Best way to approach learning Spanish?

easyrider said:
Interesting responses...I've been really trying to be more adventurous with Spanish...if you fail the Spanish smile and nudge you on encouragement:)

Thing is most Spanish I've met recently are all very good English speakers so they must be doing something right.
Click to expand...


Do they? All of them? Or did you go out for a dinner / drink / orgy where some Spanish people were who smiled and nudged because you asked for a sandwich instead of the lube?

And what makes Spanish people better English speakers?
 
Start with the basic phrases and all that, but also watch a load of Spanish films and TV - I recommend starting with something like Alatriste with Viggo Mortensen. I think Spanish is harder to start with than, say, French because it's spoken so quickly.
 
Diddums said:
Ok, let's try again:

How do you know the Spanish will "smile and nudge you on encouragement" if you fail?

And what bearing does their ability in English have when deciding to learn a foreign language :confused:
Click to expand...

In my experience, people in most countries will appreciate you making the effort to try, I specifically remember my parents mentioning this talking about when they moved to Italy.

When I first came here, I found it massively disheartening that my (now) wife would laugh at me whenever I spoke Chinese, even after she'd explained that it wasn't because it was bad, but because I sounded like someone from Beijing (as my teacher was from there, and I went to uni in North China). In general though, people are very encouraging and pleased to see someone make the effort.

As for Spanish speakers' English... My very first esl job was teaching a bunch of Spanish students, there's certainly quite a range of abilities, of course. Not that I can talk, I got by in Spain by butchering Italian, French and Latin and then putting on an accent :p

Edit: oh, regarding the "get a local girlfriend" thing, that totally backfired for me. I remember when the water pipes in my apartment in China froze and ended up flooding the place, I had to call my landlord and explain the situation to him. These days, whenever there's a problem, I just ask my wife to deal with it. Lazy, yes, but hard to avoid.
 
Last edited:
Mate of mine got a job driving from Murcia (Southern Spain) to the U.K. and back based in Alicante about 18mths back, after a few months he also got a Spanish girlfriend (soon to be wife by all accounts) he’s now fluent via hours of audio courses - played endlessly whilst in his truck - corrected by his girlfriend and colleagues.

All things considered he picked it up very quickly albeit with a broad Stoke-on-Trent accent! :D
 
Last edited:
Learn the basics through preferred method, join online chat rooms, watch English films with Spanish subtitles (so you can learn context), and once you've grasped that, watch Spanish films with English subtitles and see if you can guess the subtitle as you hear it.

You want to spend as much time as possible hearing the language
 
malachi said:
I was talking about learning another language in general
Click to expand...

Which 99.9% of posters understood that you meant, but there’s always going to be one jerk who thinks he looks hilariously funny by deliberately and mistakenly pointing out that you didn’t understand that the whole thread was about learning Spanish only.
 
Have a look at coffee break Spanish

I've been learning italian with Coffee break Italia...I doubt they have the same teachers but you can get basic lessons on Spotify etc..
 
easyrider said:
Recent experience
Click to expand...


Ok. I have learned a foreign language. I learned Dutch, when I was 15, living in Holland, with years of Afrikaans behind me which has a few similarities which helped. This took me two years, three for proper fluency. It's a seriously huge commitment and one that I very strongly suspect you won't manage (glad to see you prove me wrong though). Yet here you are wanting to learn to speak a foreign language, fluently, and you base this massive decision on a "recent experience"? Come on man, not even you're that stupid.

easyrider said:
This makes no sense. Stop trolling
Click to expand...

Ah, I forget that when you don't understand something it's "trolling". Well done.
 
Diddums said:
It's a seriously huge commitment and one that I very strongly suspect you won't manage .
Click to expand...

Ok cheers thanks for your positivity:)

Yet here you are wanting to learn to speak a foreign language, fluently, and you base this massive decision on a "recent experience"?
Click to expand...

It’s not like getting married or anything . It’s a skill to learn. I play 8 musical instruments. I practiced 8 hours a day since 15. Once I decide to do something I poor all my energy into it.

Btw you seem to be making this thread very complicated.My question in the OP was not that deep :)
 
When it comes to learning a language immersion is one thing but you have to actively study and practice it to actually get anywhere with it.

I'm living here in Portugal. I speak English 100% for work but my colleagues are now speaking to me in Portuguese outside of work at my request to help me learn.

Learning another language fluently is god damn hard work but can be a lot of fun :-)

There is also only so much you can learn from books and CDs, you'll never crack the accent without actively engaging in someone who speaks it. Someone who is also a teacher as well. Initially I had lessons via Skype. Also my Wife is Portuguese. Now at home we decide that tonight is a Portuguese night, it's speak Portuguese or try your hardest and then she corrects my mistakes :p

But yes. Anyone who thinks you can learn a language by simply living in a foreign country is wrong. Can you pick up stuff? Sure. You could read a basic menu within 2 weeks. But becoming fluent, see above :)

Até já :)
 
easyrider said:
Ok cheers thanks for your positivity:)



It’s not like getting married or anything . It’s a skill to learn. I play 8 musical instruments. I practiced 8 hours a day since 15. Once I decide to do something I poor all my energy into it.

Btw you seem to be making this thread very complicated.My question in the OP was not that deep :)
Click to expand...


Ok. I was sort of hoping you'd be able to piece it together from my last post but evidently not so here we go.

Musical instruments can be used to play music, which is pretty much a universal language. Even if you don't understand the lyrics, anyone can boogie to anything.

A language is much more restrictive, it can be spoken in a handful of countries at best and on the odd occasion when you bump in to someone else who speaks it. In most cases, unless you actively put in the effort to approach people to practice, you won't gain experience or improve. You can literally sit in a phone box, flop out a guitar and start strumming and improve upon your abilities. You can't do that with a foreign language.

My point is, learning a foreign language is indeed a wonderful thing and I will genuinely applaud you if you pull it off despite not living in that language's native country, but there are tons of different languages out there and basing your decision on "a recent experience" is silly. It's your decision, learn Swahili if you want, but make sure the choice you've made is the one that'll benefit you the most.

Oh and if you want people to tell you you can do it and it's gonna be easy and all that motivational rubbish, ring your mum. Learning a language is seriously, seriously difficult and telling yourself it'll be easy is just doing yourself a disservice.


Anyway, the thing that helped me with Dutch the most apart from every single interaction beyond my front door being in Dutch, was Dutch telly. Films were always in English with Dutch subtitles. I dunno if the Portuguese do the same or dub over everything like ze Chermanz.

Once you have a few words down, start listening to Portuguese radio. Find a channel which has a common interest with you and tune in when you're doing stuff. That'll help with the pronunciation although you need to make sure it's not some back alley dialect (like I had with Westfries in Dutch, nobody understands those people).
 
Diddums said:
Ok. I was sort of hoping you'd be able to piece it together from my last post but evidently not so here we go.




My point is, learning a foreign language is indeed a wonderful thing and I will genuinely applaud you if you pull it off despite not living in that language's native country, but there are tons of different languages out there and basing your decision on "a recent experience" is silly. It's your decision, learn Swahili if you want, but make sure the choice you've made is the one that'll benefit you the most.
Click to expand...

I want to Learn Spanish not Swahili, I'm thinking I might buy me a boat....:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom