Learning spanish
Discussion
Mixed approach IMO.
1. Download the Michel Thomas Spanish.
2. Add Duo-lingo on the iphone for a little bit of fun and vocab extras.
3. Listen to Spanish radio stations whilst working.
4. Watch Spanish children's TV - it is how a child develops the language ground up after all.
5. Get to the country as much as you can.
On top of that, I frequented a local Spanish owned bar and interacted with as many Spaniards as I could in my locality as well as in their own country.
1. Download the Michel Thomas Spanish.
2. Add Duo-lingo on the iphone for a little bit of fun and vocab extras.
3. Listen to Spanish radio stations whilst working.
4. Watch Spanish children's TV - it is how a child develops the language ground up after all.
5. Get to the country as much as you can.
On top of that, I frequented a local Spanish owned bar and interacted with as many Spaniards as I could in my locality as well as in their own country.
Yo puedo hablar Espanol un poco, solo he utilizado Duolingo y Google hasta ahora.
Big vote for Duolingo (and Google Translate for the odd word, now and again) - it gives you quite a good range of vocabulary, the exercises are broken down into small chunks that take about 3 or 4 minutes apiece and there's loads of them. Once you've gone through them all it prompts you to keep your knowledge up; I do between 10 and 40 minutes per day at a guess, maybe more some days. If I think or say a small sentence in English during the day, I try to think how I would translate it and it surprises me a bit how much I can do.
The bit it misses is proper conversations with people, so I think my next step is to try an evening class to bring it on further, but Duolingo is definitely a great (free) foundation.
Big vote for Duolingo (and Google Translate for the odd word, now and again) - it gives you quite a good range of vocabulary, the exercises are broken down into small chunks that take about 3 or 4 minutes apiece and there's loads of them. Once you've gone through them all it prompts you to keep your knowledge up; I do between 10 and 40 minutes per day at a guess, maybe more some days. If I think or say a small sentence in English during the day, I try to think how I would translate it and it surprises me a bit how much I can do.
The bit it misses is proper conversations with people, so I think my next step is to try an evening class to bring it on further, but Duolingo is definitely a great (free) foundation.
xRIEx said:
Yo puedo hablar Espanol un poco, solo he utilizado Duolingo y Google hasta ahora.
Big vote for Duolingo (and Google Translate for the odd word, now and again) - it gives you quite a good range of vocabulary, the exercises are broken down into small chunks that take about 3 or 4 minutes apiece and there's loads of them. Once you've gone through them all it prompts you to keep your knowledge up; I do between 10 and 40 minutes per day at a guess, maybe more some days. If I think or say a small sentence in English during the day, I try to think how I would translate it and it surprises me a bit how much I can do.
The bit it misses is proper conversations with people, so I think my next step is to try an evening class to bring it on further, but Duolingo is definitely a great (free) foundation.
Not Spanish but French. I've been using Duolingo for about a year, and whilst my vocab is quite good and am about 3/4 the way through the course. I do find conversation very difficult to formulate. So I'd potentially advise against going solely duolingo for this reason. Big vote for Duolingo (and Google Translate for the odd word, now and again) - it gives you quite a good range of vocabulary, the exercises are broken down into small chunks that take about 3 or 4 minutes apiece and there's loads of them. Once you've gone through them all it prompts you to keep your knowledge up; I do between 10 and 40 minutes per day at a guess, maybe more some days. If I think or say a small sentence in English during the day, I try to think how I would translate it and it surprises me a bit how much I can do.
The bit it misses is proper conversations with people, so I think my next step is to try an evening class to bring it on further, but Duolingo is definitely a great (free) foundation.
Am thinking of trying some of the other options alongside Duolingo to see how to improve. My other half is fluent, but despite being a teacher is crap at actually helping me learn.
ukbabz said:
xRIEx said:
Yo puedo hablar Espanol un poco, solo he utilizado Duolingo y Google hasta ahora.
Big vote for Duolingo (and Google Translate for the odd word, now and again) - it gives you quite a good range of vocabulary, the exercises are broken down into small chunks that take about 3 or 4 minutes apiece and there's loads of them. Once you've gone through them all it prompts you to keep your knowledge up; I do between 10 and 40 minutes per day at a guess, maybe more some days. If I think or say a small sentence in English during the day, I try to think how I would translate it and it surprises me a bit how much I can do.
The bit it misses is proper conversations with people, so I think my next step is to try an evening class to bring it on further, but Duolingo is definitely a great (free) foundation.
Not Spanish but French. I've been using Duolingo for about a year, and whilst my vocab is quite good and am about 3/4 the way through the course. I do find conversation very difficult to formulate. So I'd potentially advise against going solely duolingo for this reason. Big vote for Duolingo (and Google Translate for the odd word, now and again) - it gives you quite a good range of vocabulary, the exercises are broken down into small chunks that take about 3 or 4 minutes apiece and there's loads of them. Once you've gone through them all it prompts you to keep your knowledge up; I do between 10 and 40 minutes per day at a guess, maybe more some days. If I think or say a small sentence in English during the day, I try to think how I would translate it and it surprises me a bit how much I can do.
The bit it misses is proper conversations with people, so I think my next step is to try an evening class to bring it on further, but Duolingo is definitely a great (free) foundation.
Am thinking of trying some of the other options alongside Duolingo to see how to improve. My other half is fluent, but despite being a teacher is crap at actually helping me learn.
I think you can get the level 1 stuff on the Open University site for free. However don't be tempted to enrol for a paid course as level 2 and further is a load of crap (experience of the French course)
ETA
There you go
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/languages/spanish/sp...
ETA
There you go
http://www.open.edu/openlearn/languages/spanish/sp...
Edited by Wobbegong on Wednesday 31st August 15:40
I used duolingo a while but hit a wall, YouTube videos helped with a real person explaining. Trips to Mexico also helped. Problem is I pick up words rather than conversation.
I think a mix of Learning tools is the best way. I'm going to really push this year and see if I can expand on "Jo quiero una cerveza por favor"
I think a mix of Learning tools is the best way. I'm going to really push this year and see if I can expand on "Jo quiero una cerveza por favor"
I massively improved my French by watching LFC and RFU games on the internet with a French commentary. I didn't have to dedicate special time to it as I would have been watching the matches anyway and I was surprised how easily and quickly I picked it up.
If there's a sport you like it will probably be on the net in Spanish. .
If there's a sport you like it will probably be on the net in Spanish. .
can't remember said:
If there's a sport you like it will probably be on the net in Spanish. .
I'm a fight fan & your suggestion works quite well, although I'm not sure how useful some of the phrases will be."Golpee su puto de apagar las luces."
Will probably not help me find the local supermarket.
My recommendation for finding a teacher (not as expensive as you may think) is via iTalki. Essentially a site that seeks to match students to teachers and language partners. You can determine the type of teacher (amateur, professional, etc), have access to reviews, rates of pay, schedules, etc to find the best match for your schedule and requirements.
I used iTalki to find a Chinese teacher, and after a terrible trial lesson with one (whom I ditched), I found a lovely teacher with whom I had lessons via Skype every Saturday / Sunday morning for over a year.
You will learn so much faster with a teacher, rather than a group class, and will save money (time is money) in the long run. Even 2 hours at the weekend works wonders, providing that you are also following a self-study programme. The teacher will be invaluable to make sure that you do not pick up bad habits at the start, that you'll spend much time and money trying to eradicate at a much later date.
I used iTalki to find a Chinese teacher, and after a terrible trial lesson with one (whom I ditched), I found a lovely teacher with whom I had lessons via Skype every Saturday / Sunday morning for over a year.
You will learn so much faster with a teacher, rather than a group class, and will save money (time is money) in the long run. Even 2 hours at the weekend works wonders, providing that you are also following a self-study programme. The teacher will be invaluable to make sure that you do not pick up bad habits at the start, that you'll spend much time and money trying to eradicate at a much later date.
I also use Duolingo and find it handy. We have a native from Madrid at work so I try some conversation with her but she talks too quickly. She says I have a Mexican accent, which I don't mind but then she's broad Castilian which Duolingo doesn't teach and can be difficult to follow - for me anyway.
tobinen said:
We have a native from Madrid at work so I try some conversation with her but she talks too quickly.
This is often the trouble when you move from slow speaking learning to the real world and why I suggested getting used to a normal pace with radio and TV as secondary methods alongside the learning tapes and apps etc. If you use it in conjunction rather than one method or the other it gives a more rounded approach I have found.tobinen said:
I also use Duolingo and find it handy. We have a native from Madrid at work so I try some conversation with her but she talks too quickly. She says I have a Mexican accent, which I don't mind but then she's broad Castilian which Duolingo doesn't teach and can be difficult to follow - for me anyway.
Do you say "Arriba, arriba, andale, andale" a lot, or is it something else?Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff