Learning Spanish

[Utah]

as a side comment - my daughters are in a public Spanish Immersion school and it was about the best thing we have ever done for them. My 4th grader pretty much speaks perfect spanish with no accent. Plus, there is the added value of learning new cultures and new ideas. Supposedly, learning a language at that age helps you become a better thinker - but I am not sold on that yet.

If you ever have the chance to place your child in a good Immersion school I highly recommend it.

I certainly wish I could speak a second language.

[Blarg]

There have been threads on this before, but the search engine is so flaky I rarely even bother trying these days. I'm also curious as to people's experiences on this, especially since some courses are terrifically expensive, at least by my lights. And it's so easy to put together a really lousy computer program.

[Assani Fisher]

you need to hear it and speak it...as was mentioned, if you can't personally visit somewhere where its spoken or take classes, then at least watch a lot of Spanish TV.

[QTip]

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Has anyone tried Pimsleur/Rosetta Stone? I want to learn Farsi and am trying to decide between the two.

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I've been through a lot of different Spanish learning material. As far as do-it-yourself learning, Pimsleur was by far the best imo. That series coupled with grammar books from the local library took me pretty far. There is also a video course called Destinos that I found very helpful. As far as getting good in actual conversation though, actually speaking with a native is just about the only way, imo. If you want to get serious at some point, you could look into a company called Berlitz. I went there for about 4 months and it took me too that next level of fluency.

Really though, it just takes a ton of commitment and hard work. Most people don't have what it takes, and end up a year later only remembering buenas noches.

[Autocratic]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Has anyone tried Pimsleur/Rosetta Stone? I want to learn Farsi and am trying to decide between the two.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been through a lot of different Spanish learning material. As far as do-it-yourself learning, Pimsleur was by far the best imo. That series coupled with grammar books from the local library took me pretty far. There is also a video course called Destinos that I found very helpful. As far as getting good in actual conversation though, actually speaking with a native is just about the only way, imo. If you want to get serious at some point, you could look into a company called Berlitz. I went there for about 4 months and it took me too that next level of fluency.

Really though, it just takes a ton of commitment and hard work. Most people don't have what it takes, and end up a year later only remembering buenas noches.

[/ QUOTE ]

My dad speaks the language, so staying with it won't be an issue. Thanks for your input, I think I'll be getting Pimsleur.

[QTip]

Again, take advantage of the library resource. When I wanted to try out Pimsleur, the library didn't have it. I asked them to put a request in for it, and they ended up purchasing it so I and others could check it out...depends on if you're as broke as I was [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Banditgberg]

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Start watching DVDs in Spanish with English subtitles. Also, start going to your local Mexican restaurant a couple of times a week and speaking to the staff only in Spanish.

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do that!

or have your job transfer you to the middle of nowhere puerto rico for a year...it only gets harder the older you get!!

[ACPlayer]

encontrar a novia española

[David H]

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encontrar a novia española

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Something spanish girlfriend?

Edit-Find a spanish girlfriend.

This is a poor suggestion. If you have a spanish girlfriend, and come out of the relationship knowing spanish, you let her talk waaaaay too much.

[MikeNaked]

Also -

Get a grammar book and a bilingual dictionary. After a few lessons from the audio and grammar books, get a Spanish-language newspaper or magazine and try to decipher a story. Highlight all the words that you don't know and put them on flash cards. Spend your free time looking at your flash cards. Then go onto the next paragraph and so on. You'll find yourself growing in your Spanish proficiency within that article, which is tremendously rewarding and motivating.