A big problum with the lingo...

[muralou]

I like meny people have try'd and try'd to learn spanish but as hard as i try im just not getting it. i simply can not rememberany of it. it makes me wonder.... how can i learn the words to a new song. or a convesation from way back when. but spanish. i dont get it.
is any one out there having the same truble as me. i have been here in Malaga for 4 years this Oct. i have try tapes CD's vidio's sticky lables all over the houes lessons. thanks for reading.

[chris(madrid)]

You will not really learn unless you NEED TO COMMUNICATE. Tapes etc do no good unless afterwards (ime) you HAVE TO APPLY what you've learned.

Sign up for Spanish lessons - then you HAVE TO USE what you learn - and start watching Spanish TV (and give up on Sky for a bit) - Also look out opportunities to converse with Spaniards. You need to relate the sounds with the words.

My poor old mum btw suffers greatly - but because she is near tone deaf so she really does not hear what's being said. My Dad is very able to pick things up.

[jojo]

Originally Posted by muralou

I like meny people have try'd and try'd to learn spanish but as hard as i try im just not getting it. i simply can not rememberany of it. it makes me wonder.... how can i learn the words to a new song. or a convesation from way back when. but spanish. i dont get it.
is any one out there having the same truble as me. i have been here in Malaga for 4 years this Oct. i have try tapes CD's vidio's sticky lables all over the houes lessons. thanks for reading.

I'm excactly the same. I'm sure its an age thing. But, I always try, always steam in and have a go - I want the Spanish people I come in contact with to realise that I respect their language and I'm trying to learn. I also pick up little bits every time I try - I may forget soon after. although recently I've taken to writing things down when I get back to my car or even on my mobile which helps it to stick. I have a lesson once a week which teaches me grammar and the basic structure, its all gonna be a very long process, but I will get there.... in about 50 years time LOL!!!

Just keep trying at every opportunity, petrol stations, supermarkets, restaurants.... Its actually fun and an icebreaker!! And I've yet to come across any Spanish who havent wanted to help or who have been unfriendly - on the contrary!

Jo

[Pasanada]

I have a Spanish friend who spent 20 years living in Cambridge; we were discussing this issue a few weeks ago and he felt the Brits spent too much time on the structure of Spanish and not enough time learning the "street lingo". Basically what he was saying is, forget spending a fortune on lessons, integrate into the local Spanish community and forget trying to learn "Oxford" Spanish.

I agree with him, it's exactly what I did 5 years ago when I moved to Spain......I've used my skill in many area's of my life, including when I lived in Dubai. My job entailed dealing with a Colombian company where only Spanish was spoken, I never had any problems with language barriers.

It's amazing what you can learn from hanging around Pedro's bar!

[XTreme]

I think that different people learn in different ways, and everybody has different natural abilities.....so you have to find out what works for you.

When I first came here (Nov 2005) I looked at all the various learning programs, and despite all the various claims I didn´t really find any of them to be particularly good for me. Though I would say the best of the bunch by far is Michel Thomas.

So what I did initially was purely look at the verbs rather than learning hundreds of words I´d never use......and I found it was very similar to Latin which I´d learnt in school way back from 1966-1970. I'd said throughout my life what a waste of time getting an O Level in Latin was, but from that moment on my opinion changed.
I was amazed to find that virtually everything I´d learnt 40 years ago in Latin (and French) was still there in my brain somewhere, so when I was looking at Spanish I´d draw from the Latin and it just sort of fell into place.

So the way I approached it was probably totally different than most people.....I had to be able to communicate so I'd research the theory and then just get out there and do it. And I still do it that way now.....examine the language rules rather than learning lists of useless words, and just go outside the door and speak to everybody. I particularly enjoy conversing with under 30 Espanolas!

[jojo]

Originally Posted by Pasanada

I have a Spanish friend who spent 20 years living in Cambridge; we were discussing this issue a few weeks ago and he felt the Brits spent too much time on the structure of Spanish and not enough time learning the "street lingo". Basically what he was saying is, forget spending a fortune on lessons, integrate into the local Spanish community and forget trying to learn "Oxford" Spanish.

I agree with him, it's exactly what I did 5 years ago when I moved to Spain......I've used my skill in many area's of my life, including when I lived in Dubai. My job entailed dealing with a Colombian company where only Spanish was spoken, I never had any problems with language barriers.

It's amazing what you can learn from hanging around Pedro's bar!

I agree to a point, the lessons are useful in how to construct sentences and how the whole language is put together, that helps. BUT its no substitiute for actually chatting and learning the street Spanish, or picking up the vocabulary. For me I'm finding both helpful, its just not quick enough and I forget so easliy!!

I wish I could have a micro-cxhip planted in my brain that would enable me to just speak and understand Spanish!

Jo

[Burriana Babs]

I was taking lessons in a local pub/restaurant twice a week last year, and that was a help. But starting next week I have a friend who teaches children that are having problems with Spanish and she is going to start teaching me with a one hours class 5 days a week. That should really help. I know I will draw on all I learned last year. I too had a lot of problems with the verbs, But structure of sentances I do not find that the Spanish mind all my little mistakes, they understand what I am trying to say and just have a little laugh and offer their assistance in correcting me. Yes Jo they do appreciate our trying to speak the language, as we should I mean after all if they came to our respective countries we would expect them to speak our language and we are not nearly as tolerable as they are with us.

[SunnySpain]

I find watching the telly with subtitles and then writing it down helps a lot

Also, if you think of something that particularly interests you, like History for example and then start reading up about Spanish history (in Spanish) you should learn certain words quite quickly and this could give you a boost in your learning

Worth a go maybe...

[jayseabee]

I have to agree with most people here. I have been living in Wales for the last 25 years, and still cannot speak it. Why? Because the Welsh laugh at me every time I try. I can understand a lot, but I do not feel confident enough to speak it.
I found, every time I went to Spain, the Spainish are wonderful, and really want to help you learn. I would be the last one to encourage the odd vino as an aid, but a merry evening in a nice Spanish pub is the very best way to learn the lingo.

[dizzy]

Originally Posted by XTreme

.....examine the language rules rather than learning lists of useless words, and just go outside the door and speak to everybody. ...

This is a great little piece of information and I have found this way of looking at the language. I bought a package called Shortcuts to Spanish for this very reason. The guy who wrote it is an Australian (which helps ) and he focusses on showing you the rules for the language and words that are the same or similar in English. The package is very cheap and downloadable from the internet and includes audio files for practice - no lists of words to remember just a couple of everyday useful words and the rules to make the rest happen. When you understand that then it just begins to happen.

Anyone interested can follow a link from my blog Hola! Spain

Like I said I have found this package to be the best for simple language learning - I only wish someone would do one in Catalan. Maybe I will later.
Diz