learning spanish

[thunderbolt]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: learning spanish, posted by kented on Jan 1, 2005

You are right, b/c knowing grammar is important.  And English does have grammar, believe me! - just not as complex as Spanish.

However, the main thing is to try to speak it.  I think most people are afraid to speak Spanish b/c they make mistakes in grammar or whatever - so what?  Like I wrote before somewhere, unless you learn a language before 8-10 y.o., you will not speak perfectly.  But it does not mean you can't speak well enough to enjoy the opportunities this skill gives you.

[kented]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Re: learning spanish, posted by thunderbolt on Jan 2, 2005

Absolutely correct.  You must try and use waht you know.  At the start, don't worry about mistakes, just talk and people will understand you.  [at least a little]  If you don't use it or wait until yopu are perfect, you'll never speak Spanish at all.

[utopiacowboy]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: learning spanish, posted by kented on Jan 1, 2005

One thing that I have noticed is that even native Spanish speakers get their conjugations screwed up occasionally. Either they are in a hurry and sloppy or do it accidentally but it happens. I will point it out to my wife and she will agree - yeah, they made a mistake.

[kented]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: Re: learning spanish, posted by utopiacowboy on Jan 2, 2005

Absolutely.  But the only spelling and pronunciation change we have in the present tense is adding an 's' in the third person singular.  All five present tense forms are different in Spanish and there is no pronoun to cover grammar errors. If sompeone says He talk Spanish no one will be confused.  But if someone says Hablo inglés it is different from Habla inglés.

I still need to correct myself on preterite and future forms and sometimes I forget the genders of nouns I don't use frequently.

About two years ago, I went to CR to spend five days with someone I had met on the Internet.  She had gone to a bilingual school and spoke excellent English even though she hadn't used it for twenty years.  We talked in each language about half the time and had no trouble communicating in Spanish or in English.

After a few days she asked me if I minded if she corrected me.  I said of course not.  After about a day I was frustrated that I was making so many errors and that she needed to correct me so often so I decided to do the same thing to her.

¡Que sopresa!  She hardly made any errors.  This really upset me but I started analyzing the errors I was making.  They were always verb endings or adjective-noun agreement, mistakes she didn't have to worry about in English.  

I teach college ESL and constantly emphasize to my students that irregulariites in English pronunciation are by far the biggest challenge in learning English.  For gringos, Spanish pronunciation is relatively easy because everything is pronounced only one way.  But we have a ton more grammar to master if we want to speak well.

[charlieRSJ]

... in response to Re: learning spanish, posted by pablo on Jan 1, 2005

Thanks for the tips everyone.Looks like Pimsleur tapes/cds are the best way to go for now.also,Pablo..ive been the reading the posts for awhile now and not too long ago i think you mentioned something about getting an apartment in Medellin and having rooms for gringos to rent from you while they visit(like Pete in Cali)You still thinking along these lines?..Im a member at Colombian Sweethearts and have read mostly nice things about them and had thought that id probably use their services while there but,it'd be nice if there were also other options.In other words in would be great to meet non-agency girls too..heh..for lack of a better term.also,i loved the story about the furniture store girl...what ever became of her? just curious..Charlie

[pablo]

... in response to Re: Re: learning spanish, posted by charlieRSJ on Jan 1, 2005


Hola Charlie,

Yes, I did get an apartment in Medellin but as it's only a two bedroom/bath so I don't have rooms to rent.  Drop me an email before you come back to Medellin and I can give you a couple other options besides staying at the hotels or agencies.

Ah yes, the furniture store lady.  As a matter of fact we are still dating.  A very sweet gal.

Later,

Pablo

[Looking4Wife]

... in response to learning spanish, posted by charlieRSJ on Jan 1, 2005


I am struggling with the same problem, so what I did was the following...

I logged on to my local library website and did a search for all the Audio/Visual Spanish learning materials, since I was targeting CD/Tape sets to start listening to while in my car.

After reviewing at least a dozen, I am most impressed with the "Pimsleur" program.  You can do an internet search to get more info on that program.  Basically it is the ONLY true ALL AUDIO program that I found.  It is just simple repetition of phrases, and each side of each tape adds more phrases.  The phrases are based on a conversation that they play at the beginning of each tape side, and the goal is that by the end of each tape side that you actually could participate in that brief conversation.

For me, that has been the best learning method to get started.  If I was forced to use a book also to begin learning, it just wouldn't happen.  Obviously I plan to read after I get down some audio basics, but if I ain't enrolled in a class, where I am accountable to a teacher then it won't get done in a timely manner.

The other programs I review seemed to be AFRAID to use the tried and true method of repetition, as if they thought it was too simple.  They would say something once, maybe twice, in spanish and english and then move on to the next word/phrase.  Yeah that worked out well... NOT.

[thunderbolt]

... in response to learning spanish, posted by charlieRSJ on Jan 1, 2005

First of all, the main rule: to learn a language you have to use it.  You can't just sit down, read books for a year every evening and learn it; certainly if you have time, do learn grammar, but in order to learn words you have to use them.

Having said that, there are books sold that are basically vocabulary tutors that break words down by concepts (i.e., one page lists all the vegetables, another page lists all the fishes, etc.)  Buy a book, and try to write a sentence or two using each of those words; that will give extra practice and help you learn better.

Another technique is to buy the same book in spanish and english (I recommend Gabriel Garcia Marquez b/c this way you will learn a great deal about the country as well), and read them side by side.  Write down words you don't know, and again try to make sentences using them to learn them.

Try to listen to Latin radio stations or watch Latin TV channels (Univision, CNN in Spanish, etc.).

But the main tool is as you mentioned yourself, being in a situation when you have to speak it - nothing tops that.  If you learn all those words, but don't use them, you will forget them.

Good luck!