What's the best way to learn Spanish?

whiteboy

I'll leave it to the mods to move this if there is a more suited forum.

Snakeblood

whiteboy wrote: »

I'll leave it to the mods to move this if there is a more suited forum.

Go to spain*

*This is both smartarsey and true. Total immersion is the way to learn something.

Saila

go to spain without a book to learn

Jesus Wept

Grow up in a Spanish speaking country since you were a baby.

biko

From AH
Go to Spain, it's really the best way.

scruff321

This is like asking whats the best way to learn how to swim!!!start by opening up a beginners spanish book, learn phrases, progress on to grammar or take classes or go abroad! its kinda obvious! One thing is learning a language takes time and dedication.

arenaux

Mod note: Please read the charter, advertise your services elsewhere please.

alexandros28

I am a Spanish lawyer, and I´d like to improve my english, and exchange my spanish with a native english speaker.
i am 28, and I´m in dublin to study English in an academy since last october, my english level is betwen preintermiedate and intermediate.

if you know someone who wants speak spanish i can. also my accent is very good to teach.
thank

nivek13

I have been trying to learn Spanish for awhile and took a 10 week class to get the basics down. Does anyone know if any of the programs work like Rosetta stone?

davwain

biko wrote: »

From AH
Go to Spain, it's really the best way.

Or to a Spanish-speaking Latin-American country. I would say, for learning Russian, to go to Israel, the Union State (of Russia and Belarus), Ukraine, Moldova, Transnistria (Pridnestrovie) or one of the Central Asian ex-Soviet republics. An alternative would be to live in a building in which almost everyone speaks Spanish. There are plenty of similar buildings, in the north end of my hometown (Toronto) populated predominantly by residents from ex-Soviet republics (most of them Russian-speaking). Compared to my intermediate-level Spanish-speaking ability, my Russian-speaking ability isn't that good, although I am determined to try to one day speak Russian as well as I can Spanish.

iusedtoknow

Snakeblood wrote: »

Go to spain*

*This is both smartarsey and true. Total immersion is the way to learn something.

Or marry a spaniard. Between living there and speaking it to in-laws I was mostly fluent in a year. Within 2 years locals couldn't tell my accent was foreign, some even figured I was the child of a guiri that had grown up there.

TwoGallants

I've lived in Spain for two years and my Spanish is still only intermediate. The reason? Because despite my best efforts, I still end up hanging out with non Spanish speakers. My girlfriend is French also, so we end up using English as our common language, though I'm making efforts to learn French also.

I've found that a few things help:
Read Spanish newspapers (El Pais is great)
Use Duo Lingo daily (free app, you can learn as quickly or as slowly as you want)
Try to speak every day
Encourage people to correct you, don't be shy or sensitive
Try to do an intercambio if you're living in Ireland, there are lots of Spanish in Dublin for example, and their English is usually pretty awful, because they live with their mates and speak Spanish all day. On the flip side, they feel bad about this and genuinelly want to improve their English

Buena Suerte!

paddylonglegs

Iv begun learning Spanish phrases while on my morning and evening drive to and from work. It's an hour drive in total and it's a good way to make use of my time in my car on my own. I access it through spotify on my phone, but when I am ready to move on from these lessons I would love to progress in this manner

Would anyone have recommendations on lessons that I could download and listen to? I'm not looking for it for free, obviously happy to pay

Canard

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Iv begun learning Spanish phrases while on my morning and evening drive to and from work. It's an hour drive in total and it's a good way to make use of my time in my car on my own. I access it through spotify on my phone, but when I am ready to move on from these lessons I would love to progress in this manner

Would anyone have recommendations on lessons that I could download and listen to? I'm not looking for it for free, obviously happy to pay

There's a Youtube called EasyLanguages and it's great. They go around and ask people things in the countries where the languages are spoken, then subtitle the videos in both languages. Here's the first Spanish one, for example.

There are ways to download from Youtube for the audio but I'm not 100% sure how to. But it's a great exercise if you have time to watch a screen too, and if you could download the audio it'd be a good way to test yourself by listening to it in the car and then watching the video later to see if you understood it all and learn from what you didn't quite catch.

Anongeneric

1. Use Duolingo.com everyday.
2. Look for someone to do a language exchange.
3. Watch Latin American Soap Operas online, the acting and scripting are awful but they speak slowly and really over pronounce words which will help your ear.
4. Go to the Tim Ferris website( fourhourworkweek . com) and type "Language" in the search box, I'd recommend the first two posts on that page, not necessarily the rest of them.

If you follow these 4 steps you will speak very respectable Spanish in 3-6 months

TwoGallants

Canard wrote: »

There's a Youtube called EasyLanguages and it's great. They go around and ask people things in the countries where the languages are spoken, then subtitle the videos in both languages. Here's the first Spanish one, for example.



There are ways to download from Youtube for the audio but I'm not 100% sure how to. But it's a great exercise if you have time to watch a screen too, and if you could download the audio it'd be a good way to test yourself by listening to it in the car and then watching the video later to see if you understood it all and learn from what you didn't quite catch.

Thanks for that mate, I live in Spain and Spanish TV is normally awful! This helps a lot actually.

iusedtoknow

TwoGallants wrote: »

Thanks for that mate, I live in Spain and Spanish TV is normally awful! This helps a lot actually.

Some of it is, but their satirical program "El intermedio" is great - on la sexta. Another great show that has pretty spanish is "españoles in el Mundo"

Canard

When I lived there I had no TV unless I was staying in a hostel visiting another city, nice to know I didn't miss much :P I tended to watch things from the anglophone world dubbed in Spanish though, and sometimes with subtitles, which again was really useful!

paddylonglegs

I have been listening to Paul noble audiobook during my morning and evening commute. Working very well for me, I like his style of teaching and think it's a great start for me

GoingBonkers

Creating online flashcards for the nouns with pictures and sound of the words (nothing in english), and moving to spain with my spanish girlfriend for 4 months and I'm almost fluent. I think the most important part is to refuse to speak english.

davwain

TwoGallants wrote: »

I've lived in Spain for two years and my Spanish is still only intermediate. The reason? Because despite my best efforts, I still end up hanging out with non Spanish speakers. My girlfriend is French also, so we end up using English as our common language, though I'm making efforts to learn French also.

I've found that a few things help:
Read Spanish newspapers (El Pais is great)
Use Duo Lingo daily (free app, you can learn as quickly or as slowly as you want)
Try to speak every day
Encourage people to correct you, don't be shy or sensitive
Try to do an intercambio if you're living in Ireland, there are lots of Spanish in Dublin for example, and their English is usually pretty awful, because they live with their mates and speak Spanish all day. On the flip side, they feel bad about this and genuinelly want to improve their English

Buena Suerte!

At least you're learning to speak a foreign language, and one spoken in a lot of countries.

shamrock2004

If you can't move to spain, do intercambios with people who wish to learn english. You will be amazed and what you will learn. Learn the rules of the language first. Buy some spanish movies also. Read some spanish everyday. It really isn't a difficult language to learn. You'll pick it up in no time.

paddylonglegs

Just back from a weekend in Barcelona. Was delighted and surprised at how much tourist Spanish I could use from just listening to Paul nobles 1st Spanish lesson.

Going on to the second lesson soon. Iv also been told about Extr@ Espanol on YouTube, a Spanish series where they talk quite slowly for people learning, looking forward to it

sauserd

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Just back from a weekend in Barcelona. Was delighted and surprised at how much tourist Spanish I could use from just listening to Paul nobles 1st Spanish lesson.

Going on to the second lesson soon. Iv also been told about Extr@ Espanol on YouTube, a Spanish series where they talk quite slowly for people learning, looking forward to it

I did the same thing as you with the Paul Noble audio books and found the first one to be the most helpful out of the series. The second one is ok but the third one isn't great at all. I would recommend an app called brainscape, it's about 20 euro but there is so much info on it. It is based on flash cards and you also hear the word (or sentence), you have to rate how well you know the card and ones you rank low keep reappearing until you score them higher. I live in Peru and I am pretty fluent now but when I have some time to kill I still use the app and I always learn something new. It has been by far the most helpful tool for me. I also find that reading magazines or the newspaper helps, short articles keep you engaged and aren't as daunting as reading a book.

paddylonglegs

sauserd wrote:

isn't great at all. I would recommend an app called brainscape

Thanks for that, I will check it out. The handy thing about the audiobooks is that I can learn while driving to work, very good way to make use of an hour. Disappointed to hear the other lessons aren't as good. I'll give them a go at least

sauserd

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Thanks for that, I will check it out. The handy thing about the audiobooks is that I can learn while driving to work, very good way to make use of an hour. Disappointed to hear the other lessons aren't as good. I'll give them a go at least

Definitely give them a go. I suppose for me I felt that I learned a lot from the first one and expected the others to be the same. I think they are reasonably priced so even if you don't learn a huge amount it's not going to break the bank. They do reinforce what you've learned in the first one, which is quite useful. Best of luck with it!