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Whats the best and quickest way to build a basic vocabulary in spanish? Im sure immersing yourself in a spanish speaking community tops the list but thats not something im able to do just now.But for learning basic conversational spanish in the shortest amount of time,id be curious about your recommendations..and experiences.thanks oh,and by the way Okie man..Im in Oklahoma City myself so im particularly interested in how things develope for you. And like you,I myself am interested and focused on Medellin.later ya'll..Charlie

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

Charlie,

From my own experience I would not agree with those who say the best way to learn is to enroll in a community college course.  I took Spanish for one year in college and the problem is what really improves is your ability to read and write in Spanish.  A CC course will give you a good foundation in the basics of grammer.   However, what most people are after is the ability to talk to and understand other people.  In order to make the most progress quickly, start with language tapes.  Pimsleur is good, but very basic.  Mastering Spanish I & II by Barons (available on Amazon) is much more comprehensive and comes with a book.  I also highly recommend the book Learn Any Language by Barry Farber.  He describes a comprehensive method that is excellent, and the book is very motivational.  Also, check these two websites on learning languages.  They are both by a Swiss guy who is a self taught polyglot.  

http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/index.html

http://www.micheloud.com/FXM/LA/index.htm

If you use the language tapes daily you will be shocked by the progress you can make over a few months.  Good luck!

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

The starting point must be a community college course (cheapest and most convenient) of Spanish I and II.  That gives you most of the basic grammar and you can put your words together into correct sentences.

Along with this, buy People in Español.  The articles are short so you can take six months to finish an issue. (It doesn't really matter whether the gossip about JLo is four months old, esentially it never changes).  Also it is written for people with a tenth grade education so the vocabulary is conversational and common words are used.  It also teaches you about the Latina cuulture in the US.  

Getting good requires a lot of effort and interest.  In Costa Rica, I began reading novels in Spanish (I never read novels in the US).  I just finished reading all five Harry Potter books in Spanish.  That's how I spent my free time this year waiting for my wife to get her visa.

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

The Pimsleur Program is by far the best...but who wants to pay?  Download Bearshare at www.download.com  In the search field type in "Pimsleur Spanish"  All volumes are found.  You just save a lot of money.
Brandon

... in response to Re: learning spanish, posted by Brandon2253 on Jan 1, 2005


Brandon,

Thanks for the Bearshare tip being able to download the Pimsleur Spanish courses as there aren't too many libraries here in Medellin that would have them. Lol

Pablo

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

Pablo, why would you need the Pimsleur courses? You're doing the best Spanish course in the world, dude! The best place to learn Spanish es en la cama con una mujer hermosa. Speaking of libraries, the library system here amazes my wife. So much information and entertainment absolutely free courtesy of the taxpayers. Even her ESL classes at the local library are free.

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

Either a semester at a community college...

Or, one offered online.  This site has a very simple format--and some free instruction:  http://studyspanish.com/index.htm

Here's their top-ten list for, "Reasons to Learn Spanish:"

10. Over 400 million other people speak it -- why not you?
9. So you can order dinner in a Mexican restaurant.
8. So you can understand that little Taco Bell dog.
7. Penelope Cruz.  
6. Looks great on the old résumé.
5. Because you want to go to college.
4. Ricky Martin.  [We can all comfortably object to this one]
3. To expand your cultural horizons (and increase your chances of getting a date).  
2. Because your mommy told you to.

Finally (and, in conjunction with #3, quite befitting):

1. Because you want to travel to Spain, or Mexico, or California, or Colombia, or Argentina, or Venezuela, or Texas, or Peru, or Chile, or Cuba, or New York, or Ecuador, or Dominican Republic, or El Salvador, or Honduras, or Guatemala, or Nicaragua, or Bolivia, or Costa Rica, or Chicago, or Uruguay, or Puerto Rico, or Panama, or Paraguay or Florida or ...

Apart from those two options, consider buying some courses on CD, then study at your own pace.

Amazon.com is a start.  There you'll find among the best/cheapest CD courses available.  The accompanying reviews and customer feedback is a bonus, too.  Try www.amazon.com, then type in "Spanish cds", and an array of offerings will pop up.

And if you're really desperate, re-watch all movies on DVD that you own, with the option for Spanish subtitles turned on.

Peace out!

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

So you can understand the lyrics of Mana's songs - the greatest rock band in the world today!

... in response to One more reason, posted by utopiacowboy on Jan 1, 2005

Shakira, Thalia, Paulina Rubio, La Oreja de Van Gogh.  

This is another good method to improve your Spanish.  All these albums come with the words or you can get them off the Internet.

... in response to Mana and, posted by kented on Jan 1, 2005

There are bunches of them - Juanes comes to mind as well. Learning Spanish opens up a whole new world of good music.

... in response to One more reason, posted by utopiacowboy on Jan 1, 2005

Coldplay is a great lyrical rock band.

But, not worth it if you're trying to learn Spanish, hehe.

... in response to Re: One more reason, posted by doombug on Jan 1, 2005

I'm with you - I'm a big fan of Coldplay as well.

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


Hola Charlie,

One easy and effective way to learn conversational Spanish is by using the Pimsleur tapes/CD's.  Although the complete set is expensive, most public librarys have them.  The only drawback to the Pimsleur method is that grammar is not studied as it's listen and repeat but grammar can come later.

Pablo

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

That's my method. Listen and repeat - this is pretty much how an infant learns to talk. I know much less Spanish grammar than my wife knows English grammar but I can speak a passable Spanish and she can barely speak English. Grammar is highly overrated.

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

The challenge of English is pronunciation because there are lots of letters that can be pronounced several ways.  

English grammar is not the challege.  There are a lot more mistakes to be made speaking Spanish as a foreign language.  Adjectives agree with nouns...una foto bonita not ...  uno foto bonito and verb endings are required.  Since Spanish omits the pronoun if it is obvious, the wrong ending on a verb changes who you are tlaking about.

... 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.

... 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.

... 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.

... 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.

... 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

... 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

... 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.

... 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!