[rapul]

Originally Posted by ChikiChiki

Whilst its great to know our national language, in reality what use is Irish. At least with learning Spanish it can open up a massive part of the world for new opportunities.

Well he or she posted in after hours and yeah we're Irish so freshen it up to be ****ed!

[normanoffside]

Originally Posted by Upforthematch

I didn't say it was?

The point is tailor your resources to the type of Spanish you want to learn.

There's only one Type of Spanish tough. If you learn the basics you can adapt to slang/dialects,

[mistersifter]

Rosetta stone and such things will definitely help get you started but you really need someone to converse with in the language. And preferably this person should be able to explain grammar to you in English.


There are exams called DELE exams which you can work towards go get an official qualification.

Grinds are your best bet. And also make friends with Spanish speakers and do conversation exchanges with them

[Upforthematch]

Originally Posted by normanoffside

There's only one Type of Spanish tough. If you learn the basics you can adapt to slang/dialects,

Im not getting into an argument about semantics or dialects here.

I suppose everyone learns differently but if you are serious about learning a language, the sounds are critical and the resources used vary. It is important to consider this.

Getting the correct resources at the start is important. A blanket "just learn castelian spanish" could be bad advice if the op has certain goals in mind.

[Unregistered39]

Duolingo at first to give you a feel for it. StudySpanish.com is great at explaining stuff, and has lots of mini quizzes etc. Michel Thomas is well worth a go, I think the first three lessons are free.

[normanoffside]

Originally Posted by Upforthematch

Im not getting into an argument about semantics or dialects here.

I suppose everyone learns differently but if you are serious about learning a language, the sounds are critical and the resources used vary. It is important to consider this.

Getting the correct resources at the start is important. A blanket "just learn castelian spanish" could be bad advice if the op has certain goals in mind.

They haven’t expressed any specific goals though other than learning Spanish.

I understand where you are coming from but say for example someone wanted to move to Cork and had no english, the best advice would still be to learn basic English.

Nuances can be learned later.

[chosen1]

Originally Posted by Unregistered39

Duolingo at first to give you a feel for it. StudySpanish.com is great at explaining stuff, and has lots of mini quizzes etc. Michel Thomas is well worth a go, I think the first three lessons are free.

Did Michel Thomas for Spanish and French and very user friendly. Very conversational and easy approach

[MrStuffins]

Originally Posted by rapul

Just get better at Irish your ****ing Irish!

Maybe you should worry about mastering English first.

[auspicious]

Synergy Spanish. Best audio lessons I've found. Great for the commute. No long pauses and easy progression. Castilian.

[Omackeral]

Originally Posted by rapul

Just get better at Irish your ****ing Irish!

You get better at English while you’re at it.

I’m learning Spanish myself the last couple of years. Duolingo is good, if formulaic, but I’d fully recommend going to actual classes if you’re serious about it. Can’t beat interacting with others and asking questions. Online stuff misses nuance.

A little thing I did to build vocabulary was wrote Spanish words on post-its and stick them around the house until the word was burned into my brain. Sounds weird but it works!

Best of luck.

[MoyVilla9]

On top of what has been said so far (Duolingo, StudySpanish.com):

Memrise - Flash card style app that I have personally found good.
Drops - Similar to Memrise, with the flash cards categorised.
HelloTalk - Message and/or speak with people from Spanish countries that are learning English. The idea is to correct/help each other. This has been the most useful resource for me.
LightSpeedSpanish - Quick podcasts (~10 mins)

[Ipso]

Move to Barcelona or Bilbao for a while.

[AllForIt]

There is loads of stuff on youtube but this channel is particularly good https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCId...t=da&flow=grid

I think Duolingo is only good for refreshing your memory if you ever take a break from it. It's very very slow going if that's your main learning source.

https://personal.colby.edu/~bknelson/SLC/ is one we used in class.

https://www.spanishdict.com/conjugation is good as a conjugation reference, I'd ignore the rest. It pesters you to sign up now I notice.

And here's one lesson, there is often confusion between the difference between te and ti (you), the difference is Spoiler: one is what an English person drinks and one is what an Irish person drinks

[ILoveYourVibes]

Originally Posted by Upforthematch

Are you learning South American or European Spanish?

+1 for lightspeed if its European you're learning

I learnt latin American specifically an argentinian accent but vocab for both latin and European....when i lived in spain for a year as a kid ....

I was learning from my neighbors one of whom was Argentinian and the other was from Catalonia but spoke castilian!

My parents used to use me to order in restaurants. This was very stressful for me. My brother and dad love butter. I kept saying mantequilla (which is right in spain), but the accent I was trying to do meant it should have been manteca.

I would also mix the accents up....I would say athul /blue...manthana/apple actually no i would say manthana half way between a Z and a TH...probably athul too ...

...but also say grasias and sapato the argentinian way with ssss ..or i would grathias/thapato one min and then revert to the s sound.

I must have sounded very odd. Gracias por los zapatos could come out..Grathias por los sapatos!



I think the Spanish thought i was cute though because they kept giving me free stuff!

My Dad wants to learn now.

I loved the lessons though!

Maybe I will take it up again. I think i have forgotten everything now.




Mostly during lessons my teacher would let us dance around her house to latin american music. She and her Argentinian husband and kids were our neighbors. She gave me my first kitten when her cat hat a litter!

[ILoveYourVibes]

Originally Posted by Upforthematch

I'm aware of the differences.

If the Op wants to go to Mexico though it's wasting their time learning Castilian.

There's a lot of American based resources depending on what the Op's choice of dialect.

Its not at all. Its probably easier. They will be able to understand him fine. They will also be able to make themselves intelligible to him. He'll get the differences in like a week.

Of all the latin american dialects mexican is the most 'standard' if you know what i mean??

Its also spoken at a slower pace than most parts of spain.

If he can get Andalucian speed he will be flying in mexico.