Your 2010 AT resolutions?

I am also resolving to go out dancing more...which is being facilitated with buying shoes that don't hurt my feet....

Which leads me to my other resolution...

I resolve to NOT purchase any more special order Tango shoes, but only buy shoes that I can return if they don't fit.
 
Mario7 said:
If someone wants to acquire fluent Spanish, the next step is to stop talking about it in English..stop translating. The best thing one can do is look/listen to real Spanish broadcasts (news, telenovelas) and podcasts (can be replayed) totaly in Spanish. Listen to the sound changes only..do NOT try to translate...understanding will come if you have already put in a year of 'study'. Listening for one hour a day (religiously) will do it for you. If your attention wanders, pretend that you are the one doing the talking as you listen...or silently mouth the sylable changes as they occur...only listen to sylable changes..do not think! (because your 'thinking' will be in English)..being able to step out of your English comfort zone and stand alone in the discomfort of the foreign language is THE task..that is why 'classes' don't work...they either speak English during the class or the 'conversation' is not authentic, real communication...the language has to be secondary to the 'message'. The message has got to be real, meaningful, interesting communication. We as humans acquire and handle language naturally...once you take the 'teacher' out of the equation. This paragraph can save you two years of ineffective 'classroom' and home study. Also, Pimsler tapes and Rosetta stone courses do not work...not authentic language..that's who/how we are as humans..we are wired for acquiring language if it is used in real situations. Language is spontaneous and does not need to be 'remembered' if the comprehension is fluent. Work on your comprehension the rest will be there when you need it.
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I don't really agree with this. I think total immersion is the correct approach for young children learning a new language, but an adult would be mad not to tap into their existing conscious knowledge of grammar and vocabulary to speed up the initial stages of learning. So, I would say, take classes to establish basic sentence structures of the new language and and start building up essential vocabulary. Then follow Mario7's immersion plan.

As for tango resolutions: I feel so out of touch with tango joy at the moment that this thread is a timely reminder that it is out there somewhere. Ta.

So, for me:
1.Update my tango wardrobe. First things first.
2.Access some regular tango teaching that works for me. I.e. challenging and addresses my needs. If it is limited to 3 or 4 private lessons a year, then so be it.
3.Work on the social aspects of tango to increase the range of people I regularly dance with. This is going to mean travelling to distant milongas and probably asking strangers to dance.
4.Work on establishing a sense of connection in each and every dance.
 
If I may join this conversation and share some personal experience.

Mario7 certainly knows what he's talking about, note that he said "If someone wants to acquire fluent Spanish", the operative word here is fluent. And no, immersion is not only for children. It's a common misconception about language learning.

English is my second language, I studied for 10 years in school and was able to hold a passable conversation, but never became fluent until I spent a year in the US living with an American family, that was when I started to think in English, rather than thinking in my first language and translated to English.

I had a total-immersion German class, where we spoke only German from day one (never mind that we didn't undestand most of it), and in 2 years my German was as good as my 10-year schoolboy English. I picked up French rather easily, and passed an oral driving license test, when I lived in a French-speaking country for 7 months.

I disagree with Mario a bit about the Pimsleur method. I think the science behind the method is good. I found it to be very good and useful as a starting point for adults to pick up a new language. I followed the method and listened and practiced 30 minutes a day, and was able to converse in broken Chinese while working in China, and in broken Thai while working in Thailand, after lesson 10 or so. I found the Rosetta Stone method to be pretty useless, they advertise a lot on TV.

Anyway, sorry about the long post. I need to learn some Spanish and find some work in Argentina, not necessarily in that order.
 
flyhere said:
.... immersion is not only for children. It's a common misconception about language learning.

....that was when I started to think in English, rather than thinking in my first language and translated to English..
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As a binational, and one who tutors languages, this is spot on.
 
Angel HI said:
As a binational, and one who tutors languages, this is spot on.
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Well, I got my audio CDs yesterday, and I'm listening to them in the car, in the journey to and from work. The first one is "pure vocab" - it's a 200-word learning exercise, using mental association images.

I'm up to about 80 now, should have it finished by the end of the week. After the CDs, I may go for either private tuition or public courses.

I'm not looking for fluency, and there's zero opportunity for me to acquire immersion, so my ambitions are far more limited; I'd just like to get to "basic" level this year.

We shall just have to see how it goes...
 
Dave Bailey said:
... there's zero opportunity for me to acquire immersion, so my ambitions are far more limited; I'd just like to get to "basic" level this year....
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..after basic the next step to fluency (barring other opportunities) is looking/listening to Spanish language TV (preferably from BsAs on your PC)..start with all the daily news, get fluent in your comprehension and the rest will take care of itself.There is an excellent News TV internet site in BsAs.
http://www.tn.com.ar/
as well as a great Tango radio station with hundreds of podcasts about tango music in Spanish.
http://www.tangocitytour.com.ar/


..There, now I've already broken my New Year's resolution to quit posting in Tango forums..:(
 
Dave Bailey said:
....there's zero opportunity for me to acquire immersion, so my ambitions are far more limited; I'd just like to get to "basic" level this year. We shall just have to see how it goes...
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There is iTunes, as well. There are several conversational podcasts there which one may listen to for free. Of course, the transliteration is the most difficult part, and if there are no ops for one to do this, yes, learning can be difficult.
 
Angel HI said:
There is iTunes, as well. There are several conversational podcasts there which one may listen to for free. Of course, the transliteration is the most difficult part, and if there are no ops for one to do this, yes, learning can be difficult.
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I've done CD1 now - 100 words learnt. I now now what "salida" means :)
 
Dave Bailey said:
I've done CD1 now - 100 words learnt. I now now what "salida" means :)
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I really liked the "Coffee Break Spanish" podcasts. I hate learning long lists of mostly useless vocabulary, and endless verb conjugations.

it was a nice compromise for learning the more commonly used parts for general conversation.

Good luck! I need to work on my Spanish more also this year.
 
Angel HI said:
There is iTunes, as well. There are several conversational podcasts there which one may listen to for free. Of course, the transliteration is the most difficult part, and if there are no ops for one to do this, yes, learning can be difficult.
Click to expand...

Would you list a few that you like?
 
Hmmm... topic, topic, what was the topic...
Oh yes, tango resolutions for 2010.

I will do my best to avoid getting drawn into pointless debates..
Oh blast, I've already failed!
 
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