trying to learn the colloquialisms. Thank you for the advice.
Thank you for those ideas, and I feel I did leave out listening. I’m getting to the point where I don’t know what to listen to so I’ll definitely check out those podcasts. My problem is that my goals are now showing that I have to speak and write albeit a small amount. And I’m only at 2,500 known words, 161,000 words read, and 120 hours of listening. I might just wait until I hit 1 million words read. But the perfectionist in me hates leaving those other areas unfulfilled.
I will definitely look into what you’ve talked about. Thank you!
@ericb100 Not harsh at all, I totally understand. I will definitely look into that and maybe get on the exchange soon.
@Leo-Sophia That makes a lot of sense. I do find myself mispronouncing the words sometimes and I’d rather not end up with bad habits. I’m really glad lingq has the audio for these.
@wolfrengel Thank you for the offer. I would appreciate the help. Apologies to everyone on my late replies as I’m in the middle of moving my parents out of state. It might be a few weeks until I’d be able to if that’s okay with you. Feel free to add or send me a message or I can to you.
Thanks again everyone for your advice and support!
