A little bit of a backstory. I studied German in high school and college, probably level A2/B1(ish) - which was 7 years ago . I started studying Spanish in January.
This is my general study plan/journey.
Every day, I study vocabulary for German Spanish for 15 minutes a day. I won’t compromise on this. I use Quizlet to study.
I try to listen to LingQ stories for German and Spanish for 2 hours a day during the week (1 hour each language, more or less). I just have it on in the background to get as much input of the language I can.
If I am not too tired during the week, I use LingQ for one of the languages for about 15-20 minutes.
On the weekends, I use Busuu (a great language site), for about an hour for each language and the 15 minutes of vocabulary.
I do watch some shows in German and Spanish, but sometimes I need a break from languages so use the English dubbed versions or I just watch an English show haha.
For 2 weeks, I change my phone to German or Spanish. It’s in Spanish now!
I also have 2 people that speak English and Spanish that I can practice with. I do have someone that speaks German and English, but she isn’t as available, so I don’t talk to her as often. So I use Tandem and HelloTalk to find a language partner - great apps, would highly recommend.
I know that I can read the languages better than I can speak or understand it when I hear.
I am trying to be pretty fluent in German by the end of the year, especially since I have been studying it for so long. I have been at this level for so long and I want to improve. For Spanish, I am “okay” with it taking longer to be improve, but I definitely want to improve. If I had to put levels on it, I’d love to be B2/C1 in German by the end of the year. And B1/B2 for Spanish.
I would love to get people’s thoughts on this plan and how people are using LingQ / studying in general.
Right now, as far as routine/study plan goes, I’m really in need of more structure as I’m currently all over the place.
I’m studying Spanish though I’m thinking of adding in either German (back in, I stopped to focus on Spanish), Turkish or Persian. I consider myself a beginner in Spanish especially since my listening and speaking aren’t so great. I’m trying to work on that in particular. I would read on LingQ then listen but I think I might change that to listening, then reading, then listening again. I’m not sure.
I think since I want more structure, this is what I might try aiming for:
1 hour of listening each day. I thought I could do this while exercising or doing other daily things. I really want to use Netflix to learn with on LingQ, even though it would be a huge challenge at this point. I think it would motivate me to study more.
At least 20 minutes of reading each day. I really want to read a book, which will also be super difficult but again motivating. Just got to decide on which one to start with.
I have some other apps that are good for vocabulary, I really don’t care which one I use when but if I can spend at least 20 minutes on one or more per day, that would be good.
I don’t know how this will go, but I’m going to give it a try.
You need some intensity on the weekends where you create a mini immersion. I am literally spending 8-10 hours a day on learning German however from the next month on I will be studying for my academic exams so I will be spending 2 hours a day and then during semester break I will pick up the pace again. I can not tell you how much watching Television series nonstop helps me a lot. Three weeks ago it was all gibberish but I kept at it now my brain is picking up full sentences and picking up useful daily phrases Don’t underestimate your subconscious mind. I achieved C1 in my home country in English without having any contact with native speakers but it was a tough battle to overcome. Still, my English is not far from perfect. I am still trying to improve it. To achieve C1 in the German language by the end of this year, I will be super impressed by your performance. I am using bilingual books(German+English, www.briansmith.de) coupled with watching TV series. It is helping a lot. My initial goal is to reach an intermediate level so that I can read books.
I would like to increase it on the weekends, but I notice that after an hour (even with a break) I get a little irritated. Especially when I study past tense. So I am trying to not let myself get to that level. I might try to do 1.5 hours of each language on the weekend.
C1 is a big goal - but I am “okay” with it being B2 hah. I just want to get over this hurdle. That link is great, but I am trying to not spend more money :o
Hi. Inspiring to see how people are studying their languages. I’m currently having “a German year”, and I have the modest goal of studying 10 minutes every day (then I can check the box in Todoist). I’ve set the bar quite low, since I want to be able to keep to it, also knowing that I’ll be devoting quite a bit of time to English and French, since those are the subjects I teach. I’ve found that setting the bar this low usually means I’m studying far more than 10 minutes, and helps me keep momentum.
For German I started by doing all of the Michel Thomas courses (which I try to do with all of the languages I want to learn, if there is such a course). I’ve continued by reading and listening to graded material, usually in LingQ. I’m currently reading the Mörderische Hörkrimis zum Deutschlernen by PONS, which I enjoy since they are simple but somewhat suspenseful stories. I read these stories first in LingQ and then I reread them while listening after a week or so, and then I listen to them without reading, in order to get most out of them.
My goal is to study German for the duration of 2020, and then perhaps move on to Russian.
Best wishes for your goal! anyone who achieves C1 in a foreign language has my respect because it is not going to be achieved overnight! It takes time and consistent efforts.
Since you have a background in German, you’ll love Michel Thomas, because that’s just what your Spanish will sound like. “Ich bin ein Mejicano.”
Seriously, I’ve heard his Spanish course, but I tried using the French one years ago and didn’t like it. The style was stress free, but I don’t think it would help someone get to fluency, maybe just to get their feet wet and they didn’t know about LingQ.
The part that was a little unsettling to me (and why I wrote the first sentence the way I did) is that his English is spoken with a VERY thick German accent. His French sounded okay, but what do I know since I’m not a native speaker. Again, I’m not sure what his Spanish course is like, but I would worry about sounding like the granddaughter of escaped war criminals hiding out in Peru or Argentina.
While it’s true his accent in the different languages he teaches is not always the best, he does give you most or all of the tenses in the languages in a way that I find makes the langauage learner progress fast and easily. I don’t think learning with Michel Thomas will impact your accent. Perhaps in the beginning, but as you go on to listen to more of the language you should develop more of an ear for how things sound and should be pronounced.
