best way to learn spanish

[henrylew2000]

Any helpful hints on learning spanish?  books, tapes, classes, etc.

[closedcircle]

This is my first post ever on any of these boards.

I was in Panama and Colombia, a few times in the mid 90s, before I was even on the internet.

I learned Spanish quite well.

Someone in Panama told me - If you want to learn Spanish, learn it on the street. I spent time where no one spoke any English. Colombia is better for that.

You need a book of verbs and a good grammar book. These let you know how the language works.

I recommend 501 Spanish Verbs (Paperback) by Christopher Kendris and Teach Yourself Spanish Grammar by Juan Kattan-Ibarra.

[papi]

get a colombian girlfriend...jaja

i prefer continuing education classes vs private lessons, etc

put a dictionary next to the toilet…instead of a magazine or newspaper

[fathertime]

I have used a combination of private lessons, and self-study.  I also take every opportunity I can to speak spanish to people I run across in day to day activities.  In Los Angeles I have many of those opportunities.

Buen Suerte

Fathertime

[Patrick]

Night classes in a junior college were best for me.  I tried self-directed learning with some books & tapes I found in chain bookstores.  Most of it was tourist oriented stuff.   It wasn't until I actually started classes that I really started to learn it.  After 15 semester units, I was fairly proficient in Spanish.

[drm64]

I would highly recommend the Rosetta Stone course yo may have seen advertised on tv. I first saw the ad in an airplane magazine and decided to get it after my first trip to Colombia. Believe it or not, after one month of study with this course 2 hours a day, I was able to call my friend in Colombia and have conversations. Following trips to Colombia I got by on my Spanish and didn't use a translator.

[Ken]

I don't know about Rosetta but a a typical summer school collge course in Spanish would be about two hours a day and the results shoud be pretty good.

[Montrealer]

Once you have the basics down, I liked to watch TV with subtitles.  Either english with spanish subs or vice versa.  Read along with the spanish subs.  It will improve your vocabulary and pronounciation dramatically.  At least for me.  Also immersing yourself 100% in the language forces your brain to learn quickly.  If you can spend alot of time with Latino people in your city or maybe study/work abroad.

[Chris F]

If you dont have the time for a college class. Pimsleur is one of the best listening programs out there. I used it to get a basic foundation of Spanish before meeting my wife in Peru in 2003. The program comes in three sets. Each set is a month of listening programs (one 30 minute lesson a day)  Each set is expensive. (about $225 new) BUT...when you are finished you can sell it used on Amazon.com and get back about 70 percent of your money because the program is in very high demand...

[tallguy44]

Chris F,

            Is there a starter set from Pimsleur? I went to eBay and looked around. There are a lot of different sets from them. An 8-cd set, a 5-cd set, etc. All claim to teach basic Spanish. I saw the more advanced lessons you mentioned. You're right, they're pricey. Would one of the lower priced basic sets be worth the money?

[Chris F]

Check out Amazon.com  under Pimsluer for Spanish I. This is the program with 30 lessons and the one you will want. The program sells used for $175.00 and up.New for about 225 When you are done with it...simply list it used again on Amazon and resell it. You will get the majority 80% or more of your money back. Trust me...this is what I did. Its a high demand item...you will not have trouble selling it..

Then buy the next one Pimsluer II and do the same thing again..resell it when your finished!!!! The same for Pimsluer III. When you are finished in three months...you will have a basic foundation enough to get by in South America....


You may also want to copy the discs as well to have them as a back up before reselling the originals.......


Good Luck!!!!!8)

[zack]

I ditto everyone's comments but before you study any Spanish, I would read a book called "Madrical's Magic Key to Spanish" by Margarita Madrical. It is a must-read for Spanish beginners. There are a lot of valuable short cuts that will allow you to memorize hundreds of Spanish words in a very short time.

For example, words that end in -tion in English end in -cion in Spanish:

abreviacion
celebracion
generacion
vacacion

(accents on the "o's")

With this simple rule alone you can memorized several hundred Spanish words quickly. There are about twenty similar short cuts.

[jim c]

   I agree. The book is the only book that teaches how to build spanish words by using endings plus root words. idad = ty  Universidad = University. She also teaches past tense so that you can speak about what you have done verses who you are. Also try Seymore Resnicks books on Amazon one has a 1500 word list of cognates which are words that are the same in Spanish as English. Hook

[jim c]

zack

 I agree. The book is the only book that teaches how to build spanish words by using endings plus root words. idad = ty  Universidad = University. She also teaches in past tense so that you can speak about what you have done verses who you are. Also try Seymore Resnicks books on Amazon one has a 1500 word list of cognates which are words that are the same in Spanish as English it is a nice vocabulary head start. Hook


 I tried to edit the second post but the software would not let me

[typher]

I like the idea of a dictionary next to the toilet(jajaja)... spanish chat sites are great ways to practice too.

typher

[utopiacowboy]

En la cama con una mujer.