How I did it: I had to take a language for years 11 and 12 of the IB (IBDP) and since I'd never learnt a language before i chose the only ab initio (beginners) course that was offered...SPANISH.

I never really thought about learning Spanish, or even visiting Spain, but after 2 years of classes and a very crazy teacher, I have a new found appreciation and love for both the country and the language.

The first few months were extremely hard because the majority of the study is verbs, but now, speaking and writing Spanish is a joy, I even find myself writing Spanglish sometimes.

Lessons & tips: You should keep at it, because practice does make perfect. Also, practice all aspects of it such as speaking, writing, reading and translating.
It is also good if you have someone that you can learn the language with, not only does this provide motivation but it gives you someone to speak to.

I suggest that if you cannot take it at school or uni, join an evening college (some even have a cooking class combined) or take a day class through continuing education at a university. Another option if you are at uni is to join a society, there is a lot of information given out by these societies about festivals and events.

Resources: The books i used to study and build up my skills were

• Listos 3 Rojo
  
• Libro del Nuevo Alumno 1
  
• Easy Grammar step by step

I also read a lot of spanish newspapers and books and watch TVE (the spanish news broadcast on SBS)
I suggest reading a parallel text novel, where the spanish text is on one page and the english translation is on the other.

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Oct 04, 2008, 05:45PM PDT | 0 comments | 2 cheers