I am going to learn Spanish

[Me-Ike]

Ditto.

I am also trying to learn by reading, looking at grammar and listening to News in Slow Spanish, but I really suck at speaking. I really should look for a tandem speaker, so far no luck.

Edit: Btw., I once heard that Harry Potter, although a children's book, isn't necessarily easy to understand.

 

[TrekkieMonster]

I was awesome at Spanish in high school, and one of my biggest regrets is not continuing to study it once I got to college. It's been 5 years since my last Spanish class, and I still remember quite a bit, but I'm horribly out of practice.

Ironic timing. I was just having similar thoughts after getting back from vacation and having been embarrassed when I tried to communicate with someone in one of our ports.

I had 5 years of Spanish, all tolled, plus spending time in Mexico doing my own "immersion project", and was really fairly proficient by the time I graduated High School. I remember one day walking into my Spanish class and telling my teacher I'd had a dream in Spanish, and he told me I'd just gotten an A for the semester.

Anyway, flash forward twenty-some years, and I've lost almost all of what I once knew. Shame on me. I've started looking around for Adult Education courses in my area. Also considering Rosetta Stone; a friend we just went on vacation with was using that program to learn Italian.

Unfortunately, unlike you, I've got a LOT more ground to make up, and need to start almost at the beginning. I'm a little heartened, though, that I do seem to remember a number of basic nouns and verbs and verb conjugations ..., just not enough for a real "adult conversation" (and by "adult" I mean so that I don't sound like s 2-year old, not bowm-chicka-bowm-bow.) And I have a heck of a time with the past and future tenses.

 

[wew]

I salute you on your efforts to expand your knowledge of Spanish.

Initially I took Spanish in high school, but my father was transferred to Italy, so I switched to Italian for one year. When I went to college I did a wonderful job of mixing Italian and Spanish.

Joined the military and learned Spanish at the Defense Language Institute; 30 hours a week for seven months. Fortunately, a portion of it stuck in my mind. Of course, I don't get a lot of calls for translating military operations and ambushes in normal life.

However, when I went to Spain and Peru, I did remember enough that they understood me. Served me well in Ronda, where I met an older gentlemen who gave me a standing tour of the sights in Spanish, because I greeted him in Spanish. Was a wonderful opportunity I would have lost had I not studied Spanish.

On the other hand, I'm great at messing up tenses, will probably attempt to get a crash course next summer when I go back to Peru.

 

[Capn Flukie]

There are also TONS of podcasts available for free from iTunes, I recommend Coffee Break Spanish (Hola Mark y Kara!). They're in 10 to 15 minutes bites, you can listen to one, or a whole bunch, There are about 60 episodes I think.

eta: There is nothing like learning to speak Spanish from folks with Scottish accents.

 

[Chaos Descending]

Great decision. Wonderful language and very easy to learn.

Practice your verb declensions, get a good feel for the difference between the preterit tense and the imperfect tense. Practice using subjunctive mood and conditional tense verbs, and you should have no problem.

EDIT: Learning the textbook form of the language is one thing, but to really become good it at it is imperative that you acquaint yourself with a fluent, native speaker of the language and practice, practice, practice. A hot Mexican girlfriend would be a very good language partner.

 

[RoJoHen]

Practice your verb declensions, get a good feel for the difference between the preterit tense and the imperfect tense. Practice using subjunctive mood and conditional tense verbs, and you should have no problem.

Aside from just building up a larger vocabulary, this is going to be my biggest problem area. I vaguely remember all the tenses and how to conjugate them, but that's the part that's going to require the most practice (which is annoying because I used to know all this stuff by heart!).

 

[sojourner]

^Mexicans are very forgiving when it comes to syntax.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Es muy fácil aprender español. Pero no lo hablo mucho. Solamente puedo escribir algunas frases como esto.

 

[RoJoHen]

Aprender!

I have been trying to remember that word for the last 3 days.

 

[Canadave]

Practice your verb declensions, get a good feel for the difference between the preterit tense and the imperfect tense. Practice using subjunctive mood and conditional tense verbs, and you should have no problem.

Aside from just building up a larger vocabulary, this is going to be my biggest problem area. I vaguely remember all the tenses and how to conjugate them, but that's the part that's going to require the most practice (which is annoying because I used to know all this stuff by heart!).

That was my big problem with French (which, like you, I dropped after high school and kinda wish I hadn't). At this point, all I can do is string together nonsensical phrases like "Ou-est l'avion? L'avion est dans le bibliotechque!," and recite basic phrases like what my name is and such.

While vaguely amusing, it's also quite useless. I've been thinking of trying to re-learn it, myself, as it can be quite a good thing to know in this country.

 

[Holdfast]

Practice your verb declensions, get a good feel for the difference between the preterit tense and the imperfect tense. Practice using subjunctive mood and conditional tense verbs, and you should have no problem.

Aside from just building up a larger vocabulary, this is going to be my biggest problem area. I vaguely remember all the tenses and how to conjugate them, but that's the part that's going to require the most practice (which is annoying because I used to know all this stuff by heart!).

That was my big problem with French (which, like you, I dropped after high school and kinda wish I hadn't). At this point, all I can do is string together nonsensical phrases like "Ou-est l'avion? L'avion est dans le bibliotechque!," and recite basic phrases like what my name is and such.

While vaguely amusing, it's also quite useless. I've been thinking of trying to re-learn it, myself...

I keep meaning to re-learn French too. I was moderately decent at it at one point but my fluency in it has long since degenerated to about the same level as yours.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Oui, oui, oui! That's all I know. I have a friend on FB who currently lives and works in Paris. Aside from the "bonjour, bon soir, and bon nuit," and I don't know much else.

 

[Marten]

You should check out "Como Agua Para Chocalate". It's one of the first boooks they read in University Spanish here, and the movie is quite good.

 

[scotpens]

. . . That was my big problem with French (which, like you, I dropped after high school and kinda wish I hadn't). At this point, all I can do is string together nonsensical phrases like "Ou-est l'avion? L'avion est dans le bibliotechque!," and recite basic phrases like what my name is and such.

"Ou est ma tante?"

"Ma tante est sous la table."

Don't know if the English idiom translates to French, though.

 

[Kelso]

Is it just a book in spanish that you'll be reading or is it some type of 'learn while you read' program?

 

[RoJoHen]

It's a novel.

I don't really need to be taught Spanish. I just need to expand my vocabulary and become more comfortable with the language. I've got a Spanish dictionary that I will keep by my side as I read the novel to help me along.

 

[wew]

I attempted to read El Cid in Spanish. That was rough, luckily, I was able to find an English translation for back-up.

 

[Chaos Descending]

El Cid is wonderful. Since I studied Latin in high school, and learned Spanish on my own later on, the medieval Spanish of El Cid was a piece of cake!

 

[wew]

That was my problem, I knew modern Spanish, but not medieval Spanish. Still passed the course I read it for.

 

[Chaos Descending]

All's well that ends well, eh?