Question about a website.
This website has caused me to reconsider if I should consider studying. I generally read bbb.co.uk/mundo or prensalibre.com with a fair degree of success and I thought I was perhaps heading to low intermediate.
Wow, did www.diariolibre.com every put me in my place ! I find this website to be so much harder than the other two that I mentioned that were obviously flattering my basico uno abilities.
4 Answers
It applies to whatever you read, some people write in an easy style, others are harder to follow. Just persevere, or read the ones you find easier.
Or, read the same text two or three times. I used to have to read the books by Clara Sánchez two or three times, now I don't but I still have to read Lorenzo Silva twice. Well, I'm too lazy, but I ought to read it twice.
Just find something you enjoy, then you improve without noticing.
Tessa, don't give up. Tell us a little more about how you are learning. In my humble opinion, you need to do a little more than just read Spanish news in order to learn Spanish. You should have some kind of training (and I use that term loosely). An audio course, for example, would get you into the basics of the language, or whatever type of learning you find best for you. As you progress, the news reading will become easier.
I have been studying (through audio courses mainly) for almost 2 years. My wife gave me the Spanish translation of Old Man and the Sea because I love to fish, and she knew I was learning Spanish. It took me almost a full year to read such a short book. The English version I would have read in a few days.
When I first started it, I was having to look up just about every other word or phrase. After a couple of weeks, it was maybe every sixth or seventh. After a while longer, it was maybe in every third sentence I had to look something up. By the time I reached the end, I was able to get through about every other page without looking 1 or 2 things up.
One tip I got was to read newspapers, because they generally use everyday language. He said to read without looking up every word you don't know, because you will get the gist of the story. As you see words or phrases being used over and over, look those up because those are obviously quite common words or phrases.
Just keep plugging away at it, and try different things. It will get easier. ¡Buena suerte!
What do you need translated from there?
WinkFish, .
I take Skype lessons everyday of the week, one hour, two at the weekends. I've been studying for a longtime, just not progressing too far.
On the telly I find politicians the easiest to understand as they speak slowly.
I can probably have a conversation with someone if they want to have a conversation with me, but equally well - they could have a conversation amongst themselves and I probably wouldn't understand a word.
I am convinced that it is almost impossible to become proficient without total immersion.
I was aiming for low intermediate, but I seem to be stuck at the old basico uno.
