ive realised i'll never get the hang of my mother tongue, so ive decided to learn Spanish. Ive been ruminating about it for a few years. My local college runs 3 a 25 week courses (levels 1,2 and 3) and a 10 week holiday Spanish type course. I'd be interesting in starting on level 1. I know a fair few Spanish words but im not a speaker. The next course begins in january so i'd like to get a head start. Ive looked at the Rosetta Stone pack (which seems like a complete rip off), Michel Thomas and Pimsleur. The latter two systems seem to have very good reviews. Has anybody learnt using any of these systems, or have any advice to offer me-the pros/cons/pitfalls etc etc. Im a very motivated person and would have no problem committing to a course of study, and i learn pretty fast..something to do with my colossal IQ of 180. Any advice or feedback would be really appreciated as im not sure which pack to proceed with. x
Sorry - can't help with which of those courses to try. I've just started an Italian evening class, having previously picked up a BBC "Buongiorno Italia" book & CD course before my trip to WDW last summer. I don't know if the BBC do an equivalent Spanish course, but I found the vocab in Buongiorno Italia was exactly the sort of thing I needed when travelling. I found it really helped my enjoyment of my trip knowing a few words of Italian - just for the little interactions e.g. at cafes, filling stations etc. Next month I will be inflicting my rudimentary Italian on the 100HP Club (the Varese Ducati DOC) when I head to Milan for the EICMA show. Biggest thing that helps in my view, is simply having a go at speaking another language, not worrying too much about making a few mistakes or feeling self-conscious about how you sound or getting it absolutely right. I also ripped the CDs to MP3, and on my computer, so that if I woke up at 3 in the morning and couldn't get back to sleep, I could listen to the Italian course then, or on my MP3 player or phone memory when on a train or wandering into town. CDs on in the car as well. I decided to do a formal class to try and get some of the grammar and verb conjugations to stick - while I'd got a bit of vocab, I knew that a lot of the (sometimes tedious, but sadly necessary) technical stuff just wasn't going in with my self-study. Buena suerte con sus estudios! (One of my biggest challenges with learning Italian is not speaking Spanish as I have rusty GCSE level Spanish!)
I've used Michel Thomas to learn Spanish. The course is good. I like his teaching methods. He's dead now but lead a very interesting life and could speak several languages.
As a left field option, do the college course, but seek out a local Spanish ex pat group (most big towns/cities have them), and you can help them with English and vice versa. Never know, might meet a bang tidy Spanish lass ;-) rosetta stone is ok, but over priced if buying with your own dosh (ok if you get it expensed through work/business). Good luck with it, however you do it, but is worth learning as much about other languages/cultures.
and take that to the bank and cash it!! fkn love you Pete, youre flying my kind of kite. theres loads of spanish in nottingham..in factm theres a spanish family living around the corner (theyve got the screaming kid i mentioned in my 'would you liek to kill your neighbours' thread...do you think its worth popping a note through their door?? Dunno where the spanish ex pats would be in notts..guess i could try a few tapas bars?? i wouldve thought the Spanish wouldnt have had much trouble learning Engish..they are over here after all (?).. Anyway, cheers for the tip...let me know what you think about me knocking on their door or sending them a note...
My sister joined an internet dating site a couple of years ago, partly with the intention of improving her Spanish by looking for a nice Spanish guy. It worked ... mostly The wedding was just outside Barcelona last month, but her husband is proudly Catalan rather than seeing himself as Spanish, so I suspect she'll end up learning Catalan as well as improving her Spanish!
Hmm, screaming neighbours - not good, moved house because of some a few years back. try the tapas bars, see if any posters up in places like that, maybe even use it as a line for barmaid or waitress in the tapas bars, what's to lose? i had some non Brit staff in my last place and sorted them with an ex pat club in Chester (no, didn't try any lines on the ex pats - would be a case of work harassment, I'm sure). most non English I work with and know (got teams of engineers across Europe and South America) like to have their English corrected as practice, regardless of how good they are.
Catweazle: Cheers for the tip..but i couldnt find anythin on languages(?).. Pete: Its only the kid that screams..a pilowcase will sort that. There are a few tapas bars in town so i may well get down to them. Also when im able to move around more i want ot get back into slasa dancing..i used to do it a few years ago..not only will this get me out of the house but will also hopefully open a few doors (and legs)...Tapas upas. Mrs.C: I met my ex missus on a dating site...once bitten twice shy! her oldest brother (who is despicable), lives in Valencia with his long suffering Spanish wife and kids. he went without a syllable, and trust me, he wasnt the sharpest knife in the drawer. But as you said about the Catalans, the people from his region are very proud and also have their own language. As such, tricky dicky speaks spanish and valenciano..locally, almost all of the older folks will only converse in valenciano. His oldest kid (6) hardly speaks a word of english because he cant be bothered to teach him...good that isnt it? It will certainly help pull the family together...glad im out of it...
You are wasting your time with Spanish..........you should strongly consider Chinese (or Mandarin) or Arabic..... That way when they finally invade completely, you can say with absolute accuarcy "Please don't shoot me" or "Please don't cut my head off"
Spanish is a good choice as it's quite easy as languages go. A lot of the sentence construction is amazingly like English. There aren't that many words either (their dictionary is way smaller than an English dictionary, smaller than French too). It's very easy to spell - there are set rules and there are pretty much no exceptions (accents show the exceptions to the rules, so it's not as if you have to guess how to pronounce something like in English). Only thing that ruins it for me is having to roll your R massively which I find very hard to do.
the R rolling for me is a real stuggle..i find the phlegm coughing quite tricky too..its probably one of those things that Spanish comedian take the piss out of us for when theyre doing an Englishman in Benidorm joke
Best way to learn a language is to live in the country for a while. Since you've lost interest in your work, maybe a change of location would be just the thing; different culture, wine/food/women, better weather and if it all goes to shit you can be an unemployed musician in a nicer place...
Funnily enough, ive been having this very conversation with several people over the last couple of weeks. Im looking at lots of different career, educational and business options at the moment with a view to moving over there eventually...i want to avoid the pitfall of becoming an ex-pat abroad, thats not the lifestyle i want. i have some connections in Calahonda and they are all typical ex-pats...its like living in a ghetto of sorts. Ive got a few plans that im just starting to sow the seeds on now...the dictator is going to be my recovery. since my op ive really starting thinking seriously about what i want from the second half of my life-lifestyle, relationships, every single thing you can imagine. Im just starting to get mobile again and my thirst to get out and build a new life for myself is really motivating to explore all avenues and been much open to different possibilites. Im not afraid of upping sticks and moving, i have no ties to the area in which i live, no family here...im just here by accident really. Potentially, i could rent out my house and buggar off. Ive got tenants in the flat i rent out that look fairly stable..its something i very may do in the next couple of years. Whilst im recovering (i need to be in touch regularly with the surgeon and hospital for the next 24 months), this will give me the chance to put some plans into action, start this language, retrain and fuck the teaching off...i could even get a repertoire of music together for Spain (i studied Flamenco for almost 10 years)...i'll try and avoid the karaoke bars though!
My mrs does private tuition and I'm only in chesterfield too. She's Spanish but can speak Italian, French and English. Rates are cheap too and she's a qualified teacher.
