Learning Spanish


 

Clint

TVWBB Olympian
I studies Spanish for around 90 hours back in 2010/2011 using a program called Tell Me More (loved it), also got a program by Encarta & another by rosetta stone (didn't care for encarta or RS but I didn't give it much of a chance).

A few months ago I hired a guy from Acapulco, he only lasted 3 weeks....I was pretty excited to be able to practice.

My new tech (~2 months or so) is from Argentina (and Spain, he's been here for 20 years) & I think I'm learning more than ever. I've been practicing a little with a program called Ouino, and I also broke out the mp3s from Pimsleur I got way back when..

It's a strange process, I like learning and I like practicing, and it's all a jumble in my head. I'm forming sentences and conveying thoughts, quite a bit like an 18 month old profane baby. I'm trying to keep the profanity to a minimum ("only teach me the nice words - I can be an @hole in English but I don't want to sound stupid & aggressive in a language I'm not proficient in"). I watched a movie on Netflix called "Los jefes" (and others more appropriate for a newbie to a language/culture) & picked up a little more slang/bad language than I should've :)

I also enjoy listening to music in Spanish, seems to be a good way to hear the language flow (I only understand 5% of the words rt now), I even watched an episode of Knight Rider in Spanish. Fun hearing the words I've been introduced to, and see them in context.
 
Very nice Clint. Spanish would be a handy language to know, particularly here in California. I've been told that when you find yourself thinking in the language you're attempting to learn, you've made the grade.
 
I've done the Pimsleur Spanish I and thought it was excellent. I bought the next two packages but never got very far into the second one.

I found it useful to watch the Spanish news on TV. They speak formal Spanish, enunciate clearly, and speak slower than you'll usually hear in real life. There are also pictures and videos to provide additional context to the words.
 
Very nice Clint. Spanish would be a handy language to know, particularly here in California. I've been told that when you find yourself thinking in the language you're attempting to learn, you've made the grade.

Hope I get there! I'm thinking in the language but only when I'm trying to put thoughts together. Learning the language is a lot more complicated than expected.......right now I know a few phrases, and I'm cobbling sentences together with misplaced words. I'm getting a lot of "what are you trying to say, in English" right now, but every Latino & Spanish speaking person I know, I'm practicing on----got a pretty good reception last night.


I've done the Pimsleur Spanish I and thought it was excellent. I bought the next two packages but never got very far into the second one.

I found it useful to watch the Spanish news on TV. They speak formal Spanish, enunciate clearly, and speak slower than you'll usually hear in real life. There are also pictures and videos to provide additional context to the words.

I'll check the news - thanks for the tip!

I had the first 8 lessons in level 1 (there's 5 levels, each with 32 half-hour lessons) since ~2010/2011 so last night I downloaded their L2 mp3s & got lost quickly - I let it play for an hour or so & then I got Level 1 & I'm glad I did. I went with the MP3s (searched & found code: cyber, not sure if it's the best) instead of the software so I could share it, kind of wish I had the software too but I already have 2 other programs I like and I was looking for a more passive activity for driving & headphones. I wonder if I'll make it to the end of L2, and how long it'll take to be proficient in it.
 
If you like the group Kansas try these guys: Mägo De Oz (Wizard of Oz, band name) - Gaia (2003, Spanish). It's the only one I have by them, but I really like it. I don't have a clue to what they're singing, but the music is good.
 
If you like the group Kansas try these guys: Mägo De Oz (Wizard of Oz, band name) - Gaia (2003, Spanish). It's the only one I have by them, but I really like it. I don't have a clue to what they're singing, but the music is good.

I have one by Nelly Furtado that's entirely in Spanish (pretty sure I have a couple others by other female artists too). I stumbled upon an article w/ youtube video discussing a probable mechanical cheat, the video was in Spanish & I had to click back a couple times to hear how they were using words I was familiar with.

One thing I remember, when I was into this years ago, I was watching a video with Subtitles in Italian & I recognized as much about what they were saying as if it was in Spanish (no mucho :) )

Seems like a beautiful language, and part of what makes it complicated (conjugation) is part of it's appeal and detailed expressiveness............ just the other night (before yesterday) I was listening to L1 lesson 9-11 or so, & I heard le gusta (you like) instead of me gusta (I like). In that instance "gusta" is the same, but when we get to the other verb endings, that can be so much more confusing.......I can't wait until I can see it come together - I'm betting that once I figure those basics (how much the verbs change vs me/you/you guys/them/etc (I'm not a language specialist!) past present - all determined by a verb ending which sometimes hardly resembles the original word..... that's one thing I like about Ouino - it takes the verbs & breaks them down (MANY verbs) into all their forms.

Talking to others whose first language isn't English, while listening to myself I realized how fast the words come out of my mouth and how foreign it must sound to them - I thought: Spanish isn't as fast as it sounds, it's just unfamiliar to me so it sounds that way.
 
Hola Clint,

I'm sitting in an office in Santander Spain today. I've been here since a week ago Monday. I expect to be back several times next year.

My business colleagues all speak very good English, but I finally decided I need to learn more Spanish than is needed to order coffee, beer, wine, Martini, or Gin Tonic. Although that covers 90% of my needs, I should try to do better.

Google Translate is such a good crutch. I was able to rent a bike yesterday from a shop where no English was spoken. But I do feel dumb when we answer each other's statements with blank stares.

Thanks for the recommendations.

Jim
 
Hola Clint,

I'm sitting in an office in Santander Spain today. I've been here since a week ago Monday. I expect to be back several times next year.

My business colleagues all speak very good English, but I finally decided I need to learn more Spanish than is needed to order coffee, beer, wine, Martini, or Gin Tonic. Although that covers 90% of my needs, I should try to do better.

Google Translate is such a good crutch. I was able to rent a bike yesterday from a shop where no English was spoken. But I do feel dumb when we answer each other's statements with blank stares.

Thanks for the recommendations.

Jim

I could probably upload the mp3s to a dropbox (maybe half of the first level) & that'll get you a long way. It'd have to be a drop box or something. I don't want to get in trouble so it might not be a good idea :)

si no tienne muchas programas it might be a good idea to get the computadora program since it has todos la audio y la computadora activities. (that's about how good my real Spanish is - I talked with a patient Latina earlier en la dia :) I'm so new I should probably just keep my mouth shut
 
Definitely helps, getting real-time corrections and suggestions. Yesterday I was told that how I was saying carro (auto), I was pronouncing it like (muy) caro (too expensive, I was told). Then while listening yesterday (4 hrs+) i heard como I'm used to meaning as "come again, or hows that?" be used as a different tense of comer(to eat) i.e. yo como. Then pagar(to pay) referred to as 'yo pogo' (i pay). This was all audio so I only imagined the spelling. Just the small things I can explain.

http://www.spanishdict.com/examples/ser

Puedo (i can) puede (you can).... I have to listen to each of these many times
 
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A week or 2 ago my aunt showed me a free Spanish learning app called duolingo but I wasn't too impressed with it; today I ran into a guy (had to work for 2 hours) who I heard speak a little Spanish and he's been using it for 5-6 months. He s a lot better than me with Spanish and he showed me the app in some detail (just a few minutes). Duolingo was recommended to my aunt by her daughter's native Espanol speaking husband, I just took their placement test that said I was 9% fluent which is overly generous
 
I must be stupid or something. I've been married to a Latina for over 30 years and I still don't know Spanish.
And on top of that I live in L.A. where everyone, except me, speak Spanish.
 
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I mentioned Mago de Oz, so I went to YouTube.

Here's the CD I was talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX-ENt91kFo

I don't know why I didn't think of this before my last comment...

Thx - that's pretty good, I'll let it play through later tonight or tomorrow.

we watched City Of Gods (kind of like Slumdog Millionaire?) with the Spanish audio track instead of Portugese, & what else..............

I listened to >8 hours of Pimsleur Wednesday/Saturday.... it's getting weird. I'm @ ~lesson 15, this is going to take several more times (each one does)

I started watching Men In Black on Netflix with the Spanish audio track a couple hours ago but that got sidelined for now.

Mana is the new workers favorite band (one of them anyway) so I've listened a bit to it on Pandora.
https://youtu.be/HL4HjQwMx-o?list=RDEM3r4XQJ7Rf7EIvHeRQyXRAA



 
Today I finished watching Men in Black (o hombres de negro) in Spanish, and now I'm watching The Big Short in spanish with English subtitles. I hoped to ski today but Snowbird had to suspend operation on Friday due to warm weather....so I spent a bunch of time on the Duolingo app (really like it sometimes, but sometimes I wonder how much will stick). I'm enjoying these flicks in Spanish............ sometimes I forget it's not en inglés,
 

Man...that video is old! I remember that from MTV days.

When I was stationed in Germany in the mid 70s a bunch of us GIs went to Barcelona (I've been back there twice since) and down the coast to Tossa de Mar. Well, we went to a bullfight. Naturally, we were all drunk and cheering for the bull.
 

 

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