Is this a good way?

[FrannyCakes]

For those of you that have mastered Spanish (or English), how did you do it?

My daily regimen consists of reading and listening to skits from the Ultimate Spanish series and looking up unfamiliar words. I try to do as much speaking and listening as I can.

Is this a good way of going about learning foreign language?

[laepelba]

That's a tough question. I've tried a variety of things to work on my Spanish learning. I started with the first level of the Rosetta Stone Latin American Spanish. I also watched a telenovela on a local Spanish channel. I started spending a lot of time here on Tomisimo. I have also done as much reading and writing as I can - especially with my Latin American friends via e-mail.

But my learning really took a turn for the better this past September when two things happened: (1) I started teaching an ESL class (I'm a math teacher) which has 25 Spanish speakers out of 28 students. Except for when I'm actually giving direct instruction, the kids who speak Spanish try to get me to speak with them and to understand them (like in the hallways or when they stop to see me after school, etc.) And, (2) I started using the videos at the University of Texas website that I often reference (http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spe/index.html). Having the transcripts of the videos next to the video screen while I'm listening is EXTREMELY helpful!

Oh - and I also try reading daily comics in Spanish (http://www.gocomics.com/explore/espanol). I try to make my "to do" lists in Spanish ("por hacer"), try to read definitions of Spanish words on RAE.es (reading Spanish/Spanish definitions instead of using a Spanish/English dictionary), working on reading a Spanish novel, listening to Spanish music, etc., etc.

In other words, I do as much as I can and am always looking for new ways to increase my opportunities to speak, listen to, read and write Spanish.

I'm interested in hearing what others do!

[CrOtALiTo]

My method is that I need to post everyday, so I can learn the new words in this forums, in fact it has been my method during two years and so I could to learn the English, there are a lot methods for that you can learn the language, but it depend of you, of the way that be more comfortable for your brain, finally your brain is the that works more during the learning.


If you've some method more meaningful in your learning of day- day please, you tell us the great and wonderful method.

[pjt33]

Lo mejor es estudiar "en inmersión", pero si no puedes hacerlo lo importante es practicar y aprovechar las oportunidades que tienes para comunicar con hablantes nativos - sea leer un periódico español, hablar con inmigrantes, etc.

[poli]

Write down words you haven't known before, such as those the bot gives
us in the daily word, or in the vocabulary section of this forum or what you see in the newspaper. Refer back to those words time to time and incorporate them in sentences. Interaction with Spanish speakers is
most helpful as is a strong desire to learn.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by poli

Write down words you haven't known before, such as those the bot gives
us in the daily word, or in the vocabulary section of this forum or what you see in the newspaper. Refer back to those words time to time and incorporate them in sentences. Interaction with Spanish speakers is
most helpful as is a strong desire to learn.

Yes I agree with you the read the newspaper and well just you come and write the new words learnt during your reading, I can be sure that it can be of great helpful for you.

[laepelba]

I hope that this isn't taken the wrong way, but the original question was "how did you do it?" I'm sure that Fran has heard lots of great suggestions, and of course, "immersion" must be the best way for someone to truly learn a new language, if that option is available....

But, pjt and Poli - your answers were "what one should do to learn a language". I'd actually be VERY curious as to how YOU both learned your Spanish. What prompted you to start learning Spanish? What were your initial attempts at learning it? Where were you in your learning after about a year or two of progress? What did YOU find most helpful?

Again, I don't mean to be contrary. But I have heard many times in this forum "one should" and "the best thing is immersion". Yup. Got it. I understand. But I like to hear actual stories from different individuals about how THEY learned, personally......

[poli]

Lou Ann
I learned my good but definitely not perfect Spanish from various sources.
I suppose the two most important routes for me were school which taught me vocabulary, grammar and irregular verbs,real life (immersion) in which I was forced to make use of the the things I had to drudgingly learn in school. To my surprise I was able to communicate and improve to a certain great extent. To polish the edges off, book and newspaper reading and this forum (thank you Tomisimo) have been very valuable.

[laepelba]

Thanks, Poli!!

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by laepelba

I hope that this isn't taken the wrong way, but the original question was "how did you do it?" I'm sure that Fran has heard lots of great suggestions, and of course, "immersion" must be the best way for someone to truly learn a new language, if that option is available....

But, pjt and Poli - your answers were "what one should do to learn a language". I'd actually be VERY curious as to how YOU both learned your Spanish. What prompted you to start learning Spanish? What were your initial attempts at learning it? Where were you in your learning after about a year or two of progress? What did YOU find most helpful?

Fair point.

I started learning Spanish at school aged 13 as preparation for my long-term goal of moving to Latin America. It was my fourth language then (started French at 11 and Latin at 12). I took all three Romance languages to GCSE (exams taken at age 16) and then took Spanish for another two years to A-level. As I didn't continue with French or Latin, Spanish became my second language. (I can still understand French, but I struggle to speak it; my Latin is now very bad full stop). I had a couple of weeks of immersion during the GCSE studies. Class sizes were about 10 or 12 for GCSE and 6 or 7 for A-level. I had a native teacher (from Pontevedra - influenced my accent then, possibly still some traces of influence now) for all 5 years and a British teacher (who wanted us to speak with a madrileño accent) in addition for A-level.

In my first long vacation (summer holiday) at uni I spent 5 weeks in Cuba - the real Cuba, not the tourist one - as part of a team of 6 Brits working with a couple of Cuban churches. I was the backup translator; the main translator being a girl who grew up in Peru and Costa Rica. Learnt to sosear, among other things.

Four years ago I spent four months in Ecuador, again as part of a team of Brits working with local churches. This time I was the main translator. Far from being full immersion, obviously, and I made progress much slower than I'd hoped. (Looking back now I also wish I'd made as much effort with Quichua as those of the team who didn't speak much Spanish).

While in England I kept Spanish up by reading, and for the last year I was there I went to a weekly Bible study in Spanish - IIRC most weeks there were two of us non-native speakers, a Spaniard, a Peruvian, a couple of Mexicans, and a lot of Colombians.

When I arrived in Spain (almost two years ago now) I did 2 months of intensive immersive study. Lived with a Spanish family; 23 hours of language study of Spanish per week in Spanish with native teachers, of which 20 hours in a group varying from 2 to 5 people and 3 hours one-to-one. I read El País over lunch every day, bought a book on computer programming to read for vocab (it turned out to be a dreadful book which I wouldn't recommend for anything else), etc. Those two months made a massive difference. Although I speak Spanish every day I think my level has slipped since then.

So I think the main contributing factors to my current ability are previous knowledge of related languages (in particular, I found the subjunctive easier to understand than everyone else in the class because I had already encountered it in Latin), several years of formal education, and spending time in Spanish-speaking countries.