This post is long overdue, but hey, better later than never!
So how did I do in the second part of my Spanish mission (it lasted from July 15th to Aug 16th)? I think, pretty well. I’m very pleased. 🙂 Here is why.
As mentioned in the previous post, on the last day of the month, I had a natural conversation in Spanish with a Spanish native for 10 minutes! It was a much more natural setting than a language learning meetup as we discussed topics that I would have discussed in English (like dancing and living in San Francisco) instead of language learning topics. So that’s a win!
Also, an online test (http://www.spanish-test.net/) says I have passed A1 level! At the end of previous month I was at 63% percent and you need 70% to pass. Now I’m at 83% of A1 and 57% at the next level up – A2 (also need 70% to pass). It seemed that the difference between A1 and A2 is that in A1 mostly grammar is tested, whereas in A2 in addition a more complicated vocabulary is tested.
In total I spent 37 hours 53 minutes studying Spanish in month 2. On average 73 minutes each day (ranging from 55 minutes per day in one week to 90 minutes per day in another week). I’m very pleased with this. Remember all this time is on the go, while waiting for something, on the commute. It’s not like I sit down at the desk and study Spanish.
On average I spent 44 minutes per day of listening to podcasts and 19 minutes learning via Memrise. Not enough speaking (10 minutes in total) or writing (13 minutes in total).
Below is the table with all the stats 🙂
|
Minutes of studying time per week
|
Week 5
|
Week 6
|
Week 7
|
Week 8
|
+3 days
|
TOTAL mins per month
|
Average mins per day
|
|
Memrise
|
112
|
170
|
123
|
135
|
54
|
594
|
19
|
|
Duolingo
|
66
|
82
|
49
|
45
|
21
|
263
|
8
|
|
Podcasts
|
209
|
228
|
254
|
441
|
235
|
1367
|
44
|
|
Videos
|
11
|
5
|
16
|
1
|
|||
|
Writing
|
13
|
13
|
0
|
||||
|
Speaking
|
10
|
10
|
0
|
||||
|
Total minutes
|
387
|
490
|
426
|
632
|
338
|
2273
|
73
|
|
Total hours
|
6h:27m
|
8h:10m
|
7h:06m
|
10h37m
|
5h38m
|
37h:53m
|
1h:13m
|
|
Average mins/day each week
|
55
|
70
|
61
|
90
|
113
|
Let’s see how I did against my own goals for the second part of the Spanish mission. Here they are (from http://www.diana.is/2014/07/announcing-my-next-spanish-learning.html) plus my comments of the end of month status:
* study every single day, aim for at least half an hour a day, but less is ok too => overachieved spectacularly with 73 minutes on average per day and I didn’t skip a single day.
* keep Duolingo streak with at least one lesson a day => done!
* at the end of it be able to have a half an hour long conversation => I had 10 minute long conversation with a native. Not quite half an hour, but I think its close enough. I think I get bonus points for a conversation with a native in a normal situation instead of a language meetup partner. 🙂
That’s all for now. But don’t fret, there will be part 3 of my Spanish mission! 🙂