unnamedplayer

Hi all,

Well I have always wanted to learn a second language and I finally got brave enough to sign up for an introductory Spanish class at my university. Now I was wondering if anyone would have some advice as to the best way to facilitate my learning. I have been reciting vocabulary out loud trying to get a feel for how words are pronounced but I was wondering if there are any other tips I should be aware of. For instance, I think it really helps to hear the words pronounced and then repeat them. While we do this in class I can't really practice like that at home so I was wondering if there were any free resources that could help me out with that. Also if there is anything else you think would help to know when learning a new language I would love to hear it.

metalgeek

You'll probably have a language lab at school. Use it.
I've found flash cards work well for memorizing vocabulary.
Pronunciation can be hard, especially if you don't know a native speaker. I'd suggest either Pimsleur, and the Rosetta Stone, both are great products (but both are expensive)
Ask your professor if you can record the lesson, then use that to practice.

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superiorrain

What i always found useful when i learned german was to listen to the radio and better still watch the TV. In the day of the internet this easier than ever before. It will definately help with pronunciation and getting a general flair for the language. Watching dvd in the language with english subtitles will help with most common words. Remember no matter how tough it gets, keep pushing through and never give up you will make it as long as you keep going. The rewards are potentially massive, my german girlfriend is an example of this.

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Nimetic

I've been trying to learn a language. I'm crap at it because I don't put in enough effort - but I found that you can practice in the car during quite trips or peak-hour (bumper-bumper) trips.

Just remember to stop at the lights.

meepa

Since you're doing Spanish, you can easily listen to Spanish radio at websites such as http://www.rtve.es/rne/web/index.php. If you are just starting, obviously you're going to want to be getting the hang of basic grammar and vocab. But as you get someone competant, you can really boost your reading comprehension by going to Spanish websites and translating.

One decent way to do it is to go to a popular Spanish news site and try to read through a story a day. Try to pick one that you will be able to relate to (as in, don't try to read something about Spain's agriculture economy, because would you even understand it in English?). For each paragraph, read it once in Spanish and try to understand as much as you can (read it and THINK it in Spanish, don't try to translate into English as you go along). After you've done this, copy & paste the paragraph into some web-based translator tool (e.g. google language tools) and read it in English. Of course the translation is never perfect, but it will usually fill in most of the holes you didn't know. After you do that, read the paragraph again in Spanish with the full understanding. Do this for every paragraph. News stories tend to be of a reasonable length and never too complicated because they have to be accessible by the average reader. I think this is a great way for outsiders to both practice some serious reading comprehension, and as a bonus, you get to learn about the nation and culture as well.

Also if possible, try to read the Spanish out loud. This will force you to be speaking and thinking in Spanish instead of reading Spanish and thinking English. Also, it will help you work on your pronounciation (be careful though, if you know you're lousy at pronouncing correctly, you don't want to reinforce bad behavior. Practice at a language lab at your school).

If you do this, you'll start to notice which words are more common and keep cropping up. Those are the ones you can write down and put on flashcards to memorize. Don't try to memorize every new word you encounter, just focus on the most common and most important ones.

Just listening to the radio is pretty difficult when you're just learning because you don't know any vocab. But it's still good to get the proper accent and pronunciation for a lot of things churning in the back of your mind. It's even better if you pick up DVDs and watch them in Spanish (especially if you've seen them before and know what is going on). This way your mind can associate what it sees with what it hears. Since Spanish is so common in the US, you might even have a Spanish channel on basic cable.

And remember, it typically goes something like reading is the easiest, then hearing, then writing, then speaking. So don't get overwhelmed that they're not all at the same level during your learning process.

Good luck and, when you need encouragement to keep going, just remember the opposite sex always loves someone who can speak an exotic language!

Anxst

Definitely immerse yourself in the language some on a daily basis. Listen to Spanish radio, watch Spanish TV. If it's really hard for you, watch Spanish TV with English subtitles turned on. That way you can hear the words while seeing the translation instantly.

I grew up in a Gaelic speaking household, and knew I was losing it, having few people to interact with before I was on the internet (this was quite some time ago). I got myself a subscription to An Poblacht and it all came flooding back just by reading it every day.

Good luck!

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la petite moi

Immerse yourself in the language, plain and simple. Speak with people in chatrooms, talk to your Spanish neighbours and ask them for help. If possible, take a trip to Mexico/Spain by yourself (so you have to figure things out on your own and aren't just speaking English with a buddy all the time).

I lived in France for three months with families, and I learned the language- It was amazing how quickly you pick it up once you realise that you cant communicate until you learn.

Vincentt

Pimsleur is great, get it.

Rosetta Stone is overpriced and nothing more then fancy flash cards, don't buy it.

Study abroad, it is the best way to learn. And it will change your life.

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zakool21

From what I understand, 5 years of class is equivalent to about one year of total immersion in the country that speaks the language of your choice.

I've taken 4 years of French, and consider myself pretty decent in my French speaking/reading/writing abilities. Having only been to France once, I strongly believe that if I were there for a summer/semester, I would come back more fluent/knowledgeable than I ever was.

Always study your vocabulary and verb tenses. In my opinion, those are the hardest things to remember because there's almost no special trick to make them stick.

keyshawn

Aussi, [oh wait...english - not french, zut !]

If you game online at all, change your settings to your designed language. When I play counterstrike, I have the sounds and text en francais to help me out. I'm sure you can do a similar thing if you play other games online.

Also there's a tv channel called SCOLA, which runs newscasts from around the world. It may or may not be included in your cable package, but it's a part of my basic cable, so I'll watch it.

Finally, if you live in an urban area, chances are that there's a meetup group for the spanish language by you. I've been to a couple french ones near me and you can meet a few native speakers [and you could help them with english too] and others who want to improve their spanish - http://spanish.meetup.com/

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abaya

Go live in a Spanish-speaking country, or if you can't do that, get a significant other who speaks Spanish as a first language. You will not learn a language until you are forced to use it every day, in a variety of situations.

Yeah, reading, listening to the radio, etc... those are all good things, but there's nothing like total immersion. It scares the shit out of me but I can't say there's any better teacher... it's the only way I've learned Icelandic and Thai somewhat decently, and I have a long way to go.

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Nimetic

Thanks for the ideas. Actually I'm not learning Spanish myself... (I think that was the original poster) and there's probably less Spanish on the radio where I live (Aust) than in other countries, but the points sound right.

I "think" that listening, even if I don't understand, helps. Reading is more problematic as I've been trying to learn Chinese. So I'm not really tackling that yet.

Yeah. I definitely think that it would be easier to learn Spanish. Oh well.

Xell101

Something I found helpful in memorization was immediately applying it to sentences and speech, just filling in the blanks with your native language. Yo tengo ham sandwhich.

rsl12

I'll 2nd the recommendation for pimsleur. Get the tapes, even though they're expensive, even though it's not on the curriculum. I've learned about 3 languages using pimsleur, and in two (spanish and italian) i've had people think I was a long-time speaker after about 3 months of study. (The 3rd language was vietnamese, which I haven't really had a chance to unleash on anyone.) What's great about pimsleur is that it focuses on you 1. pronouncing everything properly, and 2. having a lot of the language at an 'automatic' level, so you don't have to think out word for word, or have to consciously conjugate out verbs. they have the best language programs I've seen.

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unnamedplayer

Hi again all,

Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions. I have taken many of them into consideration. I have BBC Spanish news bookmarked and will try reading at least one story every day. I also have access to 3 or 4 Spanish stations on cable which I will be tuning into as well and I will try to visit many Spanish chatrooms and will also try playing in Spanish Counter-Strike servers

Also, I managed to get a copy of the audio CDs for Pimsleur Spanish 1-3. It is the first edition however and not the second so hopefully there isn't too much of a difference.

Unfortunately I don't think I am going to be able to live in a Spanish speaking country for quite a while since I'm a broke ass college student

But I definitely appreciate all the encouragement and advice. Please feel free to keep the suggestions coming.

Thanks again!

Markboy

Having studied 5 languages at university level, there is one thing that I have learnt - everybody learns differently. The trick is to find out what works best for you. Amd when it comes down to it, however you study best for exams in any subject is probably the way you learn best. For some people, that's hearing things - I knew people who recorded all their facts and dates for history exams to cassette, so that they could listen to them back. Some people learn by writing, copying out notes etc. Others learn by explaining to others (requires very patient or interested friends/significant others/phone sex operators).

All the ideas listed out by the others are excellent, and I have known them to work for other people, but know which would and wouldnt work for me. The trick is to try all of them, and find which ones lead to the most absorbtion...

My personal best way for picking up a language - find a band that you like the style of who sings in the language, and get their album. Singing along to music often gives you the albums, helps you with pronunciation, and gives you confidence. The other way is to swallow your pride and buy children's books in the language, especially if you know the version in English. I think I have Winnie the Pooh in 6 different languages, and it helps so much, especially when you already know what they are trying to say...