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Intermediate Spanish: Understanding spoken Spanish
Intermediate Spanish: Understanding spoken Spanish

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7.2 Listening for detail

Now watch Amalia again and focus on the details she provides in the video. Which of these things does Amalia mention?

Actividad 29

Select the correct answer from the drop-down menu.

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Box 8: Shadow reading (2)

As you practised in section 6.2, shadow reading using a transcription of the words by the speakers is a good technique to practise listening, reading and speaking. As before, listen to the video material at least once to become familiar with the pronunciation and the content. When you think you are familiar with it, try to imitate the speaker by reading his or her words from the transcript. You can try to talk at the same time as the speaker, or you can wait until he or she finishes the sentence and then pause the video and read out loud what he or she said.

Actividad 30

Now that you have heard a bit of Amalia’s story, think of how she comes across and of how you would describe her personality. Then listen to another extract and pay attention to the words she uses to talk about her personality. Even if you don’t understand every detail of Amalia’s description of herself, you’ll see that by understanding just a few words, in this case adjectives, you’ll be able to deduce a lot of the rest and build up a picture of what Amalia is like. Make a note of all the adjectives you hear that describe her.

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Answer

You may not have heard or understood all the characteristics of Amalia’s personality but by imagining them in advance, you may have been able to anticipate some of the adjectives she uses to describe herself. Amalia uses the following:

  • alegre (happy)

  • simpática (friendly)

  • abierta (extrovert)

  • buena persona (a good person)

  • trabajadora (hard working)

  • divertida (fun)

She also explains that she get angry quite quickly. For this final trait she uses a colloquial expression

  • me enfado con una rapidez que no veas” which means “you wouldn’t believe how quickly I get angry”.