Spanish Lessons

[Artemis]

What have you used to help you learn Spanish? Has anyone tried the Roseta Stone program? It is expensive but if it works I guess it would be worth it. Any suggestions?

 

[sillydoll]

Learn Spanish

The Visual Spanish course is easy to learn and you can get it for $85 if you wait for a special.

Visual Link Spanish™ Complete Spanish Program V. 3.7

http://www.spanishprograms.com/

 

[midge]

This is free http://www.radiolingua.com/cbs/home.html though you can buy premium materials. I've got it on my ipod and play it in the car on way to work. Also took it to Spain with me last week. Worth a try before you pay lots of money for a course maybe?

Theres also a Spanish language course on the BBC website which I found useful.

 

[Artemis]

Problem solved! My brothers and sister-in-law just ordered Rosetta Stone for an early birthday present to me. I had been using the free demo online and it was really improving my Spanish. Can't wait for it to get here. Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[lillypond]

What have you used to help you learn Spanish?

I am currently reading Bill Handley's book *Fast Easy Way to Learn a Language* published by Wrightbooks. Australia.

Author runs a business in Melbourne.
http://www.speedmathematics.com/html/mystory.htm

He writes:-

***I currently speak and understand about 15 languages. This can be misleading because if you learn Malay, you can understand Indonesian; if you know Dutch you can understand Afrikaans. As I have already said, if you know German you can understand Yiddish. I understand some languages quite well and I would say I am fluent - with other languages I can get by and read articles in a newspaper or on the Internet. I have done public speaking in German and French (and taught in a German school) and could probably speak in public from notes in several other languages. ***

My jaw remains dropped .... 15 languages
lillypond

 

[robtward99]

BBC "get by in ...." series

Let us know how you get on with the Rosetta Stone. I was thinking of getting one for German.
For those who don't have a lot of time to learn a language, the BBC "Get by in..." books and tapes are excellent for giving you real, useful language fast. I've used them for Greek and Turkish.

 

[lillypond]

Hi all,

For clear pronunciation of Spanish -

Phonetics: The Sounds of English and Spanish
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetic ... meset.html
This site has animation of vocals with sound and step-by step description/visuals of the anatomy to produce sounds.

also -

http://www.learn-spanish-online.de/un_p ... _film1.htm
Here you can watch 'scenes' with audio....just run mouse over transcription for translation... pause button etc.

I have several more sites which are for basic beginners ..... me llamo Tarzan, me llamo Jane ....... if anyone is interested........free on line !!!!

lillypond.

 

[Artemis]

I do like Rosetta Stone a lot. It has 8 units and about 10 sections for each unit. One section shows four pictures and it tells what is in them and then it says one of the four and you click on which one it is. Another section says the words and you type them. I like that section because it makes me aware of how they are spelled and I remember them better that way.

I bought another Spanish CD that teaches you the words by associating them to something. For example- cama (bed) imagine there is a camel in your bed for ten seconds. They do about 10 words like that and then there is a test. It is amazing how those things stick in my mind.

I also have Spanish for Dummies, flash cards, a Spanish book and 12 tapes. I am determined to learn Spanish before I go back again.

 

[lillypond]

Subject: new to the forum

However we are learning spanish as we want to be able to communicate with spanish speaking pilgrims.
thanks again

alain & janet[/quote]

Hi alain & janet,

I would like to know what resources you are using to learn spanish. All the information here is wonderful and I should really just get serious and stick with one programme, but can't decide on which to buy.

My attempts to learn face-to-face locally failed somewhat...
1) I signed up for with a local college ....... my daughter also came with me (23 yrs) ...and neither of us learned much at all (8-weeks). The male tutor was from Chile and his accent was very deep and gutteral. He used no text books and basically spoke (shouted) at us in Spanish for two hours.

2) My next attempt was again through another college. This time the lady tutor was from Peru and I found her easier to understand and we used a textbook. However, after all these years I am still managing to get "told off" in class :shock: The tutor doesn't like us to learn any new words (especially NOT ON THE EVIL COMPUTER ! ) that she hasn't taught us herself in class !!!! weird !

I could try a private tutor? Anyone experienced this ?

lillypond.

 

[KiwiNomad06]

For anyone in New Zealand ... there is the option of enrolling with the NZ Correspondence School. I have only just thought of this, though I should have thought of it before as I revised French this way! It has cost me NZ$80 for a course that I can take up to a year to do. My experience with the French course was very positive, and I am hoping for good things from the Spanish one. For those in the NZ system, the course is NCEA Level 1, though they quickly bring you up to speed with Year 9 & 10. I am told adult students tend to enjoy the accelerated bit at the beginning, and as I have learned a language before, I am glad I don't need to go too slowly to start with.

I am also enrolled in an 8 week night class, (just 8 lessons) of 'Spanish for Travellers', that starts in a couple of weeks. My previous experience of night classes is that it does depend a lot on the tutor how much you learn, but when I did an "Italian for Travellers'' class we had a vibrant young tutor and I met some very interesting fellow students.

Margaret

 

[stephenDevlin]

There's a free basic course from the BBC, Spanish Steps. Have a look at http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish.

 

[garcia]

Hi, I am a teacher of Spanish. I am planning a Course of Spanish with a group of students as we walk together the Camino de Santiago next summer.
There will be the Camino Frances from Roncesvalles.
I am Galician, so I can help out the students when we arrive to Compostela.
My URL is http://www.learning.spanish.npage.eu
I also have another one in Spanish: http://www.aprender-espanol.npage.eu , where you can find free exercises to improve your Spanish. All the exercises are linked with Camino de Santiago topics.

 

[anniethenurse]

Learning Spanish isn´t that easy than I thought before. Firstly I´m taking Spanish lessons (given by a native speaker) once week. Trying to do my home work as properly as I can every week (if only I had more time). Secondly I´m listening to Spanish courses downloaded in my iPod - I have about 5- 6 different courses I keep on listening whenever I can. One of them is called One Day Spanish very basic and easy to learn. Another one is called In - Flight Spanish. Another one Rapid Spanish: Volume 1, another Spanish Word Booster: 500+ Most Needed Words and Phrases. I do listen to the courses whenever I can. Spanish is really a challenge for me, takes a lot of time...
But so much pleasure of Spanish in Spain, most things are easier if you know the language.
annie

 

[viajero]

When I was preparing/training for my camino at home, I listened to tons of CDs while I was walking (usually I listened to books). I have also listened to language CDs too though. They aren't the best thing for learning a language but you can kill two birds with one stone...walk and learn.