hola todas..

[daveyboy]

hola todas..;D
i have not posted in this forum for a while. still been reading the posts though. i have been living in madrid for nearly 4 months now [i think ]..lol and all is still muy bien..;D still learning spanish as well but not as much as i should be doing though..:o i need to get my head deeper in to the learning..!! mi novia es espanola y ella habla ingles muy bien so alot of the time she is there to translate for me. exept when i am at work..lol.. i got a big shock when i first started my job cuz only one out of the whole warehouse could speak a little english this was a big big frustration for me but as the weeks have gone by its getting more easy cuz i am learning spanish with what i hear everyday..:thumbs-up: i also bought a dictionary [ eng/spanish/spanish/eng] plus a verb book with the most popular verbs used in everyday spanish and another learning book called USO. de la gramatica espanola [ elemental ] this book is all in spanish so sometimes i find it hard but i am getting there..lol.. what programs, audio, learning software did all of you use when you first started to learn spanish or still use? there are alot of programs/ software on the net that are latin american spanish programs would these still be good to use? they differ a little from spanish [ spain] programs dont they..? please tell us what you think...:thumbs-up:
muchos gracias...:)

[ZeroTX]

The online programs you're talking about that teach Latin American Spanish are mainly in existence to address the fact that until recently, most Spanish training programs were teaching Castillian Spanish (e.g. "Spain Spanish"), which is slightly frustrating for those who primarily need to communicate with Latin Americans.

However, most of the old, traditional, Spanish programs do teach Castillian. I suggest hitting up a bookstore or Amazon.com and dealving into some of those.

As far as difference I've found so far (I've been studying for a few months, though for me, Latin American Spanish is what I'm trying to find and Castillian is what I'm trying to avoid).... Well, the main difference is that Latin Americans mostly do not use the "vosotros" conjugation, at all, whatsoever. They use the formal "ustedes" for both familiar and formal plural forms. This makes it a bit easier (one less form to remember) and it also makes it unnecessary to spend any time worrying about that particular form. Of course, if you're living in Spain, you will want to at least be familiar with the vosotros form, at least for comprehension. Certainly there's no reason why you can't use exclusively "ustedes" when speaking in the plural, though some people seem to be more sensitive about being addressed in the formal than others (dunno why, but being that we have no such differentiation in English, it's just something that escapes my understanding).

Also, there's some differences in vocabulary.... but, as far as that goes, vocabulary differs even among different countries in Latin America. For instance, if you learn "Mexican" Spanish, you will use many words not used in other parts of Latin America.... Of course, being that Mexico is the largest Spanish speaking country in the world, most Spanish speakers are familiar with the words (even if they don't use them themselves).

There's also different accents. If you want to be best understood, you should mimick the accent of the country you're residing in.... In Spain, that also means using slightly different pronunciations of "c" and "z"... I don't really know the rules, but they do differ from Latin America, so a Latin American Spanish program would not help you there.

One that I recommend that's a free podcast is Coffee Break Spanish... http://www.coffeebreakspanish.com

Good luck :)

-Michael

[daveyboy]

thanks for the info and advice zero its very helpful...;D

[tad]

Hello again daveyboy. It seems that you have the best resources available to you already:living there and having a novia there. I suppose it's difficult if her english is so good -why don't you break it up in small chunks and say, come what may we are only going to speak spanish for the next 10/15/30 min

Because I don't have that constant immersion I just try and get stuff from every source that I can-there are a few podcasts out there. My local library is pretty good and I've saved pounds checking out stuff from there.

Better still try and understand the spanish in my filmgame-that will be a real challenge ;D

[eldeano]

Better still try and understand the spanish in my filmgame-that will be a real challenge ;D

Better still, stare at the wall. ;D

[daveyboy]

hey tad que pasa?..;D
yeah i know what you mean about mi novia speaking english.. sometimes we do just speak the spanish and i try my best to listen, try, and pronounce what she says to me.. but then 30 mins later she says right daviiii repeat what i said.. so then i say mmmmm aaaaarrr uuuuuurrr errrrm sorry my dear i cant remember ....:eek:...lol.. she then gets muy frustrante...lol... i have come accross a good way to learn with it though. i have a program called byki .[ before you know it] its from transparent languages.. its pretty good cuz it has flash cards in the program, and you can write your own words and small phrases on them so one side is spanish and the other english.. i just keep clicking and clicking away till the words or phrases are stuck in my mind.. it works as well...;D.. at the end of it i suppose i am just wishing for a miracle to be able to just be fluent in spanish... but no chance ..lol.. i know i have to put the hard work/ hours in to it to get the best out of it... :) right time for a lesson.... :confused:...haha..

[tad]

i just keep clicking and clicking away till the words or phrases are stuck in my mind.. it works as well...;D.. at the end of it i suppose i am just wishing for a miracle to be able to just be fluent in spanish... but no chance ..lol.. i know i have to put the hard work/ hours in to it to get the best out of it... :) right time for a lesson.... :confused:...haha..

Well there you go; if that thing works for you, keep doing it, but there are so many diverse resources out there.

I don't really have any targets as such because I just woke up one morning and thought it was about time I learnt a language.

It's true there are no miracles -but there are minor miracles, last fri for example I got the big red book of 555 Spanish verbs out of the library (I'm a fun guy) ....and I knew 95% of them -that seemed like a miracle (momentarily anyway) :rolleyes:

-I think the key to it is -don't turn it into a chore, and if anything, that seems to be the ethos of this site, so you are in the right place ;)

[tad]

Better still, stare at the wall. ;D

Is there not a single thread in this place that that cat hasn't set up a craps game:mad:

[Pete]

Hi Davy

Sounds like your doing pretty well so far! You're in Spain and you've got yourself a job. Its the best place to be I think especially if you're not a natural student of the language. I too have a Spanish wife and am learning the language in the UK, with a plan to move in a couple of years, but for all her efforts I find it really difficult to sit down and do some study. I've been learning for three years now and have progressed to a decent level and I think most of the improvement was done whilst spending time with family and friends in Madrid.
When I first started learning I tried the Michel Thomas audio books, they really gave me a kickstart as they taught me how to benefit from similarities between Spanish and English. Might be worth giving it a shot.
Other than that, I assume you're are using the podcasts on this site, they are superb.

Suerte

[daveyboy]

yeah tad mucho mucho verbs..!!!..lol.. i will just keep plugging away with it, things can only get better yeah..;D yeah pete i know i am in the best place for it mate, having eveything spanish around you is the best way really cuz its constant in your head every day...;D sometimes it makes you feel like your head could explode cuz of the frustration of not understanding the things ppl say to you and them not understanding either ..lol.. but i look at it this way.. 4,5,6,7, etc etc months away my spanish will be alot better, it cant go in reverse and get worse..lol.. well i hope so anyway....:D