Another newbie here

[gbanker]

Hello all. The last of my Spanish learning was in high school, many decades ago.

I am starting to practice again , using Duolingo on my home PC, which is going well.

While driving the other day I realized that I have two daily blocks of time, about 35 minutes coming and going, that I could be putting to use practicing Spanish.

I have looked at iPhone apps for Spanish but am finding that they are interactive, ie. you need to look at the phone, type on it, etc which is impracticable when in a car.

So what I am looking for is an app (podcast?), because I don't have CD capability, that would speak to me in Spanish followed with the English translation.

Gracias!

[Depilego]

I'm using Duolingo too.

[CrOtALiTo]

Good morning.

I hope your staying here in the forums it can be wonderful.

[Depilego]

My friend has over 365 day streak on Duolingo. I am at 1 day.

[NealosONE]

Hello
I've just decided to learn Spanish too. I'm quiet excited and need advice and help.
I'll say as much of this opening statement as i can in Spanish

Hola
Tengo que JUST DECIDED aprendo espaniol TOO. I'M QUIET EXCITED AND necisito ADVICE AND HELP.
I'LL SAY AS mucho OF THIS abren...ING STATEMENT AS puedo en espaniol

caps are the words i don't know spanish for. Feel free to correct my mistakes.
Any advice what first thing i should learn is?

Hello again everyone

[Rusty]

Escrito originalmente por NealosONE

Hello.
I've just decided to learn Spanish, too. I'm quite excited and need advice and help.
I'll say as much of this opening statement as I can in Spanish.

Hola.

Tengo que JUST DECIDED aprendo espaniol TOO.
("I've" is a contraction of "I have." The word 'have' is a helping verb, and it goes with 'decided'. 'I have decided' is 'he decidido'. The words you wrote ('Tengo que') are translated 'I have to'. This phrase needs to end in an infinitive, like 'Tengo que decidir' ('I have to decide'), but this is obviously not what you wanted to say.
When you want to express the idea of 'just having done' something, there is a totally different construction. You would say 'Acabo de decidir ...', where the ellipsis would be replaced with an infinitive. 'To learn' is the English infinitive and that is translated directly into Spanish as 'aprender'. The name of the Spanish language is written 'español'.
So, the translation of "I've just decided to learn Spanish" is "Acabo de decidir aprender español". However, since we still need to add 'too' (también) to the sentence, I would suggest using the present perfect tense (dropping the 'just having done' idea): "También he decidido aprender español.")

I'M QUITE EXCITED AND necisito ADVICE AND HELP.
(The only word you wrote in Spanish is misspelled. It should be 'necesito' (from the infinitive 'necesitar').
"I'm quite excited" is "Estoy muy entusiasmado".
The word for 'and' is 'y'.
advice and help = consejo y ayuda)

I'LL SAY AS mucho OF THIS abren...ING STATEMENT AS puedo en espaniol
(I'll say = diré
as much as I can = tanto como puedo
Instead of trying to translate 'opening statement' (which is an English construction dealing with two nouns, one modifying the other, that usually requires using three words in Spanish, because a noun cannot modify a noun in Spanish), try 'that sentence'. This is translated 'esa frase'.
So, "I'll say as much of that sentence as I can in Spanish" becomes "Diré tanto de esa frase como puedo en español", but that sounds stilted. Try simplifying by combining ideas, like so: "Diré esa frase en español tanto como puedo")

Caps are used for the words I don't know the Spanish for. Feel free to correct my mistakes.
Any advice what first thing I should learn is?

Hello again, everyone.

My first words of advice to you, when learning Spanish, is to entirely dismiss the idea that word-for-word translation is possible and that you can't just pull words out of a dictionary.

Start by using simple constructions, mastering a concept here and then a concept there.

Learning the role that an English word plays is very important. You can't translate the helping verb 'can' by selecting the noun 'lata' from the dictionary, for instance. You need to understand first and foremost that it is a conjugated form of 'to be able' and that it is followed the infinitive. Let's use the infinitive 'to see' (ver). The infinitive form of the helping verb 'can' is 'poder'. This gets conjugated and will always be followed by an infinitive, just like in English. Look at the difference between 'I see' (veo) and 'I can see' (puedo ver).
In like manner, the auxiliary verb 'have' (infinitive: haber) is conjugated and followed by the past participle form of the verb when translating the present perfect form of the verb. For example, 'I have seen' (he visto).

The verb 'have', which takes a direct object, is the infinitive 'tener'. "I have an arm" is "Tengo un brazo".

Idiomatic expressions, where the entire group of words considered as a whole has a particular meaning, CANNOT be translated directly into Spanish. You either need to memorize the Spanish equivalent of the idiomatic expression or you need to convert the idea into non-idiomatic language. For example, Instead of learning the equivalent of "He kicked the bucket," simplify the idea to "He died" (Él murió) or "He has died" (Ha muerto él) (infinitive: morir).

In that last example, the English word 'died' had two different Spanish translations. That's because the first was a preterit form of the verb and the other was a past participle form of the verb, which is used when conjugating a verb into the present perfect form (making use of the conjugated form of the auxiliary verb 'haber').
You most likely saw that I put the subject pronoun after the verb in the second case. Spanish allows that, but English doesn't.

I hope I haven't discouraged you in any way. Learning how to use any foreign language first requires you knowing how your mother tongue works and then learning how the same concept works in the foreign language.

[NealosONE]

Wow thanks guys.
Yes i've noticed word for word goes out the window. Something that blew my mind.

I've now booked in a home tutor. I'm going to take lessons as i realise my brain has nearly exploded. Its hard

[Tomasino]

Quedarse con eso.