Notes in Spanish plans

[Marbella]

The part of NFS I look forward to most is the Notes in Spanish podcast. I've not found a competitor to this, although some try (unsuccessfully I feel). I'd like one every 2 weeks, is that roughly how often they come out?

As Notes in Spanish is for fairly advanced learners (I definitely couldn't manage without the transcript and some help at home) are there any plans to create a series at intermediate level?

I think this could sell well, as a printed book with an attached set of podcasts (as opposed to cassette tapes/CD's as in other books). Could this be the first Spanish course to use podcasts for the listening material?? It would also encourage learners to progress to the advanced material at a later stage.

I think an attractive selling point of this book/concept is the fact that Ben went to Spain, without speaking a word of Spanish, and then within a few years reached enough fluency to be interviewed on live radio!! This is inspirational and could be a good selling point in the promotional material.

A book I use is called Further Spanish and it is part of the Breakthrough series. I did a 1 week intensive course at Sussex university many years ago and one or more of the language department heads was involved in the production of this book. It uses interviews with Spaniards and clips from radio programmes as the core of all learning in the book. I remember the tutors on the course, who were all Spaniards, complaining that being forced to use this book was difficult for them because the speakers on the audios would make mistakes and they (the tutors) would spend too long explaining why that was wrong to people of only an intermediate level. Now I am more advanced, I think this adds to the experience. Take Marina's correction of Ben in the last one on the use of por and de. I remember that and it helped me.

I like the Notes in Spanish subject matter because it tackles interesting and adult themes. I really think using some of the material from them could create a competitor to the Breakthrough course I still use today.

[Ben]

The part of NFS I look forward to most is the Notes in Spanish podcast. I've not found a competitor to this, although some try (unsuccessfully I feel). I'd like one every 2 weeks, is that roughly how often they come out?

As Notes in Spanish is for fairly advanced learners (I definitely couldn't manage without the transcript and some help at home) are there any plans to create a series at intermediate level?

Thanks again Marbella for the input! You'll be glad to hear that NIS Intermediate is already well and truly on the drawing board and hopefully the first episode will be out soon.

At the moment the Notes in Spanish are coming out once every 10 to 15 days. Our aim is to consistently produce one a week before long.

[Marbella]

Thanks again Marbella for the input! You'll be glad to hear that NIS Intermediate is already well and truly on the drawing board and hopefully the first episode will be out soon.

At the moment the Notes in Spanish are coming out once every 10 to 15 days. Our aim is to consistently produce one a week before long.

Fantastic news!!! I'm really looking forward to that.

[Alan]

I think an attractive selling point of this book/concept is the fact that Ben went to Spain, without speaking a word of Spanish, and then within a few years reached enough fluency to be interviewed on live radio!! This is inspirational and could be a good selling point in the promotional material.

No disrespect to Ben, but anyone immersed in the country would be able to pick up the language to a high level of fluency in less than a year. The inspirational part is simply that Ben was willing to just up sticks and go.

[Ben]

No disrespect to Ben, but anyone immersed in the country would be able to pick up the language to a high level of fluency in less than a year. The inspirational part is simply that Ben was willing to just up sticks and go.
Give it a try!!!!

The picking up the language bit does take a hell of concerted effort, it has to be said. Very rewarding though!

[Brian]

It doesn't hurt being married to a native speaker, either! ;D

It's amazing how quickly my Spanish has come back to me over the last 3 months as my wife and I have attempted to converse nearly entirely in Spanish. Quite difficult at times, but certainly worth the effort.

[Edith]

Give it a try!!!!

The picking up the language bit does take a hell of concerted effort, it has to be said. Very rewarding though!

The older you get, the harder it becomes to learn a new language. I used to pick up languages really fast, especially English, but things have slowed down quite a bit over the past ten years or so. With middle age approaching, I don't think I will ever become truly fluent in Spanish since I don't live in a Spanish-speaking environment.

Although I understand your podcasts very well (almost 100%) I'm still struggling with shows like Cuéntame cómo pasó and Ana y los siete... Will I ever learn to understand those rapid-fire dialogues? :confused: I have been watching TVE on a daily basis for a couple of years now and still I feel I'm not making any significant progress as far as my listening skills are concerned... am I being too pessimistic? What do you think? I even use a headset when I'm watching Spanish TV. The news bulletins are not a problem any more and neither are most documentaries, but movies are still a disaster. However, I feel I'm making some progress understanding España en directo. So I will keep trying!

P.s.: my reading skills seem to be evolving much faster. Dunno why.

[Marina]

I still find English/American telly or films very hard sometimes. It really depends on the accent and the speed they speak at.

There is this program in radio 4 that we usually listen to in the car while traveling in England. I can't remember the name, but more or less this is how it goes: they give a subject and the guests have to speak for 60 seconds about it without using the word, nor repeating the ones they've used.
Last year in a trip to Cormwall I understood a whole program. I was so happy:):),
specially as they can't repeat words usually they use terms that are not that common.
Unfortunately on the way back from the same trip we listened to the same program and obviously I couldn't understand a single word:'(:'(, the had really close accents from Irland and Northern England.

[Ben]

Although I understand your podcasts very well (almost 100%) I'm still struggling with shows like Cuéntame cómo pasó and Ana y los siete... Will I ever learn to understand those rapid-fire dialogues? :confused: I have been watching TVE on a daily basis for a couple of years now and still I feel I'm not making any significant progress as far as my listening skills are concerned...

Keep at it, you will definitely get there in the end. It really is just about familiarity, and only getting Spanish from TV is a slower process than if you were to live here or with a native speaker. But it will help and you will definitely continue to improve. And if it's any consolation, shows like Ana y los siete can still leave me asking Marina what some character just said if I'm really tired.

[Brian]

Where i get tripped up is when they throw out a word that I'm unfamiliar with, and I spend a few seconds searching my data banks for the word, and by the time that I figure out that I don't know that particular word, I'm a sentence behind. :( So expanding my vocab is the highest on my list at the moment.

Definitely, some accents are easier to understand than others. I find the news people on Radio Nacional de Espana to be quite clear, for the most part.

Keep at it, and don't get discouraged! :)

Brian

[Chiny]

There is this program in radio 4 that we usually listen to in the car while traveling in England. I can't remember the name, but more or less this is how it goes: they give a subject and the guests have to speak for 60 seconds about it without using the word, nor repeating the ones they've used.
That sounds like Just a minute. Understanding that programme must be particularly tricky as the speakers talk mostly nonsense, which is encouraged.

--
Chiny

[Ben]

Yup, that's the one!