Learn Spanish

So instead of signing up for Spanish, I decided to keep taking French classes (so I don’t lose my French skills! That would be awful).

I am, however, trying to learn Spanish the do-it-yourself way using About.com’s lessons. They’re actually pretty useful and have an audio component so I can try to learn pronunciation and whatnot. So far, I’ve just gone over simple things like the alphabet, pronunciation of vowels and consonants, and pluralization. They also have little quizzes that you can take at the end of each lesson so you don’t just read the lessons and forget.

I can already tell that French is going to be a hindrance on my pronunciation. No nasal sounds in Spanish! And they actually pronounce most of the letters in words, whereas in French, you drop half of them. For example, the masculine article “un” in French is pronounced as a nasal “Uh” sound. “Une” is the feminine article, but it’s pronounced just like “un” in Spanish. Argh.

Well, I’ll update when I’ve made more progress!

So, I’ve yet to start…I just got back from Spain, yeah Spain – it’s why I want to learn Spanish because I sucked in my one month trip!! Anyway, when I get settled back in I’m hittin the books..

I have taken 2 years of Spanish in high school and 4 semesters in college. I should be fluent by now, but I wasted most of what I learned by not practicing. I want to kick myself in the butt! My future mother in law only speaks Spanish, so I want to make it a goal to be able to hold lengthy conversations in Spanish by my wedding (10/30/09)

I really (I mean reeaaally) want to learn Spanish. I started once (I think it was three or maybe two years ago) but I quit. So I have to start again because I forgot almost everything :(
As I am not able to afford to take classes I have to learn on my own. If someone know where I could learn Spanish online (for free) I would be very thankful to hear :)

I started learning spanish with livemocha.com and I think it’s a pretty good method they use there. The one thing I don’t use is their flashcard system because I want to “write” my own flashcards (Anki) .. this way I remember more words and I learn the spelling of them too ..

I’ve taken spanish for two years in middle school. I passed my spanish proficiency exam so I have a basic grasp on the language. Unfortunatly, our school is getting rid of spanish and sticking to french! It desn’t effect my grade as much because our spanish teacher will be working part time there to get our grade and the grade below past the regents in tenth grade. He is my favorite teacher though, so I’ll miss him.

I’m going to take Spanish for beginners in autumn. Only 2 months before it begins! :-)

I’m also an international tutor and there will be a couple of Spanish exchange students in my tutor group. I’ll probably be able to practice speaking Spanish with them.

I’ve got this system going: read some Harry Potter, write down words I don’t know, look them up, make flash cards of them, study the cards, record myself reading the cards, listen to myself reading the cards, and make crossword puzzles of the vocabulary.

I’m stalling right now, and I think it’s because I enjoy making the cards more than I enjoy sitting and looking through them. Probably, I will do my recordings and listen to them as I flip through them. In the meantime, I’m trying to brainstorm other study methods to try to keep this fresh for me.

I could record quizzes by reading a certain number of spanish words with a pause long enough to write down its definition. I can make folded-paper vocabulary lists. I can make word maps of tough vocabulary words; sometimes, words just don’t stick.

There also has to be a good way for me to break into the 501 verbs book I’ve got. I use it all the time to make cards, but if I can find a way to dig into particular words to learn them more thoroughly, it would be great.

I guess I’m just wishing I could hit on something personal, neat, and fun that I could do to make this a little more easygoing. Maybe I’ll just doodle around and see what I come up with.

Okay, this is interesting. When feminine, calavera means skull, but when masculine, it means libertine.

I’m learning through books, cd’s, and livemocha.com. I’m also looking for some good Spanish movies and programs, so if you know any, please tell me about them. :D