A Nubie, scubie!

[Cap'n Jib]

This is to help a Newie get up and running in the Spanish language. Guaranteed? Of course not. But……

Having purchased just about every language course anyone has ever put out on the market, (I will not list the different languages), I can say with absolute guarantee that the language programs have to be used…they will not USE themselves.

I have tried to put text books under my pillows, that definitely does not work. I have dozed off while listening to language tapes, didn’t learn anything either. However, my beauty sleep seems to have worked as the little kids do not run off screaming when they first look at me. (Ok so they still run away, but this my post and I am NOT going to let a few facts and/or inconvenient truths get in my way.)

So what does work?

At my ‘so called’ level of Spanish, I am, for the most part, relearning what I should have learned correctly….the first time. What I mean is that we get in a comfort zone, and enjoy the warm fuzzies that occur in that zone and start to think that good enough IS good enough. I was, let’s see…what is the word…DESPERATE to communicate! It was “damn the modifiers, adjectives and grammatical garbage and ‘full speed ahead’. Well those days are gone. :mad:

So now, when I am viewing a documentary, reading an email or reviewing those things econ-comical, I use a flash card program by Transparent Language called “Before You Know It (BKYI)” and bone up on my Spanish (blunders). Link: http://www.transparent.com/

The prices range from $49 dollars to $69 dollars. With a couple of other programs (Panoramic Language and the like), a guy can spend under $119 and get some fairly sophisticated language stuff but more to the point EASY to use!

A gringo can read, listen and repeat, a word and get IMMEDIATE reinforcement (‘course if you guess wrong, you are corrected). The lessons are short and manageable 5 to 10 minutes max.

In short, if you don’t have the time to ‘formally’ learn the Spanish language (like you are getting married in a couple of weeks and/or your novia is giving birth in a couple of weeks), this program might just the thing for you!

[Ciza29]

C n J, I have used "Before You Know It". I like it but consider it more of a vocabulary builder. I like how it has sections on things like vegetables, animals, etc so you can focus on what you think you might need.

[Cap'n Jib]

Ciza,

You are quite right, it started out as a vocabulary builder. It has now morphed into much more. Two actual text books have been entered into their learning platform.

“Conmigo’ by Holt, Rinehart and Winston http://www.byki.com/tag/Conmigo
and ”the Realidades Textbook series”. http://www.byki.com/tag/Textbook

It also has an edited version of Pablito’s Project to replace the original list of “501 Spanish verbs” which we ALL know and love. IMO, anyone who masters the 501 should be able to stumble along quite nicely in Spanish.http://www.byki.com/lists/Spanish/Pablito-39-s-Project.html


The BKYI Deluxe version also has the capabilities of downloading to an Ipod.


What I do, mainly because 1) I am easily distracted, 2) lazy, and/or 3) forgetful, I put the silly screen up on my computer with the understanding and commitment that I can not delete it UNTIL I have gone through that particular exercise. Short and sweet!

While it may not work for everyone, it seems harmless enough for me.

[Ciza29]

I did not know about the other books. I will have to give it a look. Thanks for the information.

[Benjio]

I used Rosetta Stone at first...yeah, fell for the hype. Not a bad program but definitely not sufficient enough for learning to have in depth conversations.

Spanish is a very logical language. If you're not a native speaker, forming a sentence is like solving a calculus problem. You know a certain set of processes and rules, then you put them all together to form a statement. Its logical nature actually makes it an easier language to speak (notice I said speak, not learn).

Vocabulary is the easy part. There are so many nouns in Spanish that sound or at least look almost exactly the same as they do in English, I've never had a problem with this. What is truly difficult is verb conjugation. I'm not talking about present and past tense either. That's the easy stuff. I'm talking about the present subjunctive, conditional, etc. Stuff you're not going to use in the average everyday conversion, but still very important when you're trying to express yourself and not sound like an idiot in the process.

The best way to learn these is using them with a native speaker who's not afraid to correct you. There's no substitute for actually using the language. Take a guy that has spent ten years in a Spanish speaking country trying to learn on the fly and compare him to a guy that when to school for the same amount of time to get a doctorate in the language. In my opinion, the guy that lived abroad will probably blow the good doctor out the water everytime.

[Brent]

One of the things that really helped my ear for the language was watching telenovelas (Spanish soap operas). I spent 3 years in high school studying Spanish, but that was only marginally useful. Later, in my twenties, I would hang out with Spanish-speaking friends and watch the novelas. Most of them were made in Mexico, so some of the slang was specific to that country. Also, they tended to say some of the same phrases over and over, and the repetition worked wonders for me.

[wizeone]

I use Speak in a Week. I am having a very difficult time learning the Spanish language.
I will try some of the suggestions above.. hopefully I will get it!

[Jim]

I am fluent in French, Spanish and am learning Tagalog. I've spent about 175 hours so far on Tagalog and can say and understand only a little. I would guess that it takes 400 hours to get conversant and then you keep studying.

My approach is simply to buy a text book. In the US, I'd take a language course at a community college which is cheap and the text is q required part of the class. It's the cheapest way and it works fine for me. It's also the "traditional way".

Other hints:

(1) Writing stuff down reinforces learning. Much more time consuming and effective than just doing stuff orally.
(2) Make a vocabulary list on a computer spreadsheet and make self testing and revising the list [adding new words, eliminating ones you have mastered] part of each lesson.
(3) Always put the lessons as you learn them into real life situations and imagine using a sentence in your daily transactions in the country.
(4) I use Tagalog every day even though I sucl at it. Here supposedly everyone speaks English but they don't so it is really appreciated, No one ever tells me I suck at Tagalog. They are impressed that I make the effort.
(5) People will indeed understand if you say la libro, el mesa or yo quiere hablar espanol. Use the pronouns while you are learning so that if you get the verb ending wrong people will still know who you are talking about. As Cap'n says, we all need to review grammar again and again to improve.

As far as confidence, you will find that smart people will understand broken Spanish better than people who are less educated. It's very frustrating to have a sentence mostly correct and not be understood because of a slight error in pronunciation. A smart person will still understand you.

"Speak in a week" is bull****. This can't be done. It takes lots of hard work. Weather you buy an expensive program or go the self taught method, time and effort will achieve success, In Costa Rica in 2003, after I was fluent in Spanish I read in Spanish all the time which really improved my vocabulary. I never read in English.

[rpcv]

Originally Posted by Brent

One of the things that really helped my ear for the language was watching telenovelas (Spanish soap operas).

Colombian women are amused when I tell them that watching those Mexican telenovelas accounts for about 50% of how I learn Spanish and I agree learning certain phrases that get repeated often is important. Es por eso que, and other ones that seem to get spoken a lot. I try to listen to the Spanish radio everyday for a few hours and I have translated songs that I like into English. This helps because when I hear the songs, I remember the English words and after awhile, the Spanish words make sense.

I try to stay in the present tense most of the time when speaking and if I do not know a word, I will use other words to describe the word I am trying say. On the phone, if the girl doesn't understand how I pronounced something, I will spell it by saying for ex, "O" the same as Oscar, "I" the same as Isabel, until I've spelled the word. That usually works.

[Jim]

rpcv,

Translating Spanish songs is helpful and loads of fun. Thalia, Shakira, Paulina Rubio, Juanes, Mana. I've also seen them all in concert. Great idea.

Shortcut to the future...use the verb ir (to go) + infinitive

(Yo) voy a hablar [I am going to talk...I will talk], (nosotros) vamos a buscar [we are going to look for...we will look for]

Now you can use the future.

Shortcut for the past...use the verb acabar de [to have just] + infinitive

(Yo) acabo de hablar [I have just talked...I talked], (nosotros) acabamos de buscar [we have just looked for...we looked for]

Now you can use the past.

Those are survival tricks I learned using French. Not perfect but people understand