Newbie to this forum and Spanish

[Vortex]

Hello everybody! My name is Matt and after some debating I have decided to start learning spanish. Two of the main reasons for my decision are for career purposes and political interests.

I'm going to begin college to study linguistics and one of the things that linguists may do is field research in dying under described or undescribed languages. And given the size of the territory spanish is spoken in and the large number of native american languages spoken in that area, knowing spanish would be an incredibly useful tool for me.

And as far as the politic interests are concerned, I'm an anarchist (of the collectivist and syndicalist strains) and spain and the southern parts of mexico are or have been important in real world use of anarchism (CNT-FAI in spain and the Zapatistas in Mexico). So knowing spanish would give me access to first hand accounts and other historical documents that involve these kinds of movements.

I'd also like to use this space to see if anyone has any resources in book, pdf, or website form that they would suggest. Any suggestions are welcome! And as a side note I enjoy books that information dense and I am a fast learner (I use to have a friend who was learning spanish through the high school talk to me in only spanish to see how well I could understand with very little knowledg using only context).

[JPablo]

Hello Matt,
Welcome to the forums!
Bienvenido.
I hope you will enjoy your stay and "travel" along the forums.

Did you know one of the Anarchist mottos? (I found this in Google, not that I am a specialist on anarquism... by far.)
Ni Dieu Ni Maître (Ni Dios Ni Amo) Lema anarquista.
(Neither God nor Master)
The one I knew was "Ni estado ni patrón, autogestión". (Neither State, nor Master - self-management).
(You're welcome to correct my English... and ask any questions on Spanish... I am more on the linguistic side, than the political side of things)

[CrOtALiTo]

Hello I bid you welcome to these forums, I hope your stay in the forums will be enjoyable.

If you have decided don't debating more in other places, then it's ok.
Here you can find more opportunities for learn the language.

Have fun.

Sincerely yours.

[irmamar]

Welcome.

Or better: ¡salud y libertad! (or just ¡salud!) es el saludo anarquista.

[Chris]

http://fsi-language-courses.org/Cont...p?page=Spanish //pdfs and mp3
http://www.conjugation.org/ //You will need this
http://www.livemocha.com/ //A well designed system to learn the basics. I haven't gone through the whole course but so far I love it. You must help others to get the course for free. It's pretty cheap though and I am thinking about doing the whole thing over and pay for it this time after I am done.

[Jessica]

welcome to the forums Matt

[Rusty]

@Chris: I dislike a few things about the conjugator site you posted.
Here is my favorite. It's not infallible, but ...
... you can enter a conjugated verb, or an infinitive
... the names of the tenses appear in Spanish (correct terms are used)
... it shows both the simple and the compound forms
... it lists negative conjugations
... it lists reflexive verb conjugations

[Chris]

Thanks Rusty. My biggest complaint with the conjugation site I posted is that if you enter a conjugated verb it conjugates it instead of listing what verb it is. That makes it somewhat hard for me because I may not know from what verb the conjugation comes from. If that makes sense... Anyway it was the best one I had seen so that's why I kept it in my list of "español" bookmarks.