Any tips for learning Spanish?

Discussion in 'Education and Academia' started by Transparent_Human, Oct 16, 2013.

  1. Transparent_Human

    Oct 15, 2006
    Pale blue dot
    Club:
    Celtic FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Mauritius
    Anyone got any?

    I am determined to learn so I can get into a Latin American studies MA program in a few years. Even though my interest is more geographical/environmental I still obviously need to have good speaking/reading skills. (I want to work for a while first so I have time)

    Anyone got any tips? I am planning on enrolling in some CC classes, though I tried Spanish 1 a grand total of twice in college and withdrew both times (awful, awful instructor). I took Spanish in high school as well, but the class was such a joke I learned almost nothing.

    I have a few books I am going to start with........and I watch a fair amount of Spanish media/listen to Spanish music. I have heard this can be helpful if you read the subtitles and lyrics while listening.
     
  2. EvanJ

    EvanJ Member+

    Manchester United
    United States
    Mar 30, 2004
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm not commenting about how it works because I haven't used it, but have you considered buying Rosetta Stone or another program to teach you Spainsh?
     
  3. Transparent_Human

    Oct 15, 2006
    Pale blue dot
    Club:
    Celtic FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Mauritius

    I have heard mixed reviews about them. I dabbled around a bit in the French one my friend used to use, and I wasn't really impressed.

    I think for the money I can do better.
     
  4. SpencerNY

    SpencerNY Member+

    Dec 1, 2001
    Up in the skyway
    Lower level college courses, Rosetta Stone, text books etc, when taken by themselves are absolute worthless garbage. In the most ideal situation (for a non-native speaker) you would want to be attending a spanish class in a spanish speaking country, totally immersed in all things spanish. You probably aren't going to do something that, so here are some other things you should do if REALLY want to learn spanish:

    1. Take some college courses, but realize the beginning ones, no matter how good your teacher is, they will only give you a rudimentary foundation for the language. You will learn lots of vocab, pronunciation, useful phrases, grammar etc--but you will not become a spanish speaker. It would be like trying to fly an air plane by just reading a manual.

    2. You mentioned listening to music, media etc--you have to go way beyond that. When I would listen to a song, I wouldn't just try and understand the words, I would transcribe the entire song in spanish and then write out the entire english translation. News broadcasts are also also excellent because the vocabulary is often simpler, the newscasters tend to annunciate very clearly and use proper spanish.

    3. http://learner.org/series/destinos/--It's a spanish language soap opera especially made for spanish students. It's a great supplement to all of that book learning you would do in a class. It is cheesy as hell, but trust me, when you are a beginning student you really need to be realistic and tackle low-level stuff like this. If you try to jump right into things like spanish language movies (without subtitles) without a good foundation, you are going to be completely lost struggling with slang, idiomatic expressions etc.

    4. Practicing your speaking with fellow classmates isn't going to cut it--you need to go out and have conversations with native speakers. Academic courses are absolute garbage and not at all authentic learning situations where this is concerned.

    I took a 6 month intensive spanish course in the US for 8 hours a day, and did all of those things mentioned above (and much much more) and while I was probably the best student in the class, I wouldn't feel comfortable saying that I achieved fluency (that takes YEARS) or had the ability to read and write at the college level. Anyone who tells you that they taught themselves a language is either bs'ing or they are a rare freak of nature. It takes lots of time and effort.



    4.
     
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  5. casaartearch

    casaartearch Member

    Nov 19, 2011
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Rosetta Stone is an investment so if you purchase you must commit to completing the entire program; when learning English I found that full immersion works best. Posibly spend an extended time here in a Spanish speaking country/community, add radio, television, newspapers, general interest magazines, ect
     
  6. marjus

    marjus New Member

    Oct 18, 2016
    UK
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    The best way to learn any language is to go to the desired country and immerse yourself there. There is no quitting once you are there and you will learn fast as you will have to speak (or try to lol ) 24/7
     
  7. nicklaino

    nicklaino Member+

    Feb 14, 2012
    Brooklyn, NY
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Go live in Italy or a Spanish speaking country for a few years. After that you will be able to speak it.

    I lived in Germany for a while in the 80's I fought trying to speak German. There were plenty of people their who could speak English so I never picked it up. In 2001 my daughter got an award from the German consulate for German language and culture while attending Columbia University we are not of German decent. But then again my father's father's first name was Adolf. :) She went for a semester in Berlin University. When she graduated from Columbia in 2002. She immediately relocated to Germany. Who knew she would fall in love with the place and a man she met there. She has been living there ever since.
     
  8. NHRef

    NHRef Member+

    Apr 7, 2004
    Southern NH
    You have to, HAVE TO, speak it as much as possible. You can take all the classes you want, but speaking it, and hearing it, is what you need to do. I married into a family that is all fluent in German (wife is an air force brat, mother in law is German). I took the classes etc. but I learned WAY MORE just being at their house. My in laws speak German to each other routinely. I am far from fluent and if I had to write it I'd be lost, read it almost lost, but when I hear it I can usually know what is being said. I can speak good enough to get my point across.

    If you don't have a place to speak it, you're simply not going to learn it.
     
  9. Klimpt

    Klimpt New Member

    Aug 24, 2015
    Club:
    CA River Plate
    Motivation is probably the most important tool to have. I read recently that kids learn better when they are more motivated.
     

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