EmilyPosts

Learn Spanish
Learning Spanish is awesome

I love being able to speak two languages. I am not perfectly fluent, but then again I have never lived in a Spanish-speaking country. I highly recommend this. If nothing else you will know when people are talking about you. :-)

Mar 21, 2005, 11:08PM PST


Comments:

tessajetta

hola

I was married to a Latino for 10 years and though I do not speak Spanish, I have an ear for it.

Once at a coffee shop, I understood when some guys made a comment about my nargas.

I would have been better off not knowing what they said! lol

anyway, how do I start?

Apr 06, 2005, 07:57AM PDT | Thread | Respond to this

EmilyPosts

The best way to start would be to take a class at a local university if you can. But, if time or money doesn’t allow that, there are several good books/tapes out there. I have found that using a combination of both is helpful. The books train your eye, but don’t do much for your ears. Tapes are a GREAT way to hear accents and different dialects. Another really good way to learn is to listen/watch Spanish soap operas on cable. You would be surprised how easy it is to pick up on that stuff. You already know the basic plot line (since all soaps are practically identical) so you can guess pretty well at what they are saying. Strang, I know, but it works really well.

Apr 06, 2005, 12:43PM PDT | Thread | Respond to this

Timothy

Two more ideas for you:

1) watch DVD movies with the Spanish subtitles turned on. If you’r not sure what they just said, then go back a bit and see it in English.

2) Immersion is the fastest and best way to learn a foreign language (I know from experience). It’s the difference between dipping your toe in the pool and jumping in. Jumping is scarry, but if you do it in a safe way (Student exchange, Volunteer in mission, etc) it’s Sooooooo refreshing.

Apr 06, 2005, 01:52PM PDT | Thread | Respond to this

tessajetta

I agree

immersion is best.

I try to speak to a latino co worker of mine.

She is embarrassed that she is spanish, so it’s like pulling teeth.

I would like her to know how I look up to her for knowing both languages…she feels it’s low to be hispanic.

Apr 07, 2005, 02:08AM PDT | Respond to this

tessajetta

Thanks for the advice.

I used to watch those novellas with my ex mother in law.

I would pretend I knew what was going on based on what I was seeing.

When my mother in law transelated the story for me, I found I liked my version of what I was imagining better!

I’ll be checking out the universities for a course.

Apr 07, 2005, 02:06AM PDT | Respond to this


 

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