Best way to approach learning Spanish?
- Thread starter easyrider
- Start date
When I had a Brazilian girlfriend I learnt basic Portuguese. I did spend 3 months over there so got immersed in it. And did my own studying in books too.
After that had a Paraguayan girlfriend so learnt basic Spanish from talking to her and when I went to Paraguay a couple of times.
I did try Duolingo to get better at the grammar but found it wasnt as good as actually listening and talking it non stop in real life.
Yes I have a thing for Latinas mmm but now I switched my attention and have a Vietnamese girlfriend... don't think I will be learning her language as fast
After that had a Paraguayan girlfriend so learnt basic Spanish from talking to her and when I went to Paraguay a couple of times.
I did try Duolingo to get better at the grammar but found it wasnt as good as actually listening and talking it non stop in real life.
Yes I have a thing for Latinas mmm but now I switched my attention and have a Vietnamese girlfriend... don't think I will be learning her language as fast
I think the most effective way is to move to that country for a few months!
I'm also learning German at the moment (it's really hard!) and I moved to Vienna for a semester abroad
I really hope my German ist getting better but I think I've already made some progress!
I'm also learning German at the moment (it's really hard!) and I moved to Vienna for a semester abroad
I really hope my German ist getting better but I think I've already made some progress!
Man of Honour
Viennese slang makes it even harder to learn effective German. Whenever I speak German in Vienna my girlfriend accuses me of "sounding like a German"
Caporegime
Spanish is a good language to choose as there are so many options out there -
1) Michel Thomas is a fantastic way. He's less about set phrases and vocab and more about teaching you the backbone of any language - verbs and some grammar.
2) Linguaphone allTalk. No books required, it's a 16-hour audio course with a soap-opera-like story to keep you interested.
3) Duolingo - Free on the web.
4) Rosetta Stone - pricey but quite indepth but has no real explanations of what's going on.
5) Instagram - I follow a load of native Spaniards so I get to learn all the slang stuff which I can't repeat here.
1) Michel Thomas is a fantastic way. He's less about set phrases and vocab and more about teaching you the backbone of any language - verbs and some grammar.
2) Linguaphone allTalk. No books required, it's a 16-hour audio course with a soap-opera-like story to keep you interested.
3) Duolingo - Free on the web.
4) Rosetta Stone - pricey but quite indepth but has no real explanations of what's going on.
5) Instagram - I follow a load of native Spaniards so I get to learn all the slang stuff which I can't repeat here.
Oh that's so true, I've also heard that a few times!
Sometimes the people think that I moved from England to Germany to Vienna and not directly to Vienna because of the way I speak.
But I think if you use 'oida' or 'heast' often enough, everyone will think that you never lived somewhere else! haha
Sometimes the people think that I moved from England to Germany to Vienna and not directly to Vienna because of the way I speak.
But I think if you use 'oida' or 'heast' often enough, everyone will think that you never lived somewhere else! haha
I've started learning Spanish on Duolingo which I'm enjoying, the gamification is quite addictive. Going to try Babbel too as I heard this might be better for "proper" Spanish, more detail on grammar etc.
I'm looking to find a local teacher but are there any other courses or resources people would recommend?
I'm looking to find a local teacher but are there any other courses or resources people would recommend?
Caporegime
Funny, I nearly resurrected this thread the other day in order to ask if anyone had used the Lingopie website? It hosts TV shows from other countries with full subtitles and vocabulary overlaid.
Permabanned
Yes, a fit Spanish au pair.
Soldato
There are some good videos on youtube these days.
I've been using Duolingo to learn Spanish since the start of the year, doing a bit each day and it's def helping - but a local teacher and someone to practice with would help more I suspect. Thankfully I have a friend who is fluent but she's too busy with Spanish law to help lowlifes :/
Coffee Break Spanish
Add New Row Edit ElementClone ElementAdvanced Element OptionsMoveRemove Element — SPACER — [vertical_spacing height="300"] Edit ElementClone ElementAdvanced Element OptionsMoveRemove Element ¡Un café, por favor! [headline style="1" font_size="36" font_style="bold" font_color="#ffffff"...
coffeebreaklanguages.com
Soldato
I used to speak fluent French (forgotten a lot of it as it's been several years since I lived there) and now speak decent, but not perfect Spanish. Unless you have a natural talent for languages, which I definitely don't, then you can't beat immersion. Having a Spanish gf probably won't help at all, it'll actually be a hinderance. When I arrived in the country, I never put any effort into any situation that required much more than "buenos dias" as I'd just call my Spanish-speaking wife and get her to sort it out for me, so I didn't really learn anything. She also had no patience in terms of teaching me as she speaks four languages, loves learning in general and couldn't understand that what was easy for her wasn't so easy for me.
What did help me was when we sold our house and moved in with her parents for a few months as they didn't speak a word of English, so I had to try to communicate with them when she wasn't there. I've never taken a proper Spanish class, but I used to look at stuff for sale on Facebook marketplace etc and car videos on Instagram etc so I picked up a few words from that. There's also loads of free resources on youtube I've never personally used but look really useful.
What did help me was when we sold our house and moved in with her parents for a few months as they didn't speak a word of English, so I had to try to communicate with them when she wasn't there. I've never taken a proper Spanish class, but I used to look at stuff for sale on Facebook marketplace etc and car videos on Instagram etc so I picked up a few words from that. There's also loads of free resources on youtube I've never personally used but look really useful.
My wife might have an issue with this...
Not as easy now we are out of the EU I suspect. Having kids and a mortgage and no Spanish job makes something like this a massive decision, not like I can just go and wing it.
Man of Honour
You'll need a D-Type visa (and a job) to do this now, assuming you are British
Not a guarantee. My wife is Turkish and I can only speak a few words of the language. Just not needed.
Soldato
Similar here. With wanting to move there, it makes sense to try and get a basic understanding in before hand.
My wife spends much longer on Duolingo than i do and is better at the technical elements (how to end words etc), however i would say my memory is better so i can remember more verbs etc. Hopefully between us we can get by!
We did go to a 12 week course with a small group. It was a good intro, but i already knew most of it from school and we found the teacher didn't always correct us and also often used more of a south american Spanish, which makes wanting to learn Spanish tricky.
I've since found a few online 1-1 options over teams which i might look into.
Soldato
Same, my mate has a polish wife. He knows a lot of individual words if you ask him, but doesn't make the effort to converse in it and so couldn't hold a conversation.