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truongk

#16686 Tue, 13 Mar 07 01:01 PM

oh... all of you have great English!!! I just know a little of it and wanna study about Spanish, I don't know any thing of it (both word and grammar) so plz teach me more about it.. Wink

truongk

Joined on 07-02-2007

Primer Mensaje (01)

walla

#16688 Tue, 13 Mar 07 03:58 PM

I have just recently started trying to learn Spanish. Here is what I do, and it seems to work well so far

A) if you can, find a beginning Spanish class at a community college, one for adults, or something similar. This will teach you the basics and motivate you to learn

B) Post on this message board or other sites, but respond in Spanish as much as possible. Having meaningful conversation with people in another language will motivate you to get better.

C) I use the following for an online English-Spanish dictionary: www.wordreference.com. If you speak one of the main European languages, this site will help you learn a lot about the Spanish language. You can use it to look up common expressions or conjugations of any verb.

D) I use the following for translating sentences I don't understand: http://babelfish.altavista.com/. Another great use is to type in sentences in your native language and see how they would translate. Of course, the translator cannot always provide a perfect translation, but it is better than nothing.

E) Find a website, perhaps your favorite website, and see if there is a Spanish language version of it. Find an article on the site and try to read/translate it. If you have any doubts or confusion, come to this site and ask about it.

F) Practice often. Try to read and write something in Spanish every day. You have to be committed to learning.

G) It is very important to learn the rules of grammar. For instance, you should understand what verb conjugation is, the difference between preterite and imperfect tenses, etc.

That is my advice to you.

walla

Joined on 01-03-2007

Usuario Aficionado (98)

Bellevueace

#16907 Sat, 24 Mar 07 02:00 AM

I attended courses at instituto cervantes to gain a knowledge of the grammer, the most difficult thing for me was building up a vocabulary, i tried making lists with translations but found it difficult to remember them learning them parrot fashion. I began buying spanish newspapers and just reading them looking up certain words that i couldnt work out through the the actual content. I found this helped as learning new words i was then coming across them more through the reading and seeing them in context really helped. Listening was another problem so i started reading exerts of newspaper articles into my dictaphone to listen to at work, im also a member of the instituto cervantes media library where books, tapes, videos, cd,s are available to get aquainted with the spoken word. I also translate everyday things into spanish, ive found my reading, writing, and speaking has come on listening being my weakest point, when i visit spain after a couple of days i feel more comfortable with the spoken word and feel with the continued use of the media tools from the library im getting there. I think you get out of it what you put in.

Bellevueace

Joined on 07-07-2006

Manchester England

Usuario Principiante (18)

You cant play the blues in an armani suit-Rory Gallagher. No tengo los acentos/tildies en mi teclado

Anonymous

#17061 Fri, 06 Apr 07 06:22 AM

hola

me illama tina.

i wnat to learn spanish?what the best way?

Anonymous

spanish for beginners

Anonymous

#17456 Tue, 08 May 07 10:25 PM

hola Alex

I.m learning spanish.If you want we can talk spanish and fast learn spanish..you can write my e mail **

Anonymous

#17457 Tue, 08 May 07 10:27 PM

hola tina

I.m leraning spanish if you want we can talk spanish and we can learn fast

Anonymous

Kenny

#17464 Wed, 09 May 07 03:59 PM

I've been learning Spanish solely from books with a bit of help from the web.

I started out with the Linguaphone course, but it left so much unexplained and got me into bad habits which I then had to learn to get out of, so I ditched it and bought lots of different books each dealing with main subjects of the language: Verbs, Pronouns, Prepositions, Grammar use and Vocabulary. Although I've been doing it for 2 years and I try to devote at least an hour each day, I don't feel at all fluent and have real trouble with verb tenses, particularly with stem changing verbs as it just confuses me even more. Apart from verb tenses I'm making good ground with general thinking the Spanish way, which just takes time, there's no shortcut.

I would say a little but often, try and do a bit each day and recap often so that you don't forget stuff you did weeks ago. Listen and speak as much as you can because it's important to understand the way things are said, not just off the page of a book. I don't have anyone to converse with apart from people I visit in Spain a few times a year, but each time I go back I can have longer and more meaningful conversations with them and they always comment about how much it has come on eeach time I go.

If you are serious about learning, it will come but I would be looking at around 3-5 years to be what I would call fluent, but then I am the wrong side of 40 and learning gets harder every year!

¡Buena suerte!

Kenny

Joined on 09-05-2007

Usuario Principiante (19)

Ken In San Jo

#17467 Wed, 09 May 07 06:33 PM

I think that 3-5 years to really learn Spanish is about right, but what is fluent? I think that no matter what you do you will still be better at you native language. However, you can learn another language and be quite well. I've been learning Spanish for maybe 6 years now and I get better every day.

Hears what I do:

1 - Driving back an forth to work, I listen to Spanish lessons or Spanish language radio (usually the news). For me this is about 2 hours very day. This works very good for listening and speaking skills.

2 - Use an on-line translator and type in Spanish and translate it back in Engish. This has worked very well for me to improve my writing skills. I know there are some things it won't translate correctly, but I still find to be a useful tool.

3 - Read a book. For me this is a real challenge. I've made 175 page through one. It's witten a little above my level, but it forces my brain to work harder. I can say that this has really helped me a lot.

4 - Use this forum. If want to know the answer for something, post a question. This forum has been very helpful for me. Moreover, it's free.

Overall, I have not invested too much money, maybe $500 USD over 6 years. You just have to be determined and keep going.

¡Hasta pronto y que tenga un buen dia!

Ken In San Jo

Joined on 14-10-2005

San Jose California

Usuario Regular (123)

Es mejor hablar español un poco que hablar nada. Al fin y al cabo, yo sé más hoy que ayer.

Anonymous

#17472 Thu, 10 May 07 07:48 AM

hi. the best way to learn an spanish language is this. you can link in yahoobabelfish and in there you can find any different language.from english then you can translate it to any language include in the spanish.if you want to know the word in spanish you have to text the english word first then you can see the translation okay.hope i can help you in this way.

Anonymous

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