Comments on: Tips #2: Learning Spanish

By: Advanced Spanish Podcast 30 - Learning tips! : Notes in Spanish - Learn Spanish with Podcast Audio Conversation from Spain.

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 08:17:28 +0000

[...] Notes – Top tips for learning Spanish! (More here). Any we missed? Anything you would like to ask us about for the last episode? Stick it all in the [...]

By: Edith

Edith — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 22:00:53 +0000

Another tip: learn some new words every day which are related to a specific subject, for instance: going to the doctor, having a haircut, buying a bus ticket, going to the beach, attending a wedding, making a cake, etc. Look up all the words and write them down in a special notebook.

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 06:55:48 +0000

Thanks for the tip on theword.org, great website!

By: Beth Smaligo

Beth Smaligo — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 01:34:40 +0000

Hello there. These tips are really great. Let’s see….I’ll tell you a condensed version of the story so as not to take up too much space. My Spanish teacher in high school (I’m between high school and college–I start next year full-time) was a nice person, but she couldn’t pronounce the language at all…I mean she couldn’t even roll her r. (How did she pass those college exams for pronunciation?) Also we never used a textbook….she just said hola means hello..write it down; adiós means goodbye..write it down, etc. And we never learned conjegations or declensions, grammar, etc. It was pathetic!! I’m told that what you see is what you get. (I wonder if there is Braille for Spanish…I’m blind and at this point only read English Braille–I’m also monolingual in English, but would love to learn Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean….I’m Korean American…came to the States when I was 2…my adoptive parents are second-generation European-American–they only speak English, of course). I want to learn these languages mostly because they are interesting and also because it would boost my credentials if I became a radio journalist covering international stories. Check out theworld.org for great international news, podcasts, and other cool stuff. Adiós. –Beth, age 19

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 17:54:12 +0000

It’s taken David Beckham almost 30 years to go from zero to conversational in English, let alone Spanish!

Sorry, that was uncalled for….

By: CÃ©sar Ortega

CÃ©sar Ortega — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 01:09:54 +0000

Pol, eres un cachondo mental…

By: Pol

Pol — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 11:39:42 +0000

Mmmm… some tips on learning Spanish… Ben, you say you can go from zero to conversational in only six months??. I wonder what would David Beckham think about that??. Frankly I don’t think he’s followed much of your rules, I don’t see him labelling in Spanish all the stuff in his house (i.e. “la crema facial exfoliante”, “la alfombra de pelo de gazela virgen tanzana”, “el ropero gigante con zapatero para todos los modelitos de mi mujer”…

By: Richard Wise

Richard Wise — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 16:15:00 +0000

I like this idea of tips and the language learning one is particularly good.

Something that someone told me (and I have done it, but yet to start) is to buy a well known novel in both English and Spanish. It is preferable if you know the story roughly. A very good example is the series of Harry Potter books. I have just bought The Chamber of Secrets in English and Spanish versions. The idea is that you read one chapter in English and then one in Spanish. That way you are getting the gist as you go along and do not get swamped by too many words/phrases that you do not understand.

I’m not sure whether to do that next or read my new book – The Basque History of The World.Before I do any of that I need to finish The Shadow of the Wind.

Richard

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:31:59 +0000

Excellent tips. I used many myself, especially carrying a little list of words, useful phrases and verbs with me at all times. Good for the metro or when waiting for someone. For a while I added 10 new words a day that I had come across, and made sure I learned these.
Thinking in Spanish just gets you in the mood and it helps to start your brain flowing a bit quicker when someone asks you something unexpectedly.
Much more about Intercambios on my blog soon.
http://www.learningcastellano.blogspot.com/

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 09:05:19 +0000

Some great tips and absolutely on the money.
The thing that really worked for my wife and myself, as well for others that we met, was to spend a period (as long as possible – I spent 3 months, but others spend the odd week or fortnight when they can) at one of the language schools in Spain. There are loads of them. They generally teach only in Spanish and really do give you a fast-track into the language, as well as usually giving a good intro to the culture.