I will keep an eye out for your next one Stu. Before I started I tried to memorise a few sentences that I was comfortable with but ended up saying completely different stuff. Good luck 
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Thanks but I think the credit belongs to SSi not me, Iāve never been able to get the hang of any attempts at learning a language so Iām really not a fast learner, itās definitely got to be the method involved that somehow makes it stick.
Sorry for a million questions, but would you recommend continuing with my plan to forge ahead with level 2 before my trip, or would I get more benefit from the Tourist course?
Just to explain a little, we are going to a very touristy town near Malaga called Benalmadena, where we go every year. But although we are based in that area we travel around to all the little Spanish villages that are so far, mostly, untouched by tourism. In previous years we have had a few very quiet days as the locals donāt speak English and our Spanish didnāt go beyond asking for a beer. Itās in these places that Iād like to be able to say a few Spanish phrases, even if Iām not that competent Iām assured people appreciate the effort!! So, not sure if the Tourist Course or Level 2 would be best - canāt fit them both in before I go 
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Thank you! I think Iām getting somewhere with the methodology (although still plenty of fine-tuning to do) - but thereās absolutely no way it can work unless you bring your own hard work and motivation to the party - so I remain extremely impressed with how brilliantly youāre doing 
As for Tourist vs Level 2 - for you - go Level 2, all the way. The tourist stuff opens up some extra vocab, but youāll be able to ask for that anyway - while Level 2 will get you deep into some really flexible patterns - with your genuinely excellent levels of production based on Level 1, youāll be able to get stuck into some hugely impressive real conversations with Level 2 under your belt.
But really, really push yourself to get at least one 2 hour conversation before you go - itāll be like unlocking the flood gates for youā¦
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Thanks Aran, spent a bit of time reading through old posts on the forum this evening and have come across one thatās got me worried - latinamerican vs castillian Spanish. It hadnāt even occurred to me before now, I was just running off at a tangent with the challenges - but Iām now concerned no-one will understand me anyway as itās the āwrongā Spanish for where Iām goingā¦
Off to bed now but would welcome any advice on this - are they massively different?
And yes - will do that 2 hour chat before I go, have signed up to italki 
Thanks as always for your response and help!
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Hola Nikki,
This is Gaby, the male voice of SSiS. Donāt worry about any differences between Latinamerican vs Peninsular Spanish, you will be understood everywhere with SSiS. To put it in perspective, some words change depending on the country you go to, and there are some small differences in the pronunciation of certain words, same as you see between American and British English. But EVERYONE will understand your Spanish anywhere you go. If anything, they will think you have a cute Argentinean accent, if you imitate my pronunciation 
Buenas noches,
Gaby
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lol thanks Gaby, Iāll try to do that 
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Yeah, as Gaby says, do NOT worry about this. Iāve talked Spanish to people from Murcia, Basque Country, Madrid, Argentina, Uruguay - the only problem has been my ability to express myself, not their ability to understand me - and the major problem with understanding them has always been speed, never dialect (it can give you the occasional hiccup, but no more than that). Make sure youāre doing the accelerated listening exercises every day, and youāll have given yourself the best possible shotā¦
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No progress on getting a recording down yet I am afraid. A bit of domestic drama involving an ambulance and a scare with the granddaughter put paid to any chance of doing one. All was okay though, so maybe Iāll get la oportunidad soon!
Ā”Chao!
Stu
Ā”Hola!
Making this unscripted recording I found very hard, mainly because I felt that I could not really say that much just speaking, without a real context. Its a poor attempt and I know a lot more vocab that I managed to say in the 1 minute recording, but I am hoping it will act as a springboard for future unscripted recordings. It will be great when I can look at a picture, say, and then talk about that, as that would at least give some focus and structure. Hopefully I can do as well as Nikki in the future, when I have gotten up to Challenges 16+ā¦!
So for what its worth, here it is:
Ā”Chao!
Stu
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Wow youāre a very harsh critic on yourself - that was fab! I understood it all, even that you speak a little Welsh (although Iād forgotten that word myself). Now you speak a little Spanish too!
WTG
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Wow!! Congratulations Stu, that was really very impressive! I donāt think Iāve ever listened to other students do an unscripted monolog using SSiS material; it must say it sounds completely fluent. Listening I can tell that it is certainly the voice of a foreign person speaking, but I would easily have assumed that you have been living in a Spanish speaking country for a long time. Well done, keep at it!
Gaby
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Glad to hear all ok
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I am I am afraid. I feel that I did not use much in the way of the vocabulary I know and I felt very restricted and repetitive because I did not really have anything to say in a real sense. But many, many thanks for your kind words!
Stu
Many thanks Gaby, coming from you that is praise indeed.
Iām not happy with it because it felt very forced and artificial. I would much rather have more ums and ahs, and actually say something more ārealā to be honest - something that forced me to produce the Spanish more naturally than a monologue, and something that stretched my vocabulary more (say a question and answer or describing something). I think one issue is that although by now I have a fair number of patterns, I am still limited in what I can actually talk about subject-wise. I also think I bailed out very early in the piece at the end, because I felt brain freeze coming on. I should have let myself fight through that rising panic of not having anything to say, and actually said something like no puedo recordar lo que queria decir, nesecito pensar rather than just chao! I just keep thinking of what I could have said to keep it goingā¦
Nevertheless, many thanks again, and yes, I will keep at it. Another recording will come along soon no doubt.
Hasta pronto,
Stu
But thatās because recording yourself speaking a monologue IS forced and artificial!
Your levels of production here are absolutely excellent, Stu - as Gaby says, anyone would presume that youād been doing this for a very long time.
Of course you still have limitations - youāre on challenge 13! Youāve got 6 hours of material under your belt! But your ability to communicate with those 6 hours of material is clearly excellent.
Youāre ready to put yourself into situations of forced communication - in other words, conversations, where you do NOT lapse back into English. Why not find yourself a partner, and then record yourself having a conversation?
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Great idea, Iāll try to do just that, thanks
Stu
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[quote=āaran, post:36, topic:5100ā]
Your levels of production here are absolutely excellent, Stu - as Gaby says, anyone would presume that youād been doing this for a very long time.
[/quote]
All the encouragement means a great deal, so muchas gracias Aran y Gaby with bells on! This has been a really useful exercise in getting back in touch with how new learners feel when they start out with SSi courses, so I am really grateful and hope I can use this renewed empathy with newcomersā experiences using the method, to help and encourage them better. The bonus is, Iām learning a great new language at the same time!
The SSi forums are really brilliant places to hang out and share experiences, so I hope we get more and more people chipping in and starting new Spanish threads 
ā¦
Hasta pronto,
Stu
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Youāre helping make it all much more lively, which will in due course lead to more people seeing the value in the forums, so diolch o galon am hynnaā¦ 
It sounds correct to me, essence. Good work!
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Nikkifoster, what you have got in a month time is awesome!
I wish I could make so much progress with my English.
You must say āquiero estar segurAā and not āquiero estar seguroā as you are a woman.
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