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Learning Spanish

I

imwalking

New Member
Hola! I’m trying to extend my conversational Spanish just a bit beyond the level of cafe con leche. There are some great on line apps, many free at the introductory level. I’ve discovered the Mirai course, and a fabulous YouTube upload of 2 hours of Daily Conversational Spanish. What have other pilgrims used?
Margaret.
 
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These guys are great! https://www.notesinspanish.com

A free collection of conversations between English Ben and his Spanish wife Marina, on a range of interesting topics, and life in Spain (they live in Madrid). Beginners to advanced. Fun to listen to, a really nice energy between the couple. Marina corrects Ben's pronunciation and grammar mistakes.
 
Memrise - especially as they have Spanish Spanish, not just South American Spanish, which is slightly different
 
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Rosetta Stone and Duolingo were my two main avenues of learning. What I also found helpful, and very enjoyable, were the YouTube videos from the channel Dreaming Spanish.

Spoken only in Spanish, with simple drawings to aid learning. They have SuperBeginner, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced levels. Lots of interesting topics, personal stories, fairy tales, daily life, culture, in short videos from 3 minutes to 10 or 11 minutes.

Great stuff! Example below: SuperBeginner Spanish, Daily Life #37 - Pets I've Had.

 
Babbel
 
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Thank you everyone for a great range of suggestions - that should keep me motivated to learn more. Buenas noches!
 
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My mother tongue is Portuguese so I was very happy to hear them speak in Galego (more similar to Portuguese than to Spanish), which is an absolutely lovely language. I picked up some words along the way and also it was a good way to spend time with the locals, who were lovely to teach me many useful words and a good accent. If I were you would build some vocabulary in Galego as well as Spanish.
 
Please have a look at 'spanishwithpaul' on youtube. He is one of the best teachers I have ever come across; he just draws you into speaking Spanish with him. He has left many free lessons on Youtube and has a subscription course if you want to go further.
 
Coffee Break Spanish podcasts. They are fantastic and free. Took me from complete beginner to B2.2 level (beyond A level) in less than a year. All very practical and they explain the grammar as you go along. HIGHLY recommended!
 
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Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
Intercambio has worked better for me duolingo etc., because I want to have a conversation when I am in Spain and I am not very confident, so I skype a couple of Spanish ladies who want to improve their English. So it's 30 mins spanish and then 30 mins english. It forces me to engage in normal conversations without getting to wrapped up in grammar (or the subjunctive!!) and it works for me.
Mylanguageexchange.com
Also I have had lessons with a brilliant spanish teacher in Astorga on a one to one basis €13 an hour and worth every cent. Happy to forward her details.
 
Here in Georgia senior citizens get a full tuition waiver for courses at most of the State colleges and universities. I enrolled at the University that I pass each day on the way to work(!) and took two semesters of Spanish at a total cost of about $5 for my parking permit, plus books (and only the second semester actually had a physical book!). Upside is I feel MUCH more comfortable reading basic Spanish and can work my way through signage and menus and such. Downside is that I'm "book" smart only - didn't do much at all for basic conversational skills. Key words for me in conversation: mas lento - "slower"!
 

Hola Deputy Dan:

Great achievement your task. If you have streaming capabilities, I would recommend to check Netflix; they have great movies and serial made for Netflix. You can enable the English subtitles, so to catch-up anything that is lost . I’m fluent in both Castellano (aka Spanish) and English, and some times get lost in the fast talk of the Spaniards .

I’m currently learning Italian, and that’s the method I employ to sharpen my hearing of the new language.

Buen Camino
 
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We all have our ways of learning.

I speak English, French, Spanish, German, a little Italian and I studied Russian in college and can still understand it a bit, but have little interest now in Russian.

I take on a new language in the following way:

1. I get a phrase program for travelers (think Berlitz or something) and memorize all the phrases and the pronunciation. This can take a while, but gives immediate useful phrases as well as a sense of the language and how it flows.

2. I then move on to a basic textbook or summary textbook (like Schaum). I study that. Grammar (although studies show that isn't really important in language acquisition), more vocabulary, verbs, etc.

3. Next I move on to an intermediate vocabulary book.

4. Next I move on to reading online articles from Google News (sports, politics, culture, celebs, health,etc) with Google Translate, learning more vocabulary. Google Translate can read the article to you, which is nice. And I build and build vocabulary.

5. If you want to watch something on TV to learn the language, I suggest the news or children's shows. They are much easier to understand what people are saying due to context. Also, you can use subtitles in English if available, but I often find subtitles in the spoken language more useful, since I can read better than hear when it comes to a new language.

Everyone is different. This works for me. It is my past time. It may not be the best answer for others.

Also, mea culpa for Spanish. I grew up in a Mexican neighborhood. My French has always been better than my Spanish, though I speak Spanish way more than French here in California. I have been doing much more of steps 4 and 5 in Spanish the past couple of years, because I wanted to speak a cleaner, more sophisticated Spanish, particularly at work. It also helps that I can listen to Spanish language radio here in California. Love me some Enrique, Maluma, Yuridia and Sin Bandera.
 
Ivan_Prada said:
If you have streaming capabilities, I would recommend to check Netflix; they have great movies and serial made for Netflix.
Click to expand...
I just finished season 3 of Money Heist or La Casa de Papel on Netflix. The eclectic soundtrack can be found on Spotify.
 
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