|
Post by spindrift on Sept 2, 2009 17:14:52 GMT
Yesterday I signed up at the University for a beginners course in Spanish (it is classified as Spanish 1A) with evening classes starting on 5th October.
I'm putting my Japanese lessons 'on hold' for at least one term. If I find Spanish to be very easy then I'll continue with Japanese in the New Year.
I think there are a lot of Spanish speakers here. Has anyone got any advice for me? I'm already listening to Spanish Pimsleur CDs 1A. Apart from some of the pronounication (r) it seems to be a doddle compared to Japanese.
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on Sept 2, 2009 19:13:46 GMT
I don't know whether you are ready to read or listen to news stories from Spanish and Hispanophone media, but I can tell you that the bbc news website also has a service in Spanish. You might find it useful to read articles in English and then the same ones (or same subject) in Spanish. Try not to translate, but at least if you know what the journalist is reporting on, you'll get less lost.
Do you speak any other Romance language? If so it will indeed be a bit of a doddle AT FIRST. It may get more difficult as the different verb tenses diverge when you get more advanced (for example, use of the passé composé and passé simple is VERY different in Spanish from French - as for the comparison to Italian, it is exactly what was noticed in the thread on problems learning English - in the North of Italy, the usage is more like French, in the South, more like Spanish.
Usually nouns are the same gender in different Romance languages, but there are notably exceptions.
I had to abandon studying Arabic to concentrate on improving my Spanish. Like your Japanese calligraphy, my Arabic calligraphy was utterly beautiful and perfect. Alas I haven't really had time to take it up again, for one thing as I had to learn at least some German for "personal reasons", as well as intellectual ones. Though it is so important to learn at least one "non-Western" language, if only to view the world otherwise.
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Sept 2, 2009 20:07:37 GMT
Lagatta - I speak French and I learned Latin at school. This has always helped me to guess my way around easy Italian and Spanish.
I see - so I'll encounter difficult verb tenses! I'm sure I will. At least I won't have to worry about putting the verb at the end of the sentence. I had to learn to do this when speaking Japanese. I wish to be sufficiently proficient in Spanish only to understand and speak enough to get around on transport, read directions and order food. Thank you for telling me about the BBC news website in Spanish. I'll give it a try and in any case it's always good to train the ear early in the learning process.
How many languages do you speak?
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Sept 2, 2009 23:02:58 GMT
Spindrift, you might find something here to get you going until school starts in a month: www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/This is a good site for listening to words and letters being pronounced: www.spanishspanish.com/This series, "Destinos" may be in your library. If not, here is the url to watch it online: www.learner.org/resources/series75.html?pop=yes&pid=370#It's a classic for people learning Spanish. You don't want the little screen that's embedded on the site -- that's sort of an introduction to the series. Click on the "VoD" symbol next to the chapters in the list under Individual Program Descriptions. A window will open up on the left side of your screen to play the full-length episode.
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on Sept 2, 2009 23:29:07 GMT
bixa and spindrift, bixa's site is the Spanish-learning site at bbc. It is basic, but very good. If spindrift speaks French and knows Latin, she may find it easy, but it is very important to get a good grounding and memorise some "silly little phrases" - making them really automatic. Here is the bbc Spanish-language NEWS site: www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/index.shtml Not all the articles have equivalents in English, but many do. Languages: not so many - French, English and Italian fluently, quite a bit more Spanish than you are aiming for and odd elements of German - I can read and understand it quite well, but here, out of context, have a hard time spontaneously speaking it. In Germany, I managed quite well with daily life stuff (and no, not everyone speaks English - or French near the French border - as friends had told me).Remember some basic things in Arabic, and can read quite a few kinds of things in Portuguese. I have friends who speak many more. spindrift, any particular place you are aiming to visit?
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Sept 2, 2009 23:49:53 GMT
|
|
|
Post by hwinpp on Sept 3, 2009 6:51:16 GMT
I've heard bad things about advanced Spanish grammar, such as use of the subjunctive. Otherwise I didn't get much further than 'oi muchacho, commo va?' which always works nicely
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Sept 3, 2009 8:33:54 GMT
I need to buy a Spanish Dictionary. Lagatta or Bixa - do you have a favourite?
|
|
|
Post by tillystar on Sept 3, 2009 9:19:34 GMT
Oh good luck, I hope one day to study it properly as my vocab is OK but grammar is next to useless. I am stuck in a 2 yr olds point and name stage forever Once you have started we will have to take you up on your offer of a tour of Winchester and you can spend the day practising with Mr and Lil Star
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Sept 3, 2009 10:02:06 GMT
I started to learn Spanish after a visit to Chile. At the time I was learning Italian and it was really confusing at first, but now I can get by pretty well in Spanish and can't think up even a sentence in Italian. I learned grammar off the internet and with a book, and conversation in an exchange English for Spanish with an Argentinian friend. Needless to say, my Spanish is of the S American variety and I don't even like the Spanish lispy version. Can't conjugate any verbs for vosotros either. I read the BBC Latin America page and have read many of the Spanish books at my local library. I also bought a few books, but am having serious motivation problems these days. I occasionally speak Spanish, and got by pretty well in 3 weeks in Ecuador this spring. I spent days speaking only Spanish and full immersion like that really helps. The reading mostly gives a passive vocabulary. We are going to Colombia in 3 months, so that will give me more opportunities to speak. I just have to memorize those irregular verbs!
We are going to Rome for a week at the end of September, so I anticipate a few problems. I can understand any Italian I see written and much of what is spoken, but when I try to talk, it comes out in Spanish.
|
|
|
Post by tillystar on Sept 3, 2009 10:14:52 GMT
Thats OK, Mr Star gets by fine in Italy by speaking Spanish in an exaggerated Italian accent and waving his arms about a lot.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Sept 3, 2009 14:36:18 GMT
Spindrift, this is the dictionary I keep in my Bookmarks Toolbar: www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp. You can set it for any number of language to language combinations. I have two print dictionaries, Cassell's Spanish Dictionary, which is an ancient Funk & Wagnalls book full of words only to be found in literature -- obscure bits of armory, for instance. The other one is The Bantam New College Spanish & English Dictionary in paperback. Dictionaries really point up how much easier it is to learn a language by immersion, as the word you look up may not have the correct nuance of meaning. That's why listening and speaking are so important. Once you get going good with studying, do listen to those internet learning-Spanish soap operas. You won't get every word, but you'll be amazed at how much meaning sinks in. Also, do as Bjd did and try to find a native speaker to converse with you.
|
|
|
Post by traveler63 on Sept 3, 2009 14:36:47 GMT
I found Spanish to be easy. I have about one year left if I went back to University and finished to have a a major in Foreign Language. I would say that tapes would help. I was very lucky to have several instructors whose first language was Spanish and they were from different Spanish speaking countries. My high school instructor was from Barcelona. I didn't start University until I was married and about 30 years old. Some of the countries were Cuba, Chile ,Guatemala, Argentina, Mexico. I guess what surprised me was the subtle differences in accents and word usage.
Spindrift since you speak French and have Latin, I don't think you will have much trouble.
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on Sept 3, 2009 15:08:00 GMT
I like reverso.net as an online bilingual resource. www.reverso.net/ It has several bilingual dictionaries with different language pairs and a fairly decent online machine translator. I also like wordreference.com and enjoy the word-nerd discussions in the forum. Though as soon as you can, you should buy a unilingual learner's dictionary. The best for people learning ENGLISH are the Collins COBUILD series (based on a databank of English use and usage throughout the world); alas I don't know the best Spanish-language one (I do have the PONS for German). For Spanish, I have the Collins Spanish (though I think the Oxford Spanish is even better), a French-Spanish dictionary (Robert) and an Italian-Spanish dictionary (Signorelli) - the latter above all to tackle those "false friends". My unilingual Spanish dictionary is the CLAVE Diccionario de uso del español actual (a trade paperback) which doesn't include everything but so far handy for my needs, rounded out by online searches. This dictionary seemed to include a lot of americanismos, which I needed at I have to deal both with stuff from Spain and from the Latin American countries. I understood Spanish enough when I actually started studying it seriously not to need a learner's dictionary.
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Sept 3, 2009 18:12:52 GMT
Bixa ~ yes...you are the prime reason I will try really really hard with my pronounciation which you'll probably find excruciating. Lagatta, bjd and T63, thanks for your suggestions. I have saved them all to Favourites. I do know that watching Soaps and News makes a big difference to one's listening skills. Students in my class who were addicted to Anime understood spoken Japanese so much better than I did. I couldn't bring myself to watch it. I'll go hunting for a dictionary later this week.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jul 3, 2020 18:39:55 GMT
I am wondering why I understand much more of this video than I normally would. I see Juan Arbalaez on television all the time and I even follow him on Instagram. He is a Colombian chef who settled very successfully in France at age 18 and adopted a French lifestyle sufficiently to have even married Miss France 2011. He speaks French without an accent. So I am wondering if he is speaking "comprehensible" Spanish because 1) his Spanish vocabulary is influenced by living in France, or 2) just by being a media figure, he pronounces words more carefully or 3) Colombian Spanish is "purer" than other colloquial forms. Any ideas? One of his restaurants, a Greek one called Yaya, is quite close to where I live, and i confess that I am tempted to try it. www.yayarestaurant.com/yaya-secretan
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Jul 3, 2020 19:32:43 GMT
He definitely sounds Colombian. That sort of drawl he uses sounds typical. I just looked him up and he is from Bogota. That said, Colombian Spanish is indeed easy to understand compared to some others. As are Peruvian and Ecuadorean accents.
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on Jul 18, 2020 13:31:29 GMT
I can read even academic books in Spanish; my main problem is sorting out Spanish and Italian. Some Italian always creeps in. Guess I just need more practice, and ideally, a bit of immersion.
|
|